MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. Europe uses the ‘Russian threat’ narrative to militarize and divert public attention from internal issues and negative trends unfolding there, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said.

"This is certainly needed to take attention away from everything that is happening in [European] countries, to distract from the negative trends unfolding in Europe - in France, Germany, Poland," Shoigu told reporters on the sidelines of the 14th annual meeting of security council secretaries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states, speaking about Europe’s militarization under the ‘Russian threat’ narrative.

Shoigu recalled that Russian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed that Moscow has no intention of attacking Europe or anyone else. In this connection, he advised Western leaders, French President Emmanuel Macron among them, to pay attention to their record-low approval ratings and focus on tackling domestic issues such as education problems instead of "sending money to help Ukraine in order to counter Russia using Ukrainians."