MOSCOW. June 23 (Interfax) - The deployment of NATO troops in the Baltic states and the build-up of the North Atlantic Alliance's forces near Russian frontiers is the continued line towards geopolitical space exploration, which began after the Soviet bloc collapsed and it is impossible to hold that the Alliance presumes possibility of an assault on the Russian part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"I still think highly of the quality of thinking, the quality of military training in the United States, in Germany, in Britain and other countries of the North Atlantic Alliance and I cannot hold that they have the least assumption that Russia will attack the NATO," Lavrov said in an interview with Belarusian media.
Lavrov went on to recall that presently, "the strength and infrastructure are being built up in the Baltic states and Poland, primarily at former Soviet bases, which are being upgraded and at new bases, which are being set up", adding that there is "an ongoing deployment of contingents from NATO countries, including the leading Western nations, near the Russian border".
"All that is going on reflects that very line that I told you about, the one that evolved in late 80s - early 90s: exploring the geopolitical space that turned out to be kind of vacant," Lavrov said.