The author, a correspondent for the newspaper, interviews Sergey Karaganov, honorary chairman of Russia's Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, who says:

• “In reference to the Ukraine conflict: 'Ukraine was supposed to play the role of a spear, the tip of which is at the heart of ... Russia. This is a serious fight. They would like to weaken and destroy us, regretting that this was not done in the 1990s. ... We must unite, stand our ground and win.'"
• "For Russia, the only guarantee of our security will be the complete demilitarization of the territorial entity that remains [in Ukraine], along with banning this country from possessing heavy weapons, and creating friendly governments on the territory of Ukraine — on the largest possible part of that territory, but by no means on the entire territory of Ukraine.”
• “Apparently, sooner or later, we will have to raise the issue of cutting off the channels for the supply of weapons to Ukraine, which is an absolutely hostile act on the part of the West. This may create a need for escalation of strikes on military targets already outside of Ukraine as well as on transport arteries....The conflict would, therefore, expand . And it will, perhaps, transition to a higher and more terrible level of weapons. This question, unfortunately, is getting more and more acute.”
• “In Asia, a new center of the world will be quietly created, let us call it  ‘Great Eurasia,’ which, I hope, we will join, leaving the Peter the Great page of our history behind. … In order to live to see such a bright future, it is necessary to avoid a thermonuclear catastrophe, to endure the beginning difficulties with dignity, and to prevent a split in society. We will have a tough political regime and a different economy.”

This item is part of Russia Matters’ “Clues from Russian Views” series, in which we share what newsmakers in/from Russia are saying on Russia-related issues that impact key U.S. national interests so that RM readers can glean clues about their thinking.

Photo by NATO shared under a Creative Commons license. The opinions summarized herein are solely those of the author.