MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Only the timely launch of Russia’s special military operation made it possible to prevent the transformation of Donbass and Crimea into yet more links in the chain of "NATO war crimes," Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin said at a roundtable discussion devoted to the anniversary of NATO’s military aggression against Republika Srpska.

"I would like to highlight that there has never been an instance in a single country around the world where the North Atlantic Alliance’s forces have intervened where the fundamental social order or the standard of living enjoyed by the local population have been successfully restored to their pre-war levels. The Donbass and Crimea were supposed to have become yet more links in this long chain of NATO war crimes," he said. "However, the timely commencement of the special military operation on the territory of the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic helped prevent this scenario from taking place and to avoid the most tragic consequences," he added.

Naryshkin noted that, looking back at NATO’s more-than-50-year-long history, it becomes clear that the appetite of an aggressor that has come to have a blind faith in his own impunity can only but grow. "In such cases, history shows that only the timely demonstration of resolve can do any good," he concluded.