Senator Alexey Pushkov. Archival photoMOSCOW, Jan 19The invitation of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to visit London may be due to the fears of Western countries of a conflict with Russia, Senator Alexei Pushkov told the Vzglyad newspaper. In his opinion, Britain took such a step out of -for the prospect of failure of Moscow's negotiations with Washington and NATO on security guarantees. «Therefore, in NATO, with all the pathos of Stoltenberg's harsh statements, there is probably still a fear that in the absence of agreements with Russia, a pre-conflict situation will arise. In this sense, the UK is trying to prolong the dynamics of negotiations at the bilateral level,» Pushkov said. The member of the Federation Council also suggested that London decided to behave «extraordinary» against the background of other European countries that were excluded from the dialogue with the Russian side on security issues. «Instead of intimidation, threats and whipping up hysteria, they decided to offer Moscow some kind of rational interaction,» the senator believes. Pushkov called the initiative b The Tang minister was «a diplomatic move rather than a change of position.» Earlier, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace invited Shoigu to visit London in the next few weeks. According to him, the heads of the military departments could discuss issues related to general security concerns.
