The State of Affairs in Russia

[The Brain]

I don't see color.

[Tonitrus]

I don't see color.

No revolution for you. 

[Syt]

http://rt.com/news/268774-russia-us-security--patrushev/

'US would like Russia to cease to exist as a country' – Russia's top security official

Russia's extreme wealth doesn't allow the US to rest, prompting Washington to invent a putative "Russian threat" and scheming against Moscow through the Ukrainian crisis, the head of Russia's Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, told Kommersant daily.

The US is not a universal evil, yet Washington takes the decision whom to appoint as such, says Patrushev, who has been Security Council chief since 2008. Today Washington names Russia as one of the greatest threats to the world, along with the terrorists of Islamic State and the deadly Ebola virus.

There are a great deal of examples of Russia fruitfully cooperating with the US in many aspects, including such burning issues as countering terrorism and reaching a deal on the Iranian nuclear program, Patrushev said. But under the far-fetched pretext of the "Russian aggression in Ukraine" Washington has suspended such contacts, he said.

The US is forcing EU member states to impose anti-Russian sanctions and policies, Patrushev said.

"If it were not for the US, [Europeans] would not pursue such policies," he said, stressing that even the much argued-over issue of the Crimea Peninsula's reunification with Russia would have spent itself already.

"The West does realize that everything that took place in Crimea was legitimate, there was a referendum and so on. They don't have specific objections to Crimea developments," said Patrushev, adding that with the time the issue will "blow over."

American influence over EU countries is "massive," says the head of Russia's Security Council, recalling multiple cases of the European politicians changing their plans to visit Russia after Americans applied pressure on them.

"Europeans are quite flaccid, whereas the Americans are men of spirit," Patrushev said.

"The Americans strive to dominate the world. This is the aim they are targeting in their doctrines. So far they succeed: they dominate despite the changing world," said the top security official.

Russia is following very closely the "color revolutions' trend, in particularly the developments in neighboring Ukraine, he said.

"It's clear that the hidden agenda of destabilization of this country is creating an instrument to radically weaken Russia," Patrushev said, stressing that it was the US who initiated the Ukrainian crisis.

Although the term of the legitimately elected President Viktor Yanukovich was coming to an end and the Ukrainian people would have never re-elected him, the US opted to oust him by coup. Without this there would have been no war in Donbass and Crimea would have remained a part of Ukraine, he said.

The violent power shift in Ukraine was a "political mistake" by the US, said the Security Council secretary.

The US is not bothered with the worsening economic situation in Ukraine, "all they need is applying pressure on Russia and this is exactly what the US is doing," Patrushev said.

The Americans declare that they are interested in maintaining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, yet the US has "no interest in Ukraine whatsoever, they are interested in Russia."

"They would like very much to see Russia cease to exist as a country," said Patrushev, who was director of the FSB (Federal Security Service) from 1999 to 2008.

While Russia possesses incalculable natural resources, the Americans believe that Russians own their wealth "illegitimately and undeservingly," because in Washington's opinion Russians use their wealth in a wrong way, Patrushev said.

The reason for expansions of "instability zones" in the Middle East, North Africa and in Ukraine is "persistent aspiration of the west to tackle their problems at expense of others," Patrushev said.

Destabilization of the world is under way and terror organizations such as Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL), Al Qaeda and others are playing a leading role in this process, the security official said.

It is true that the US is calling on other countries to consolidate their efforts against international terrorism, said Patrushev, yet "in reality, the antiterrorist coalitions are being created for coercive intervention into affairs of sovereign states."

Terrorism cannot be defeated single-handedly or by separate groups of countries, Patrushev said, adding that Russia is always open for any kind of counter-terrorism cooperation.

[The Brain]

Make it so.

[Grey Fox]

Wow, that must be the lucidiest thing coming out of Russia in 2015.

[Berkut]

Poor flaccid Euroes....

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Seems like the Onion took over Russia while we weren't looking.

