Russian TV pundit Vladimir Avatkov has slammed NATO as a “graveyard” as the pro-Kremlin commentator blasted the decision of Finland and Sweden to join the military alliance. Avatkov ranted over the “cold war logic” of western strategic planners as he talked up the importance of the Russia-alligned international BRIC bloc of developing nations.
Avatkov told Russia1: “Yes, two more members are joining the graveyard that is NATO.
“But that’s the atavism of history, after all.
“NATO is receding into the past.
“We’re now discussing – the whole world is discussing, the whole world is not the west, that’s the thing – and the whole world is discussing the issue of Brics’s expansion.”
He continued: “The whole world is discussing issues not concerning the West.
“But those comrades exist in their old logical framework, the logic of the Cold War.
“They’re rattling their sabres and they hope to subject the whole world to that logic.
“What the Chinese comrade said is absolutely correct, Brics is 3.2 billion people, the G7 is 777 million.
The Nato secretary-general said: “The decisions we have taken in Madrid will ensure that our alliance will continue to preserve peace, prevent conflict and protect our people and our values.
“Europe and North America standing together in Nato.”
He also said disagreements among member states were a strength of the alliance, not a weakness.
“We are different, but we are able to unite and stand together on the core issues.”