‘Saving Ukraine as a State Is Not Part of US Plans’

From Izvestia, May 3, 2023. Condensed text:

Editors’ Note. – The Americans need Ukraine only because of its natural resources – what’s more, they need it without [its] traditional population. This is precisely why the West’s war with Russia is being fought to the last Ukrainian. This is what Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview with Izvestia. He also spoke about the obliteration of Russia’s role in the victory over fascism, Western theories of economic domination and Europe’s subjugation to the US.

* * *

‘Whether in a tailcoat or a uniform, fascism and Nazism are an absolute evil.’

Question. – Nikolai Platonovich [Patrushev], we are talking as the 78th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War approaches. It is no secret that many people in today’s world, especially in the West, want as soon as possible to consign this date to oblivion [and] obliterate our country’s role in World War II. How do you assess this campaign?

Answer. – An important outcome of World War II was the establishment of the United Nations. The Soviet Union played a key role in creating it and held a leading position there.

Following the disintegration of the USSR, Washington and London got a false idea of their own importance, believing that they had a chance to build a unipolar world. The Anglo-Saxons are not abandoning these ideas even now. The West believes that eliminating Russia or reducing it to the status of a third-rate country under external administration is a radical way of changing the world order.

However, their wishes do not take into account the power of our state or the Russian people’s will for independence. So, in seeking domination, the Anglo-Saxons are trying to review the results of the war, deprive Russia of its status as a victorious power and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, rewrite history, [and] consign the heroic feat of the multiethnic Soviet people to oblivion.

Attempts to distort World War II history began in the West well before the last shots were fired. Even in the early stages of the conflict, Britain attempted to publish a collection of false documents to lay most of the blame for unleashing the war in Europe on the Soviet Union. Today, experts on juggling facts have no qualms about striving to put the aggressive ideology of Nazi Germany on a par with the Soviet Union’s communist ideas, and in effect are using their predecessors’ templates.

Q. – The obliteration of history in the West goes hand in hand with attempts to draw a veil over the antihuman essence of fascism. How do you explain this tendency to rewrite history?

A. – How can they not? There are plenty of hard facts showing that representatives of the Anglo-Saxon elite shared fascist ideas [and] supported Hitler financially and organizationally, and today they have to save [their] “democratic” face. Whether in a tailcoat or a military uniform, fascism and Nazism are an absolute evil, no matter what clothes they wear. Nevertheless, the Anglo-Saxons are eagerly resurrecting neo-Nazi ideology to resolve current geopolitical tasks. Such experiments are leading not to domination but to a global catastrophe, so they must be harshly and ruthlessly suppressed.

Q. – Some Western experts claim that the West needs global domination to ensure its economic prosperity. Does it turn out that historically, Russia has gotten in its way?

A. – In this sense, [we] could even agree with them. Russia is a thorn in the side of the West, which is trying to create its own world order. More than 100 years ago, English geographer [Halford] Mackinder formulated the well-known theory of the geographical pivot of history and the so-called Heartland, the area occupied by Russia. He asserted that control of the Heartland meant control of the World-Island, as he called Eurasia. According to him, domination of the Heartland might become a springboard for control of the Eurasian space and ultimately for global domination.

He also put forward the idea of isolating our state with the help of the so-called cordon sanitaire of small East European countries. The initiative of separating Ukraine, as well as other ethnic provinces of the former empire, from Russia also belongs to Mackinder. So many years have passed, but their goals have not changed.

Q. – It turns out that Western geopolitics is still developing according to his patterns?

A. – The West’s anti-Russian global strategy has remained unchanged for centuries. I mentioned Mackinder because he was one of the first [scholars] to advance a theory to justify the numerous aggressive “crusades” of so-called Western civilization against Russia.

Even NATO’s eastward expansion is proceeding along the same lines that Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm and Hitler followed.

All major aggressive campaigns against our country have been conducted to eliminate it as the main geopolitical force in Eurasia.

Immediately after World War II, the US developed a series of plans to destroy the Soviet Union, intending to subject dozens of Soviet as well as Chinese cities to barbaric nuclear bombings. It was emboldened by impunity for the nuclear terror against the Japanese people after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

‘European politics today is in the deepest moral and intellectual decline.’

Q. – Speaking in Japan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reflected on human suffering caused by the nuclear bombings. However, he purposely did not mention the fact that they were carried out by Washington. Why do you think he did not condemn the very possibility of a nuclear conflict?

A. – This is hardly surprising. The Americans do not know what war is in principle. The last battle on their continent ended in 1865. They did not experience the horrors of blockade, destruction, famine [and] concentration camps; they did not lose millions of people. This is why their elites are talking glibly about the need to arm, inflict a military defeat on Russia [and] prepare for new wars. They are violating international agreements and unceremoniously preparing to resume full-scale nuclear tests. They cynically decide to transfer submarine nuclear propulsion technology to Australia as part of the AUKUS security alliance [between the US, Great Britain and Australia].

Q. – But Europe is essentially at the epicenter of events in this conflict. Are there any politicians there who can take an objective view of what is going on and reject the path proposed by Washington?

A. – European politics today is in the deepest moral and intellectual decline. A good case in point is the Munich Security Conference that Western politicians attend only to read the [US] State Department’s playbook to each other.

