President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday criticized the ongoing NATO war games in Georgia for aggravating tensions instead of improving European security.

“We cannot but be concerned by the NATO exercises in Georgia,” Medvedev told reporters after meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

“They are causing problems and tensions, and I believe they can add nothing good to European security.”

Russia and NATO recently started to improve ties frozen after Russia’s war with Georgia in August but tensions rose again over expulsions of diplomats and the NATO exercises that began last week in Georgia.

Moscow has criticized NATO for taking former Soviet republics and satellites in Central and Eastern Europe as members and has fiercely opposed the alliance’s plan to include Russia’s neighbors Georgia and Ukraine

Medvedev, talking about the G8 summit scheduled for July in Italy, said Russia would once again propose to build a new global financial and economic architecture, create a supranational reserve currency, and use the Russian ruble as a reserve currency.

Medvedev also expressed hope that he and U.S. President Barack Obama would be able to overcome some disagreements at their July meeting.