Empire of lies: Conflict in Ukraine

The aim of this article is to show the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine and of Russia's invasion by using critical thinking skills, facts, and a big number of archived references. I suggest you read at least the first half and from the beginning (Chapters 1-5), or you might miss important details. You can skip Nord Streams (Chapter 2) if you agree that US is involved in their destruction, which proves that the conflict is not just between Ukraine and Russia.

Content

  1. Thesis
  2. The destruction of Nord Streams
    1. Chronology of events
    2. Analysis
  3. The 2014 coup that installed a pro-Western government
  4. Ukraine after the Maidan and its preparation by the West for war with Russia
    1. The years of 2014-2015
    2. The years of 2015-2022, before Russia's Special Military Operation
    3. Zelensky's deal with the Devil
  5. The root causes of Russia's invasion and its goals
  6. The main beneficiaries of the military conflict in Ukraine
  7. The cause of the conflict between Russia and the United States
  8. Actions, statements, and war crimes of Ukraine after the start of SMO
  9. Actions and statements of the West after the start of SMO

Appendix

Tucker Carlson interview: Colonel Douglas Macgregor tells us why the Ukraine war must end now

Tucker Carlson interview: RFK Jr. explains Ukraine

The opinion of Jeffrey Sachs

Video: The "Snipers' Massacre" on the Maidan in Ukraine (Ivan Katchanovski, 2021)

Video: 8 Months in Ukraine (November 2013 - July 2014, Chris Nolan)

Thesis

The destruction of Nord Streams

Half of Nord Stream pipes belong to Russia, and the other to European countries. They are Russia's strategic pipelines and a source of cheap gas for Germany, which used to get it at a low price due to a long-term contract and the absence of transit countries. Germany also resold this gas to other European countries, making money "out of thin air."

The destruction of Nord Streams is an act of war (but is classified by Russia as an act of international terrorism, because Russia has no direct evidence). If we can identify the perpetrators, we can understand whether this is a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, or, in fact, the conflict is even larger, and other parties are involved in it. A Pandora's box was also opened: now "some pirates" can blow up other underwater pipes or cables anywhere in the world.

You can find the culprit with great confidence in this case by tracing the chronology of events and by answering the following questions:

  1. Who could have done it technically?
  2. Who stands to gain?

Chronology of events

Back in 2015, an underwater drone with explosives was found in Swedish waters near the pipeline, allegedly lost during NATO exercises.[1][2][3][4]

In 2020, the United States imposed sanctions against Nord Stream 2, increasing its construction time by 1.5 years.[5]

On September 10, 2021, the construction of the Nord Stream 2 was completed,[6] but Germany never certified it.

At the end of January 2022, US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said: "If Russia invades, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward."[7]

In early February 2022, Biden said: "If Russia invades, there will be no Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it." He was asked: "But how will you do that exactly, because Germany controls the project?" Biden: "I promise you we will be able to do that."[8]

On June 17, 2022, the NATO exercise BALTOPS 22 in the Baltic Sea ended.[9]

On August 31, 2022, Gazprom completely stopped pumping gas through the Nord Stream 1,[10] which it gradually began to reduce in early summer due to breakdowns and sanctions related to turbines.

In September 2022, protests were held in Germany demanding the certification of Nord Stream 2.[11]

On September 7, 2022, Putin said at the Eastern Economic Forum: "In Germany now, we see demonstrations going around demanding that Nord Stream 2 be turned on. We share these consumer demands in Germany. We are ready to do it tomorrow. It only takes a push of a button. But it weren't us who imposed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2."[12]

On September 26, 2022, 3 out of 4 Nord Stream pipes were blown up in the exclusive economic zones of Sweden and Denmark. At that time, gas alone in three pipes costed 2 billion dollars,[13] and it was a big environmental disaster. (Where is Greta?)

On September 27, 2022, a Polish member of the European Parliament wrote on Twitter: "Thank you, USA."[14] On the same day, a gas pipeline from Norway to Poland called Baltic Pipe was launched.[15]

On September 28, 2022, an article was published in the New York Times with the headline: "Sabotaged Pipelines and a Mystery: Who Did It? (Was It Russia?)"[16]

On September 30, 2022, at the ceremony of the admission of four new territories to Russia, Putin said: "But the Anglo-Saxons believe sanctions are no longer enough and now they have turned to subversion. It seems incredible but it is a fact – by causing explosions on Nord Stream's international gas pipelines passing along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, they have actually embarked on the destruction of Europe's entire energy infrastructure. It is clear to everyone who stands to gain. Those who benefit are responsible, of course."[17]

On September 30, 2022, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said: "This is a tremendous opportunity to once and for all remove dependence on Russian energy."[18][19]

On October 31, 2022, Gazprom investigated the explosion sites of the Nord Streams.[20]

November 10, 2022 Putin: "It is possible to repair the Nord Stream. One of the branches, apparently, survived. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to examine this branch, but the pressure in the pipe remains – maybe it is damaged, but the pressure remains, so it is in working condition."[21]

On November 18, 2022, the Swedish security service concluded that the pipes had been blown up.[22]

On January 16, 2023, during a hearing in the US Senate, Nuland said: "Senator Cruz, like you, I am, and I think the administration is very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea."[23][24]

On February 8, 2023, a famous American journalist Seymour Hersh published an article "How America destroyed the Nord Stream," in which, thanks to a source with "direct knowledge of operational planning," he explained how the Americans and Norwegians blew up the pipes.[25]

On March 3, 2023, German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz left for Washington, but "the pool of German journalists did not accompany the Chancellor this time."[26]

On March 7, 2023, the following articles were published simultaneously:

  1. NY Times: "Intelligence Suggests Pro-Ukrainian Group Sabotaged Pipelines, U.S. Officials Say," where unnamed American officials say it was most likely blown up by Russians or Ukrainians, but unrelated to Zelensky or his people and definitely not British or American citizens.[27]
  2. Die Zeit: "Nord-Stream-Ermittlungen: Spuren führen in die Ukraine."[28]
  3. The Times: "West kept quiet about Nord Stream attack to protect Ukraine."[29]

On March 27, 2023, the UN Security Council did not adopt Russia's draft resolution on the establishment of an international commission to investigate the destruction of Nord Streams. Russia, China, and Brazil voted in favor, while the other 12 countries abstained. To adopt a resolution, it is necessary to get 9 votes out of 15.[30]

Analysis

There were 4 simultaneous explosions at a depth of about 100 meters, which indicates a pre-laid explosive, subsequently led to detonation by some trigger. Nord Stream pipes have a concrete body.[31] 50 meters of pipe "disappeared somewhere."[32] Those who did it had special equipment for diving to such a depth, training, experience, a large amount of special underwater explosives, the exact coordinates of the pipes, a way to detonate explosives remotely and at the right moment at such a depth in 4 places at once, etc. Obviously, this is a complex operation that can only be carried out by special services of a limited number of countries.

Another important point is the location of all the explosions. It happened in NATO's backyard,[33] in the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden (Denmark has been in NATO for a long time, and Sweden has been de facto in NATO for many years and will soon be de jure), where military exercises are often held. It is difficult to imagine how some unidentified vessel with explosives or a submarine could be in this place for a long time unnoticed. But the most important thing is that the explosion site gives the exclusive right to the two American allies to investigate it and not allow anyone else until everything is cleaned up.

Although their destruction is beneficial, for example, to countries such as Norway, because Nord Stream is their direct competitor, but neither Norway, nor Ukraine (even if it had the ability), nor any other NATO country could do this without the knowledge and consent of the NATO leader. Because it was important for the attackers to know that they would not be caught red-handed, that the investigations of Sweden and Denmark would move in the right direction, that the "master" approves and there would be no consequences for their country. It means that the United States, at minimum, were aware of the upcoming sabotage and approved it.

The official investigations of Denmark and Sweden continue to remain silent after six months, saying only that it was an explosion. What are they hiding? Moreover, the United States "knows nothing" and refers to the investigations of these countries. Initially, many Western media and even some officials speculated that Russia blew up its own pipelines.[34] But if that was the case, then these two US allies would have immediately presented evidence, and Russia would have done it, most likely, in its waters. But not only there is no evidence, but there is not even a clear explanation of why Russia would blow up its own strategic pipeline. After all, after the sabotage, Russia lost an important lever of pressure on Germany, a gas market, and large investments in infrastructure on its own land, and got nothing in return. Therefore, it is difficult to believe in the theory of Russia's involvement, even for ardent Russophobes.

