Was There Need For 'A Heart To Heart' Russia-NATO Talk?

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko has described Wednesday’s negotiations with NATO as "a heart-to-heart talk."

"I think that [this meeting] was absolutely essential. Firstly, it was some sort of a shake-up. If the meeting had not taken place, it would have been impossible to bring up these issues in full action, as they have always been somehow in the background, but in the way they were discussed today, I do not remember such straightforwardness and incisiveness. It was a heart-to-heart talk, Alexander Grushko said at a press conference after the NATO-Russia Council meeting.

"It was an absolutely necessary conversation that helped us to understand who stands where and the challenge we have to deal with," he said.

Grushko said Russia repeatedly offered to NATO to resume military contacts "to prevent dangerous military incidents" but was rebuffed on account of a political decision made by the alliance in 2014.

Russia expects to get out of the crisis in relations with NATO through a balance of interests, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said at a press conference after a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council on Wednesday.

"I believe that we managed to bring to the notice of the alliance’s members that the situation was turning intolerable and that at some moment the risks related to the continuation of NATO’s present policy might outweigh the advantages that they seek to derive today from the traditional NATO rhetoric that the future security in Europe and the Euro-Atlantic region must be NATO-centered and that eventually European security will consist of the NATO global map, with NATO at the center, a partnership, all playing by the rules elaborated in Brussels," the senior Russian diplomat said.

"I believe that many have come to realize today that this story will sooner or later come to an end and it may look differently. We favor exiting this situation, using peaceful means, on the basis of a reasonable balance again," he added.

As the diplomat reiterated, NATO’s further expansion was associated with serious risks for European security.

"We also proceed from the fact that the rational interests of strengthening European security require a clear understanding that the alliance’s further expansion is associated with risks that will outweigh any decision on further expansion," Grushko stressed.