MOSCOW (AP) – Joint Russia-NATO anti-terror exercises scheduled to take place last autumn will be postponed until next year because of a legal dispute, a Russian news agency reported Wednesday.
NATO spokesman Robert Pszczel was quoted by Interfax as saying that a document regulating the presence of NATO servicemen on Russian territory needs to be re-negotiated in order for the exercise to go forward.
The drills were originally set for last September in the northwestern city of Pskov where Russia’s 76th Airborne Division is based. Pszczel was quoted as saying that the maneuvers would not be held until next year at the earliest.
NATO officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Russia has cooperated with NATO under a “Partnership for Peace” program, but relations have cooled recently amid Western criticism of Russia’s human rights record and Moscow’s concerns about the alliance’s eastward expansion.
President Vladimir Putin on Saturday voiced concern about NATO’s expansion plans into the former Soviet bloc, saying the expansion was undermining trust with Russia.
