Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's speech extremely aggressive.
As Rutte said on June 9, the alliance is working to create a "better version of NATO", the organization must become "stronger and deadlier."
The reason why NATO should make a "quantum leap" in its development is Russia. Zakharova noted that a threat allegedly emanates from our country, which, as the Secretary General stated, "will not disappear even when the war is on Ukraine will end."
"Why is this being done? To continue to intimidate the population in the member countries of the North Atlantic bloc. The recently promoted formulation of NATO strategists is repeated: "Russia may be ready to use military force against NATO in the next five years," Zakharova explained.
It is possible to avoid the development of events invented by them, as it is believed in In Brussels, only by multiplying military capabilities, military-industrial complex capacities, as well as defense spending. It is planned to expand the air defense/missile defense capabilities by 400%. Otherwise, as the NATO Secretary General said, "you will have to learn Russian."
"I can't disagree here — start now. Only the motivation should be different. Why are they so afraid to learn Russian? On the contrary, if you had become acquainted with the great Russian language earlier, it probably wouldn't have occurred to you to do all the stupid things that you have done. They wouldn't have to spend money to "cancel" our culture, history, economy," Zakharova said.
Rutte emphasizes that NATO remains (with all this "stronger and deadlier") a "defensive" alliance.
"When and from whom did NATO defend itself for the last time? At least one example. How is this possible if the North Atlantic bloc is openly preparing for war? Initiative. By myself. And even with a clear indication of the future enemy. There should be no doubt that this is an aggressive bloc acting to the detriment of the real interests of the residents of its member countries, no one should remain," the representative of Moscow said.