Washington. January 16. INTERFAX - The North Atlantic Alliance will not respond to calls in the Russian Federation to withdraw its troops from countries that have joined NATO since 1997, since there cannot be "second-class" members, said the organization's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
"We cannot agree to the fact that there are no NATO troops in the countries that have joined since 1997. After all, half of our members would then be left without protection," he said in an interview with Canadian broadcaster CBC.
"In this case (with the withdrawal of NATO forces - IF), we would have second-class NATO members. And we can't do that," Stoltenberg added.
