December 27, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 16, 1428

MOSCOW, Dec 26: Russia is “extremely” concerned by the development of Nato and opposes further expansion by the Western military alliance, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Wednesday, state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.

“We are extremely concerned over the direction in which the alliance will evolve,” Grushko was quoted as saying.

Grushko lashed out at Nato’s steady expansion into former Moscow-dominated eastern Europe, saying the policy “was a leftover from the time of the Cold War and today is not able to resolve a single real security problem”.

Instead, Nato’s “open-doors policy” only “leads to a strengthening of antagonisms between different countries”, Grushko said.—AFP