Putin’s Friend Raises Allegations: Patrushev: NATO Helped Plan Kursk Offensive

Putin’s friend makes accusations
Patrushev: NATO helped plan the Kursk offensive

August 16, 2024, 9:47 am

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The US says it was not involved in the Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk region. According to Putin confidante Patrushev, this is not true. Without NATO’s support, Kiev could not have invaded Russia.

An adviser to the Russian president, Nikolai Patrushev, has accused NATO and the West of preparing for Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region. “The operation in Kursk Oblast was planned with the participation of NATO and Western secret services,” Patrushev told Russian newspaper Izvestia.

Patrushev said the US claim that it was not involved in the attack was not true. “Without their participation and direct support, Kiev would not have entered Russian territory.” Instead, the US-led NATO military alliance and the West were directly involved. However, the US President’s Office said that Ukraine did not announce the incursion into Kursk and that the US was not involved in the operation.

Ukrainian soldiers entered the Kursk border region on August 6. According to Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Chirsky on Thursday, they have advanced 35 kilometers into Russian territory. They controlled 1,150 square kilometers and 82 settlements. Patrushev was the secretary of the National Security Council until a few months ago and now heads the new Maritime Council.

It is responsible for Russian naval operations and development of the fleet, as well as for the protection of Russian interests in the Arctic. Patrushev was previously head of the FSB, the domestic intelligence service, and has been close to President Vladimir Putin since they worked together in the Soviet KGB in what was then Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in the 1970s.