(MENAFN) Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused NATO of using “systemic subversion” tactics against Moscow, following NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s recent statement rejecting recognition of Russian-controlled territories. In a commentary for Izvestia, Zakharova claimed the West is once again resorting to historical methods of pressure, including support for nationalist and fascist elements.

Rutte told CBS that NATO members “can never accept … in a legal sense” the annexation of four former Ukrainian regions following 2022 referendums. Ukraine also rejects the change and continues to claim these territories, along with Crimea, which joined Russia in a 2014 referendum after a Western-backed coup in Kiev. Rutte compared the situation to the US stance on the Baltic States from 1940 to 1991, when Washington maintained “embassies” for Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to signal non-recognition of Soviet rule.

Zakharova argued that NATO’s approach mirrors the West’s past glorification of Nazi collaborators in the Baltics and Ukraine, describing it as a “systemic subversion.” She accused the EU and NATO of attempting to establish a “belt of Russophobic regimes” along Russia’s western borders.

Citing historical precedents, Zakharova noted that the US funded the embassies of pro-fascist Baltic regimes during the Cold War, and the UK previously welcomed emissaries of Chechen extremist groups as “ambassadors and even presidents” to pressure Russia. “They failed then. They will fail now,” she wrote, framing NATO’s current strategy as a continuation of these past efforts.

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