Russia may pull out of Founding Act if NATO deploys extra forces in Europe - diplomat
BRUSSELS. June 2 (Interfax) - Russia's possible withdrawal from the Founding Act on its relations with NATO is just one of the options Moscow is considering as a reaction to NATO's planned permanent deployment of large military forces in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia's permanent envoy to NATO said on Monday.
"We'll just see and study what the ministers decide," Alexander Grushko told Interfax in reference to a planned meeting in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday of NATO defense ministers.
"But if it is additional deployment of substantial NATO combat forces in Central and Eastern Europe that is on the agenda - we can hear appeals to that effect, - such deployments, even if they are based on rotation, will hardly be qualifiable as a direct departure from commitments under fundamental Russia-NATO documents, including the Founding Act," Grushko said.
He said rotation is not the key criterion in the assessment of a combat potential. It is the permanent presence or absence of armed forces in a region that matters, he argued.
"Such actions would raise tensions in the Euro-Atlantic region and undermine the current security system in it. All this can throw Europe back to the times of the Cold War and trigger an arms race. NATO should realize that, if it embarks on that path, it can hardly expect Russia to reciprocate with 'restraint' in deployments of forces, as the Founding Act stipulates. But that is not our choice," the diplomat said.
