NATO, Russia meet amid tensions over war games

Top Russian and NATO commanders have met in a rare meeting ahead of planned rival war games by the two sides which have raised fears of further escalation in eastern Europe.

Russia's Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov met Petr Pavel, chairman of NATO's Military Committee in the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Thursday, but neither side gave any details on what was discussed. 

The US-led alliance is about to launch 15 days of military exercises in Western Ukraine this week, coinciding with war games known as Zapad or West by thousands of Russian troops.

The Russian exercises have worried NATO despite Moscow's assurances troops would rehearse a purely defensive scenario, but Gerasimov brushed off those concerns.

Moscow says the event will involve about 12,700 troops who will participate in military drill theaters in Belarus, the Baltic Sea, western Russia and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Lithuania and Estonia have said as many as 100,000 soldiers could take part. 

A statement carried by Russian news agencies said after the Baku meeting said Gerasimov "focused attention on the main aim of the training -- the defense" of Russia and Belarus. The drills, he said, were "long-planned and defensive" and "not aimed against any third country."

NATO said the meeting "demonstrates a clear mutual interest to maintain the military lines of communication" on the borders of Ukraine as well as NATO member states Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. 

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that he saw no "imminent threat" but French Defense Minister Florence Parly on Thursday condemned the Russia drills a deliberate "strategy of intimidation." 

Meanwhile, the pro-Western government in Moldova waded into the tensions as it sent 57 troops to Ukraine to participate in the military exercises, deepening a row with the president who had vetoed the move. 

SS