And what did the United States get from this? A market for its expensive liquefied gas, having taken it away from Russia. Closed the last big economic project between EU/Germany and Russia. They have made a big part of German industry uncompetitive compared to the US and China, where energy is much cheaper. And most importantly, they took away from Russia the lever of pressure on Germany. Russia pushed Germany to disobey the United States – to certify the Nord Stream 2. It offered to save German industry at any moment. In turn, Russia wanted Germany not to provide decisive support to Ukraine. This prospect has certainly put internal pressure on the German government. A cold winter would increase this pressure. The United States took it from Russia and untied Germany's hands to supply tanks and other weapons to Ukraine. Later, the Vice-Chancellor of Germany even apologized to Zelensky that Germany did not immediately start supplying weapons.[35]

It was advantageous for the United States and its allies to pretend that nothing had happened, delay the investigation, and forget about the pipeline. Until February 8, 2023, they were satisfied with everything. But an article was published by Seymour Hersh, who is famous for exposing the My Lai massacre 50 years ago and for not giving out a single source during his entire career. Therefore, he is one of the few independent American journalists trusted by sources inside the system who disagree with the government's course. In it, he not only pointed out that the USA and Norway were guilty, describing in detail the operation, when and how explosives were laid and detonated, and much more, but also explained why Biden publicly threatened to end the Nord Stream 2. This way the level of the operation was lowered and did not require advance notification to Congress. It seems that Scholz was called "to the carpet" in the United States a month after the publication of Seymour's article precisely in order to drown out the article together with the US by making up an unbelievable story about some pro-Ukrainian group that has nothing to do with Zelensky or his surroundings, consisting of some Ukrainians and Russians, definitely not of British or Americans nationals, who on a rented yacht destroyed the Nord Streams.

The United States, without a doubt, is the main beneficiary of the Nord Stream sabotage; and given the location of the explosions, the complexity of the operation, the possible consequences, the opposition of the United States to Russian gas supplies to Germany since Soviet times, the history of CIA operations,[36] Seymour's article, as well as the threat to end the Nord Stream from the mouth of the president, it not only had to be aware of the upcoming operation, but is also likely to be a direct participant. No other country (for example, Britain), not to mention some group of people on a yacht, could in this case do it secretly, alone, without certain agreements and consultations with the United States and other countries. Thus, the conflict in Ukraine is much larger and is not local between Russia and Ukraine.

The 2014 coup that installed a pro-Western government

A pro-Western government was already in Ukraine in 2005-2010 after the "Orange Revolution." Then a "third round" of elections was held[37] contrary to the constitution. Someone allegedly poisoned Yushchenko before the elections, which helped to mobilize people for protests and help him win. Later, the Yushchenko government almost immediately adopted the law "On Television and Radio Broadcasting," according to which 75% of daily broadcasting should be in Ukrainian, and from 7 to 23 hours on TV channels and radio 50% of programs should be Ukrainian-made.[38] Back in 2006, long before the events in Crimea and despite Ukraine's declared neutrality after gaining its independence, this government declared that its goal is to join NATO[39] (in April 2008, NATO as a whole agreed that Ukraine and Georgia would become its members,[40] although Germany and France were against it at that time). Sold its air defense to Georgia before the five-day war,[41] during which Ukrainian military specialists were also in Georgia.[42] Restricted the movement of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.[43] Declared that the Russian navy should leave Crimea by 2017[44] and has made Bandera (Nazi collaborator) a hero of Ukraine.[45] As a result, in 2010, only 5% of the population voted for Yushchenko in the first round, and the "pro-Russian" Yanukovych was elected, who extended the lease of bases in Crimea for 25 years for a discount on gas and gave the Russian language the status of a regional one. The 2010 elections were hailed by the West as "free and fair."[46]

At the end of 2013, Yanukovych refused to sign an association agreement with the EU in Vilnius, which, by the way, did not contain a word about EU membership (Russia was not allowed to negotiate and was told that this agreement between Ukraine and the EU does not apply to it, despite the existing similar agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation). Putin managed to convince Yanukovych that these agreements with the EU will have a detrimental effect on Ukraine's economy and gave Ukraine a loan of 15 billion dollars. The so-called Euromaidan has begun. European and American politicians also took part in it,[47][48][49] a list of which can be found in the White Book.[50]

A significant part of the media not only belonged to the opposition (for example, Poroshenko's Channel 5), but also internet media was created from scratch specifically for the Maidan.[51]

In early February 2014, a recording of a conversation between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the American Ambassador to Ukraine Jeffrey Pyatt appeared on the Internet.[52][53] And although many media outlets often singled out Nuland's phrase "f*** the EU" from this conversation, the more important thing in it is that she says who should become Prime Minister of Ukraine (Yatsenyuk).

By this time, the protests began to subside. But on February 18-20, the situation escalated sharply. More than 50 people were killed by snipers in the central square of Kiev, which was monitored by many foreign journalists at that time. In the West and in Ukraine, the murders are presented as the work of "Yanukovych's snipers," attributing even "Russian operatives."[54] As with the murders in Odessa on May 2, 2014, no one is currently in prison for this mass murder in the center of the capital of a European country, carried out live. Dozens of policemen were also killed and wounded by firearms at the same place.[55] This goes against the current Western and Ukrainian version of the "bloody regime shooting at peaceful protesters:" either the protesters were shooting at the police and were not peaceful at all, or some unknown snipers were shooting at both sides.

On March 5, 2014, a conversation leaked on the internet between the EU Foreign Minister and the Estonian Foreign Minister, who said that one of the Maidan medics, Olga Bogomolets, pointed out the similarity of the wounds of the dead and evidence that the same snipers shot at police and protesters.[56] The Estonian minister confirmed the authenticity of the conversation.[57] Moreover, a Canadian university professor originally from western Ukraine has conducted an academic investigation having viewed 1,500 videos and live broadcasts, 5,000 photos, 30 gigabytes of radio intercepts, messages from 100 journalists on social networks who were in Kiev, as well as the testimony of 70 eyewitnesses. He concluded that the protesters were shot at from buildings controlled by Maidan, and that the massacre was a rationally planned false flag operation with the goal to overthrow the government and seize power.[58] You can understand that the Western and Ukrainian version is wrong by just watching his video related to his investigation.[59] On the same days, members of Yanukovych's Party of Regions began to leave the party.[60][61][62] The United States imposed sanctions against 20 Ukrainian officials.[63]

On February 21, 2014, after the bloodiest day of the Maidan, a peace treaty was signed between Yanukovych and the opposition, signed also by foreign ministers of Germany, France, and Poland.[64][65] Yanukovych also agreed to move the elections from the summer of 2015 to the end of 2014. When the opposition leaders came to the Maidan and told about the reached agreements, they were booed and there were demands and threats for Yanukovych to immediately resign.[66] In the evening on the same day, Yanukovych leaves for Kharkov for a meeting.[67] The next day, he said that there had been a coup and that he was not going to leave the country.[68] The Verkhovna Rada issued a resolution: "On the self-removal of the President of Ukraine from the exercise of constitutional powers and the appointment of early presidential elections of Ukraine."[69]

In 2019, Putin said that he had some agreements with Obama in 2014. However, the American side did not fulfill them. In 2018, Lavrov said that Obama asked Putin not to dissuade Yanukovych from signing an agreement with protesters on the Maidan. The next day, the seizure of government buildings began in Kiev.[70]

In 2017, in his book, Biden, who was vice president of the United States in 2014, wrote: "I made the last of many urgent calls to Yanukovych in late February of 2014, when his snipers were assassinating Ukrainian citizens by the dozens and we had credible reports that he was contemplating an even more vicious crackdown. I had been warning him for months to exercise restraint in dealing with his citizens, but on this night, three months into the demonstrations, I was telling him it was over; time for him to call off his gunmen and walk away. His only real supporters were his political patrons and his operators in the Kremlin, I reminded him, and he shouldn't expect his Russian friends to rescue him from this disaster. Yanukovych had lost the confidence of the Ukrainian people, I said, and he was going to be judged harshly by history if he kept killing them."[71]

The mass murder by "unknown snipers" under a false flag, as well as threats and sanctions against members of Yanukovych's party forced them either to leave the party, losing their majority, or to vote in the right way. The US and the EU immediately recognized the interim government. Yatsenyuk became prime minister, just like Nuland wanted. A month later, Ukraine signed an association agreement with the EU, and later the economic part, losing the market of the Russian Federation, the Customs Union, and their preferences. Thus, with the help of "unknown snipers" shooting at both sides, threats and deception, a bloody coup was carried out and a pro-Western government was established. The Constitution of Ukraine was violated for the second time in 10 years, because all the rules of impeachment were not observed, but a false resolution of the Rada was simply issued that the president had withdrawn himself.

Ukraine after the Maidan and its preparation by the West for war with Russia

The West interfered in the internal affairs of Ukraine not only in 2004 and 2014 during the "color revolutions," but also more than 30 years ago. For example, Soros admitted in 2014 that his organization was in Ukraine even before independence.[72] Therefore, it is not surprising why and for what purpose, since the first days of independence, a fictional story about the purposeful genocide of Ukrainians by the USSR authorities has been introduced in Ukraine.

The years of 2014-2015

The very first thing the "winners" tried to do was to repeal the law on the status of the Russian language,[73] signed by Yanukovych, showing Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine the essence of the future regime. Protests have begun in the south-east[74] by those who disagreed with the coup, demanding the federalization of Ukraine, because it was the south-east that mainly voted for the "pro-Russian" Yanukovych and his party, it was their president who was ousted.

