A spokesman for Russia's Orthodox Church believes that his country has a mission in the world: to stop "the American project," according to comments carried by Russian media.
Russia has a history of stopping various "projects" through the centuries, spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin told an online conference, Interfax reported Thursday.
"It is no coincidence that we have often, at the price of our own lives … stopped all global projects that disagreed with our conscience, with our vision of history and, I would say, with God's own truth," he was quoted as saying.
"Such was Napoleon's project, such was Hitler's project. We will stop the American project too," Chaplin said.
Chaplin said that Russia will use its "ideological weapons" to combat Western ideas that are "running out of steam" because they "lack the drive, lack even a banner the population of Western nations could follow," according to the report.
Once this "project" has been gotten rid of, Russia may take its rightful, leading role in the world, according to Chaplin.
"Russia is the center, and maybe the only center, of the world … [Russia] has more grounds to be such a center than any European capital or the United States," he was quoted by Interfax as saying. "
His remarks echoed recent comments by President Vladimir Putin, who told his country in a speech last month that Russians are morally superior in their standoff with the West.
Amid a burgeoning economic crisis and Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's meddling in Ukraine, Putin also conceded that the country faces "difficult challenges" ahead.