Apr 17, 2015

NATO activity near Russian borders increased by 80%

Key excerpts from the IV Moscow Conference on International Security:

“During this period, NATO created a grouping of its member states’ forces in the Baltic States, consisting of over 10,000 troops, about 1,500 armored vehicles, 80 planes and helicopters and 50 warships,” [Lieutenant General Andrey] Kartapolov [head of the Main Operation Directorate of General Staff] said during the IV Moscow Conference on International Security.

He also said that the US plans to supply its Eastern European allies with JASSM-ER long-range aviation cruise missiles, which will enable NATO warplanes to hit targets 1,300 kilometers inside the Russian territory.

Despite failing to provide any proof, the West blames Russia for masterminding the Ukrainian unrest and supporting the rebels in country’s eastern Donetsk and Lugansk Regions.

Earlier at the conference, Russia’s defense minister, Sergey Shoigu, said “the US and its closest allies have crossed all imaginable lines” in an effort to draw Ukraine into its orbit.

According to the minister, the Ukrainian conflict, in which over 6,000 people have already been killed, is part of a larger Western plan to undermine Russia.

Washington and its allies are trying to alienate Russia’s neighbors through a combination of misrepresenting Moscow’s stance as aggressive and offering investments and lucrative military programs to their governments, he said.