MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian parliament’s upper house, the Federation Council, said on Monday he saw nothing new in NATO’s plans to reflect its ‘deterrence and dialogue’ strategy towards Russia in the final document of the upcoming summit in London.
A German government source said earlier on Monday that "there will be a statement on the continuation of the policy of deterrence and dialogue in relations with Russia."
Commenting on the report, Kosachev told TASS: "In fact, there is nothing new about it."
"This is exactly the logic that the alliance has been following in the past five years in its declarations," he said. "Only in declarations, though, because there has been no deterrence in practice, and no dialogue as well. What we currently have is a monologue of intimidation which, in turn, replaced NATO’s previous logics - ‘to hear, but not to listen’," Kosachev told TASS on Monday.
He is convinced that such statements by NATO should be considered through the prism of the internal situation in the alliance, which is far from ideal.
"The latest survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank reveals that the support for the United States among European Union citizens has fallen to record lows," he said. "And, in case of a conflict between the US and Russia, between 53 and 85% of respondents said they were unwilling to take sides with anyone. In Germany, only 22% of citizens would like to remain under the protection of US nuclear weapons, while 66% favor closer relations with Russia."
According to the Russian lawmaker, the situation on the top level is far from being ideal, too as US President Donald Trump announces his plans to cut the US contributions to NATO’s collective budget, Turkey continues its military operation in Syria in disregard of its allies’ criticism, and French President Emmanuel Macron speaks of "the brain death of NATO."
"What does a body with a dead brain do? For a short while, it follows the reflexes, and NATO’s basic reflex is related to Russia. This is its main tenet, a well-tried remedy against differences, which is used for justifying the very existence of NATO in the post-bipolar world," Kosachev said.
He said that as the problems within the alliance keep on building up, more Russia-related rhetoric will follow.
"This is a reflex that has completely replaced the process of thought," the Russian senator added.