MOSCOW, November 7. /TASS/. Anti-Russian sentiment, which turns out to be a face-saving idea for the North Atlantic Alliance, is a specific sign of what French President Emmanuel Macron has described as NATO’s "brain death," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with the GTRK Samara TV channel on Thursday.

"NATO is brain-dead. The fact is not surprising but what is surprising is that a NATO leader is openly talking about it," she said, commenting on Macron’s statement. Zakharova pointed out that Moscow had been saying the same thing for a long time, only in a more diplomatic manner.

"Apart from pointing to a crisis within the Alliance, we also said that Russophobia, which had become a face-saving idea for NATO ideologists, was a specific sign of the crisis. I think they tried to find an idea to bring NATO members together once again, so that they could feel solid ground under their feet and move forward," the Russian diplomat pointed out.

In this regard, Zakharova emphasized that NATO and the European Union were facing "an identity crisis, an existential crisis, a future vision and a strategy crisis."

Macron said earlier in an interview with The Economist magazine that "what we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO." According to the French president, Europe stands on "the edge of a precipice" and needs to start thinking of itself strategically as a geopolitical power, otherwise we will "no longer be in control of our destiny.".