From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: "STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN!" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Russia Warns Slovakia Against Joining NATO MOSCOW, Apr 1, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Russia warned Slovakia on Saturday against trying to join NATO following a vote by the Slovak parliament last Tuesday in favor of membership of the North Atlantic Alliance. "Russia had always taken a negative view of the NATO military machine moving closer to its frontiers," a foreign ministry communique here said. "The vote by the Slovak deputies causes us regret." Slovakia's neighbor, the Czech Republic, and two other former Soviet allies, Hungary and Poland, have already joined NATO. After the Warsaw Pact dissolved, post-communist Czechoslovakia split apart to become the Czech Republic and Slovakia. A choice of allies was Slovakia's sovereign right, the Moscow statement said. But it added: "We hope Slovakia will exercise this right responsibly, bearing in mind the security interests of other states." In January, the presidents of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia called for Slovakia's rapid entry into NATO. "We note that NATO's 'open door' policy favors the strengthening of the security and stability in the central and eastern Europe. We hope that Slovakia will soon become a member of NATO," said the joint declaration of the four presidents whose countries make up the so-called Visegrad Group. The joint lobbying efforts of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland as part of the Visegrad Group are widely seen as having helped them successfully join NATO in 1999. ((c) 2001 Agence France Presse) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/?.refer=text _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
