Russia Refuses to Be Classified as 'a Threat' to NATO

The Kremlin said that the strategic policy of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) "destroys the European architecture" after this military alliance described Russia as a threat to its security.

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"NATO's rhetoric is clear to us. There will be a new strategic plan in which Russia will be labeled as a threat to the alliance," Russian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, emphasizing that NATO is "a threat to us."

In this sense, he pointed out that Russia will do everything possible so that its security and the security of its allies "is guaranteed in any circumstance." This will be a goal regardless of any agreement reached between the members of the U.S.-controlled military alliance.

During the summit held in Madrid on Wednesday, the United States and its allies expressed that they would take "important decisions to strengthen NATO in a more dangerous and competitive world, where authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China openly defy the rules-based international order", said NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg.

"The Russian Federation is the most important and direct threat to the security of the allies and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area", emphasizes the new "Strategic Concept" that will guide NATO's action in the next decade.

This document replaces the one that was in force since the Lisbon summit in 2010, when NATO members still considered Russia a "strategic partner." Now, instead, the allies consider that the Russian operation in Ukraine has seriously altered their "security environment."

According to NATO, Moscow "seeks to establish direct spheres of influence and control through coercion, subversion, aggression and annexation," and also uses "conventional, cyber and hybrid means against us and our partners."