Western countries should change their attitude towards Russia and even grant it NATO membership in order to avoid a military conflict. Retired Norwegian Lieutenant General Robert Mood wrote about this in an article for Aftenposten magazine.

"Maybe NATO really does focus more on defense and open doors to everyone, including Russia, urging its members to abandon bases and nuclear weapons outside of their own territory?" - noted the general.

According to Maud, if Western countries do not start thinking differently, they are likely to quickly come to even greater conflicts and wars "both in the short and long term."

In order to improve relations between Russia and the West, it is necessary to discard the usual thinking and negotiate on the basis of mutual respect and involvement of all parties, the general believes.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia cannot join NATO because the West does not want to have rivals comparable in influence in the international arena. The Foreign Minister added that the alliance is not a defensive project, no matter how NATO claims otherwise. Lavrov also said that the Kremlin does not want to turn Russia into a "besieged fortress" under pressure from the West, but Moscow will not "run" after the United States and ask for the lifting of hostile sanctions.

bbabo.Net