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NATO pulling forces to Russian borders amid calls to deter Russia - Shoigu

NATO’s deterrence plan in Afghanistan resulted in a catastrophe, the Russian defense chief said
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu Sergey Karpukhin/TASS
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu
© Sergey Karpukhin/TASS

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/. NATO is consistently pulling its forces to Russian borders amid calls for military deterrence of Russia, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Saturday.

"Amid the calls for military deterrence of Russia, NATO is consistently pulling its forces to our borders," the Russian defense chief said in response to a statement by German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

"The German defense minister must know well how such moves in the past ended for Germany and Europe. There can be only shared security in Europe, without infringements on Russia’s interests. But it is NATO that is unprepared for an equitable dialogue on this issue," Shoigu pointed out.

NATO’s deterrence plan in Afghanistan resulted in a catastrophe, the Russian defense chief said.

"Moreover, the implementation of NATO’s deterrence plan in Afghanistan ended in a catastrophe that the entire world has to deal with now," Shoigu said.

On October 21, the German defense minister stated in a live broadcast of the Deutschlandfunk radio station in response to a question about whether NATO was considering the scenarios of deterring Russia in the Baltic and Black Sea regions, including in the airspace with nuclear weapons that the military bloc should send Russia a clear signal that the alliance was ready to use such means to produce a deterrence effect in advance and discourage anyone from attacking Baltic areas or NATO partners in the Black Sea. Kramp-Karrenbauer stressed that this was NATO’s underlying idea and it would be adapted to Russia’s current behavior.