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In light of the current military buildup along the Russian/Ukrainian border, and the failure of talks between NATO, the OSCE, the United States and Russia over the Ukraine situation, I was curious about the roots of the conflict. The following is a translation of an article written by Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, about the problem with Ukraine. It was written in July of last year (2021), and published on the kremlin.ru website.

Recently, answering a question about Russian-Ukrainian relations during the "Direct Line", he said that Russians and Ukrainians are one people, a single whole. These words are not a tribute to some conjuncture, current political circumstances. I have said this more than once, this is my conviction. Therefore, I consider it necessary to state my position in detail and share my assessments of the current situation.

I would like to emphasize right away that the wall that has arisen in recent years between Russia and Ukraine, between parts of, in fact, one historical and spiritual space, I perceive as a great common misfortune, as a tragedy. These are primarily the consequences of our own mistakes made in different periods. But it is also the result of the purposeful work of those forces that have always sought to undermine our unity. The formula that is used has been known for centuries: divide and conquer. Nothing new. Hence the attempts to play on the national issue, to sow discord between people. And as a super task - to divide, and then to pit against each other parts of a single people.

To better understand the present and look into the future, we must turn to history. Of course, within the framework of the article it is impossible to cover all the events that have occurred for more than a thousand years. But I will focus on those key turning points that it is important for us – both in Russia and in Ukraine – to remember.

Both Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are the heirs of Ancient Russia, which was the largest state in Europe. Slavic and other tribes in a vast area - from Ladoga, Novgorod, Pskov to Kiev and Chernigov - were united by one language (now we call it Old Russian), economic ties, the power of the princes of the Rurik dynasty. And after the baptism of Russia – and one Orthodox faith. The spiritual choice of St. Vladimir, who was both a Novgorod and a great Kievan prince, and today largely determines our kinship.

The Kiev princely table occupied a dominant position in the Ancient Russian state. This has been the case since the end of the IX century. Oleg 's Prophetic words about Kiev: "May it be the mother of Russian cities" - preserved for posterity the "Tale of Bygone Years".

Later, like other European states of that time, Ancient Rus faced a weakening of the central government, fragmentation. At the same time, both the nobility and ordinary people perceived Russia as a common space, as their Homeland.

After the devastating invasion of Batu, when many cities, including Kiev, were devastated, fragmentation intensified. North-Eastern Russia fell into the Horde dependence, but retained limited sovereignty. Russian Russian lands in the south and west mostly became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which, I want to draw attention to this, in historical documents was called the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia.

Representatives of princely and boyar families went into service from one prince to another, were at enmity with each other, but also made friends, concluded alliances. On Kulikovo Field, next to the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich, Voivode Bobrok from Volhynia, the sons of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Algirdas – Andrei Polotsky and Dmitry Bryansky fought. At the same time, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagiello, the son of the Tver princess, led his troops to join Mamai. All these are pages of our common history, a reflection of its complexity and multidimensionality.

It is important to note that both in the western and eastern Russian lands spoke the same language. The faith was Orthodox. Until the middle of the XV century, a single church administration was maintained.

At the new turn of historical development, Lithuanian Rus and the strengthening of Moscow Rus could become points of attraction, consolidation of the territories of Ancient Russia. History decreed that Moscow became the center of reunification, which continued the tradition of ancient Russian statehood. The Moscow princes - descendants of Prince Alexander Nevsky - threw off the external yoke, began to collect historical Russian lands.

Other processes were going on in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the XIV century, the ruling elite of Lithuania adopted Catholicism. In the XVI century, the Union of Lublin with the Polish Kingdom was concluded – the "Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth of Both Peoples" (in fact, Polish and Lithuanian) was formed. The Polish Catholic nobility received significant land holdings and privileges on the territory of Russia. According to the Brest Union of 1596, part of the Western Russian Orthodox clergy submitted to the authority of the Pope. Pollination and Romanization were carried out, Orthodoxy was displaced.

As a response, in the XVI–XVII centuries, the liberation movement of the Orthodox population of the Dnieper was growing. The events of the times of Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky became crucial. His supporters tried to achieve autonomy from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Russian Russian Army's petition to the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1649 referred to the observance of the rights of the Russian Orthodox population, that "the governor of Kiev was the Russian people and the Greek law, so that he would not step on the churches of God...". But the Cossacks were not heard.

B. Khmelnitsky's appeals to Moscow followed, which were considered by the Zemstvo Councils. On October 1, 1653, this supreme representative body of the Russian state decided to support the co-religionists and accept them under the patronage. In January 1654, the Pereyaslav Rada confirmed this decision. Then the ambassadors of B. Khmelnitsky and Moscow toured dozens of cities, including Kiev, whose residents took the oath to the Russian tsar. By the way, there was nothing like this at the conclusion of the Union of Lublin.

In a letter to Moscow in 1654, B. Khmelnitsky thanked Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich for the fact that he "deigned to accept the entire Zaporozhian Army and the entire Russian Orthodox world under his strong and high royal hand." Russian Russians, in their appeals to both the Polish king and the Russian tsar, called the Cossacks and defined themselves as Russian Orthodox people.

During the protracted war of the Russian state with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, some of the hetmans, the heirs of B. Khmelnitsky, then "lagged" from Moscow, then sought support from Sweden, Poland, Turkey. But, I repeat, for the people, the war was, in fact, of a liberating nature. It ended with the Andrusov Truce of 1667. The final results were consolidated by the "Eternal Peace" of 1686. The Russian state included the city of Kiev and the lands of the left bank of the Dnieper, including Poltava, Chernihiv, and Zaporozhye. Their inhabitants were reunited with the main part of the Russian Orthodox people. Behind this area itself, the name "Little Russia" (Little Russia) was established.

