MOSCOW, October 28 (RIA Novosti) – The west continues to expand NATO, giving security guarantees only to its members, instead of granting OSCE the right to provide security for everyone, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"Instead of making OSCE a normal organization, which would become a real security organization, ensuring security for everyone, our western colleagues took the course of thoughtless, limitless NATO expansion, telling us directly, that legal security guarantees can only be given to those who join the North Atlantic Alliance," Lavov said in an interview with the Life News TV channel and the Izvestia newspaper.
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.
