MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/. Western countries actively use terrorist and extremist organizations for their attempts to intimidate Russia's population and undermine the country’s constitutional basis, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview to the Izvestia newspaper, published on Wednesday.

"While deceitfully declaring the importance of combatting terrorism, the West is actively using terrorist and extremist organizations against Russia," Patrushev said, adding that "similar methods were used in the North Caucasus in 1990s."

In his words, Western special services train terrorists and sabotage groups for committing crimes on the Russian territory, "aiming to instigate fear in the people of Russia and undermine the constitutional basis" of the Russian statehood.

He also reiterated that "while blocking Russia’s financial assets, the Anglo-Saxons resort to tactics employed by the United Kingdom back in 1920s, when London shamelessly misappropriated the gold reserves of the Russian Empire.".