By Oyintari Ben
As NATO leaders prepared to send a “positive message” to Kyiv at a summit on its potential for joining the military alliance, Moscow warned on Tuesday of “catastrophic consequences” for Europe if the Ukraine war escalated.
When Moscow decided to attack Ukraine about 17 months ago, it cited NATO’s eastern expansion as a significant motivating factor.
The Kremlin declared on Monday that joining the alliance would directly threaten Russia’s security, to which it would respond firmly and decisively.
Senior Russian security negotiator Konstantin Gavrilov, stationed in Vienna, was among several top Russian diplomats who made statements ahead of the NATO meeting in Vilnius, accusing the United States of escalating the crisis by arming Ukraine.
In an interview with Russia’s official news agency, RIA, Gavrilov predicted that Europe would be the first to experience “catastrophic effects if the war intensified.” He omitted to say what those repercussions would be.
He said Washington aimed to weaken and destabilise Russia, saying, “Let’s look at the facts – the fate of Europe is of little interest to the United States.”
An earlier critique of what he called Washington’s “anti-Russian” position at the conference in Vilnius came from Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the United States.
In a post on the embassy’s Telegram channel, Antonov stated that “everything is being done to prepare local public opinion for the adoption of any anti-Russian actions that will be made in Vilnius in the coming days.”
NATO leaders will adopt the alliance’s first comprehensive defence strategies since the end of the Cold War at the summit in the capital city of Lithuania.
According to comments made by Alexander Tokovinin, Russia’s ambassador to Belgium, the NATO confrontation with Moscow would become more tense and protracted as a result of these measures.
The allies’ divisions over Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership are reportedly thinning, according to diplomats, even though the country won’t be granted membership as long as the conflict continues.
“NATO and the United States are both aware that time is not on their side. In Ukraine, they are falling short “, explained Gavrilov.
