Russia cannot see NATO expansion towards its borders as positive, as under certain circumstances the possibility of military confrontation remains, the Russian PM has said at the Euro-Arctic Council’s forum.
When a reporter asked Dmitry Medvedev how the balance of forces
in Europe will change if Sweden and Finland decide to enter NATO,
the Russian Prime Minister answered that his country would have
to react to such developments.
“This is their own business; they are making decisions in
accordance with the national sovereignty doctrine. But we have to
consider the fact that for us the NATO bloc is not simply some
estranged organisation, but a structure with military
potential,” the head of the Russian government said adding
that under certain unfavorable scenarios this potential could be
used against Russia.
“All new members of the North Atlantic alliance that appear in
proximity of our state eventually do change the parity of the
military force. And we have to react to this,” the top
official noted.
At the same time, Medvedev told reporters that currently Russia
and NATO have a working and effective body of cooperation — the
Russia-NATO council.
The issue of NATO expansion towards Russian borders is also
important as it is directly connected with the deployment of
global missile defense system in NATO member countries, including
former Warsaw Pact members, such as Poland and the Czech
Republic. As US and NATO refused to provide Russia with legally
binding guarantees that the ABM systems would not target Russian
forces, Russia is opposing the move, warning of future tensions
and the possibility of a new arms race.
Earlier this week US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke at a
joint press conference with Poland’s Foreign Minister Radek
Sikorski and said that his country was not making any concessions
to Russia as it altered the plans to develop and run the missile
defense system.
“The United States of America has made zero concessions to
Russia with respect to missile defense,” news agencies quoted
the top US diplomat as saying.
He added that the elements of the missile defense shield would be
placed in Poland by 2018 and that this was part of NATO’s
modernized approach to security.
The plans to deploy a missile defense system in NATO
member-countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic caused
strong protests from Russia and in 2008 then President Dmitry
Medvedev announced that his country would deploy the newest
Iskander ballistic missiles in the Kaliningrad Region — Russia’s
westernmost exclave — and this move would render the planned
defense system useless. In 2012 Russia allocated additional means
to upgrade the Iskander systems announcing that this would allow
the weapon to effectively counter the US anti-missile systems.
Russian media have reported that Iskander deployment to
Kaliningrad should have started in the second half of 2012, but
the military denied this and said it is still in the preparatory
stage.
This article originally appeared on: RT