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MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. NATO is escalating the arms race not for the sake of peace and talks but in order to continue geopolitical struggle against Russia, a Russian lawmaker said on Sunday. "We should clearly understand: the North Atlantic Alliance is rallying its ranks and escalating the arms race not for the sake of peace and talks, or for the ‘fight for freedom,’ but in order to continue its geopolitical standoff with Russia, with the Russian world. There should be no illusions about that. But such ‘games of Russophobic bigots’ with a nuclear power are extremely dangerous and are a threat to everyone," Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma (lower parliament house), wrote on his Telegram channel. The West is sending "competing and quite demonstrative signals," he noted, adding that on the one hand, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vows that Germany is not interested in the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and is against dragging NATO in this conflict, but, on the other hand, NATO officials say that the bloc is prepared for a direct confrontation with Russia. "It is worth to recall German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock‘s revelations about a ‘war on Russia.’ No objections came from any of the European capitals back then," Slutsky noted. "Well, why should they object, since this is the way the things are: nearly all NATO countries are participating in the process of aggression escalation this or that way by supplying the Kiev regime with weapons, munitions, and now even heavy weapons. In fact, they are neck-deep in the Ukrainian conflict. The question is whether they are going to admit it de jure," he added.