‘Lies’: Diplomat blasts NATO chief’s remark Russia refuses dialogue with alliance

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed as lies NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s claims Russia is reluctant to hold a dialogue.

"All such statements by Mr. Stoltenberg to the effect Russia refuses to hold a dialogue are not true. They are lies," Zakharova told a news briefing. "A very specific discussion was proposed, with the aim of not drifting away towards politicized PR affairs, something our Western partners are notorious for. There was a proposal for holding a concrete discussion, with experts, including military ones, taking part, on a wide range of problems.

Zakharova stressed that all of those proposals were on Mr. Stoltenberg’s desk.

"He may fumble through the papers, find them and stop spreading disinformation about Russia’s alleged refusal to conduct a dialogue. Russia does refuse to participate in a preplanned PR campaign. This is certainly not for us. As far as a concrete discussion is concerned - let me stress once again, with military experts taking part - nobody will ever refuse to hold it, because we were the ones who addressed you with this proposal," Zakharova said.

Stoltenberg told a news conference on Wednesday the alliance found it regretful not a single meeting of the Russia-NATO Council had taken place since the summer of 2019, allegedly because Moscow refused to give its consent to calling a RNC meeting.