MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. The North Atlantic Alliance is actually preparing for conflict with Russia, Vladislav Maslennikov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department of European affairs, said in an interview with TASS.

"At present, Russia is defined as `the most significant and direct security threat’ in all of the North Atlantic Alliance’s doctrinal documents as the bloc emphasizes that it will remain such a threat in the long term, even if the Ukraine conflict is resolved," the senior Russian diplomat said when asked if Russia and NATO could revive dialogue any time now or in the future.

"Given this, NATO is in fact making preparations for a potential conflict with Russia by increasing military expenditure, building up its capabilities along our borders and deploying additional missions and operations in eastern Europe," Maslennikov explained.

On November 15, Germany’s defense chief Boris Pistorius said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that a war between Russia and NATO could allegedly begin before 2029. Commenting on his remark, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova addressed his comment saying that there was no longer any doubt about whom the aggressor is. For his part, Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, added that Pistorius will have to live with the statement that war between NATO and Russia is "inevitable.".