NATO Secretary General invited Russia to be calmer Alliance expansion – RBC

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg did not agree with Moscow’s position, which calls the process of strengthening NATO forces in Eastern Europe, a provocation. He stated this at a lecture at Oxford University. Video lectures leads the official NATO channel on YouTube.

“No, I don’t understand when Russia expressed the view that NATO enlargement in Central and Eastern Europe is a provocation”, — said Stoltenberg. NATO Secretary General explained that “deeply convinced” that any nation has the right to choose “your way”. “It is not NATO expands, and Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary themselves expressed a desire to join the Alliance,” — said the Secretary General. Stoltenberg has described as “impossible” the exclusion of these countries in support of NATO due to the fact that Russia is “not like”.

He stressed that neither Russia nor other countries have no right to decide the fate of neighboring States. “Russia would have to relax and accept the fact that the neighbors are free to choose your path,” said Stoltenberg. While Stoltenberg said that NATO “leaves open the possibility of political dialogue with Russia.”

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the Secretary General also called the “main cause” of termination of the relationship between NATO and Russia. “The main reason why they changed is the annexation of Crimea. The use of military force against a neighbor is unacceptable. So we [NATO] had to answer. And we responded by increasing our military presence in the East, sending a clear signal that we are ready to defend all our allies against something like what happened in Ukraine”, — said Stoltenberg.

Earlier, on November 7, Stoltenberg said that hundreds of thousand NATO troops will be transferred to the strengthened mode of service amid growing tension in relations with Russia. NATO commanders want to train a large number of troops to curb “Russian aggression”, said the NATO Secretary General.

Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov in an interview with the Associated Press November 12, said that Russia does not feel secure when “NATO forces are getting bigger and bigger and closer and closer to Russia’s borders”. Then he said that stopping the expansion of NATO would lead to the restoration of trust between Russia and the United States during the presidency of the United States Donald trump.

Earlier on Monday, 21 November, Putin said that Russia “should take countermeasures” in response to NATO’s actions. He explained that he does not always understand “the logic of our partners,” and he had the impression that Western countries need external enemy to maintain discipline in their ranks. “With all the fear of Iran is not really felt,” — said Putin.