UNITED NATIONS, August 25. /TASS/. The West is using the so-called counter-terrorist operation in other countries as a pretext to continue its military presence and go on stealing others’ natural resources, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maria Zabolotskaya said on Friday.

"Analyzing the terrorist threat, it is important to focus not on the symptoms but on the original causes. Problems of development, social-economic underdevelopment, drawbacks of government institutions, the difficult situation in the area of security or the humanitarian situation are often mentioned in such a context at the Security Council," she said at a UN Security Council meeting. "But we should not forget that these problems often stem from the collective West’s interference into the affairs of sovereign developing countries, its strategy of the ‘controlled chaos’ by means of orchestrating color revolution and involving extremists and terrorists of all types."

According to the Russian diplomat, former metropoles have not changed their colonial ways. "Using counter-terrorist operations as a pretext, they are seeking to keep their military presence the countries in question are not happy about," she went on to say. "Of special note is the inefficiency, if not to say, futileness of the so-called counter-terrorist operations in thwarting the terrorist threat."

"This fact unequivocally indicates that the real goal of foreign presence are absolutely different. Under the guise of counter-terrorist efforts, they are stealing others’ natural resources," she stressed.

She noted that in a bid to implement its geopolitical ambitions, fan smoldering conflict and make an impression of popular resistance to the "non-democratic regimes," the West "is using all possible means, descending to fostering terrorists." "Hence, the division of terrorists into good, bad and very bad," she added.