PRESS RELEASE

---

EU Ambassador: Russia Has No Plans To Attack NATO Countries

Aug. 19, 2017 (EIRNS)—The European Union’s Ambassador to Moscow, Lithuanian diplomat Vigaudas Usackas, said Russia has no plans to attack NATO countries. "Russia may be regarded as a rather quarrelsome country, but it is my deep conviction that it is not going to attack NATO countries," Usackas said according to TASS, citing the daily Respublika, Usackas also said despite speculation that Russia would had such plans "there are no such intentions."

He called for a "sober" attitude on the forthcoming Russian-Belarusan military exercise West-2017.

"Real risks are posed not by the exercise as such, not by plans or scenarios, but by the circumstances that may emerge due to unforeseen events or incidents,"

he said.

He continued,

"It is important to maintain certain working relations with Russia at the political and military level in order to avoid their escalation in case of misunderstandings. This is normal practice in the sphere of security that has been used since the days of the standoff between NATO and the Warsaw Treaty. One may disagree with the neighbor, it is possible to belong with different camps, but there is no way of replacing one by another,"

Usackas said.