MOSCOW — The Kremlin announced Tuesday that Russia intends to keep a close watch on what comes out of the NATO summit taking place in Turkey, while noting that a string of hostile remarks about Russia had set the tone leading up to the event.
NATO leaders have convened in Ankara for a two-day gathering on Tuesday and Wednesday. The meetings come as U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed European allies to increase their defense spending, and following months of tension across the Atlantic stemming from disputes over the Iran war and Greenland.
“This is an event that is of great interest, including to us. Of course, we will be monitoring all the news and information coming out of Ankara,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Peskov noted that numerous statements about Russia had surfaced in the days before the summit. “To our regret, these were not statements about constructive engagement and dialogue, but rather statements of a confrontational nature,” he said, declining to offer specifics.
On Monday, President Trump said he planned to address the ongoing war in Ukraine during the summit, describing a resolution to the more than four-year conflict as “getting closer than people realise.”
Peskov expressed hope that U.S. “efforts to steer the entire situation onto a peaceful track (would) ultimately succeed,” adding, “At the very least, we, as the Russian President has repeatedly said, remain open to this.”
