Kremlin calls NATO threat to Russia

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described NATO as a threat to Russia.

“NATO as a tool for confrontation is a threat to Russia, Moscow will take appropriate measures,” Peskov said, Kommersant reports.

According to him, the launched by the alliance large-scale exercises Steadfast Defender 2024 also poses a threat to Russia.

"In our understanding, NATO is an instrument of confrontation. The alliance, in fact, was conceived, formed, configured and managed at the moment by the United States precisely as an instrument of confrontation. This instrument continues to fulfill its role. Of course, it is a threat to us, and that is how we view it," Peskov said during a conference call.

The Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Rob Bauer, said in October that NATO would work on the Steadfast Defender exercise 2024 to "respond to a possible Russian incursion on the eastern flank". In particular, during the exercise, the scenario of a conflict in the Suwalki Corridor, between the Kaliningrad region and Belarus, is being worked out. The active phase of the exercise is preceded by a preparatory phase, while such kind of military operations should begin on January 31 and will run until May 31. According to NATO, this is the largest military exercise of the North Atlantic Alliance since 1988.