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Russia to comply with NATO’s assessment, if called ‘direct threat’ to alliance — diplomat

Commenting on the plans of Sweden and Finland to join the organization, Sergey Ryabkov proposed to wait until these countries "undergo everything they have to in this regard"

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov

© Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. Russia will comply with the "high mark" of NATO, which might include a mentioning of the "direct threat," allegedly posed by Moscow’s activities, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters Monday.

"We will pose a direct threat for them to comply with this high mark," the diplomat said, answering a question about Moscow’s reactions to NATO’s plans to outline Moscow as a "direct threat."

Commenting on the plans of Sweden and Finland to join NATO, Ryabkov proposed to wait until these countries "undergo everything they have to in this regard."

"Then we will analyze the consequences of this in practical, material sense, and then some public statement on this issue would be possible," he added.

Previously, Bloomberg reported citing a NATO representative that NATO may include a mentioning of a "direct threat", allegedly posed by Russia, in its new strategy, planned for adopting in June.

NATO repeatedly resorted to such rhetoric when forming its strategy. For example, in December 2020, NATO Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg presented the "NATO-2030: United for a New Era" program, which stated that the main threats to the bloc are: Russia, terrorism, cyberattacks, technologies, rise of China and climate change.

During the June 2021 summit, NATO made a decision to begin developing a new strategic concept based on this program, planned for adoption in 2022 in Madrid.

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