German’s Steinmeier Accuses NATO Of ‘Warmongering’
MEP: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has knocked war games by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Eastern Europe, accusing the organisation of “warmongering”.
In an interview Steinmeier with the German Bild am Sonntag newspaper, whose extracts were published on Saturday, said such drills will not bring security to the region and will rather stoke tensions with Russia.
He urged the NATO military alliance to replace the exercises with more dialogue and co-operation with Russia.
NATO launched a similar simulated Russian attack on Poland on 7 June.
The two-week-long exercise involves some 31,000 troops, dozens of ships and fighter jets, along with 3,000 vehicles.
“Whoever believes that a symbolic tank parade on the alliance’s eastern border will bring security, is mistaken,” Steinmeier said.
He added, “What we shouldn’t do now is inflame the situation further through sabre-rattling and warmongering.”
“We are well-advised to not create pretexts to renew an old confrontation,” he further noted.
NATO is expected to send units to Romania as part of plans to expand its presence in Eastern Europe.
But Russia has repeatedly said that Nato troops close to its borders are a threat to its security.
The Russian president Vladimir Putin in another development on Friday, said that his country does not want a new Cold War with the West, stressing that Moscow’s policy is “aimed at cooperation and search for compromise.”
