Russia censures NATO troops deployment near its borders

Russia’s ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has condemned the Western military alliance’s plans to deploy four battalions close to Russian borders, arguing that the moves will destabilize Europe.

“Those measures significantly erode the quality of regional security, in fact turning central and eastern Europe into an arena of military confrontation,” Alexander Grushko said on Thursday.

He added that NATO’s decision “directly infringes on" Russia's "legitimate security interests” and “won’t be left unanswered.”

Grushko’s comments came just after defense ministers from NATO member states reached a consensus on the deployment of four multinational battalions on a rotational basis to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

The senior military figures also held discussions on the establishment of a Romanian-led multinational “framework brigade” of ground troops as part of NATO's expansionist policies close to Russia's borders.

Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, the head of the defense committee of Russia's State Duma (the lower house of parliament), stated on Tuesday that NATO deployments will invoke countermeasures.

"We certainly decline to be intimidated by the four battalions. These forces are posing no danger for Russia since our army now is different from what we had 20 years ago," Komoyedov said in an interview with the Interfax news agency. 

He further noted that the increasing NATO military buildup on Russia’s borders is alarming.

“The countermeasures that we undertook, undertake and will be undertaking are such as to make it all clear for our partners from the very start," Komoyedov pointed out.

Also on Tuesday, the first deputy chairman of the defense and security committee of the Russian Federation Council said NATO is pursuing US policies in Eastern Europe.

“NATO will do what the Americans say, and this is why NATO is enlarging eastward as much as possible and is forming a noose around Russia,” Frants Klintsevich said.

He added that the battalions are being deployed as a beachhead for preparing the infrastructure for military activity against Russia.

Diplomatic sources say the four battalions are likely to number 2,500-3,000 troops combined with a small force designed to act as a tripwire.

The deployment, which is slated to be formally authorized during a summit in the Polish capital city of Warsaw next month, will be led by the US, Germany, Britain, and possibly Canada.

NATO's 'non-lethal' assistance to Ukraine 

Grushko also criticized NATO on Thursday for providing the Ukrainian government with “non-lethal” military equipment, arguing that it could jeopardize the 2015 Minsk peace agreement between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russia forces.

Ukraine’s eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Moscow forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in April 2014 to crush pro-Moscow protests there.

The crisis has left more than 9,200 people dead and over 21,000 others injured, according to the United Nations.

In September 2014, the government in Kiev and the pro-Russians signed a ceasefire agreement in the Belarusian capital of Minsk in a bid to halt the clashes in Ukraine’s eastern regions.

The warring sides also inked another truce deal, dubbed Minsk II, in February 2015 under the supervision of Russia, Germany and France.

Since then, however, both parties have on numerous occasions accused each other of breaking the ceasefire.

Conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine after people in the country’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea voted for reunification with Russia in March 2014. The West brands the development as Moscow’s annexation of the territory. The US and its allies in Europe also accuse Moscow of having a major hand in the crisis in eastern Ukraine, a charge that Moscow denies.

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