Moscow Still Plans to Enslave Ukraine

Moscow’s fervent desire to rebuild the holy Russian empire and re-subjugate the former captive nations isn’t showing any signs of fading. It is graphically evident in the Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-21, a European war that is longer than the Second World War.

To borrow from then Vice-President Joe Biden’s speech to the Verkhovna Rada on Dec. 9, 2015, Ukrainians have been fighting the latest installment of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine since Moscow “illegally occupied Crimea” in February 2014 and through the “unrelenting aggression of the Kremlin” as it spread to the eastern oblasts of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Call it what you want, but you can’t avoid stating that this is Moscow’s ongoing effort to repair the torn curtain, conquer its neighbors and restore its global dominance. Dragging out its armed reconstruction in a piecemeal fashion by first illegally seizing Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk, it seems that today’s successors of the tsars and commissars and pupils of Hitler are intensifying this campaign by targeting more Ukrainian lands.

Kremlin TV chief Margarita Simonyan late last month made a shocking declaration by publically urging Moscow to never return occupied Ukrainian oblasts. “Mother Russia, take Donbas home,” Simonyan exhorted her bosses in the Kremlin during a recent Russian Donbas Forum.

This undoubtedly raised eyebrows in Kyiv and the free world and signaled a new escalation in Moscow’s seven-year war against independent Ukraine. What will be their response?

According to Alvydas Medalinskas in the Atlantic Council, “Simonyan’s words carry significant weight. As chief editor of the Kremlin’s flagship television network RT (formerly Russia Today) and international news agency Rossiya Segodnya, she occupies a position close to the summit of Putin’s propaganda apparatus and is widely recognized as a trusted regime insider. While Simonyan does not officially speak for the authorities, it is highly unlikely she would have traveled to the war zone in eastern Ukraine and made such provocative statements without having first received a nod of approval from the Kremlin.”

Indeed, nothing official or quasi-official happens in Russia without the Kremlin’s OK.

Medalinskas pointed out that Simonyan’s call for the annexation of Donbas was not an isolated declaration. Since December 2020, Russian propaganda efforts have increasingly focused on the so-called Russian Donbas doctrine, which aims to provide historical justification for Moscow’s claims to eastern Ukraine by emphasizing the region’s longstanding ties to Russia.

On the one hand, such pronouncements are not only contrary to Russia’s role in the Minsk Peace Process but they also directly contradict Moscow’s official commitment to supporting the reintegration of the Donbas region into Ukraine. By now it should be disturbingly obvious that the Kremlin has never intended to live up to its promises.

Moscow has often been caught rewriting history to demonstrate its faux-righteousness and the Russian Donbas doctrine is just the latest example. It distorts history, boosts its positive visibility, validates its belligerence, fabricates events and facts, and denies obvious examples of its war against Ukraine.

Perpetuating the false illusion of merely wanting to take back what was stolen from it, Russian leaders such Putin have repeatedly stated that they regard Ukrainians and Russians as “one nation.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov asserted on February 8 that Moscow continues to view Ukraine as part of the “Russian world.” Brezhnev also claimed that Czecho-Slovakia was part of its world when Moscow lead the Warsaw Pact countries in an invasion of that captive nation that was on the verge of independence in 1968.

Halya Coynash of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group pointed out that “Russian-installed ‘leaders’ of the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [‘DPR’] have begun trumpeting a new ‘Russian Donbas doctrine’ pushing the idea that Donbas was created by Russians and has always been Russian.”

Coynash explained that the Russian Donbas narrative conceals the actual authors of the propaganda while enhancing the arsenal of propaganda, which residents of Donbas, especially children, are subjected to, as it helps Moscow to rewrite the historical truth about its fundamental role in causing the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The claim will now be that it was Russian Donbas that asserted its historical identity and formed the so-called republics.

Surely it is easier to seize foreign territory when the local population and the world have been exposed to a barrage of lies about the origin of the people and land. Hitler invaded foreign lands to protect the German people and Putin is doing the same.

Coynash continued: “There was huge fanfare in both occupied Donbas and Russian media for the very little substance that Russian-installed ‘DPR leader’ Denis Pushilin came out with on 13 December 2020.  He announced that they would be drawing up a ‘Russian Donbas’ doctrine which would, purportedly, become “a platform for the ideological structure of the republic, reflecting the Donbas’ historical links with Russia.”  He claimed that in 2014 they had known “what we were fighting for and against what,” but now they need a ‘Russian doctrine’ which will supposedly “reflect the main aspects of the cultural-historical development of the region; the world-view system of the population; the mentality; the formation of the idea of the republic’s statehood. It should become a program document, the basis for educational processes and decisions in the system of state planning.”

This identical warlike, belligerent attitude only emanates from the seat of power in Moscow.

