Permanent Representative of the United States to the North Atlantic Alliance said that the new version of NATO’s strategic concept will declare Russia the main threat to the alliance
Julian Smith, the U.S. permanent representative to NATO, said that Russia will be declared the main threat in a new version of the strategic concept of the alliance being prepared for the new geopolitical realities. Smith did not overlook China, saying that it would also figure in the document. According to the postpresident, the alliance was already in a stage of transformation and strengthening before Russia’s special operation in Ukraine.
“Yes, you will see Russia appear in the strategic concept as a paramount threat to the alliance,” Smith admitted during a meeting with journalists from the Defense Writers Group community.
Notably, the new NATO concept will also take into account the role of personalities: we are talking about statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to Ms Smith, the friendship between Russia and China “has no boundaries”, which is clearly irritating in Washington.
“I believe there is now a determination in the alliance to try to reflect in some way in the strategic concept this strategic alignment,” the ambassador clarified.
The previous version of the document had Russia as a partner, and the main goal of the alliance was to deter China. The new version of the document will change everything. Italy’s envoy to NATO, Francesco Maria Talo, said this in an interview with the ANSA news agency.
The NATO summit where the updated concept is to be adopted will be held June 28-30 in Madrid. In addition to the issue of Russia and China, it is planned to discuss issues surrounding the accession of Finland and Sweden to the alliance, who have previously expressed this intention. However, their accession prospects have now been blocked by Turkey. As a condition for changing their position in Turkey, the Turkish authorities are demanding a change in Sweden’s and Finland’s attitude towards a number of organisations that are considered terrorist in Turkey.
Russian authorities have repeatedly pointed out that NATO’s main goal today is to drag Russia into a prolonged confrontation. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that any NATO expansion would inevitably bring a threat to security in Europe. He also noted that Russia did not consider Sweden’s and Finland’s accession to the alliance a threat to Russia’s existence. Vladimir Putin, for his part, remarked that Finland’s rejection of the traditional vector of military neutrality was a mistake, as Russia posed no threat to it.
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