Russia is forced to take very serious note of the enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which has an undoubted effect on its political, military and economic interests, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Monday.  

The ministry made the remark on the same day when US President George W. Bush is scheduled to formally welcome seven new member states to the 55-year-old NATO, set up during the Cold War to confront the former Soviet Union.

NATO's eastward expansion to include seven former Soviet bloc nations of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia has caused serious concern from Russia over the military alliance's creeping proximity.

Moscow has been particularly alert at the accession of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the three Baltic states where NATO troops will possibly be stationed near its border.

Russia would work to ensure the earliest possible joining by Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Slovenia of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, which regulates the deployment of warplanes, tanks and other heavy non-nuclear weapons, said Alexander Yakovenko, a spokesman from the Foreign Ministry.

"Russia is determined to continue its diverse political work in order to create a system of European security that would take into account and guarantee the interests of all states," Yakovenko said.     

"Russia will watch what has happened near its borders and whether anyone threatens us, Russia can respond adequately," Federation Council Sergei Mironov was quoted by the Itar-Tass News Agency as saying.

"NATO's steps have had an unfriendly character toward Russia," said Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the International Affairs Committee in the State Duma, or lower house of the Russian parliament.

"If significant NATO military bases appear near Russia's borders and change the balance of forces in this region, then we can't exclude that Russia will consider the possibility of taking corresponding action so that the balance is not breached," Kosachyov was cited by the Interfax News Agency as saying.

Gen. Anatoly Kornukov, a former Russian Air Force commander, even suggested shooting down NATO planes if they violate the air space, according to Interfax.

NATO has tried to assure Russia that the expansion is not directed against Moscow. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in a published interview on Monday that NATO and Russia have grounds for real effective cooperation.

The alliance's head, who will visit Moscow on April 7 to 8 to discuss with Russia's foreign and defense ministers on future cooperation issues, stressed that he is in favor of strengthening the NATO-Russia partnership that meets the interests of both sides.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2004)