MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. Russia regards plans for the expansion of the Amari airbase in Estonia for NATO needs as an openly provocative step, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Moscow has drawn attention to a "recent statement by Commander of the Estonian Air Force Jaak Tarien that the plans for the expansion of the Amari military aerodrome infrastructure at the expense of the territories that had been intended for civil aviation are conditioned by the ‘growing NATO Air Force needs’."

"In light of the incessant speculations about the need of additional permanent military presence of the alliance’s member countries and first of all the United States on the alliance’s "Eastern flank" we regard the announced preparations as an openly provocative step aimed at destabilizing the situation in one of the traditionally most stable from the military security viewpoint regions of Europe," the ministry said.

"And the ease with which the Estonian authorities are sacrificing civilian facilities for NATO’s policy aimed at accelerated militarization of the Baltic region is just surprising," the ministry said.