Ryabkov pointed out that Moscow will not stop drawing attention to the fact to the members of the Alliance and to the countries that aspire to be part of it.

“We will stand our ground. If our opponents go against us, they will see that their security is not strengthened. The consequences for them will be dire.” he emphasized.

For Riabkov, NATO’s rampant expansion over the past 10 years showed that Western promises and commitments, which are not legally enforced, are worth little.

“The Soviet and later Russian authorities were repeatedly told, and at the most responsible levels, that there would be no further expansion of NATO to the east. However, we see a contrary situation,” he recalled.

According to the Russian official, NATO considers that each country has the right to determine for itself how to guarantee its security, to the point of joining political-military alliances.

Faced with this point of view, he stressed that the freedom to join alliances cannot be absolute. “It’s like in human society: the freedom of one individual ends the moment it invades the freedom of another.

There must be a clear framework and mutual obligations and responsibilities,” he said, and explained that claims about the freedom to join alliances are always balanced by the saying that it should not be done at the expense of the security of other states.

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