CodiMD - Collaborative markdown notes

[Version française](https://codimd.caa-ins.org/s/HJRSvv5ds) [Versión española](https://codimd.caa-ins.org/s/HJRWMfIRo) ## “Russia attacked Ukraine because NATO or the US was about to attack Russia” 🤔 No. Putin himself says that this is not the case (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOCWBhuDdDo), despite the fact that he put forward this explanation in his speech announcing the invasion (a detail that did not escape Tucker Carlson's attention: https://youtu.be/waLjtcUq5Mc?si=TpFElJF4wa9Q5_cq&t=84). ## “Russia attacked Ukraine because NATO broke its promise not to expand eastward” 🤔 It is often said that the Americans promised the Soviet Union that NATO would not expand one inch eastward. Mikhail Gorbachev, who was the Soviet Union's representative, said the following on this subject: > "The subject of NATO expansion was not discussed at all, and it has not been raised in recent years. I say this with full responsibility. [...] Another issue we raised was discussed: ensuring that NATO's military structures would not advance and that no additional armed forces of the alliance would be deployed on the territory of the former GDR after German reunification. Baker's statement was made in this context. [...] This agreement has been respected throughout all these years. So don't portray Gorbachev and the Soviet authorities of the time as naive people who allowed themselves to be led by the nose by the West. [...] At the beginning, Russia had no objection." https://www.rbth.com/international/2014/10/16/mikhail_gorbachev_i_am_against_all_walls_40673.html Conclusion: the agreement referred to military installations and not to new member countries. Therefore, the Kremlin's excuse of a broken promise as the reason for the invasion does not hold water, since “Russia had no objection,” as Gorbachev stated. In terms of international law, no treaty or charter co-signed by the West and the Soviet Union, and later Russia, contains any commitment regarding the future of NATO. https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C3%89largissement_de_l%27OTAN#Situation_au_regard_du_droit_international Reunified Germany joined NATO with the agreement of the USSR. (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89largissement_de_l%27OTAN#Appartenance_de_l'Allemagne_r%C3%A9unifi%C3%A9e_%C3%A0_l'OTAN) When the USSR collapsed, NATO lost its purpose and refocused its activities on resolving the conflict in the Balkans, cybersecurity, terrorism, etc. In 1991, when Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia applied to join NATO, NATO initially rejected their applications. But Russia's actions in the Georgian civil war, the conflict in North Ossetia, and especially the first Chechen war, greatly concerned them, and they insisted. (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89largissement_de_l%27OTAN#Groupe_de_Visegr%C3%A1d) Moreover, Boris Yeltsin himself, as Russia's leader, gave Poland the green light to join NATO. In the early 1990s, efforts were made on the American side to help Russia embark on the path to democratization and a market economy. This is why [the doors of the World Bank and the IMF were opened to Russia](https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C3%89largissement_de_l%27OTAN#Deuxi%C3%A8me_temps_:_les_adh%C3%A9sions_(1992-1994)). Unfortunately, the Russian economy collapsed in 1998. The countries surrounding Russia were concerned about the situation and about Russia moving away from democratic principles (as was later proven by the imprisonment of political opponents and the amendment of the Russian constitution to allow Putin to be re-elected without limit). In 2002, Putin himself had no problem with Ukraine joining NATO: > "I am absolutely convinced that Ukraine will not shy away from the process of expanding its interaction with NATO and Western allies as a whole. Ukraine has its own relations with NATO; there is the Ukraine-NATO Council. Ultimately, the decision [on Ukraine's accession to NATO] must be made by NATO and Ukraine. It is a matter for these two partners." (Press release/answers to questions at the joint press conference with Kuchma, http://www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/21598, 05.17.02) > "On the subject of Ukraine's accession to NATO, the Russian president said that Ukraine had the right to make this decision independently. He does not consider this to be something that could cloud relations between Russia and Ukraine." (Comments paraphrased by the Kremlin press service after a joint press conference following a Russia-NATO summit, http://www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/43122, 05.28.02) That said, one might wonder whether the accession of Eastern European countries has contributed to putting pressure on Russia. This is likely, but what danger would the world's largest country with a powerful army and the world's largest nuclear arsenal face? No one was going to attack Russia. The real reason is the gradual loss of its sphere of influence. More and more countries have moved away from the Russian model to embrace the European and Western model, seeking