“NATO takes an arrogant and provocative position by pursuing an open-door policy that pushes neutral countries to join the alliance,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The statements came after a meeting with his Italian colleague Luigi Di Maio.
According to Lavrov, NATO’s door is “very open”. He refers to the alliance’s refusal to apply the “indivisibility of security” concept, “after long attempts to avoid discussion”.
Under this indivisibility, the Kremlin understands that each country’s security is inseparable from that of other countries in the region. Moscow says that NATO’s strategy would endanger that indivisibility and is central to Russia’s efforts to justify the massive deployment of troops on the Ukrainian border.
“NATO has said that there can be no question of applying that concept because the legal guarantees of security can only be given within NATO, not outside of it,” Lavrov clarified.
In the long-awaited Russian response to US and NATO proposals on security in Europe, sent out on Thursday, Moscow threatens to respond, including militarily, if the US does not agree to the Russians’ key security demands. As in a previous Russian proposal, they again urge all US troops in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the Baltic countries to withdraw.
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