Russian President Vladimir Putin today during his annual press conference said that he once received promises from NATO that the Alliance would not expand, and, accordingly, accused the organization of not fulfilling them.. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has already reacted to his words, reports DPA.

" Actually, the founding agreement of our organization states that any European country can become a member of the Alliance. Secondly, there are documents related to the 70s and 90s - the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris, the Russia-NATO constituent act and many other treaties that make it clear that countries have the right to choose their own path, "

The secretary general called this a fundamental principle of European security, to which Russia also signed.

" Former President Gorbachev himself said that the topic of NATO expansion was never raised before the reunification of Germany, "

[see_also ids \u003d "

Recall that on December 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that negotiations between Russia and NATO regarding " He also spoke about the venue of the meeting..

The Russian Foreign Ministry opposed Ukraine's participation in negotiations with the United States and NATO on security guarantees. Moscow " Kremlin threatens escalation again.

Implementation of the political part of the Minsk agreements will destroy Ukraine. Read more in Tatiana Silina's article "