Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s demand for NATO to stop its continuous expansion at a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“As for our principled approach to the need for NATO to stop its continuous expansion to the east, we did reiterate it. Antony Blinken reiterated his position about countries’ right to choose alliances and I, as I have already said, wondered how US was going to fulfill its obligations within the OSCE, which were approved at the highest level along with the right to choose alliances, including the obligation not to strengthen one’s security at the expense of the security of others. He promised to explain the US attitude to the implementation of this obligation.

As for the need to stop NATO’s expansion, many are asking why we view it as crucial. It’s simply because the bloc was initially aimed against the Soviet Union and now it acts against Russia, which is what its doctrinal documents say.

Here is an example: when Eastern European nations, namely the Poles and the Baltic states, were striving to join NATO, we warned the West that it would be a mistake as it would in no way enhance NATO’s security and would only fuel extremist sentiment. However, we were repeatedly assured that it was the other way around and when those countries joined NATO, their Soviet-era phobias would wane and they would turn into our peaceful neighbors. However, the opposite happened”, - said Sergei Lavrov.