Moscow concerned about US pulling neutral European states into NATO drills – Lavrov

Moscow hopes that the US engaging neutral European countries in NATO military exercises, playing out a scenario of an attack on a NATO member, will not lead to further destabilization, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

Speaking at an informal gathering of the OSCE’s heads of diplomatic agencies in High Tatras, Slovakia, he described these processes as “not a very positive development,” TASS reports.

“We are carefully watching the boosting of the OSCE’s coordination with NATO, including the Americans drawing neutral states into drills, which are scripted to train the evoking of the fifth article of the Washington Treaty,” Lavrov said.

He urged the European partners to realize that “it is in their best interests to ensure maximum transparency” of the OSCE’s boosted coordination with NATO.