Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Kiev must allow the people of eastern Ukraine to hold a referendum.
After three months of war, talks between Kiev and Moscow have stalled for over a month. On Sunday, Russia’s top diplomat conveyed some of the Kremlin’s demands to end the conflict. However, Moscow claims Ukrainian government officials are making contradicting statements, preventing diplomacy from progressing.
In an interview with France’s TF1 television channel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said taking control of the Donbas was an "unconditional priority," and the people of eastern Ukraine should be free to hold a vote to decide their future.
“The liberation of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, recognized by the Russian Federation as independent states, is an unconditional priority.” He added that the people of eastern Ukraine "must decide for themselves.”
Russia has backed the Donbas republics – Donetsk and Luhansk – since they broke with Kiev in 2014. In recent weeks, Russia has focused its military operations on seizing eastern Ukraine, including the Donbas. Moscow’s forces have made slow gains and now control 95% of Luhansk.
It’s unclear if Kiev would agree to cede any territory to end the war. President Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested multiple times he could surrender Ukrainian territory. However, those statements are repeatedly contradicted by Zelensky or high-level Ukrainian officials.
On Sunday, Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria his country would reclaim all of Ukraine’s Donbas. "When Ukraine says it will be fighting to regain its territories it lost, it means Ukraine will be fighting until it gets all its territory back. It doesn’t mean anything else," he said.
The Kremlin blames the lack of consistency within the Ukrainian government for the stalled talks. “The Ukrainian leadership constantly makes contradictory statements. This does not allow us to fully understand what the Ukrainian side wants,” the spokesperson for the Russian government said Friday.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
Ze seems not to have noticed the last 8 years, the Donbass (which he has just visited for the FIRST TIME since the SMO began!!!) or any of the changes made by his predecessor to stop Russian speakers from having any rights in his Ukraine. Why is the West pretending he is rational? I suppose because Biden, BoJo, Scholtz, Macron et al are blind to reality as well.
Zelenskyy is a Russian speaker himself – just in case you did not know.
Biden and BoJo are in opposition to Olaf Scholz and Emanuel Macron – the two last desiring that Ukraine make territorial concessions for peace while the former are opposed to this.
UNSC 2202 already has Kiev making territorial concessions and respecting the civil rights of minorities. It’s been international law since 2015.
In my copy it specifically starts out with:
So could you point to the paragraph where it spells out that there has to be territorial concessions?
Full Autonomy of the DPR and LPR as well as civil rights for Minorities. Read on
Only the document does not actually say that at all what it does say is:
As these elections were never held (certainly not in accordance with Ukrainian legislation) there was never an interim self-government to install.
So no territorial concessions but at most self-government if you look at article 9 this is quite clear:
If you do not have the text you can find it here:
securitycouncilreport DOT org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2202.pdf
replace the DOT with a .
That’s right full autonomy – which the Kiev Regime and the war party defines as Territorial concessions.
Again the document does not say full autonomy so you are misrepresenting what was agreed – and the way you are spelling it out it does sound like territorial concessions, which would be unacceptable as the paragraph:
Is pretty clear.
So your interpretation represents a break with the UNSC2202 – which the ‘Russian’ side broke anyway from the very start by not holding the elections under Ukrainian law.
Minsk accords are referenced among other items 🙂
Yes – they too are not about territorial concessions and the ‘Russian’ almost immediately failed to implement what was agreed – i.e. elections under Ukrainian law and Return to Ukrainian control of the external borders.
Sure – that why Kiev outlawed minority languages and imprisoned members of parliament and shutdown all independent press.
Ghost of Kiev again ?
So now you are reduced to plain whataboutery – good to know that you realize when you have no more relevant arguments.
As for the imprisonment of members of parliament and the shutdown of independent press – this was all after Putin started an undeclared war – and as such very normal for democracies in war with other (totalitarian) states.
