MINSK, 7 July (BelTA) – The deployment of additional NATO troops in the neighboring countries poses no direct security threat to Belarus, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said after his meeting with Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkevics, BelTA has learned.
“As for the prospects of deployment of a new contingent of NATO troops in the Baltic states and Poland, we certainly do not welcome the deployment of additional troops in the territory of our neighboring countries. We can understand the logic of our partners and why they take such steps, even though we do not support such moves. We do not see this as a direct threat to our security. We view this as certain challenges in the military context that we should somehow respond to,” Vladimir Makei said.
Meanwhile, the minister pointed out that Belarus is not a big country to take any radical measures to build up its military capacity in response to such actions. Still, it will be keeping an eye on the development of the situation. “We believe that now the main thing is to avoid getting obsessed with building up armaments on both sides of the border thereby fanning military tensions. We should now establish, as fast as possible, a direct and honest dialogue between all the stakeholders: between NATO and Russia, NATO and Belarus, separate NATO member states and Russia, and also individual NATO member states and Belarus,” the diplomat said.
Vladimir Makei believes it is necessary to overcome the lack of trust that may arise from certain steps taken by this or that side. “A direct dialogue is needed to timely address some unexpected negative situations related to security matters,” Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed.