The Russian Foreign Ministry accused NATO of unwillingness to equal rights in the post-Soviet space

The North Atlantic Alliance does not seek to support equal relations in the countries of the former USSR — the bloc needs only their resources. Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said this at a briefing on July 30, answering a question from Izvestia about information about the deepening of Azerbaijan's cooperation with NATO.

"They (NATO. There is no need for any equal relations in the post—Soviet space. They need to take resources, set countries against each other, set it all on fire and behave just like typical colonialists, like typical enslavers, like typical imperialists," she stressed.

According to Zakharova, NATO and its individual member states have been trying to strengthen themselves in the South Caucasus for years.

"What is the purpose of the alliance? I think it is obvious, including, as we have said repeatedly, to use the potentials and resources of the countries of the region in the interests of the collective West, especially in terms of the geopolitical confrontation with our country," said the representative of the Foreign Ministry.

She expressed hope that the states of the region, including Azerbaijan and Armenia, are aware of the risks of such cooperation with the military bloc.

"These are really risks, because the situation is getting worse, and everyone knows how it ends. Wherever the North Atlantic Alliance appears, confrontation is being imposed, military tensions are growing, and the words "peace", "stability", and "normality" are being forgotten. Instead, a new "normality" imposed by the West is coming. And then everything else that we have repeatedly observed," Zakharova concluded.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on July 18 that NATO is an instrument of confrontation and a bloc that is hostile to Russia. In addition, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, commenting on the words of the commander of the NATO ground forces Christopher Donahue about planning an operational suppression of the defensive potential of the Russian forces in the Kaliningrad region, noted that such statements force Russia to take appropriate measures to ensure its own security.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.