An important Russia-NATO Council kicks off in Brussels on Friday. Arms expert Vadim Kozyulin from the PIR Center for Policy Studies told RT what was likely to happen.

“My strong feeling is that the pretext for non-ratifying are minor problems. For many years NATO countries felt like a good teacher in front of a bad pupil. And Russia during certain periods was rather flexible, giving up its positions one by one,” mentiones he.

“Now Russia has changed its attitude to this subject and fixed its position. NATO countries probably still do not believe that Russia is serious. Now it is probably time to understand it,” Kozyulin continues.

“Obviously the situation has changed since the old times. We are not enemies any more. We are partners. Russia does not want to stockpile weapons and fight with European countries. It is nonsense for every Russian citizen but the interest should be preserved. That's the point. Under Yeltsin there was an agreement that NATO would not expand to Russian borders. Russia is a bit suspicious towards the NATO countries,” the expert claims.