Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) cannot be considered a defensive alliance given its operations in Yugoslavia, Libya and Afghanistan.
Speaking to Channel 1 of national television, the senior official said that the response received by Moscow from that military bloc proudly affirms that NATO is a defensive alliance, however, he said that it is difficult to call it defensive.
“We must not forget that they bombed Yugoslavia for almost three months, that they invaded Libya in violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution and how they behaved in Afghanistan,” warned the head of Russian diplomacy.
According to Lavrov, after the end of the Cold War, the Atlantic Alliance ceased to be defensive, despite the fact that within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) both parties proclaimed “eternal friendship”.
He recalled that the Russia-NATO agreements included the indivisibility of security, mutual solidarity; “We agreed that no one should strengthen their security at the expense of others, and they continue to accept new countries.”
The Russian Foreign Minister said that his country knows from its mistakes what the words of the West are worth and will try to ensure that its legitimate interests are taken into account through the security guarantees that it is requiring from Washington and NATO.
“We will seek not only political commitments on paper, but also legally binding guarantees that uphold security across the European continent, with full and equal consideration of Russia’s legitimate interests,” he said.
Lavrov recalled that relations between Moscow and Washington in the early 1990s seemed peaceful because it seemed to the US authorities that all problems would be solved automatically, because Russia would become part of the so-called civilized world.
According to the minister, the West became convinced then that Russia would follow a course that reflected its interests, and this continued for quite some time in the 1990s.
He explained that, however, in the early 2000s the country recovered its historical and national identity. He said that from that moment the West was concerned about the changes and began to reproach Russia for deviating from the supposed democratic principles.
The head of Russian diplomacy reported that Moscow sent a request to NATO and the OSCE on Sunday to clarify whether they intend to fulfill their commitment not to strengthen their security at the expense of the security of others.
“If they don’t intend to do it, let them explain why not. This will be the key issue in determining our next proposals, of which we will inform Russian President Vladimir Putin,” he stressed.
