Putin Recognizes Donbass Republics, Sends Russian Military to 'Denazify' Ukraine

I forgot to mention an important thing Lavrov mentioned in the above part. He mentions Palestine while recounting that Telegram post and thereby essentially putting what is happening there on par with what happened to Donbas and Ukraine (at least) over the last 8 years and now. He says, „imagine Ukraine is Palestine“. I think it is very likely that Lavrov and co. know what is really going on in the Israel-Palestine conflict. What’s new though is that they would openly talk about it in those terms. Interesting. One could say that it slipped out of Lavrov accidentally, but I would give that a low probability considering Lavrov’s superb abilities in diplomacy. But notice that it is still a layer removed from „Lavrov/Putin/Russia saying it“ since Lavrov just recounts what a Telegram post says while not putting any qualification on it other than saying it is „interesting“. He can plausibly deny that he (and thus Russia) thinks something like that is the case in Palestine. Very clever, Lavrov!

It really looks like it was no coincidence that Lavrov said what he said above. It seems to me that Lavrov and Co. are slowly but surely also addressing the elephant in the room, which is Israel. Lavrov just made things more explicit and thereby revealing that he and probably others in the government are quite well-read. Robert G. L. Waite in the book "The Psychopathic God: Adolph Hitler" makes a good (although not solid) case for Hitler having had Jewish blood. So I think that might really be the case. Israel responded not so nicely:



- Israel slams Russia's foreign minister for comparing Zelenskyy to Hitler


Here is what Lavrov actually said:

Sergey Lavrov: It makes no difference to me what President Vladimir Zelensky refutes or does not refute. He is as fickle as the wind, as they say. He can change his position several times a day.

I heard him say that they would not even discuss demilitarisation and denazification during peace talks. First, they are torpedoing the talks just as they did the Minsk agreements for eight years. Second, there is nazification there: the captured militants as well as members of the Azov and Aidar battalions and other units wear swastikas or symbols of Nazi Waffen-SS battalions on their clothes or have them tattooed on their bodies; they openly read and promote Mein Kampf. His argument is: How can there be Nazism in Ukraine if he is a Jew? I may be mistaken but Adolf Hitler had Jewish blood, too. This means absolutely nothing. The wise Jewish people say that the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews. “Every family has its black sheep,” as we say.

As for Azov, there is evidence being published now confirming that the Americans and especially the Canadians played a leading role in training the ultra-radical and clearly neo-Nazi units in Ukraine. During all these years, the goal was to insert neo-Nazis into the regular Ukrainian troops. Thus, the Azov fighters would play a leading role in every unit (battalion or regiment). I read such reports in Western media. The fact that the Azov battalion is clearly a neo-Nazi unit was recognised by the West without any hesitation until the situation in early 2022, when they began to change their minds as if on cue. Japan even apologised to Azov recently for having listed it as a terrorist organisation a few years ago because of its neo-Nazi ideology.

Journalists (from some Western media outlet) interviewed Vladimir Zelensky and asked him what he thought about Azov and the ideas that Azov preaches and puts into practice. He said there were many such battalions and “they are what they are.” I would like to emphasise that this phrase – “they are what they are” – was cut out by the journalist and it was not included in the interview that was aired. This means the journalist understands what this person says and thinks. He thinks about how the neo-Nazis can be used to fight Russia.

Here is the full transcript:

1 May 2022 22:30

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Mediaset, Italian television network, Moscow, May 1, 2022​

952-01-05-2022

Question: After your statement about the possibility of a nuclear war, of the third world war, the whole world is asking: is there a real risk of that happening?

Sergey Lavrov: It looks like by the whole world you mean Western media and politicians. This is not the first time I note how skillfully the West twists what Russia’s representatives say. I was asked about the threats that are currently growing and about how real the risk of the third world war is. I answered literally the following: Russia has never ceased its efforts to reach agreements that would guarantee the prevention of a nuclear war. In recent years, it was Russia who has persistently proposed to its American colleagues that we repeat what Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan did in 1987: adopt a statement reaffirming that there can be no winners in a nuclear war, and therefore it must never be unleashed.

We failed to convince the Trump Administration, because it had its own ideas on this issue. However, the Biden Administration agreed to our proposal. In June 2021, at a meeting between President of Russia Vladimir Putin and US President Joseph Biden in Geneva a statement was adopted on the inadmissibility of a nuclear war. Let me stress: this was done at our initiative.

In January 2022, five permanent members of the UN Security Council adopted a similar statement at the highest level, also at our initiative: there can be no winners in a nuclear war. It must never be unleashed. In order to achieve this goal, President Vladimir Putin proposed convening a summit of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. This proposal was supported by our Chinese colleagues and France. The United States and the United Kingdom, which always defers to it, are holding back this important event for the time being.

After I said this, I urged everyone to exercise utmost caution not to escalate the existing threats. I was referring to the statement made by President Vladimir Zelensky in February that it had been a mistake for Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons and it was necessary to acquire them again. There was also a statement made by the leadership of Poland about their readiness to deploy American nuclear weapons on their territory, and much more.

Somehow there were no questions from the media about the statements made by Vladimir Zelensky and Poland. Or after the statement by Foreign Minister of France Jean-Yves Le Drian, who said suddenly: Let us not forget that France also has nuclear weapons. This is what I was talking about. When Western journalists take words out of context and distort the meaning of what I or other Russian representatives actually said, this does them no credit.

Question: Several days ago, President Vladimir Putin said Russia had “unparalleled weapons.” What did he mean?

