MOSCOW, November 5 (RIA Novosti) — Russia is going to take NATO's bolstered European presence in account when framing its new military defense plan, the country's envoy to the military bloc said in an interview to a Russian newspaper.
"NATO cannot ignore the fact that a stronger configuration of the alliance forces will be taken into account by our military strategists, and Russia will take every necessary step to beef up its defenses against all possible threats," Alexander Grushko told the Kommersant daily.
The envoy warned that alliance's decision to strengthen its "eastern flank" and the fact that NATO is returning to its Cold War stance of opposing what it considers to be "No 1 enemy", would have long-lasting political implications.
NATO has been building up strength ever since the start of the Ukrainian crisis when Cold War mentality crept into its relations with Russia. In the aftermath of Crimea's reunification with Russia, the 28-member military bloc ramped up its presence on the Russian western borders and increased the number of military flights close to Russia's airspace.
Alexander Grushko said that in the absence of a major challenge that would excuse its existence, NATO used the crisis in Ukraine as a pretext to flex it military muscle and switch to the territorial war, which was billed as the bloc's main role in Europe during the Cold War.
"In an atmosphere where NATO risked having nothing big to do after the end of the Afghan mission, the alliance looked around in search of where to apply itself. Long before the events in Ukraine started unfolding, NATO was mulling a sharp increase in military drills to compensate for its loss of a gigantic training ground for smoother integration of ISAF forces," Grushko said.
He also warned that a freeze in Russia-NATO cooperation would have a fallout effect on global and regional security.
"We did not refuse to talk. It wasn't our decision to suspend practical cooperation projects in the framework of the NRC [NATO-Russia Council]," Grushko said, stressing Russia had partnered up with NATO "not for the sake of partnership itself but for the sake of greater security in the entire Euro-Atlantic region."
Relations between Russia and NATO have been strained since the alliance accused Russia of meddling in the Ukrainian situation, a claim that Russia has repeatedly denied. After Crimea's secession, NATO boosted its military presence in Poland and in the former Soviet Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
In April, the military bloc froze its cooperation with Russia, only maintaining contacts at the ambassadorial and higher levels.