If you want to compare then take a look at Russia – not invaded and yet there opposition candidates are lucky if they ‘just’ end in jail and there is no independent press – and the laws provides for 15 years in jail for anyone even calling it a war let alone report on what is going on.
But I would not ordinarily have brought this up as I do not engage in whataboutery – but if you want to go down that path…
The DPR and LPR governments invited the RF peacekeepers in to stop the 8 years of brutal civil war. It’s clear now that the defensive moves by the Allies stopped a murderous attack by NATO and its Kiev puppets. A minority of the forces engaged are RF. Most forces engaged are people born in Ukraine trying to liberate themselves from the brutal murderous Kiev regime and their NATIO war criminal handlers.
Map of Kiev’s thousands of attacks in last few days leading up to start of peacekeeping mission https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1cd29525c8a7187d34057e3db23ace94cbcc71552659581a4af60aa41d6c6463.jpg
To be witnesses to an election held in violation of the Minsk agreement.
Undocumented assertion unlike the Russian build up of forces near the border with Ukraine – and very amusing that even Putin had to deny that he was going to attack, if his cause was nearly as righteous as you claim – so justification after the fact or just a poor excuse.
Not nearly as true as you would want it to be, because the people forcibly conscribed in the Russian controlled areas have shot at Russian soldiers when given weapons so not trusted to do much actual fighting.
Not even your pall Putin calls it a peace keeping mission – so give it a rest.
The various elections held since the 2014 Putsch in the regions wanting civil and minority rights have been monitored by international observers. International observers have determined these to be free and fair.
The OSCE documented vicious escalation of attacks by the Kiev regime along the LoC.
15 Feb – 41 ceasefire violations
16 Feb – 76
17 Feb – 316
18 Feb – 654
19 Feb – 1,413
20/21 Feb – 20,026
22.Feb – 1,484
That NATO and Kiev were planning a massive attack on the DPR and LPR for March 8th is well documented by now. Thousands of documents have been captured. Dozens of officers have testified to this. That NATO had also an active Bioweapons program in Ukraine with 30 labs producing barbaric bioweapons is also well documented with already 5 UN hearings on the subject. Washington’s also confirmed these WMD programs.
The forthcoming international war crimes trials will try the various captured NATO general officers for command responsibility in crimes of war. Its likely indictments will also be given out for NATO leaders who prepared and planned this war.
The International community has already isolated the NATO war parties as a result of this 8 year civil war. A few ex-colonial powers have very little moral standing in the world. Its time for Washington to accept the basic outline of peace and stop fighting this to-the-last-ukrainian.
That is all very fine, but as they were all held in violation of the Minsk agreement the Russians do not get to complain that Ukraine does not recognize these elections.
Not by any credible or neutral sources.
Yes as seen nowhere again you are just peddling Russian propaganda by now, had they had any actually credible documentation they would have had UN inspectors called in to verify it.
If you replace NATO with Russian then you’d be closer to the truth – I think we are wasting time even debating this
Which international community would this be, because Russia is under sanctions by a substantial majority of the real world – not even the Chinese voted against, they merely abstained – ought to tell you something, but please list the countries in your international community that have isolated NATO!
With close to no support for this anywhere in Europe this is a very unlikely outcome – and the idea that we are fighting to the last Ukrainian is also wrong the Ukrainians are fighting as long as they see this as their preferred alternative to being reeducated and ruled by Putin (who never loses elections).
As for the rest of us even if Putin can force terms on the Ukrainians we will just continue our sanctions until the Russians have left Ukraine and complied with the obligations they signed in 1994 (or even the Minsk accords).
Chinese MFA has this to say
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4d0c3aa121d2733d03ebcc1f5bace6339823190544fd31fd58d1b63cb9fdabba.jpg
So how many of these countries actually supported Russia, because the Kenyan ambassador to the UK clearly voiced their dislike of Putin’s methods – so your international community is one of nations avoiding taking an official position, not a community that is isolating NATO.
