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US needs Ukraine as anti-Russian territory — top security official

The North Atlantic alliance "is de-facto a party to the Ukraine conflict," Nikolay Patrushev said

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev Alexey Druzhinin/TASS

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev

© Alexey Druzhinin/TASS

MOSCOW, April 2. /TASS/. Russia’s goal of demilitarizing Ukraine is still on the agenda as the United States and NATO involved in the conflict see the country as anti-Russian territory under their control, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview with aif.ru on Tuesday.

"The United States and NATO nurture plans to keep Ukraine or at least part of it as anti-Russian territory wholly controlled by them [and] focused on serving the interests of the North Atlantic bloc," Patrushev said.

The North Atlantic alliance "is de-facto a party to the Ukraine conflict," he said.

It is NATO that "makes collective decisions on new deliveries of weapons with higher technical and longer-range capabilities" and trains mercenaries and saboteurs for anti-Russian operations, he pointed out.

"In this situation, the goals of demilitarizing Ukraine are high on the agenda," he stressed.

NATO has been holding drills on Ukrainian soil since 1995 and Kiev has granted the military alliance free access to its territory since 2004. Ukraine’s intensified militarization began following the state coup in February 2014, Patrushev said.

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Foreign policy United States Nikolay Patrushev

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