The Yushchenko government has already stated in 2005-2010 that Russia should move the HQ fleet from Crimea by 2017. Therefore, there is no doubt that: a) the new pro-Western government will denounce the agreement on the extension of the lease of bases in Crimea, signed by Yanukovych, and will demand Russia to leave; b) NATO bases and ships will take their place. Knowing this, Putin decided to return Crimea to Russia. (After the collapse of the USSR, there were territorial disputes between Russia and Ukraine. In 1997, the treaty of "Big friendship" was signed,[75] in which Russia agreed to recognize the borders of Ukraine in exchange for certain conditions which Ukraine violated during Yushchenko's rule. Therefore, Russia is not obliged to recognize the borders of Ukraine.) In my opinion, the return of Crimea angered the Anglo-Saxons very much: it was their bases and ships that were supposed to be in Crimea. That is why the West imposed sanctions against the entire peninsula: to punish the Crimean population for their choice in the referendum, where the majority are not only Russian-speaking, but also ethnic Russians (and therefore there is no doubt about the outcome of the referendum in Crimea), and Ukraine cut off water supply to Crimea and then electricity. The West not only did not notice this, but even filed lawsuits after the Siemens turbine was in the Crimea to cover the shortage of electricity.

Protesters seized administrative buildings in Kharkov, Donetsk, and Lugansk regions, and a tent city was set up near the building in Odessa. After the "Right Sector" failed to "restore order" in the Donbass, on April 7, Acting President of Ukraine Turchynov announced the creation of an anti-crisis headquarters and said that "anti-terrorist measures will be carried out against everyone who took up arms in the east of Ukraine."[76] On the same day, the Republican People's Council was established in Donetsk, which declared the sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic and decided to hold a referendum on the status of the region on May 11.[77] The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Avakov promised within 48 hours to "resolve the situation with the protesters either through negotiations or with the use of force."[78]

On April 14, Kiev begins the "anti-terrorist operation." In May, a Jewish oligarch Kolomoisky, who became the governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region, created and financed Azov and other neo-Nazi units[79] to "calm down" the rebellious regions; and after the murder of 50 protesters in Odessa on May 2, there will be no shortage of volunteers for Donbass from Russia, and the Russians in Donbass realized that they have their own path. Despite this, Putin openly asked Donbass to postpone the referendum.[80]

After Poroshenko became president, Ukraine began using the entire army and all means. For example, on June 2, 2014, Ukrainian plane carried out an airstrike on an administrative building in Lugansk in the afternoon.[81] Kiev denied that it was their plane, mockingly stating that "the separatists' missile reacted to an air conditioner."[82] The airstrike was confirmed by the OSCE.[83] Later, Kiev will be attributing the killings of civilians and the destruction of buildings to the "separatists," as if they are shelling themselves.

In less than a year after the Maidan, many serious crimes were committed, documented by Russia in the White Book in the first,[84] second,[85] and third[86] editions. There is also a five-hour video showing the chronology of events in Ukraine without comments from the beginning of the Maidan to July 2014 (and other videos in the channel).[87] According to the UN alone, 3,106 civilians, including more than 100 children, died between April 14, 2014 and December 31, 2021.[88]

Russians at that time made up about half of the population of Donbass, and for the majority of Ukrainians in the cities of Donbass, Russian was their native language. Next to Donbass and Ukraine is a large, strong neighbor populated by Russians, with whom Ukraine at that time had extensive economic, historical, family, linguistic, and cultural ties. The question arises: which Ukrainian government in its right mind, not to mention the temporary, unrecognized by Russia, which came after an unconstitutional coup, will start using the army against the residents of Donbass, for example, as in Mariupol on May 9, 2014?[89] After all, it should have understood that Russia would not simply look at this, and her army, which started conducting exercises near the border after the start of Ukraine's "anti-terrorist operation," could interfere there directly. The answer is simple: the West encouraged Kiev and gave it carte blanche to solve all problems by brute force and suppress protests. And indeed, after the "winners" announced the start of the "ATO," the EU declared that Kiev has every right to "defend its sovereignty,"[90] to use force against the "separatists," in contrast with their calls for peace at that time in Syria or threats to Yanukovych not to use force against the Maidan, even when law enforcement personnel were killed and wounded and administrative buildings were seized in western Ukraine.[91] The fact is that countries such as the United States benefited from Kiev either solving the "problem in the Donbass" by force so that the Russian government would lose face in the world and inside the country, or direct intervention of the Russian army in the rest of Ukraine. It was a trap. After all, if EU had imposed sanctions in 2014, imposed by it in 2022, and Nord Stream had been blown up, the Russian economy would most likely have collapsed, halting not only plans for rearmament and development, but also creating wonderful conditions for a "color revolution." This plan was partially implemented, as after the crash of the Malaysian Boeing with Europeans on board in the summer of 2014, the EU imposed severe sanctions.[92] Later, US President Obama said that Russia is isolated and its economy is in tatters.[93]

Back in 2014, Poroshenko said: "We will have a job – they won't. We will have pensions – they won't. We will have support for children and pensioners – they won't. Our children will go to schools and kindergartens – their children will sit in basements. Because they don't know how to do anything. That is how we are going to win this war."[94] Two times Kiev tried to "restore order" by force in Donbass with the encouragement of the West. But these attempts were stopped by the defeat or encirclement of Ukrainian army thanks to the militia and only the covert forces of the Russian Federation, forcing Kiev to sign peace treaties with Donbass: Minsk 1 and Minsk 2.[95] The first agreement was a consequence of the Ilovaisk cauldron[96] and was used by Kiev to regroup its forces. Realizing that the Ukrainian army cannot solve this problem a second time, and in order to preserve the territories of Donbass already captured by Kiev, in February 2015, the leaders of France and Germany went to Belarus to mediate the signing of the Minsk 2 peace treaty, which supplemented the previous one, between Ukraine and the Donbass republics. According to the agreement, Russia was not a party to the conflict. The agreement had a specific algorithm for the peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Donbass, by fulfilling which the Donbass would remain part of Ukraine, but would receive extensive autonomy.

The years of 2015-2022, before Russia's Special Military Operation

A great methodical preparation of Ukraine by its elites and the West has begun for an attempt to take Donbass by force for the third time and, consequently, for war with Russia, as well as the Ukrainization of the whole society and brainwashing.

Ukrainian authorities have blocked Russian social networks and mass media. Influential dissident journalists were killed.[97] It introduced a law obliging nationwide Ukrainian TV channels and radio stations to conduct at least 75% of the broadcast in Ukrainian.[98] They rewrote all school history textbooks, replaced them with absolute fiction, lies, as well as hatred for the residents of Donbass and Russia, glorified NATO and Ukrainian war criminals, and much more.[99][100][101][102][103][104][105] They raised generations who hated Russians and thought that they were a "great world nation that has existed for 1,000 years within the current borders."[106] A detailed study of this topic alone and a review of videos of Ukrainian children's clubs doing Nazi salutes and shouting "hang Muscovites" can shock a normal person.[107][108] All schools switched to Ukrainian language.[109] Only "indigenous peoples" had the right to receive education in their native language. Incredible, but Russians were not included in the list of "indigenous peoples" of Ukraine.[110] Monuments were demolished, many streets and cities were renamed. A law was passed obliging service workers to switch to Ukrainian language even in Russian-speaking cities.[111]

The Association and Trade agreements with the EU were signed and entered into force, canceling the existing trade agreement with Russia. Many industrial Ukrainian enterprises lost a market for their products (including due to mutual sanctions) and were not in demand anywhere else. Because of all this, millions of Ukrainian citizens could not find work and were forced to "clean toilets" in Poland and the Baltic States, where they could get legal work, while Poles and Balts "cleaned toilets" in Britain for a higher salary (Ukrainians, unlike Poles and others, did not have the right to live and work anywhere in the EU; in 2017, they only received a visa-free regime for up to 90 days). Ukraine took IMF loans in exchange, for example, for land reforms.[112] There were rumors of a massive sale of chernozem to Poland and other countries. Fraudulent call centers have appeared in Ukraine, stealing money from Russians in Russia. Telephone terrorism was also carried out from Ukraine: schools and buildings in Russia were mined.

NATO membership was written into Ukrainian constitution, while US President Biden in 2021 said that the presence of conflict zones in Ukraine will not prevent its NATO membership.[113][114] Urban area near Donbass republics was converted into a huge fortified zone. Ukrainian army has become more than 250 thousand strong, in the preparation of which NATO instructors also participated.[115] The West not only ignored Kiev's non-compliance with the Minsk agreements, but the US embassy in Kiev stated that it was Russia that should fulfill the Minsk obligations,[116] even though Russia is not a party to the conflict in the treaty. In December 2016, two American politicians Lindsey Graham and John McCain met with Ukrainian soldiers and Poroshenko and stated: "Your struggle is our struggle. 2017 will be the year of the offensive… I think you will win. I am convinced that you will win. And we will give you everything you need to win."[117] Turkish drones were delivered to Ukraine, which it used for the first time in October 2021 against Donbass.[118] The head of the Donbass Republic Zakharchenko (a participant of the Minsk agreements) and other local heroes of Donbass were killed with the use of terrorist methods (despite the guarantees of Zakharchenko's safety prescribed in the Minsk agreement). In 2018, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who met with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Obama, and Biden, canceled the 1686 document on the transfer of the Kiev Metropolia under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate and removed the anathema from the heads of non-canonical churches in Ukraine. The construction of British naval bases has begun in the country.[119] Saboteurs were constantly trying to get to Crimea.[120][121] A month before Russia's SMO, a lend-lease bill was introduced to the US Senate.[122] The US sent planes filled with Javelins,[123] Britain – thousands of anti-tank systems,[124] and the Baltic States sent Stingers.[125]

In 2019, due to the prolonged comprehensive blockade of the Donbass republics and after the amendment of the Ukrainian constitution that added NATO membership,[126] Russia has started issuing its passports to Donbass citizens.[127]

Zelensky's deal with the Devil

Zelensky is a well-known comedian in Ukraine and Russia. Did not participate in the Maidan. Since 2012, he has worked on Kolomoisky's channel "1 + 1," and he is also Jewish. His behavior and appearance indicate frequent use of heavy drugs.[128][129][130][131][132] It seems that after the release of his TV series "Servant of the People" at the end of 2015, where he becomes president, his election campaign began even then, and all his loud Russophobic statements and actions began immediately after Biden's victory in the US elections in early 2021.

