Patrushev: The West seeks to discredit Russia and eliminate its statehoodULYANOVSK, 21 Mar - RIA Novosti.
The United States and its allies are conducting an information campaign aimed at discrediting Russia and destroying its statehood, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said on Tuesday.
"The collective West, led by the United States, has launched a large-scale information campaign to discredit our country, directly calling for the elimination of Russian statehood," he said at a meeting in Ulyanovsk. In his opinion, the increasing informational and ideological impact on Russian society is aimed at "destroying the basic Russian spiritual and moral values, family traditions, reformatting historical memory, splitting society along national, cultural and religious lines, as well as promoting terrorism and extremism."
According to him, this agenda is supported by "certain extremist pseudo-political structures" whose leaders from abroad are calling for a change of power and the division of the country. In addition, foreign NGOs, as well as media structures controlled by the West, are used to manipulate public consciousness, the Secretary of the Security Council believes.
"With the general supervision of foreign special services, protest and separatist sentiments are being heated up. The organizers of the protest actions, using anonymous channels of messaging systems (Telegram, WhatsApp), are making intensive attempts to destabilize the situation in the Russian regions," he warned.
Patrushev said that foreign propaganda centers "are building up a network of controlled journalists and so-called bloggers, whose main efforts are focused on organizing information campaigns that denigrate Russia."
"The events related to the conduct of a special military operation in Ukraine are used as the main information reasons for whipping up panic and undermining the socio-political situation, undermining the confidence of citizens in the country's leadership. False information about the course of a special military operation is being replicated," he said.
In addition, the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation added, they are trying to throw in calls for diversions, attacks on military and administrative facilities, transport and social infrastructure facilities on the Internet.