MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. NATO’s summit declaration makes no mention of its open-door policy for the first time in three decades; the Serbian Parliament seeks to probe into alleged arms exports to Ukraine; and the EU summit in Brussels indicates that Moldova, not Ukraine, is currently poised to move forward with accession negotiations. These stories topped Friday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
For the first time since the 1990s, NATO did not include a reference to its commitment to the open-door policy in its final summit declaration, Izvestia writes. For over 30 years, this provision had consistently appeared in all of the alliance’s concluding documents. Experts believe the omission was a tactical decision aimed at avoiding provoking US President Donald Trump, who opposes Ukraine’s accession to the bloc. Nonetheless, NATO has not abandoned the open-door policy. The alliance continues to expand cooperation with post-Soviet states, including Armenia, Russia’s ally in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Russia is firmly opposed to NATO enlargement, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Galuzin told Izvestia.
"Everything at the NATO summit was done so as not to antagonize Trump. NATO has a long history. The alliance has outlasted many politicians and will outlast Trump. This is not a rejection of the open-door policy," Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and Governance at the Higher School of Economics Mikhail Mironyuk told Izvestia.