Back on March 1, 2014, Zelensky said: "If people in the east and in Crimea want to speak Russian, get off, get off them! Legally give them the opportunity to speak Russian."[133] But in January 2021, the law on Ukrainization was adopted.[134][135]

In the summer of 2021, he said that the return of Crimea is a matter of time, and also about Crimea: "This is my land, this is not their land. They won't be here, their generations won't grow up here. And their children are not here, and they will not die for our land. It will never be Russian territory."[136][137] He also said: "Residents of the occupied Donbass and Crimea should understand: this is not about someone expelling someone somewhere. I just want to be understood. If you live today on the territory of the temporarily occupied Donbass and you think that our cause is right – we are with Russia, we are Russians, then it is a big mistake to stay in Donbass, it will never be Russian territory," "if a person loves Russia, while being on the territory of Ukraine all his life, and feels that it is Russia, this person should understand that in the name of his children and grandchildren, he already needs to go and look for a place in Russia. That is the right thing. Because there will be no civilization on this territory without Ukraine."[138]

In 2021, Ukraine imposed sanctions against three opposition TV channels, the head of the political council of the "Opposition Platform – For Life" Viktor Medvedchuk, his wife, against a number of Ukrainian and Russian citizens and companies.[139] No opposing politicians, forces, the media and options for changing the course of Ukraine peacefully through voting have remained in Ukraine. When Zelensky was asked to justify the sanctions in November, he said: "Do you call them people? There are different ones. Not all representatives of people are people. There are representatives of people, and there are specimen. That is what I think."[140]

During the election campaign, in an interview in Russian language, he was asked if he would be able to end the war if he was elected, and if so, how. He replied that he was ready to negotiate "even with the bald Devil" and with the Kremlin in order to prevent a single death.[141] That is also why the south-east voted for him (in the second round there was a choice between him and Poroshenko). But in the end, he did everything possible not only to start a military conflict with Russia, but also for there to be a big bloodshed, and to fight Russia until the last Ukrainian.

During Zelensky's first and last meeting with Putin in France at the Normandy Four summit, he grinned when Putin talked about the Minsk agreements or the special status of Donbass.[142] Zelensky did not like the Minsk agreements signed by the previous government, and he wanted to change them. Putin said that there is no alternative to the Minsk agreements.[143] The only real alternative is a military conflict in which Russian army is very likely to get involved directly, because hundreds of thousands of Donbass citizens have become citizens of the Russian Federation after 2019. Zelensky's refusal to implement the Minsk Agreements is provocative and indicates Ukraine's plans to solve the Donbass problem by another method and the absence of fear of a direct military confrontation with Russia.

On February 19, 2022, at the Munich Conference, Zelensky threatened to withdraw from the Budapest Memorandum, which enshrines the non-nuclear status of Ukraine.[144][145] This is another obvious and big provocation. During these days, for example, on 17,[146] 18,[147] and 19[148] of February OSCE has recorded hundreds of explosions and ceasefire violations in Donbass.

On February 21, Russia recognized the independence of Donbass republics within their full borders, and they asked for military assistance. Later, Putin said: "At the very beginning of the operation in the Donbass, the Kiev authorities, through various channels, in order to avoid senseless bloodshed, were asked not to engage in hostilities, but simply to withdraw their troops from Donbass. They didn't want to. Well, it is their decision."[149]

On February 24, immediately after the start of SMO, Zelensky announced a general mobilization,[150] in Kiev, thousands of rifles were distributed to anyone who wanted,[151] and in Belarus, negotiations have begun between Ukraine and Russia.[152] After a strange case of a murder of Ukrainian negotiator in Kiev during his detention by Security Service of Ukraine,[153] the talks were moved from Belarus to Turkey.[154] On March 20, Turkey announced that Ukraine and Russia are close to reaching an agreement on critical issues.[155] On March 29, Erdogan met both delegations,[156] during which Kiev agreed to Russia's principled demands (non-nuclear and neutral status and others) in exchange for reducing military activity in the Kiev and Chernigov directions.[157] The agreement was initialed by Ukrainian side.[158] Almost a week after the withdrawal of Russian troops from those areas, the Western press screamed: "Bucha, genocide!"[159] There are exposures of this topic on the internet[160] and the joyful video of the mayor of Bucha from March 31, where there is not a word about the victims.[161] The name Bucha alone indicates a special choice of the city and a provocation for Anglo-Saxon residents, because it sounds like [Putin is] butcher. Suddenly, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives in Kiev,[162] and Ukraine renounces the critical agreement reached with Russia signed in Turkey.[163] Thus, Zelensky had the last chance to prevent a big bloodshed, but he not only did not make the use of it, but decided to deceive Russia. Of course, in Ukraine and in the West, Russia leaving was presented as a military victory, as the destruction of Russian troops near Kiev (there were not even Ukrainian journalists in Turkey during the negotiations).

In August 2022, Zelensky said: "It is necessary to liberate Crimea. This will be the reanimation of the world's law and order. We will return Crimea by any means we deem right, without consulting with other countries."[164] Crimea is a strategic region for Russia. Russia has tactical nuclear weapons. If Russia has a choice between using these weapons and withdrawing from Crimea, it is difficult to imagine that Russia will choose the latter. And in October, Zelensky passed a law banning negotiations with Russia while Putin is in charge.[165]

All the mentioned actions and statements of Zelensky, as well as his acting past, drug abuse, family living in the West, willingness to fight Russia to return Crimea, complete indifference to Ukrainian military casualties and destruction, to the loss of half of the economy and 75% of young people who left the country, as well as Ukraine's complete dependence on the West (weapons, military training, money even for pensions, etc.) can be logically explained only by the fact that he is a puppet playing a certain role. It seems that the United States stumbled upon gold by finding a Jewish sociopathic actor, most likely even before his election campaign, who, for example, for a billion dollars, citizenship, and a mansion in a sunny state, as well as for showing him on all Western TV channels as a superhero in a green T-shirt, at the UN, etc., was ready to provoke Russia, not to make any compromises, to fight to the last Ukrainian, to do everything they need, and, of course, later to not live in Ukraine.

Undoubtedly, there should have been puppets in other key positions of Ukraine and among the military. But since the wives, children, accounts, and real estate of Ukrainian elites and oligarchs are most likely located in the West, and they support Zelensky, it is logical to assume that they have similar deals (or compromising materials and threats made against them or their relatives, including the seizure of property) with the West, although with a lower salary.

The root causes of Russia's invasion and its goals

Most importantly, the United States had the ability, if it wanted, to force Russia to invade Ukraine by ordering its Kiev puppet regime (see Zelensky's deal with the Devil) to attack Donbass republics, to try to solve the Donbass problem by force for the third time or provoke Russia. The only question is in benefits (see The main beneficiaries of the military conflict in Ukraine).

On February 24, 2022, the day of the start of Russia's SMO, Putin in his address to the nation said: "If we look at the sequence of events and the incoming reports, the showdown between Russia and these forces [Ukrainian regime] cannot be avoided. It is only a matter of time. They are getting ready and waiting for the right moment. Moreover, they went as far as aspire to acquire nuclear weapons. We will not let this happen."[166]

Ukrainian army was 8 times superior to the armies of the unrecognized republics. It fortified a big area near Lugansk and Donetsk within 7 years. In the event of an attack and capture of these cities, it would be difficult to free them for Russia without great destruction and civilian casualties. Russia would have to start the same operation, but in worse conditions. Therefore, if it is clear that a conflict is inevitable, then in this case it is better to attack first, especially since the OSCE recorded hundreds of explosions a week before Russia invaded, as if artillery preparation was underway, and earlier Ukraine used Turkish drones.

Could Russia have betrayed and surrendered Donbass? Hundreds of thousands of their citizens have received Russian citizenship after 2019. The surrender of the republics by Russia would not only lead to the loss of face in the world and within the country, betrayal of its national interests, and political suicide, but also simply would move the conflict to another place. Ukrainian army would have concentrated near Crimea, the loss of which for Russia would also be a strategic one, because NATO bases and ships would have appeared there, and the Black Sea would practically become NATO's internal sea. First of all, the Crimean Bridge would have been destroyed.

