Following NATO’s aggressive military posturing in Eastern Europe, Russian envoy to the alliance warned that the “configuration and activity” of its forces will impact how Russia proceeds with its own security planning and considerations.
“Obviously, we will take into consideration the configuration and activity of the NATO forces at the Russian borders in our military planning, and will take all that is necessary to reliably provide security and to ensure safety against any threats,” Russian media quoted Alexander Grushko citing Interfax news agency.
The statement by the Russian envoy follows on from the Cold War military alliance’s intention to put up more bases in Eastern Europe and the Baltic in order to counter an ‘overt’ Russian threat – despite objections from a number of NATO members.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen nonetheless said the 26-nation bloc will attempt to overcome the objections.
“We have something already called the NATO response force, whose purpose is to be able to be deployed rapidly if needed,” he said in a statement to the European press. “Now it’s our intention to develop what I would call a spearhead within that response force at very, very high readiness. In order to be able to provide such rapid reinforcements you also need some reception facilities in host nations. So it will involve the pre-positioning of supplies, of equipment, preparation of infrastructure, bases [and] headquarters.”
Grushko told journalists that Russia has always shown a readiness for open dialogue with the United States on a whole spectrum of issues of non-proliferation and arms control, including those of the INF Treaty.
Source: RT