Sergey Lavrov: Everyone knows this well. Three years ago, during his Address to the Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin presented the latest Russian innovations. First of all, these included hypersonic weapons. He gave a frank and detailed explanation that Russia began developing them after the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Back then President George W. Bush, answering the question why his country was destroying this essential document, which ensured global stability to a large extent, told President Vladimir Putin they were going to withdraw from the treaty to create an anti-missile system that would not be aimed against Russia. He said they were concerned about North Korea and Iran, and “you can do whatever you want in response.” They will also consider this as not aimed against the United States.

We had no choice but to work on hypersonic weapons because we knew perfectly well that the US missile defence system would not be aimed at North Korea and Iran but against Russia and then China. We needed weapons that were guaranteed to overpower missile defences. Otherwise, a country that has missile defence systems and offensive weapons may be tempted to launch the first strike thinking that a response will be suppressed by its missile defence systems.

This is how we developed these weapons. They are described in detail in specialised publications. We don’t hide that we have them. We were even ready to hold talks with the US on including a discussion on the new systems that have already been developed or will be developed in the future in the treaty on strategic stability that would replace the current New START. Today the Americans have suspended all these talks. We will rely on our own resources.

Question: When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting Kiev, the city was hit by missile strikes. What would you say in response to Western media and President Vladimir Zelensky who regard these strikes as a provocation against the UN?

Sergey Lavrov: We gave constant warnings. When he announced the launch of the special military operation, President Vladimir Putin said it will be aimed against the military infrastructure in Ukraine used to oppress civilians in the east of the country and create a threat to the security of Russia. They know very well that we are attacking military targets in order to deprive the Ukrainian radicals and the Kiev regime of the opportunity to receive reinforcements in the form of weapons and ammunition.

On the other hand, I have not heard President Vladimir Zelensky say a word about a situation that is in no way related to either a military plant (whatever it is called) or any other military facilities. I mean the Tochka-U missile strikes at the centre of Donetsk over the recent weeks, or the civil railway station in Kramatorsk and several other places, including Kherson (just the day before yesterday). The reason for these strikes was clearly to terrorise civilians and prevent the people living in these regions from deciding their fate. The majority of people there are tired from the oppression they have been suffering all these years from the Kiev regime, which is increasingly becoming a tool in the hands of neo-Nazis, the United States and its closest allies.

Those who came to power after a bloody unconstitutional coup launched a war against their own people and against everything Russian, banning the Russian language, education, and media. They adopted laws promoting Nazi theories and practice. We have warned them. All our warnings met a wall of silence. As we understand now, back then the West led by the United States already intended to encourage the Ukrainian leaders (Petr Poroshenko and Vladimir Zelensky, who came after him) in every possible way in their desire to create threats for Russia.

Our warnings issued in November and December 2021 about the need to stop NATO’s reckless expansion to the east and agree on security guarantees that that will not be related to the accession of new countries to the military-political bloc were rejected. I would even say the answer we received was not very polite: “It’s none of your business,” “we will expand NATO as we wish,” and “we won’t ask for your permission.”

At the same time, the Ukrainian regime gathered about 100,000 troops along the conflict line with Donbass and intensified strikes thus violating the Minsk agreements and the ceasefire. We had no choice but to recognise these two republics, sign an agreement on mutual assistance with them and, upon their request, defend them from the militarists and Nazis who are flourishing in today’s Ukraine.

Question: This is how you see it, while Vladimir Zelensky puts it differently. He believes denazification doesn’t make any sense. He is a Jew. The Nazis, Azov – there are very few of them (several thousand). Vladimir Zelensky refutes your view of the situation. Do you believe Vladimir Zelensky is an obstacle to peace?

Sergey Lavrov: It makes no difference to me what President Vladimir Zelensky refutes or does not refute. He is as fickle as the wind, as they say. He can change his position several times a day.

I heard him say that they would not even discuss demilitarisation and denazification during peace talks. First, they are torpedoing the talks just as they did the Minsk agreements for eight years. Second, there is nazification there: the captured militants as well as members of the Azov and Aidar battalions and other units wear swastikas or symbols of Nazi Waffen-SS battalions on their clothes or have them tattooed on their bodies; they openly read and promote Mein Kampf. His argument is: How can there be Nazism in Ukraine if he is a Jew? I may be mistaken but Adolf Hitler had Jewish blood, too. This means absolutely nothing. The wise Jewish people say that the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews. “Every family has its black sheep,” as we say.

As for Azov, there is evidence being published now confirming that the Americans and especially the Canadians played a leading role in training the ultra-radical and clearly neo-Nazi units in Ukraine. During all these years, the goal was to insert neo-Nazis into the regular Ukrainian troops. Thus, the Azov fighters would play a leading role in every unit (battalion or regiment). I read such reports in Western media. The fact that the Azov battalion is clearly a neo-Nazi unit was recognised by the West without any hesitation until the situation in early 2022, when they began to change their minds as if on cue. Japan even apologised to Azov recently for having listed it as a terrorist organisation a few years ago because of its neo-Nazi ideology.

Journalists (from some Western media outlet) interviewed Vladimir Zelensky and asked him what he thought about Azov and the ideas that Azov preaches and puts into practice. He said there were many such battalions and “they are what they are.” I would like to emphasise that this phrase – “they are what they are” – was cut out by the journalist and it was not included in the interview that was aired. This means the journalist understands what this person says and thinks. He thinks about how the neo-Nazis can be used to fight Russia.

Question: There are several thousand or perhaps tens of thousands of neo-Nazi militants. Can their presence excuse the denazification of a country with the population of 40 million? There are such battalions as the Wagner Group, who also draw inspiration from neo-Nazi ideas, serving with the Russian troops.

