During the large-scale Russian and Belarusian Zapad 2017 military exercises, additional NATO forces will be deployed in the Baltic States, as stated on Thursday June 29 in Brussels by Estonian Defense Minister Jüri Luik at a meeting of the defense ministers of NATO member states, ERR reports.

“One topic which was discussed in great detail at this meeting was the Zapad large-scale Russian military exercises which will be held in September,” Luik said.

“All NATO early warning systems are ready …

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that the new British aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, which was recently sent to sea trials, is “just a convenient large-scale naval target.”

This was in answer to the British Defense Minister Michael Fallon, who criticized the Russian cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov, as reported by RBC news agency.

Earlier, Fallon told the Telegraph newspaper that in Russia they would “look with a little bit of envy” at the new British aircraft carrier …

NATO member countries are increasing their military budgets, as they believe that Russia will not be a partner of the North Atlantic Alliance in the foreseeable future, as stated by Pentagon chief James Mattis on Thursday after a meeting of NATO defense ministers.

"The increase in military budgets by NATO countries for the past several years demonstrates the awareness of the alliance members of the fact that Russia in the near future will not be a partner of this organization, like we wanted …