MOSCOW. March 29 (Interfax-AVN) - Advancement of NATO military structures towards Russian borders poses a certain danger for Russia, Army General Makhmut Gareyev, president of the Academy of Military Sciences, said on Monday.
"Advancement of military units and creation of new bases on new territories naturally pose a certain danger for Russia and cause alarm. These actions are absolutely unjustified," Gareyev told Interfax-Military News Agency, commenting on the addition of seven new member states to the alliance.
The initiation of airspace patrolling over the Baltic States by NATO planes and the discussion of NATO bases creation on the territory of new alliance members are unfriendly and possibly even provocative, he argued.
"But we should not start to panic or stir confrontation. This may be the goal of some forces - to provoke us into confrontation," Gareyev said.
According to him, the best policy for Russia would be to watch the new developments calmly and take adequate measures to maintain its security.
"The NATO bloc is an archaism. It was created, as they used to say, in response to the Soviet threat. There is no such threat any longer. That is why there is no need to have NATO military structures," the expert noted.
He argued that expedience of NATO's existence in its current shape is doubtful from the military point of view.
"They (European nations - Interfax-AVN) cannot use NATO military structures for their own purposes, for instance, for combating terrorism. Nearly four million people bear arms (in the NATO forces - Interfax-AVN), but there is nobody who can be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. All this shows incapacity of this military organization," Gareyev said.
According to him, NATO should be transformed into a political organization, and the bloc strategy should become a thing of the past.
"Division into blocs is not needed at all, if we want to cooperate," Gareyev concluded.