MOSCOW. Feb 11 (Interfax) - Faced with new threats, Russia has been improving its military organization system and bolstering its defensive capabilities, says Nikolai Patrushev, Russia's Security Council Secretary.
"In the current difficult environment where the U.S. and its allies have embarked upon the path of confrontation with the Russian Federation, it will be no harm to remind (them) of the lessons of history again and again," he said in an interview to be published in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Wednesday.
"Russia is a sovereign state which makes choices on its own and can stand up for its interests," he said
"The Russian Security Council constantly pays attention to improvement of its military-organization system and daily bolstering of our country's defensive capabilities," Patrushev said.
"Russia has always taken pride in its army and navy. In difficult times, the whole nation would come to their aid by mobilizing forces to defend the Fatherland. This is exactly why no one has been able to conquer Russia, neither Napoleon, nor Hitler, though each of them was considered a conqueror of Europe," he said.
"The victory in the Great Patriotic War was also a victory of the whole Soviet nation and primarily the Russian people who shouldered most of the hardships of the war. We will never forget this and won't let others," Patrushev said.