Stoltenberg: incidents in the Baltic Sea one of the topics NATO-Russia Council – Onet.pl

 
  Photo: AFP
 
 
  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
 
 
 

stressed that the meeting of the NATO Council Russia at ambassadorial level will be the first since 2014.

– we will discuss about the crisis in Ukraine and around the country, military actions, their transparency and reduce risks associated with them, as well as Afghanistan – Stolteberg told reporters before a meeting of defense ministers of the EU.

– the incidents that took place in the Baltic Sea last week, unprofessional and dangerous behavior of Russian aircraft in the vicinity of the US ship and an American plane, only emphasize the importance of open communication channels, predictability and reduce risk. These are issues that we will discuss on Wednesday with Russia – said Stoltenberg.

– It is very important that we led political dialogue (with Russia), especially in such difficult times like now – pointed Secretary General of NATO. – The main purpose of the meeting NATO-Russia Council is to exchange views, increase transparency and predictability of action – he said.

last week, Russian aircraft Su-24 flew 20 times on the destroyer USS Donald Cook located in international waters in the Baltic Sea. On board the ship was a Polish helicopter. Information about the incident provided the American sources. The incident occurred in international waters in the distance of 70 nautical miles (approx. 130 km) from Kaliningrad. USS Donald Cook came out on April 11 from the port of Gdynia.

On Sunday US command of the armed forces in Europe reported that the plane RC-135 during a routine flight in international airspace over the Baltic Sea was intercepted by russian fighter Su-27, which is dangerously close to the machine and “made unpredictable and aggressive maneuvers.” With relations spokesman of the American command in Europe Danny Hernandez CNN that Russian machine approached the RC-135 a distance of approx. 15 meters.

Stoltenberg also said that he expects that the Russians will present on Wednesday its opinion on the plans to strengthen the common defense of the Alliance, which implies an increase in the military presence in the Eastern European member states of NATO. – NATO is not seeking new Cold War and the arms race – he stressed. He added that plans to strengthen the eastern flank have “a defensive character, are proportionate and are a reaction to the aggressive actions of Russia in Ukraine”.

– the fact that convenes NATO-Russia Council does not mean that we return to a normal relationship – reserved Stoltenberg.

NATO-Russia Council was established in 2002 under the arrangements contained in the so-called. Rome Declaration as a forum for consultation on security issues and cooperation between Member States, NATO and the Russian Federation.

After the annexation of the Crimea by Russia and the beginning of military operations in the east of Ukraine in 2014, NATO suspended civil and military cooperation with Moscow. Contacts within the NATO-Russia Council have been reduced to the level of ambassadors. Since the outbreak of the conflict Ukrainian held two meetings with the ambassadors – in March and June 2014.

Peskov: a total lack of trust between Russia and NATO

– between Russia and NATO, we have a total lack of confidence and it will be difficult to restore them – said the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on the eve of a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council. Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the issue is taken eastward expansion of NATO.

Russian-NATO relations are characterized by mutual deficit trust – said Peskov. According to him, you can even talk about “the triumph of mutual distrust.”

spokesman also expressed his belief that dialogue Russia and NATO “will not be easy, because it destroys trust very quickly, but its reconstruction proceeds much more slowly and at a much larger effort.”

Peskov said that Russia has always been an advocate of dialogue with NATO. – Therefore, we can only express satisfaction that the dialogue will continue – he said.

the other hand, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Russia Maria Zakharova said that during the discussions the Russian side “is going to express concern about the open course NATO oriented military-political deterrence of Russia and the development of military infrastructure of NATO to the east”. She added that Russia perceives this as a “weakening of the spirit of the memorandum Russia-NATO Council in 1997″.