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NATO ignores Russia’s warnings and continues to fan tension at its borders — diplomat

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova recalled that NATO repeatedly accuses Russia of ‘non-transparency of its actions" and "aggressive behavior," but the US exercises inn Estonia demonstrate the opposite

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

© Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/TASS

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. NATO is ignoring Moscow’s warnings and continues to fan tension at the Russian borders, with the joint US-Estonian drills being another example of such actions, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.

"Russia warns NATO against fanning tension near the Russian borders. NATO keeps silent and continues," she wrote on her Telegram channel. She drew attention to the statement by the US embassy in Estonia about joint military drills in that country. "The US diplomatic mission said that non-traditional methods of delivery were drilled during the exercise. I don’t even want to think about what they mean," she noted.

"In Pentagon’s military games, this country is nothing but a NATO stronghold at our borders. Such drills have no other goals," she explained. According to Zakharova, the very fact that these drills were held several days after the signing of another military agreement between Tallinn and Washington on mutual provision of troops with fuels "only proves NATO’s plans to deliberately create tension near Russia."

She recalled that NATO repeatedly accuses Russia of ‘non-transparency of its actions" and "aggressive behavior," but the US exercises inn Estonia demonstrate the opposite. "And they dare to say these things about Russia’s military drills on its own territory," she wrote. "And now I want to know if NATO Secretary General [Jens] Stoltenberg thinks such actions to be transparent, predictable and non-aggressive. If he thinks it is normal, then why should he have any claims to Russia’s domestic maneuvers, which cause so much concern for him?".

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