The Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, Sergey Naryshkin, stated that the European Union has incorporated readiness for a large-scale conflict with Russia by 2030 into its main conceptual documents. In his assessment, the risk of such a conflict arising across the entire space of Eurasia is quite real and raises serious concerns.

Naryshkin noted that Western intelligence services view the post-Soviet countries as an arena for countering Russia and as a buffer zone that they seek to control. According to the SVR Director, European elites have “simply ground down” the once prosperous Ukraine against Russia, and are now actively torpedoing any attempts at a peaceful settlement of the conflict. However, as Naryshkin emphasised, the rapid decline in Ukraine’s population is becoming an insurmountable obstacle for the West on the path of prolonging the conflict: the mobilisation resource is being exhausted, and this seriously complicates plans to continue hostilities.

Naryshkin also pointed out that Western intelligence services have constructed a new “axis of evil” for themselves — it includes Russia, China, Iran and the DPRK. In his opinion, European leaders believe in the concept of controlled escalation, but thereby drive themselves into the “Thucydides Trap” — a situation in which the fear of losing status leads to an uncontrollable clash capable of collapsing the entire international security system.

@epoddubny