SIRIUS /Federal Territory/, March 4. /TASS/. Russia is not trying to expand its territory by its actions in Ukraine but has to react to the Russophobic policy by Kiev and the West and protect its sovereignty, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in a lecture at the Knowledge. First educational marathon on Monday.

"What is happening in Ukraine is a special case. This does not mean expanding the borders of our state, the Russian Federation, by the effective occupation method," Medvedev said in his lecture titled: ‘Geographical and Strategic Borders."

"Our actions are a forced but quite an effective response to the Russophobic policy by the Banderite regime and the collective West and its desire to destroy our statehood, undermine independence and sovereignty," the politician said.

The Ukraine situation is in stark contrast with painful processes unfolding in weakening Western countries, once powerful empires that "have turned into the states unable to influence key global decisions," he pointed out.

Such countries, he pointed out, "actively display violent and aggressive and even imperial manners and have the habit of naturally accusing Russia of them," Medvedev said.

The politician said that the concept he spoke about "does not mean the intention of strong and responsible states to enter into war with neighbors and redraw the political map of the world as compared to previous centuries.