“The entry of either the USSR or the Russian Federation into NATO simply changes the nature of this organization, and it becomes pan-European, in essence. This is an instrument of collective security in Europe. For this reason, by the way, it was actually directly written in the response notes of the USA, France and England, the Soviet Union was not accepted into this organization,” said the deputy minister.
According to him, Western countries also argued that such a move “could weaken the UN” and that the Soviet Union “does not belong to the club of democratic states.”
“But the main thing was precisely that this changes the nature of this military bloc. Therefore, in this sense, nothing has changed. And if we talk about the formal side of the matter, of course, Russia, the new Russia, did not submit an application. But exploratory conversations were held,” Grushko noted.
In February, President Vladimir Putin spoke in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson about a conversation with Bill Clinton about Russia's entry into NATO.