The head of the German parliament's defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, called the discussions around Russian-proposed security guarantees for NATO "artificial" and exaggerated, saying that no threat is being posed to Russia by the alliance at the moment
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd February, 2022) The head of the German parliament's defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, called the discussions around Russian-proposed security guarantees for NATO "artificial" and exaggerated, saying that no threat is being posed to Russia by the alliance at the moment.
"Russia received security guarantees under the NATO-Russia Act. There is no threat emanating from NATO. I do not know of any NATO units being close to any borders and threatening Russia. This is not happening. We can find out. We see what is happening in Europe. It is an artificial discussion in order to increase the tension," Strack-Zimmermann told a briefing in Berlin, while responding to Sputnik's question on whether or not Russia should receive security guarantees from NATO.
Strack-Zimmermann added that Germany took a "restrained position" on the foreign supply of weapons to Ukraine, stressing that the German government committed to non-supply of weapons to regions of conflict under its coalition agreement.
In the past few months, the West and Ukraine have accused Russia of massing troops near the Ukrainian border in alleged preparation for invasion. Russia said that it has no intention of invading Ukraine, while stressing that it has the right to move its forces within its own territory.
Russia has also expressed concerns over NATO's military activity near its borders and the ongoing military support of Ukraine, including an increase in the number of Western instructors in the breakaway Donbas region. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow does not exclude that the "hysteria" around Ukraine fueled by the West is aimed at concealing Kiev's plans to sabotage the Minsk Agreements on Donbas.
