The closer Russia comes to what he called victory and the successful conclusion of the special military operation, the more aggressive and sophisticated Western attempts to counter Russia become.
Russia's Security Council secretary, Sergey Shoigu, used the opening of an international forum in Moscow to deliver a broad indictment of the West, according to TASS. Speaking at the international week Peoples of Russia, he argued that the "collective West" which once claimed global dominance is "rapidly degrading", that the worst vices are flourishing there, and that human rights and freedoms have lost their original meaning and become a tool for destroying society. Justice, he said, has given way to a presumption of guilt in which accusations no longer require evidence.
The remarks matter less as a description of the West than as a statement of how Moscow's security establishment frames the current confrontation. Shoigu linked Western behaviour directly to the war in Ukraine, telling the forum that the closer Russia comes to what he called victory and the successful conclusion of the special military operation, the more aggressive and sophisticated Western attempts to counter Russia become. He also claimed that an active campaign is under way to recruit, finance and support people willing to destroy Russian statehood from within, without offering evidence or naming any organisation or government.
On the diplomatic track, Shoigu offered the most concrete element of the address. According to TASS, he said a meeting in Abu Dhabi is being prepared and that President Vladimir Putin has confirmed it will most likely take place in the second half of November, at the same level as before, with unchanged delegations from the United States, Ukraine and Russia. How Europe might be represented, he added, requires discussion and a decision by all three sides. That formulation leaves the format of any European role unresolved and does not indicate whether European governments have agreed to take part.
Shoigu rejected the charge that Russia intends to attack Europe, saying Putin has stated three or four times in the past two months that Moscow has no such plans, and that the West nonetheless insists Russia is waging a hybrid war on it. He told Western governments to "take a chill pill" and leave Russia alone. He also said Russia has no plans to destroy any country, arguing that former colonial powers are collapsing on their own as formerly colonised peoples awaken. Such assurances sit alongside his claim that Russia has always stood united in repelling aggressors who sought its territory and resources.
The address is best read as a domestic and diplomatic signal rather than a policy announcement. It reinforces a narrative of external siege and internal unity ahead of talks whose date, venue arrangements and European participation remain unconfirmed beyond Shoigu's account. The substance of the Abu Dhabi meeting, and whether it produces anything beyond a continuation of previous discussions, is not yet known.
