Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, has accused the West of inciting conflicts nationwide, adding that Russia’s neighbors in the Caucasus could soon face “chaos.”
Patrushev worked together with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the KGB in St. Petersburg. He is known for advocating the Kremlin’s hardline policies, and has given several interviews with Russian newspapers justifying Putin’s decision to launch the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Patrushev has been touted as the most-likely candidate to succeed the Russian president.
SERGEI KARPUKHIN/POOL/AFP/Getty Images
Patrushev made the remarks on February 16 in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, during a meeting of Security Council secretaries on Afghan issues. He accused the West of inciting conflicts, for example in Ukraine, and in the Middle East, to maintain its global dominance, suggesting that Washington benefits from this “chaos.”
“Our meeting is taking place against the backdrop of an unprecedented aggravation of the international situation. The reason for this is the West’s desire to maintain its dominance in world affairs at any cost,” Patrushev said, Russian state-run media reported.
“At the same time, Washington is confident that, in conditions of general chaos, it is more convenient to do this. To achieve their goals, Westerners are ready to do anything,” he added.
The most “striking” example, Patrushev said, is the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, “through whose hands the global West wanted to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.”
Patrushev was repeating the Kremlin line of accusing NATO of fighting a proxy war with Russia by supplying Ukraine with military aid to assist in the war that began when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. “But it didn’t work out,” Patrushev said. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry and NATO for comment by email.
The West is also trying to shake up the situation in the South Caucasus, said Patrushev, referring to Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated enclave inside Azerbaijan’s borders.
“We also see the desire of Westerners to shake up the situation in the South Caucasus, as well as to interfere with the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement, which has led to an aggravation of the situation in these regions,” Patrushev said, offering to provide evidence for his claims.
Last fall, Baku said it was launching “anti-terrorist” operations against the Armenian-backed de-facto authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. However, it is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Armenians and governed by the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, also known as the Republic of Artsakh by Armenians.
Large-scale conflicts broke out between the two countries in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, and tensions have remained high, despite a Russian-brokered truce in 2020.
Russia shares a border with Azerbaijan, and both Armenia and Azerbaijan were part of the Soviet Union.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.