MAY 24, 2022
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said Russia has no timeline for when it will end the war in Ukraine. In this photo, Patrushev (L) looks at President Vladimir Putin during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on May 26, 2015. – Photo by SERGEI KARPUKHIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
A top Kremlin official discussed the Ukraine war during a Tuesday interview, saying Russia has no deadlines and will end its military campaign only when its “denazification” objective is achieved.
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, who has been called one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most trusted aides, discussed Russia’s goals in Ukraine with the Russian weekly newspaper AiF. He said Moscow was seeking to root out neo-Nazism in the country, adding that Russia had promised to prevent the spread of Nazism after World War II ended.
Since Putin ordered attacks in Ukraine in late February, the Kremlin has offered several explanations for what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine. Putin himself has said he was seeking the “denazification” of the country, and he has made baseless claims that the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is dominated by neo-Nazis who promote “genocide” against Russians.
Putin has also said a reason for the invasion was Ukraine’s pursuit of NATO membership, which he said posed a threat to his country’s national security. Meanwhile, Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., has said the war is meant to prevent the West’s expanding influence throughout the world. More recently, Kremlin officials have said Russia is striving to “liberate” territories in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which is occupied by pro-Russia separatists.
While speaking with AiF, Patrushev pushed the denazification of Ukraine as Russia’s main objective.
“We are not chasing deadlines,” he said. “Nazism must either be 100 percent eradicated or it will rear its head in a few years, and in an even uglier form.”
Asked by AiF about Western leaders dismissing Russia’s claims about neo-Nazis in Ukraine’s government, Patrushev compared the recent mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, by a self-confessed white supremacist to the Azov battalion, a unit of Ukraine’s national guard that reportedly adheres to a far-right ideology.
“Probably, Westerners will not take off their rose-colored glasses until the brutalized Ukrainian thugs start to rage on their streets. By the way, not only in Europe. Remember the recent shooting in American Buffalo,” Patrushev said. “I would like to ask the Americans what is the difference between a neo-Nazi who shoots people in a supermarket and the Azov militants.”
Patrushev also discussed Finland and Sweden, which have formally requested to join NATO. He called the alliance “not a defensive but a purely aggressive offensive military bloc” and said membership in it means a country must cede some power to the U.S.
“If the military infrastructure of the alliance expands on the territory of Finland and Sweden, Russia will perceive this as a direct threat to its own security and will be obliged to respond,” the security officer warned.
When AiF asked Patrushev about the chances of Russia emerging triumphant in its “special operation,” the Kremlin official firmly asserted that Russia would attain its objectives in Ukraine.
“All the goals set by the President of Russia will be fulfilled,” Patrushev said. “It cannot be otherwise, since truth, including historical truth, is on our side.”
