"The US leadership has set a goal for itself: achieving global domination. In this regard they don't need a strong Russia. On the contrary, they want to weaken our country. It is not excluded that this goal could be achieved through collapsing the Russian Federation. This would grant the United States access to rich resources, which, in their opinion, Russia does not deserve," Patrushev told Russia's MK newspaper.
According to the top security official and former Federal Security Service (FSB) head, Washington believes it is able to serve as the catalyst of Russia's fall.
"Of course, we understand that Russia is just a part of the former Soviet Union, and Russia is not striving to become a superpower. Unlike the United States, we do not seek to dominate the world. But this does not mean that Russia does not have its own national interests. We are obliged to defend them, including through an effective foreign policy," Patrushev said.
He added that the Soviet Union collapsed not because of economic crisis amid falling oil prices but due to the lack of political will to save the country, including the failure to adopt necessary economic measures.
Patrushev stressed that the current Russian leadership had repeatedly proven the ability to save and strengthen the state, its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Nikolai Patrushev also stated that Ukraine needs to rethink its course of pushing itself further from Russia otherwise it will collapse economically and as a country as a whole.
Ukraine's economy has deteriorated since an armed conflict between government forces and militia in the country's southeast escalated in April 2014.
“The leadership of Ukraine is currently the United States’ wards who are fulfilling an external will directed at the further separation of their country from Russia. This type of political course has no perspective. If it is not stopped in time, then this will lead to the complete collapse of the Ukrainian economy and to the fall of Ukraine,” Patrushev said in an interview with Russia’s Moskovsky Komsomolets daily.
Patrushev added that Russia was interested in Ukraine's integrity and the full implementation of Minsk agreements on Ukrainian reconciliation signed by Kiev authorities and Donbas militias in February 2015.
The Russian official expressed hope that relations between Russia and Ukraine would eventually be restored.
Currently, Ukraine increasingly relies on external funding to reanimate its economy in light of a deep recession and high inflation.
