Alexei Pushkov, a Russian senator and political expert, commented on NATO countries’ refusal of long-term contracts with Russia
20th November 2002
NATO Summit Meeting in Prague, Czech Republic
North Atlantic Council Meeting at the level of Heads of State and Government.
North Atlantic Council Meeting with Invitees at the level of Heads of State and Government.
– General View
He considers it a complete failure of the policy of the leadership of the Alliance. He wrote this in his Telegram channel, the Izvestia newspaper reported. He responded to a statement made by former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe James Stavridis. He urged to “beware of the bear”, referring to the Russian Federation.
“The general would do better to think about how the alliance got to the point where it lost all contact with Russia. This is a complete failure of the NATO leadership”, – Pushkov said.
The senator drew attention to the fact that Jens Stoltenberg, the bloc’s Secretary General, supported the visit of Finnish President Sauli Niinisto to Russia and his negotiations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. He himself, however, is unable to engage in dialogue with Moscow, which is “detrimental to the security of NATO member states”.
The North Atlantic Alliance cannot seriously expect to deal with Russia in a Yugoslav scenario, bombing it and launching missile strikes. Russia is one of the most powerful powers in the world and any attack on it would end up defeating the entire bloc.