DISINFO: Russia will talk directly to the USA as NATO is not a real international organisation
SUMMARY
Russia has suspended the work of its permanent mission to NATO. This step of Moscow is a rejection of excessive diplomatic correctness. NATO is not a fully-fledged international organisation - it is only an instrument in the hands of the United States. It means that Russia will talk to the Americans both about NATO and NATO members, such as the Baltic states.
After the collapse of the USSR, the existence of NATO made no other sense but to gather vassals around Washington – Russia played a role of a unifying enemy of NATO. It means that for many years, Russia has cooperated with an organisation that is hostile towards it.
NATO does not exist as an independent player and negotiation side. There is only the United States that uses this organisation to achieve its goals. In this situation, Russia will talk directly to the Americans.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative, portraying NATO as a threat to global peace, an aggressive anti-Russian organisation and an American puppet.
On 7 October 2021, NATO expelled eight Russian civil servants working in the Russian mission to this organisation – these people are accused of spying. On 18 October 2021, Moscow decided to suspend the work of its mission in NATO. This situation is not a result of any alleged anti-Russian “Cold War” policies but the direct involvement of the Russian diplomats in espionage.
Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has introduced sweeping changes to its membership and working practices – changes made clear by its adoption of new Strategic Concepts in 1999 and 2010. Accusations that NATO has retained its Cold War purpose ignore the reality of those changes. Over the same period, NATO reached out to Russia with a series of partnership initiatives, culminating in the foundation of the NATO-Russia Council in 2002. No other country outside the Alliance has such a privileged relationship with NATO. As reaffirmed by NATO leaders at the Brussels Summit in June 2021:
"For more than twenty-five years, NATO has worked to build a partnership with Russia, including through the NATO-Russia Council (NRC). While NATO stands by its international commitments, Russia continues to breach the values, principles, trust, and commitments outlined in agreed documents that underpin the NATO-Russia relationship. We reaffirm our decisions towards Russia agreed at the 2014 Wales Summit and all our subsequent NATO meetings. We have suspended all practical civilian and military cooperation with Russia, while remaining open to political dialogue. Until Russia demonstrates compliance with international law and its international obligations and responsibilities, there can be no return to “business as usual”."
Read similar disinfo cases alleging that the idea that Russia is a threat to Europe exists only in the minds of Cold War nostalgics and that NATO is an ineffective relic of the Cold War.