PRAGUE, September 18 (RIA Novosti) – There will be no NATO bases in Slovakia, the country"s foreign minister Miroslav Lajcak announced on Thursday at the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Peter Susko told RIA Novosti.
"Miroslav Lajcak told lawmakers that NATO bases on a permanent basis will not be created in Slovakia. The republic proposed logistics services to the alliance, within the framework of which an army depot near the town of Poprad can be used for the needs of NATO," Susko said.
On September 13 the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico stated that he would rather abandon politics than permit NATO to create a permanent base on the country"s territory. On the same day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that moving NATO's infrastructure closer to Russian borders is "unacceptable."
At the September 4-5 summit in Wales, NATO countries agreed to widen collective security measures, seeing Russia as a potential threat, but confirmed that they do not intend to target Russia with its missile defense system and intend to continue political dialogue with Moscow even under conditions of frozen relations.
The military alliance has been ratcheting up its presence near Russia's borders, citing the need to better defend its allies. NATO has intensified its air patrols in the Baltic region, deployed surveillance planes over Poland and Romania and sent its warships to the Black and Mediterranean seas.
In April, NATO suspended cooperation with Russia over Moscow's alleged role in escalating the crisis in Ukraine, a claim Russia has repeatedly denied.
