According to what the official told the Argumenti y Fakti newspaper on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the bloc, the reinforcement goes from the Barents Sea, in the north, to the Black Sea, in the south.
“Even the term ‘NATO’s eastern flank’ has appeared in speeches by leaders and documents of the bloc, which includes all the Eastern European countries bordering Russia and ally Belarus, as well as Romania and, more recently, Sweden and Finland,” Patrushev said.
“The leaders of the alliance do not hide the fact that the largest military maneuvers near the Russian borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Steady Defender 2024, which are being carried out in Europe, are aimed precisely at containing Russia. Last year alone, NATO and its member states conducted 130 coalition and more than a thousand national military exercises and drills. Note, not in a decade, but in a year, 2023,” he stated.
He also opined that the plans of the United States and NATO include preserving Ukraine, or at least part of it, “as an anti-Russian territory entirely under their control, completely dedicated to serving the interests of the bloc.”
Patrushev added that there is irrefutable evidence that after the February 2014 coup in Ukraine, Kiev intended to resolve the problem with the “stubborn” regions with extreme brutality , following the instigation of the United States and NATO.
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