Russia: military cooperation with NATO has stopped
The North Atlantic Alliance stopped cooperation with Russia and instead is to strengthening its eastern flank against a “non-existent threat”, stated Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko in the interview with Izvestiya.
“The leaders of the Alliance like to talk about the importance of de-escalation, prevention of dangerous military incidents ... but they do nothing to restore normal relations in the area of military cooperation [with Moscow],” Grushko said.
Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pointed out to the risk of the new nuclear arm race due to Moscow’s actions. In the interview with the German newspaper Bild, Secretary General also stated that Moscow violates the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) in Europe.
Stoltenberg was referring to the deployment of Russian Iskander tactical missile systems near Kaliningrad. NATO is concerned about the deployment of such weapons close to Poland and Lithuania. The Pentagon also called the situation with Russian Iskander missiles “destabilizing”. Moscow, in turn, said that the deployment of weapons is “ of defensive in nature”.