NATO still has ‘birthmarks’ of Cold War — Putin

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. NATO, which was created during the Cold War, has not transformed itself under the modern realities and continues living in a paradigm of bloc confrontation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Mir 24 TV channel.

Putin recalled that NATO was created during the confrontation between two blocs, but now there aren’t any ideological differences between the countries, including in Europe. "But these birthmarks of the Cold War, they are very visible in NATO. This organization continues living in a paradigm of bloc confrontation," Putin said.

The president noted that the North Atlantic Alliance remains very ideological, "despite various statements" that it should transform under modern conditions:

"We have heard many such statements, but still we don’t see any real transformation." 

When asked on the parallels between NATO and the Collective Security Treaty Organization [CSTO], a military alliance bringing together six post-Soviet states, including Russia, Putin said: "We have another atmosphere of organization [compared with NATO]."

He stressed that the CSTO was created already in the new conditions and is aimed at combating such modern threats as terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and transborder crime. The Russian leader noted that the CSTO does not make "joint clearly political statements" and all decisions are taken by a true consensus, rather than a formal one.

"Still, we cannot avoid such global things that pose a threat for the whole world. For example, we spoke many times about our opposition to the deployment of missile defense systems, arms in space and so on. We believe it is possible to formulate our common approach to such fundamental global issues and we are doing this," he said.