Pushkov: NATO secretary general should tell US about division of spheres of influence instead of Russia

Russian Federation Senator Alexei Pushkov has criticized NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s statement that Russia has no right to its “sphere of influence”

Stoltenberg earlier said that Moscow had no “sphere of influence” over neighbouring countries and that Russia could not obstruct Ukraine’s membership of the North Atlantic Alliance.

“NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg is mistaken: Russia has a sphere of interests – these are its security and economic development interests, and it will defend these interests. The opinion of a representative of an organisation to which Russia is not a member is irrelevant for us. It is not for him to determine our rights”, – Pushkov said in his Telegram channel.

In the senator’s opinion, Stoltenberg’s bellicose statements are the usual rhetoric of NATO. Pushkov added that the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance should tell Washington about the unacceptability of having spheres of influence thousands of kilometres away from the shores of the United States