Peskov declared that protecting what Moscow views as its Russian world, previously referred to as its near abroad and before that the Warsaw Pact countries, has been and will remain a priority of the Kremlin. According to him, Moscow believes that Ukraine and presumably the other x-captive nations are also a part of this world.

This declaration should send an earsplitting signal to the free world that if the Russian army isn’t halted in Ukraine, Europe should prepare to defend itself. Heed this alarm if you don’t want to be caught by surprise as the world was when Czech-Slovakia was invaded five decades ago.

Peskov emphasized that there is a great number of Russians and Russian-speaking people residing in Ukraine – identical to Hitler’s vision of Reichsdeutsche and Volksdeutsche and his obligation to protect both regardless of where they lived. He, Putin, the liberals and others believe Ukrainians are part of the Russian world, therefore, Russia will continue its current warlike policies toward Ukraine through power.

The Russian president’s spokesperson noted that Russia never used methods that would violate any international norms, but Peskov is a bald-faced liar. Russia’s war against Ukraine is not being waged with what he called soft power. Tanks, missiles, soldiers and blood constitute hard power designed to invade, conquer and re-subjugate Ukraine.

Is this a threat?

In the July 29, 2013, edition of The Torn Curtain 1991 newsletter, I wrote that amid of host of religious, predominantly Orthodox spiritual leaders in Kyiv to commemorate the millennium of Christianity of Kyiv-Rus’, Putin on Saturday, July 27, urged Ukraine to join forces with Russia, saying Russians and Ukrainians were “one people.” Putin said the two majority Orthodox neighbors should further integrate economically. As well as promoting economic ties, Putin also emphasized the bonds between both countries forged by a common history and what he called Russia and Ukraine’s “spiritual unity.”

“Together we went through great trials, tribulations and tragedies, together we built and defended the Great Rus,” Putin said following a meeting with Ukraine’s top Orthodox clergy. “All of us are spiritual successors of what happened here 1,025 years ago. And in this sense we are certainly one people.”

Seven months later Russia invaded and seized Crimea, igniting the latest Russo-Ukraine War.

Sounds like a precursor to today’s exhortations. So when will the next shoe drop?

Small Step for Mykolayiv, Giant Leap for Ukraine

Every now and then you can come across a wonderful story about Ukrainization.

This is a vital process for the simple reason that of all languages in all of the regions in the world, the Ukrainian language after independence and centuries of russification is still under fire from Russia. Consequently, every word uttered in the Ukrainian language is a step in preserving the tongue for future generations.

The Ukrainian parliament, in the recent past, enacted a law on language which gave the Ukrainian language official national status just as national languages have in other countries. Over time, its usage was decreed in all spheres of governmental and business relations. However, implementation and enforcement have been difficult.

And now we arrive in the city of Mykolayiv in southern Ukraine, founded in 1789, population less than 500,000, not far from the Black Sea, some 480 kilometers (300 miles) from Kyiv.

At a meeting of the municipal council on Feb. 2, the newly elected, language conscious mayor, Oleksandr Senkevych, encountered stubborn councilmen who refused to speak in the Ukrainian language at an official council meeting, according to BBC Ukraine. They favored speaking in Russian.

The verbal altercation began when Vladyslav Chayka of the Opposition Platform – For Life, who lost to Senkevych in the mayoral elections, addressed the meeting in Russian. This prompted an outcry from the attendants, who demanded that he speak in Ukrainian.

Chayka admonished them, saying: “What, you don’t understand Russian? Listen, I can speak in Ukrainian as well as in Russian. For me, there is no difference. Right now we are dealing not with politics but with economics.”

Senkevych interjected, pointing out that Ukraine’s language law requires that the council members speak in Ukrainian.

Chayka insisted that he is not violating the Constitution but the Mayor wouldn’t concede, saying that he would simultaneously translate his remarks into Ukrainian.

And so he did, according to BBC, word for word, sentence for sentence.

The same situation occurred during Councilman Oleksandr Medvedev’s comments.

Ironically, at the end of the discussion, Medvedev turned to Mayor Senkevych and said in Russian: “Oleksandr Fedorovych, you’re a bad translator.” And the Mayor sarcastically translated word for word the councilman’s opinion into Ukrainian.

Local sources reported that in reply to a Councilman Ruslan Moskalenko’s earlier Russian-language statements, Taras Kremin, who is in charge of overseeing Ukrainian language fulfillment, reminded Senkevych of the law’s implementation. He said local officials, who took an oath to speak in Ukrainian, are required to do so at official meetings and events.

This occurrence in small Mykolayiv is worthy of emulation across Ukraine, even in linguistically conscious western Ukraine.

Native language plays an essential role in establishing your and your people’s identity. History, faith, culture and experiences are inherent in language. Learning the native language signifies learning the same history and culture of your parents, relatives, ancestors, and even the generations past and still to be born.

Tenacious, conscious usage of the Ukrainian language will keep Ukraine independent and sovereign and the nation alive.