The name "Ukraine" was then used more often in the meaning in which the Old Russian word "outskirts" is found in written sources since the XII century, when it came to various border territories. And the word "Ukrainian", judging also by archival documents, originally meant border guards who provided protection of external borders.

On the Right Bank, which remained in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the old order was restored, social and religious oppression intensified. On the left bank, the lands taken under the protection of a single state, on the contrary, began to develop actively. Residents from the other bank of the Dnieper moved here en masse. They sought support from people of the same language and, of course, the same faith.

During the Northern War with Sweden, the inhabitants of Little Russia did not have a choice – who to be with. Mazepa's rebellion was supported by only a small part of the Cossacks. People of different classes considered themselves Russian and Orthodox.

Representatives of the Cossack foremen, included in the nobility, reached the heights of a political, diplomatic, and military career in Russia. Graduates of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy played a leading role in church life. This was also the case during the Hetmanate – in fact, an autonomous state entity with its own special internal structure, and then in the Russian Empire. The Little Russians in many ways created a large common country, its statehood, culture, science. They participated in the development and development of the Urals, Siberia, the Caucasus, and the Far East. By the way, even in the Soviet period, natives of Ukraine occupied the most significant, including the highest positions in the leadership of the united state. Suffice it to say that for almost 30 years in total, the CPSU was headed by N. Khrushchev and L. Brezhnev, whose party biography was most closely connected with Ukraine.

In the second half of the XVIII century, after the wars with the Ottoman Empire, the Crimea, as well as the lands of the Black Sea region, called "Novorossiya", became part of Russia. They were populated by immigrants from all Russian provinces. After the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire returned the western Old Russian lands, with the exception of Galicia and Transcarpathia, which ended up in the Austrian, and later in the Austro–Hungarian Empire.

The integration of Western Russian lands into the common state space was not only the result of political and diplomatic decisions. It was held on the basis of a common faith and cultural traditions. And again, I would like to emphasize the linguistic proximity. So, back in the early XVII century, one of the hierarchs of the Uniate Church, Joseph Rutsky, reported to Rome that the inhabitants of Muscovy called Russians from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth their brothers, that their written language was exactly the same, and their spoken language, although different, was insignificant. According to his expression, like the inhabitants of Rome and Bergamo. This, as we know, is the center and north of modern Italy.

Of course, over many centuries of fragmentation, life in different states, regional linguistic features and dialects have emerged. The literary language was enriched at the expense of the people. Ivan Kotlyarevsky, Grigory Skovoroda, Taras Shevchenko played a huge role here. Their works are our common literary and cultural heritage. Taras Shevchenko's poems are written in Ukrainian, and his prose is mostly in Russian. The books of Nikolai Gogol, a patriot of Russia, a native of Poltava region, are written in Russian, full of Little Russian folk expressions and folklore motifs. How can this legacy be shared between Russia and Ukraine? And why do it?

The south-western lands of the Russian Empire, Little Russia and Novorossiya, Crimea developed as diverse in their ethnic and religious composition. Crimean Tatars, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Karaites, Crimeans, Bulgarians, Poles, Serbs, Germans and other peoples lived here. All of them kept their faith, traditions, customs.

I'm not going to idealize anything. Both the Valuev Circular of 1863 and the Emsky Act of 1876 are known, which restricted the publication and import from abroad of religious and socio-political literature in the Ukrainian language. But the historical context is important here. These decisions were made against the backdrop of dramatic events in Poland, the desire of the leaders of the Polish national movement to use the "Ukrainian question" to their advantage. I will add that works of art, collections of Ukrainian poems, folk songs continued to be published. Objective facts indicate that in the Russian Empire there was an active process of development of the Little Russian cultural identity within the framework of a large Russian nation that united Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians.

At the same time, among the Polish elite and some part of the Little Russian intelligentsia, ideas about the Ukrainian people separate from the Russian arose and strengthened. There was no historical basis here and could not be, so the conclusions were based on a variety of fictions. Up to the point that Ukrainians are supposedly not Slavs at all, or, conversely, that Ukrainians are real Slavs, and Russians, "Muscovites", are not. Such "hypotheses" have become increasingly used for political purposes as an instrument of rivalry between European states.

Since the end of the XIX century, the Austro-Hungarian authorities have picked up this topic - in contrast to both the Polish national movement and the Muscovite sentiments in Galicia. During the First World War, Vienna contributed to the formation of the so-called Legion of Ukrainian Sich Streltsy. Galicians suspected of sympathizing with Orthodoxy and Russia were subjected to severe repression, thrown into the Talerhof and Terezin concentration camps.

The further development of events is connected with the collapse of European empires, with a fierce Civil War that unfolded in the vast expanse of the former Russian Empire, with foreign intervention.

After the February Revolution, in March 1917, the Central Rada was created in Kiev, claiming to be the highest authority. In November 1917, in her third station wagon, she announced the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) as part of Russia.

In December 1917, representatives of the UPR arrived in Brest-Litovsk, where Soviet Russia was negotiating with Germany and its allies. At a meeting on January 10, 1918, the head of the Ukrainian delegation read a note on the independence of Ukraine. Then the Central Rada in its fourth universal proclaimed Ukraine independent.

The declared sovereignty proved to be short-lived. Just a few weeks later, the Rada delegation signed a separate agreement with the countries of the German bloc. Germany and Austria-Hungary, which were in a difficult situation, needed Ukrainian bread and raw materials. In order to ensure large-scale supplies, they have obtained an agreement to send their troops and technical personnel to the UPR. In fact, they used it as a pretext for occupation.

For those who today put Ukraine under full external control, it is worth remembering that then, in 1918, such a decision turned out to be fatal for the regime ruling in Kiev. With the direct participation of the occupying forces, the Central Rada was overthrown, and Hetman P. Skoropadsky was brought to power, proclaiming instead of the UPR the Ukrainian state, which was, in fact, under the German protectorate.

