Moscow expects NATO to guarantee that other countries' armed forces will not be located in Baltics

Moscow expects NATO to provide definite guarantees that no other countries' armed forces will be located in the Baltic states, the Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokesman Alexander Yakovenko stated in his interview with RIA Novosti in the light of the Russia-NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting scheduled to take place on June 3rd-4th in Madrid.

According to him, Moscow "continues to bring to NATO's attention its concerns about a possibility of military aftermath of the alliance's expansion." Yakovenko pointed out that Moscow was "aware of the statements made by political leaders of a number of NATO and Baltic countries on their adherence to military restraint principles." "We expect our partners to make practical steps to ratify the adopted Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe," Yakovenko pointed out.

Moscow believes the upcoming meeting of the Russia-NATO Council between the Foreign Ministers in Madrid "will become a crucial military event strengthening new relations between Russia and NATO," the Rome declaration reads.

Madrid will also host a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. According to Yakovenko, the Council can play a certain part in creating security architecture jointly with other European institutions, such as the OSCE, Council of Europe and the European Union.