Russian military chief says Europe has turned into 'arena of West's confrontation' with Moscow

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The Russian chief of General Staff said on Thursday that the European continent has become an "arena of West's confrontation with Russia," and the conflict could further escalate.

"The European continent has become an arena of confrontation between the West and the Russian Federation in the political and economic spheres," said Valery Gerasimov, who spoke at a meeting with the foreign military attaches in Moscow.

"The accelerated integration of Sweden and Finland into the (North-Atlantic) alliance, the build-up of the military presence of NATO troops in Eastern Europe, the Baltic and Black Sea regions, as well as in the Arctic have a negative impact on the situation in Europe with prospects for further escalation," he said.

The Russian conflict with Ukraine led to unprecedented tensions between Moscow and the West, which tightened sanctions on Moscow and supported Kyiv through military, financial and humanitarian means.

Gerasimov argued that Washington "purposefully destroyed" all the basic arms control agreements under its pursuit to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.

In such conditions, the implementation of confidence-building measures in the field of European security has lost its relevance, he said.

"Every year, NATO holds about 40 large-scale exercises near the western borders of Russia with the scenarios of armed confrontation with our country. Increasingly, the alliance engages (in its drills) states that are not its members," he said.

At the same time, the West is trying to create new hot spots and fuel to old conflicts in the Balkans, Transnistria and Transcaucasia, Central Asia and Afghanistan, he said.

Gerasimov also held the US responsible for the tense situation in Syria and Gaza.

- Ukraine, Karabakh, Arctic region

Gerasimov said the West pursues a line on protracting the conflict in Ukraine, and continues supporting Kyiv in all aspects by providing considerable military, financial assistance, and training to its troops.

According to him, repelling Kyiv's counteroffensive was the main task of the Russian armed forces in 2023, which, he said, was successfully completed.

The military chief said Russia is making progress in achieving the goal of Ukraine's demilitarization, one of the goals of the "special military operation" initiated in February 2022.

Turning to Karabakh, Gerasimov said Russian peacekeepers continue to perform their tasks in the region, serving as a "guarantor of a possibility of peaceful life and return of residents to the region."

Russia continues working on the political track to unblock transport communications in Transcaucasia, conclude a peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan, as well as resolve the most acute Armenian-Azerbaijani contradictions, he said.

Gerasimov noted that the Russian armed forces were deployed in the Arctic region not as some "demonstration of military force" but to ensure the security of the economic development of the region, including navigation in the waters of the Northern Sea Route and the implementation of projects in the field of exploration and extraction of natural resources.