NATO deliberately makes Russia enemy to justify its existence

Photo: AP photo

NATO deliberately makes Russia enemy to justify its existence. 52764.png

According to Russia's ambassador to NATO Alexander Grushko, NATO is trying to justify its existence at the expense of the political crisis in Ukraine.

"These days, NATO officials have said a lot about the importance for the alliance to awake from hibernation, and judging by the energy that is put into the rhetoric about the appearance of a new threat in Europe, NATO is trying to use the maximum of the crisis in Ukraine to prove its relevance in the current security environment. The goal of this artificially intimidating rhetoric is to "revive" the bloc and gain increasing appropriations for military needs. To do this, one needs to have an enemy," he said.

According to him, NATO "has been increasing the argumentation framework to prove the existence of Russia's expansionist ambitions - new threats continue to emerge."

"One of the military leaders of NATO formulated a universal explanation to any protests - one should see the hand of Moscow behind all of that," said Grushko.

"At the same, NATO silences Russia's contribution to the elimination of the Cold War legacy and ending the arms race. By and large, Europe should thank Russia for the opportunity to spend 1-2% of GDP on defense. Now, in the wake of this hostile campaign, they will make taxpayers pay more for defense needs," he added.

"The alliance denies that the crisis in Ukraine is internal, and, in spite of all the tragic facts, the bloc continues to speak about some "intervention in eastern Ukraine." Hopefully, they could see people queuing to get to polling stations in Donetsk and Lugansk. I hope that NATO finally saw the civil society of Ukraine, rather than the mythical "agents provocateurs." If the alliance is interested in de-escalation, as claimed by its representatives, it can also contribute by urging the Kiev regime to immediately stop the punitive operation, bring troops back to barracks and not to provide any assistance to the Kiev regime," he concluded.

Meanwhile, Russia is joining forces with China to demonstrating its military power to the hawkish Western bloc. Russian ships headed to the port of Shanghai to participate in joint Russian-Chinese naval exercises "Joint Sea 2014."

A group of Pacific Fleet vessels, commanded by Captain Sergey Lipilin went out to sea and took the course to Port of Shanghai (PRC) to participate in joint Russian-Chinese naval exercises.

The joint exercises of the Russian Navy and naval forces of the People's Liberation Army of China will be held on May 20-26 in the north area of the East China Sea.

The following vessels of the Russian Navy will take part in the exercises: missile cruiser Varyag, large anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev, destroyer Bystry, large landing ship Admiral Nevelsky, sea tanker Ilim and tugboat Kalar (six surface ships, two helicopters and units of special forces of the Pacific Fleet).