NATO and Washington responded to Putin on charges of “cheating” and “blatant deception”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance has never promised not to expand.

According to DPA, Stoltenberg recalled that the NATO founding treaty says: every state in Europe can join the alliance. There are other documents, for example, the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris, the Russia-NATO Founding Act. And all of them, according to Stoltenberg, “make it clear that each state can freely determine its own destiny.” Stoltenberg added that former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev also said that the issue of NATO expansion to the east was not discussed before the reunification of Germany.

Thus, the NATO Secretary General responded to the statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin that NATO “cheated” Moscow, coming close to the borders of the Russian Federation.

In addition, the White House said that potential Russian actions in Ukraine would bring NATO troops closer, rather than alienate them from Russian borders. They also promised a “tough price” for the Russian economy. The warning was brought to the attention of the Russian side, including through the presidents of the United States and the Russian Federation, the source added.

We add that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed with Stoltenberg NATO’s “bilateral approach” to Russia, stressing the alliance’s readiness for dialogue and protection of allies.

We will remind that Putin today at a press conference said that the actions of the Russian Federation regarding NATO will depend not on the progress of negotiations on guarantees, but on the basis of the requirements of the unconditional security of the Russian Federation today and in the future. According to him, Russia was “cheated, blatantly deceived” when in the 1990s they promised not to push NATO eastward. One gets the impression that even after the collapse of the USSR, the West “considers the Russian Federation too big,” the head of state said. Now it is the West that “immediately” must provide security guarantees for Russia, and not vice versa, Putin stressed.

“We just put the question directly that there should not be any NATO movement to the east. The ball is on their side, they have to answer. In general, we see a positive reaction so far, ”he said.

Putin added that a discussion with representatives of the alliance in Geneva is expected at the beginning of the year. At the same time, he spoke sharply about the “concern” expressed by the United States in connection with Moscow’s proposal not to expand NATO to the East. “You go with your concerns. We will do what we think is necessary, ”Putin said.