Russia is about to achieve goals of its special military operation in Ukraine, chief of Russian military intelligence says
Russia is very close to reaching the goals of its special military operation in Ukraine, according to Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia, who gave an interview to the Razvedchik (Intelligence Officer) newspaper.
«All attempts to stir the pot in Russia have failed. Our people know that we are fighting against not just the ‘Kyiv junta’ but the entire collective West and the price of losing this confrontation is our freedom and sovereignty. The situation is not in favor of Kyiv on the battlefield either. We hold the strategic initiative across all sectors of the front and are close to achieving all our goals. The Ukrainian armed forces are on the brink of collapse, and the Zelenskyy regime has lost its legitimacy and negotiability,» Naryshkin said.
He claimed that Western countries have been using the situation in Ukraine to wage a war of attrition against Russia, polarize its society and create conditions for a «color-coded revolution.» However, Naryshkin is convinced that further escalation of the conflict will accelerate the strategic defeat of the West, not Russia.
He also insisted that, despite international sanctions, Russia is faring well — demonstrating economic growth, developing domestic production instead of relying on imports, and establishing new supply chains.
In February 2022, the Russian military crossed the border into Ukraine, justifying the invasion with the need to «denazify and demilitarize» the neighboring country and protect «the people of Donbas.» In September 2022, Russia annexed large swathes of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine, along with territories occupied by the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
Russia has consistently avoided describing its invasion of Ukraine as a war, instead calling it a special military operation (SVO). Moreover, Russian media are banned from using the word «war.» Since February 2022, several Russian and foreign media outlets have been banned for using the term.
However, in March 2024, Dmitry Peskov, the official spokesperson for the Russian president, referred to the SVO as a war.
«It started as a special military operation, but it turned into a war for us when the collective West decided to take part on Ukraine’s side,» he said.
