The interviewee, secretary of the Russian Security Council, says:

• "The United States is doing everything to ensure that other centers of the multipolar world do not even dare to raise their heads, and our country not only dares but publicly declares that it will not play by the imposed rules. They have tried to force Russia to give up its sovereignty, self-consciousness, culture and independent foreign and domestic policy. In an attempt to suppress Russia and with the use of their henchmen in Kyiv, the Americans decided to create an antipode of our country. ... The policy of the West and the Kyiv regime — which is under its control — can only result in the disintegration of Ukraine into several states.” 
• "Europe will bite its elbows, while America will be freed from its main geopolitical fear — the political and economic union of Russia and Europe." 
• "The American and European military-industrial complexes rejoice, because thanks to the crisis in Ukraine, they see no end to orders. It is not surprising that, unlike Russia, which is interested in the speedy completion of the special military operation and minimizing losses from all sides, the West is determined to drag it out to the last Ukrainian." 
• "The special military operation has specific goals. Not only the well-being, but the lives of millions of people depend on the achievement of these goals. Speaking of denazification, our goal is to defeat the foothold of neo-Nazism, which has been created by the efforts of the West near our borders. Demilitarization is needed because Ukraine … poses a threat to Russia, including the threat of the development and use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons there." 
• "We are not opposed to the market economy or to participation in world production chains, but we have a clear understanding that the West allows other countries to be its partner only when it is beneficial for it. Therefore, the most important condition for ensuring the economic security of Russia is reliance on the country's internal potential, restructuring of the national economy on a modern technological basis." 
• "Every resident of our country, every Russian from childhood must know and understand what we all live and work as a single people." 
• "Washington and Brussels do not hide the fact that their sanctions are aimed at both the material and spiritual impoverishment of Russians." 

This item is part of Russia Matters’ “Clues from Russian Views” series, in which we share what newsmakers in/from Russia are saying on Russia-related issues that impact key U.S. national interests so that RM readers can glean clues about their thinking.

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