Head of BBN: Baltic incident warrants stronger NATO presence
The recent incident on the Baltic Sea involving Russian bombers and a US naval vessel is one more argument for a stronger NATO presence in our region, National Security Bureau (BBN) head Pawel Soloch told a press conference Thursday.
According to Soloch Russia carried the blame for the incident.
On Monday and Tuesday Russian Su-24 bombers plans flew 20 times over the US destroyer Donald Cook on Baltic international waters. On board the destroyer was a Polish naval helicopter.
According to Soloch the incident was serious and demanded a decided response.
"This is something which called for a decided response. it is another argument for the full implementation of February decisions about moving NATO military structures eastwards", he said.
Soloch remarked that the Baltic incident was part of Russia's attempts to provoke unforeseen developments which could transform into a military confrontation. he added that the blame for the situation lay strictly on the Russian side.
Visiting head of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council Oleksandr Turchynov, who was also present at the conference, said that one of the Russian planes demonstrated its ability to launch an attack on the Donald Cook. Turchynov added that Russia would continue demonstrating aggression as long as it was allowed to do so.
"Russia is very aggressive and keeps provoking. But it will remain aggressive as long as it is permitted to", Turchynov admonished.
Source: PAP