Russia's ambassador says NATO is building up its capacity for conflict with Russia

NATO is building up its military potential in order to prepare for a conflict with Russia. This was stated by Russian Ambassador to Belgium Alexander Tokovinin on December 28.

"In addition, we are talking about increasing defense production, unwinding the military industry of NATO countries, including in Europe, further increasing military expenditures, intensifying maneuvers. <...> Unfortunately, this is the emphasis now," Tokovinin said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

In his conversation with the agency, the ambassador called the NATO countries' course toward Russia dangerous and added that the association's erroneous and counterproductive actions will turn into unpredictable results, "Gazeta.Ru" specified.

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Earlier, on December 9, Russian Permanent Representative to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Viktor Vasilyev said that NATO was stockpiling armed forces on the borders of Russia and Belarus with the potential to deploy systems for nuclear weapons.

Before that, on December 4, CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov said that the growth of military activity of the North Atlantic Alliance near the borders of Russia and Belarus creates a tense geopolitical situation and makes various scenarios possible.

In October, head of the Russian Defense Ministry Andrei Belousov drew attention to the fact that NATO states in 2024 held a series of exercises, which became the largest since the end of the Cold War. During these exercises, the bloc's military practiced potential scenarios of a large-scale conflict with Russia.

In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a communication with the military that Russia was not going to go to war with NATO. According to him, this is just nonsense. He noted that Russia had not moved toward the borders of NATO countries, but the alliance had come close to Russia's borders, noting that NATO was even getting into Asia and Latin America.