NATO ‘de facto’ part of Ukraine conflict – Moscow

The US-led bloc seeks to keep Ukraine as an “anti-Russian” bridgehead, the Russian Security Council secretary has said

NATO is aiming to retain control over Ukraine and turn it into an “anti-Russian” proxy, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, claimed in an interview published on Tuesday.

The US-led military bloc has long become a “de facto” party to the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, as it controls Ukrainian arms supplies and helps to plan attacks on Russia, Patrushev told the Russian newspaper AiF.

Washington and its allies have been actively militarizing Ukraine ever since the 2014 Maidan coup in Kiev, the official said in an interview discussing the past and present of the military bloc, ahead of the 75th anniversary of its establishment. NATO now seeks to “keep Ukraine or at least a part of it, as a fully controlled anti-Russian territory,” he stated.

The bloc collectively decides on the quantity and types of weapons its members provide to Ukrainian troops, the Russian official noted, adding that the range and technical characteristics of those arms are constantly increasing.

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NATO ‘increasingly aggressive’ – Moscow

NATO instructors also “train mercenaries and sabotage units on several nations’ territories to be used in anti-Russian operations,” Patrushev told the paper. Under such circumstances, the Kremlin’s goal of bringing about Ukraine’s “demilitarization” remains in place, the Security Council secretary said.

Stirring up Russophobia and whipping up the perceived “Russian threat” has also turned into a “major policy” for the West, the official said, arguing that such tactics allow the US and its allies to draw public attention away from internal economic issues.

Anti-Russian hysteria ultimately benefits the US military industrial complex, Patrushev stated.

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Russia-NATO relations worse than during Cold War – Moscow

“The US is gaining profits through… dictating very specific arms purchasing conditions to its allies,” the official told AiF, adding that those arms are then produced by American manufacturers, and such contracts can become economic shackles for other NATO members.

Patrushev’s remarks come at a time of historic lows in Russia-NATO relations. The situation is now worse than during the Cold War, the head of Moscow’s delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Konstantin Gavrilov, acknowledged on Monday.

Gavrilov stated that constant talk from Western politicians about Russia’s alleged plans to attack NATO after defeating Ukraine are aimed at diverting public attention from their own governments “pumping … money into the Ukrainian ‘corruption black hole’.”

Moscow has repeatedly stated that it has no plans to engage in a military confrontation with NATO or any of its members. President Vladimir Putin said earlier this year that Russia “has no interest … geopolitically, economically or militarily… in waging war against NATO.”