Vladimir Putin’s likely successor as President has sent a chilling warning about the West to Russia’s neighbours.
Nikolai Patrushev, who is secretary of Russia’s Security Council and has been tipped to one day succeed Putin, has previously issued a number of chilling threats aimed at the West.
He remains one of Putin’s closest allies and has given multiple interviews justifying the invasion of Ukraine while providing his support to the Kremlin’s hardline policies.
Patrushev has now sent a warning to former Soviet states, claiming the West is deliberately trying to stir up trouble in countries that neighbour Russia and were once part of the Soviet Union.
He accused the West – and the United States in particular – of inciting conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Patrushev claimed the West did this to maintain its global dominance, reports Newsweek.
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“At the same time, Washington is confident that, in conditions of general chaos, it is more convenient to do this. To achieve their goals, Westerners are ready to do anything.
“We also see the desire of Westerners to shake up the situation in the South Caucasus, as well as to interfere with the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement, which has led to an aggravation of the situation in these regions.”
The situation between Armenia and Azerbaijan has become increasingly tense in recent months, despite a Russian-brokered truce in 2020 which brought an end to a six-week war.
In December 2022, Azerbaijan blockaded the road linking the region with Armenia, causing food and fuel shortages. And in September last year launched a that routed separatist forces in just one day, forcing them to lay down their arms
More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the region, leaving it nearly deserted. While the Nagorno-Karabakh region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, it was predominantly inhabited and governed by ethnic Armenians.
There was widespread conflict between the two countries in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union.
