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NATO chief’s Balkans tour inflammatory, destructive move, Russian diplomat asserts

"We believe that NATO should end its policy aimed at destabilizing the Balkans, imposing its rules on the region and drawing new dividing lines there," Maria Zakharova said

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s visit to the Balkans was an inflammatory and destructive move given its underlying aim of sowing instability in the region, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Stoltenberg’s trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia was clearly inflammatory. He tried to interfere in the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina and accelerate the country’s movement towards the North Atlantic [Alliance’s] institutions. He assertively insisted that Belgrade also boost cooperation [with NATO] despite Serbia’s neutral status, blaming Russia for all that is wrong in the world and claiming <...> that ‘they’ - he was referring to us - are working to spread disinformation and disrupt things in the Balkans," Zakharova noted at a briefing.

The diplomat also pointed out that Stoltenberg’s Balkans tour was further proof "of the North Atlantic bloc's destructive policy of boosting attempts to drag the countries of the region into the alliance."

"We believe that NATO should end its policy aimed at destabilizing the Balkans, imposing its rules on the region and drawing new dividing lines there," Zakharova said, adding: "As history shows, the alliance’s influence in the Balkans always leads to sorrow, loss of life, destruction and war crimes."

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Foreign policy NATO Maria Zakharova

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