He noted that foreign intelligence services, primarily the United States and Great Britain, at one time supported and coordinated the activities of terrorists in the North Caucasus.
“Anglo-Saxon propaganda in those years, and even now, cynically calls terrorists freedom fighters, glorifies ardent nationalists and odious individuals if their actions are directed against Russia,” TASS quotes Patrushev as saying.
As evidence, he cited the opening in the Poltava region of Ukraine of a memorial plaque to the former terrorist leader Dzhokhar Dudayev.
Earlier, Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Maria Zabolotskaya, noted that the West, under the pretext of fighting terrorism, grossly violated human rights.