MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. NATO exploits the factor of ‘a threat from the East’ to keep the shaken unity in the alliance, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told TASS on Thursday, commenting on the drafting of NATO’s new strategic concept aimed at deterring Russia and China.
"It is obvious for us and I think it is obvious for all today that the factor of the so-called threat from the East is exploited, first of all, to keep the NATO unity that has been yielding serious cracks lately," the senior Russian diplomat said.
Deep contradictions between members of the North Atlantic alliance on many aspects of regional security "are not a secret for anyone" while communications have to be established between members of NATO itself for de-confliction purposes, Grushko pointed out.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference on the results of the first day of a meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of Defense Ministers held via a teleconference on February 17 that NATO’s new strategic concept would be adopted at the alliance’s summit in 2021 and would be aimed at deterring China and Russia.