Russia: ‘NATO Must Quit Baltic States or Ukraine War Continues’

Deputy foreign minister wants alliance’s troops out of neighbouring countries.

A senior Russian politician has warned there will be no end to war in Ukraine while NATO troops stay in the Baltic nations. 

Sergei Ryabkov—President Putin’s man responsible for U.S. relations, nonproliferation and arms control—made these comments during an interview with Tass, Moscow’s official news agency:

            The American side requires practical steps aimed at eliminating the root causes of the fundamental contradictions between us in the area of security.

            Among these causes, NATO expansion is in the foreground. Without resolving this fundamental and most acute problem for us, it is simply impossible to resolve the current conflict in the Euro-Atlantic region.

If based on official policy, Ryabkov’s remarks indicate a shift in how Russia explains its actions. Observers always suspected that one of Putin’s motives for the invasion was keeping Ukraine out of NATO, which this latest interview now appears to acknowledge. Previously, Russia has described the action as an official "Special military operation" targeting insurgent Ukrainian ‘fascists.’

NATO currently stations multinational battle groups and brigades in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.