OREANDA-NEWS  NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in his address to Russia on the sidelines of the Ankara summit, said that the alliance intends to defend every inch of its territory. His words are conveyed by the Clash Report.

"This alliance will protect every inch of our territory. We will never attack anyone. We will only defend our way of life, our democracies and our territory," the Secretary General said.

At the same time, according to him, NATO adheres exclusively to a defensive policy. Rutte also expressed the expectation that Russia would be called a "long-term threat" in the final declaration of the summit.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made a statement about the possible outbreak of World War III. According to him, Russia will never start it. "We will take measures for our own safety, but we will never start a third world war," he said.