Russia blames NATO enlargement for Ukraine conflict

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday blamed NATO enlargement for the Ukraine conflict.”NATO enlargement posed a direct threat to Russia — it was vetoed by commitments of Istanbul Declaration,” Russia Today (RT) quoted Lavrov as saying on European security.Sweden and Finland applied in May to join NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Still, they encountered objections from Turkey, which accused the two Nordic countries of harbouring fighters from the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and other groups.Stockholm and Helsinki deny harbouring fighters but have pledged to cooperate with Ankara to address its security concerns fully and lift arms embargoes.Lavrov said Western European states are creating a dangerous situation by trying to exclude Russia and Belarus from the continent’s security order.He accused EU leaders of allowing the US to dictate policy, and surrendering their own interests to Washington, reported RT.The West “is already trying to build a security architecture [in Europe] without Russia and Belarus. We don’t need such security,” Lavrov said during a video conference.”The whole security [architecture] in Europe now comes down to it being completely subservient to the US,” he claimed. There were discussions in France and Germany about the creation of the EU’s own military force a couple of years ago, Lavrov noted.But those ideas have now been set aside, with both Paris and Berlin saying they would stick with the US-led NATO bloc, he said. Instead of working towards collective security in Europe, the West is “digging dividing lines,” Lavrov said.”When the EU and NATO understand the futility of their current line and the great risks that it involves, we [Russia] will look at what they’ll be ready to offer us when they come asking to discuss some other possibilities.”