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NATO has made plans to defend the Baltic states against Russia, US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks showed Wednesday, bewildering Moscow just weeks after a breakthrough with the alliance. An existing defense plan covering Poland was extended to include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania after they lobbied for extra protection, said the leaked cables, revealed in Britain's Guardian newspaper and other Western media outlets. The leaked correspondence reveals that US Admiral James Stavridis, NATO's top commander in Europe, proposed drawing up defense plans for the three Baltic states, which joined the military al-liance in 2004. The Baltics were reportedly delighted at their inclusion. The Latvians expressed "profound happiness" at the decision, while an Estonian called it an "early Christmas present," according to the two cables. A Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source responded by expressing puzzlement at the leaks, which it said contradicted a joint Russia-NATO declaration not to use force or the threat of force against each other, signed at a November summit. In turn, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu stressed that NATO did not regard Russia as a threat and noted that Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the summit that "NATO and Russia pose no threat to each other." AFP |
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