Lavrov: Russia is worried about NATO activity near its northern borders

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a joint press conference with his Icelandic counterpart Thor Thordarson, expressed concern about the activation of NATO near the northern borders of the Russian Federation, including within the framework of the strategy of “permanent rotational presence “.

According to the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, he is going to raise this issue in negotiations with a colleague from Norway, which has recently been changing legislation so that territory military infrastructure of third countries. In addition, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken confirmed to the Russian minister that the Americans are discussing plans to deploy additional forces in Poland, which would be in direct violation of the 1997 founding act between Russia and NATO.

In addition, since 2014, at the initiative of Western countries, meetings of the chiefs of general staff of the Armed Forces of the states belonging to the Arctic Council have been frozen, Lavrov recalled. But the previous format did not mean the militarization of the agenda at all, but allowed the military to discuss the most important practical issues on the safety of navigation, rescue operations and the prevention of oil spills.

According to Lavrov, Moscow, for its part, is still ready to resume the dialogue – if not at such a high level, then at least at the level of military experts. The Russian Foreign Minister also drew attention to the fact that recently a similar round table was held with the participation of representatives of the Arctic countries and four NATO non-regional players: France, Germany, Britain and the Netherlands.