ST. PETERSBURG, April 25. /TASS/. The West once again sought to dissuade the participants of the international security meeting in St. Petersburg from taking part in the event, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev told TASS.
"Nothing has changed. There were pressure attempts, they exerted pressure," he said, answering a question if the West sought to dissuade different countries from visiting the conference.
According to Patrushev, some representatives planned to attend the meeting, but later succumbed to pressure and refused.
"This did not affect the overall number of countries that took part in the meeting," he explained. "Meanwhile, others said: yes, there was pressure, but we believe that it will benefit us more to take part than to refuse to participate. So yes, the pressure did continue," the official said.