MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti), Nikita Alentyev – Eastern European campaigns for NATO to make a lasting statement in the region are just a power play, political scientist Igor Zevelev told RIA Novosti Monday.
“There is no talk of using force on the part of NATO. The idea is to send a serious signal to Moscow from NATO, Washington and Brussels in a kind of power play,” said Igor Zevelev, PhD with extensive expertise on international security and Russian foreign policy.
Commenting on the call of Radoslaw Sikorski, Polish Foreign Minister, to station 10, 000 troops in the country, Dr. Zevelev clarified that it’s “not up to Warsaw to take the final decision.”
“This decision will be finalized in Brussels and Washington. As many questions remain unanswered, including whether these troops are to be stationed in Poland permanently or on a rotational basis, we cannot say for sure if the other members of the Alliance agree to the move, as the endeavor is both rash and large-scale,” he concluded.
Talking to RIA Novosti, Alexei Pilko, the director general of the Eurasian Communication Center, voiced a similar opinion, labelling NATO’s Eastern European moves as a “demonstration with no real threat to Russia’s national security.”
“They [NATO] are most likely just trying to scare us, testing our stress-resistance and determination. If Russia stands its ground and doesn’t give up its current take on geopolitics, nothing serious will happen,” Pilko said, echoing Dr. Zevelev’s conviction, that “NATO’s overmatch in Europe does not deserve attention, as Russia’s national security is guaranteed by nuclear weapons.”
Drawing on the rhetoric of Eastern threat, that the Alliance seems to be using, Pilko stated that China is a more pressing strategic focal point for NATO, not Russia.
“We have to bear in mind, that the US is currently more focused on containing China, than Russia. The military infrastructure of the US has started relocation. America has a strong military foothold on the Pacific Ocean, as the main political adversary, according to the American elites, is China, and not Russia,” he asserted.
As NATO members in Eastern Europe continue to rely on Washington to frighten Russia with a three-fold overmatch in military presence, the Kremlin holds firm onto the foreign policy that it has so far pursued.
