US, NATO allies exaggerating 'threat from Russia': Activist
The United States and its NATO allies are exaggerating the so-called threat from Russia to justify surrounding and destabilizing the country as well as increasing US arms exports to the region, an anti-war activist and journalist in Maine says.
“There is no threat from Russia today, NATO is exaggerating the so-called Russian threat,” said Bruce Gagnon, the coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.
“The US will likely position more heavy weapons into Eastern Europe and then leave them for future use as this surrounding of Russia continues,” Gagnon told Press TV on Monday.
His comments come after US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter lauded Washington’s decision to station heavy weaponry in Eastern Europe, and vowed the United States will defend its allies against Russia.
The Pentagon chief said the move would be an “important” step to counter any Russian threat.
"The concept is to have sets of equipment principally to support training so that they are already located there, including heavy equipment," Carter said in an address in Berlin, Germany, on Monday. "There is the possibility also of more equipment being positioned for contingencies."
Gagnon said, “The US ‘secretary of war’ Ashton Carter is really the one doing the threatening here as the US and NATO move to store heavy weapons in Eastern Europe very near the Russian border.”
“The strategy is to keep poking a sharp stick into Russia’s eyes and then blaming Russia every time they do it, blaming Russia for reacting when the US and NATO continually keep poking them and poking them, trying to get a reaction,” he added.
“That’s what Ukraine has been all about, [it] is to draw Russia in an act of war on their border, they would then give NATO the excuse for larger military operations,” he continued.
Gagnon asserted that the US and its NATO allies are creating the pretext for world war III that could turn into a nuclear war.
Ties between Washington and Moscow have reached an all-time low over the crisis in Ukraine, which began after pro-Western forces ousted the country’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, in February 2014.
The US accuses Russia of destabilizing Ukraine by supporting pro-Russia forces in the eastern regions. The Kremlin, however, denies the allegations.
AHT/HRJ
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