MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax) - Russia will adjust plans to reequip its army and enhance its combat readiness depending on threats coming from NATO and promises to appropriately respond to the alliance's activity in Eastern Europe, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Third European Department, Sergei Nechayev, told Interfax.
"We will not get involved in any arms race, but plans to reequip the army, bolster its mobility and its combat readiness will be adjusted depending on these threats," Nechayev said.
"It is obvious that this entire heightened activity will not be able to avoid our appropriate response. We hope that both Warsaw and other capitals of the alliance realize that attempts to project force in relations with our country have absolutely no prospects, do not meet the long-term interests of NATO member states, weaken, not strengthen, their security, and increase the danger of sliding towards confrontation," he said.
Furthermore, the policy of 'deterring' Russia serves to divert attention and resources that are much needed to counter real, not imagined, modern threats and challenges, including international terrorism, he said.
Nechayev also recalled that speaking at a session addressing the development of the domestic defense industry in Sochi on May 13, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia "will undertake whatever is necessary on our part to ensure and preserve the strategic balance of forces, which is the most reliable guarantor against large-scale military conflicts."