Did someone mention credible sources ? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a06796efa2c3130f0a25b7f85b81c355300930c4f74a9bf401c6e237ba1739cc.jpg
Yes someone did, someone not from the US, someone who does not trust the US but also do not trust Russia – you should be able to comprehend that one being untrustworthy does not imply that the other is trustworthy.
WMD Bioweapons labs confirmed by US gov’t https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9f34770376c7bb6dd35c09dd5de26038b9246f46b92aa21ad609b50e8a177f5.jpg
Credible sources – had the Russian found actual evidence then they should have been able to publish it – they have not found credible evidence – likely not because why would the US research in Ukraine what they actually have at home and making research in Ukraine would make it too risky that this would fall into the wrong hands – but do go on it is entertaining.
Moral Authority ? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5b0eaf092821d5805c370398097628d8c7786fa1b012549c710136a7fb5b13ba.jpg
More whataboutery – that the US is bad does in no way make the Russians the good guys.
No, but it should make the hypocrites in our government, media, and military shut up out of shame. I despise both sets of criminals, but I’m not going to let “our” criminals whip me into a frenzy about “their” criminals. Let’s deal with our own war criminals and professional liars first, they are closer to home. I’m fine with Putin going before the world court, as long as Bush, Obama, Clinton, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Nuland, Power, Rice, etc get their trials first.
That may work fine for you, I live in Europe, I and most people with family having already had the ‘pleasure’ of hosting Russians in their lands, are fairly preoccupied with stopping the criminals whos crimes are ongoing right now in Ukraine.
If you want to deal with the people in the US, France and UK who have been behind some of the crimes ‘our’ side has committed then best of luck with that, I’m not opposed to that if we have stopped Putin first.
Sure you can proceed with the legal issues in whatever order you like – but meanwhile some of us are more concerned with stopping the crimes that are unfolding as we speak – then the judgement can be passed at your convenience later.
Go right ahead; but don’t expect me, and a huge number of other people in the US (those who aren’t benefitting directly from the ridiculous “aid” our “leaders” are “giving” to themselves (errr..I mean “to Ukraine”, yes, they would “never” think about benefitting themselves first…) to believe anything they say, or take sides in this stupid war. If you want to do it, feel free, Best of Luck, but I am not willingly donating a single penny. A pox on both sides.
Are you aware that if Putin is not stopped then the west will go into an other cold war period of high military spending and hence lower growth.
That it is very likely that other powerful nations will use the new world order to redraw borders to their advantage and hence that most other nations outside Europe will also be spending a lot more on defense.
So this is fine only if you really like a world where we have more wars and lower growth – did not know that this was the preference of the day, but if that is what you like then you just might get it.
I don’t believe that will be the case; but we’ll see.
It is already the case in Europe most nations have already drastically increased defense budgets removing resources from growth investments to these that mostly enrich weapons producers.
So unless it’s because you do not want to see, the evidence is already there for you to behold.
no, i think that’s what the warmongering panderers want us to believe.. i won’t play
So are you denying facts??? The military spending is already allocated and much of it actually contracted – do you think this is ‘fake news’ – I’m struggling to understand to what degree you can think that this is just something someone wants us to think!?
Alright; I see this as an internal squabble between two pretty odious sets of characters, headed by Putin and Zelensky. Normally, Ukraine would be the submissive, and Russia would be the Alpha in the pack of jackals, but because dishonest, warmongering, self serving western interests decided to intervene, they have propped Zelensky and his set of odious characters into thinking they can defy Putin and his stooges, and that has set the stage for this conflict. A conflict that is of zero importance to the west and that could/should/would have been avoided if an even more despicable cast of characters wasn’t whispering in Zelensky’s ear, telling him to “hold out”.
This war will end following an agreement that could have been struck before it started; a neutral Ukraine, self rule for the Donbas, and acceptance of Crimea’s status.
Except that, a lot of Ukrainians will be dead, a lot of Ukraine will be destroyed, and a lot of people throughout the world will be poorer.
