MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - The presence of United States military forces in Europe prompts Russia to respond to these threats, which imposes extra financial and economic costs on it, Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Mikhail Popov said.
"As it has no choice but to respond to these threats, this imposes financial and material costs on Russia, which we might have otherwise allotted for our country's continued development. Hence the presence of U.S. forces and its aggressive policy causes certain financial-economic damage to Russia," Popov said in an interview published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
The main goal of the deployment of U.S. troops in Europe is "to create a permanent threat to our country," he said.
"The current anti-Russian hysteria is aimed not only at constraining our country's economic development. Washington attaches priority to its desire to financially engage European partners in its costly military projects and force on them its military industry and oil and gas industry products," he said.
"I'd remind you in this context that, if war is a continuation of politics through military means, then politics is a concentrated expression of economy," Popov said.