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NATO

Kremlin says Russia and NATO are now in "direct confrontation"

MOSCOW, April 4 (Reuters) - Russia and NATO are now in "direct confrontation", the Kremlin said as the U.S.-led alliance marked its 75th anniversary on Thursday.
Reuters
By Reuters
4 Apr
Two-day NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Brussels begins Foreign ministers pose for a group picture during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2024. Allied Foreign Affairs Ministers attend a meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on 03-04 April as NATO celebrates its 75th anniversary. On 04 April 1949, the 12 founding countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty, called the Washington Treaty. It committed each member to share the risk, responsibilities, and benefits of collective defense. EPA-EFE/OLIVIER HOSLET

NATO's successive waves of eastern enlargement are a fixation of President Vladimir Putin, who went to war in Ukraine two years ago with the stated aim of preventing the alliance from coming closer to Russia's borders. Instead, the war has galvanised NATO, which has expanded again with the entry of Finland and Sweden.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "In fact, relations have now slipped to the level of direct confrontation."

NATO was "already involved in the conflict surrounding Ukraine (and) continues to move towards our borders and expand its military infrastructure towards our borders", he said.

Putin has repeatedly said that Russia was cheated by the West in the aftermath of the Cold War as Moscow's Warsaw Pact alliance was disbanded but NATO moved eastwards by taking in former pact members and the three Baltic states that had been part of the Soviet Union.

The West rejects that version, saying NATO is a defensive alliance and joining it was a democratic choice by countries that had shaken off decades of Communist rule.

NATO says it is helping Ukraine fight for its survival in the face of Russian aggression, and has provided Kyiv with advanced weapons, training and intelligence.

Russia says that makes NATO de facto a party to the conflict. Putin said in February that a direct conflict between Russia and NATO would mean the planet was one step away from World War Three.

(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Beyond Fedup 5 April 2024 02:24 PM

Lies, misinformation and deception from the masters of propaganda! It is all very simple - withdraw from Ukraine - it is not Russian and never was. The Eastern European and Baltic countries were simply invaded/annexed by Soviet Russia in their drive to Berlin. They were NEVER Russian! There was supposed to be free and fair elections after the war, but that is a complete anathema to evil communism that continues to this day and Stalin would have none of it. The Eastern European and Baltic countries had no choice in deciding their future and it is 100% guaranteed that they would never have voted to remain under the brutal Soviet tyranny. All that happened was that one diabolical dictatorship was exchanged for another. Of course these countries would escape as soon as they could and it is their every right as free nations to decide their own future and seek security in numbers, especially when you have a deranged evil mass-murdering monster in the Kremlin. NATO, the West, the US and all the free countries on earth must stand firm and confront this madman, who constantly threatens the world with WW3. History shows that appeasing a beast like Putin, only leads to further mayhem, war and destruction.