Russia rules out prospect of restoring dialogue with NATO

According to RIA Novosti on June 13, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that there is currently no prospect of restoring dialogue between Russia and NATO.

“Today there is no prospect of restoring a substantive dialogue,” Deputy Foreign Minister Grushko said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper.

According to Mr. Grushko, there are several reasons for this. The first reason is that NATO declares Russia a direct and immediate threat to the alliance.

At the same time, the Deputy Foreign Minister said that the latest moves of this alliance signal preparations for a possible conflict with Russia.

“To put it bluntly, everything NATO is doing now demonstrates the alliance’s preparation for a possible military conflict with Russia. The exercises being conducted show exactly that now any concept of security based on cooperation has been abandoned. NATO has returned to the security plans of the Cold War,” the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister stressed.

It is easy to see the growing role of nuclear weapons in NATO's military planning, Mr. Grushko added.

“We often hear criticism against Russia that Moscow is threatening the West with nuclear weapons. In fact, until recently, NATO had a doctrine of flexible response. The meaning of this doctrine is that the alliance can use nuclear weapons against the enemy at any stage. From the latest exercises and from the latest documents, we see that the role of nuclear weapons in NATO's military strategy and military planning is increasing,” the Deputy Foreign Minister added.

Recently, many opinions in the West often mention a direct armed conflict between NATO and Russia. The Kremlin notes that Russia does not pose a threat, does not threaten anyone, but will not ignore actions that could endanger its interests.

In addition, in recent years, Russia has noted unprecedented NATO activity near its western borders. The alliance is expanding its initiatives, calling it a “deterrent to Russian aggression.”

For its part, Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern about the build-up of alliance forces in Europe. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Russia remains open to dialogue with NATO but on an equal basis, while the West must abandon the process of militarizing the continent.