Russia to increase its military presence in Crimea

Europe, News May 15, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

Russia is set to ramp up its military presence in Crimea, the country’s envoy to the Alliance said justifying the move by NATO’s “stepping up activities” in Eastern Europe. The envoy also urged the US to pull out its nuclear weapons stationed in Europe.

“Naturally, we will increase our forces in Crimea because NATO countries have stepped up their activities… in the immediate vicinity of our borders,” said Russia’s envoy to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Aleksandr Grushko on Friday.

He said Russia’s military boost falls in line with international treaties. “There is no ban in place prohibiting us to deploy weapons [in Crimea],” he added.

Grushko’s words follow NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s statement made on Thursday concerning the Alliance’s plans to increase military activity on its eastern European borders, with more air and sea patrols, amid non-stop exercises.

“NATO is the strongest military alliance in the world and we are going to keep NATO strong by adapting,” Stoltenberg said. NATO is planning to double its rapid response force in Europe, he said, adding that new command units will also be established in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania.

Grushko noted that NATO is harming itself by turning away from practical cooperation with Russia.

“As of now, we do not see any NATO desire to establish new paths of practical cooperation,” he said, responding to Stoltenberg’s statement.

Recently NATO gave Moscow updated telephone ‘hotline’ numbers for military communication, but hasn’t taken the initiative to create new contacts, Grushko added.

He said Russia hopes NATO will abandon the policy of “senseless expansion” and that common sense will prevail when the Alliance decides on Georgia’s and Ukraine’s membership.

“I hope that common sense will ultimately prevail and these dangerous political games, related to the policy of senseless expansion and attempts to use it as a leverage, will be put aside and our partners will start treating the situation from the point of view of strengthening European security, which is in everyone’s interest.”

Grushko was referring to a statement made by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu during Thursday’s NATO foreign ministers summit in Antalya. Cavusoglu expressed hope that NATO’s next summit will decide on the Alliance membership of Georgia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia.

The Russian envoy expressed certainty that there were plenty of “sensible” members in NATO that understand “the huge risks associated with continuing the reckless ‘Open Door’ policy.”

Since Russia’s reunion with Crimea and the start of the military conflict in eastern Ukraine last spring, NATO forces have stepped up military exercises along the Russian border – in the Baltic States and Eastern Europe. In April, the Russian general staff noted there had been an 80-percent increase in training near Russia’s borders in 2014.

The Russian military put together nearly 100 units and organizations in the Crimea last year as part of the program of deploying a self-sufficient group of forces at the peninsula after it rejoined Russia in the spring of 2014, said Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu in March.

Earlier, A member of Russian parliament’s upper house said Kiev will have to treat Donbas as a special region and take account of the losses it has suffered during the military operation if it wants to keep it.

“If Ukraine wants to keep Donbas within its sovereign borders, the government will have to treat it as a special region and to take account of the losses it suffered during the so-called Anti-terrorist Operation, which actually turned out to be a war against fellow-countrymen,” Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the foreign policy committee in the upper house of Russian parliament said.