WASHINGTON, August 28 (RIA Novosti), Lyudmila Chernova – The deployment of NATO forces to new bases in Eastern Europe could have been seen coming as Russia did nothing to oppose the move, and instead refers to the alliance and its member states as "esteemed colleagues," believes Rick Rozoff, manager of the Stop NATO international network.
"The reason why this has occurred is because the Russian government has done nothing to oppose it – not even verbally – instead regularly referring to NATO and its member states as Russia's ‘valued partners,’ ‘esteemed colleagues,’ etc., etc., ad nauseam," Rozoff told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
Rozoff underlined that the United States and NATO already have bases, including air bases, in most of the seven nations absorbed into NATO in 2004 at the NATO summit in Istanbul Turkey: Bulgaria, Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"They also have control of air bases in Hungary and Poland. The air bases in Lithuania and Estonia allow NATO warplanes to strike Russia's two largest cities in a matter of mere minutes," Rozoff said.
Next week, NATO members are scheduled to meet in Wales to discuss the alliance's response to Russia, which it accuses of interfering in Ukrainian affairs.
Earlier, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told European journalists that the alliance intends to deploy forces in Eastern Europe in response to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and to counter the threat posed by Russia to the Baltic republics, which were previously part of the Soviet Union.
On Sunday, Germany’s Der Spiegel reported that Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia felt threatened by Russia's intervention in Ukraine and feared what they described as Russian aggression.
Ahead of the NATO summit at the end of next week, the four countries have urged the military bloc to mention Moscow as a potential aggressor in its summit communique.
Russia’s Permanent Mission to NATO told RIA Novosti on Monday that Moscow has no plans to participate in any activities during the NATO summit in Wales.
