Interfax
April 22, 2014
Deputy Defense Minister: NATO tries to drive wedge between Russia, CSTO allies
MOSCOW: The North Atlantic Alliance pursues its policy even in member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov opined.
“Moral pressure is being exerted and attempts are being made to convince the public that “the Russians are bad” and they should choose an orientation towards European democracy. They are talking about some kind of military-technological assistance, advisors and a larger number of joint exercises. NATO pursues the sole task of driving a wedge between Russia and its allies, detaching us from one another,” Antonov said in an interview published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Tuesday.
The deputy defense minister added that the attempt to build an equal partnership and mutually advantageous cooperation with the alliance had failed.
The Ukrainian events proved that “NATO needed us only if we held a policy convenient for it,” he argued.
“We can see that the alliance continues to mount its military presence near our borders. They kept telling us about certain camps training soldiers and officers for missions in “hotbeds” and “semi-hotbeds”. Now it is not a secret that these military units of NATO will be permanent. Whatever they may be called – bases, contingents or formations – their meaning does not change. A military potential is emerging by the Russian borders,” he said.
Russia is interested in collaboration with NATO to the degree the alliance is interested in collaboration with Moscow, Antonov said.
“If anyone thinks that Russia will rush into a project as soon as NATO crooks a finger at us, this is a profound mistake to make,” the deputy minister underscored.
That is why Russia has decided to withdraw its military representative from Brussels, he said.
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