Russia also had its own problems with Ukraine, which did not comply with the Minsk agreements, provoked Russia together with the West and did not leave a peaceful solution to the conflict in Donbass (the West, if it wanted, could force Ukraine to fulfill Minsk agreements). For example, Russia's goals are:

  1. To stop provocations and attacks against the Donbass republics, force Ukraine to comply with the Minsk agreements (but now on worse conditions for Kiev), to move Ukrainian army away from the entire territory of Donbass republics according to their constitution, because Russia recognized their independence 3 days before it went in and agreed to help them stop the shelling.
  2. To prevent Ukraine with its historical Russian lands and millions of Russians who live there become a member of NATO and an eternal "anti-Russia."
  3. To prevent Ukraine from acquiring a nuclear or a "dirty bomb."
  4. To stop the activities of American biolabs.
  5. To stop the forceful Ukrainization of Russians throughout Ukraine, to restore opposition forces, to eliminate neo-Nazism which is present, including at the state level (because, for example, Bandera is a national hero), to investigate the mass murder in Odessa and many other crimes committed since the beginning of the Maidan, to restore the water supply to Crimea, etc.
  6. Also, without solving the problems in Ukraine, it is impossible to solve the accumulated problems of the long-term security of the Russian Federation related to the presence of the United States and NATO in Eastern Europe and other problems. SMO in Ukraine may only be the beginning of an attempt to fix these problems (see The cause of the conflict between Russia and the United States).

Given the constitution of Ukraine and Biden's words that the conflict regions will not prevent Ukraine from becoming a member of NATO, its membership was a real possibility. And Zelensky's essentially a threat to withdraw from Ukraine's non-nuclear commitment is also a "red line" and a vital security threat to Russia. Ukraine possessing nuclear weapons would become a dagger of the West at the throat of Russia (Ukraine is able to make "dirty bombs" and some types of missiles, thanks to Soviet inheritance and presence of nuclear power plants, and in the future, with the help of allies, it could develop nuclear bombs).

It is worth noting that even after the start of the SMO, Russia tried to avoid the bloodshed, to solve the main problems by a treaty: it avoided striking Ukrainian army and barracks, offered soldiers to surrender, participated in negotiations initiated by Ukraine for a month, which turned out to be just a trick by Ukraine and its handlers to buy time. Russia also had the right to recognize the independence of the Donbass republics and to help them.

By its actions, before and after Russia's SMO, Ukraine proved that it cannot exist as an independent country and at the same time not be a puppet and an "iron club" of the West. Therefore, it is difficult to imagine that Ukraine will exist as before.

The main beneficiaries of the military conflict in Ukraine

The United States is the main beneficiary of the military conflict in Ukraine, which:

  1. Gained a reason to impose all kinds of sanctions against Russia not only by themselves, but also by their "allies," as well as to justify them to their citizens, hoping that "the shock to Russian GDP will be akin to the crisis of 1998"[167] and it will create huge problems for Russia. Also, to sever all economic ties between the EU and Russia, and, due to weak economic ties between Russia and the United States, the latter have lost much less.
  2. Gained a market for its expensive liquefied gas in Europe, replacing the Russian one.
  3. Deprived Germany and Europe, their economic competitor, of a source of cheap gas by destroying Nord Streams, which raised gas and electricity prices and reduced the competitiveness of their economy and industry compared to the United States and China, forcing some companies to either close or move out, including to the United States.
  4. Increased European military spending, including for the purchase of American tanks and aircraft, for the creation of new bases and increase of the army's size, for military assistance to Ukraine from the EU and the training of its soldiers and saboteurs. Europeans gave Ukraine a lot of what was not made in the US (Migs, tanks, mines, ammunition, Leopard tank, IRIS-T system), and started to buy more American (F-35 planes, Abrams tanks).
  5. Got Sweden and Finland into NATO by fear-mongering their citizens and demonizing Russia (and of course by also having the needed people among their elites, as there were no referendums and especially no proper debates discussing the pros and cons of such a move).
  6. Gained the ability to damage the Russian army, kill Russians, destroy its infrastructure, commit terrorist acts in the interior of the country – all with the help of the hands and territories of Russia's brotherly nation, including using the population of Ukraine as hostages (Russia would have fought with others in a different way). Use and test their new types of weapons, tactics, as well as analyze tactics and weapons of Russia. To do everything possible so that when Russia wins, it would get a scorched earth, riddled with mines or even contaminated with depleted uranium, and only destroyed infrastructure, cripples and pensioners, and so that two peoples, many of whom are the same Russians on both sides, were covered in blood, hated each other for a long time.
  7. Humiliate the Russian army, make sure that Europeans would not be afraid of it or its nuclear weapons. (For example, the United States itself launched disinformation in early February, saying that Russia can take Kiev in 3 days (which was translated by the Russian media),[168] even though they knew that Russia would not be able to do that, because they themselves had been preparing Ukraine for 7 years and ordered the use of "human shield" tactics. The only way to take Kiev in 3 days was to completely destroy it and to have huge civilian casualties.)

The above is also beneficial to some US allies, such as Britain, Norway, Poland, and also for China. "Англичанка гадит," as usual. Norway got rid of its competitor in the European gas market; and Poland, after the Maidan, received a new large market for its food, cheap labor, and millions of young white migrants, having solved its demographic problem that appeared after joining the EU. After the destruction of Nord Streams and the launch of the Baltic Pipe, it will now be able to resell gas to Germany and others. Also, historical events related to Poland and western Ukraine and the recent law of Ukraine, which gives equal rights to Polish citizens, indicate possible plans for the annexation of parts of Ukraine by the "Hyena of Europe." The conflict is beneficial to China because it has made Russia much more dependent on it. Many Western companies and goods in Russia have been replaced by Chinese ones. China has received invaluable information – the methods of conducting a proxy war of the West and the sanctions that they are ready to implement and for which China needs to be prepared for, bought time for the rearmament and to come up for the solution of the "Taiwan problem," etc. Taiwanese will see what happened to Ukraine and might refuse to take part in Washington's game. But China, unlike the other mentioned countries, doesn't want Russia to fall, because it provides security to its northern borders and a counterweight to the Western military machine.

The cause of the conflict between Russia and the United States

More than 30 years ago, Gorbachev/USSR allowed East Germany to reunite and denounced the Warsaw Pact. It was done mainly for humanitarian reasons, thinking that the confrontation was ideological, not geopolitical; and since USSR was switching to capitalism, the confrontation with the West, they thought, made no sense. US Secretary of State James Baker[169][170][171] and many others[172] assured Gorbachev,[173] that in the event of reunification of Germany, NATO will not move an inch to the East.[174] German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher promised in 1990: "There will be no NATO expansion anywhere at all,"[175][176] as well as the Federal Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl,[177] British Prime Minister John Major,[178] NATO Secretary General Manfred Werner.[179] The USSR still existed at that time and could use the army to restore order anywhere. It is difficult to imagine that Gorbachev/USSR agreed to this, knowing that all the Warsaw Pact countries will join NATO. Therefore, these assurances of the United States and others took place, and the USSR believed the "gentleman's word." But judging by how the United States unilaterally withdrew from the ABM, INF Treaty, Open Skies Treaty, and the Iran deal after the collapse of the USSR, as soon as they became unprofitable to them, they would hardly have been stopped even by a written agreement on non-expansion of NATO. Only military might or the presence of Russian military bases in East Germany would stop it. Since Russia is the rightful heir of the USSR, it inherited all the agreements and arrangements.

In 1994, Russia withdrew troops from East Germany, the Baltic States, and other regions. Not even 5 years have passed when US/West broke the promise, began to support the further collapse of Russia – separatism in Chechnya in the media and directly, where international terrorists were present, including those from Afghanistan who found themselves "out of work" after the withdrawal of Soviet army from Afghanistan, who planned to create "Caucasian Emirates" in the south of Russia. Destroyed and dismembered Russia's ally in Europe – Yugoslavia, while Germany allowed its territory to be used for military operations for the first time after World War II, and this was the first offensive operation for NATO. Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary joined NATO. Finland gradually began to abandon its neutral status, began to withdraw from various post-war treaties with Russia and take part in NATO operations. Meanwhile, Russia had a complete collapse of the economy (the 1998 crisis), it lost a third of usable land, tens of millions of Russians ended up in other independent countries in an instant, the military-industrial complex was destroyed and sold off, the army was reduced and outdated, the resources and press of the country belonged to the oligarchs thanks to "Yeltsin's reforms," and the economy depended on the West. Russia was not able to stop the expansion of NATO, but it still had the opportunity to destroy Europe and the United States with nuclear weapons – the only guarantor of Russia's security from direct military intervention by the West. In the late 90s and early 2000s, the United States thought that in 20 years Russia would completely weaken, the population would shrink even more, the nuclear triad would become obsolete, and it will not be able to replace old missiles, let alone develop new missiles with improved characteristics. At the same time, the United States withdrew from the ABM treaty and began to create a "missile shield" that eventually would be able to deal with the remaining Russian missiles. Or the same supposedly anti-missiles in Poland and Romania may actually be medium-range nuclear missiles. They thought that by 2020 they would be able to protect themselves from the retaliation of the Russian nuclear triad, for example, in the event of a preemptive attack on Russia.

