BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Stoltenberg met with Russia's top diplomat on the sidelines of a session of the European Council of Ministers in Brussels earlier in the day.
[VIDEO] Statement post #NATO SG meeting with Russian ForMin https://t.co/7dXXh2BK8S
— NATO (@NATO) 19 мая 2015
"For NATO it is important to do whatever we can to avoid incidents and the situation spiraling out of control. And therefore we are very focused on transparency related to all our exercises and we are fully transparent when it comes to when and where we are going to conduct exercises."
#NATO SG meets #Russia Minister of Foreign Affairs Lavrov in Brussels today http://t.co/L8dA0hH8Ev pic.twitter.com/oN1VqFGYio
— NATO (@NATO) 19 мая 2015
NATO has been increasing its presence in Eastern Europe and near Russia's western border over the past year amid strained relations with Moscow arising from the Ukrainian conflict.
In December 2014, Russia's Defense Ministry said the country planned to conduct at least 4,000 military drills in 2015. NATO expressed concern over the exercises despite the fact that Moscow gave advance warning of its plans to hold drills in 2015.