Sergey Lavrov: We have discussed the Wagner Group a number of times with those who are interested in this topic. Wagner is a private military company that has nothing to do with the Russian state. We explained this to our French colleagues, too; they started to get nervous when the Wagner Group agreed with the Mali government to provide security services. Back in September 2021, my esteemed colleague Jean-Yves Le Drian, as well as Josep Borrell, said directly that Russia had no business in Africa, neither as a state nor with private military companies because Africa is the EU and France’s zone. This is what they said to me almost word for word.

We also explained the situation in Libya, whose authorities invited this private military company to the city of Tobruk, where the Libyan parliament is situated. Italy knows the Libyan situation very well. They are there on commercial terms, like in Mali. There is nothing like that in Ukraine, which has a huge number of mercenaries from Western countries. I believe the talk about the Wagner Group’s presence in Ukraine is nothing but a trick to distract attention from what our Western colleagues are doing. The situation around the confrontation at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, as well as the stubborn, even hysterical desire of Vladimir Zelensky, his team and their Western patrons to evacuate all these people and send them to Ukraine can be explained by the fact that there are many people there who would confirm that there are mercenaries and maybe even acting officers of Western armies on the side of the Ukrainian radicals.

You have asked whether the elimination of several dozen (even thousand) Nazis’ influence is worth putting a country with a population of 40 million at risk. This question is not entirely correct. It is a matter of Russia’s fundamental security interests. We have been talking about it for several decades. Long before the coup, the West came to Ukraine (this was 20 years ago) and began to tell them that on the eve of each election they must decide whose side they are on: Europe’s or Russia’s. Later they started encouraging the initiatives that the Ukrainian leadership promoted to be as unlike the Russian Federation as possible. I have mentioned the persecution of the Russian language and the Russian media, the shutdown of Russian-language television channels, the ban on the sale of any printed products in Russian (both from Russia and those published in Ukraine), the Russian Orthodox Church, which is a sacred institution in our state and society, and the adoption of laws to promote Nazi theories and practice. These laws are not adopted for several tens of thousands of militants in radical battalions, but for the whole country.

Western Ukraine stopped celebrating the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. It happened a long time ago. The latest developments have nothing to do with it. They started destroying monuments to those who liberated Ukraine from the Nazis when they started celebrating the birthdays of those who collaborated with Hitler as national holidays (Shukhevich, Bandera and others, Waffen-SS fighters). They started to celebrate as a national holiday the day when the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was created, which was found guilty of collaborating with the Nazis at the Nuremberg Tribunal. This did not happen in the last two or three months but started many years ago. Even before the coup.

The coup took place the day after the French and Polish foreign ministers guaranteed a peaceful settlement in February 2014. The following morning, when the opposition overthrew the government, declared a hunt for the president and occupied the administrative building, we asked them why they could not use the power, the influence and authority of the EU to force the opposition to cooperate. The answer was incomprehensible: Viktor Yanukovych had left Kiev. Many people left their capitals. That same year, in 2014, there was a coup in Yemen. President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi also left the capital. The difference was that Viktor Yanukovych left Kiev for another city [in Ukraine], while Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia. Since that time and until recently, for eight long years, the entire progressive humanity headed by our European liberals demanded that President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi return as the legitimate leader of Yemen. But in Ukraine, when the President went to another city, there was no need to do anything anymore. We noted that the first statement made by those who staged the coup was about abolishing the regional status of the Russian language. They called on armed militants (also ultra-radicals) to storm the Supreme Council of Crimea. This is how it all began. Nobody wants to remember this now. The EU was humiliated by the thugs who seized power in Kiev following the coup just as the EU is now humiliated by its failure to enforce its decision to create a community of Serbian municipalities in Kosovo. With the EU’s mediation, Pristina and Belgrade agreed on this back in 2013, but the EU has shown its incompetence once again.

Question: What do you think Italy’s role is now?

Sergey Lavrov: Italy is at the forefront of those who not only adopt anti-Russian sanctions, but also put forward all sorts of initiatives. It was really strange for me to see it, but now we have become accustomed to the fact that Italy can be like that. I thought Italy and the Italian people have a slightly different view of their history and justice in the world, that they can tell the difference between black and white. I don’t want to be inaccurate, but in any case some statements made by politicians, not to mention articles in the media, go beyond all diplomatic and political propriety and far beyond journalistic ethics.

Question: Could you tell us what and who you are referring to?

Sergey Lavrov: Our embassy has sent us such materials and even filed a lawsuit because there was a violation of Italian law. I don’t want to go into detail now or repeat the nasty things that are being discussed. At least I don’t associate it with the Italian people, for whom I have the warmest feelings.

Question: Let us talk about the role of the United States. Joe Biden continues to openly support Ukraine, supply it with money and weapons; he says that there is an aggressor and Ukraine is under attack.

Sergey Lavrov: I have read a lot of things in the American and European media about the connections between Joe Biden’s family and Ukraine, so his attention to the current situation comes as no surprise. However, in addition to his personal interest, I cannot rule out that it is also about the fact that Washington is aware of the failure of its long-term strategy to turn Ukraine into a real threat to the Russian Federation and to make sure that Ukraine and Russia are not united and relations between them are not friendly.

In fact, this is not just about Joe Biden. When the Soviet Union broke up, the entire American elite was guided by the “legacy” of Zbigniew Brzezinski, who said Russia without Ukraine is just a regional power, nothing serious. They were guided by this logic when they pumped Ukraine with offensive weapons, encouraging its militarisation with a clear anti-Russia slant in every possible way, and drawing it into dozens of annual military exercises under the auspices of NATO. Many of those exercises were held in Ukraine. In 90 percent of cases, they were directed against Russia. We can also see now that the United States wants to bring its “anti-Russia” project (as President Vladimir Putin said) to a conclusion. We are increasingly hearing statements that “Russia must be defeated,” “we must defeat Russia,” “Ukraine must win,” and “Russia must lose.”

