Kremlin Refuses To Believe NATO Is Expanding Because Of Putin

Peskov responded to Clinton.

The Kremlin did not agree with the words of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the responsibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the expansion of the NATO bloc. In her statement, she rhetorically addressed the Russian leader, writes The Moscow Times.

“Defending democracy in Ukraine, expanding NATO — just as an aside, too bad Vladimir, you brought it on yourself,” Clinton emphasized. According to her, it was Moscow’s behavior that prompted the countries of Eastern Europe to join the alliance.

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov responded to these accusations, noting that Clinton is trying to replace the concepts: “We need to remind Mrs. Clinton of the numerous waves of NATO expansion and the approach of the alliance’s military infrastructure to our borders.” He recalled that Putin offered to enter into dialogue and fix agreements, but was faced with refusal from Western countries. These events, according to Peskov, became one of the reasons for the invasion of Ukraine.

Clinton, speaking at the White House, emphasized that NATO is expanding only because of the desire of countries to join the bloc and no one became a member of the alliance against their will: “We always said that people are not forced to join NATO. People choose and want to join NATO.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also spoke on this issue, emphasizing that NATO is not pursuing aggressive expansion to the east. “No, it is the East that decides to join NATO,” he said during a speech in New York on September 21, calling the decision “democratic and free.”

Moscow regularly calls NATO expansion a threat to its security. President Vladimir Putin said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had deceived Russia by breaking its promise not to move “an inch” to the east. “They said one thing, did another. As our people say, they cheated, they simply deceived,” the head of state complained.