Russian FM Lavrov Lashes Out at NATO's Expansionism

In an article published on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized expansionism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its attempt to extend footprints to the entire Eastern Hemisphere.

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He warned that NATO is undermining the existing regional architecture around the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and creating a new hotspot of geopolitical tension in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Russian diplomat pointed out that Washington is forming military-political mini-alliances under its control, such as AUKUS Australia, the UK and the U.S. (AUKUS); the trio of the United States, Japan and South Korea, as well as the quartet of Tokyo, Seoul, Canberra and Wellington, and involving them in practical cooperation with NATO, which is deploying its infrastructure in the Pacific arena.

These efforts pose a threat to the inclusive, consensus-based regional architecture around ASEAN, Lavrov said in the article titled "Observance of the principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interrelation -- a guarantee of international peace and stability."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree to spend at least 21.6 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 on national defense.

The presidential decree, which put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, stipulates that Ukraine's defense spending next year will reach no less than US$46 billion.

The document instructed the government to prioritize the financing of the defense sector in the 2024 state draft budget based on the current military-political situation. Ukraine's 2023 budget envisages that it will spend US$31 billion or 18.2 percent of GDP on defense.