We agreed to the talks at the request of Vladimir Zelensky, and they started to gain momentum. In March, agreements were outlined at a negotiators’ meeting in Istanbul, based on what Vladimir Zelensky said publicly. He said Ukraine was ready to become a neutral, non-bloc, non-nuclear country if it is provided with security guarantees. We were ready to work on this foundation given the understanding that the agreement would envisage that the security guarantees do not apply to Crimea and Donbass, as the Ukrainians had themselves suggested. Immediately after this proposal of theirs, which they signed and handed over to us, they changed their position. Now they are trying to hold talks in a different way. In particular, they want to receive security guarantees from the West first, although initially these guarantees should have been agreed upon by everyone together, including Russia.

When Vladimir Zelensky said he was ready for Ukraine’s neutral non-bloc status, he made a serious step forward, which we welcomed. However, after that, his ministers and the Parliament speaker of Ukraine started saying that they should receive security guarantees but the goal of joining NATO (as stated in their constitution) will remain. Now NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the British started saying that if the Ukrainians want to preserve this goal, they have the right to do so. This is what I am talking about.

Now even NATO does not suit the Americans. They didn’t hold their last meetings within the framework of NATO (a meeting on support for Ukraine), but simply gathered delegations, because NATO decisions are made by consensus, and they need to decide on all issues quickly and single-handedly.

Question: Perhaps their behaviour was affected by what happened in Mariupol and Bucha. In both cases, you spoke about a staged production, a performance. But, for example, a few days ago CNN broadcast a video recorded by a drone on March 13, which shows that there were Russian troops on those streets with the bodies. Could this have caused a change in their approach? Where is the truth regarding these war crimes?

Sergey Lavrov: There is only one truth here. On March 30, Russian troops left Bucha. The following day, on March 31, Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk proclaimed victory in front of television cameras saying that the city had returned to normal life. Only three days later they began to show photographs of these bodies. I don’t even want to go into detail, because it is so obviously fake that any serious observer can see it at a glance.

I don’t know what affected the US. When the US declares solemnly and dramatically that it is impossible to endure “all this,” no one remembers how the US decided that there was a threat to its security 10,000 kilometres away from its borders: in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, or Yugoslavia in 1999. No one has any doubt that the US has the right to neutralise those made-up threats (like in Iraq, where it turned out to be fake) in any way it likes.

We warned many times over the years that they are posing a threat to the Russian borders, that this is a red line; we have been saying it for many years. They just nodded. But now I believe they thought the world should only listen to the US, because NATO and the entire European Union accepted that their master sits in Washington. And Washington decided that the world should be unipolar. If you read the statements made by their Secretary of the Treasury, for example, they say so directly.

Question: Several days ago, your Ministry published a photo of your predecessor, Andrey Gromyko, meeting with Pope Paul VI. Is this a call for Pope Francis to act as mediator?

Sergey Lavrov: I think it was simply the anniversary of their meeting. The Foreign Ministry is posting photos of events from 20, 30, or 40 years ago on its social media accounts.

Question: Who can bring peace? Is there such a person, institute, or country? President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and President of France Emmanuel Macron, and Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi have tried. Who can get a peace process started that will result in Russia, the West and Ukraine signing a treaty?

Sergey Lavrov: It is a good question, but long overdue. All problems could have been solved peacefully by Petr Poroshenko who was elected in 2014 under the slogan “Peace in Donbass.” Then he started the war. It could have been solved by Vladimir Zelensky. During his election campaign, he presented himself as the “president of peace.” In December 2019, he promised to fulfill the Minsk agreements and adopt a law granting a special status to Donbass within the unbroken territorial integrity of Ukraine. He had every chance. All the cards and even the trump cards were in his hands.

Vladimir Zelensky chose to say publically and arrogantly that he will never abide by the Minsk agreements because allegedly this would mean the fall of the Ukrainian nation and state. Everyone who drafted and approved the Minsk agreements at the UN Security Council kept silent. They said that he could stop implementing them if he wanted but Russia should continue to. That’s who could have brought peace.

Vladimir Zelensky can also bring peace now if he stops giving illegal orders to his neo-Nazi battalions and makes them release all civilians and stop resisting.

Question: Do you want Vladimir Zelensky to surrender? Is this the condition for peace?

Sergey Lavrov: We are not demanding that he surrender. We are demanding that he give the order to release all civilians and to stop resisting. Our goal does not include regime change in Ukraine. This is the specialty of the US. They do it all over the world.

We want to ensure the safety of people in eastern Ukraine, so that they won’t be threatened by militarisation and nazification and that no threats against the Russian Federation emanate from Ukrainian territory.

Question: Italy is concerned that Russia is suspending gas supplies. What is going on?

Sergey Lavrov: A simple thing that all the critics of our actions and everyone who condemns us these days do not want to talk about for some reason. Money was stolen from us (over $300 billion). Just stolen. A large part of the sum was payment for gas and oil supplies. It was only possible because Gazprom had to keep money in accounts in Western banks (according to your rules). They wanted to punish Russia, so they stole it.

Now they suggest we continue trading as before, and the money remains in their accounts. They will steal it again when they want to. This is the reason. Somehow no one talks about it. What happened to honest journalism?

