On 31 January, retired Colonel General Leonid Ivashov published a statement on behalf of the All-Russian Officers' Assembly, a nationalist association of retired and reserve officers.[111][112] The statement opposed the Russian threat to attack Ukraine, describing it as a "criminal policy of provoking a war". The statement argued that neither Ukraine nor NATO were a threat to Russia, but instead an attack on Russia would threaten Russia's existence as a state, and would risk escalating into a war between Russia and NATO. Russia was seen as threatened by "the unviability of the state model, the complete incapacity and lack of professionalism of the system of power and administration, the passivity and disorganisation of society."