Interfax
April 18, 2015
Russia open to military cooperation with U.S., other NATO countries – military official
Russia’s Dmitri Medvedev and friends at the 2010 NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal
[The man who speaks the truth should have one foot in the stirrup – Armenian proverb]
VLADIVOSTOK: Russia is interested in maintaining military cooperation with the U.S. and other NATO countries to the extent they are interested in this themselves, says Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov.
“As concerns us, I would like simply to reaffirm that we are interested in military cooperation with the U.S. and [other] NATO countries to the extent they are interested in this. All mechanisms are in place, and it were not we who froze them. We believe this decision is wrong. But we won’t coax, cajole, or beg anyone,” Antonov said in an interview shown in a Saturday analytical program hosted by Sergei Brilyov.
Russia and the U.S. have an agreement on the prevention of dangerous military activities, and there is also a national nuclear threat analysis center through whose channels Moscow can immediately contact Brussels, Washington or other capital, he said.
“This is not a problem. The problem is that all these channels have been frozen today. Unfortunately, the NATO countries and the United States have frozen all these contacts. And I feel and sense from conversations, from media reports, and from unofficial contacts that both the Americans and the [other] NATO countries perfectly understand that such mechanisms should live and exist. And besides, it’s very bad when the military stop talking. It’s bad for the world, for stability, and for regional security,” Antonov said.
Source