Nuland Says NATO Poses No Threat to Russia Unless Threatened

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said on Tuesday that NATO does not pose a threat to Russia unless the alliance is threatened.

"NATO poses no threat to Russia either unless of course Russia chose to pose a threat to NATO," Nuland said during a news briefing. "NATO is a defensive alliance whose sole purpose is to protect its members."

Nuland added that diplomacy is the best option to restore stability and security for Ukraine, Europe and Russia.

The official also took the opportunity to relay to reporters during the briefing that any financial measures and export restrictions that may be imposed on Moscow by the United States and its allies as a result of an invasion of Ukraine will have a painful impact on Russia.

"We are very confident in the consultations that we’ve been having with our allies and partners. We’ve been working at this for some two and a half months at every level from the President on down," Nuland said.

"We have, as I discussed in very broad strokes and will only discuss them in broad strokes, a common understanding of the kind of intensive financial measures we’ll need to take, and also now in the context of export restrictions that will have a painful impact on Russia."

Nuland's remarks, which come on the heels of talks in Geneva between American and Russian parties, also saw the official note that it is almost impossible for the United States and its NATO allies to resolve intense security issues with Russia in a single round of talks.

"It is almost impossible for a single round with issues this intense to settle everything let alone sometimes anything, so we had to exchange positions, we had to understand each other and then we have to get down to the hard work," Nuland said in a press briefing regarding Monday's US-Russia security talks

Nuland mentioned that several issues of importance to the US-Russia relationship includes military transparencies, intermediate range missile placement, and arms control.