to protect themselves from an increasingly autocratic and aggressive Russia. The Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted Sweden and Finland to join NATO. This was a completely predictable reaction that did not prevent Putin from launching his war. And it proves that NATO's military threat is mainly a pretext. The threat to Russia is cultural. None of this exonerates the Americans (and their influence on NATO). We know very well that their foreign policy is often based on unacceptable hegemonic and violent methods. Is that a reason to be complacent about the Russian invasion? No. ## “Russia is a peaceful and reliable country” 🤔 Three months before invading Ukraine, Putin denied that Russia had any intention of attacking Ukraine, noting that the Russian Federation “is a peace-loving state.” https://interfax.com.ua/news/general/784704.html Three months before invading Ukraine, Russian Army General Gerasimov said that rumors that Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine were “lies.” https://tass.com/world/1373123 ## “Russia has distanced itself from the dark days of the USSR” 🤔 In December 2024, Georgy Filimonov, governor of Russia's Vologda region, unveiled a new statue of dictator Stalin. https://x.com/NatalkaKyiv/status/1870943506006716571 ## “Referendums on the annexation of Ukrainian territories are legitimate” 🤔 1. Ukraine's territorial boundaries were recognized in a document signed by Mr. Putin in 2003 at the UN: * http://www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/30820 * https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/No%20Volume/54132/Part/I-54132-08000002803fe18a.pdf Mr. Putin acknowledged this on television in 2008: https://twitter.com/AlasdairMcc1/status/1586278501769953280 Therefore, from the outset, a referendum organized on territory occupied by Russian military forces is an aberration. 2. According to a Russian army officer (https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/11bdk3s/old_interview_of_russian_military_official/), there would have been no separatist movement in Donbass if the Russian army had not entered the region in 2014 to form the core of the separatist movement. 3. Three days passed between the announcement of the “referendum” and the vote, in violation of Russian rules (Russian law stipulates that a referendum vote must take place no earlier than 60 days after its announcement) and in violation of international rules (http://dppa.un.org/en/usg-dicarlo-so-called-referenda-held-russian-federation-occupied-ukrainian-territory-cannot-be-0). 4. When there is a referendum, there is normally a period for public debate. There was no debate, no campaign for the “yes” or “no” side, nothing. 5. People had to vote in front of armed soldiers: * https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1573333979490824192 * https://twitter.com/temafey/status/1573290002020470784 6. Other irregularities were observed, such as people voting multiple times and/or pre-filled ballots being prepared, ... [as in a Russian election](twitter.com/igorsushko/status/1569221977042206722). 7. As it is organized by the same people, or almost the same people, it is highly likely that the results will be manipulated as they were in 2014 in Donetsk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzZbcnjI4lE&t=911s 8. The result, which gives a 90% victory, does not mention that only a residual part of the population participated in the vote: ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeINoWpWQAA-opH?format=jpg&name=900x900 =50%x50%) Source: twitter.com/handinono/status/1576837808781946880 This completely invalidates the result (which was predictable since hundreds of thousands of people fled due to the Russian invasion). 9. Even if we imagine that the “referendums” were legitimate, they would not have been valid because two questions were included in the same vote: the desire for independence AND the desire to join Russia. Those who just wanted independence did not have the opportunity to express it. ## What about the genocide in Donbass perpetrated by the Ukrainians? 🤔 1. Pavel Gubarev, former pro-Russian “people's governor” of Donetsk (elected by a show of hands in the street), says that it was Igor Girkin/Strelkov's 2014 Russian incursion into Ukraine, not the locals, that played the main role in triggering the Donbass war: https://x.com/hifromnz/status/1804266820133916952 2. Girkin/Strelkov himself even said so: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2014/11/21/russias-igor-strelkov-i-am-responsible-for-war-in-eastern-ukraine-a41598 3. This led to the creation of armed militias that violently attacked government buildings in eastern Ukraine. Pro-Russian forces complained about the violent overthrow of power in Kiev, then adopted the same modus operandi themselves: https://twitter.com/Igor_from_Kyiv_/status/1568902366262398976 4. Girkin explains how his militias surrounded Crimean deputies to force them to vote for secession: https://x.com/hifromnz/status/1804266817214648442 5. The organization of the 2014 referendum in Donetsk was manipulated, according to its organizers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzZbcnjI4lE&t=911s 6. Faced with this foreign interference (Russia sent large quantities of weapons (https://youtu.be/rzZbcnjI4lE?t=1833) and military personnel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzZbcnjI4lE&t=3047s)), the Ukrainian army intervened to stop the separation process. Russia had acted in exactly the same way against Chechen separatists in 1999-2000. 