Russian foreign ministry: NATO buildup near Russia borders violates 1997 accord

Russia expects the US to abandon plans on deploying and stationing military equipment on NATO’s eastern flank, Russia’s Foreign Ministry official spokesperson Maria Zakharova, quoted by Tass, said on Monday.

Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of US Army Europe, said in mid-December that Washington plans to establish maintenance sites for equipment caches in Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Estonia by late 2016, and in Hungary in 2017.

"If implemented, such measures will be close to violating the key provision of the Russia-NATO Founding Act of 1997 under which the alliance is obliged not to deploy significant combat forces on the territory of the mentioned countries on a permanent basis," Zakharova said.

Source: MENA