And I think that’s a tragedy, and there is no morality or “right side” to any of it, and the whole crew, including the leadership of the EU and the USA, deserves to rot in hell.
Ignoring that Russia signed a memorandum with Ukraine to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine – against getting Ukraine to hand over its nuclear weapons.
Given that you appear to be unaware that Ukraine was and is an independent country recognized even by Russia at the time, I can see how you might arrive at this grossly simplified version of reality.
this is not how any people in East Europe see this – they have all heard Putin’s speeches about recreating the Russia of the Czarist times and they have seen the maps behind Lukashenko showing that the original plan included an invasion of Moldova.
So even if you think they should not think it important they did ad they do, which is why the defense budgets have already almost doubled in many European countries – as I said this is the reality of what Putin’s invasion is doing – not something someone wants you to believe but actual spending going into weapons etc.
Ukraine may have such terms forced upon it by Putin, that in turn will mean continued sanctions and most certainly continued high defense spending at the very least in Europe.
And if the Russians prevail as you suggest then a lot of Ukrainians will be forcibly reeducated and quite a few shot, raped or tortured.
This was and is a war of aggression carried out by Putin – the people of Donbas did not want to join Russia – you might try to justify it by them fearing that Ukraine would be in NATO – but this was not about to happen and even if it was the invasion shows why they would want to be in NATO – as it has shown for Finland and Sweden.
So again if you are thinking that Putin could or can just be allowed to have his way in Ukraine then you are not taking political realities into account – there is no scenario where Russia’s takeover of any parts of Ukraine, would not lead to rearmament on cold war levels and hence to much lower growth and welfare for the wider world – and that even if against my expectation this do not lead to nations outside Europe and NATO scaling up their defense spending.
In short even if you were right and this is just an internal conflict – you have to live with the fact that this is not how the nations of Europe sees it and this is not going to change how they have already reacted to the war or indeed how they will continue to act.
So you are presented with the choice of a much poorer world because so much more of the wealth is going to be spend on unproductive weapons, or putting Putin’s ambitions back in a box – only in the last scenario is there any hope of getting defense spending back to pre war levels any time soon.
I could care less how you and your ilk see it. You hate Russia; I get it. I think that’s a silly position to take. You think Ukraine is a “legitimate” country; I see it as a construct, like Yugoslavia, or czechoslovakia, or Sudan, or any of the other constructs that, given a chance splinter into opposing factions. The western part of Ukraine was under no threat; the eastern and southern parts wanted out; there is no reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to go; that Russia decided to champion them is Russia’s business, as was ours and NATos decision to champion Kosovo. That Donbas doesn’t want to be ruled by Kiev is self evident; Kiev has no more innate right to rule them than the Czechs had to rule the Slovaks, The Czechs and Slovaks parted amicably, so it can be done. Should have been done.
So, since the lunatic fringe on both sides couldn’t agree, and decided to kill each other, then let them. But I support neither, I just want it to end. And if that means Russia runs the whole show, I’m fine with it.
I do not hate Russia, and what I have told you is only about the way the conflict is seen by the nations of Easter Europe and the consequences of this – if you or I do not like this, matters not at all – we have to find a way to navigate the consequences that are there not the ones we would like there to be.
Again what I think is of little importance, it is what the neighbors of Russia thinks that matters – and that is what I have been outlining to you – that you do not like this is ‘your problem’ as in it is unlikely to change the consequences.
Two points
1) They did not want to go, and
2) The Budapest memorandum being so blatantly violated was going to make other nations see this very different from how you see it.
The people of these areas have not been pleading with Russia to save them, and the Russians have not been received with flowers and praise – even you should know this.
Again your view of the situation is completely skewed, Viktor Yanukovych tried to motivate the people of the Donbas to vote for independence from Kyiv, back before he decided to run for President of Ukraine – he had to give up on this plan because there was not local support for it.
