Stoltenberg: The world where Russia participated in NATO summits no longer exists
The world when Russia took part in NATO summits no longer exists but the alliance needs “minimum contact” with the Russian side, said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg who is taking part in a security conference in Berlin. He speculated on the security architecture in Europe.
“For many years NATO tried to build a more constructive relationship with Russia, a dialogue with Russia…That world no longer exists,” he said.
Lavrov believes the situation may prompt NATO to make rash decisions
According to Stoltenberg, the conflict in Ukraine has “destroyed the idea of meaningful dialogue” between the parties. “At the same time, we must maintain military channels of communication to prevent escalation, incidents like the one that took place in Poland, to do everything so that incidents do not get out of hand,” the NATO secretary general pointed out.
He stressed that cooperation between the parties was also needed on arms control issues. “We need minimal contact with Russia,” Stoltenberg concluded.
Moscow has repeatedly pointed out that the North Atlantic Alliance aims at confrontation. As Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed, further expansion of the bloc would not bring greater security to Europe. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow remained open to dialogue with NATO, but on an equal footing, while the West should abandon its policy of militarising the continent. Russia has in recent years alleged unprecedented NATO activity near its western borders. NATO is expanding initiatives and calls it “deterring Russian aggression”. Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern about the alliance’s build-up of forces in Europe. The Kremlin has pointed out that the Russian Federation does not pose a threat, but will not ignore actions potentially dangerous to its interests.
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