The deployment of a contingent of US Armed Forces in East Europe
under NATO auspices would run against the spirit of the relations
and understandings Moscow and Washington have had since the end of
the Cold War, a Russia lawmaker said in Moscow on Saturday.
"The action undertaken by the US would destabilize the situation
in East Europe and would not promote truly joint efforts in
fighting both terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction," Andrei Kokoshin, chairman of the State Duma's CIS
Affairs Committee, was qutoed by the Interfax news agency as
saying, commenting on the US decision to deploy bases in Bulgaria
and Romania.
NATO's eastward expansion of the sort would trump the common
interests of international security, Kokoshin said. "I am sure that
the US actions will raise negative attitudes in the majority in
Russian society and in many other countries," he said.
The deployment of US military bases in Southeast Europe is
unlikely to improve efficiency in international efforts to fight
terrorism, Kokoshin said.
"The intensification of these efforts should have been achieved
in an absolutely different way, without deploying an additional
contingent of US troops but on the basis of relevant agreements
with all parties concerned, including Russia," Kokoshin said.
"In conversations with the leaders of the Soviet Union and
Russia, the Western countries, including the United States, France,
and Germany, promised not to deploy any NATO contingents in East
European countries. However, we see that these assurances have not
been supported by practical deeds," he said.
The State Duma regularly discusses various responses to such
decisions by the United States, Kokoshin said. "In particular, (the
parliamentarians) regularly raise the issue of withdrawing from the
Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty," he
said.
Besides, NATO will help rebuild an airbase in Amari in Estonia,
the Estonian Defense Ministry press service said on Friday.
NATO will invest about 500 million Estonian crowns (US$40
million) in the reconstruction, which is an element of the NATO
Security Investment Program, it said.
The base is located outside the capital city of Tallinn. It was
earlier used as a strategic airfield by the Soviet Air Force when
Estonia was part of the Soviet Union.
(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2006)
