The ‘influential’ Russian senator Ljudmila Borisovna Narusova has strongly criticised the Dutch government for its suggestion that NATO should play a military role in protecting energy supplies, reports the Financieele Dagblad on Wednesday.

Such a move is ‘aggressive’ says Narusova in an interview with the paper. ‘Russia has no interest in military intervention in the Middle East. That would only make the problem in a region that is already very instable worse,’ the senator says.
She also sees the Dutch proposal as a revival of the Cold War rhetoric whereby Russia is again the ‘new and unjustified’ bogeyman.
The Netherlands minister for foreign affairs Maxime Verhagen and economic affairs minister Maria van der Hoeven made their call for NATO involvement to protect energy supplies earlier this month.