© Sputnik / Пресс-служба МИД РФ
NATO drills show it is preparing for potential conflict with Russia, Moscow says
Reuters: NATO's four-month long military exercises near Russia's borders, known as Steadfast Defender, are proof the alliance is preparing for a potential conflict with Russia, a spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
The spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, dismissed accusations by NATO this week that Russia is engaged in hybrid attacks on its member states, saying this was misleading "misinformation" aimed at distracting people from the alliance's activities.
It was NATO that had waged a hybrid war with Russia by supporting Ukraine with arms, intelligence and finances, she said in a statement.
"Right now, NATO's largest exercise since the Cold War, Steadfast Defender, is taking place near Russia's borders. According to their scenario, coalition's actions against Russia are being practiced using all the instruments, including hybrid and conventional weapons," she said in a statement.
"We have to admit that NATO is seriously preparing for a 'potential conflict' with us."
Relations between Russia and the West have been at their most hostile in decades following the start of Russia's military conflict in Ukraine in 2022.
Announcing the start of the drills in January, NATO said 90,000 troops would take part, rehearsing how U.S. troops could reinforce European allies in countries bordering Russia and on the alliance's eastern flank if a conflict were to flare up. The drills, NATO's largest exercise since the Cold War, are set to run through May.
Russia said at the time the drills marked an "irrevocable return" of the alliance to Cold War schemes.
-
- Energy
- 6 May 2024 07:00
In World
-
A massive Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea early Friday caused power cutoffs in the city of Sevastopol and set a refinery ablaze in southern Russia, Russian authorities said.
-
NASA's Mars Curiosity rover's operators have made up their minds, and the off world vehicle will continue down a rocky ridge that scientists believe was once a raging river.
-
The Arab League on Thursday called for a UN peacekeeping force in the Palestinian territories and an international peace conference at a summit dominated by the war between Israel and Hamas.
-
China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin on Thursday pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world.
Leave a review