Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev is seen by diplomats as one of the major hardline influences on President Vladimir Putin. He casts the Ukraine conflict as an existential battle with an aggressive and arrogant West. The United States has denied Russian claims that it wants to destroy Russia. A conflict between Russia and NATO could trigger World War Three, Biden has warned. Kremlin insider Ruslan Patrushev rebuffed CIA Director William Burns’ warnings against an invasion of Ukraine.
He cast Western political elites as corrupt and controlled by transnational corporations and business clans. Russia was a victim of Western designs to push it back to the borders of 15th-century Muscovy, he said. Russia would achieve economic sovereignty and financial independence while also building up its armed forces and special services to deter any potential aggressor.
