NATO’s further eastward expansion directly affects Russia’s security - Lavrov

The North Atlantic alliance’s further expansion to the East affects Russia’s security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, Tass reports.

"And let us not forget about the principle of indivisible security in the OSCE and the Russia-NATO Council, which says that no state must strengthen its security at the expense of other countries’ security. And NATO’s further expansion to the East will clearly affect the vital interests of our security," Russia’s top diplomat said.

Moscow is not interested in conflicts, Lavrov stressed.

"But if our NATO partners state that no one is empowered to dictate terms to a country wishing to join NATO, whether it can do so or not, we cite a clause of international law, which stipulates that each state has the right to choose methods of ensuring its legitimate security interests," the Russian foreign minister pointed out.