You might also notice that they did not hold a referendum on union with Russia or being part of Ukraine as before the Russian intervention in any of the areas – they did not do so because they were not sure that they would get the result they wanted.
Even in Crimea there was not the choice to be part of Ukraine as in 2013 but only to revert to the position of 1993 – or be annexed by Russia – again you have to wonder if the people were so eager to be protected by Putin, why they could not be given a free choice.
I also want it to end but preferably in a way where the people of the world do not have to pay through lower growth for years to come – I would have no problem giving the people of the areas the free choice as to what they want but not while under Russian occupation.
The question of Crimea would have to be settled over some time as 600.000 Russians have moved into the area since 2014 and a lot of Ukrainians have left.
Believe what you want. As far as the “nation states of eastern europe”, they are marginally better than the corrupt construct of ukraine or russia, but not by much; they are free to proclaim their support for ukraine – and if they want to “help”, they are free to go ahead and do so – but in reality, they prefer to “donate” old soviet crap that has been rusting in their yards for near 40 years, as long as and ONLY IF Germany and the US give them newer, better, free stuff – so it’s in their own self interest that the war go on as long as it can, not because they are “afraid of russia”, or afraid for their own safety”, but because they see it as a chance to get something for nothing. Hardly an honest set of brokers, so their “beliefs” interest me not at all. As I said; everyone involved in this conflict is despicable.
My only sympathy is for the people being shelled, and the ukrainians are killing as many civilians as the russians are. – and they’ve been doing it for 8 years longer. And as an aside, you have read how the Ukrainian “security services” are busily rounding up “traitors”, and “russian sympathizers”, and anyone who dares suggest a negotiated end to the conflict, haven’t you? And how the conscripted Ukrainians are being inserted into the line as cannon fodder, untrained and poorly armed, and told to “defend to the death” and anyone who complains gets taken away? And how Zelensky has outlawed opposition parties, and shut down opposition newspapers, all BEFORE the invasion? So spare me any comments on how he is either a patriot, or a democrat, or a popular leader. He’s an autocrat. F him.
Again what I (or you) believe is immaterial we have to regard the alternatives we have to chose between – you seem to rely on justifying your choice upon a state free of the consequences of that choice – I do not.
This was the equipment they gave first and they did so because that was what the Ukrainians wanted immediately – training on new and foreign equipment takes time as does establishing repair and services facilities – so giving new NATO equipment would not have allowed the Ukrainians use of this the first month or two.
So your lack of knowledge about introducing new equipment in a force not trained to use it leads you to wrong conclusions about the reasons for supplying old soviet equipment – just to illustrate this, the US has been sourcing old soviet equipment (as in buying it) to supply it to the Ukrainians so not just discarding old rubbish.
Germany has only given promises so far and very little actual equipment – the UK is a far bigger donor and if we measure in relation to GDP then Estonia is at the top and several other European nations are bigger donors than even the US.
Again illustrating your ignorance – the expenditures in most of the donor countries are very far from insignificant – the costs are being factored in and the coming years a much larger share of the GDP will go to military hardware – most of the donors (not Sweden, Germany, the US or France ) are not weapons producers themselves – so they are not getting something for nothing.
You seem to think it matters what we (you and/or I) think – it does not you have to react on the world as it is, not on how you would like it to be.
No the Russians are shooting 20 shells for every time the Ukrainians are shooting one – part of the Russian dominance that you have in other remarks yourself noted.
Again you are misinformed – the situation was more equitable before 2022, but the Russians were very much supporting the parts of Luhansk and Donetsk under the control of the insurrectionists -so the shelling was very much both ways. Is this where I should claim that you hate the Ukrainians?
Apart form the last claim, which I have nit seen any documentation of, I am aware that they have been doing so – are you aware that the same is going on on the other side – I’m not complaining or engaging in whataboutery – just pointing out that this is pretty standard operations in a war.
