ISTANBUL
Marking this week’s 74th anniversary of NATO on a negative note, Russia early Thursday claimed that the military alliance is “incompatible” with international security.
“Everything is being done to make the world even more dangerous, in order to prevent the existence of alternative centers of power that can undermine the hegemony of the West. In general, it can be stated with confidence that security and NATO are incompatible things,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed in a commentary published by the ministry.
Zakharova claimed that while the NATO bloc celebrated its 74th anniversary on Tuesday, it had “nothing to brag about” since “behind NATO allies are wars, turning states into ruins, unpunished war crimes, the killing of civilians, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.”
Zakharova further claimed that despite the alliance saying it is a defensive one, its history suggests otherwise, with NATO currently expanding towards Russia with the intent to “usurp the entire European security system,” thus creating threats to Moscow’s security.
In this regard, she claimed that by officially joining the alliance this week, Finland became “another victim” of NATO by renouncing its policy of neutrality “in exchange for turning it into a frontline zone – a springboard to contain Russia in the northwestern direction.”
In a break from its traditional policy of non-alignment, Finland joined NATO in response to Russia last year launching a war against its neighbor Ukraine. Finland also borders Russia, and suffered a Soviet invasion during World War II.
“As we can see, NATO does not intend to stop there,” Zakharova continued. “Increasingly, NATO Secretary General J. Stoltenberg makes statements about the global role of the alliance, the need for it to go beyond the traditional zone of responsibility – the Euro-Atlantic. In fact, the foundation is being laid for the widespread imposition of NATO-centric approaches to building regional security systems.”
Zakharova also claimed this is the reason behind NATO’s military support for Ukraine and its push for Kyiv to continue fighting the war, as well as the alliance’s “attacks” on China, its close relations with Japan and South Korea, and its plans to “militarize the Arctic.”
“In this regard, only one conclusion suggests itself – at the age of 74, it is time for the North Atlantic bloc to retire,” she concluded.
