Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on European security issues on Thursday that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has reverted back to its Cold War priorities and Russians aren’t wanted in Europe.
The minister said Moscow remembers how NATO was set up when the alliance’s first secretary general, Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, “came up with a formula to keep the Russians out of Europe, the Americans in and the Germans down.”
“What’s happening now signifies NATO’s return to the conceptual priorities that were developed 73 years ago. Nothing has changed: the Russians are not welcome in Europe, and the Americans have already subjugated the entire Europe and it’s not just Germany that’s kept down, but all of the European Union. So, the philosophy of domination and unilateral advantages hasn’t gone anywhere following the end of the Cold War,” Lavrov said.
The minister urged not to forget that during its existence, NATO “could hardly take credit for even one real success story.”
“It brings devastation and suffering. I have already mentioned the aggression against Syria, the aggression against Libya, the destruction of the Libyan statehood,” the minister continued. “While in 1991 NATO consisted of 16 countries, now there are already 30 of them. Sweden and Finland are on the cusp of accession. The alliance deploys its forces and military infrastructure ever closer to our borders.”.
Source: Agencies
