NATO’s Economic Structure Seen as Barrier to Warmer Ties With Russia
Russian lawmaker Svetlana Zhurova argues that NATO’s financial model and rising defense budgets prevent the alliance from pursuing friendlier relations with Moscow.
Russian lawmaker Svetlana Zhurova, deputy chair of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, believes NATO’s financial and structural foundations make a genuine thaw with Moscow unlikely even after the conflict in Ukraine ends. She voiced this assessment in a conversation with Lenta.ru.
Zhurova argued that the alliance was built from the outset as an institution countering Russia, which makes expectations of a dramatic reset unrealistic. She pointed to the U.S. defense budget, where Russia is explicitly listed as a strategic adversary, and noted that European members of the alliance have raised their contributions from 2.5 to 5 percent.
According to the parliamentarian, these budgetary decisions were justified on the premise that Russia is an aggressor. She stressed that such financing creates an economic framework that, in her view, will prevent NATO from shifting to friendly engagement with Moscow. Maintaining parity may be possible, she said, but true rapprochement is unlikely unless this funding logic changes.