MOSCOW - Appearing at a press conference April 2, the ambassadors of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania explained why there were no reasons for Russia to be worried about the admission of their countries into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
"Russia's painful reaction to the enlargement of NATO can only be regretted," Estonia's Ambassador Karin Jaani said.
In her opinion, the kind of reaction that Russia displayed was absolutely groundless.
Latvia's Ambassador Normans Penke expressed surprise at the Russian statements concerning the way security of the Baltic air space would be ensured, primarily.
"Until now we didn't have the possibility to control our air space," Penke said. "What's so special about it when sovereign countries are protecting their skies and their independence?"
Lithuanian Ambassador Vytautas Pinkus expressed hope that the positive experience accumulated in Lithuania's relations with Russia would help them work closer together in the future.
"We have managed to establish good relations with Russia lately. Our aspiration to join NATO and the European Union came as a surprise to no one. I think that we can use our positive experience in communication with Russia also in cooperation within the NATO-Russia council," Pinkus said.
According to Pinkus, Lithuania has set three goals for itself: to become a member of NATO, to become a member of the European Union and to maintain neighborly relations.
"Two pillars of our future are already effectively in place, we still only have to strengthen the third one," the Lithuanian envoy said.
The ambassadors said they hoped that the Baltic countries and Russia could achieve higher cooperation via the Russia-NATO council.
"Our countries wish to work together, the more so because we are situated on NATO's border with Russia. Good relations with neighbors have always been important to us and the NATO-Russia council will open new perspectives for this. We intend to actively participate in that work, and I am sure that we will find common viewpoints on problems which concern both NATO and Russia," the Estonian envoy said.
The flags of the three Baltic states were raised together with the flags of four more new NATO members from Central and Eastern Europe in a ceremony in the courtyard of the alliance's headquarters in Brussels on April 2.