What we are now proposing is that supplies should be considered paid for not when Gazprombank receives euros or dollars but when they are converted into roubles, which cannot be stolen. That’s the entire story. Our partners know this very well. Note that nothing changes for the buyers. They still pay the sums specified in the contract in euros and dollars. It is converted after that.

We have no right to let our own people down and allow the West to keep up its thieving ways.

Question: There is a lot of speculation in the West about President Vladimir Putin’s health.

Sergey Lavrov: Please ask foreign leaders who have talked with President Putin recently, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. I think you will see what I mean.

Question: May 9 is nearing. You will be celebrating the liberation from Nazism in 1945. Moscow is holding a parade. What will happen by this time? Is the end of the “war” near?

Sergey Lavrov: There was a tradition in the Soviet Union, to do something big and loud for some holiday. Our actions in Ukraine are focused solely on the objectives I have mentioned. They were set forth by President of Russia Vladimir Putin: to protect civilians and ensure their safety, and neutralise threats to them and to Russia related to offensive weapons and nazification, which the West is trying hard to downplay.

I have seen reports on NBC and read the American magazine National Interest. Serious articles are beginning to appear there, warning and cautioning against flirting with the Nazis like in 1935-1938.

Question: Will the conflict end by May 9? Is there any reason to hope it will?

Sergey Lavrov: Our servicemen will not artificially time their actions to any date, including Victory Day.

We will solemnly observe May 9, like we always do. We will remember everyone who died to liberate Russia and other former USSR republics, to liberate Europe from the Nazi plague.

The pace of the operation in Ukraine depends first of all on the need to minimise risks for civilians and Russian military personnel.
 
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Maria Zaharova wrote an eloquent and very true post:



"Read. These are statements by the Foreign Ministry, comments and briefings by the official representative on the tragedy in Odessa.

The Foreign Ministry has been talking about it year after year. It's all published on the Ministry's website, it was shown on the news programs of federal channels.

And now I have a question: who among those who have gone on vacation now because of extreme fright, even once, even a glimpse of it in their programs, Telegram channels and Instagram accounts?

Angelina Jolie went to Lviv. To empathize. No one believes in her sincerity.

And who of our media personalities, socialites and public figures of all stripes even mentioned Odessa? Or can't you get any advertising money for that?"


Look, how interesting it turns out: they did not notice the tragedy in Odessa, but they immediately understood the situation around Bucha. Here I also do not believe in their sincerity. I believe that without money their "true patriotism" cannot be shaken up, and when the Fatherland, without demanding anything from them, simply expects decent behavior, they are frightened stinkingly. "


 
Vladimir Putin: I would like to emphasize once again that if someone intends to intervene in the ongoing events from the outside and creates strategic threats for Russia that are unacceptable to us, they should know that our retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast and fast. We have all the tools for this. The kind that no one else can boast of right now. And we won't brag. We will use them if needed. And I want everyone to know about it - we have made all the decisions on this matter!
As speculated earlier, I think Putin makes it clear with that statement that they will use the new hypersonic weapons not only in Ukraine but also if NATO is really so foolish to put weapon systems up in places like finland. And they have every right to do so.

I think we can prepare for such a szenario should the west really be that reckless. They’ll probably hit those weapons Systems and the west will puff and bluff afterwards but won’t take on Russia directly in a WW3 scenario. They can’t do anything about it.
Back in January in another thread I wrote this:
I saw this mentioned the other day:
The US-led NATO military bloc has reverted to full Cold War strategy of “containment” towards Russia and seeks “full spectrum dominance,” Moscow's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told reporters on Wednesday.

The diplomat added that Moscow believes NATO’s behavior is creating a “unacceptable” threat to Russia that it will have to counter.
I don't know how fast or how Russia will go about doing so, but I think they will target this "full spectrum dominance" aspect. I wouldn't be surprised if and when things kick off that it is lightning fast and coordinated actions against many aspects of the spectrum. And there may be a systematic plan to go after aspects of all of it, possibly with short breaks to see what kind of response happens in return.

Also, I figure both sides think they know the weaknesses of the other and will try to exploit them.
I haven't kept up with all of the capabilities that Russia has, but I'd imagine it includes much more than the hypersonic weapons, such as things to handle space based objectives and electronic warfare, and if Russia is pushed to act as Putin describes, then I don't think they are going to hold back with any capability they have, since if the decisions are made to move forward and act at some point, then there is more danger to them from retaliations, etc if they hold back...
Well, one things for sure: it's gonna be interesting!!
It does look like it will be getting interesting... It is almost like we are in the phase where a car wreck is about to happen and everything is about to go into slow motion with nothing to be done but to try to avoid any fallout from the wreck, if possible.
 
Just came across this very interesting bit of information.

Want to contact CIA from Russia? Agency points to darknet​

The CIA says Russians disaffected by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine may be trying to get in touch with U.S. intelligence — and it wants them to go to the darknet.

The agency on Monday began a new push to promote its presence on a part of the internet accessible only through specialized tools that provide more anonymity. The CIA has a darknet site that has the same features as its regular homepage but accessible only through the Tor internet browser, which has encryption features not available on most regular browsers.

Instructions in English and Russian on how to access the darknet site appeared Monday on the CIA’s social media channels. The agency hopes Russians living abroad can share the instructions with contacts inside the country.

While many Russians appear to support what the Kremlin officially calls a “special military operation,” longtime Russia watchers think Putin’s management of the war may push away some powerful people who disagree with him. Even with immense capabilities to capture communications and satellite imagery, it remains critical for Western intelligence agencies to recruit human sources who can offer insight into the Kremlin and conditions inside Russia.

