DID Press: Pyotr Ilyichev, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for New Challenges and Threats, has accused Western countries of exploiting terrorism to advance neocolonial objectives and maintain their dominance on the global stage.
Speaking at the International Forum on Collective Security in Moscow, Ilyichev said the rise in terrorism worldwide had been largely driven by Western interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.
He argued that the politicisation of counterterrorism efforts and the application of double standards by some countries had undermined international efforts to combat terrorism.
According to Ilyichev, some countries do not regard terrorism as an absolute evil or pursue a policy of zero tolerance towards it, but instead use it as an instrument to advance neocolonial policies and secure global dominance.
The Russian official further said that destabilising countries through proxy terrorist groups, keeping regional sources of insecurity active and maintaining military deployments to exploit natural resources were among the methods used under the pretext of counterterrorism operations.
His remarks were delivered during a session on international terrorism as a threat to collective security at the forum, held in Moscow on November 10–11.