NATO-Russia Council meeting demonstrates proximity of stances on anti-terrorism fight, fails to de-escalate tensions - Pushkov
MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) - The NATO-Russia Council meeting has demonstrated the proximity of the sides' stances on the fight against terrorism but has failed to de-escalate tensions, State Duma International Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov said, adding that the alliance had yet to show its readiness to respond to the issues raised by Russia, including alleviation of tensions in the Baltic region.
"I can see two positive aspects in the meeting of that Council. As far as I can judge, during the discussion of the Afghanistan situation, the sides indicated proximity of their stances on the need to fight ISIL [banned in Russia] and terrorism and their general attitude to the Taliban movement [banned in Russia]. Given that Russia-NATO relations are going through a rather acute stage, it is crucial to find points of contact for preserving certain areas for dialogue," Pushkov told Interfax on Wednesday.
"Did we manage to take any steps towards de-escalating tensions? I believe we have failed to take those steps as of yet [...]. To my mind, the ball is in the NATO court in this discussion. NATO is taking steps, which can be interpreted as measures putting Russia's security into question; these steps lead to destabilization and I think that NATO should look into and respond to the questions raised by Russia at the NATO-Russia Council meeting in order to de-escalate the situation," Pushkov said.
The proposal of the Finnish president to agree that all warplanes, reconnaissance planes of Russia and NATO flying over the Baltic Sea have their transponders switched on in order to avoid dangerous incidents in the air lays a good foundation for easing tensions, he said.
"NATO could exhibit a much greater determination to take practical steps towards resolution of this problem. As far as I know, the issue has been discussed but I do not think any solutions have been found," he said.
NATO should support the Finnish president's plan of the prevention of dangerous incidents in the Baltic Sea region, which has been backed up by Russia, he said.
"NATO has had a chance to demonstrate the readiness for dialogue which NATO Secretary General Mr. Stoltenberg constantly declares but, alas, those negotiations have not borne fruit so far. I believe that NATO is responsible for the failure to achieve results at those negotiations," Pushkov said.
He called lame NATO's excuses of tensions in Ukraine. The Ukraine issue and Baltic Sea incidents are not interrelated and should not be linked to one another, the parliamentarian said.
Neither Russia nor Europe is interested in the escalation of tensions, he said.
"If the NATO-Russia Council meeting becomes the first step towards the elaboration of de-escalation measures, then we can say that this meeting had a political meaning," Pushkov said.
Results of the NATO-Russia Council meeting should not be viewed from the angle of any breakthrough, which can hardly be achieved under the current circumstances, but rather from the angle of readiness to find points of contact at those meetings and ability to take steps towards de-escalating the conflict situation in Europe, he said.