On the other hand, Russia has said that it is
not planning to attack NATO as it was the alliance
that was aggravating tensions.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was referring to a NATO
summit declaration that said Russia remains the most significant and
direct threat to the allies security.
This is what she said.
Listen in
the second point that I would like to draw your
attention to is that the final declaration that was adopted
at the NATO summit in Washington,
which was held from July 9th to 11th,
Russia was once again called a threat to the group.
A direct quote in all operating environments.
For long term prospective, this is not so.
Russia is not preparing to attack NATO.
The North Atlantic Alliance is following the path of escalating
tensions constantly.
They're pushing, they're endlessly mentioning Russia and its capacity from
document to document.
Now. Western leaders have repeatedly said that Russian President Vladimir
Putin will order his military to go
further and attack NATO countries in Central and Eastern Europe
if he is not stopped in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Putin met with the Moscow installed governor of the
Zapor Asia region in Kremlin.
During the meeting, he told the governor that the main
focus in Zapor Asia was the security of the nuclear
power plant.
Putin accused Ukraine of conducting strikes against the nuclear plant.
He adds that a lack of attention from this to
this,
in fact from the forces that support Ukraine,
is a big mistake on their part.
The key factor is the maintaining of security of the
entire region and people.
We will do this, we will manage it,
without a doubt. I see the things that need to
be addressed that are connected to the security.
First of all, this is the security of the Zafar
Izia nuclear power plant.
The fact that the enemy is conducting direct strikes on
the plant requires special attention from our side
and unfortunately does not draw attention from those forces that
support the Kiev regime today.
This is their big mistake
and we will remember this and talk about this many
Times
Now. The attack took place earlier this month when,
and this is according to Russian officials,
a Ukrainian drone attack injured 8 workers from the Russian
controls Zapor Asia Nuclear Power plant and left a nearby
town largely without power and water.
Earlier, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that demanded
that Russia to immediately seize its aggression against Ukraine and
urgently withdraw its military and other unauthorized personnel from the
Zapor Asia Nuclear Power Plant.
The 193 member UN General Assembly adopted the resolution with
99 votes in favour,
9 against and 60 abstentions.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said
that amidst tensions over the war in Ukraine,
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Russian Defense Minister Andrei
Belousov spoke for a second time in just over 2
weeks.
Separately, this morning, Secretary Austin's also spoke by phone with
Russian Minister of Defense Andrei Belousov.
During the call, the Secretary emphasized the importance of maintaining
lines of communication amid Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.
The last time Secretary Austin spoke with his Russian counterpart
was on June
25th, 2024 and later today a brief readout of the
call will be posted to
defence.gov.
The Russian Defence Ministry said that the two held a
phone call where they discussed lowering the risk of possible
escalation.
The call, which was initiated by Moscow,
comes as tensions between the two sides flare over
Washington's plans to deploy long range missiles in Germany,
a decision the Kremlin warned could spell a return to
Cold War style confrontation.
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