In November 1918, after the revolutionary events in Germany and Austria-Hungary, P. Skoropadsky, who had lost the support of the German bayonets, took a different course and declared that "Ukraine will be the first to act in the formation of the All-Russian Federation." However, soon the regime changed again. The time has come for the so-called Directory.

In the autumn of 1918, Ukrainian nationalists proclaimed the West Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR), and in January 1919 announced its unification with the Ukrainian People's Republic. In July 1919, the Ukrainian units were defeated by Polish troops, the territory of the former ZUNR was under Polish rule.

In April 1920, S. Petlyura (one of the "heroes" who are being imposed on modern Ukraine) concluded secret conventions on behalf of the UNR Directory, according to which, in exchange for military support, he gave Poland the lands of Galicia and Western Volhynia. In May 1920, the Petliurists entered Kiev in a train of Polish units. But not for long. Already in November 1920, after the armistice between Poland and Soviet Russia, the remnants of Petliura's troops surrendered to the same Poles.

The example of the UPR shows how unstable were various kinds of quasi-state formations that arose in the space of the former Russian Empire during the Civil War and the troubles. Nationalists sought to create their own separate states, the leaders of the White Movement advocated an indivisible Russia. Many republics established by supporters of the Bolsheviks could not imagine themselves outside Russia either. At the same time, for various reasons, the leaders of the Bolshevik Party sometimes literally pushed them out of Soviet Russia.

So, at the beginning of 1918, the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic was proclaimed, which appealed to Moscow with the question of joining Soviet Russia. V. Lenin met with the leaders of this republic and urged them to act as part of Soviet Ukraine. On March 15, 1918, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) explicitly decided to send delegates to the Ukrainian Congress of Soviets, including from the Donetsk basin, and to create at the congress "one government for the whole of Ukraine." The territories of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic in the future mainly comprised the regions of the South-East of Ukraine.

According to the Riga Treaty of 1921 between the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and Poland, the western lands of the former Russian Empire were ceded to Poland. During the interwar period, the Polish government launched an active resettlement policy, seeking to change the ethnic composition in the "eastern kres" – that's how the territories of present-day Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and part of Lithuania were called in Poland. Strict polonization was carried out, local culture and traditions were suppressed. Later, during the Second World War, radical groups of Ukrainian nationalists used this as a pretext for terror not only against the Polish, but also the Jewish, Russian population.

In 1922, when the USSR was created, one of the founders of which was the Ukrainian SSR, after a rather sharp discussion among the leaders of the Bolsheviks, Lenin's plan for the formation of a union state as a federation of equal republics was implemented. In the text of the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR, and then in the Constitution of the USSR of 1924, the right of free withdrawal of republics from the Union was introduced. Thus, the most dangerous "time bomb" was laid in the foundation of our statehood. It exploded as soon as the safety, safety mechanism disappeared in the form of the leadership role of the CPSU, which eventually collapsed from the inside. The "parade of sovereignties" has begun. On December 8, 1991, the so-called Belovezhskaya Agreement on the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States was signed, which declared that "the USSR as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality ceases to exist." By the way, the CIS Charter, adopted back in 1993, has not been signed or ratified by Ukraine.

In the 20-30s of the last century, the Bolsheviks actively promoted the policy of "Korenization", which in the Ukrainian SSR was carried out as Ukrainization. It is symbolic that within the framework of this policy, with the consent of the Soviet authorities, M. Hrushevsky, a former chairman of the Central Rada, one of the ideologists of Ukrainian nationalism, who once enjoyed the support of Austria–Hungary, returned to the USSR and was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences.

"Korenization", of course, played a big role in the development and strengthening of Ukrainian culture, language, identity. At the same time, under the guise of fighting the so-called Russian great-power chauvinism, Ukrainization was often imposed on those who did not consider themselves Ukrainians. Russian Russian national policy – instead of a large Russian nation, a triune people consisting of Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians - consolidated at the state level the position of three separate Slavic peoples: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.

In 1939, the lands previously occupied by Poland were returned to the USSR. A significant part of them is attached to Soviet Ukraine. In 1940, part of Bessarabia, occupied by Romania in 1918, and Northern Bukovina entered the Ukrainian SSR. In 1948 – the Black Sea island of Snake. In 1954, the Crimean region of the RSFSR was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR - with a gross violation of the legal norms in force at that time.

I will say separately about the fate of Subcarpathian Rus, which after the collapse of Austria-Hungary ended up in Czechoslovakia. A significant part of the locals were Rusyns. Little is remembered about this now, but after the liberation of Transcarpathia by Soviet troops, the congress of the Orthodox population of the region called for the inclusion of Subcarpathian Rus in the RSFSR or directly in the USSR - as a separate Carpatho-Russian republic. But this opinion of people was ignored. And in the summer of 1945, it was announced – as the newspaper Pravda wrote – about the historical act of reunification of Transcarpathian Ukraine "with its long-standing homeland - Ukraine."

Thus, modern Ukraine is entirely the brainchild of the Soviet era. We know and remember that to a large extent it was created at the expense of historical Russia. It is enough to compare which lands were reunited with the Russian state in the XVII century and with which territories of the Ukrainian SSR seceded from the Soviet Union.

The Bolsheviks treated the Russian people as inexhaustible material for social experiments. They dreamed of a world revolution that, in their opinion, would abolish nation-states altogether. Therefore, borders were arbitrarily cut, generous territorial "gifts" were distributed. Ultimately, what exactly guided the leaders of the Bolsheviks, shredding the country, no longer matters. You can argue about the details, the background and the logic of certain decisions. One thing is obvious: Russia has actually been robbed.

