Soviet Union

Antonov told Newsweek on Saturday (12/17/2022). However, he predicts that a new “multipolar world” will emerge.

Speaking to the US magazine a week after the Pentagon announced a new $275 million arms package for Ukraine, Antonov said Washington “seems to need to continue to assert itself through competition with Russia”.

He explained, “The Pentagon’s latest national defense strategy portrays Russia as a major threat to US interests and requires the US military to equip itself to win in a conflict against Moscow if deterrence fails.”

“It appears that the ‘ghost’ of the Soviet Union still haunts the corridors of power in the American capital, and the Cold War is by no means over,” Antonov told Newsweek.

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He explained: “Many politicians here still think and act according to the laws of that historical period. They believe that the restoration of Russia’s international prestige with the ascent to power of Vladimir Putin in our country has become a ‘headache’ for Washington.”

“With the conflict in Ukraine, the United States is in a better position to apply a ‘fixed idea’ to weaken Russia,” Antonov said.

He stressed, “It is much easier to consolidate society in the United States and the West as a whole around the image of a ‘foreign enemy who undermines the values ​​of a democratic world.'”

“At the same time, the United States could use Russia to justify its unprecedented military spending, undermining the mutually beneficial relationship between Russia and Europe, making the latter completely dependent on Washington,” he said.