MOSCOW, August 25. /TASS/. Western countries have for centuries sought to create new flashpoints along Russia’s borders, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Yuzhnaya Ossetia newspaper.

"The West has for centuries sought to create new flashpoints along Russia’s borders. Its preferred tactic is to work through others, drawing nations with historical ties to Russia into confrontation with Moscow," he said.

Medvedev said the 2008 events in Abkhazia and South Ossetia clearly parallel current developments in the Ukraine conflict and the standoff with the West.

"One such issue is the right of the peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to self-determination and to obtain Russian citizenship. Then, as now, residents of liberated Novorossiya territories voted for independence. <…> What better shows their true attitude toward Russia, their 'political motivation' and their desire to prevent a return to the past?" he said.