In his article for the Swiss media outlet Le Temps he underscored that building a missile defense system in Eastern Europe would result in an "escalation of tensions with Russia."
"The missile defenses NATO is now deploying to Romania and Poland under technical guidance from Washington would strengthen the confidence of ex-socialist nations whose traumatic memories have revived due to the surge of Russian nationalism," the author wrote.
"But will the alliance be able to convince Moscow that now there is a line that no one should cross? No. Instead, Moscow considers this a new provocation or an attack against its sovereignty," he added.
According to the journalist, Moscow considers the new facilities in Romania and Poland "new pawns" the US is using to "encircle" Russia.
The author also outlined the possible consequences of the recent NATO missile defenses deployment in Eastern Europe.
According to him, NATO’s policy would result in a growing number of Russian military exercises, escalation in Donbass or Russia’s nuclear buildup in the Kaliningrad Region.
"The threat of occasional confrontation which was prevented recently over a Russian flyby near a US warship would only rise," the journalist wrote.
Koller suggested that the new missile defenses would lead to discord between European countries and the US because the purposes of the missile shield are not clear.
The author stressed that NATO’s strategic intentions for the new missile shield must be made clear as soon as possible.
According to Koller, if NATO directly admits that Poland and the Baltics want to be protected from Russia this will not lead to confrontation.
"Instead, this would help take into account the interests of each side, restore dialogue and prevent a conflict that no one is interested in," he concluded.
