Mildly perturbing. A minor nuisance. Almost bothersome. Not that Russia will do anything about it of course. Grushko was Russian ambassador to NATO from 2012-2018. His resume highlights what may be his major diplomatic accomplishment: he speaks English. Why any self-respecting national leadership would go back to NATO and the U.S. time and again only to receive what it was guaranteed to receive – a rebuff with humiliation superadded – is anyone’s guess. Debasing itself before the very NATO which exists for no other reason than to recruit and subjugate all of Europe to encircle and besiege Russia and no other country. Some partners, friends, colleagues, the exact words used by Russian government officials to describe their counterparts in NATO.

Russia finds worrisome NATO’s wish to lower nuclear threshold – diplomat
Alexander Grushko also pointed to the complete degradation of the arms control system

Russia is seriously worried by NATO’s wish to lower the threshold for nuclear weapons use, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told a news conference following a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council on Wednesday.

“In conducting their military policies, the United States and its allies have been trying to gain superiority in all media: on land, in the air and at sea. Now there are also outer space and cyberspace. As well as all possible theaters of combat operations. Conceptually, operationally and technically the threshold of nuclear weapons use is being lowered. We see that the scenarios of various exercises incorporate the nuclear component, which causes our most serious concern,” Grushko said.

He pointed to the complete degradation of the arms control system.

“It all began when the United States pulled out of the anti-ballistic missile treaty. Then it prevented NATO countries from ratifying the agreement on the adaptation of the conventional forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, which might serve as a cornerstone of European security. Then the US administration dropped the INF treaty (on the elimination of intermediate and shorter-range missiles). And last year the Open Skies Treaty was seriously undermined,” Grushko concluded.