7. There have been unjust civilian casualties and war crimes on both sides, that is certain, but when people talk about eight years of genocide, that is false. The number of victims recorded by the UN (https://ukraine.un.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/Conflict-related%20civilian%20casualties%20as%20of%2031%20December%202021%20(rev%2027%20January%202022)% 20corr%20EN_0.pdf#page=3) was high in 2014 but fell exponentially in subsequent years, from 2,084 in 2014 to 112 in 2016 and then to 25 in 2021. Pro-Kremlin commentators speak of 14,000 civilian deaths. This includes armed militias, which is illogical and manipulative. 6. By way of comparison, during the second Chechen war waged by the Russians against Chechen separatists in 1999-2000, between 100,000 and 300,000 civilians were killed (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seconde_guerre_de_Tch%C3%A9tch%C3%A9nie), i.e. nearly 25% of the population and nearly 100 times more victims than in Donbass. When pro-Kremlin commentators talk about genocide in Donbass, where there have been 3,106 civilian casualties (https://ukraine.un.org/sites/default/files/ 2022-02/Conflict-related%20civilian%20casualties%20as%20of%2031%20December%202021%20(rev%2027%20January%202022)%20corr%20EN_0.pdf# page=3) unarmed, what should we think of the hundreds of thousands of deaths in Chechnya under Russian assault? 7. When Zelensky came to power, he managed to calm the situation for a year, until February 18, 2020, when separatist and Russian forces bombarded Ukrainian positions: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerre_du_Donbass#2019 8. Russian disinformation about the conflict in Donbass is quite prolific: http://www.russialies.com/russias-top-20-lies-about-ukraine/ ## Is Ukraine a country of Nazis? 🤔 There are Nazis in Ukraine (in residual numbers), as there are everywhere, including Russia. The narrative that Ukraine is a country of Nazis is very effective with Russian public opinion (due to the trauma caused by World War II) and serves to create support for the “special operation.” Except that: 1. Ukraine is the least anti-Semitic country in Eastern Europe: ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeXZo48X0AEz8Sa?format=jpg&name=small) Source: https://twitter.com/JasonPates/status/1577906781518548993 It should be noted that in Russia, three times as many people do not accept Jews as in Ukraine. 2. On September 29, the Ukrainian armed forces [commemorated the victims of Nazism](https://twitter.com/GeneralStaffUA/status/1575479797995560962). 3. Zelensky was named by the Jerusalem Post as the “most influential Jew of the year” (https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1574019367888625665). 4. On December 23, 2022, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, Moshe Reuven Azman, posed with the head of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny, to demonstrate that the narrative about Nazi Ukraine is false. ![](https://i.imgur.com/ysXddcx.png =50%x50%) Source: https://twitter.com/myroslavapetsa/status/1606299821102481417 Russia, an exemplary country with no Nazis and no ties to the Nazis? Let's see... 1. Dmitry Utkin, founder of the Wagner Group (Russian mercenaries admired and mobilized by the Kremlin), is an [admirer of the Third Reich](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupe_Wagner). He was [decorated by Putin himself in 2016](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Outkine). 2. The ties between Russia (the Soviet Union at the time) and Nazi Germany were strong before Hitler decided to turn against his ally. In May and June 1940, the Soviet Union supplied Nazi Germany with 163,000 tons of oil and 243,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat to help them in their “mission”: https://twitter.com/HoansSolo/status/1576493625693057025 3. The commander of the Russian “Rusich” brigade, Aleksei Milchakov, openly declared, “I am a Nazi, I am a Nazi”: https://twitter.com/AlasdairMcc1/status/1561983490152771585 4. A Russian prisoner of war: “I, Vukolov Vadim Vadimovich, came to Ukraine to fight the Nazis.” His tattoos: 1) Stylized swastika; 2,3) Iron Cross with Nazi swastika; 4) Stylized swastika “kolovrat”; 5,6) Classic Nazi swastika; 7) Odal rune (banned in Germany); 8) The Nazi slogan “Blood and soil.” ![](https://i.imgur.com/dtZix3B.png =30%x30%) ![](https://i.imgur.com/no7rNa6.png =30%x30%) Source: https://twitter.com/sumlenny/status/1616064581914316801 5. In 2011, thousands of nationalists giving the Nazi salute marched through the streets of Moscow to protest against Muslim migrants. Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2057649/Nazi-saluting-nationalists-Take-Russia-march-Moscow-Muslim-migrants.html 6. More information and documents on the Nazi movement in Russia: https://twitter.com/Anna_Guderian/status/1583589211944673285 https://twitter.com/juanMmunozc/status/1642629868742377473 Russian disinformation about Nazis in Ukraine is ongoing. 1. A pro-Russian newspaper in Kherson published a photo to prove the presence of Nazis in Ukraine, except that the photo is of a **Nazi demonstration in Moscow** in 2012. ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeeyOVtXEA8Fb3P?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 =40%x40%) ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeeyYbwXgAUR3Io?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 =40%x40%) Source: https://twitter.com/marcbennetts1/status/1578426400091955201 2. A supposed photo of a Ukrainian neo-Nazi wedding circulated in pro-Kremlin circles, except that it is a manipulated image of a wedding in Novokuznetsk **in Russia** with the flag of the **Russian Empire** in the background. ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fb6WNO0WIAI8M2S?format=jpg&name=large =50%x50%)![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fb6XXi_XEAAumrx?format=jpg&name=large =50%x50%)![](https://i.imgur.com/VSgZUT4.png =60%x60%) Source: https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1566857240484642827 ### 250,000 Ukrainians served in the German army during World War II, which would seem to demonstrate the Ukrainians' Nazi sympathies 🤔 The figure of 250,000 comes from this study, “Ukrainians in German Armed Forces During the Second World War” (https://www.iwp.edu/papers-studies/2004/11/01/divide-and-conquer-the-kgb-disinformation-campaign-against-ukrainians-and-jews/). But what the article explains is that: - The arrival of the Germans was seen as a liberation, and the Germans presented themselves as such (driving out the Russians). - There were forced mobilizations of Ukrainians. - Ukrainians who volunteered did so out of a desire for Ukrainian independence, and they did so in the extreme context of their nation's survival. - Others volunteered to avoid starvation or execution. - Others volunteered to save their families. - The Germans deceived these Ukrainians and did not trust them. Some quotes: > "members of these groups have formed a certain generic idea of a ‘Ukrainian Nazi collaborator’, an image which requires contextualisation" > "factor that is often emphasized in accounts of Ukrainians who served in the German Armed Forces is the opportunity for state building that collaboration supposedly presented" > "The early phase of the formation of the Ukrainian units that fought on the German side is strongly linked to the question of nationalism and aspirations of state building" > "Because the Ukrainian state had to be created […] Ukrainian nationalists had a political motive to collaborate with the Germans" > "Iaroslav Hrytsak suggests that Ukrainians who looked towards Germany for cooperation were acting in the context of ‘an extreme situation’" > "In the first weeks and months of their rule, the Germans gave Ukrainians the false impression that the Ukrainian nationalist movement would be tolerated" > "for the OUN men participation in the German Armed Forces was voluntary and desired, as it was viewed as part of serving the OUN rather than the German command" > "As the Soviet regime was withdrawing its forces from western Ukrainian lands, rather than transporting their political prisoners east, they decided to execute them en masse. It is thus unsurprising that ‘after two years of Soviet rule, many had some reason to receive the German invasion of the Soviet Union as a liberation’, especially, as Ukrainian battalions were entering western Ukrainian lands together with the German forces" > "During the time of the pogrom the Nachtigall battalion was on a week-long leave from duty and although individual members of the battalion might have participated in the pogrom, there seems to be a consensus among a number of scholars that the unit as a whole did not partake in the atrocities in L’viv" > "Nazi officials ‘visited the POW camps and recruited Ukrainian, Latvian and Lithuanian “volunteers”’ and offered them ‘an escape from probable starvation, and promised that they would not be used in combat against the Soviet army" > "The nationalists unwilling to cooperate were executed by the German authorities" > "Thus the war on the side of the Reich was presented to Ukrainians as the war of liberation and against ‘Judeo-Bolshevism’" > "Intelligence reports by the Ukrainian nationalist resistance corroborate Lower’s assessment: ‘those recruited into the SS are given weapons and immediately in that same village receive military training; at night their weapons are taken away and they are carefully watched in case they decide to flee.’" > "During 1944 more and more Ukrainians were recruited into German units; many of them were drafted under duress." > "Some joined because of the potential career prospects within a regular army, and others because they wanted to provide relative security for their families, whom they had left in German-occupied villages and cities. Many were mobilised forcefully." ## What is the Russian mindset regarding Ukraine? 