Moscow claims that NATO 'instructors' are training those who oppose Russia.

"NATO instructors in some countries are training mercenaries and saboteurs to participate in anti-Russian operations," Patrushev said in an interview with Arguments and Facts on the occasion of NATO's 75th anniversary.

The Secretary of the Russian Security Council noted that NATO does not hesitate to use terrorist organizations for its own benefit. He pointed out that members of the organization impose sanctions, fund intelligence, psychological warfare, and cyberattacks, and engage in “actions aimed at undermining the public administration systems of countries that disagree with Western policies.”

Furthermore, according to Patrushev, NATO has effectively become a party to the conflict in Ukraine, actively participating in organizing shelling of Ukrainian territory and making collective decisions about supplying new weapons and combat capabilities to Kyiv.

Patrushev argued that European NATO countries have long since "lost many elements of sovereignty and are in fact merely economic and political crutch for the alliance." "The ideals of independence and responsibility towards their own people and their future have given way to a desire to satisfy Washington's global demands," Patrushev said.

Conversely, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council stated that international security should be considered a single, indivisible interest, enjoyed equally by all countries without exception. This is the approach that Russia is pursuing and which many like-minded countries share.

The Secretary of the Russian Security Council stated that NATO is systematically increasing its military capabilities along Russia's borders – from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea.

"In speeches by NATO leaders and in documents, the term 'NATO's eastern flank' even appears, encompassing all Eastern European countries bordering Russia and its ally Belarus, as well as Romania and, more recently, Sweden and Finland," Patrushev pointed out.

Patrushev stated that NATO makes no secret of the fact that the largest military exercise near the Russian border – Steadfast Defender 2024, currently taking place in Europe since the collapse of the Soviet Union – is precisely aimed at containing Russia.

In 2023 alone, NATO and its member states conducted 130 joint military exercises and training drills. "Not over a decade, but in just one year, 2023," Patrushev emphasized.

Regarding Ukraine, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council stated that there is irrefutable evidence that Kyiv, at the instigation of the US and NATO following the February 2014 coup, considered resolving the issue through "harsh means."

"NATO exercises began taking place regularly on Ukrainian territory since 1995. And in 2004, sacrificing national sovereignty for the benefit of the alliance, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law allowing NATO forces free access to Ukrainian territory," Patrushev said.

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