Russia’s actions are “aimed at intimidating its neighbors”, Stoltenberg said.
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The annual conference is one known for frank talk among top officials, and participants this year include U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond, and many others.
Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has consistently denied hitting civilian targets and insists it is battling terrorists. “There is no evidence of our bombing civilians, even though everyone is accusing us of this”, Medvedev told the Munich conference moments after Valls, seated next to him, said Russian bombing of civilians must stop.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday warned here of catastrophic consequences in case that the conflict in Syria dragged on and that the world has slid into a “new cold war”, criticizing the West’s “unfriendly” policy against his country.
Agreement to try to bring about a cessation of hostilities and allow more access for humanitarian aid was reached by world powers late on Thursday in Germany, but neither the Syrian government nor the rebels were involved.
“Russia is not trying to achieve some secret goals in Syria”. Steps will also be taken to work towards an eventual ceasefire and implementation of a UN-backed plan for political transition in Syria.
“The effect of this scenario will be catastrophic to the Middle East as a whole”, he said.
But US state department spokesman Mark Toner said Assad was “deluded” if he thought there was a military solution to the conflict.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict, reported on Saturday that Syrian government forces were poised to advance into the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa province and allied Russian jets kept up air strikes on rebel-held towns north of Aleppo.
More than 250,000 people have been killed and some 11 million displaced in nearly five years of fighting in Syria.
Dmitry Medvedev said that the Americans and Arabic partners must think hard about this that do they really want a permanent war?’.
Saudi Arabia is already part of the worldwide coalition against IS.
Stoltenberg stressed the need for dialogue, but also defended NATO’s move to strengthen defenses, including moving more troops and equipment to countries bordering Russian Federation, and said at an upcoming summer summit in Warsaw he expected member countries “to decide to further strengthen the alliance’s defense and deterrence”. “Decisions made in the coming days and weeks, and a few months could end the war in Syria – or could define a very hard set of choices for the future”.
Groups who are being bombed, Kerry said, will be disinclined to talk.
Speaking after Medvedev, Kerry fired back that Europe and the United States would continue to “stand up to Russia’s repeated aggression” and noted that in addition to a joint focus on Ukraine, Washington had quadrupled spending to help European security.
How has the world reacted?
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“France respects Russian Federation and its interests…”
