The Russian Foreign Minister has harsh criticism for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, claiming that it is unable to effectively combat terrorism, is operating on an outdated “cold war” model, and exists simply to acquire geopolitical space, Russian news agency TASS reported.
RELATED:
Thousands March in Greece Against NATO ‘Imperialists’
“NATO has been unable to respond to the growth of a major threat – terrorism – and continues shattering security institutions in Europe,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
Lavrov said that NATO is operating in a cold-war model of bipolar standoff, which he said is unable to be adapted to the complex realities of the 21st century that require cooperation, particularly in dealing with the threats of terrorism and its underlying causes.
“In particular, the North Atlantic Alliance still remains in the logics of the Cold War, trying to justify it's own existence,” Lavrov said.
The top Russian diplomat has also recently criticized what he called the “greedy” geopolitical aspirations of the major defense alliance.
"NATO’s plans have never changed and with different intensity degree have been aimed at greedily acquiring geopolitical space, which they considered as unclaimed after the collapse of the Soviet Union," he said last week said
RELATED:
NATO to Continue Occupation, Sending Thousands more Troops to Afghanistan
NATO permanent operations have since 2014 encroached increasingly closer to the borders of Russia, stationing troops and constructing infrastructure. The move was justified by NATO nations as being necessary following the crisis in Ukraine, when Russia re-annexed Crimea.
Referring to the movement of NATO toward Russia, Lavrov said “we understand very well that pretexts used to justify such steps are far fetched.”
Lavrov has said that he believes the given justification is simply an excuse to encroach geopolitically on Russia.
“If there had not been the coup d'etat in Ukraine, after which we were forced to defend those people who refused to obey neo-Nazi perpetrators of the coup, then something else would have been invented," he continued.
NATO allied countries recently agreed to raise their collective defense spending by 4.3 percent, and also to send several thousand more troops to Afghanistan.
“The NATO-centric thinking is a bad thing,” Lavrov said criticizing cold-war standoff policies. “It does not help build confidence, strengthen good neighborly relations and reduce tensions.”