LONDON, June 20. /TASS/. Many Western politicians mistakenly believe that the entire world can be ruled from Washington, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service and Chairman of the Russian Historical Society Sergei Naryshkin said in an interview with BBC on Friday.

"I think some politicians in the West had false expectations. They felt like that the world could be ruled from one centre - Washington," he said. "The most important lesson from the past is that if any country tries to rule the world all by itself this will undoubtedly end in disaster."

He recalled World War II lessons and drew attention to ongoing attempts to distort the public opinion about wartime events.

According to Naryshkin, many young people from Western countries believe that the United States on its own defeated Nazi Germany and liberated Europe.

On May 8, the White House published on Instagram a video of US President Donald Trump laying a wreath to a WWII memorial, with an inscription saying that the United States and the United Kingdom defeated Nazism on May 8, 1945.

On May 10, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Russia was outraged by US attempts to belittle the Soviet Union’s contribution into the victory over Nazi Germany, and was set to have serious discussions on the issue with US officials.