This is not the first time that the US leadership has been talking about the strategic decline of Russia, Elena Panina, a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told RIA Novosti, commenting on the speech of the head of the US Chief of Staff Mark Milli.
Earlier, General Milli called the Russian Federation a great power with very strong troops. However, in his opinion, in the broadest strategic sense, Russia is in a state of “decline.”
As Panina noted, this is not the first time that statements about Russia’s “strategic decline” have appeared in the rhetoric of the American leadership.
“This testifies to the desire to create a certain image of reality, which is moderated by the United States. If Washington imposed sanctions on someone, it means that this country is in a” strategic decline “and it cannot be otherwise. If facts contradict this, so much the worse for the facts,” – said Panina.
At the same time, the deputy stressed, Milli’s statements are “a step forward” in comparison, for example, with Barack Obama’s statements about Russia’s economy “torn to shreds”.
“If earlier the West counted on suppressing Russia in the short term, now this goal is relegated to the distant future,” she added.
According to Panina, once in the USSR, propagandists lectured on “decaying capitalism in the West,” which at first formed certain expectations, and then led to disappointment in such forecasts.
“Something similar, perhaps, awaits the United States. Underestimation of an opponent never leads to anything good,” Panina stated.