MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. Western countries have been trying to pursue their geopolitical goals under the pretext of fighting the terrorist threat, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Yury Kokov said, addressing the BRICS+ 2025 Counter-Terrorism Conference.

"We have also been witnessing a trend among multiple Western countries of increasingly using the fight against terrorism for their geopolitical and selfish goals. Under the cover of the so-called counter-terrorism missions, they invade non-loyal countries to oust democratically elected governments and install their controlled regimes there," he noted.

Afterwards, the West tends to plunder mineral reserves or other resources in invaded countries, Kokov argued. "Truly anti-terrorism cooperation is being substituted with an imitated version to manipulate the issue amid geopolitical competition," he continued, highlighting the "cynical" use of double standards along the way.

Also, the senior Russian security official slammed the practice of imposing restrictions and sanctions on individuals and even nations blacklisted under what he called fake pretexts. "Therefore, certain rules that have nothing to do with universal international law are being imposed on the global community. We consider this to be a slippery slope to nowhere that not only undermines the idea of equal cooperation, enshrined in the UN Charter, but also discredits everybody who takes this road," Kokov concluded.