MOSCOW, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Moscow expects to discuss at an upcoming meeting of the Russia-NATO Council the expansion of the military alliance to the east, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
"The central topic of the meeting will be the decisions of the Warsaw meeting to strengthen the eastern flank of the block and its consequences for all aspects of European security," the ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached with Moscow to hold the meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at the ambassadorial level at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Stoltenberg said the discussions will focus on the Ukraine crisis and the security situation in Afghanistan.
The Council will meet on July 13, shortly after the NATO Summit in Warsaw on July 8-9.
Russia has repeatedly accused NATO of increasing its presence in eastern Europe, while NATO countries responded that Russia presented a threat to Europe, citing its involvement in the Ukraine crisis and rearmament of its armed forces.
Zakharova denied any aggressive intentions behind the rearmament of the Russian army, saying that it is "a proportionate response" to the increasing military activities of NATO, which is "moving its infrastructure toward Russia's borders with obvious persistence."
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