After the collapse of the USSR and the weakening of Russia, there was no force left in the world capable of resisting the United States; and after the withdrawal of Russian troops from Germany, the United States was tempted to break the promise made to the Russians and begin to shape the world to its liking. Having dismembered Yugoslavia, they began to overthrow undesirable regimes in Iraq, Libya, and Syria. Helped Yeltsin win a second term.[180] Together with the allies, they began to engage in neocolonialism (when the country is supposedly independent, but many of its main parts are controlled from the outside: the elite, culture, economy, military forces, special services, resources, media, and even history), expanding NATO and the EU more and more to the east, turning the EU into a political bloc, absorbing even the former republics of the USSR, forming the "right" opinion and Russophobia in these countries. Due to the large number of people who joined the EU, the large population of Ukraine, and the discontent of Western European citizens about the migrants and the rapid expansion of the union, the Eastern Partnership project was created, intended for Ukraine and Georgia, by signing which the countries would become in fact their colony, and at the same time would not receive any handouts from the EU fund, no Schengen, no permission to live and work in the West, as Polish, the Balts, and others have received. The United States conducted "color revolutions" in Georgia and Ukraine, establishing not only a pro-Western government with a NATO course, but also using them for provocations against Russia. For example, in 2008, during the Olympic Games in China, Georgia attacked South Ossetia, a breakaway region, where Russian peacekeepers had been stationed since the early 90s, which is equivalent to an attack on Russia (even the official EU report of 2009 recognized Georgia's guilt in inciting war,[181] but many people in the West still think that Russia has started the war). A similar situation is in Ukraine, but at a much bigger scale. They tried to carry out a "color revolution" in Belarus in 2020, in Kazakhstan in 2022, and in Russia in 2012. The United States also turned Afghanistan 20 years ago into a mega heroin factory next to Russia during her socio-economic collapse.

Russia was told that every country has the right to choose an alliance. But, firstly, as Lavrov said: "Two official OSCE documents - the Charter of European Security, adopted in Istanbul in 1999, and the Astana Declaration, adopted at the OSCE summit in 2010, contain two points on security. The first of them states that every country has the right to choose and change its alliances to ensure its security, and the second that no country has the right to strengthen its security at the expense of infringing on the security of others."[182] Secondly, in 10 years it is possible to form any opinion among a large part of people about NATO by controlling the elites, the media and educational institutions, as well as by excluding any debates in which the disadvantages would be discussed, and by creating provocative situations to justify the existence of NATO, passing it off as a Russian aggression, for example, as the then puppet government of Georgia did in 2008. Thirdly, NATO is located at a distance of 130-150 km from the second largest Russian city. American or Western "weapons of the future" (for example, when they get hypersonic) in these places will be equivalent to a dagger at Russia's throat and is a long-term threat to its security. What would the Americans do if Mexico declared that it was entering into a military alliance with Russia and was deploying Russian bases near their borders? The answer is obvious. Russia has a similar situation (but not the same, because Estonia was part of Russia and consists of 25% of Russians), it just depends on Russia's economic, military strength, and political will. Russia also has the right to ensure its security from America and others, especially when it was deceived, and it was NATO that came to its borders.

America's younger brother, Britain, was not far behind, while not having strong muscles, it has strong intelligence services, which founded such projects for laundering information for the press as Bellingcat, White Helmets, Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, and prefers to provide shelter to Russian thieves in exchange for their cooperation and funds and their participation in geopolitical games.[183] In 2006, Russia exposed extensive British espionage activity called "Spy Rock,"[184] to which Britain admitted only in 2012.[185] During this operation, Britain used its Moscow embassy not only as a main spy center, but also as a direct sponsor of various "activists" and NGOs, as if Russia was its colony. In 2006, Russia offered Britain not to make this incident public in exchange for a complete cessation of such activities in the future, but received only a denial of the facts. Also in 2012, an employee of the British embassy (according to the FSB, an employee of Mi6) was filmed together with Navalny's "right hand" begging for a lot of money.[186][187] There were a number of other provocations (such as Litvinenko, Skripals, etc.).

In December 2021, Russia made written proposals to the United States[188] and NATO countries[189] on the guarantees of general security (perceived by some as an ultimatum), in which it was proposed: a) to exclude further expansion of NATO, including the accession of Ukraine; b) for NATO countries that were part of the organization before 1997, including the United States, to remove and not deploy their forces and weapons in Eastern Europe; c) not to deploy nuclear weapons outside borders, i.e. that the United States would remove its tactical nuclear weapons from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, and Italy. To which Russia either received a refusal, or did not receive a constructive response. Moscow warned: "In the absence of the readiness of the American side to agree on firm, legally binding guarantees to ensure our security from the side of United States and its allies, Russia will be forced to respond, including through the implementation of military-technical measures."[190][191]

For the United States, the Cold War did not really end in 1991, because Russia retained the nuclear triad and was still too big. Their strategy, in fact, was written more than 25 years ago. In 1993, Soros wrote in his article that Japan should join NATO, a new world order should begin, founded by the only remaining superpower – the United States and the "open society," and that the combination of manpower from Eastern Europe with the technical capabilities of NATO would greatly enhance the military potential of the Partnership because it would reduce the risk of body bags for NATO countries, which is the main constraint on their willingness to act.[192] Brzezinski, in his 1997 book The Great Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, wrote that Ukraine is an important deterrent to Russia, without which Russia ceases to be a Eurasian Empire[193] (the book is hosted on the CIA's website).

What is happening is well characterized by the autobiography of Mark Twain, who witnessed the speech of a retired high-ranking officer, who said to intense applause: "We are of the Anglo-Saxon race, and when the Anglo-Saxon wants a thing he just takes it;"[194] and also Obama's words about American exceptionalism when he was president of the United States.[195] After all, if you think about it, it is the same as considering yourself as normal, and all others as subhuman. It's all about controlling resources, strength, and power, and the desire to live wealthy at the expense of other countries. The United States wants to be the only center to which the whole world would obey and give it resources and tribute in one form or another. Russia is the only country capable of destroying the collective West with the use of nuclear weapons.[196] This, of course, scares them, makes Russia their enemy by default. And, at least until recently, Russia was the only country in America's way to a total world domination (Putin's Munich speech of 2007 openly questioned the unipolarity of the world[197]). That is why they will weaken and destroy all even potential competitors, divide and conquer, prevent Ukraine from cooperating with Russia (and if this cannot be achieved, then leave her scorched earth), create problems around the perimeter of Russia, try to crush her in all possible ways that, in their opinion, will not entail a retaliatory nuclear strike (economically, by canceling Russia, falsifying history and information, using religion and terrorism, someone else's hands and territories, even the covert use of biological and other weapons of mass destruction against humans and agriculture is not excluded). That is why the United States and its vassals strongly support Ukraine, have prepared it for war, while constantly raising the stakes.

China understands that it will be next (because it wants to be equal to the United States, and not to kneel), therefore it supports Russia, but it is mutually dependent with the United States, is in the process of rearmament, closely monitors the actions of the United States in Ukraine, and also benefits from this proxy war between the United States and Russia. Most countries of the world and the population do not support sanctions against Russia.[198] They are also not satisfied with the unipolar world, because they have been dealing with the United States for a long time and know their methods and arrogance. Many of them were colonies of Western countries and became independent thanks to the USSR.

If for the Anglo-Saxons / USA this conflict is a matter of weakening and destroying competitors, about world hegemony (they will still remain a key player), the right to deploy their bases in Eastern Europe, etc., for Russia it is a matter of survival. If Russia somehow loses (which is hard to imagine without a nuclear war), then not only American weapons and bases will be around it, including in Ukraine, Central Asia, Crimea, near the borders of Estonia and Finland, but the country, most likely, will be divided into many parts and will eventually lose the nuclear triad. Even if the country remains within all borders and retains the "sledgehammer," Russia will slowly die demographically, will continue to be crushed economically, will be rocked from within and around the perimeter. This is what the Russian government understands and why Putin has said: "Why would we need a world without Russia?"[199] If the West is not stopped now, then Russia is doomed in the long run, it will have no future. In the end, the truth is on Russia's side: It was the United States that broke its promise not to expand NATO and tore Ukraine away from Russia by staging a coup in 2014. Russia will also have to solve the problem of long-term security in other neighboring countries in Eastern Europe (not only to remove foreign bases, but also to eliminate hotbeds of saboteurs and terrorists, and in some countries, neo-Nazism, etc.), which of course all the players know about and why they are helping Ukraine so much. It is better for them that all the fighting is there. Therefore, Ukraine is only the beginning of the hot phase of the conflict. A revision of the borders is also possible. Despite the fact that the Constitution of the USSR allowed republics to secede from the Union, the withdrawal procedure was not written, and some former republics seceded from the USSR while taking territories belonging to others.[200]

But not all influential Americans agree with the proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, at least in words. For example, Donald Trump,[201][202] Tucker Carlson,[203] Elon Musk,[204][205] Jeffrey Sachs,[206] Kennedy's nephew (candidate for the 2024 election),[207] and others.

