Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his one-on-one interview with renowned US filmmaker Oliver Stone, aired earlier this week by the US TV channel Showtime, said Moscow would take all necessary steps to respond to the Alliance's activities in order to maintain the strategic balance.
"The US had at one time promised that it would not move NATO into the former Soviet states or into the former Warsaw pact states, but now it’s in 11 of them and is extending to others including the Ukraine which has the largest border with Russia. And this is a real danger," Lombardo said on Friday.
NATO is actually becoming more important for the US government, Lombardo added, given the broad-based opposition to war, which is why Washington wants alliance members to boost their military spending and why the United States "uses proxy armies all the time," Lombardo claimed.
United National Anti-War Coalition Conference coordinator Phil Wilayto said that the United States is responsible for provoking the current tension that exists with Russia.
"We are opposed to the US promoting the expansion of NATO right up to the borders of Russia," Wilayto stated on Friday. "We consider the US to be the aggressor in the developing conflict between Russia and the United States."
On Friday, the UNAC hosted a conference in Richmond, Virginia, where activists came together to protest against imperialist wars, poverty, environmental destruction, and other forms of injustice.
The conference, held at Greater Richmond Convention Center from June 16-18, features panel discussions on the history of US-Russia relations, the expansion of NATO, the situation in Ukraine and the phenomenon of color revolutions.
