Russian official warns of Kiev’s plans for “long-term confrontation” with Moscow

(Interfax – August 11, 2015)

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev has said that Ukraine’s national security strategy for the period until 2020 is directed at a long-term confrontation with Russia, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 11 August.

“According to our specialists, the Ukrainian national security strategy is directed at a long-term confrontation with Russia, which cannot fail to worry us,” Patrushev told journalists.

“It is obvious that the document serves as a basis for furthering the militarization policy; it does not take into consideration the needs and aspirations of the country’s population, it provides the USA and NATO with the opportunity to use Ukraine’s resource base and provokes further escalation of the conflict in the southeast of the country,” he said, adding that Ukraine had also labelled Russia as an “aggressor” and the “main external threat” to its security, while the USA had been called its sole strategic partner.

“The document set objectives of abandoning non-aligned status and adjusting the country’s armed forces and military industry to meet NATO standards. The goal of raising Ukraine’s youth in the spirit of hatred towards Russia has also been noted,” Patrushev said.

“At the same time, the real state of affairs in Ukraine is hidden beneath a contrived threat. What we can see is an attempt to put off resolving long-standing problems in the economy and the social sphere,” Patrushev said.