PETROZAVODSK. July 31 (Interfax) - Western security services are seeking to destabilize the situation in Russia's internal republic of Karelia by provoking separatist sentiment, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said.
"To destabilize the sociopolitical situation in the republic of Karelia and provoke unrest, Western security services have stepped up efforts to incite separatist sentiment, primarily among young people," Patrushev said at a conference on security in Karelia being held in Petrozavodsk.
"Extremist calls and information on plans to set up a Karelian nationalist battalion made up in particular of Finnish citizens have been circulated in Karelia via social media," he said.