Sergey Naryshkin, director of SVR: “Officials in the leading EU capitals and London are adjusting their tools to influence the social and political life in the countries they are focused on”

Russian Foreign Intelligence Service - Sergey Naryshkin
Photo: TASS

Europe's ruling classes use Ukrainians as cannon fodder to advance their own geopolitical interests, Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services TASS quotes.

"The ruling European class shamelessly uses the so-called peripheral nations, primarily Ukrainians, as cannon fodder to advance their geopolitical goals. The Ukrainians are sent to the slaughter under hypocritical talk in Brussels about the sacrifices Kiev is allegedly making for the security of Europe," he said at a meeting of the Council of the Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of the CIS member states.

According to the SVR chief, the crisis of the Western-centered world has primarily affected the system of values. "The demise of the Western, individualistic model of democracy is now evident, even to the United States," he pointed out. "Modern Europe is experiencing a decline in economic performance, a shrinking indigenous population, and mass migration from other civilizational habitats. There has also been a rise in militarism despite the absence of military successes," Naryshkin noted.

"It is safe to say that multipolarity, the onset of which we have predicted and brought closer, is becoming more visible. Today, more than ever before, there are signs of the Western-centered world order degrading," the SVR chief concluded.

Repulsion with the so-called Western values is growing across the world as plans are being made to promote the pro-Western information agenda through seemingly neutral external programs, Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services, TASS quotes.

"As repulsion with the so-called Western values is growing across the globe, officials in the leading EU capitals and London are adjusting their tools to influence the social and political life in the countries they are focused on. The plan is to promote the pro-Western information agenda through seemingly neutral external programs of social and humanitarian nature," he pointed out at the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services.

Naryshkin added that it had also been decided to limit efforts to promote the interests of LGBT groups (the LGBT movement is designated as extremist and outlawed in Russia), environmental and radical feminist communities. Meanwhile, work continues to develop ways to replicate the Ukrainian scenario. "It provides for fueling narrow, small-town nationalism under the pretext of contributing to the strengthening of national identity, and building on that to spur social and political divisions," the SVR chief explained.

The United States is negotiating with its European partners on stepping up support for opposition forces in the CIS member states, Sergey Naryshkin said.

"The Americans are negotiating with their traditional European partners about stepping up their support for anti-system forces in CIS countries," he said. "In return for Washington's halted assistance from the US Agency for International Development, Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe (recognized in Russia as a foreign agent media outlet and included in the register of undesirable organizations — TASS), the Europeans are expected to take on the main burden of financing supposedly independent activists," the SVR chief pointed out.

Naryshkin also noted that the European Commission and the European External Action Service have already started developing replacement measures for pro-Western NGOs, media and opposition figures. "The priority is to support associations from which European countries receive relevant information about the situation in Eurasia," he added.

According to the SVR chief, the majority of subsidies will be distributed through the European Foundation for Democracy (the organization is recognized as undesirable on the territory of Russia). "Berlin is trying to take the leading position on the stated track, seriously considering the idea of taking the lead in the global promotion of pseudo-democracy, a role abandoned by Washington. The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden are also seeking to participate actively in democratization projects in the post-Soviet space. The UK Foreign Office has recently shown a special interest in Transcaucasia and plays a notable role," Naryshkin noted.

"The Napoleonic scope of European plans is limited only by the traditional European stinginess and habit of letting Americans take the heat," the SVR chief concluded.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is swiftly distancing itself from the so-called "democratization agenda," a move that Russia views as pragmatic, according to Sergey Naryshkin.

"The decline of the Western individualistic model of democracy is now evident even to the United States," Naryshkin stated. "Not long ago, the U.S. positioned itself as the primary champion of human rights worldwide. Today, the Trump administration is rapidly stepping away from the bankrupt so-called democratizing agenda. We see this as a pragmatic shift by the new White House team, which has regained the capacity for critical thinking and is shaping its policies based on principles of political realism and pragmatism."

Naryshkin pointed out that the architects of the new U.S. administration recognize the shortcomings of Western democracy in competing economically with China and other emerging powers, as well as in addressing challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukrainian conflict.

"Attempts to impose Western democracy artificially on a global scale have either failed or proved counterproductive. The primary reason for the U.S. establishment’s rejection of democracy in its current totalitarian-liberal form is that it has become outdated and exhausted as a political myth - no longer inspiring society – and has begun to corrupt the very elites it aims to serve," Naryshkin emphasized.

The Europeans maintain regular ties with nationalist forces across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Sergey Naryshkin said.

"Reports are coming in about the Europeans’ consistent communication with nationalist parties and movements across the CIS," he noted at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services.

According to Naryshkin, in particular, options are being developed to replicate the Ukrainian scenario. "It provides for fueling narrow, small-town nationalism under the pretext of contributing to the strengthening of national identity, and building on that to spur social and political divisions," the SVR chief explained.

In addition, he pointed out that foreign foundations active in Eurasia supported an entire network of information and analytical platforms and resources promoting "an alleged agenda of decolonization, which in fact is directed against Russia and China." "Europe still sees the online media outlets and social media networks that it controls as the main channel for reaching out to its target audience," Naryshkin added.

Brussels has recently experienced setbacks trying to unceremoniously meddle into affairs of third countries, Sergey Naryshkin said.

"Brussels acknowledges itself that it is getting more complicated recently to interfere unceremoniously in domestic affairs of third countries," Naryshkin said at a meeting of the Council of the Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of the CIS (the Commonwealth of Independent States) member countries.

Naryshkin pointed to the European Foundation for Democracy’s complaints that a few years ago "numerous doors stood open to Western human rights activists on the post-Soviet area, not only in public organizations, but also in government departments."

"As of today, Europeans are forced to conduct even their most basic operations online or using the so-called relocants, who, according to leading Western intelligence agencies, are not struggling for the change of power in their countries, but squabble with each other to get their hands on Western handouts," Naryshkin added.

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