NATO will not allow Russia to impose military demands, says Germany

NATO will discuss Russia’s security proposals, but will not allow Moscow to dictate the alliance’s military conduct, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Sunday during a visit to German troops based in Lithuania to prevent an eventual Russian attack.

On Friday, Moscow established a list of demands for the West that includes the withdrawal of NATO battalions from Poland and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were once part of the Soviet Union.

Russia is also demanding a legally binding guarantee that NATO will desist from any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine, as well as an effective Russian veto of Ukraine’s future membership in NATO – already ruled out by the West.

“We need to resolve current tensions at the diplomatic level, but also by putting in a credible deterrent,” Lambrecht said in Rukla, on his first visit to German troops abroad.

The combat units, deployed three years after Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014, aim to thwart an attack and buy time for additional NATO troops to reach the front lines.

“We are going to discuss Russia’s proposals … But Russia cannot impose its stance on NATO partners, and that is something that we will make very clear in the talks (next week at the NATO board),” he added.

The West has threatened tough economic sanctions against Russia if Moscow increases the military volume on the Ukrainian border. Moscow says it is only responding to threats to its security arising from Kiev’s increasingly close relationship with NATO.

Along with Lambrecht, Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas on Sunday accused Russia of trying to pave the way for the alliance and said NATO must not allow Moscow to divide Europe into spheres of influence.

“We need to support Ukraine with all means, which includes the supply of lethal weapons,” added Anusauskas, without giving details on the type of weapons he was referring to.

Lambrecht declined to comment on a report in the German newspaper Der Spiegel, which said Saturday that NATO’s top general, Tod Wolters, had suggested that the alliance should establish a military presence in Bulgaria and Romania similar to that in Poland and the Baltic States .

(By Sabine Siebold)

Reference: CNN Brasil

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