🤔 1. Putin to then-US President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the April 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest: > "You don't understand, **Ukraine isn't even a state**. What is Ukraine? Part of its territory is in Eastern Europe, but most of it is a **gift from us**." Quoted in "[Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin](https://www.brookings.edu/book/mr-putin-new-and-expanded/)" by Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy, p. 360. 2. Demonstration in support of Putin in Moscow in 2015. The slogans chanted are: > “Only Russia matters! Only victory matters!” “Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, together we are the Holy Rus!” “Let's restore the borders of the Soviet Union!” https://www.facebook.com/UkrInfosSousRadars/videos/1453089801936991/ 3. In 2016, on stage, Putin told a child that **Russia's borders “have no limits”**: https://twitter.com/mjluxmoore/status/1575822408711143424 4. Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Russian sanitary service, stated: > “Our goal is the return of Ukraine to the Russian state.” https://twitter.com/sumlenny/status/1631267481238028288 (March 2019) 5. Vladen Tatarsky, a blogger close to the Kremlin, invited to the annexation ceremony, declares: > “We will conquer everyone, **we will kill everyone, we will plunder whoever we want**, and everything will be as we wish.” https://x.com/GoncharenkoUa/status/1575890822590889984 (September 2022) 6. Sergei Lavrov, head of Russian diplomacy, in his speech during the ratification of the annexation of Ukrainian territories, said that other territories >“will be **added to the list.”** The idea is not to limit ourselves to eastern Ukraine. https://twitter.com/WhereisRussia/status/1576971245786398721 (October 2022) 7. On Russian state television, Deputy Dmitry Sablin states: > "We must not doubt that the people [in Ukraine] support us. More than that, I am convinced that further into Ukrainian territory, the people will also support us. The vast majority of the Ukrainian population will support us. We are coming with our just cause, and we are liberating them from all of this. We are liberating them from constant fear and stress." https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1576796427409559558 (from minute 4:38) (October 2022) 8. The same MP says without batting an eyelid that **Belarus is Russia**, even though there is a guest from Belarus (an ally of the Kremlin in the war) present on the set, who is **forced to correct him**: https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1576796427409559558 (from minute 5:26) (October 2022) 9. Andrei Sidorov, from Moscow State University, said on Russian TV: > “We must take what is ours, and **in principle, all of Ukraine is ours**.” https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1578377422268940288 (October 2022) He also stated that “**Ukraine, as a nation, should not exist**”: https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1579279261592354817 (October 2022) 10. Zakhar Prilepin, writer, realizes on Russian television that Russians are not at all welcome by Ukrainians and declares, referring to the annexed regions: > “We must **de-occupy the territories we need**.” That is, empty them of their Russian-hostile population. https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1579292010288406530 (October 2022) 11. Pavel Gubarev (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Goubarev), former governor of the “Donetsk People's Republic” (elected by a show of hands in the street in 2014) and a pro-Russian figurehead, states their intentions towards Ukrainians: > "These people **are actually Russians possessed by the devil**. We are not coming to kill you, but to convince you. **But if you don't want to be convinced, we will kill you**. We will kill as many as it takes: 1 million, 5 million, **or exterminate you all**. Until you understand that you are possessed and need to be cured [...] [Ukrainians] are damned **possessed Satanists**." https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1579820810751324160 (October 2022) 12. Statements by Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Russian-administered Republic of Chechnya and staunch supporter of Putin: > “**We will not capture these demons, we will burn them**” (referring to Ukrainians). “We will not stop, this is our territory [...] **The regions and Ukraine in general are our territory**, Russian territory.” https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1585087779729702912 (October 2022) 13. One of Russia's leading state television presenters, Sergey Mardan, explains that Russia does not have to comply with international rules and agreements, and that North Korea is a model to follow. https://twitter.com/olex_scherba/status/1621823453090258950 (February 2023) 14. In an intercepted phone call, a Russian soldier tells his wife that: 1. he shot unarmed Ukrainians who had surrendered at point-blank range. 2. it was filmed. 3. he will not be punished for it by his superiors. 