“Our global mission demands that individuals can contact us securely from anywhere,” the agency said in a statement.

A CIA official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters says the agency knows “there are concerned Russians who are desperately trying to reach CIA.” The official declined to say how many people had tried to reach out since the war began.

“It’s not safe to directly engage Americans physically or virtually” in Russia, the official said. “For those people that want to engage with us securely, this is the way to do it.”

Launched in 2019, the CIA’s darknet site is accessible through the Tor browser. Tor, short for “The Onion Router,” routes internet traffic through multiple third parties to mask a user’s identity and destination. After downloading the Tor browser, the user typically inputs a long string of characters followed by “.onion.”

Using Tor strips away cookies and many other means of tracking the typical internet user. And while no form of communication is completely secure at all times, intelligence officers say a potential tipster will be better protected on the darknet from Russian snooping.

Tor was originally created with support from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and run by a nonprofit since 2006. It has long been used by those seeking extra privacy: dissidents in authoritarian countries and people seeking to circumvent firewalls and censors, law enforcement and intelligence officers, and journalists including at The Associated Press, which operates its own tips drop box on Tor. It can be used by anyone seeking extra privacy. It has also been exploited by criminals.

Russians have long had to find ways to circumvent government blocks on the internet. In response to the Kremlin’s crackdown since the war began, some media outlets and Twitter have promoted usage of their own “.onion” sites or the use of virtual private network software.

While officials would not disclose specifics, U.S. intelligence can be safely assumed to be working inside Russia. Calling attention to the darknet site now promotes to prospective contacts that the CIA is paying attention to their safety, said Mark Kelton, who retired from the CIA in 2015 after serving as chief of counterintelligence.

“When people decide to reach out, they’re very well aware of what they’re doing and what the risks are,” Kelton said. “The issue here is to reassure them that on the other end, there are people concerned with protecting them.”

Watershed events like the fall of the Berlin Wall have often presented recruiting opportunities for intelligence services in both Washington and Moscow. Putin’s war in Ukraine and its spiraling consequences for Russia — thousands of soldiers killed, sanctions that have crippled the Russian economy, and a failure to meet basic military aims while images of apparent war crimes spread worldwide — could become another of those inflection points, some observers believe.

Two well-respected Russian journalists, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, wrote in a recent piece that the war failures have provoked “a vicious blame game” inside Russia’s security establishment, known generally as the “siloviki.” Russia’s military blames Putin for requiring a “new and curtailed strategy” that it believes has tied its hands against the Western-backed Ukrainian forces, Soldatov and Borogan wrote.

Some of the “siloviki” who refused to take the journalists’ calls when the war began are speaking up more now.

“This is the very first time the siloviki are putting distance between themselves and the president. Which opens up all sorts of possibilities,” they wrote.

Personal ideology or disappointment in Putin’s regime are more likely drivers of someone turning to spy against Russia than any financial rewards they might receive, Kelton said.

“Crisis is always a good time for espionage,” he said. “People in autocratic societies often are content to go along until they’re confronted with the moral and political necessity to make a choice. That historically has been a ripe opportunity for people to reach out to the United States.”

So, the CIA is now openly talking about foreign intervention and subversion. Talk about a moment when the masks falls off.
 
It really looks like it was no coincidence that Lavrov said what he said above. It seems to me that Lavrov and Co. are slowly but surely also addressing the elephant in the room, which is Israel. Lavrov just made things more explicit and thereby revealing that he and probably others in the government are quite well-read. Robert G. L. Waite in the book "The Psychopathic God: Adolph Hitler" makes a good (although not solid) case for Hitler having had Jewish blood. So I think that might really be the case. Israel responded not so nicely:

How zealously they guard their own construction called the Holocaust. A long time ago, back in my youth, when I started studying history, I had simple questions to which there were no simple answers at that time. Without belittling the tragedy of the Jewish people and without denying the Holocaust as such, I have a question - why do we have a holocaust that is overblown to the whole world, but we have nothing like this in relation to Belarusians, who suffered the most in relative numbers (every third was destroyed), nor to the Chinese, who suffered the most in absolute numbers (the Japanese destroyed them on a much more "industrial" scale than the Germans destroyed the Jews). Where is justice? The answer lies in the fact that justice has nothing to do with it at all, but a kind of "humanistic" construction called the Holocaust is purely political and its authors extract from its use all possible political "buns" around the world. Now, having promoted their political construction all over the world, they jealously guard it and make strict remarks so that no one (in this case, Lavrov) dares to use their construction for their political purposes. A claim to exclusivity and nothing more.

Как ревностно они охраняют собственную конструкцию под названием холокост. Давным давно, еще в моей юности, тока начав изучать историю у меня возникли простые вопросы на которые тогда простых ответов не было. Не умаляя трагедии еврейского народа и не отрицая холокоста как такового, у меня возник вопрос- почему мы имеем раздутый на весь мир холокост, но не имеем ничего подобного по отношению ни к белорусам, которые пострадали больше всех в относительных цифрах (каждый третий был уничтожен), ни к китайцам, которые пострадали больше всех в абсолютных цифрах (японцы уничтожали их в гораздо более "промышленных" масштабах, чем немцы евреев). Где справедливость? Ответ заключается в том, что справедливость тут вовсе ни при чем, а как бы "гуманистическая" конструкция под названием холокост, является чисто политической и авторы ее извлекают из ее использования все возможные политические "плюшки" по всему миру. Теперь продвинув свою политическую конструкцию во всем мире, они ее ревностно охраняют и делают строгие замечания, чтоб никто ( в данном случае Лавров) не смел использовать их конструкцию в своих политических целях. Претензия на исключительность и ничего более.
 
