Having written recently that it may be a bad idea at his time to keep trying to explain why invading Ukraine should be understood in context, it is with trepidation that I’m now going to do just that. The reason is that there are documents that just came to light which, if verified, prove that those who believed that Russia was trying to prevent a genocide were correct. Of course, if you are in the habit of assuming that any statements released by Russia are by definition false, don't bother reading further.
Although you’ve probably never heard since it is never reported in American
media, Russia reported that there were as many as 125,000 Ukrainian
troops inside the ethnically Russian Donbass region of Ukraine by December
of 2021, when the 8-year old conflict between Ukraine and the breakaway
Republics was heating up again. These troops had been trained and heavily armed
by the US, which had been encouraging Ukraine to forcibly take back. On
February 24th, the day the invasion began, Ukraine was clearly
poised to invade the self-declared independent Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The newly revealed records confirm what many of us suspected, that the Ukrainian
invasion was scheduled to occur within days.
It is very likely that this was apparent to Russian military intelligence,
which would provide a totally different explanation for why the invasion
occurred even as Russia was negotiating with Ukraine than the idea that Putin
was simply “mad” and “wanted to restore the long-lost Russian Empire.” The claim
that Putin was lying about not wanting to invade was based on the fact that he
was conducting a troop buildup while negotiating, and in the end he did invade.
However, taking literally Putin’s statement that Russia had “no plans to invade”
is disingenuous. Obviously, the Russian military buildup meant that they had a
plan, but he said repeatedly that whether there would be war depended entirely
on Ukraine’s actions. It is entirely possible that he would have preferred to
not invade, as he repeatedly indicated. Unless, of course, you start with
the assumption that he is mad.
Unlike those who believe the US wanted to avoid war, Zelensky understood what
Putin was saying. He called for a halt to inflammatory rhetoric coming from the
US and asked Biden to come to Ukraine underscore the fact that there need be no
war. In the end, Zelensky was put in a position where he had no choice but to refuse
to deescalate the situation by removing troops from Donbass. The video in this article
shows why: When he had tried order troops out of Donbass in 2019, neo-Nazis with much
greater power over the government and military than their numbers would
indicate laughed in his face and sent him away. That’s how a Jewish president
came to realize that he had better go along with what these US-backed fascists had
in mind.
So go ahead and hate Putin if it makes you feel better. War is always a choice,
and it is always brutal. Civilians are always killed, even though dead children
make excellent propaganda for those who want to paint a war as one-sided. But
if you want to prevent the next war, for God’s sake try to understand the logic
of both sides of this conflict. More specifically, do whatever you can do to try
and get your government to stop constantly provoking a nuclear power, while
denying its legitimate security interests.
Below is a transcript of the official Russian Defense Ministry announcement.
The cited documents can be seen here.
-Translation supplied by
Konstantin Scheglikov.
"During a
special military operation, secret documents of the command of the National
Guard of Ukraine came into the possession of Russian military personnel. These
documents confirm the covert preparation by the Kiev regime of an offensive
operation in the Donbass in March 2022.
The Russian
Defense Ministry publishes the original secret order of the commander of the
National Guard of Ukraine, Colonel General Nikolay Balan, dated January 22, 2022.
The order "On
the organization of training of the battalion tactical group of the 4th
Operational Brigade to perform combat (special) tasks in the operation of the
united forces as part of the brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine".
The document is
addressed to the heads of the northern Kiev, southern Odessa and western
territorial administrations of the National Guard of Ukraine.
The order, brought
to the command of the National Guard of Ukraine, details a plan for the
preparation of one of the strike groups for offensive actions in the zone of
the so-called "operation of the united forces" in the Donbass.
The document
approves the organizational and staff structure of the battalion-tactical group
of the 4th operational brigade of the National Guard, the organization of its
comprehensive support and reassignment to the 80th separate airborne assault
Brigade of Ukraine.
I would like to
emphasize that this brigade from the airborne assault forces of Ukraine has
been trained by American and British instructors in training programs of the
"NATO standard" in Lviv since 2016.
In accordance with
the order, the Deputy Commander of the National Guard was tasked with
organizing combat coordination of the battalion tactical group of the National
Guard as part of the 80th separate airborne assault brigade of the Armed Forces
of Ukraine from February 7 to February 28, 2022.
I draw your
attention - as many as five paragraphs of paragraph 4 are devoted to the issues
of careful selection of personnel, examination of all psychologists and
ensuring their high motivation.
To do this, the
National Guard is ordered to provide "visual agitation, information and
propaganda materials, flags, and printing products."
The Deputy
commander of the National Guard for Personnel was ordered to organize "an
effective system of informational, moral and psychological support for the battalion-tactical
group of the 4th brigade of operational purpose, internal communication of
commanders with subordinates."
At the same time,
it is important to provide "an explanation to the personnel of management
decisions and the importance of performing upcoming tasks."
I draw special
attention to the fact that paragraph 12 of the order prohibits sending to the
area of combat coordination and to the place of execution of "combat
special tasks" of the National guardsmen who showed
"unsatisfactory" results of psychological testing according to the
criterion of "readiness for risk".
All measures of
the nationalists' combat coordination are ordered to be completed by February
28 in order to further ensure the fulfillment of combat tasks as part of the
Ukrainian "joint forces operation" in the Donbass.
The document
contains the original signatures of the officials responsible for the tasks of
the command of the National Guard of Ukraine.
We well remember
the statements of the leadership of the Kiev regime, replicated in February by
the Western media, about the alleged absence of any plans for the armed seizure
of the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics. Their desire to solve all issues
allegedly "by political and diplomatic means".
However, the
originals of the secret combat documents of the National Guard of Ukraine
unequivocally prove the falsity of these statements.
A special military
operation conducted by the Russian Armed Forces since February 24 has
forestalled and thwarted a large-scale offensive by shock groups of Ukrainian
troops on,uncontrolled to Kiev, the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republic in
March of this year.
Thus, only one
question remains unclear so far: how deeply the leadership of the United States
and its NATO allies were involved in the planning and preparation of the
operation to storm the Donbass by the Ukrainian interspecific group of troops
in early March. All those who care so much about peace in Ukraine today."
The Russian
Defense Ministry publishes the originals of the National Guard's combat order
proving that Ukraine is preparing an offensive on Donbass in March this
year."
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