Russia Withdraws Military Envoy to NATO

NATO denies having received a letter by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who earlier said he had demanded an explanation of the bloc's actions in Eastern Europe. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Moscow has recalled its military ambassador to NATO for consultations.

Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said that Russia "does not see how it could go on with usual cooperation with NATO," RIA Novosti has reported.

NATO decided earlier this week to suspend cooperation with Moscow in all fields, keeping the door open only for negotiations "at an ambassadorial level".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Thursday he had sent a letter to NATO's headquarters in Brussels demanding that the bloc explain their actions at its eastern flank.

The move comes after NATO's decision to bolster defense in Poland and the Baltic states over potentian threats from Russia's troops buildup near Ukraine.

NATO's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen however denied having received any questions by Moscow.

Alliance member countries cited Russia's absorption of the Crimean peninsula, which they consider to be a violation of the Ukrainian sovereignty, as a reason for the move.

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry also summoned Germany's ambassador to Moscow after Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble, Minister of Finance, compared "Crimea's occupation" to "Adolf Hitler's 1938 aggression which led to the annexation of Czechoslovakia's German-speaking regions to the Third Reich".

According to German media reports, Schaeuble denied that he had made such a comparison.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!