BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – According to the envoy, "the first step in this direction could be restoration of the contacts on the military line."
"We are ready to discuss any issues which are related to the security of all members of the Russia-NATO Council. This mechanism was created to examine mutual security issues, identify joint threats and coordinate counteraction to them" Grushko told RIA Novosti.
According to the envoy, "the first step in this direction could be restoration of the contacts on the military line."
Grushko noted that NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg had earlier announced the bloc’s intentions to introduce proposals for confidence-building measures within the framework of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) forum for security cooperation.
"This NATO initiative looks strange amid those military preparations which the alliance carries out on the ‘eastern front,’" the envoy said,
"It is clear that unless the NATO policies change, if the course for bringing their military infrastructure to our borders continues, if there are extra attempts to build up its advanced placement of heavy machinery, even more active rotations of the armed forces, it would be contrary to the very idea of confidence-building measures the alliance speaks of. They do not tally with these military preparations aimed, as is officially said, to ‘contain’ Russia," Grushko stressed.
The work of the NATO-Russia Council was suspended on April 1, 2014, after the alliance's foreign ministers issued a statement condemning Crimea's reunification with Russia.
Russia has repeatedly warned that the increased NATO activity close to its borders is provocative and poses a threat to regional and international stability.
Earlier this month, Stoltenberg spoke about raising the subject of reconvening the NATO-Russia Council to be used as a tool for political dialogue.