By creating NATO mechanisms to suit its needs, the US has in effect occupied Europe. European officials had no choice but to turn the Old World into an economic base for American experiments, obediently performing NATO’s functions. As for the Pentagon-controlled NATO command, it directly interacts with arms producers, simply ignoring the authorities of other countries.

NATO’s expansion enables Washington to place additional territories in Eastern Europe under its control. In this context, the algorithm for admitting new countries to the alliance is telling. It prescribes that [new member countries] swear allegiance to the “master” by presenting ratification documents to none other than the US government.

Q. – The West produces theories and justifications to rationalize all of its actions. For example, Western elites have given serious consideration to the concept of a “brave new world” by Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, which envisions prosperity only for a limited set of people. Could it be said that their actions these days are being dictated by this concept?

A. – According to theories by Schwab and others of his ilk, the “brave new world” does not apply to Russia and its people. In keeping with its plans, the West is steadily ramping up political, military and economic pressure on our country.

NATO has deployed additional military contingents in East European countries. Around 60,000 US military service personnel are stationed in the region. The alliance has modernized [its] military infrastructure near our borders [and] increased the scale and intensity of operational and combat training. It is providing weapons and [military] equipment to Ukraine [and] has opened dozens of training centers for Ukrainian Army soldiers.

While hypocritically talking about the importance of combating terrorism, the West is actively leveraging terrorist and extremist organizations against Russia, using the methods that it used in the 1990s in the North Caucasus.

Western intelligence agencies are training terrorists and saboteurs to commit crimes on our country’s territory, seeking to intimidate the Russian population [and] undermine the constitutional foundations of our state.

In blocking Russia’s financial assets, the Anglo-Saxons are using the patterns that England tested back in the 1920s, when London brazenly appropriated the gold reserves of the Russian Empire.

‘The West is trying to destroy the foundations of Russian national identity, as well as ethnic identities.’

Q. – But in addition to pressure on Russia as such, the West is actively using informational and psychological pressure on the Russian people. What is its ultimate goal?

A. – The West is trying to undermine the internal unity of our country and our people, demoralize our citizens [and] instill a sense of inferiority in them. Entire institutes in the US and Europe are working nonstop on the craziest pseudo-theories to substantiate the need to reformat the Russians’ consciousness, to make them repent [and apologize] to their fellow citizens of other ethnicities and faiths, who are allegedly under so-called imperial oppression. . . .

The West is trying to destroy the foundations of Russian national identity, as well as ethnic identities, doing all it can to impose alien innovations on us, such as tender [sic; gender] diversity and historical revisionism.

Q. – Are we in a position to deter this cultural aggression?

A. – Russia’s opponents are accustomed to abusing our kindness and generosity. Raised and reared by Westerners, the advocates of anti-Russian ideas are promoting liberalism [and] rejecting the notions of Motherland and love for Fatherland, thus bringing grist to the enemy’s mill. We also must firmly uphold our national interests, our culture and history with concern about the future of our country. The Western propaganda machine malfunctions when it encounters the honor, nobility, fortitude and strict morals that are characteristic of our people. It is necessary to support and strengthen traditional spiritual and moral values with all the means at our disposal, while never forgetting to debunk Russophobic pseudo-theories that provide fertile soil for aggressive anti-Russian actions. . . .

Q. – Humanitarian catastrophes and the imminence of such catastrophes should prod countries toward mutual understanding, not conflicts. However, world experience in fighting the coronavirus has shown the exact opposite. Do you think that if a new global-scale problem arises, countries will once again demonstrate a lack of unity? Or do people see the situation differently from their governments?

A. – We should not forget that quite a few people who feel positive toward Russia live in the US, as well as in other unfriendly countries. Upstanding Americans and Europeans may easily ignore Washington’s anti-Russian propaganda, come to our country and become Russian Federation citizens, provided that they observe Russian laws and respect our culture.

Incidentally, there are a growing number of people who would like to choose Russia as a country of permanent residence. Most of them are deeply believing Christians who basically share the spiritual and moral values that are carefully protected in Russia but have long been trampled on in America.

Note that over the past year, the number of US citizens who have received the passports of other countries has tripled. The myth about the notorious “American dream” has been destroyed. Today, the US has veritably slipped back into the Middle Ages. The US authorities are silently looking on as radically minded elements commit outrages, forcing citizens to admire Black Lives Matter activists. The increasing harassment of media workers can be described as a real witch hunt. During the past two years, there have been more than 300 attacks on correspondents in the US. Dozens of journalists have been arrested and convicted just because they were performing their professional duties, reporting on issues that the authorities prefer to keep mum about.

Domestic political processes in the US are growing increasingly turbulent and uncontrollable due to irreconcilable differences between elites, corporations and government agencies.

Q. – Turbulence can be observed not only within [the US] but also outside it. And all of this amid natural disasters and never-ending economic crises. In your opinion, why does the US need Ukraine under such circumstances?

A. – The Americans need Ukraine only as an object of ruthless exploitation of its natural resources without its traditional population. Following such a neo-Nazi course, Washington has already turned [Ukraine] into a territory that millions of people are fleeing en masse, trying to find protection abroad from socioeconomic problems and profascist oppression. The 30 years of Washington-organized upheavals in Ukraine have halved the population. And today, the White House is willing to continue the war with Russia to the last Ukrainian. At the same time, saving Ukraine as a state is not part of US plans.