[Syt]

The most anti-Russian country?




And it's all a ploy to court the Ukrainian-Canadian vote! Beeb!

http://rt.com/politics/270652-russia-canada-sanctions-pushkov/

Top MPs urge counter-sanctions against 'most anti-Russian country' Canada

The head of the State Duma's Foreign Relations Committee has proposed reciprocating Canada's latest anti-Russian move by introducing sanctions similar to embargo of agricultural products from EU introduced about a year ago.

"We should not pretend that nothing is happening and we should develop a complex of reciprocal measures aimed at Canada," MP Aleksey Pushkov (United Russia) stated at Tuesday's parliamentary session. He added that today Canada was "the most anti-Russian state in the Western alliance as a whole and definitely also in the G7 group of nations."

"We must undertake reciprocal measures and the embargo on agricultural products from EU countries is completely justified," Pushkov said.

He went on to blast Canadian government and Prime Minister Stephen Harper for deliberately aggravating the relations with Russia in order to artificially boost its image on the international arena.

"The government of this country attempts to attach some importance to the very tiny role in the international politics. They compensate the obvious lack of weight and authority with increased activity in the sphere of sanction policies," Pushkov said. He reminded that previously Harper had ruled out the possibility of Russia's membership in G7 and by this promoted the thesis that the confrontation between Russia and the West was necessary.

"In my view, we must respond to this," Pushkov told fellow lawmakers.

The comments came soon after Ottawa announced that it was introducing additional sanctions against Russian companies, persons and groups that include the Eurasian Youth Union and its leaders, the pro-Putin motorcycle club Night Wolves, the energy giant Gazprom, the defense corporation Rostec and others.

Russian Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the country's weapons and space industries, also blasted Canada's move via Twitter. "Harper was yearning for Ukrainian-Canadian votes so much he sacrificed the future of their own aircraft industry that had dreamt of a deal with Russia," Rogozin stated.

Earlier, the deputy head of the State Duma Economic Policy Committee, MP Mikhail Yemelyanov (Fair Russia), said that Russia must exit all joint project with the Canadian corporation Bombardier. In an interview with RIA Novosti, he said that these joint projects had always been controversial and looked more like tax evasion schemes that feasible production. He added that as Russia makes its own medium-range passenger aircraft it would not lose anything from abandoning this cooperation.

Last Thursday Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree extending the current Russian embargo on food imports from Western nations that use sanctions against Russia until August 5, 2016. The list remained almost the same as the original with minor changes on certain positions. It includes meat of cattle, pigs, edible offal, fish and shellfish, milk and dairy products, vegetables, sausages and so on.

Commenting on the decree, Medvedev said that the countermeasures to Western sanctions were dictated not by political, but economic motives.

[Valmy]

I am rather horrified at the existence of a legislative body that makes our Congress look so good.

[Admiral Yi]

He's just saying that to piss off Americans.

[Valmy]

He's just saying that to piss off Americans.

[Syt]

I am rather horrified at the existence of a legislative body that makes our Congress look so good.

Oh, Rogozin (with the Ukraining vote quote), is only Deputy PM, not an MP.

[Valmy]

I am rather horrified at the existence of a legislative body that makes our Congress look so good.

Oh, Rogozin (with the Ukraining vote quote), is only Deputy PM, not an MP.

Maybe I am not a parliamentary genius but I thought becoming PM or Deputy PM first required you to be a MP.

[Eddie Teach]

Poor flaccid Euroes....

Their military budgets need Viagra.

[Syt]

I am rather horrified at the existence of a legislative body that makes our Congress look so good.

Oh, Rogozin (with the Ukraining vote quote), is only Deputy PM, not an MP.

Maybe I am not a parliamentary genius but I thought becoming PM or Deputy PM first required you to be a MP.

I've looked at his profile, and it doesn't say he's an MP, he's an appointee. Actually: "He remained an ordinary member of the Duma until the following election in 2007" (Wiki)

Full cabinet here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Russia