April 2, 2024 (EIRNS)—The current state of relations between Russia and NATO can be described as “something more than a Cold War,” said Konstantin Gavrilov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s chief delegate to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control. During an interview with RIA Novosti on April 1, reported RT, Gavrilov said that warnings by U.S. President Joe Biden and other Western politicians, that if Russia defeats Ukraine it is going to take on NATO states next, are actually aimed at diverting “the attention of taxpayers from the senseless pumping of their money into the Ukrainian ‘corruption black hole’ as well as to warm up the public opinion in favor of reviving defense industries in their countries.”
Gavrilov said that during the Cold War, almost all NATO statements began with the evaluation of the possibility of a sudden large-scale attack on the bloc by the U.S.S.R. and its Eastern European allies. Similar rhetoric is prevalent within the U.S.-led military alliance today, he remarked.
The diplomat recalled that Russia has been labeled “the most significant and direct threat” in NATO’s Strategic Concept, which was adopted in 2022. “Apparently, now their ideal vision of European security is the borders with our country being wrapped in barbed wire,” he said. “As a result, Russia-NATO relations can now be characterized as something more than a Cold War,” Gavrilov stressed.
