“The United States wanted to bring NATO to Russia’s western border, for example, with Ukraine as a new member. All this was felt by the Russians as danger. … The Russians reacted to all this by mixing both factors: fear and proactive defense. That is why no one in Poland, the Baltic countries and especially in Germany – and this, by the way, is all NATO members – should think that they are in danger. The Russians will not start a war with any NATO member.”
Such excerpts from an interview with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder were published on its Telegram channel by the occupation propaganda publication Crimea News Feed.
It is worth noting that the United States never had the goal of bringing NATO borders to the western borders of the Russian Federation. The Baltic states and Poland voluntarily agreed to become members of the Alliance. And this was not a consequence of a conspiracy against Russia. Moreover, these states, like Finland, Sweden, and Ukraine later, expressed a desire to join NATO precisely because of the threat from the Russian Federation, and not because of instructions from Washington.
It is disingenuous to say that the Russian Federation was afraid that, due to Ukraine’s likely membership in the Alliance, NATO would enter Russia’s western borders. Because by 2022, Russia has been bordering in the west with the Alliance member states – Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia – for decades.
When Schröder says that the Russians will not start a war with any NATO member, this looks like manipulation: Russia has repeatedly stated through the mouth of officials that in Ukraine the Russian troops are not confronting the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but NATO mercenaries, and that the Russian Federation is ready in case the need to attack Warsaw, Vilnius or London. It is Russia that poses a threat to Europe, and therefore even previously neutral Finland and Sweden have expressed a desire to become members of the Alliance.
We remind you that the Crimean Tatar Resource Center continues the column NATO in the media of occupied Crimea, which aims to track fake information in temporarily occupied Crimea about the values, goals and current activities of NATO and refute this information.
Friends, how do you like this fake? Would you believe it?