Ukraine, Russia | The West is the real enemy

The invasion of Ukraine shakes most of us. It is the height of the war that began eight years ago. Ukraine has been under attack for eight years by force of arms and with the help of opposition republics controlled by Russia and Russian forces deployed there, with false news and conspiracy theories spreading about the Corona pandemic and that the government in Kyiv is controlled by the West. The Crimea and parts of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk provinces were also occupied eight years ago, with serious human rights violations.

Many still point to concerns about Ukraine’s membership in NATO as a motive, and to the fact that one former Eastern Bloc country has become a member of the alliance since the 1990s, bringing NATO even closer to Russia.

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This is not a direct error but at the same time it confuses symptoms and disease. While the perceived humiliation of the West is something the Putin regime has been able to play on, there is less response to it than World War II was in response to the Treaty of Versailles, although this was part of Hitler’s background. to reach power.

Before the conflict began in 2014, the majority of Ukrainians were against NATO membership. Many of them also had a positive view of Russia and a fickle identity. If it were only about NATO, it would have been possible to reach an agreement on Ukrainian neutrality, or on permanent Russian rights to the important naval base in Sevastopol.

Read also: Kyiv – a hero city surrounded by hero cities

Others — including award-winning American writer and journalist Anne Applebaum — believe that it has been critical to Putin to prevent democratization and anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine. The reason is that a democratic and prosperous Ukraine will stand as living proof that this is also possible in Russia, and therefore a threat to the corrupt robbery regime there. While there is a lot of truth in this as well, I personally believe there are deeper, more terrifying motives behind it. Russian propaganda media have claimed for many years that the “color revolutions” in the former Soviet Union, namely the 2014 uprising in Ukraine, the 2004 Orange Revolution, and the 2003 Georgia Rose Revolution, were financed and organized by the United States. States as part of a geopolitical game to control these countries and ultimately Russia.

For several years, the regime accused democracy and human rights organizations, critical media, and opposition politicians of being tools for changing the Western system. This may also be the background to laws that require organizations and media outlets that receive foreign support to register as foreign agents.

Many pointed out that Putin and many around him are former KGB members, hailing from a world where the Cold War never ended, and where Russia is still under attack from the United States. They are also likely to have an understanding of Russian identity where the entire former Soviet Union and the Tsarist Empire are part of historical Russia, and should not be torn apart by hostile powers.

At least since 2012, there have been a number of statements from Putin and his associates supporting the theory that they consider Ukraine to be a historical part of Russia, and believe in conspiracy theories that the United States was behind the uprising in Kyiv in 2014 and is now in control of the country.

In addition, there is Swedish study Starting in 2020, which covered articles in Russian journals on geopolitics, military strategy and security. The subject of the review was that the United States is a threat to the security of the country, and wants to dissolve Russia or turn it into a vassal state as it is believed to have been in the Yeltsin era. It is also alleged that the US uses advanced disinformation to “democratize” Russia, and there are also references to known enemy images from conspiracy culture, such as George Soros and a “New World Order”.

There is one article claiming that the countries of the world can be divided into two: the “world-centered” and the “revisionist states” such as Russia, which they fight. Since this comes from academic circles, the military, and think tanks close to the Kremlin, there is reason to fear that it reflects and influences what one thinks and actually believes.

Read also: It is a miscalculation of the times to postpone the “Battle of Narvik”.

Russia’s role in the uprising in eastern Ukraine has become more visible since 2014, and today it appears to be a hybrid process not unlike that which occurred during the occupation of Crimea – although it played on local discontent and those parts of the country. Then the population still saw themselves as Russians or Soviets as Ukrainians.

Leaked emails and phone conversations show that many of Putin’s advisers at the time were closely involved in organizing and financing demonstrations and uprisings in Donetsk, Luhansk, Odessa, and Kharkiv from early 2014. The operation may also have received financial support from Putin’s close oligarchy. Konstantin Malovizhev, who also participated in the organization of the occupation of Crimea. Igor Girkin, better known as Strelkov, commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic at the beginning of the conflict, and Alexander Borody, the first prime minister of Donetsk, were Russian citizens with no connection to Ukraine and their backgrounds. From extreme nationalist backgrounds. Both of them also worked in one of Malofejev’s companies.

Read more of the Norwegian discussion here

Most of the militants who took control of Slaviansk on 12 April 2014, the event that marked the start of the war in eastern Ukraine, were also Russian citizens. Many nationalist circles were recruited, and they later became the backbone of Russian mercenary companies that later operated in Syria, Libya and other conflict areas. And at least as of August 2014, regular Russian forces have been deployed, although this has been denied by the Russian side. It is possible that between 30,000 and 50,000 Russian soldiers have visited eastern Ukraine in the past eight years.

This is the culmination of an eight-year war. Perhaps we – NATO, the European Union and the United States – are the real enemy in the Kremlin world.