FILE PHOTO: Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev attends a meeting of the collegium of the Prosecutor General's office in Moscow, Russia, March 15, 2023. Sputnik/Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERS
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The secretary of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said that NATO countries are a party to the conflict in Ukraine, according to excerpts from an interview with Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Monday.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta cited Patrushev as saying: "In fact, NATO countries are a party to the conflict. They made Ukraine one big military camp. They send weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian troops, provide them with intelligence".
Patrushev, a former chief of the FSB internal security service, is widely seen as one of the most hawkish members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by David Goodman and Bernadette Baum)
