Afrasianet - Vladislav Maslennikov, director of the European Affairs Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, confirms that Moscow expects NATO to continue to adopt confrontational policies towards Russia, creating threats to its security in different geographical and operational directions.
The director of the Department of European Affairs at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Vladislav Maslennikov, confirmed that Moscow expects NATO to continue to adopt confrontational policies towards Russia, creating threats to its security in different geographical and operational directions.
Maslennikov said in a statement to Sputnik that the alliance will continue to advance the agenda of confrontation with Russia, focusing during its upcoming summit on strengthening transatlantic ties, implementing the decisions of the 2025 Hague Summit, in particular increasing military spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, as well as developing the capabilities of the military-industrial complex, and continuing to provide military support to Ukraine.
Maslennikov added that the Russian file will remain present in the alliance's discussions, noting that it is currently difficult to predict the extent to which member states will be able to move forward in this direction, but NATO's orientation towards Russia is "quite clear", even in the absence of an independent doctrinal document in this regard.
Maslennikov explained that this approach is based on the strategic concept adopted by the alliance in 2022, which classified Russia as "the most significant and direct threat to the security of allies, and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region."
Maslennikov stressed that Moscow sees no indications that a change in NATO's policy toward Russia is expected in the near future.
In a related context, Russian President Vladimir Putin had confirmed, during a previous interview, that Russia does not intend to attack any NATO countries, considering that this is "pointless."
In response to Kyiv's attacks. Russia targets Ukrainian military industry
In the developments of the war, Russian forces are targeting with a large-scale strike military and industrial facilities, fuel and energy facilities in several Ukrainian provinces.
On Monday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Russian forces targeted military and industrial facilities and fuel and energy facilities in several Ukrainian provinces with a large-scale strike at night.
Russia targets Ukrainian facilities
"Tonight, in response to the Kyiv regime's terrorist attacks on Russia's civilian infrastructure, the Russian Armed Forces launched a large-scale strike using long-range precision weapons from land, air and sea, as well as attack drones, targeting military industrial complexes, fuel and energy facilities in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
It pointed out that "the infrastructure of military airports in the Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Cherkasy, Chernihiv and Kyiv districts has been targeted."
Russian strikes on Kyiv killed three people on Monday, city authorities said, in the second attack on the Ukrainian capital in less than a week.
"Unfortunately, three people were killed as a result of the attack," Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's city military administration, wrote on Telegram.
Russian forces liberate city in Donetsk
Earlier on Saturday, the head of the General Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff, Sergei Rudskoy, confirmed that the city of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People's Republic had been completely liberated.
He pointed out that the losses of Ukrainian forces in the city amounted to about 13,500 soldiers, in addition to many military equipment.
Attempted attack on Russia foiled
On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that air defenses had thwarted Zelensky's attempt to launch an attack on Russian territory.
It stressed that Zelenskyy's attempt to damage Russian civilian facilities will not pass without an appropriate response from the Russian armed forces.
