Moscow's top diplomat has warned his government would take responsive measures to an upcoming, massive U.S. military deployment and U.S.-led exercises across multiple European states bordering Russia, Eurasia Diary reports citing Newsweek.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told official government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta in an interview Monday that "naturally, we will react" to the NATO Western military alliance's Defender-Europe 20 exercise, which is due next month to begin facilitating the largest U.S. military deployment to Europe in 25 years. The majority of the drills are set to take place in May and June, involving some 36,000 personnel—including 25,000 from the U.S.—across Germany, Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"We cannot ignore these processes, which are of great concern, but we will respond in such a way that does not create unnecessary risks," Lavrov added. "It's unavoidable. I hope that any normal military official and politician understands this."
"Those who provoke this kind of absolutely unjustified doctrine want a response in order to continue to escalate tensions," he added. "But it's worth noting that everything that we do in response to the threats created by NATO members to our security we do exclusively on our own territory. Just like all our nuclear weapons are on our territory, unlike American nuclear weapons."