MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. Moscow cannot accept arguments that Russia is to blame for the erosion of ties with NATO, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Grushko said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

"We firmly believe that the people who made this decision, and this decision is bound to made by consensus in NATO, understand the full responsibility for the damage they have caused. We do not accept any arguments that would allow them to place the guilt on Russia for the deterioration of relations with the alliance," he emphasized.

According to Grushko, it was no coincidence that NATO decided to "widen the scope of deteriorating" relations with Russia. "Against the background of NATO's ‘successes' in Afghanistan, it became clear that the image of the Russian threat that NATO has been fostering in recent months was somehow losing its appeal and it was necessary to refresh the Russian agenda, and to put it at the center of NATO's efforts. I think it will be used to continue vilifying Russia and building the concept that NATO is now dealing not only with the Russian threat, but also with the joint Russian-Chinese threat," the high-ranking diplomat said.

On October 6, NATO announced that it would cut the size of the Russian mission with the organization in half from 20 to 10 people, eight diplomats had their accreditation revoked, and two more vacancies were abolished. The alliance gave the Russian diplomats until the end of October to leave Brussels. On October 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Russia was suspending the work of its permanent mission to NATO as of the beginning of November. In addition, the activities of the Military Liaison Mission and the NATO Information Office in Moscow will be suspended.