DISINFO: NATO future policy: Continue to regard Russia as a top threat
SUMMARY
The ideological basis of NATO policy in the next decade: NATO leadership will continue to regard Russia as one of the most important threats to Allied security. Among its most important tasks will be curbing the armament of the Russian army, through the use of economic sanctions.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO allegedly pursuing a belligerent agenda against Russia. First, NATO is not encircling Russia. NATO is a defensive alliance, whose purpose is to protect its member states. Its exercises and military deployments are not directed against Russia or any other country. Secondly, NATO supports international sanctions against Russia over its aggressive actions and illegal annexation of Crimea, in eastern Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that “sanctions may help deter Russia from invading other countries”, with no reference to “any issue with the armament of the army”. The US and EU, along with other allied countries, responded to Moscow's move against Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russian officials, companies and goods. One of the EU restrictive measures is to establish an export ban for dual-use goods for military use or military end-users in Russia. Read similar claims such as Crimea’s reunification with Russia was legal, that NATO promised Russia it would not expand to the East and that NATO forgot all the previously existing agreements and expanded despite promises made to Gorbachev.