Any attempts to sideline Russia in int’l politics doomed to fail: Spy chief

Moscow, June 12

Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, said that any attempts to sideline his country in international politics are doomed to fail, adding that no peace agreement that excludes Moscow can be successful in the long run. "Russia is a traditional guarantor of international peace and security. No peace, neither global nor regional, can be solid, stable, or lasting without Russia," RT quoted the spy chief as saying on Saturday.

The attempts of the "liberal totalitarian regimes" in the West to sanction and cancel Russia only demonstrate their obsession with being the centre of the world and making other nations bend to their will, Naryshkin added.

These views harboured by Western leaders are flawed, and Russia's "1,000-year history is proof of that", he was quoted as saying by RT.

Earlier on Saturday, Russian State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the Western sanctions policy is pushing nations that do not participate in the "sanctions wars" into forming their own economic bloc, which could end up being stronger than the existing G7 group.

Put together, eight nations that have either refrained from taking part in Western sanctions or are themselves on the receiving end -- China, India, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Iran, Turkey -- surpass the G7 nations when it comes to GDP based on purchasing power parity, Volodin said, citing IMF data.

--IANS