Russia criticises NATO drills

, Feb 19: Moscow has been concerned with

military drills under the pretext of collective defence preparation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

NATO now resorts more often to holding drills, which are being conducted under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, Xinhua quoted Lavrov as saying during a news briefing, following his talks with his Estonian counterpart Urmas Paet.

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty declares that an armed attack against one or more of the bloc's members shall be considered as an attack against them all.

Actually, NATO has been preparing itself to counter the "non-existing threats", the top Russian diplomat said, adding that such kind of thinking should exist only in the past.

Lavrov, however, noted that he and Paet also discussed a US plan of forming a global missile defence system.

IANS