Russian FM to meet Nato chief on Tuesday
May 19, 2015, 9:22 am

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg talking to the media prior to the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 18 May 2015 [Image: Nato]

“The NATO Secretary General Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Mr. Sergey Lavrov, on Tuesday, 19 May 2015 at 12:30 at the Palais d’Egmont in Brussels,” the press service said.

“There will be no media opportunity,” the press service of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) added.

Lavrov, currently in Brussels, is taking part in the annual session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

The Russian Foreign Minister has already met with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Thorbjorn Jagland, the secretary general of the Council of Europe.

A Russian envoy, last week, said Moscow will counter increased Nato presence in eastern Europe.

“Naturally, we will increase our forces in Crimea because NATO countries have stepped up their activities… in the immediate vicinity of our borders,” said Russia’s envoy to Nato, Aleksandr Grushko on Friday.

Western countries have accused Russia of direct involvement in Ukraine, with Nato claiming that Russia had thousands of its troops deployed in Ukraine and massed along the border.

Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has repeatedly said that that what it perceives as the growing Russian ‘threat’ meant the cold war-era bloc must create a bigger presence in eastern Europe.

NATO has said it is “on track” with implementing a plan agreed last September in response to “perceived Russian threats” to set up a new rapid-reaction force of 5,000 rotating troops backed up by support units in six eastern member states.

The alliance is also planning its biggest military exercise in years, involving 25,000 troops, in October and November.

 TBP and Agencies