"The military-political situation along [Russia’s] western borders remains unstable. The United States and other NATO members continue to build up military capabilities, primarily in countries neighboring Russia," Shoigu said at the ministry’s offsite meeting.
He raised concern with the rotational presence of up to 30 warplanes, around 1,200 pieces of military equipment and over 1,000 Western European and US personnel in Eastern Europe.
Moreover, NATO continues to bring up to the military alliance’s standards the military facilities close to the Russian border, Shoigu said.
"Work continues on the modernization and bringing to the standards of the alliance of a number of military facilities in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic countries," Shoigu said.
He voiced particular concern with the deployment of US missile defense systems in Romania and Poland.
At the same time, NATO could bolster its military activity along the Russian border after its summit in Poland next month.
"We do not exclude that after the NATO summit, the scale of NATO’s military presence and the activity of the alliance armed forces near the Russian border can significantly increase," Shoigu said at the ministry board's field meeting.
Thus, NATO's increased military activity near the Russian border undermines strategic stability in Europe and forces Russia to take retaliatory measures, Sergei Shoigu added.
"These actions by Western colleagues tend to undermine strategic stability in Europe and force us to take retaliatory measures, primarily in the Western strategic direction," Shoigu said at the ministry board’s field meeting.
