Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said this Saturday that Europe would be safer without the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance she described as a "toothache."
"If NATO did not exist, if the alliance had not played and continued to play the role it plays, security in Europe would probably be much greater," she said at a press conference.
She also stated that "NATO is precisely the organization that, like a toothache, has weakened Europe's immune system in its western and central part and throughout the world by demanding and dragging away a colossal amount of resources for reactive measures."
In this way, the Russian spokeswoman was responding to statements by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who on Friday refused to discuss with Moscow issues related to a new European security architecture, in the context of a solution to the Ukraine conflict, asserting that NATO already fulfills that function.
"We don't need to talk about that, since one already exists; it is primarily NATO and its European pillar," Merz told journalists, according to the German government, on the sidelines of a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin.
According to the TASS agency, the German leader also stated that Russia should be concerned about only one thing: how to guarantee Ukraine's security once it rea…
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The spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said this Saturday that Europe would be safer without the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance she described as a "toothache."
"If NATO did not exist, if the alliance had not played and were not still playing the role it plays, security in Europe would probably be much greater," she said at a press conference. She also stated that "NATO is precisely the organization that, like a toothache, has weakened Europe's immune system in its western and central parts and throughout the world by demanding and dragging in a colossal amount of resources for reactive measures."
In this way, the Russian spokesperson was responding to statements by the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who on Friday refused to discuss with Moscow issues related to a new European security architecture, in the context of a solution to the conflict in Ukraine, asserting that NATO already fulfills that function.
"We have no reason to talk about that, since one already exists; it is primarily NATO and its European pillar," Merz told journalists, according to the German government, on the sidelines of a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin.
The German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz. Image @_FriedrichMerz on X.
According to the TASS agency, the German leader also stated that Russia should be concerned about only one thing: how to guarantee Ukraine's security once peace is achieved. He then insisted that Europe should maintain dialogue with Moscow "from a position of strength."
In previous days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had declared that dialogue with the Europeans would be necessary when addressing the security of Russia and Ukraine, as well as the future of the security system in Europe.
In her remarks this Saturday, Zakharova also pointed out that NATO was created not for stability, but for "aggressive and expansionist" objectives.
"To carry out coups d'état in several countries, to promote color revolutions, to achieve economic expansion and, among other things, to engage in various schemes for the benefit of those who profit from these policies within NATO," she added.