MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Friday said the West for many years sought to destroy WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a personality.

She made the remarks on Zvezda television when commenting on UK decision to extradite Assange to the US.

"For many years we have seen how this Western liberal machine, primarily Anglo-Saxons, was doing its favorite thing: the destruction of a person as a personality and physically. Now this is happening again," Zakharova said.

"We saw how he was simply forced to stay on the territory of a diplomatic mission for many years, when he could only get some fresh air by going out to the balcony for a few minutes, how he was isolated from the whole world," Zakharova said. "We saw how the British police, apparently the most liberal police in the world, dragged [him] out by the arms and legs. We saw him being put into some kind of vehicle and taken away, and we understood that the free world would not see him again."

Earlier on Friday it was reported that British Home Secretary Priti Patel has approved the extradition of Assange to the United States. WikiLeaks said it would appeal the decision.