4. he will do it again and kill as many Ukrainians as he can, even children. https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1636490588961796097 (March 2023) 15. Russian journalist [Anton Krassovski](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Krassovski) declares on Russian state television: > “A strong Russian empire is a good thing [...] and I consider all those who fight against Russian imperialism to be enemies of Russia.” > “Naturally, like any normal Russian, I believe that Ukraine does not exist and that it is all part of the Russian empire.” > “I even consider Warsaw to be a Russian city.” https://twitter.com/adnashmyash/status/1721227353957797927 (November 2023)  ## Russia liberated Europe from the Nazis 🤔 Indeed, when the Nazis attempted to invade the Soviet Union, the Soviets managed to defeat them, marking the beginning of the Nazis' downfall. But: 1. They were able to do so thanks to American equipment. In total, American deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $11 billion worth of equipment: more than 400,000 jeeps and trucks; 12,000 armored vehicles; 11,400 aircraft; and 1.75 million tons of food. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prêt-bail Georgy Zhukov, Chief of Staff of the USSR in 1941, said: > When analyzing our state of preparedness for war in terms of economy and industry, one cannot ignore the factor of Allied aid that followed, mainly that of the Americans [...]. Without American gunpowder, we would have found ourselves in a disastrous situation, unable to produce the amount of ammunition we needed. Without American Studebakers, we would have had no way to tow our artillery. [...] The production of special steels needed for various military uses also depended on several American deliveries. https://militera.lib.ru/memo/usa/stettinius/06.html In 1963, the Russian security services recorded one of his private statements: > Today, people say that the Allies never helped us... But how can we deny that the Americans sent us so much equipment, without which we would not have been able to build up our reserves or continue the war... We had no explosives, no gunpowder. We had nothing to fill our rifle cartridges with. The Americans really saved us with their gunpowder and explosives. And how much steel plate they sent us! Could we have quickly set up tank production without American steel? And now people claim that we had all this in abundance." https://theins.press/en/antifake/281146 Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the USSR between 1953 and 1964, wrote in his memoirs: > I wish [...] to report honestly Stalin's view on whether the Red Army and the Soviet Union could have defeated Nazi Germany without the help of the United States and Great Britain. [...] He stated frankly that without the help of the United States, we would not have won the war: alone against Nazi Germany, we would not have been able to withstand the onslaught and we would have lost.... We lost the largest aircraft, tank, and engine factories. And the tractor factory in Stalingrad? We lost that too. It also housed a large artillery factory [...]. Imagine the disaster that befell us. We found ourselves without means of transport, without factories producing vehicles [...]. We had no means of transport left! That's when the Americans and British stepped in [...]. They supplied us with aircraft, vehicles, and weapons. When I saw the trucks we received, I couldn't believe my eyes. And they arrived in large numbers. ... I want to emphasize the quality and quantity of the machines we received. Can you imagine how we could have advanced from Stalingrad to Berlin without them? I can't. https://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/khruschev1/28.html 2. The Soviets bear **direct responsibility** for the outbreak of World War II by signing the **German-Soviet Pact** with the Nazis in 1939. This pact consisted of not attacking each other and **dividing up Poland and Eastern Europe**. Thanks to this pact, Hitler was able to invade Poland without fear of a Russian response. And since France and Great Britain had pledged to defend Poland, they had to enter the war. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/fr/article/german-soviet-pact ## “Zelensky does not have the power to stop the war” 🤔 ### (implied meaning: “he is under someone else's orders”) This is a narrative spread by pro-Russian groups. Putin himself said that he believed Zelensky did indeed have the power to stop the war: https://youtu.be/fOCWBhuDdDo?si=DJJpDD_xm2yyhPb0&t=5808 ## “Life is better in Russia” 🤔 Let's check... ### Violent crimes in Russian families Every 10 minutes, a violent crime is committed in a Russian family. Despite this, Fedor Lukyanov, head of the Russian Orthodox Church's family commission, believes that the problem of domestic violence is exaggerated. The official statistics published by Rosstat may be incomplete, as they do not include crimes committed against ex-spouses, sexual partners, nephews, or grandchildren. Source: https://nasiliu.net/pochti-chetvert-prestuplenij-s-naneseniem-tyazhkih-telesnyh-povrezhdenij-sovershaetsya-v-semyah-issledovanie-czentra-nasiliyu-net/ ## More stuff https://www.facebook.com/UkrUnderRadarNews/ https://t.me/Ukr_under_radar_news