Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) lost its purpose after the collapse of the USSR and "should have been dissolved", according to "The Moscow Times" Telegram channel.
In his opinion, the fall of the Eastern Bloc led to the dismantling of the previous political system and the disappearance of the threat that the Alliance was created to counter. Therefore, NATO should have been disbanded back then, but instead, it not only remained, it declared itself the sole organization capable of providing security guarantees, Lavrov said.
He called this a "failed" strategy and suggested that the issue of dissolving the bloc remains relevant. In his view, NATO, as well as another “Euro-Atlantic structure” — the OSCE — "have failed", unable to "strengthen security and stability."
"What they have succeeded at is fueling tensions and remilitarizing Europe, including Germany... All the 'efforts' of this Euro-Atlantic community are focused on preparing for a new war. Germany, along with France and the UK, are leading this process", - said the minister from the country that invaded Ukraine.
Lavrov also accused NATO of failing to "keep promises made on their word of honor". He recalled how Alliance leaders gave assurances to Mikhail Gorbachev, and later Boris Yeltsin, that the bloc would not expand eastward. While no written guarantees were given, Lavrov believes they weren’t necessary, since in russia since the 17th–18th centuries, “people would agree on something important without signing any contracts: they simply gave their word of honor and sealed the deal with a handshake, and it was never broken”.