As very many of these are conscripted to the Russian side illegally I am a bit surprised that you would once again complain about standard practice during war – are you completely unfamiliar with how wars are fought?
No it was at the earliest at the eve of the invasion and most of it after the invasion was a fact – I can dig up the references – can you dig up any from 2021?
I have not claimed anything about Zelenskyy except for that he is much more popular now than he was in late 2021, restricting the freedom of the press and jailing the opposition if it is supporting the enemy is again standard practice even in democracies when they are invaded.
Make all the excuses you want, it changes nothing. I could care less who wins; Zelensky and Putin are two peas in a pod; NATO is a corrupt, useless organization and the USA is out of control. F them all, and F anyone supporting this mess. But the outcome is not in doubt; Russia will take and hold Donbas and Crimea, and a settlement will be negotiated; hopefully before too many more people die.
I’m not making any excuses – you are, trying to justify that you do not want to stop Putin and do not care that what he is doing is going to waste loads of money on military expenditures the next many years.
Only one of them broke treaties that their country had made and invaded a foreign country setting Europe on a path to massively increased military spending.
NATO might be corrupt, but seeing as Russia has not attacked any NATO country it has fulfilled its primary goal – which is why Finland and Sweden are also joining.
So are you saying F the Finns and Swedes too?
This might be true – not so certain – seeing as the Ukrainians might not bee too happy letting the Russians do a Bucha to the people in the occupied territories and seeing as Putin’s goals are not restricted to the Donbas.
Or do you think Putin will withdraw from Kherson?
And how do you think that the Russians will feel about being under sanctions for the next many years? Because Putin may be able to dictate terms to the Ukrainians, but doing so will not lift the sanctions.
Just stop it. You are not making any headroads, just arguing pointlessly, Wishful thinking won’t give you the result you want. How about you wait and see, then apologize when its over?
I do not need to apologize for being against wars of aggression, you however…
Some people just like to repeat playbook lines from bias sources without reading the document. Nowhere in this 5 page document does it say anything about Ukrainian making territorial concessions. They also conveniently say that it was Ukraine who violated such agreement when in fact, both sides failed to follow through.
Macron and Schulz are a lot closer to Russian nukes in the event that Bye/Done and his British clown initiate WWIII.
That distance is not relevant, unless you think they are personal cowards.
Which I do…
Ze also promised to improve relations with Russian helping him win the election to be president. Scholtz the weak and Micron (sic) the turncoat have no plans to see reality, and have a look-territorial concessions have been very largely already made. Peace also depends on Ukraine facing reality. Russia has waited 8 years and Ukraine refuses any acceptance of its demands for fair treatment of Russian minorities in Ukraine, especially Donbass, so at last its patience ran out.
It takes two to improve relations, the Language laws have been changed and much or nearly all the power of the extreme right has been rolled back – but Putin did not scale things back one bit.
As for Scholtz and Macron – well they too seem to have come to see that allowing a war of territorial annexation to be rewarded is not a wise policy and will lead to far more problematic wars all over the globe.
As for territorial concessions – sure territory has been lost, but not for peace but as part of losing a war of attrition – so not at all the same – it is possible that this territory will be taken back as the Russians may be unable to pacify it, realize it is not worth the costs or less likely militarily driven out.
No minorities were being treated fairly in Ukraine in January 2022 – what Putin demanded in to not invade was not fair treatment but that Ukraine was not to be respected as a sovereign state i.e. not e.g. be allowed to join NATO/EU – that was not acceptable to the Ukrainians as that would further violate the Russian guarantee to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty as per the Budapest Memorandum of 1994.
Let us agree to disagree!!! if you think Ukraine is or was sovereign in any way, you have not been following the behaviour over the last decade or so!
Ukraine was recognized as sovereign by the US, Russia and UK in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, Russia has broken that deal and not treated Ukraine as such since 2014 – so I guess you could claim that it was no longer sovereign the last 8 years.
