Yahoo – AFP,
June 18, 2016
Berlin (AFP) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has criticised NATO for having a bellicose policy towards Russia, describing it as "warmongering", the German daily Bild reported.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, pictured in May (AFP Photo/Petras Malukas) |
Berlin (AFP) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has criticised NATO for having a bellicose policy towards Russia, describing it as "warmongering", the German daily Bild reported.
Steinmeier
pointed to the deployment of NATO troops near borders with Russia in the
military alliance's Baltic and east European member states.
"What
we should avoid today is inflaming the situation by warmongering and stomping
boots," Steinmeier told Bild in an interview to be published Sunday.
"Anyone
who thinks you can increase security in the alliance with symbolic parades of
tanks near the eastern borders, is mistaken," Germany's top diplomat
added.
NATO had
announced on Monday that it would deploy four battalions to Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania and Poland to counter a more assertive Russia, ahead of a landmark
summit in Warsaw next month.
All four
countries were once ruled from Moscow and remain deeply suspicious of Russian
intentions, especially after Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in
2014.
In an
interview with Bild on Thursday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Russia is
seeking to create "a zone of influence through military means".
"We
are observing massive militarisation at NATO borders -- in the Arctic, in the
Baltic, from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea," he told the
newspaper.
Stoltenberg
has stressed that NATO does not seek confrontation with Russia and wants a
constructive dialogue but that it would defend the 28 allies against any threat
Russia
bitterly opposes NATO's expansion into its Soviet-era satellites and last month
said it would create three new divisions in its southwest region to meet what
it described as a dangerous military build-up along its borders.
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