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West cares not about Ukraine, sees it only as launchpad, resource base — Putin’s aide

Nikolay Patrushev stressed that "multinational British and American corporations do not hide their interest in obtaining unrestricted access to the natural resources"

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. The people of Ukraine and the future of this country are unimportant to the West, which has turned the state into its anti-Russian launchpad and intends to plunder its natural resources, presidential aide Nikolay Patrushev told aif.ru in an interview.

The West, he noted, "has turned Ukraine into its protectorate, which has become a platform for preparing anti-Russian aggression."

"Multinational British and American corporations do not hide their interest in obtaining unrestricted access to the natural resources - rare earth metals, oil, gas, coal, and fertile soils," Patrushev, also Chairman of the Maritime Board, said.

"The Anglo-Saxons are not interested in the people of Ukraine, its industry, cities and, in general, the future of this country," Patrushev concluded.

On the eve of the change of power in Washington, the Ukrainian leadership offered US access to the country's natural resources, including rare earth metals. Washington has drafted an agreement that assumes a transfer of rights to half of the country's natural resources to the US. Kiev did not immediately sign the agreements, citing insufficient security guarantees.

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