NATO is trying to impede effective interaction between Russia and Belarus.

This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.

“Here is the answer to the question that the West has taken up Belarus so furiously. Normal effective interaction between the two countries is not included in NATO's plans. It is necessary to constantly interfere in the internal affairs of either one country or another, or at the same time climb to both, just to prevent the natural course of mutually beneficial integration, "she wrote in her Telegram channel.

So the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry commented on the words of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper said that Belarus "is becoming more and more dependent" on the Russian Federation and that members of the military bloc are concerned about "close cooperation between Moscow and Minsk in recent months." At the same time, Stoltenberg traditionally reminded German journalists that Russia in the past allegedly "grossly violated the territorial integrity of countries such as Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova," after which he said that the alliance is ready to protect its members from threats that allegedly come from Russia and Belarus.

“NATO is a defensive alliance.

I don't want to speculate a lot.

But we are on the alert and closely watching what is happening in Belarus.

We are ready in an emergency to protect each of our ally from any threat emanating from Moscow and Minsk, ”the secretary general stressed.

He also said that the topic of events in Belarus will be discussed at the upcoming NATO summit in Brussels, which will be held next week.

According to Stoltenberg, the alliance plans to revise the existing partnership agreement with Belarus, which has been largely frozen.

The NATO head also announced that the NATO-2030 program would be approved at the summit.

According to him, this document should reflect the geopolitical situation in the world that has changed in recent years and new challenges that have emerged.


He referred to such challenges as "the transformation of the PRC into an independent military power" and allegedly "the growing aggression of Russia."

According to Stoltenberg, "lately Russia and China have been cooperating more and more closely both in the political and military spheres."

This is "a new dimension and a serious challenge," he stated.

  • Jens Stoltenberg

  • Reuters

  • © Stephanie Lecocq

In response to the words of the head of the alliance about the readiness to protect NATO members from Moscow and Minsk, Zakharova wished the secretary general and the entire North Atlantic bloc health "which is directly related to overcoming old phobias and getting rid of persecution mania."

Stoltenberg's statement on relations between Russia and Belarus was also assessed by the Federation Council.

The first deputy head of the international committee of the Federation Council, Vladimir Dzhabarov, in an interview with RT, called the words of the NATO secretary general "cynical."

“I think this is an absolutely cynical statement.

Says the head of the organization, in which 30 states closely interact, and actively and very aggressively, against Russia ... And they say something about the rapprochement of Russia and, say, Belarus - this is generally a representative of the Union State.

Mr. Stoltenberg has been constantly escalating tensions in relations between NATO and Russia lately, ”the senator said. 

Europe against Belarus

It is worth noting that in recent months the West has launched a large-scale sanctions campaign against Belarus.

The crisis in Minsk's relations with Western countries began in the summer of 2020, when presidential elections were held in Belarus.

The opposition then did not recognize the victory of Alyaksandr Lukashenka and took people to the streets.

Europe and the United States also refused to accept the vote, taking the side of the protesters.

At the same time, they provided support to a number of Belarusian opposition politicians and the media.

Thus, the authors of the NEXTA Telegram channel, recognized as extremist in Belarus, which, according to experts, played a key role in coordinating protests and spreading opposition propaganda, located their office in Poland.

And Lukashenka's rival in the elections, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, together with her comrades-in-arms after the defeat, left for Lithuania, where she continued her political activities, actively contacting representatives of Western countries.

The European Union has adopted three packages of sanctions against Belarusian companies and individuals, which, according to Brussels, are allegedly related to "falsification" of elections and "violence" against political opponents of the government.

Minsk retaliated by banning a number of European officials from entering Belarus and promising to review the activities of Western NGOs and the media in the country.

With renewed vigor, the conflict between Belarus and the West flared up on May 23 this year, when a Ryanair plane on the Athens-Vilnius flight made an emergency landing at the Minsk national airport.

  • Ryanair airplane

  • © REUTERS / Andrius Sytas

After landing, it became known that the former editor-in-chief of the NEXTA Telegram channel Roman Protasevich was on board, against whom a criminal case was initiated in Belarus under several criminal articles, including organizing mass riots.

Protasevich was detained by the Belarusian authorities and later pleaded guilty to organizing and preparing actions that violate public order.

“The appeals that I published contributed to the riots on the streets and Minsk lived in a state of chaos for three days,” Protasevich said in an interview with the Markov.

Nothing personal ”on the ONT TV channel.

In Europe, they immediately condemned the actions of Minsk, believing that the plane was landed illegally and precisely with the aim of capturing the oppositionist.

In turn, the aviation department of the Ministry of Transport of Belarus reported that the reason for the landing was the message that the liner was mined, which was later not confirmed.

  • Roman Protasevich

  • Reuters

  • © ONT TV Channel

In response to the actions of Minsk, the European Union officially banned all Belarusian air carriers from using their airspace.

The decision provides for a ban on takeoff and landing in the EU, as well as on the overflight of Belarusian airlines.

At the same time, the West is already blaming Russia for the incident.

Thus, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab expressed doubts that the incident with Rayanair could have happened without "at least the tacit consent of Moscow."

Raab believes that Western countries need to study the issue of how to take power away from the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who, in his opinion, is allegedly too close to Moscow. 

"Overcome the internal crisis"

According to experts, allied relations between the Russian Federation and Belarus run counter to the interests of NATO and the West as a whole.

The head of the Bureau of Military-Political Analysis, Alexander Mikhailov, also recalled that it was NATO that had brought its military infrastructure very close to the borders of the Russian Federation, and not vice versa, therefore Stoltenberg's statements are absurd.

“The alliance has expanded up to the borders of Russia and buried itself in the insurmountable obstacle of Russian defense weapons,” Mikhailov added.

In turn, the leading expert of the RISS Research Coordination Center, Sergei Ermakov, notes that the North Atlantic Alliance, created during the Cold War to confront the USSR, is currently experiencing an internal crisis, since in fact its existence today has become meaningless.

Now NATO is looking for an external enemy in order to once again rally its ranks.

“The NATO leadership is returning to the topic of containing an external enemy in the person of Russia.

Such rhetoric by Jens Stoltenberg is another attempt to mobilize the alliance on the eve of an important summit and overcome the internal crisis that has recently been eating away at NATO from the inside, ”the analyst said in an interview with RT.

Alexander Mikhailov adheres to a similar point of view.

“The purpose of the NATO secretary’s statements is to remind the alliance members that the main enemy in the European space for them is Russia.

Moscow should react to such rhetoric on the political plane, reminding NATO that the bloc was the first to start expanding to the east, while the actions of the Russian Federation are defensive in nature, ”the expert says.

Sergei Ermakov also noted that the words of Jens Stoltenberg about the threat from Moscow and Minsk have no basis.

“Belarus is Russia's closest and most reliable ally. Both countries have long been members of the Union State, the CSTO and other integration structures, and also closely cooperate in the military-technical and political spheres. However, NATO, proceeding from its own interests, is trying to inflate the threat out of this, although in reality Moscow and Minsk do not threaten anyone, ”the analyst concluded.