MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. The Western elites are profoundly mistaken in thinking that "defeat[ing] Russia by force of arms" is possible, Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and chairman of the Russian Historical Society (RHS), said on Friday.
"Apparently, it is precisely in this way that certain Western elite circles, having convinced themselves that, historically, the defense of the Brest Fortress or the battles of Stalingrad or Kursk never actually took place, that purportedly no red Victory Banner had ever been raised over the Reichstag building [in Berlin], have gotten the idea that it’s possible to defeat Russia by force of arms," he said at a press conference at TASS devoted to the results of the 5th International Victory Dictation educational event.
He noted that the "most devastating consequences of this deep-seated delusion are now being felt by the fighters of the Ukrainian armed forces and Western mercenaries, who are dying en masse on the frontlines for the interests of the ruling circles in Washington and a number of other NATO capitals, which are absolutely foreign and alien to them."