MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. Political games around the issue of NATO enlargement by accepting Ukraine and Georgia can entail serious consequences not only for Europe, but also for Kiev, Russia’s Ambassador to the Northern Atlantic Alliance Alexander Grushko told LifeNews on Tuesday.
"Any political game around issues of NATO expansion to Georgia and Ukraine can entail the most serious and deepest geopolitical consequences for Europe as a whole," Grushko said. "I am proceeding from the fact that people in Brussels and in other capitals understand how dangerous this game is," he continued. "It will have catastrophic consequences. More than that, it will have catastrophic consequences for Ukraine," the ambassador stressed.
Ukraine’s possible accession to NATO will divide not only Europe, but also the Ukrainian society, and will tremendously fan tensions in international relations, the diplomat said.
"NATO’s role in the Ukrainian crisis is very destructive. NATO is not playing the role of an organization that facilitates solving the problem peacefully. It creates the illusion of permissiveness, and this is a very dangerous path," he concluded.
NATO building new "Iron Curtain" in Europe — Russia’s ambassador
NATO is building a new "Iron Curtain" in Europe by using the crisis in Ukraine, Alexander Grushko said.
"The organization that was created during the Cold War for certain purposes, first of all for the so-called ‘deterrence of the Soviet Union’ feels very uncomfortable when it has no enemy. The crisis in Ukraine was used to bring NATO to its origins and on this basis to prove to the public, especially in Western Europe, that NATO is still in demand, that it is still strengthening security," Grushko told LifeNews.
The US "demands additional allocations for military purposes from its allies" under the guise of "Eastern threat," the ambassador said. "In fact, NATO is building a new ‘Iron Curtain’ in Europe," he added.