Actions, statements, and war crimes of Ukraine after the start of SMO

The first thing that Ukraine did after the start of SMO was to declare mobilization, close borders for the departure of the adult male population, and ordered the military to go to the cities and defend themselves there, without evacuating all the population (Kharkov, Kiev, etc.), essentially to use the civilian infrastructure and residents as a "human shield."[208][209][210][211] They distributed rifles to everyone.[212] From March 1, the salary of the military (or the promise) – 100,000 hryvnia.[213] From the first days, they used air defense with large Buk and S-300 missiles in cities and presented the damage that they caused as the damage made by Russian missiles.[214] They used ambulances to transport troops.[215] They turned a shopping center in Kiev into a storage of missiles and rocket launchers, where they conducted their reloading and launches.[216][217] Not even a month has passed after the start of SMO when Ukrainian doctor said on Ukrainian TV that he had ordered his team to castrate Russian prisoners of war, "because they are cockroaches."[218] A video appears, filmed near Kiev, where Russian prisoners of war are being killed, and the murderers do not hide their faces.[219] As well as a shocking video where Russian prisoners of war are shot in the knees (again, not even a month has passed since the start of the SMO).[220] The use of combat drugs is widespread.

On March 16, 2022, a drama theater in Mariupol was blown up, next to which there was a large inscription that said "children." Ukraine and the Western press have presented this as the result of a Russian airstrike. But, for example, three days before the explosion, there were warnings on the internet that Azov members are getting ready to blow it up and to blame Russia.[221] In April, a Tochka-U rocket hit the station in Kramatorsk during the evacuation of people. The main propagandist of Ukraine, Arestovich, said that it was an Iskander missile, but then photos of the Tochka-U appeared on the internet, which Russia had never used either before or after this incident, and which has not been in service with Russia since 2019.[222] But all these facts, of course, did not prevent the West and Ukraine from blaming Russia. The same missile type flew to Donbass on March 14, which did not prevent the Italian newspaper from showing a picture from Donetsk and presenting it as if it is a massacre in Kiev committed by the Russian army.[223]

Ukrainian army shelled the territory of Donbass with artillery, aiming at cities where there are no military facilities, and thanks to the range of NATO artillery, it was now able to reach safe regions that were not bombed even in 2014. It remotely scattered the banned petal mines with the use of rocket artillery in Donetsk and other cities, without military purpose, and the West and Ukraine blamed Russia for this.[224][225][226] Have shelled the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (the largest in Europe) many times, which Russia has controlled since March 2022. The fact that it is in Russia's control does not prevent the Western press from accusing Russia of attacking the plant.[227]

Former Ukrainian officials who defected to Russia and collaborated with it were subjected to terrorist attacks.[228] They tried to eliminate the head of Crimea twice.[229][230] There have also been assassinations and terrorist attacks against Russian journalists and philosophers in Russia. Assassination attempts on Solovyov, Kiselyov, and Skabeeva were prevented.[231] Even children were used as a cover for terrorist acts. For example, Ukrainian terrorist (and otherwise she can't be called, as there is no military purpose for this), who blew up the daughter of a philosopher Daria Dugina in Moscow, arrived to Russia with a child, and then fled with it to Estonia.[232] After Daria's murder, Ukrainian ambassador to Kazakhstan said: "We are trying to kill as many of them as possible. The more we kill Russians now, the less our children will have to kill."[233] In the center of St. Petersburg, a blogger and former militia member Maxim Fomin (Vladlen Tatarsky), an acquaintance of Dugina, was blown up at a restaurant. As a result of the explosion, more than 30 people were injured, including children. It was done by a young woman from Russia,[234] recruited in Georgia, who was a final-year student, a feminist, who protested against the war, and was a supporter of Navalny. There was also an attempt on another Russian writer in Russia – Prilepin. The Crimean Bridge was blown up using a truck packed with special explosives (a "gift" for Putin's birthday).[235] Only by a lucky chance that an unsuspecting truck driver decided to sleep before passing the bridge and to drive throught it in the morning when there were fewer drivers. Only after this incident, Russia began destroying part of Ukraine's dual-use infrastructure.

Ukraine inherited thousands of S-300 missiles and hundreds of Buk and S-300 mobile air defense systems from the USSR, with which it is trying to shoot down Russian cruise missiles. Instead of admitting that these missiles missed and eventually hit residential buildings, Ukraine and Western media say that Russia uses S-300 air defense missiles to purposefully target the residential buildings.[236][237] Most likely, Ukraine uses large air defense missiles in cities and places military targets there not only to cover them with a "human shield," but also to create the necessary media image of "Russia's indiscriminate and barbaric shelling of Ukraine" in order, among other things, to justify its own terrorist actions on the territory of Russia outside the zone of SMO (for example, the strikes on cities and places where there are no military targets, blowing up influential personalities, strike on a skyscraper in Moscow, or a strike on an oil tanker in the Black Sea, and many more). It is worth noting that even the government buildings in the center of Kiev at the time of publication of this article were still intact (and not because Russia cannot destroy them), which the West would have destroyed on the first day. It is also not surprising why in Ukraine it is criminally punishable to publish even photos of fragments of missiles – all air defense missile strikes can be attributed to the enemy.

As an example of an attack by a Ukrainian air defense missile on civilians and a quick accusation of Russia by Ukraine and the West, an incident in Konstantinovka can be presented, which occurred on September 6, 2023. "A strike by Russian terrorists killed 16 people," – wrote Zelensky in his Telegram and attached a video of the strike.[238] "Russian missile turns Ukrainian market into fiery, blackened ruin strewn with bodies" – headline by Associated Press.[239] "As Blinken Visits Kyiv to Show Support, Russia Makes a Deadly Attack" – headline by New York Times.[240] For example, Russia was accussed by Financial Times,[241] The Times in the printed edition,[242] The Telegraph.[243] But the attached video shows how people turn and look at the sky, and on the roofs of two cars before the explosion you can see the reflection of a passing rocket. All this indicates that the missile was flying from the northwest, where the Ukrainian troops were located. Bild journalist Julian Ropcke wrote about this direction of the rocket on Twitter.[244] "Why investigate if everything is obvious to us," – said Zelensky's adviser Mikhail Podolyak.[245] On the day of Zelensky's arrival in the United States (probably not a coincidence), on September 18, a "glitch in the Matrix" occurs, and New York Times publishes the result of their investigation, where, thanks to the fragments of the missile found, eyewitness accounts, etc., it comes to conclusion that it was a Buk air defense missile launched by Ukraine.[246]

On July 28, 2022, an interview with a member of Azov appeared, in which he spoke about the order to collect "shock content" with the brutal murders of Russian prisoners of war for an information campaign.[247] On the same night, Himars rockets flew into the prison in the Donbass, where he and other members of Azov were located. This is being presented in Ukraine and the West as another attack by Russia on its own prison, on prisoners who were awaiting a tribunal.

Despite the fact that information war was waged by Ukraine (thanks to the Center of Information and Psychological Operations and their teachers) and the West even before 2022, but after the start of SMO, it reached an unprecedented level. As another example, an event from the first days on the Snake island can be shown, when the "Ukrainian Truth" posted an audio recording of the alleged Ukrainian soldiers from the island who told a Russian ship to go "f*** itself," when the ship offered them to surrender.[248] According to Ukraine, the soldiers were killed and then posthumously made heroes of Ukraine.[249] Zelensky said that they all died and were given the Hero of Ukraine award.[250] But in the end it turned out that they all surrendered and are alive.[251][252] Also, since the end of the summer of 2022, "shock content" began to appear under a false flag, where, unlike the videos of real atrocities of Ukrainians that started to appear in the first weeks, the attackers' true faces were hidden. They tried to use a 17-year-old orphan from Mariupol for an info provocation.[253]

Ukraine and the West as a whole hide real military losses. For example, at the end of November 2022, the EU chairwoman said that Ukraine had lost 100,000 soldiers.[254][255] On the same day, this number was cut from the official website and video; and Kiev stated that the losses were 10,000-13,000. Considering the closed border for the adult male population, many waves of mobilization, 250,000 initial army, as well as videos from cemeteries in Ukraine,[256] Russia's significant advantage in artillery and other types of weapons, many videos where draft dodgers are literally caught on the street presumably to be sent to the front,[257][258][259][260][261][262][263][264] the result of a survey where the majority of the population has a wounded or a deceased relative or a friend,[265] the announcement of the Mayor of Ivano-Frankovsk about the appearance of rental vehicles on the territory of the cemetery due to the significant expansion of its territory,[266] Ukrainian military losses by July 2023 are likely to be shocking.

The head of the main intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Budanov said: "We have killed Russians and will kill them anywhere in the world until Ukraine's complete victory."[267] The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov wrote: "those who weren't killed yet of the "Russian world" who believe that they have the right to speak Russian on Ukrainian airwaves, have no place not only on [Ukrainian] television, but also in politics and in Ukraine."[268]

In the summer of 2023, the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station and the dam were destroyed, which flooded mainly the side under Russian control, created cooling problems for the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, and also deprived Crimea of water again. Suddenly Greta Thunberg woke up.[269] Russia was again blamed for this, despite the obvious problems for Russia and the fact that the Washington Post wrote revelations of the Ukrainian military about their Himars strike on this dam back in 2022.[270] Zelensky said that Russia is preparing to blow up the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant[271] (which, again, has been under Russian control since the beginning of SMO and where IAEA staff are present around the clock) and that there will be no elections.[272]

Considering all this, as well as physical attacks on the Zaporozhye NPP and massive strikes on cities in the Belgorod region, an attack on the Kremlin, and other things, it becomes obvious that Ukrainian government (or soldiers of other countries present in Ukraine), if ordered, are ready for any operations and provocations, even to destroy its own nuclear stations and to use "dirty bombs."

