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Senior Russian diplomat calls rumors about plans to attack NATO 'nonsense'

"This not even disinformation, this is a malicious and evil attempt to put a twist to the very essence of our policy and the logical foundation for all our actions, which our government has repeatedly explained to the West on many occasions, both publicly and behind closed doors," Sergey Ryabkov said

MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. Russia has no plans to attack NATO, and any rumors about such scenarios are "utter nonsense," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS in an interview.

"During the Spring-Summer 2024 season, Washington brought into fashion a theory that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop in Ukraine and will certainly attack other NATO countries," the deputy minister said. "This is utter nonsense. This not even disinformation, this is a malicious and evil attempt to put a twist to the very essence of our policy and the logical foundation for all our actions, which our government has repeatedly explained to the West on many occasions, both publicly and behind closed doors."

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in February that in if Russia would win in Ukraine, it will not stop and take more aggressive actions in the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said, speaking at the expanded Defense Ministry board meeting on December 19, 2023, that Russia had and has no intention to attack NATO countries. "Why would we need these NATO countries? We don’t need them, we have never needed them, we don’t need them now, and we will not need them in the future." In his opinion, the US promotes the so-called "Russian threat" myth, afraid of losing its hold on the European continent.

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Foreign policy Vladimir Putin Sergey Ryabkov

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