The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Friday rejected a demand by Russia for the Western military alliance to withdraw from Romania and Bulgaria, which have been members since 2007.
NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana called Moscow’s demand “anachronistic” in an interview with Romanian broadcaster Digi24. “It is up to NATO to decide where and in what configuration we place our military presence in member countries. This is not a problem for the Russian Federation… The idea that you can threaten an independent and sovereign state is anachronistic and a throwback to history [passada]”, said Geoana.
In the crisis of the concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, Moscow presented in December demands that there be no further expansion of NATO to Eastern Europe (which would include a ban on Ukrainian entry) and that troops and weapons be withdrawn from the countries. from the former communist bloc that joined the alliance after 1997, including Romania and Bulgaria – cited by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, this Friday in Geneva, where he discussed the crisis with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Lavrov said the Americans had pledged to present a written response to Russian demands next week. Verbally, the United States has repeatedly stated that Moscow’s NATO claims are unacceptable.
#NATO #denies #Russian #demand #withdraw #Romania #Bulgaria