On June 28, 2023, Zelinsky submitted a draft to Ukrainian parliament requiring knowledge of English for officials, military, police, heads of corporations, etc.[273] Also in an interview with CNN, he said that they have no secrets from the CIA, they have good relations, and their special services communicate with each other.[274]

Actions and statements of the West after the start of SMO

Even before the SMO, Germany refused to certify Nord Stream 2, forced a broadcaster to remove the German Russia Today channel. Within two weeks after the start of the SMO, the West for the second time completely banned the participation of Russian athletes in the Paralympic Games, as well as Belarusian ones, imposed co-ordinated full-scale sanctions, hoping for a significant damage to the Russian economy and that the shock would be comparable to the economic crisis of 1998.[275] Many Western entertainment companies immediately publicly announced their support for Ukraine and of their withdrawal from the Russian market even before ordinary people could figure out what is happening in Ukraine (for example, Blizzard,[276] Spotify,[277] Sony Playstation,[278] Microsoft,[279] Intel,[280] Netflix, Nintendo, and others). EU blocked RT and Sputnik,[281] as well as their accounts in western social media. Due to the speed with which all these measures were implemented, it is obvious that they were prepared and agreed upon even before the SMO, and technology companies immediately received instructions to condemn and leave the Russian market (possibly with the aim to make young people rebel).

Western media reprints almost any Ukrainian lie without any checks and questions, censors information coming from the other side. For example, Zelensky's nonsense that Russia is preparing to blow up the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant,[282] without bothering to ask a basic question: "why would Russia want to blow up its own nuclear power plant?" A German woman who came to Donbass and showed everything as it is in her videos, who has a Russian father, faces criminal prosecution in Germany for "encouraging and approving criminal actions."[283] The German authorities have blocked her accounts, as well as her parents' accounts.[284] Facebook and Instagram allowed users from Eastern Europe to call for violence against Russians, as well as to call for the murder of Lukashenko and Putin.[285] Italian University cancelled Dostoevsky courses.[286] In Germany, people are fined for the letter "Z."[287] In the Czech Republic, a teacher faces from 6 to 36 months in prison for "disinformation" about Ukraine.[288] In Latvia, on the morning of May 10, 2022, municipal workers with the help of a tractor and a truck removed the flowers laid on May 9.[289] An 80-meter Soviet monument to World War II was destroyed in Riga with a live broadcast on TV,[290] demolished all other Soviet[291][292] and even a monument to Pushkin.[293] Latvians were massively brought to administrative responsibility for celebrating Victory Day on Facebook.[294] For the first time, all EU countries, including Germany, as well as Japan, New Zealand, and Australia voted against the resolution "of the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism…"[295]

Instead of calling for peace, as civilized and peaceful countries should do, on April 9, 2022, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrel, wrote: "This war will be won on the battlefield."[296] He blamed Russia for the attack in Kramatorsk (where the Tochka-U was used, which is not in service with Russia) and promised weapons while "taking into account the needs of Ukraine." He later stated that Europe is a garden, and most of the world is a jungle that could invade the garden;[297] also: "Ukraine will fall without our support in a matter of days," "If you want peace, make Russia leave."[298] German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (better known for her statements about 360 degrees[299] and 100,000 km[300]) said that she will keep supporting Ukraine no matter what her German voters think.[301] She also said at the beginning of 2023: "We are fighting a war against Russia."[302] Zelensky's wife in London in an interview said that the wives of Russian soldiers encourage their husbands to rape Ukrainian women.[303] The UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, said that Russia uses rape and Viagra as a military strategy in Ukraine.[304] Nuland said that the goal of the United States is the strategic defeat of Putin.[305] British Prime Minister Liz Truss, in response to a question about how she would feel before pressing the "red button," said to applause: "I am ready to do it."[306] NATO Secretary General Stolenberg said: "By ensuring that Russia and President Putin do not win in Ukraine, we are also increasing our own security and strengthening the alliance,"[307] as well as: "The future of Ukraine is in NATO."[308] The Czech president said that Russians living in Western countries should be watched more diligently, because "they are citizens of a country waging an aggressive war," presenting as an example what Americans did during World War II with Japanese descendants within the United States, adding that this is the price of war.[309] Former US President Bush Jr. in a conversation where he thought he was talking to Zelensky, said: "Your mission is to destroy as many Russian soldiers as possible."[310] Tobias Ellwood, head of the House of Commons Special Committee on British Defense: "We are now at war in Europe… We need to face Russia directly, and not leave Ukraine with all the work."[311] Many politicians, including American, such as Mitt Romney,[312] stated that their help to Ukrainians is the best national defense spending they've ever done, because they are losing no lives.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin on charges of alleged abduction of Ukrainian children.[313] But by an incredible coincidence, he is a British citizen, and his brother was released from prison the day before his application for an arrest warrant.[314] (During the Vietnam War, Americans took more than 3,000 babies in Operation Babylift.[315])

Former President of Ukraine Poroshenko, who signed the Minsk agreements, said in a conversation with prankers that he needed these Minsk agreements to get 4.5 years for the formation of the armed forces of Ukraine, to train them together with NATO, and to create the best armed forces in Eastern Europe.[316] An ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the Minsk agreements were meant to freeze the conflict, not to solve it, and it gave Ukraine "precious time" to become stronger.[317] Former French President Hollande agreed with Merkel's statement.[318] Thus, the main Western mediators of the Minsk agreements and Ukraine admitted that they signed the agreement only to buy time to strengthen Ukrainian army.

Ukrainian economy and budget are completely dependent on the West. Since the beginning, the West has trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in its countries. British instructors teach Ukrainians how to make improvised explosive devices.[319] All Soviet and other Ukrainian air defense installations are connected to NATO, are in off mode and turned on at the command of the United States. Ukraine receives intelligence indirectly from more than 300 US satellites, most of which are civilian. All these and other data are transmitted to the commanders using, among other things, Starlink satellites and its ground stations. Western electronics are used in Ukrainian and even in Soviet drones (which was launched at the Engels airbase), and US satellite and aerial intelligence reveal vulnerabilities and create flightpaths for drones. Ready-made sea drones were also handed over to them,[320][321] moreover it is not necessary that Ukrainians are the ones controlling them. In one week after the SMO, the West delivered 17,000 anti-tank guns alone.[322] There are thousands of NATO "mercenaries" in Ukraine, including "dismissed military." For example, the Poles participated in the attack on the Belgorod region,[323] and there were foreign mercenaries and instructors in Kramatorsk.[324]

It all started with helmets and defensive weapons, but in the end, the West supplied not only all Soviet weapons from the former Warsaw Pact countries, but also Western shells, long-range artillery, Soviet and Russian helicopters and airplanes, Western and Soviet tanks, missiles and Himars launchers (whose targets United States fully controls[325]), Iris-T and Patriot air defenses, depleted uranium shells, Storm Shadow missiles with a range of 250 km, all types of armored vehicles, drones, cluster bombs banned in more than 100 countries. Everything is moving towards the transfer of F-16 aircraft, which are carriers of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. "The European Peace Fund has become the European War Fund" (Zakharova). And once again German tanks with a painted cross came to Ukraine to kill Russians[326][327] (as a sign of gratitude for the reunification of Germany and without any remorse for the murders of more than 27 million Soviet citizens during World War II).

The West is constantly raising the stakes by supplying more and more dangerous types of weapons and pushing Ukraine towards more provocative actions. It fully controls the Ukrainian government, because Ukraine completely relies on it not only when it comes to the budget and combat capability, but also the safety and wealth of many Ukrainian elites and their families depend on the West. It plans their offensive operations.[328] States that Ukraine must win... But this means that Russia, in their opinion, should lose and the West will win, which is unlikely, because Russia is capable of destroying the United States and Europe with nuclear weapons, and since 2022 it has increased its army, has its own military-industrial complex working in 2-3 shifts, and the sanctions have untied her hands.

It seems that the West is provoking Russia to attack a NATO country (for example, an important military logistics center in Poland or Romania, which supplies weapons to Ukraine) or to make her be the first to use tactical nuclear weapons. And if Russia does not do this, then they may even go for a provocation, for example, at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine (either by Ukrainian hands or "mercenaries") or some other. They need this, perhaps, to completely involve the countries of Europe or NATO in the conflict, or to make Russia a rogue country, so that the rest of the world would impose sanctions against it and would stop cooperating with it, or to somehow shake up the situation before the complete collapse of Ukrainian army.

After Britain delivered depleted uranium shells, Russia announced the deployment of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Also, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation warned that the use of Western missiles outside the zone of SMO will mean a full-fledged involvement of the United States and Britain in the conflict.[329] It is obvious that Russia went all in and is not going to back down. Considering everything that is said in this text, as well as the FSB's crackdown of an attempt to export cesium from Russia (it is needed to leave a "Russian trace")[330] and that Ukrainian human resources are not unlimited, the probability of escalation of the conflict or provocation, as it already happened in Syria and with Litvinenko, Skripals, and Navalny, planned by the Anglo-Saxons, using nuclear components or other weapons of mass destruction, is relatively high.[331]