Valery Fadeyev, head of the Russian presidential human rights council, told TASS that many Western intellectuals understand the root causes of the military operation.
Fadeyev stated that a significant portion of thinkers in the West recognize why Russia was forced to start its special military operation in Ukraine. He said this understanding is particularly visible among individuals who are not involved in politics, claiming that non-politicians feel free to speak out while figures active in political systems are silenced.
He emphasized that intelligent people realize Russia was compelled to defend itself from external pressure.
According to Fadeyev, these views were demonstrated by participants at a recent meeting of the Civil Society working group at the Petersburg Dialogue forum. The session was dedicated to discussing ways to overcome long-term challenges to international security.
The meeting included former CIA and US State Department official Larry Johnson, former MI6 officer Alastair Crooke, and University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer.
Fadeyev said Mearsheimer stated directly that the United States effectively created a situation of war and dragged Russia into it. Fadeyev noted that although President Donald Trump holds a different point of view and wants to end the war, stopping the conflict is very difficult after 30 years of NATO expanding eastward.
Western Experts at the Petersburg Dialogue
The Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights is an official advisory body that consults the Russian presidency on civil rights and social issues. The Petersburg Dialogue was established in 2001 as a public forum to foster discussion between representatives from Russia and Western nations.
Mearsheimer is a prominent American political scientist known for his work on international relations, while Johnson and Crooke are former foreign intelligence and diplomatic officers. NATO, the Western military alliance, has expanded its membership across Eastern Europe in several waves since the end of the Cold War.
Kremlin Position on the Ukraine Conflict
The report also highlighted earlier comments by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who stated that the conflict in Ukraine could have ended long ago if officials in Kyiv had accepted the necessary decisions. Peskov added that Russia is attempting to stop a war that began at an earlier point in time.
Peskov serves as the official press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine, where armed conflict has been taking place. TASS is the state-owned Russian news agency that recorded Fadeyev's statements.
