Russian allies facing ‘unprecedented pressure’ from US – security chief

01.03.2023 23:06

Russian allies facing ‘unprecedented pressure’ from US – security chief
Twitter / Nicolas Maduro

The US will use any means necessary to force countries to cut ties with Moscow, the head of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, said during a visit to Venezuela. He also warned that Washington is intent on preserving a unipolar world order.

Patrushev held security consultations with his Venezuelan counterpart Jose Adelino Ornelas Ferreira and other high-ranking officials in Caracas on Tuesday.

The Russian security chief argued that “all sovereign states are currently experiencing a moment of truth when they have to make a choice either to defend the freedom to select their path, their own values and identity, or to submit to the dictate of the so-called collective West, led by the US.”

In their attempts to preserve the unipolar world order, Washington and its allies resort to “political pressure, military blackmail, financial enslavement, economic sanctions and, of course, deceitful propaganda,” he insisted.

Moscow’s international partners have faced “unprecedented pressure from the US, which is trying to force them to cut any ties with Russia, no matter how close and beneficial they may be,” Patrushev stated.

The security official added that Russia is “grateful” to Venezuela for resisting those attempts and backing Moscow. “We appreciate the Bolivarian [Venezuelan] leadership’s public condemnation of the destructive policies by the West and NATO, as well as the aggression unleashed against Russia,” Patrushev said, referring to the conflict in Ukraine.

During the consultations, the prospect of enhancing interaction between the two nations’ justice ministries, security, and law enforcement agencies was discussed, the Russian Security Council said. Special attention was paid to countering Western-backed ‘color revolutions’, the statement added.

Patrushev later met with the Latin American nation’s president, Nicolas Maduro, at the Miraflores Palace.

The Russian security chief told Maduro that relations between Moscow and Caracas were a “strategic partnership” that was paramount for maintaining international security and stability.

The Venezuelan leader wrote on Twitter that cooperation at different levels for the benefit and development of both nations had been discussed.

In the run-up to the meeting with Patrushev, Maduro tweeted that Venezuela was taking “firm steps towards building the new world of equals, of respect, solidarity and cooperation.”