Is that the basis for your claim, if that is so then there are a lot of officially sovereign countries that are not sovereign, though that is not normally how we define sovereign.
Is that what you meant?
Please M64 ! “No minorities were being treated fairly in Ukraine in January 2022 -” check it out. DPR and LPR plus about 20% of Ukies are Russian speakers, plus there are Hungarians and others? ALL denied rights from the time of Poroshenko, as well as all the opposition Parties and media banned by the government. Sovereignty when it is the USA since 2014 and the troops, spies, Nazi elements in charge since then is just a mockery. Ukraine is not independent or free, certainly NOT democratic.
I did not claim that minorities were being treated fairly – what I am claiming is that the majority of the absurd language laws of the 2014 era had been rolled back and that Russian speakers were not in general treated very unfairly based solely on their language.
Zelenskyy is himself a Russian speaker – But NB like Obama being black this does not prove that there was no ‘racism’. However there was by no means the kind of unfair treatment that could justify a Russian invasion.
As for the DRP and the LRP – part of these territories were held by Russian supported separatists and for very good reasons people who take up arms against their government have to expect to be fought with arms.
No other country has even contemplated invading let alone any other military action, because speakers of their language were facing unfair treatment in Ukraine – that includes Hungary and Poland!
Such parties were banned post the Russian invasion – that is standard for countries in war – Britain not only banned Mosley’s party but also put him in jail after WWII had started.
There was no US troops stationed in Ukraine in 2021 – none!
As for US spies – well they may be everywhere that does not mean that these countries are not sovereign – or are you saying that Russia is also not sovereign because I can guarantee you that there are US spies in Russia.
Finally no the ‘Nazi elements’ which did win win parliament representation in 2014 had by 2019 lost their last member of parliament – if they were the problem why did Putin not invade in 2014 but wait until they were no longer even in parliament?
He also said:
“The European Union will not be able to use its own armies — NATO will not allow it.”
For the simple reason that if you fight Russia, you die. That’s a fact. That’s why the cowards of chickening out of Afghanistan fame, hired their Nazi pets, the best Nato trained army out there, to do the dying for them and in the process show off the latest western weapons as obsolete useless junk. But they’re not entirely useless. If your intention is to kill and terrorize civilians, according to what Nato has trained them to do (like they trained isis and other terrorists) they’re quite good.
do you really think that uncle sam “chickened out of afghanistan” ?
US could have occupied there for 20 more years and nobody would have said boo.
and processing the opium the entire time.
Blinken and Biden whipped up opinion in the EU with accusations that Russia invaded “pure as the driven snow” Ukraine without cause in order to seize territory and to impose their will upon unwilling populations. Holding referendums blunts those accusations.
But Crimea’s referendum in 2014 was immediately characterized as a sham. Russia would do well to invite honest elections supervisors into any new elections in order to discredit anti-Russian propaganda, and to allow EU countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Turkey, Hungary, and others to distance themselves from the “official line” that is being promulgated by Washington.
The locals and Russia invited international election observers. NATO countries refused but plenty of other countries sent election observers.
I tend to remember back in 2014 when referendums were held in both Donbass and Crimea that Russia and these areas wanted international observers for the referendums but the West refused to do this.
Yes. Observers from African, Asia, Latin American and South Pacific countries will be more important going forward.
Pff!!! Liberation my real end.
Russia is taking thousands of Ukrainians to filtration camps against their will. Why not keep them home and take the Russian separatists back to the motherland just few miles across the border? Problem solved. That would be the real liberation.
But NO, liberation is the excuse to steal the land by force for huge profits. Complain about the BS Azov neo nazi all you want. Putin is the one going full HITLER in Ukraine.
POWs get screened for participation in war crimes. That’s standard since 1865 or so.
By POWs you meant non combatants, civilians, women and children, elders? Does the screen need to happen in Russian soil?
Did you mean Russian invader’s War Crimes? GTFOH with your BS.