Working on this article, I was based not on some secret archives, but on open documents that contain well-known facts. The leaders of modern Ukraine and their external patrons prefer not to remember these facts. But for a variety of reasons, out of place and out of place, including abroad, today it is customary to condemn the "crimes of the Soviet regime", including even those events to which neither the CPSU, nor the USSR, nor even modern Russia have anything to do with them. At the same time, the actions of the Bolsheviks to alienate its historical territories from Russia are not considered a criminal act. It is clear why. If this has led to the weakening of Russia, then our detractors are satisfied with it.

In the USSR, the borders between the republics, of course, were not perceived as state borders, they were conditional in the framework of a single country, which, with all the attributes of the federation, was essentially highly centralized - due, I repeat, to the leading role of the CPSU. But in 1991, all these territories, and most importantly, the people who lived there, suddenly found themselves abroad. And they were already really torn away from their historical homeland.

What can I say? Everything is changing. Including countries and societies. And of course, a part of one nation in the course of its development – for a number of reasons, historical circumstances – may at some point feel, realize itself as a separate nation. How to treat it? There can be only one answer: sincerely!

Do you want to create your own state? You are welcome! But on what terms? Let me remind you here of the assessment given by one of the brightest political figures of the new Russia, the first mayor of St. Petersburg A. Sobchak. As a highly professional lawyer, he believed that any decision should be legitimate, and therefore in 1992 he expressed the following opinion: the founding republics of the Union, after they themselves annulled the 1922 Treaty, should return to the borders in which they joined the Union. All the other territorial acquisitions are a subject for discussion, negotiations, because the foundation has been annulled.

In other words, leave with what you came with. It's hard to argue with such logic. I will only add that the Bolsheviks, as I have already noted, began the arbitrary redrawing of borders even before the creation of the Union, and all manipulations with territories were carried out arbitrarily, ignoring the opinion of people.

The Russian Federation has recognized the new geopolitical realities. And not just recognized, but did a lot to make Ukraine take place as an independent country. In the difficult 90s and in the new millennium, we provided significant support to Ukraine. Kiev uses its "political arithmetic", but in 1991-2013, only due to low gas prices, Ukraine saved more than $ 82 billion for its budget, and today it literally "clings" to $1.5 billion of Russian payments for the transit of our gas to Europe. Whereas with the preservation of economic ties between our countries, the positive effect for Ukraine would amount to tens of billions of dollars.

Ukraine and Russia have been developing as a single economic system for decades and centuries. The depth of cooperation that we had 30 years ago could be envied by the EU countries today. We are natural, mutually complementary economic partners. Such a close relationship can strengthen competitive advantages and increase the potential of both countries.

And it was significant for Ukraine, including a powerful infrastructure, a gas transportation system, advanced shipbuilding, aircraft, rocket, instrument engineering, scientific, design, engineering schools of the world level. Having received such a legacy, the leaders of Ukraine, declaring independence, promised that the Ukrainian economy would become one of the leading, and the standard of living of people one of the highest in Europe.

Today, industrial high-tech giants, which Ukraine and the whole country were once proud of, are lying on their sides. Over the past 10 years, the output of mechanical engineering has fallen by 42 percent. The scale of deindustrialization and overall degradation of the economy is visible by such an indicator as electricity generation, which has almost halved in Ukraine over 30 years. And finally, according to the IMF, in 2019, even before the coronavirus epidemic, the level of per capita GDP of Ukraine amounted to less than 4 thousand dollars. This is below the Republic of Albania, the Republic of Moldova and the unrecognized Kosovo. Ukraine is now the poorest country in Europe.

Who is to blame for this? Are the people of Ukraine? Of course not. It was the Ukrainian authorities who squandered, wasted the achievements of many generations. We know how hardworking and talented the people of Ukraine are. He knows how to persistently and persistently achieve success, outstanding results. And these qualities, as well as openness, natural optimism, hospitality, have not gone away. The feelings of millions of people who treat Russia not just well, but with great love, just as we do Ukraine, remain the same.

Until 2014, hundreds of agreements and joint projects worked to develop our economies, business and cultural ties, strengthen security, and solve common social and environmental problems. They brought tangible benefits to people – both in Russia and in Ukraine. That's what we thought was the main thing. And that's why we fruitfully interacted with everyone, I emphasize, with all the leaders of Ukraine.

Even after the well-known events in Kiev in 2014, I gave instructions to the Russian Government to think over options for contacts between relevant ministries and departments in terms of preserving and supporting our economic ties. However, there was no counter-desire, so there is still no. Nevertheless, Russia is still one of the three main trading partners of Ukraine, and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians come to us for work and meet here with cordiality and support. This is how the "aggressor country" turns out.

When the USSR collapsed, many in Russia and Ukraine still sincerely believed, proceeding from the fact that our close cultural, spiritual, and economic ties would certainly remain, as well as the community of the people, who have always felt united at their core. However, events - at first gradually, and then faster and faster - began to develop in a different direction.

In fact, the Ukrainian elites decided to justify the independence of their country through the denial of its past, however, with the exception of the issue of borders. They began to mythologize and rewrite history, to erase from it everything that unites us, to talk about the period when Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire and the USSR as an occupation. The common tragedy of collectivization and famine of the early 30s is being passed off as genocide of the Ukrainian people.

Radicals and neo-Nazis openly and more brazenly declared their ambitions. They were indulged by both the official authorities and local oligarchs, who, having robbed the people of Ukraine, hold stolen goods in Western banks and are ready to sell their mother to save their capital. To this should be added the chronic weakness of state institutions, the position of a willing hostage of someone else's geopolitical will.

Let me remind you that quite a long time ago, long before 2014, the United States and the EU countries systematically and persistently pushed Ukraine to curtail and limit economic cooperation with Russia. As Ukraine's largest trade and economic partner, we offered to discuss emerging issues in the Ukraine–Russia–EU format. But every time we were told that Russia had nothing to do with it, they say, the issue concerns only the EU and Ukraine. De facto, Western countries have rejected repeated Russian proposals for dialogue.

