The current situation in Europe requires urgent decisions to de-escalate it. This was announced by Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, speaking at the 9th Moscow Conference on International Security on Wednesday.
According to him, the situation in Europe requires taking concrete steps to de-escalate, as it is explosive. "A number of measures were proposed by the Russian side - for example, on the withdrawal of the exercise areas from the line of contact," the head of the Russian military department said. "Another proposal is contained in Russia's statement regarding a moratorium on the deployment of medium-and shorter-range missiles in Europe, which pose a particular danger to the population of European countries, since they are capable of being equipped with both conventional and nuclear warheads." The deployment of such missiles in Europe, according to Shoigu, will return the situation when the Europeans were hostages of the confrontation between the USSR and the United States.
In addition, the military confrontation in Europe, according to Sergei Shoigu, leads to an increase in military spending by NATO member countries. And this trend, he noted, has been observed recently.
The head of the Russian Defense Ministry recalled that at the NATO summit held in Brussels on June 14, it was decided to transform the bloc from a regional to a global military-political alliance. "The decisions taken at this summit on increasing the military spending of NATO member states, as well as on improving the nuclear deterrent potential, consolidate the military confrontation in Europe for years," the Russian military commander summed up.
At the same time, the formal dialogue that Brussels proposes to continue within the framework of the Russia - NATO Council, according to Sergei Shoigu, does not reduce the tension in bilateral relations.
At the same time, the Russian Defense Minister confirmed his readiness to develop transparency measures "to restore trust and remove mutual concerns, in particular on the 9M729 missiles allegedly deployed in the Kaliningrad region." The same situation, according to him, is also true for the MK-41 universal launchers at the US missile defense (ABM) bases located in Romania and Poland. "We confirm our readiness to work in this direction," the Russian minister stressed.
Also, according to the Russian military commander, there is a need to improve the legal framework for preventing incidents during the actions of aircraft and ship crews.
Ivan Petrov
