MINSK. June 1 (Interfax) - The West is seeking to destabilize the situation in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) by drastically raising the potential for conflict, Russian Federal Security Service Director, National Antiterrorism Committee Chairman Alexander Bortnikov said.
"The collective West has adopted a course towards destabilizing members of the Commonwealth of Independent States by drastically raising the potential for conflict throughout CIS territory and along its borders," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Bortnikov as saying at a meeting between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and participants in the 52nd session of the CIS Council of Security and Special Service Chiefs.
A prognosis of the operational situation was made at the previous meeting of the Council last year, and this year's events confirm that it was correct, he said.
NATO's military presence is rapidly increasing in the west, Bortnikov said. Large military contingents, heavy hardware and warplanes are being redeployed to Poland, the Baltic countries and Romania, Bortnikov said.
"Ukraine has turned into a bridgehead for war on Russia and subversive operations against Belarus. The West is energetically trying to draw Moldova into the Ukraine conflict; it is being encouraged to clear Transdniestria and Gagauzia by force. NATO forces and Ukrainian and Moldovan security services keep holding exercises and undertaking shakedowns near the border of the [Russia-Belarus] Union State," he said.