Step by step, Ukraine was dragged into a dangerous geopolitical game, the purpose of which was to turn Ukraine into a barrier between Europe and Russia, into a springboard against Russia. Inevitably, the time came when the concept of "Ukraine is not Russia" was no longer satisfied. It took an "anti-Russia", which we will never put up with.

The customers of this project took as a basis the old developments of the Polish-Austrian ideologists of the creation of "anti-Moscow Russia". And there is no need to deceive anyone that this is being done in the interests of the people of Ukraine. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth never needed Ukrainian culture, much less Cossack autonomy. In Austria-Hungary, the historical Russian lands were mercilessly exploited and remained the poorest. The Nazis, who were served by collaborators, natives of the OUN-UPA, needed not Ukraine, but living space and slaves for Aryan masters.

The interests of the Ukrainian people were not thought about in February 2014. The just discontent of people caused by the most acute socio-economic problems, mistakes, inconsistent actions of the then authorities, was simply cynically used. Western countries directly intervened in the internal affairs of Ukraine, supported the coup. Radical nationalist groups acted as his battering ram. Their slogans, ideology, and outright aggressive Russophobia largely began to determine state policy in Ukraine.

Everything that has united us and brings us together so far has come under attack. First of all, the Russian language. Let me remind you that the new "Maidan" authorities first of all tried to repeal the law on state language policy. Then there was the law on "cleansing the authorities", the law on education, which practically eliminated the Russian language from the educational process.

And finally, already in May of this year, the current president introduced a bill on "indigenous peoples" to the Rada. They are recognized only by those who constitute an ethnic minority and do not have their own public education outside of Ukraine. The law has been passed. New seeds of discord have been sown. And this is in a country – as I have already noted - very complex in terms of territorial, national, linguistic composition, in the history of its formation.

An argument may be made: if you are talking about a single big nation, a triune people, then what difference does it make who people consider themselves to be - Russians, Ukrainians or Belarusians. I completely agree with this. Moreover, the definition of nationality, especially in mixed families– is the right of every person, free in his choice.

But the fact is that the situation in Ukraine today is completely different, since we are talking about a forced change of identity. And the most disgusting thing is that Russians in Ukraine are being forced not only to renounce their roots, from generations of ancestors, but also to believe that Russia is their enemy. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the course of forced assimilation, the formation of an ethnically pure Ukrainian state, aggressively disposed towards Russia, is comparable in its consequences to the use of weapons of mass destruction against us. Russian Russian people may decrease by hundreds of thousands, or even millions, as a result of such a crude, artificial gap between Russians and Ukrainians.

Our spiritual unity was also hit. As in the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a new church division was started. Without hiding that they pursue political goals, the secular authorities rudely interfered in church life and brought the matter to schism, to the seizure of churches, beating priests and monks. Even the broad autonomy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church while maintaining spiritual unity with the Moscow Patriarchate categorically does not suit them. They must destroy this visible, centuries-old symbol of our kinship at all costs.

I think it is also natural that representatives of Ukraine repeatedly vote against the UN General Assembly resolution condemning the glorification of Nazism. Marches and torchlight processions are held under the protection of the official authorities in honor of the unfinished war criminals from the SS formations. Mazepa, who betrayed everyone in a circle, Petlyura, who paid for Polish patronage with Ukrainian lands, Bandera, who collaborated with the Nazis, are put on the rank of national heroes. They are doing everything to erase from the memory of young generations the names of real patriots and winners, who have always been proud of in Ukraine.

For Ukrainians who fought in the ranks of the Red Army, in partisan detachments, the Great Patriotic War was precisely the Patriotic War, because they defended their home, their great common Homeland. More than two thousand became Heroes of the Soviet Union. Among them are legendary pilot Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub, fearless sniper, defender of Odessa and Sevastopol Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko, brave partisan commander Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak. This indomitable generation fought, gave their lives for our future, for us. To forget about their feat means to betray their grandfathers, mothers and fathers.

The "anti-Russia" project was rejected by millions of residents of Ukraine. Crimeans and residents of Sevastopol have made their historical choice. And people in the South-East peacefully tried to defend their position. But all of them, including children, were registered as separatists and terrorists. They began to threaten ethnic cleansing and the use of military force. And the residents of Donetsk and Lugansk took up arms to protect their home, language, and their lives. Were they left with a different choice - after the pogroms that swept through the cities of Ukraine, after the horror and tragedy of May 2, 2014 in Odessa, where Ukrainian neo-Nazis burned people alive, staged a new Khatyn? The followers of Bandera were ready to commit the same massacre in the Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk and Lugansk. They are still not abandoning such plans. Waiting in the wings. But they won't wait.

The coup d'etat and the subsequent actions of the Kiev authorities inevitably provoked confrontation and civil war. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the total number of victims associated with the conflict in Donbass has exceeded 13 thousand people. Among them are the elderly, children. Terrible, irreparable losses.

Russia has done everything to stop fratricide. The Minsk agreements were concluded, which are aimed at a peaceful settlement of the conflict in the Donbass. I am convinced that they still have no alternative. In any case, no one has withdrawn their signatures either under the Minsk "Package of Measures" or under the relevant statements of the leaders of the "Normandy format" countries. No one initiated the revision of the UN Security Council Resolution of February 17, 2015.

In the course of official negotiations, especially after being "pulled back" by Western partners, representatives of Ukraine periodically declare their "full commitment" to the Minsk agreements, but in fact they are guided by the position of their "unacceptability". We do not intend to seriously discuss either the special status of Donbass or guarantees for the people living here. They prefer to exploit the image of a "victim of external aggression" and trade in Russophobia. They are staging bloody provocations in the Donbass. In short, they attract the attention of external patrons and owners by any means.

