Lavrov slams NATO buildup in Eastern Europe

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has reiterated that NATO’s expansion and military buildup in Eastern Europe provokes confrontation and undermines European security.

Lavrov made the remarks on Saturday after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the sidelines of the 51st Munich Security Conference in southern Germany.

“NATO’s course on strengthening its military potential and expanding its military presence and infrastructure on the alliance’s ‘eastern flank’ as well as an increase in the number of exercises near the Russian borders creates additional tensions, provoke confrontation and undermine the whole system of Euro-Atlantic security,” the Russian Foreign Ministry quoted Lavrov as saying.

The Russian top diplomat also criticized the Western military alliance’s support for Kiev’s military operations in Ukraine’s southeastern regions, saying it impedes efforts to peacefully resolve the “deep domestic crisis in Ukraine.”

The remarks by Lavrov come as the defense ministers of NATO’s 28 member states agreed on February 5 to establish six new command and control posts in the Eastern European nations of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania.

NATO also decided on setting up a new headquarters in western Poland to support northeastern member states as well as a similar site in Romania for members in southeastern Europe.

NATO expansion in Eastern Europe

The Western military alliance has over the past year increased its presence and conducted several exercises in Eastern Europe amid the crisis in Ukraine. In 2014, NATO forces held some 200 military exercises and Stoltenberg has promised that such drills would continue.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned NATO’s exercises and military buildup toward its borders.

Last month, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia Valery Gerasimov announced that Moscow plans to boost its military capabilities in the Crimean peninsula, the Arctic and the westernmost Kaliningrad region, amid NATO expansion in Eastern Europe.

NATO-Russia relations 

Relations between Russia and NATO strained after Ukraine’s Crimea re-integrated into the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, 2014. The military alliance ended all practical cooperation with Russia over the ensuing crisis in Ukraine last April.

Russia approved last December an updated version of the country’s military doctrine which considers NATO military buildup as a major foreign threat against its national security.

The United States and its European allies accuse Moscow of destabilizing Ukraine and have imposed a number of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia figures. Russia, however, rejects the accusation.

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