The DPR and LPR are not Russian soil my friend.
They have taken thousands of people to filtration camps in RUSSIA.
Poland has taken thousands of people to “filtration camps” in POLAND.
3.5 Ukrainian Refugees you meant.
Are the DPR and LPR militias invading Ukraine ?
At least he’s not full Genghis Khan
Correct me if I am wrong. Genghis Khan’s oldest son was mayor of Moscow, guardian of Eurasia. The Soviet Union guarded Genghis Khan’s grave until USSR dissolution in the 1980’s.
Permanent removal of Zelensky should be priority number on!
Zelensky is proving himself to be both megalomaniacal and delusional. There is absolutely zero chance, no matter how much weaponry we give him, that Ukraine can launch an actual combined arms offensive generating enough combat power to reconquer the Donbas, let alone Crimea. NONE. His army, such as it is, lacks the training, equipment, and competence to do so.
It’s completely impossible, and everyone, no matter how partisan, knows it. For the US and EU to continue to patronize him and hero worship him, (at least publicly – in private, they must know they are dealing with a madman) is sealing the death warrants of many thousands of Ukrainians who will be immolated throwing themselves against prepared defenses, backed by overwhelming air and firepower superiority on the Russian side.
IF he’s allowed to continue down his path, this ends only one way; with a bullet in his brain, put there by another Ukrainian after he is deposed. probably following a needless catastrophe on the battlefield. The Ukraine that’s left after Zelensky’s delusions are destroyed will be neither free, nor democratic, nor pro-US. If the US and EU have ANY influence over this lunatic they need to exercise it now, and force him to END THE WAR. NOW. Although, listening to Biden and the US media, it’s possible they are as crazy as Zelensky is.
What are your thoughts, however, on NATO training Ukrainian troops in Germany and Poland with the latest technology and weaponry? Once they are trained, I wonder if that could turn things around? I hope not. I personally want to see the people of the Donbass and Crimea have the freedom to choose their own destiny. But the West is throwing everything at Ukraine in order to destroy Russia.
I would be surprised if it “helped”. NATO, and more so the US, poured billions of dollars into “training” and “equipping” the Afghan army for 20 years and it collapsed like a house of cards. To the extent that NATO has been “training” the Ukrainian army for the last 8 years, those trainees have all been committed to combat, and many of them are already dead, or captured, so NATO is starting from scratch, And; just like the hodgepodge of useless junk we “equipped” the Afghan army with, little of what we are giving Ukraine is first line equipment. The big money is being spent on “re-equipping” NATO and the US Army to replace the old, and in many cases, ex-Soviet era equipment cluttering up warehouses in eastern Europe since the 1980s, which is what will be “equipping” the Ukraine forces.
Javy, you are more delusional than VZ; he and his people are fighting for their country. What have you fought for? Your only fight is posting BS Russian propaganda on this blog.
If you believe the Ukrainian military is capable of launching a combined arms offensive against either the Donbas or Crimea then you are clueless. They failed miserably for 8 years, fighting only the separatists; against the much more heavily armed Russians, it is a recipe for disaster. But believe what you want; unfortunately, it’s Ukrainians that will pay with their lives for such hubris. I pity them. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail.
why hasn’t russia simply waited until zelensky is in his capitol office and then sent a missile directly to that address.
For the same reason that if the Ukrainians had a missile that could reach the Kremlin, they probably wouldn’t use it.
In such a case, whoever replaced Zelenskyy or Putin would almost certainly be far more hard-line.
The water canal from Nova Kakhovka is secure. Odessa is close. Russians probably know by now whether or not Odessa would also like to be a free state. Is there a way to make relations better with Moldova? Perhaps Russia can step to the head of the line leading to democracy evolution and ask the populations at large to send in suggestions. Russia can afford this and then celebrate what is created. Will the intelligence of humanity shine a light to a more perfect union to pursue good health and happiness? Russia is in the driver’s seat. It’s now or never.