MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. The Ad Hoc Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in the Domestic Affairs of the Russian Federation Council (upper chamber of parliament) has no doubt that state bodies of NATO allies including security services are behind the unauthorized protest rallies that took place in Russia on January 23. Head of the commission Andrei Klimov has said that the US and the EU realize that direct military confrontation with Russia would be suicidal and, therefore, bet on weakening the country from within.
"We have no doubt that the scandalous return of the so-called Berlin patient (Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny - TASS) to Russia is just a part of the scenario written overseas. The commission has every confidence that state structures of NATO members and their security services were behind the curtain of the global information and political performance of the past few days as well as behind the backs of masterminds of the January 23 unauthorized rallies," he said at a plenary meeting Wednesday.
The senator added that the commission members are certain why these scenarios are used. "These goals are based on their [NATO] official and public recognition of Russia as NATO’s main opponent at least for the next decade. At the same time, Washington and Brussels understand well that any direct military confrontation with Russia would be suicidal, betting big on weakening our country from within," Klimov underscored.
Unauthorized protest rallies in support of arrested opposition figure Alexey Navalny were held in Moscow and other major cities across Russia on January 23. National law enforcement agencies warned about liability for participating in such rallies. According to a TASS medical source, 42 law enforcement officers sustained injuries of different severity, while some protesters were also injured.