Russia is now fighting NATO in Ukraine, top Putin ally says - Reuters

MOSCOW, Jan 10 (Reuters) - One of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies said connected Tuesday that Moscow was present warring the U.S.-led NATO subject confederation successful Ukraine and that the West was trying to hitch Russia from the governmental representation of the world.

Putin casts the warfare successful Ukraine arsenic an existential conflict with an assertive and arrogant West, and has said that Russia volition usage each disposable means to support itself and its radical against immoderate aggressor.

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev is seen by diplomats arsenic 1 of the large hardline influences connected Putin, who has promised triumph successful Ukraine contempt a bid of battlefield setbacks.

"The events successful Ukraine are not a clash betwixt Moscow and Kyiv - this is simply a subject confrontation betwixt Russia and NATO, and supra each the United States and Britain," Patrushev told the Argumenti one Fakti paper successful an interview.

"The Westerners' plans are to proceed to propulsion Russia apart, and yet conscionable erase it from the governmental representation of the world," Patrushev said.

The United States has denied Russian claims that it wants to destruct Russia, the world's biggest shaper of earthy resources, portion President Joe Biden has cautioned that a struggle betwixt Russia and NATO could trigger World War Three.

Asked astir Patrushev's remarks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said NATO and the United States were portion of the Ukraine conflict.

"De facto they person already go an indirect enactment to this conflict, pumping Ukraine with weapons, technologies, quality accusation and truthful on," Peskov told a regular quality briefing.

Russia's Feb. 24 penetration of Ukraine has triggered 1 of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation betwixt Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, erstwhile the Soviet Union and United States came closest to intentional atomic war.

The United States and its allies person condemned Russia's penetration of Ukraine arsenic an imperial onshore grab, portion Ukraine has vowed to combat until the past Russian worker is ejected from its territory.

RUSSIA ALONE

As a erstwhile Soviet spy who has known Putin since the 1970s, Patrushev's views springiness an penetration into reasoning astatine the precise highest levels of the Kremlin. He rebuffed CIA Director William Burns' warnings successful 2021 against an penetration of Ukraine.

In a Soviet-style investigation of the West, Patrushev formed Western governmental elites arsenic corrupt and controlled by trans-national corporations and concern clans which planned and executed "colour revolutions" crossed the world.

"The American authorities is conscionable a ammunition for a conglomerate of immense corporations that regularisation the state and effort to predominate the world," Patrushev said.

The United States, Patrushev said, had sown chaos successful Afghanistan, Vietnam and the Middle East, and had been trying for years to undermine Russia's "unique" civilization and language.

Russia, helium said, was a unfortunate of Western designs to propulsion it backmost to the borders of 15th period Muscovy, and accused the West of bleeding Ukraine to undermine Russia.

"There is nary spot for our state successful the West," helium said.

In response, helium said, Russia would execute economical sovereignty and fiscal independency portion besides gathering up its equipped forces and peculiar services to deter immoderate imaginable aggressor.

Russian concern and backstage capital, helium said, needed to beryllium much "nationally oriented".

"The younger procreation should beryllium inspired by the ideas of originative enactment for the payment of our Motherland, and not beryllium successful the offices of Western corporations," helium said.

Editing by Gareth Jones

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