'Anti-Russian Hysteria' Dominates NATO Parliamentary Assembly

Issues related to Russia and "anti-Russian hysteria" dominated the spring session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly held in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on May 26-29, Serbian lawmaker Vladimir Djukanovic told Sputnik.

"The anti-Russian 'hysteria' was primarily fueled by the Baltic states, as well as Georgia and Ukraine," he said. "The United States and Great Britain have backed this stance. Other countries also continue to criticize Russia, but not as fiercely. For instance, Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament Andriy Parubiy demanded tougher sanctions against Russia, but failed to win support for this initiative."

Djukanovic further mentioned military spending, a major point of contention between the United States and other NATO members since only five countries allocate the required 2 percent of GDP on defense. Lawmakers from Spain, Portugal and France were particularly opposed to the idea of increasing the military budget, he said.

"They said that they are already making a large contribution to mankind. Thus it is unnecessary to ask them to do more. Meanwhile, those present failed to reach a consensus on this issue. However, Georgia's servility came as a surprise to everyone. Georgian MPs insisted that member states should allocate 6 percent of GDP on defense, spending 20 percent of this budget on rearmament," he said.

Approximately 200 lawmakers from NATO member states and partner nations took part in the four-day parliamentary assembly.

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