MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax) - NATO's unrestrained expansion, including by admitting countries that used to be neutral, undermines the possibility of further discussions on European security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"NATO's unrestrained expansion not only to the east, but also to the north and in other geographic directions, undermines the very prospect of a normal conversation on European security," Lavrov said at a press conference following negotiations with his Belarusian counterpart Sergei Aleinik in Moscow on Wednesday.
"The accession of Finland and Sweden, which is likely to also become a NATO member soon, and Switzerland's effective renunciation of its neutral status narrows the area of Europe that has embraced military and political neutrality," he said.
These countries earlier "produced room to look for a balance of interests and compromises between the NATO part of Europe and, say, the [Belarus-Russia] Union State and the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization]," he said.
"With the absorption of virtually all neutral states by NATO - and unfortunately, we're witnessing this process with our own eyes - the opportunity for such a constructive policy on the continent with the proactive role of neutral [states] is essentially vanishing. This is sad," he said.