Russia–NATO relations

Bosnia needs Attention to Save itself from Disintegration

NATO foreign ministers launched a separate meeting during a planned meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Riga on the situation in the Western Balkans, which the Alliance considers worrying. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg opened the meeting today.

Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, announced in Brussels that NATO notices an unusual concentration of Russian forces near the border with Ukraine, including tanks, artillery and drones.

In a mocking tone, which has become a trademark of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergei Lavrov proposed that NATO, "in case of urgent matters", address the Russian Embassy in Brussels, which is in fact in charge exclusively of bilateral relations between Russia and Belgium.

However, the Brussels adds that they have not received an official letter on the closure of the Russian diplomatic mission at the NATO headquarters.
"We have taken note of Lavrov's comments in front of the press, but so far we have not received anything official on the issue he raised," a NATO spokesman said, Reuters reports.

Lavrov said that Moscow, as of November 1, in response to the revocation of accreditations for eight associates of the Russian Mission to the Alliance, is suspending the work of its permanent mission to NATO, as well as the main military representative.

NATO has confirmed that Russia's mission to the alliance would be halved from 20 to 10 positions, the alliance's press service told TASS on Wednesday.

"We can confirm that we have withdrawn the accreditation of 8 members of the Russian Mission to NATO," the official said alleging that those members were undeclared Russian intelligence officers.

Turkey's foreign minister on Oct. 5 highlighted cooperation between Turkey and Eastern and Central European countries during a security forum in Poland's capital Warsaw.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that he supported the plans of the EU to build a common defence policy, but he warned against any rapid reaction force that might duplicate allied operations.

There are no significant changes in the relations between Russia and the United States of America after the summit of the leaders of the two countries in Geneva, said the Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov.
But, he says - only ten days have passed. He added that the policy of U.S. pressuring Russia will continue.

"Russia has informed all signatories of the agreement about the decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Agreement six months after the announcement of its exit. Therefore, our exit will take place on December 18," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement for the TASS Agency.