Nikolai Patrushev, in a June 15 interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, warned that the forces of the West, led by Great Britain, “are working on scenarios including preemptive strikes against our [naval] bases.” He added that several foreign vessels entering Russian ports have mines attached at the bottom of their boats, which makes them floating bombs. Patrushev, currently an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is also the Chairman of the Maritime Board of the Russian Federation—a post created by Putin—which oversees Russia’s naval power. He served as the director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) intelligence service from 1999 to 2008, and was chairman of the Russian National Security Council from 2008 to 2024.
Asked about the plan by Western forces to block Russian vessels from operating in the Baltic and Black Seas—the two leading bodies of water for the western part of Russia—Patrushev said, “Western strategists have studied the experience of world wars well and hope to drive our fleets back to their bases, blockade them, and force them to break the blockade [incurring] losses. This must not happen again. We cannot allow a blockade of our key maritime routes. After all, the Baltic and Black Seas handle the bulk of our maritime trade.”
He continued, “We must understand that the West is preparing for more than just a blockade. Judging by incoming information, they are working on scenarios including preemptive strikes against our bases. Therefore, it is important to ensure the timely dispersal and combat readiness of the fleet, the ability to counter the full spectrum of threats, including drones, cyberattacks, and, of course, sabotage. It is no secret that merchant ships with magnetic mines attached to their bottoms, in other words, converted into floating bombs, regularly arrive at our ports. We detect and defuse these mines.” As a provocative move, both Britain and France have also taken to illegally boarding and detaining Russian vessels or vessels that are carrying Russian goods.
Patrushev warned that there is a significant Western force that supports neo-Nazism: “Europe is once again deliberately participating in the extermination of the Slavic population at the hands of the Ukrainian neo-Nazis. Essentially, European neo-Nazis are now making every effort to turn the European Union into a sort of Fourth Reich.”
In Ukraine, as opposed to the Western “Goebbels"-like lies, Patrushev stressed that there is no eternal Ukrainian-Russian opposition, and that Russia is trying to save Ukraine. “We are… fighting for the future of the Ukrainian population. They have been literally pushed to the brink of survival. The country has been transformed into a vast barracks, and half into a concentration camp. The population has shrunk from fifty-two to twenty-two million. Most Ukrainians don’t want to fight and don’t consider Russians as an adversary, but they have no vote. Neo-Nazi gangs, sponsored by London and Brussels, keep the population in fear and completely control Zelensky. Essentially, today in Ukraine we are on a mission to save our brothers and sisters who have fallen under neo-Nazi occupation.”
