Russia-U.S. tensions being fueled by American elites – Minister

The tensions between Russia and Washington is being fueled by the U.S. elites for whom the world is divided into two parts, the U.S one and the wrong one, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

“We often hear from the U.S. that the crisis in bilateral relations has been provoked by Russia’s alleged aggressive actions on the international arena.

“However, we are firmly convinced that tensions in our relations have been artificially fueled all this time by those U.S. elites, who believe that the world is divided into the U.S. [part] and the wrong [one],”

Shoigu told Italy’s Il Giornale newspaper.

Shoigu added that it was the United States that in recent years had unilaterally broke key agreements, which formed the backbone of the global security.

The defence minister pointed to Washington-initiated NATO expansion toward Russian borders, despite the promises that were given to the Soviet leadership during Germany’s reunification.

“For over 25 years we have been deluded by [claims saying] that there have been no promises, until the National Security Agency declassified archives with the documents of that period, in which it has been set out literally,” Shoigu said.

Shoigu has called on the United States, in particular, to explain why US military bases were edging closer to Russia.

“I, as president of the Russian Geographical Society, have for a long time wanted to present the U.S. colleagues with a globe so that they would look at it and explain to us, why the ‘U.S. adversaries’ designated by them are located in the Middle East and East Asia, while all their military bases and groups are nearing Russia’s borders,” the minister told the newspaper.

Russian officials have repeatedly expressed concern over NATO’s move closer to Russian borders.

In May, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, regarding Poland’s wish to have a permanent U.S. military base in the country, that NATO’s advance toward Russian borders did not contribute to the overall stability and security.

Peskov added, however, that the decision to host a NATO base was for a hosting country to make.