MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. There are no signs yet that NATO countries are ready to abandon the "Russian threat" myth, Russian Ambassador to NATO Alexander Grushko said on Tuesday.
"NATO still pursues the policy determined at the Wales and Warsaw summits. This policy is aimed at obtaining the central role in ensuring the Euro-Atlantic security once again, using the so-called ‘Russian threat’ myth. There are no signs yet that NATO countries are willing to abandon this course."
According to Grushko, "to make matters worse, NATO has suspended cooperation with Russia even in the spheres of mutual interest." "Meanwhile, global threats are still there," he went on to say. "Terrorism, the situation in Afghanistan, the chaos in the Middle East, these are the challenges that both Russia and NATO have been facing. If we speak or resolving the current crisis concerning the European security, then of course, our efforts should particularly be aimed at restoring cooperation in the spheres of mutual interest."
"Obviously, NATO should abandon the discredited policy of restraining Russia and stop strengthening its eastern flank as these activities do not enhance NATO members’ security but on the contrary, they create new security issues and challenges," the Russian ambassador said. "In fact, NATO has been trying to impose a Cold War era security system on us."
NATO and Donald Trump
NATO members were scandalized by Donald Trump’s election win, Grushko has noted.
"If we speak about what is going on inside NATO, then the US presidential election results shocked the member states," the Russian diplomat noted. "It is noteworthy that the shock was caused by some statements saying that improving relations between the US and Russian may harm NATO’s policy which it had been pursuing in the recent years."
According to Grushko, "this shows that the security situation is at the lowest level at the moment, since some countries, overwhelmed with Russophobic sentiment, consider normal relations between the two leading states, responsible for maintaining strategic stability, as a threat to their national security."