Western Media Openly Call to Null Russia’s State Sovereignty, Says Top Security Official

"One of the most important tasks is to work out measures aimed to protect the national security in the media sphere, including under conditions, when the Western countries had collectively unfolded a cynical media campaign to discredit our country, its history and traditions," Nikolay Patrushev pointed out

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev Pavel Orlovsky/BelTA/TASS

© Pavel Orlovsky/BelTA/TASS

MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. The Western countries have unfolded a cynical media campaign against Russia with the prime aim to discredit the country, its history and traditions, as well as to humiliate its people, Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolay Patrushev said on Thursday.

"One of the most important tasks is to work out measures aimed to protect the national security in the media sphere, including under conditions, when the Western countries had collectively unfolded a cynical media campaign to discredit our country, its history, traditions; voicing direct calls for the elimination of the [Russian] state sovereignty and humiliation of Russian people," he said.

On May 27, the Russian Institute of Social Studies (RISS) and the "Independent Public Monitoring" (IPM) association jointly organized the All-Russia Expert Forum in Moscow and experts in attendance concluded that Western countries and Ukraine had been thoroughly preparing for their media war against Russia, but were losing it currently because Russian society turned out to be immune to the stream of lies that had been unleashed.

In an interview Argumenty i Fakty daily last week Patrushev stated that "Ukraine’s fate will be determined by the people who live on its soil."

Russia’s military operation in Donbass

The situation along the line of engagement in Donbass escalated on February 17. Back then, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) reported the most massive bombardment by the Ukrainian military in months, which damaged civilian infrastructure and inflicted casualties upon the population.

On February 21, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would recognize the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Moscow recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions stipulating the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions as of the beginning of 2014.

Russian President Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics, he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.