Apparently, and I am becoming more and more convinced of this: Kiev simply does not need Donbass. Why? Because, firstly, the residents of these regions will never accept the orders that they have tried and are trying to impose by force, blockade, threats. And secondly, the results of both Minsk-1 and Minsk-2, which give a real chance to peacefully restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine by directly agreeing with the DPR and LPR with the mediation of Russia, Germany and France, contradict the entire logic of the anti-Russia project. And he can only hold on to the constant cultivation of the image of an internal and external enemy. And I will add - under the protectorate, under the control of the Western powers.

Which is what happens in practice. First of all, it is the creation of an atmosphere of fear in Ukrainian society, aggressive rhetoric, pandering to neo-Nazis, militarization of the country. Along with this, it is not just complete dependence, but direct external management, including the supervision of foreign advisers over the Ukrainian authorities, special services and armed forces, the military "development" of the territory of Ukraine, the deployment of NATO infrastructure. It is no coincidence that the aforementioned scandalous law on "indigenous peoples" was adopted under the guise of large-scale NATO exercises in Ukraine.

Under the same cover, the absorption of the remnants of the Ukrainian economy and the exploitation of its natural resources are also taking place. The sale of agricultural land is not far off, and who will buy them is obvious. Yes, from time to time Ukraine is allocated financial resources, loans, but under its own conditions and interests, under preferences and benefits for Western companies. By the way, who will pay these debts? Apparently, it is assumed that this will have to be done not only by today's generation of Ukrainians, but also by their children, grandchildren, and, probably, great-grandchildren.

The Western authors of the anti-Russia project are setting up the Ukrainian political system in such a way that presidents, deputies, and ministers change, but the attitude towards separation from Russia and enmity with it remains unchanged. The main campaign slogan of the incumbent president was to achieve peace. He came to power on this. The promises turned out to be lies. Nothing has changed. And in some ways, the situation in Ukraine and around Donbass has also degraded.

There is no place for sovereign Ukraine in the anti-Russia project, as well as for political forces that are trying to defend its real independence. Those who talk about reconciliation in Ukrainian society, about dialogue, about finding a way out of the impasse that has arisen, are labeled as "pro-Russian" agents.

I repeat, for many in Ukraine, the "anti-Russia" project is simply unacceptable. And there are millions of such people. But they are not allowed to raise their heads. They were practically deprived of the legal opportunity to defend their point of view. They are intimidated, driven underground. For their beliefs, for the spoken word, for openly expressing their position, they are not only persecuted, but also killed. Murderers, as a rule, go unpunished.

Only the one who hates Russia is now declared the "right" patriot of Ukraine. Moreover, as we understand it, it is proposed to build the entire Ukrainian statehood exclusively on this idea in the future. Hatred and bitterness – and world history has proved this more than once – is a very shaky basis for sovereignty, fraught with many serious risks and grave consequences.

We understand all the tricks associated with the anti-Russia project. And we will never allow our historical territories and people close to us living there to be used against Russia. And to those who make such an attempt, I want to say that in this way they will destroy their country.

The current authorities in Ukraine like to refer to the Western experience, consider it as a role model. So look at how Austria and Germany, the USA and Canada live next to each other. Similar in ethnic composition, culture, in fact with the same language, they remain sovereign states, with their own interests, with their own foreign policy. But this does not prevent their closest integration or allied relations. They have very conditional, transparent borders. And citizens, crossing them, feel at home. They create families, study, work, and do business. By the way, just like millions of natives of Ukraine who now live in Russia. For us, they are our own, relatives.

Russia is open to dialogue with Ukraine and is ready to discuss the most difficult issues. But it is important for us to understand that the partner defends his national interests, and does not serve others, is not an instrument in someone's hands to fight us.

We respect the Ukrainian language and traditions. To the desire of Ukrainians to see their state free, safe, prosperous.

I am convinced that the true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible precisely in partnership with Russia. Our spiritual, human, and civilizational ties have been formed for centuries, go back to the same origins, and have been tempered by common trials, achievements, and victories. Our kinship is passed down from generation to generation. It is in the hearts, in the memory of people living in modern Russia and Ukraine, in the blood ties that unite millions of our families. Together we have always been and will be many times stronger and more successful. After all, we are one people.

Now these words are perceived by some with hostility. They can be interpreted in any way. But many people will hear me. And I will say one thing: Russia has never been and will never be "anti-Ukraine". And what Ukraine should be is up to its citizens to decide.

Vladimir Putin

If you ask a mainland Chinese his opinion about the origins of COVID-19 these days, the majority will answer that the virus originated in a US military lab, and was spread into China by US Marines invited for the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan. The blame doesn't stop there though: even after that evil deed, the United States keeps actively spreading COVID throughout the world. Here's an informative article from the People's Daily, the most moderate among Chinese official media.

Good news for those of us tired of the security checks on Beijing's subway.

Global Times has proudly announced that, if you are a honest citizen, you can now have easy access to the subway.

No more man-handling and patting up your private parts, for you; no sirree. If you're prepared to just take a quick facial recognition procedure, have not committed uncivilized behavior (eating or carrying prohibited items, or disrupting a COVID-19 test site) previously, and -- ofcourse -- use the Approved and Glorious App you, yes, YOU, can enter the subway system unchecked (apart from an additional facial scan at the entry).

Another Milestone in Global Development and Cultural Achievement. That is, if you haven't previously fscked your second-generation social credit score some other way in either one of the following four areas: administrative affairs, commercial activities, social behavior, and the judicial system.

Keeping Trust is Glorious and Breaking Trust is Disgraceful, and all that -- now coupled with a neat connection to the public transport system, as well as your bank account.

By now, 1.1 billion should be happily checking their credit scores online, dixit the Global Times.

Senator Graham:Secretary Pompeo designated the Chinese Communist Party as having engaged in genocide regarding the Uyghur muslim population. Do you agree with that designation?

