LONDON, May 4. /TASS/. The 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act won't stop the alliance from expanding its military presence in Eastern Europe, said NATO Military Committee Chair Admiral Rob Bauer, according to the Financial Times.
"The NATO-Russia act is still there. But nothing that we have to do is going to be hampered by its content," Bauer said, as cited by the newspaper. "For now, the general opinion on the political level is that we do not kill [the agreement], but nothing in it·.·.·. ·will stop us doing what we have to do," he added.
According to the paper, Bauer said that he "attempted to set up calls with his opposite number - Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of the general staff - before and after the invasion began, only to be rebuffed."
In May 1997, Moscow and the Western-led block inked the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation, confirming that they "do not consider each other as adversaries" and pledging not to deploy significant military forces near each other’s borders. In December 2021, Russia sent its security proposals to Washington and NATO, demanding that NATO stop its eastward expansion and return its military infrastructure to the 1997 borders. The United States and NATO handed their written responses to Moscow, failing to make crucial concessions.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine based on a request from the heads of the Donbass republics. In response, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and a number of other countries imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and entities.