Strengthening of tools of confidence-building measures impossible without NATO abandoning its line towards forceful domination - Grushko
BRUSSELS. March 30 (Interfax) - NATO representatives at a NATO-Russia Council (NRC) meeting talked about the importance of developing the Vienna Document on Confidence-Building Measures and other arms-control mechanisms, Russian Permanent Representative to NATO Alexander Grushko told Russian journalists on Thursday.
"But they were unable to answer the question how this could match their course towards deterrence of Russia and the demonstration of military muscles near our borders. These are incompatible things. The strengthening of the tools of confidence-building measures is impossible without the alliance abandoning its line towards forceful domination," Grushko said after the NRC meeting.
"Still, even in these complicated circumstances, which were created not by us, we are prepared to jointly search for ways to de-escalate, reduce the danger of unpredictable military incidents," Grushko said.
"NATO also constantly talks about - and this was also discussed today - its wish to go down this path. However, this requires a restoration of normal systemic working military communications and a re-launch of the military dialogue and cooperation mechanism. As is known, the Russian Defense Ministry formulated specific proposals on this score, which are still on the table," the Russian envoy recalled.
Under agreements reached during a telephone conversation between the Russian chief of the Armed Force General Staff, Valery Gerasimov and NATO Military Committee Chairman Petr Pavel on March 3, the parties exchanged information, in the spirit of transparency, on several aspects of military activities and changes in the configuration of forces, Grushko said.
"In addition to the information we passed under the Vienna Document, relevant explanations were provided regarding the deploying of two divisions in the Western Military District of the Russian Federation and of a motorized infantry division in the Southern Military District. For their part, NATO countries updated us on the implementation of their plans for advanced deployment on the eastern flank," the diplomat said.
"I don't want to downplay the importance of such mutual informing, but it is clear that an exchange of briefings is not enough for the security situation to change qualitatively for the better. A dialogue for dialogue's sake will yield no results, unless discussions shift to concrete actions and decisions. To create a proper context for the joint work of restoring arms-control mechanisms, we need NATO to stop the process of pumping hardware into the eastern flank, leading to the jeopardizing of regional stability," the head of the Russian diplomatic mission to NATO said.
