Following calls from apprehensive neighbors of Russia for an increased U.S. military presence, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that his country opposes any Western military activity in the former Soviet bloc.
Lavrov told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday amid his country’s invasion of Ukraine that Western powers, especially America, must not operate in Eastern Europe and should remove nuclear weapons from the region.
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“The Western countries need to abandon creating military sites on the territories of countries previously constituting the Soviet Union and not members of the alliance, including using their infrastructure to conduct any military activity,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov centered his demands on U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe, saying it is “unacceptable for us that U.S. nuclear weapons still remain in a number of European states in contradiction to the basic points of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
“The bad practice of joint nuclear missions with the participation of nonnuclear NATO states continues. During such missions, the use of nuclear weapons against Russia is being practiced,” he continued. “U.S. nuclear weapons must have long been returned home, and the corresponding infrastructure in Europe must have long been eliminated.”
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Kosovo’s defense minister asked the U.S. on Sunday to establish a permanent military base in the country to deter Russian aggression, a month after Lithuania made a similar request. Eastern European leaders fear that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is only the first step toward reclaiming territory that once belonged to the Soviet Union, with Poland’s ambassador to the U.S. telling CNN that his country fears Ukraine is “not the last on Putin’s menu.”