Mr. Blinken:That would be my judgment as well.

Senator Graham:You do agree with that designation?

Mr. Blinken:Yes.

Secretary of State Confirmation Hearing, Jan 19, 2021. (full hearing, quote clip)

Anthony Blinken, the Biden administration's pick for Secretary of State, stated in his confirmation hearing that China is committing genocide against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. With that statement, he follows in the footsteps of Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State in the Trump administration.

In the final hours of the Trump administration, Secretary of State Pompeo put out the following press statement:

For the past four years, this Administration has exposed the nature of the Chinese Communist Party and called it what it is: a Marxist-Leninist regime that exerts power over the long-suffering Chinese people through brainwashing and brute force. We have paid particular attention to the CCP’s treatment of the Uyghur people, a Muslim minority group that resides largely in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Western China.

Our exhaustive documentation of the PRC’s actions in Xinjiang confirms that since at least March 2017, local authorities dramatically escalated their decades-long campaign of repression against Uyghur Muslims and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups, including ethnic Kazakhs and ethnic Kyrgyz.

Their morally repugnant, wholesale policies, practices, and abuses are designed systematically to discriminate against and surveil ethnic Uyghurs as a unique demographic and ethnic group, restrict their freedom to travel, emigrate, and attend schools, and deny other basic human rights of assembly, speech, and worship. PRC authorities have conducted forced sterilizations and abortions on Uyghur women, coerced them to marry non-Uyghurs, and separated Uyghur children from their families.

Party apparatchiks have denied international observers unhindered access to Xinjiang and denounced reliable reports about the worsening situation on the ground, instead spinning fanciful tales of happy Uyghurs participating in educational, counter-terror, women’s empowerment, and poverty alleviation projects. Meanwhile, they are delivering far darker messages to their own people, portraying Uyghurs as “malignant tumors,” comparing their faith to a “communicable plague,” and exhorting the Party faithful to implement a crushing blow, telling them “you can’t uproot all the weeds hidden among the crops in the field one-by-one; you need to spray chemicals to kill them all.”

Continues

The Financial Times reports that the US is applying pressure on the current head of the United Nations, António Guterres, to start an investigation into the Xinjiang situation. Guterres needs the support of all 5 permanent members of the Security Council, if he wants to secure his reappointment this year.

Chinese authorities have put sanctions on Pompeo and 28 other Americans, according to the Global Times. The same paper, a Chinese state media outlet, called Pompeo a Doomsday clown, lying over Xinjiang.

"By accusing the Chinese government and the CPC of 'genocide,' Pompeo is trying to label China as a Nazi country, which is not only crazy but also severely violates China's domestic affairs and defames the country and the CPC," Zhu Ying, deputy director of the National Human Rights Education and Training Base of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times.

All travel is blocked to and from the UK by a number of countries.

On Saturday, UK authorities reported a new, more infectious, strain of covid-19, and introduced stricter lockdown measures: all non-essential stores closed, and the earlier relaxing of household gatherings for Christmas reversed. The new measures may have to remain for months, admitted health secretary Matt Hancock. Chaotic scenes on the main train stations in London followed, with people trying to leave for the countryside.

On Sunday, a slew of countries -- the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Austria, France, Italy, Norway, Ireland, Bulgaria, Canada, Switzerland, India, Poland, Turkey and Hong Kong -- banned all travel from the UK. Germany also stopped all travel from South Africa, by midnight. Passengers from both countries, arriving by plane on Sunday, were stopped, tested and had to spend the night on field beds in Hannover.

France went further and also banned all truck transport from the UK for 48 hours, after which traffic will be allowed through again, provided drivers can show a covid-19 negative test. As the route Calais (FR) to Dover (UK) is a main supply artery for the UK, with more than 10,000 trucks crossing daily, this has further added to the enormous logjam in UK harbours. That logjam started 2-3 weeks ago, due to Brexit-related stockpiling by UK supermarket stores.

The expectation is that Britain will shortly face a serious supply problem, due to a combination of people stockpiling and EU based transport companies refusing to provide supply trucks, likely to be stuck for days, maybe even weeks -- with no Brexit deal in sight -- on return from the UK.

The European Union will be holding an emergency coordination meeting this noon.

The new covid-19 variant, named B.1.1.7, was first discovered in Kent, UK, on September 20. Defined by a novel set of spike mutations, it was responsible for 28 per cent of infections in London by early November, and 62 per cent in the week ending December 9.

Computer modelling suggests that it is 70 per cent more transmissible than other Sars-Cov-2 strains circulating in the UK and raises the R value — the average number of people to whom someone with Covid-19 passes the infection — by 0.4. European countries are already struggling to keep the R rate for covid-19 at or below 0.9 -- so an increase of this magnitude will make the pandemic far harder to control.

Regular Covid-19 tests do not detect viral mutations. Variants can only be identified through a readout of all 30,000 letters of genetic code in each Sars-Cov-2 sample using specialised sequencing machines. According to a paper released on Saturday, labs have sequenced 1,623 Sars-Cov-2 viral genomes showing the B.1.1.7 variant.

One of the questions is, hence, why it took so long for the UK government to notify other countries, and why they relaxed gathering restrictions just last week. The only thing left for the EU is a race against the clock to limit the spreading of the new strain: the Netherlands already found an infection, as did Austria. In Belgium, 5 infections have been found.

A leading scientific expert there stated that it is highly likely the new variant is present in quite a few countries -- and that England not necessarily may be the place with the most B.1.1.7 infections. Research in the UK is simply more extensive and of the highest quality, while some other countries don't really look hard, or even at all, for Sars-CoV-2 variants.

The other strain now causing concern -- the reason for the German travel ban for South Africa -- is called 501.V2. Between 80 - 90 percent of all covid viruses found in the last 2 months in South Africa were 501.V2. Like B.1.1.7, it is causing a much higher viral load in infected patients. It is also being reported in the UK and Australia.

