MOSCOW, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - The West has failed to keep its promise, given to the Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, to contain NATO expansion, New York director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) Alice Slater told RIA Novosti Friday.
"The West is now caught up in a new cold war, having failed to contain NATO as promised to Gorbachev when the wall came down in Berlin and having expanded the missile program into Eastern Europe after the US walked out of its Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia," Slater said.
Earlier on Thursday, Maj. Gen. Walter Piatt, deputy commanding general of US Army Europe, told RIA Novosti that the United States will increase its military partnership with Romanian forces, and hold large scale exercises in January.
Over the past few months, NATO has been placing additional forces in the Baltics after a political crisis erupted in Ukraine and Crimea reunified with Russia in March. The alliance explained the measures with the need to ensure the security of its allies.
On April 1, NATO ended all practical cooperation with Russia over Ukraine, only maintaining contacts at the ambassadorial and higher levels.
Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over the increasing and excessive NATO military presence close to its borders.
In late September, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called NATO expansion in Eastern Europe a "mistake" and a "provocation" that undermines the whole European security system.
