© Reuters / Ints KalninsNATO tanks fire during the night shooting demonstration at Iron Spear 2021 military exercise in Adazi training grounds, Latvia on October 20, 2021.
"The military development of the bloc has been redirected in full to prepare for a large-scale, high-intensity armed conflict with Russia," Fomin stated.
The preparation comes with the expansion of the bloc's military capabilities, and is also reflected in NATO's program documents where Moscow has been unequivocally named "as the main source of threats to coalition security," Fomin noted. At the same time, older documents, including the 2002 Rome declaration, establishing that Russia and NATO do not regard each other as adversaries, remain in force, he added.
The persistently cold relations between Russia and the US-led alliance have gotten even worse in recent months. In October, Moscow said it would suspend all direct ties with NATO, shutting down its offices in Moscow in response to the expulsion of eight Russian diplomats from its Brussels headquarters. At the time, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the bilateral channels were used by the bloc for "whipping up propaganda and putting pressure on Russia" instead of meaningful dialogue.
Early in December, Russian President Vladimir Putin floated the idea of a comprehensive, legally binding security deal with the West. The suggestion has already materialized into two draft documents, one for the US and a separate one for NATO as a whole. The proposed agreement envisions a halt to NATO's eastward expansion and contains guarantees on the non-deployment of certain weapons systems in Europe.
The draft deal was designed to serve both Russia and NATO, Fomin stated, expressing hopes the bloc will get ready to constructively discuss the security proposals soon enough.
"We believe that this agreement has been developed in the interests of both Russia and Europe as a whole. We are looking forward to a serious, constructive conversation," he told the diplomats. "We are waiting for the alliance to provide a substantive reaction to our proposals and are ready to start negotiations at any convenient moment."
There will be no more NATO expansion - Russia
At upcoming talks with Washington, Moscow will not only obstruct but will put a complete stop to any eastwards expansion of the US-led NATO military bloc, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said on Tuesday.
Speaking to news agency Interfax, Sergey Ryabkov said his country would go into the negotiations with a clear agenda and reject any attempts by US diplomats to dilute the proposed agreement between the two parties.
"Our leadership has repeatedly said we can no longer tolerate the situation that is developing in the immediate vicinity of our borders. We cannot tolerate NATO expansion. We will not just prevent it. We will put a stop to it," Ryabkov said.
However, according to Ryabkov, the US wants to ignore Russia's firm demands, instead proposing a less structured form of negotiations. "We should not come up with some kind of dimensionless agenda when it is in our interest to include topics that have long been sorted out through other channels. We have to focus exclusively on the two draft documents that we have presented," he said.
Ryabkov's comments followed quotes in the Western media from unnamed sources in the White House claiming the forthcoming talks would focus on arms control, as well as the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border.
"That in itself is a very difficult task, given the degree of disagreement between us and the US, and us and NATO, on these issues," the deputy FM said, explaining that Russia would not accept any American attempt to "dilute" the discussion over the proposed treaties.
"We would conclude, in such a case, that the US is not ready for a serious conversation. We call for negotiations, intensively and quickly. We believe that the issue is not just overdue. It is overripe," he added.
Endless defeats and embrassing withdrawals, yet this deseased parasite demands more money and continues to throw its weight around the world.