29 March 2004 10:41
Senior Russian MP warns NATO against expanding presence in Baltics
[No dateline, as received] If NATO continues to build up its military presence in the Baltics at the same rate as it
has up to now, Russia will have to embark on the road of rebuilding its military presence in its northwestern regions,
State Duma international affairs committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev has told Ekho Moskvy radio in comments on
NATO's enlargement.
He said that "if NATO behaves in the same way as it has behaved up to now, completely ignoring our concerns in
the sphere of national security and undertaking measures of supposedly defensive nature on the territory of the Baltic
states", then Russia might be led to adopt "retaliatory measures including reinforcement of Russian military
presence in our northwest".
He noted that Russia had unilaterally cut its military presence in its northwest by some 40 per cent in the last 6-7
years.
"I hope that NATO has enough common sense to avoid goading Russia and provoking retaliatory steps in the
Baltics," Kosachev said.
[Ekho Moskvy news agency] |
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