Russian FM condemns NATO’s open threats of preemptive strikes

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that the NATO abandoned diplomatic niceties, openly stating the possibility of launching preemptive strikes on Russian territory.

Lavrov made these remarks at the 20th meeting of the Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of the CIS member states, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

"Just recently, Chairman of NATO's Military Committee Rob Bauer openly stated that what has been done so far is not enough. To protect and defend NATO member states, it is necessary to preemptively strike targets in the Russian Federation that, in NATO's view, could pose a threat to the alliance. I think there’s nothing more to comment on here—it's clear that all diplomatic formalities have been discarded, and their true intentions are now being openly revealed," Lavrov remarked.

Earlier, during a conference at the European Policy Centre in Brussels, NATO Military Committee Chairman Rob Bauer called for an increase in the production of weapons capable of delivering precision strikes deep within Russian territory in case of a conflict.

On November 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the US and its NATO allies had previously granted permission for the use of long-range precision weapons, after which Russian military sites in the Kursk and Bryansk regions were attacked by the US and UK’s missiles.

He said that in response to these attacks, Moscow for the first time used the latest Russian medium-range ballistic missiles "Oreshnik" in a non-nuclear version, targeting a defence industry facility in Ukraine—the "Yuzhmash" plant in Dnipro (formerly Dnipropetrovsk).  

The Russian leader emphasised that the provocative policy of the West could lead to severe consequences for it if the conflict continues escalating.

By Naila Huseynova