Lavrov claims NATO seeks pretexts to prolong artificial existence

VLADIVOSTOK, September 3. /TASS/. NATO is seeking new pretexts to prolong its artificial existence, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a lecture organized by the Znanie (Knowledge) Society on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

"NATO is in a desperate search for new pretext to prolong its existence, which is already totally artificial," he said. "NATO was supposed to dissolve itself, the way the Warsaw Pact did, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They chose not to."

He recalled that at first, "NATO saw the events in Afghanistan as a reason to preserve their military bloc."

"But when the story ended in disaster for them and they fled, they fabricated the Russian threat instead the Soviet threat."

The Eastern Economic Forum is taking place on September 1-4 in Vladivostok on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University. The main theme of this year’s EEF is "The Far East: Development for the Benefit of People." The event is organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Russian government. TASS is its general information partner.