He stressed that this question would top the agenda of a meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and NATO officials in Brussels. Russia wants the new members of the alliance to comply with “political obligations on military restraint” before ratifying the CFE treaty, according to Mr. Chizhov. He said Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania had expressed their intention to join the treaty, but it is impossible before the ratification of the document.

According to Mr. Chizhov, Russia implemented all its obligations on the agreement. In particular, it closed two military bases in Georgia, and is in talks with Georgian authorities on the fate of the remaining two bases in Batumi and Akhalkalaki. In addition, Russia is pulling its troops out of Transnistria.

Russia is also going to discuss the situation in Kosovo at the meeting of the Russia-NATO Council. Mr. Chizhov said Russia was going to submit a number of proposals on the settlement of the conflict. Problems connected with Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East, will also be discussed at the meeting.

According to Mr. Chizhov, the position of the Russian Foreign Ministry on NATO’s expansion was “calmly negative”. He said Russia did not see it as a big threat, but was concerned about the expansion process. Mr. Chizhov noted that Russia’s common border with NATO increased with the admission of new countries into the alliance. He stressed that, in the opinion of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the expansion of NATO is a big strategic mistake. “The world has changed more significantly than NATO did. The actions of the alliance can be seen as an attempt to address the threats of the 21st century using the methods of the 20th century,” Mr. Chizhov stressed.

He said Russia and the United States were holding consultations on increasing the number of US military bases. According to him, new US bases could appear in Romania, Bulgaria and – though less likely – in Poland. Mr. Chizhov said the US was planning to switch from powerful military bases to smaller bases. This means that Washington will increase the number of small bases, reducing the number of staff but keeping the same amount of equipment.

For their part, US officials say Russia should not be concerned about it because the total number of US troops in other countries will decrease.