NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference after the Russia-NATO Council meeting in Brussels. File photoBERLIN, Feb. 20NATO is ready to listen to Russia's concerns and find a solution that would help both sides, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told ARD.
"We have submitted written proposals from NATO and the US on arms control and transparency. This shows that we are ready for discussion, ready to listen to Russia's concerns and … try to find a solution that will help both NATO and Russia", Stoltenberg said.
He added that the issue of arms control plays an important role for both sides. «We want to convince Russia to change course and find a political solution together with us,» Stoltenberg added. Western states have recently expressed concern about Russia's allegedly dangerous actions near the borders of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied such accusations, saying that it does not threaten anyone and does not intend to attack anyone, and claims of «Russian aggression» are used as an excuse to deploy more NATO military equipment near Russian borders.
Stoltenberg threatened Russia with the strengthening of NATO at its bordersUnsubstantiated statements about the preparation of provocations by Russia continue to come from the West, despite the return of Russian troops to their places of deployment after the exercises. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. At a meeting with Putin, the head of the RF Ministry of Defense reported that «some of the exercises are coming to an end, some will be completed in the near future.» The Southern and Western military districts of the Russian Federation have begun returning troops to their places of deployment, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, told reporters on Tuesday. NATO sent written responses to these proposals to Moscow. In the draft agreement on security guarantees with NATO, Russia proposed to exclude further expansion of the alliance and the accession of Ukraine to it, to abandon military activities on the territory of Ukraine and other countries of Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia and Central Asia.
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