Several countries are currently using Russophobia as a tool against Russia’s independent foreign policy, Russian Federation Council (upper house) Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said during the second Moscow International Conference on combating anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia "Protecting Future".

"Today, we are facing increasing Russophobia, which is used by certain forces in the West and some other countries as a tool to stifle Russia’s development and to counter independent foreign policy - the policy aimed at forming a multipolar world," she said, expanding on the topic of an alleged Russian threat.

In her speech, the speaker noted that "currently, many countries carry out an open policy of hostility, even hatred for representatives of other nations. Nazi criminals and their accomplices are seen as heroes." "The current Ukrainian officials are the ones who have been most successful in this regard, who basically presented this ideology as an official policy," Matviyenko stated.

The speaker added that Ukraine is not the only country where this takes place. "Zones of ethnic segregation and apartheid have virtually been established in the center of Europe. I am talking about granting about 300 thousand Russian-speaking residents of Latvia and Estonia the status of "non-citizens". Not only these people cannot participate in politics, they even have several limited rights," she concluded.