On NATO expansion to the east

- Russia is watching the process of NATO's enlargement attentively. Russia had declared several times that it disapproved of NATO's expansion to the east. We will watch this process attentively. If NATO's task is just to protect the interests of its members and there will be no threat to its neighbors, then this is their right. If such threats emerge, including those posed to friendly CIS countries, Russia always has an adequate response. The Russian Armed Forces are in constant combat readiness and we are watching thoroughly what is going on near our borders.

Russia Watching NATO Expansion//RBC(Moscow) - 29.03.2004

---

- The real consequences of NATO's enlargement (in early April, the alliance admitted Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania) have not been thought over thoroughly. Pan-European security issues cannot be addressed in isolation from the Commonwealth of Independent States. Europe's trend of confining all problems to the regional scale alone should be amended. There is no local security, as security is indivisible. The NATO enlargement cannot, therefore, be regarded other than a security threat to Belarus, Russia and other CIS countries.

The four new NATO nations, namely the Baltic republics and Slovakia, are not signatories to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces In Europe. And the politico-military situation in Europe is not safe until all the European countries without exception sign the CFE Treaty.

All the CIS countries, except Russia, have voluntarily declined nuclear status. The NATO nations may follow suit and create a nuclear free zone. The NATO countries should undertake to create a common European anti-aircraft defense system to counter terrorist threats. These matters gain in importance in light of a coming review conference on the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

I hope the NATO countries will be able to transform the alliance into a tool of confidence building.

Federation Council Speaker urges to assess NATO enlargement's consequences//RIA Novosti(Moscow). - 16.04.2004

 

 

 

Opinion:
	On Basayev's killing
	On Iran nuclear program
	On OSCE functions
	On Kyoto protocol
	On NATO expansion to the east
	On the Chechen war
	On Russia's economic development
	On the Russian Government's social policy
	On the war in Iraq
	On AIDS
	On Russia-US relations
	On Mikhail Khodorkovski arrest
	On revolution in Kyrgyzstan (March 2005)
	On science in Russia
	On terrorism