Zakharova: Europe safer without NATO, likens alliance to toothache

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Europe would be safer without NATO, comparing the alliance to a toothache that has weakened Europe's immune system. Zakharova argued NATO has absorbed vast resources for reaction measures, harming security across Western and Central Europe and the world. She was responding to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said European security architecture issues need not be discussed with Russia. European leaders recently rejected a Moscow proposal on security reorganization at a summit in Dublin, according to Russian state news agency TASS.