Russia responds to Kissinger's call for Ukraine to join NATO

Russian Security Council Deputy Head Dmitriy Medvedev has commented on a call by former US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger for Ukraine to join NATO to "protect" Europe from Russia.

To assess the situation properly, it is necessary to think not about a hypothetical threat, but about a direct and obvious one, Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

The politician suggested what would happen if Ukraine gained NATO membership now: “1) NATO is already waging a hybrid war on our country; 2) the Ukrainian nationalist regime will not give up trying to regain lost territories; 3) we will have to respond to this harshly by all means possible; 4) here is Article 5 of the Washington Treaty," Medvedev said.

The former Russian president stressed that reasoning about preventing existential threats is not valid during conflicts.

Article 5 of the NATO charter states that if there is an armed attack on even one-member state of the alliance, it will be an attack on the bloc as a whole, and allies are obliged to provide assistance to the aggrieved party.