Russia should be "bossing Europe" — not the United States — and has "unique weapons" capable of destroying all its enemies, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, chillingly warned.
In an interview posted Tuesday at the Russian-language Rossiykskaya Gazeta, Patrushev blustered the United States believes democracy is "just a beautiful facade of the state system ... designed to hide the disregard for the rights of ordinary Americans."
"What kind of freedom of opinion can we talk about when even the former president of the United States is not allowed to speak in social networks and the press on topics of interest to society, and the media are the mouthpieces of the largest companies and elite groups," he says, in a thinly veiled message of support for former President Donald Trump.
In Patrushev's Moscow-centric view, Russia should reclaim its dominance of Europe.
"The U.S. is bossing Europe, ignoring the fact that Russia has historically been assigned the leading role on the continent," he proclaimed. "In the 19th century — the Russian Empire, in the 20th century — the Soviet Union. So it will be in the 21st century."
Patrushev delivered an ominous warning for U.S. leaders in particular.
"American politicians who are held captive by their own propaganda remain confident" Russia wouldn't be able to respond to a preventive missile strike from the United States," he said.
"Forgetting the lessons of history, some in the West are already talking about revenge, which will lead to a military victory over Russia," Patrushev continued. "To this we can say one thing. Russia is patient and does not intimidate anyone with its military advantage.
"But it has modern unique weapons capable of destroying any enemy, including the United States, in the event of a threat to its existence."
Patrushev stated after the collapse of the USSR, Russia "corrected its mistakes" and now "can facilitate both internal stability and protection from external dangers."
He also asserted "the West has seriously miscalculated, counting on the collapse of the Russian economy and protest of the population against sanctions," and that Russia "remains calm" under the sanctions pressure.
Patrushev even mocked the global involvement of the United States.
"America's problem is that it has played too much geopolitical games, forgetting about its own pressing problems," he said. "While the United States in its military biological laboratories invent new viruses to destroy the peoples of objectionable countries, the once clean American cities are drowning in mud and garbage."
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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