'Scapegoat: Ukraine is trying to drag Hungary into the conflict.'
'An attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all of its members.'

Ukraine claims Hungary wants its territory

2 May, 2022
[...]
Hungary “thought it could take part of the territory,” Danilov added. “This will never happen. Victory will definitely be ours. And about Hungary, which behaved this way, we will see what the consequences will be for this country.
Article in full:

Ukraine claims Hungary wants its territory​

A top Kiev official claims Hungary was informed of the Russian attack in advance and wants to take Ukrainian territory

Budapest was informed of the Russian attack in advance and hoped to seize a part of Ukraine’s territory for itself, a top official of the government in Kiev claimed on Monday, adding there will be “consequences” for Hungary. This statement comes after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was added to the database listing enemies of the Ukrainian state.

Hungary “openly talks about its cooperation with Russia. More than that, it was given early warning by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that our country would be attacked,” Alexey Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), said during a media appearance on Monday. He was answering if Hungary could block Ukraine’s admission to NATO.

Hungary “thought it could take part of the territory,” Danilov added. “This will never happen. Victory will definitely be ours. And about Hungary, which behaved this way, we will see what the consequences will be for this country.”

This was presumably a reference to Transcarpathia – a region in western Ukraine with some 150,000 ethnic Hungarian inhabitants – that had been a matter of dispute between Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Soviet Union over the course of the 20th century.

Earlier on Monday, it emerged that Hungary’s recently re-elected PM was added to Mirotvorets, (‘Peacemaker’) the notorious online database maintained to blacklist people considered enemies of Ukraine, some of whom have been murdered after being listed there. The website labels Orban “an accomplice of Russian war criminals” and an “anti-Ukrainian propagandist.”

Though Hungary is a member of both the EU and NATO, Orban has refused to send weapons to Ukraine or allow the transit of such shipments through his country’s territory. Budapest has also opposed an oil and gas embargo against Moscow.

On Monday, the German outlet ZDF reported that Hungary had “moved away” from its veto on the matter, and that EU oil sanctions against Russia were forthcoming. Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs denied the reporting, however, saying that Budapest’s stance on oil and gas sanctions “remains unchanged: We do not support them.”

In addition to making allegations and apparent threats against Hungary, Danilov also said that Kiev has no plans for another round of mobilization, and that Ukraine does not intend to sign any kind of peace treaty with Moscow, but will only accept a Russian surrender.

Russia attacked the neighboring state on February 24, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.

The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
(Translated by Google)

A group of NATO fighters, at ultra-low altitude, approached the Russian border

2022-05-03
 
My guess would be that the West, in their completely delusional state, will continue to push and push and push. The East will take the hits, just like the Moskva. And then one day, their Red Line will be crossed - probably when a Western leader does something REALLY unhinged and stupid. At that point, the East will demonstrate their capabilities. Bathrooms in Western halls of power will suddenly be filled to capacity. Not that that will stop them! Crazy people don't suddenly become rational when confronted with their own idiocy and impotence. But the average person fears authority and power. Even in their nutty state, I suspect a clear demonstration of "higher authority" will not go unnoticed or unheeded by the masses - assuming the demonstration is big enough and therefore not "propagandizable" - and the people have been suffering enough due to the moronic actions of their "leaders".
The above from Scottie highlights the real Sword of Damocles hanging over the deranged power elites - cosmic intervention. They can't help but push and push until the host nears extinction and yet in so doing, and with uncanny inevitability, they bring upon themselves the ultimate sanction from above. Whether they know precisely what's coming or not (and to my mind the evidence since 9-11 is that at the highest hidden level they've been working to a timetable based on some deep seated concern over the cycle repeating as it has done so many times before) they undoubtedly sense the pressure mounting - the itch to remain on top no matter what the cost to the rest of us. They most likely convince themselves this time it will somehow be different - I suspect however their hyper-hubris is such that they really truly believe that all their superhuman tech and hidden installations will save them just as long as they can keep us dumb enough for long enough. As Scottie says they no doubt have a containment plan for whatever demonstration of 'higher authority' they imagine is coming ever closer. But of course it will fail in the end - because it always does and further its likely that the demonstration will be of an exponentially higher order of magnitude than before because of the universal level of hubris. Nature doesn't do propaganda! Cause and effect are in equal measure. So the situation in Ukraine - and most importantly on every western TV - is symptomatic of this total loss of reality and ever increasing loss of control. So let's take heart; this is nothing more than the rough prologue - the real show is coming soon enough to a world near you.

I find this article from the BBC strangely encouraging. The insane level of doublespeak and bare faced buffoonery, side-stepping come self-justification is actually the funniest I've read in months. The chasmous cracks are there for all to see and read - its barefaced BS being so obvious that even the average brainwashed must surely be starting to scratch their heads and maybe, maybe just wonder.... And nothing quite beats the punchline:

Justin Crump of the security consultancy Sybilline says the Ghost of Kyiv legend is important because in our social media age "people need myths, heroes and legends, to provide cohesion and meaning".

Now we know from the horses mouth what they think is teh purpose of all their perversions and unending deceit. They truly, truly think its for our own good.

As for the rest... :clap::rotfl::lol2:


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How Ukraine's 'Ghost of Kyiv' legendary pilot was born

By Laurence Peter
BBC News

02-05-22


Ukraine's fighter pilots are vastly outnumbered by the Russians, and have become legendary - thanks in part to the story of an alleged flying ace called the "Ghost of Kyiv".


This hero is said to have downed as many as 40 enemy planes - an incredible feat in an arena where Russia controls the skies.

