OPINION: NATO Poses No Credible Threat to Russia

MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) – NATO poses no credible threat to Russia, especially as many of the key members of the alliance have cut their military budgets, experts told RIA Novosti, commenting on statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin made Thursday.

During a live question and answer session with the public on Thursday, Putin said that Russia is not afraid of NATO expansion.

“We will choke them all. What are you afraid of?” Putin said while answering a question on the expansion of NATO.

The president also said that Russia would continue to negotiate with the US on missile defense, but would also take all necessary measures to protect its territory.

"If we talk about the organization as such, it is stated in our foreign policy concept that NATO is not a threat to us. Now the actions of NATO can be a threat to us,” said Alexander Mikhaylenko, a professor at the Russian Presidential Academy of the National Economy and Public Administration.

“It is absolutely unacceptable to have military bases at our doorstep," he told RIA Novosti.

"All countries, including the US, are reducing military spending. Personally, I think the future of NATO is highly questionable. Perhaps, Vladimir Putin meant that hardly any of the NATO countries would like to enter into a war," Mikhaylenko added.

NATO has turned into an offensive tool, constantly trying to expand to the Russian border, according to the head of the Russian Institute of Priority Regional Projects, Nikolay Mironov.

"It is obviously aimed at deterring Russia ... forcing Russia to make various concessions in economics and so on," he said.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen pledged on Wednesday to step up patrols and boost the alliance’s military presence along its eastern border in Europe, citing Russia’s alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

“We will have more planes in the air, more ships on the water, and more readiness on the land," Rasmussen said.

Russia has vociferously opposed any further eastward expansion by NATO, particularly into former Soviet republics on its borders. Putin said recently that Moscow was open to further cooperation with NATO, but remained opposed to the organization’s presence in historic Russian territories.

On April 1, NATO ended all practical cooperation with Russia. The foreign ministers of NATO members are to review relations with Moscow at their next meeting in June.