18 Nov 2019 17:09

Minsk, Moscow concerned about buildup of NATO infrastructure near Belarusian border - Belarusian FM

MOSCOW. Nov 18 (Interfax) - Minsk expects that its concerns about the buildup of NATO's military capabilities near Belarusian borders will be taken into account, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said on Monday.

"We have spoken on numerous occasions about our interest in the development of equitable and mutually respectful dialogue with NATO, which would help make military activities in Europe more transparent and predictable," Makei said at the outset of a joint board meeting of the Russian and Belarusian foreign ministries.

"We expect that our concerns about the buildup of NATO's military capability and the reinforcement of its infrastructure near Belarusian borders will be heard by the alliance and its member states. At the very least, our latest contacts with U.S. representatives give us such a hope," he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow and Minsk are concerned about NATO's growing military activities near the borders of the two countries.

"We agreed today to consider a situation that is taking shape in the Euro-Atlantic area. We are concerned about NATO's continued course toward moving its military architecture closer to our borders, and we are concerned about the North Atlantic alliance's growing activity near our countries," Lavrov said.

Russia and Belarus believe these processes should be considered in the context of obligations existing within the OSCE framework that stipulate that countries should not enhance their security at the expense of security of others, he said.