Throwing A Critic, Spokesman For Russian Foreign Ministry Alludes To Boris Johnson Being Able To 'Turn' Into A Woman For The Election Of The Secretary General Of NATO

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. (Source: Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation via TASS)

JAKARTA - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made a scathing sarcasm, saying that Boris Johnson, who will soon leave the position of British Prime Minister, could turn into a woman, to compete in the nomination of Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

"Nothing prevents Boris Johnson from suddenly discovering an inner woman. Trendy, bold, his style," said Zakharova, as reported by TASS on July 31.

According to the spokesperson, the number of genders recognized in NATO member states allowed Johnson to choose the one that best suited him.

"Even if NATO were to choose from people who called themselves women, they could always suddenly find the inner man or the other gender," the diplomat quipped.

Earlier, a TASS source at the international agency Brussels said that Johnson does not stand a chance to become the new NATO Secretary General, in particular, because she is not a woman and does not represent a new NATO member state.

In addition to Johnson, the Daily Telegraph last week reported that former prime ministers Theresa May and David Cameron and British Defense Minister Ben Wallace were also said to be potential candidates from Britain.

The media stressed that the post of Secretary General of NATO had long been offered to British representatives because of the United States' distrust of European politicians, who have repeatedly announced their plans to form a new EU force.

Boris Johnson Wikimedia Commons UK Prime Minister

As citing France 24 from AFP, along with the end of Jens Stoltenberg's tenure as NATO Secretary General, for the first time the defense alliance is expected to have a female secretary general.

For seven decades the powerful military coalition has been led by a string of Western European men, now many observers expect the 30-member group to elect a woman, possibly from the far east.

Stoltenberg is not expected to give up his seat until December, and still faces an enormous final challenge in guiding NATO through a crisis sparked by Russia's aggressive troop buildup around the besieged Ukrainian border.

"The nomination process is unclear," a European diplomat told AFP, insisting on the anonymity surrounding the closed and highly political recruitment process. "No one is campaigning openly, but many names are circulating among allies."

While the secretary-general is always European, just as the top allied military commanders are always Americans, no candidate will express their interest until they are convinced of US President Joe Biden's White House support.

This reflects the fact that while 21 of NATO's 30 members are also members of the European Union, the United States is still the undisputed leader of the alliance.

This time, however, many are hoping that a new civilian leader will at least come from EU capitals, as the West adjusts its balance of power, to accommodate what leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron have called "European sovereignty" or "strategic autonomy".

As a former NATO official put it, "even America" is no longer opposed to the EU's larger ambitions.

A number of women's names were mentioned in the search for a candidate for Secretary General of NATO, including former British Prime Minister Theresa May, Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes, and former Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite.