Summit in Washington: Kremlin calls NATO decision a threat to Russia

The Kremlin has described NATO’s decisions on Ukraine as a threat to its own security and announced countermeasures. The decision to admit Ukraine into the alliance sooner or later underlines the alliance’s main goal of keeping Russia in check and inflicting a strategic defeat on the country, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “This is a very serious threat to our country’s national security. This requires us to take well-thought-out and coordinated response measures to contain NATO and counter-contain NATO,” he told journalists in Moscow.

At the meeting, Peskov once again mentioned the Russian nuclear doctrine. He confirmed that changes to the doctrine were being worked on. He did not provide any details. The current guiding principle is that Russia may only use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack on its own territory or an existential threat to the country in the event of a conventional attack. Hardliners in Moscow had criticized this line as being too soft.

At its summit in Washington, NATO assured Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia, that it could no longer be stopped on its way to joining the defense alliance. In the final declaration, the path to membership was described as irreversible. At the same time, it was emphasized again that a formal invitation to join could only be issued if all allies agreed and all conditions for admission were met. These include reforms in the areas of democracy and the economy as well as the security sector.

Russia also started its war of aggression against Ukraine to prevent its neighbouring country from joining NATO. One of Moscow’s demands for peace negotiations is not only the ceding of territory but also that Ukraine renounce its accession to the alliance.