In related news, Denmark is going to excavate, then burn, the bodies of over 4 million minks, culled a couple of months ago when a new covid-19 variant, Y453F, was discovered in them. That variant showed mutations which potentially, if passed onto human covid-19 viruses, could have reduced the effectiveness of vaccines. The operation will only start in 6 months, with Danish authorities claiming there would be no further contamination risk after this period.

I am convinced territorial disputes, violations of international law and China’s ambitions for global supremacy can only be approached multilaterally.

...

What will be crucial, regardless of the outcome of the [Wednesday AEDT] US presidential election, is whether the West can be more unified in its dealings with Beijing.

...

We have always had our tiffs across the Atlantic. That won’t change. What’s key is that we get the big stuff right. China is big stuff."

So spoke Germany's Defence Minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

In a historical first, Germany is going to link up with a non-NATO member, Australia, to patrol the Indo-Pacific: German naval officers will be embedded within the Australian Navy, a German frigate is also sent to make a mark.

This news means that 5 Western nations will now be patrolling the Indo-Pacific: the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.

Along the way, the German Defence Minister also confirmed that Huawei would be excluded from German 5G telco networks.

"China is a country that understands very well the political dimension of IT networks and data flows. I am sure our counterparts in Beijing understand that we Europeans can only operate technology we trust."

In 2012, Julian Assange moved into the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Little known is that the Ecuadorian embassy next hired a private security firm -- the Spanish company UC Global -- to protect their famous guest agains spying activity by Her Majesty's police force, which all this time was patiently waiting outside with tea and cookies.

German public broadcasters Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) and NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) now have managed to get their hands on confidential mails and video material belonging to UC Global (German language video).

Turns out that UC Global extensively deployed hidden cameras and microphones within the embassy. Everything was recorded: the IDs of every visitor to Assange, his doctor's visits and his talks with his psychiatrist, every move he made, or conversation he had: with American friends, journalists, his legal team and even Dana Rohrabacher (Rep California) allegedly dispatched there by President Trump himself.

Not wanting to overdo things, the UC Global team even fished a diaper of Assange's son out the trash bin, to compare DNA.

In the end though, their sense of duty had limitations -- and ended up in Spain's Audiencia Nacional court, with employees alleging they were sold out to do the CIA's bidding. The company's boss, a former special forces officer on leave of absence, was helpful enough to state both verbally and in writing to a number of his employees that, despite having been hired by the government of then-Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, he also worked “for the Americans.”

“We are playing in another league. This is the first division,”

he told his closest colleagues after attending a security fair in the US city of Las Vegas in 2015 where he supposedly made his first American contacts.

The latest UK court session for Assange, on Sept 11, was postponed because one of the lawyers for the US side has contracted covid. The Court at the Old Bailey has to decide by the end of this year whether Assange will be extradited to the United States, where he risks 175 years jail time.

*postscript: the Assange case gets quite a bit of attention in Germany: see here for an overview, for a single public broadcaster alone.

Nathan Law and 5 others are being actively sought by Hong Kong police for collusion with foreign forces and jeopardizing national security, reports Global Times, an English language website run by the Chinese Communist Party.

Former UK consulate staffer, Simon Cheng Man-kit (previously detained for soliciting prostitutes, dixit Global Times), and secessionist Samuel Chu (now a US national) of Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC), are also on the wanted list. Other names mentioned are Ray Wong Toi-yeung and Lau Hong, and Chu and Wayne Chan Ka-kui.

Interestingly, the reason why the 6 are being sought is for crimes after the national security legislation was officially established -- hence after Nathan Law was already in London. It wouldn't be surprising if Law's interview on the BBC's Hard Talk would be reason for accusing him of jeopardizing national security.

According to the article, the six are spread around the world: Nathan Law, Ray Wong Toi-yeung and Lau Hong in the UK, Cheng Man-kit in the US, Chu and Wayne in the Netherlands, EU. Hong Kong police is planning to issue an international search warrant for the six, through Interpol.

The Hong Kong police department is a member of the Interpol, and countries that shield the suspects are showing no regard the Interpol framework and will face pressure from it, Zhi Zhenfeng, a legal expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, stated.

‘She’s got a Chinese husband,’ they say. ‘She works here, and she won’t run away or exhibit any freethinking.’”

In 2018, China Media Group was created through the merger of several predominant Chinese state radio and television broadcasters. Its aim was (is) to increase China's 'discursive power' (huayuquan) i.e. its ability to influence international opinion, and, ultimately, decision making.

That same year, China Media Group signed a strategic partnership with the Russian state news agency “Rossiya Segodnya”. Under the agreement, Chinese and Russian state media would publish a defined number of positive news stories about each others viewpoints and achievements.

The contract turns out, in practice, to be rather one-sided.

While Rossiya Segodnya publishes more than 100 stories a month, sourced by China Media Group, the number of stories published in China, based on Rossiya Segodnya reporting, is practically non-existent. Even an essay written, and signed, by Vladimir Putin himself about the second world war didn't get the OK of China's propaganda department and, hence, was not published.

Meduza.io, the new home of lenta.ru newsroom exiles, investigates.

The time is not far off that your dishwasher has more, and more intelligent, twitter followers than yourself. What's more, he/she/it will probably have a better Internet connection too.

Ahem. Yet another car maker has announced plans to up a fleet of satellites into space, for reasons of Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Driving, and oh, Global Monitoring of the Internet-of-Things.

This one is Chinese -- Geely Group, of Volvo and Lotus -- and is planning to launch a mere 500 satellites (a year). Plans were announced in March, factory has now been built, as well as the first two satellites destined for LEO. For fun and giggles, they've named it the OmniCloud.

Only a matter of time before some smartass thinks: 'Hey!! Cameras!!!!'