"Russia should share more info with NATO about military exercises the country conducts near the Baltics," the Latvian minister tweeted on Friday in response to comments by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen uttered in Vilnius.
Earlier in the day, Rasmussen said NATO does not view Russia as a threat and does not constitute a threat to Moscow, however, the Alliance has all plans that may be necessary to protect its Allies.
Rasmussen said he had no thorough information about the Russian-Belarusian war games Zapad 2013 planned for this year, adding that the exercise scheduled to take place in the Baltic states and Poland around that time were not aimed against third countries.
"We do not consider Russia a threat to NATO and NATO definitely does not constitute a threat to Russia but, of course, we have all plans in place to protect and defend NATO Allies. When it comes to exercises, the most important thing is to demonstrate full transparency," the secretary general told journalists.
Lithuania's Defense Minister Juozas Olekas said earlier this week that certain elements of the Russian-Belarusian military exercises Zapad 2013 were directed against neighbors.
There is no official information on exercise scenarios or the size of troops involved as yet but it is believed that the exercises will be similar to high-profile exercises Zapad-2009 where a scenario included attacks on the Baltic states' territory and a preventive nuclear attack on Warsaw.
