Russia warns West over military plans in eastern Europe

By Ayhan Simsek
BERLIN (AA) - Russia on Tuesday warned the western countries over their plans to beef up NATO military presence in eastern Europe.
"It is impossible to build up a security system without Russia or against Russia,” said Ambassador Kirill Logvinov, a Russian official in charge of relations with NATO at the Foreign Ministry, at the Berlin Security Conference.
"Russia will always be in a position to uphold its national interests, either as an opponent, or as a partner. We believe that it is up to you to choose between deterrence and cooperation,” Logvinov said.
He urged the West to give up plans to bolster NATO’s deterrence against Russia and engage in an “equal dialogue” with Moscow on common challenges such as international terrorism, cybercrimes and irregular migration.
"There is no real alternative to honest, constructive and forward-looking cooperation between the West and Russia on the basis of pragmatism and respect for the interests of each other,” he said.
NATO-Russian relations worsened following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Amid growing concerns, NATO countries have adopted plans to bolster deterrence, and beefed up military presence in the Eastern European countries.
NATO had also suspended all practical cooperation with Russia.
Logvinov called on European countries to take steps to restore mutual trust, and cooperate in addressing common regional and global threats.
“We need to revive the culture of equal dialogue,” he said.
“We need to show reciprocal readiness to cooperate on the basis of equality and stop wasting energy, time and efforts on zero-sum games. All these steps would enable us to find mutually acceptable compromises with respect to the interests of each other," he added.