Vilnius –
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) insists it is no longer bound by past commitments to refrain from deploying troops in eastern Europe. The affirmation was delivered in response to criticism Russia against what is believed to be NATO’s expansion plans towards eastern Europe.
As reported AFPMonday (20/5/2022), Deputy Secretary General (Secretary General) of NATO Mircea Geoana told AFP that Moscow itself has ‘cancelled the contents’ of the NATO-Russia Establishment Act, by attacking Ukraine and stop dialogue with the defense alliance.
Under the 1997 Establishment Act, which was intended to reorganize relations between Russia and NATO, the two sides agreed to work together to ‘prevent any potential threatening buildup of conventional powers in the agreed European region, including Central and Eastern Europe’.
“They took a decision, they made an obligation there not to attack their neighbors, which they did, and to consult regularly with NATO, which they did not,” Geoana said in a statement in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
“So I think actually this law of formation basically doesn’t work because of Russia.”
Russia, Geoana said, had effectively walked away from the terms of the 1997 deal.
“Now we have no limits to deploying a strong posture on the eastern flank and to ensuring that every square inch of NATO territory is protected by Article 5 and our allies,” he stressed.
Article 5 of NATO refers to collective defence, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
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