MOSCOW, May 7 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova – NATO’s actions during the crisis in Ukraine prove Russia is still the alliance’s primary target, the founder and editor of Oriental Review magazine Andrey Fomin told RIA Novosti.
“Despite all previous claims about NATO's ‘universal value’ as a global security enforcer, its practical moves during the Ukrainian crisis demonstrate that containing Russia is still NATO's priority goal as it was since the unilateral establishment of this organization by the anti-Soviet bloc in 1949,” Fomin said.
US Air Force General Philip Breedlove said Tuesday that NATO will consider permanently stationing troops in parts of Eastern Europe following the increased tensions over Ukraine, Reuters reported. “I think this is something we have to consider and we will tee this up for discussion through the leaderships of our nations to see where that leads,” he was quoted by the agency as saying.
Defense and foreign ministers of the NATO member states as well as the alliance’s commanders would look at “tougher questions” about its presence in Europe prior to a summit of NATO leaders in Wales this September, Breedlove said.
“General Philip Breedlove's proposal for the coming NATO Summit in Wales to consider the permanent dislocation of NATO troops in the Baltic states, Poland and Romania after the current short-term agreements on rotations expire at the end of 2014, clearly exposes the strategic agenda of this military bloc,” Fomin told RIA Novosti.
“Therefore, escalation in Ukraine merely facilitated the exposure of NATO's genuine agenda, which was carefully hidden for the last 23 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union,” he added.
“The initiative also indicates that NATO's European command is seriously considering the possibility of further escalation in Ukraine beyond 2014. In the situation of a factual decay of Ukraine, they are trying to secure a strategic bridgehead for the prompt occupation of its western regions,” Fomin said. “That means that Washington's strategists have already ruled out further existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state.”
NATO has ramped up its military presence in the Baltic States and in Eastern Europe. The Pentagon sent additional fighter jets to Lithuania bringing the total number of the aircraft deployed to the region to 10. NATO has repeatedly blamed Russia for the escalation of tensions in Ukraine and building up arms and troops on the country’s border.
