Russia finds NATO’s rapid evolution worrisome: Lavrov

• 11.30.2022, 23:12
•  Europe,  EEU,  America,  World

© Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Russia finds NATO's rapid evolution concerning, including in the context of the West’s war against Russia in Ukraine and global security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with participants in the program Dialogue for the Future on Wednesday, TASS reports. 

"We are concerned about the rapid evolution of the North Atlantic Alliance, including in the context of the war unleashed by the West against us in Ukraine and global security. Until recently, everyone was urged to take it for granted that NATO is a defensive alliance, its sole task being the protection of the territories of its own members. After the disappearance of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Treaty Organization the meaning of NATO's existence also disappeared - after all, they had wished to ‘defend’ themselves from the Soviet Union-led bloc," Lavrov said.

Despite this, NATO has not disappeared and has continued to search for the purpose of its ongoing existence.

"First, the campaign in Afghanistan was considered as an excuse. Then, after a disgraceful flight from that country, NATO decided to find another reason," Lavrov recalled. "They found it in containing Russia and building up Ukraine’s military muscle. For many years after the coup in Kiev that country was converted into an instrument of containing Russia, into a springboard for attacking Russia’s interests in our immediate environment. Throughout that period, with the direct encouragement of Western sponsors the Kiev regime pushed ahead with the legislative destruction of the Russian language, culture, media and education.