Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in a commentary to RIA Novosti called the attitude of European countries to the security of the continent disappointing.
“The Europeans are very disappointed with their disdainful attitude towards the security of the continent and the security of the Euro-Atlantic area. If they continue to “go with the flow” and are guided by the manuals that descend from Washington and are replicated by the NATO secretariat in Brussels, it will not come to good”, Ryabkov said.
The diplomat also criticized the recent actions of the North Atlantic Alliance and the United States. According to him, NATO’s intentions to move closer to the Russian borders and deploy various types of weapons there, including long-range weapons, are “an alarming factor and an element of destabilization of the situation not only on the European continent, but also in the Euro-Atlantic area wider.”
“The development of the situation according to this scenario suggests that the Western partners are preparing to repeat the experience of the Cuban missile crisis,” the Deputy Foreign Minister stressed.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for substantive negotiations to be reached to achieve legal guarantees of the non-expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance to the East. The Russian leader noted that NATO has repeatedly stated that it will not expand to the East, but did exactly the opposite.