Zakharova says Europe would likely be safer without NATO as Merz rejects security talks

Zakharova's remarks

On Saturday, 14 November, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Europe would probably be far safer without NATO, which she called a toothache. At a press conference she said the alliance, like a bad tooth, had weakened Europe's immune system, its western and central parts, and the wider world by drawing in and consuming enormous resources for reactive measures. She went further, claiming NATO was created not for stability but for aggressive and expansionist goals, including staging coups in several countries, fostering colour revolutions and pursuing economic expansion. Her remarks answered criticism of Moscow's calls to reorganise the European security architecture.

Merz's rejection

Zakharova was responding to Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who on the same day rejected discussing European security architecture with Russia. Merz argued that the architecture already exists and that the fundamental problem is Russia's violation of international rules. He also said there can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine, and none about Europe's security without Europeans taking part.

“We do not need to talk about that, it already exists.”

Talks in Abu Dhabi and Dublin

Trilateral talks among Russia, Ukraine and the United States were held in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November 2026. There Moscow insisted that any peace agreement include renegotiating the whole European security system. European leaders have refused to make that question a condition of peace negotiations, warning that Europe's security cannot be decided over the heads of European states. Leaders had already turned down Moscow's proposal at a summit in Dublin. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen argued that wider discussion of European security should follow an armistice in Ukraine.

Zelensky's warning

On Friday, 13 November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned journalists that the United States and Russia wanted to change Europe's security architecture fundamentally. According to him, Washington had proposed a new security order for Europe as part of efforts to end the war in Ukraine. He said Moscow could use talks on ending the conflict to weaken NATO and redraw borders on the continent. Zelensky also said he was sure that revising security guarantees in Europe was part of Vladimir Putin's concept, and that Putin's wish to change borders was a fact. His remarks were embargoed for publication until Saturday.

What comes next

A meeting of Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in China on 19 November was also flagged in coverage, although the war in Ukraine was seen as unlikely to be discussed. Against that backdrop, the Dublin rejection, Merz's position and the Abu Dhabi talks leave the future of European security architecture unsettled. The European position reported so far, from von der Leyen, is that broader talks should come after an armistice in Ukraine.