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Russian diplomat says NATO used methods of hybrid war in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya

Russian Permanent Representative at NATO Alexander Grushko commented on allegations of Russian troops’ involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine

© EPA/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE

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BRUSSELS, March 23. /TASS/. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) used instruments of hybrid warfare in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya, Russian Permanent Representative at NATO Alexander Grushko said on Monday.

Commenting on the statement made by NATO officials at the Brussels Forum conference on March 20-22, Grushko said US General Philip Breedlove was right saying that a hybrid war was a set of instruments that have already been used.

"General Breedlove is right. Such instruments have really been used, including during a campaign in Iraq, in NATO’s bombardments of the former Yugoslavia and in Libya," Grushko said.

Commenting on routine allegations by NATO’s top officials about Russian troops’ involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, he said, "It looks like NATO’s intelligence centre ignores reports of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe /OSCE/ on the situation on the ground."

"NATO can hardly claim it has the right to the truth. In many cases, the alliance’s decisions and actions were based on politically motivated ‘theories,’" He noted.

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