Russian Prime Minister: The world is falling into a 'new Cold War'

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said today that tense relations between Moscow and the West have pushed the world into a "new Cold War".

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev speaks at the Munich Security Forum in Munich, Germany, February 13. Photo: Reuters.

With tensions high over the Ukraine crisis and Russia's support for the Syrian government, "all that remains is NATO's unfriendly policy towards Russia," according to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

"We can say it more clearly: We have fallen into a new Cold War," AFP quoted Mr. Medvedev as saying at the Munich Security Conference. "Almost every day, we are accused of creating new terrible threats against NATO, Europe or the United States or other countries."

Prime Minister Medvedev criticized NATO's expansion and the profound influence of the European Union (EU) on Eastern European countries that were part of the Soviet Union since the end of the Cold War.

“European politicians thought that setting up a so-called belt of friends on one side of Europe, outside the EU, could guarantee security, and what was the result?” he said. “It was not a belt of friends, it was a belt of exclusion.”

Prime Minister Medvedev said "creating trust is not simple... but we must start." He called for better East-West dialogue, citing the historic meeting between Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in Cuba as an example.

"In the 1960s, we were on the brink of nuclear disaster, but the two opposing sides understood that no conflict of political systems was worth more than human lives," he added.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier spoke about tensions with Russia at the Munich Security Conference, declaring a tough stance but also offering dialogue.

"NATO does not seek confrontation and does not want a new Cold War. At the same time, our response must be firm," Mr. Stoltenberg said. NATO is "strengthening our collective defense to send a strong signal, deter any aggression or threat. Not to start a war, but to prevent it."

According to VNE