On Friday, the Russian foreign ministry shared a statement and asked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces to leave two of the neighbouring Balkan nations – Bulgaria and Romania.
The foreign ministry said, “The provision requiring NATO forces to leave the two Balkan nations – Bulgaria and Romania is among the security guarantees that Russia seeks from the West”.
It further mentioned that the nation wanted legally binding guarantees from NATO, which would say that the bloc will return back to its 1997 border and will stop the expansion.
The ministry further made it clear that the Russian authorities wanted that all weapons, troops and several other military items must be extracted from both nations.
On the same day, Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov met US Secretary State Antony Blinken for the fourth time in a week. However, the US and Russia have been included in the direct talks as the West has been demanding Russia pull its troops and weapons away from the Ukraine border.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The NATO, also known as the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance. It is also called a system of collective security. This military alliance was made between 30 countries – 27 European countries, two North American countries and a Eurasian country.
According to the organisation, this alliance was signed on April 4, 1949. The alliance has been headquartered is near Mons, Belgium. Twelve countries were members of the alliance during the founding, including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Both Balkan nations, Bulgaria and Romania, joined NATO after the year 1997.
