NATO Chief Says Constructive Dialogue With Russia Not Working

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th November, 2022) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that the constructive dialogue with Moscow, which, according to him, the alliance had been building for many years to strengthen the NATO-Russia Council, is currently dysfunctional.

"What I can say on behalf of NATO is that for many years we strived for a more constructive relationship with Russia, we strived for a constructive dialogue, and Russia has walked away from that dialogue. There is no way we can continue the meaningful dialogue we tried to establish for many years with the behavior and the aggressive actions by Russia against Ukraine as we see now," Stoltenberg said during his opening speech at the Aspen - GMF Bucharest Forum.

Russia has accused NATO of breaking its prior commitment not to enlarge eastward. It considers that NATO demonstrated it was inclined to confrontation by accumulating troops and weapons near the Russian border for years. The Kremlin has slammed NATO's eastward expansion as a form of aggression, saying it would not bring security to Europe.

Last December, Russia proposed to NATO and the United States to work out new, mutually-acceptable security guarantees in Europe. They held several rounds of talks in January. The US and NATO rejected Russia's offer but committed not to deploy nuclear weapons in Eastern Europe.