Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev wrote in the Kommersant daily that the United States wants Russia to cease to exist as a country.
"We possess enormous riches," he explained. "And the Americans believe that we hold them illegally and undeservingly, because, in their view, we don’t use them the way we should." He recalled the words of US Ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, that neither the Far East nor Siberia belongs to Russia.
According to Patrushev, the US influences Europe, imposing on it a sanctions policy against Russia and non-acceptance of Crimea’s reunification. "Don't they [Europeans] agree with it? They certainly will not say that in public, but in reality, it’s true. The West realizes that all that happened in Crimea was legitimate, that there was a referendum. They actually have no particular objections about Crimea. And I think it will all settle down with time," he said.
He cited another example of US pressure on Europe. "There have been repeated cases when some of the Europeans asked to come to us, but then a written answer came that they were not happy with the time or something else. Unofficially, they explained that the Americans pressured them," he said.
He said the reason is that the Americans are strong and the Europeans "lack willpower." "The US is striving to dominate the world. This goal is written in their doctrines. And it copes with the task: it dominates, despite the fact that the world is changing," Patrushev concluded.