But now the Ukraine Air Force Command has warned on Facebook that the "Ghost of Kyiv is a superhero-legend whose character was created by Ukrainians!".

"We ask the Ukrainian community not to neglect the basic rules of information hygiene," the message said, urging people to "check the sources of information, before spreading it".

Earlier reports had named the ace as Major Stepan Tarabalka, 29. The authorities confirmed that he was killed in combat on 13 March and honoured with a Hero of Ukraine medal posthumously.

Now, the air force stresses that "Tarabalka is not 'Ghost of Kiev', and he did not hit 40 planes".

It describes the "Ghost of Kyiv" as "a collective image of pilots of the Air Force's 40th tactical aviation brigade, who defend the sky over the capital", rather than a single man's combat record.

For weeks, Ukrainians did not have a name to go with the "Ghost of Kyiv" - but that did not stop the story going viral on social media.

It was used as a marketing brand by a Ukrainian model aircraft manufacturer, while Ukrainian Iryna Kostyrenko showed off a military badge inspired by the legend.

And the defence ministry tweeted a video celebrating Tarabalka's heroism.

View attachment 58316

Military experts told the BBC they doubted that one pilot could have downed as many as 40 Russian planes.

Ukrainian military historian Mikhail Zhirohov described the Ghost of Kyiv story as "propaganda for raising morale". Speaking to the BBC from Chernihiv, he said that early on in the war the Russians dominated Ukrainian airspace, so a Ukrainian pilot "could only shoot down two or three".

"It's essential to have this propaganda, because our armed forces are smaller, and many think we can't be equal to them [the Russians]. We need this in wartime," he said.

The fact that Ukrainian pilots are still denying Russia total mastery of the skies, flying inferior, older Russian-designed MiG-29s, inspired this modern legend.

With all its military might, Russia has had more than two months to knock out Ukraine's air defences - and failed.

The Ukrainian authorities fuelled the Ghost of Kyiv legend just days into the war.

The Ukraine Security Service (SBU) showed a fighter pilot on the Telegram messaging service, with a caption calling the "Ghost of Kyiv" an "angel" for downing 10 Russian planes. But it did not name the "angel", and media reports later said the photo used was an old one.

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On 27 February Ukraine called the "Ghost of Kyiv" an "angel" for downing 10 Russian planes

A Ukrainian military expert who requested anonymity told the BBC the Ghost of Kyiv story "has helped to raise morale at a time when people need simple stories".

Ukraine's morale has also been boosted by the Moskva story.

First, Ukrainian border guards defied the Russian missile cruiser with a rude gesture, commemorated with a popular postage stamp. Then Ukraine allegedly sank it - the pride of Russia's Black Sea Fleet - with two Neptune missiles. Russia admitted there was a fire on board, and that the ship sank, but made no mention of a missile attack.

Heroic fighter pilots have entered the national mythology of other countries too. The UK celebrates the brave Royal Air Force pilots who outwitted the mighty Nazi Luftwaffe in the 1940 Battle of Britain.

And Russia itself glorifies the sacrifices of its World War Two pilots, who were outgunned by the Germans. Some deliberately crashed into enemy planes after running out of bullets.

Legends like the Ghost of Kyiv are not surprising when there are such contrasting figures given for Russian and Ukrainian losses: there is plenty of room for embellishment.

On 30 April, the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said that in the war so far Russia had lost 190 planes and 155 helicopters.

But independent military analysts Oryx reckon the Russian losses to be 26 planes and 39 helicopters, as well as 48 drones (UAVs).

Both Russia and Ukraine are very secretive about their own losses. Counting is difficult, because aircraft often crash in Russian-held territory, and some manage to land in Russia.

Experts agree that in most cases Russian aircraft were downed with surface-to-air missiles, especially man-portable air defence systems (Manpads).

Justin Crump of the security consultancy Sybilline says the Ghost of Kyiv legend is important because in our social media age "people need myths, heroes and legends, to provide cohesion and meaning".


I'll leave the final word on the sorry tale (pun intended!) to PJW. Enjoy!


EDIT: Just noticed that Justin Crump works for 'security consultancy Sybilline'

:clap::perfect:

You couldnt make it up if you tried. The cosmos has a great sense of humour!
 
Another micro-drawing on the topic - who are we at war with

The stew "with the relics of Motorola" was found on the positions of the killed soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the DPR
03 May 2022, 13:32

Canned food with cannibalistic names were found on the positions of the destroyed soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the settlement of Novoselovka in the DPR. This is reported by the military correspondent of Izvestia, Valentin Trushnin.

"We are in the village of Novoselovka, which was partially occupied by the advancing units of the People's Militia of the DPR, and a platoon of cannibals was knocked out of this school building," the journalist reports.

The inscription on one of the cans of canned food found reads: "Donetsk separ, languid", "with the relics of Motorola", "does not contain the costs of staples", it also has a photo of the Hero of the DPR Arsen Pavlov (Motorola). The date of the "production" of the stew is October 6, 1942.


"The boys who ate this stew are now lying here, in front of the facade of the building, they were killed when they tried to escape from here," our military commander said.

Arsen Pavlov (Motorola) - commander of the anti-tank special forces "Sparta" of the DPR, Hero of the Donetsk People's Republic. He died on October 16, 2016 in the elevator of the house in Donetsk, where he lived: an explosive device attached to the elevator cable went off.
Тушенку "с мощами Моторолы" нашли на позициях убитых бойцов ВСУ в ДНР
 
The Russians have Christian symbols and depictions on their military hardware, while on the other side, the Ukinazis and foreign mercenaries literally use Satan in their banners. This is a war between good and evil.

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