Russia-NATO relations are worsening, but Moscow has no intention of entering a conflict with a NATO country, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview published on Thursday.
In comments to mark NATO's 75th anniversary, Grushko told Russian state news agency RIA that relations were "predictably and deliberately" deteriorating, and Washington and Brussels had brought all channels of dialog between Moscow and the alliance to a "critical zero" level.
"Is the military bloc ready for an open conflict with Russia? You need to ask the NATO members themselves. In any case, we have no such intentions regarding the alliance's member countries," Grushko said.
President Vladimir Putin launched what he called his "special military operation" in Ukraine in 2022 with the stated aim of preventing NATO from expanding its footprint close to Russia. However, the war galvanized the alliance, which expanded to 32 members by admitting Finland and Sweden.
Russia: NATO defacto "helping Ukraine"
NATO says it is helping Ukraine fight for its survival in the face of Russian aggression and has provided Kyiv with advanced weapons, training, and intelligence.
Russia says that NATO is de facto a party to the conflict. Putin said in February that a direct conflict between Russia and NATO would mean the planet was one step away from World War Three