Presidential Address to Federal Assembly

Presidential Address to Federal Assembly Vladimir Putin delivered his Address to the Federal Assembly. The ceremony took place in Gostiny Dvor, Moscow.

February 21, 2023 President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, Members of the Federation Assembly – senators, State Duma deputies, Citizens of Russia

This Presidential Address comes, as we all know, at a difficult, watershed period for our country. This is a time of radical, irreversible change in the entire world, of crucial historical events that will determine the future of our country and our people, a time when every one of us bears a colossal responsibility. One year ago, to protect the people in our historical lands, to ensure the security of our country and to eliminate the threat coming from the neo-Nazi regime that had taken hold in Ukraine after the 2014 coup, it was decided to begin the special military operation. Step by step, carefully and consistently we will deal with the tasks we have at hand.

Since 2014, Donbass has been fighting for the right to live in their land and to speak their native tongue. It fought and never gave up amid the blockade, constant shelling and the Kiev regime’s overt hatred. It hoped and waited that Russia would come to help. In the meantime, as you know well, we were doing everything in our power to solve this problem by peaceful means, and patiently conducted talks on a peaceful solution to this devastating conflict.

Behind our backs, a very different plan was being hatched. As we can see now, the promises of Western leaders, their assurances that they were striving for peace in Donbass turned out to be a sham and outright lies. They were simply marking time, engaged in political chicanery, turning a blind eye to the Kiev regime’s political assassinations and reprisals against undesirable people, their mistreatment of believers. They increasingly incited the Ukrainian neo-Nazis to stage terrorist attacks in Donbass. The officers of nationalist battalions trained at Western academies and schools. Weapons were also supplied.

I would like to emphasise that, prior to the special military operation, Kiev held negotiations with the West about the delivery of air-defence systems, warplanes and other heavy equipment to Ukraine. We also recall the Kiev regime’s vain attempts to obtain nuclear weapons; they discussed this issue publicly.

The United States and NATO quickly deployed their army bases and secret biological laboratories near Russian borders. They mastered the future theatre of war during war games, and they prepared the Kiev regime which they controlled and Ukraine which they had enslaved for a large-scale war.

Now they admit this publicly and openly, and they feel no shame about it. They seem to be proud and even to be revelling in their own perfidy, while calling the Minsk Agreements and the Normandy Format a diplomatic show and a bluff. It turns out that all this time, while Donbass was ablaze, while blood was being spilled, and while Russia sincerely made every effort to achieve a peaceful solution (I want to emphasise the word “sincerely”), they gambled on people’s lives, and in effect, were playing with marked cards, as they say in certain circles.

This appalling method of deception has been tried and tested many times before. They behaved just as shamelessly and duplicitously when destroying Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. They will never be able to wash off this shame. The concepts of honour, trust, and decency are not for them.

Over the long centuries of colonialism, diktat and hegemony, they got used to being allowed everything, got used to spitting on the whole world. It turned out that they treat people living in their own countries with the same disdain, like a master. After all, they cynically deceived them too, tricked them with tall stories about the search for peace, about adherence to the UN Security Council resolutions on Donbass. Indeed, the Western elites have become a symbol of total, unprincipled lies. We firmly defend our interests as well as our belief that in today’s world there should be no division into so-called civilised countries and all the rest and that there is a need for an honest partnership that rejects any exclusivity, especially an aggressive one.

We were open and sincerely ready for a constructive dialogue with the West; we said and insisted that both Europe and the whole world needed an indivisible security system equal for all countries, and for many years we suggested that our partners discuss this idea together and work on its implementation. But in response, we received either an indistinct or hypocritical reaction, as far as words were concerned. But there were also actions: NATO’s expansion to our borders, the creation of new deployment areas for missile defence in Europe and Asia – they decided to take cover from us under an ‘umbrella’ – deployment of military contingents, and not just near Russia’s borders.

I would like to stress –in fact, this is well-known – that no other country has so many military bases abroad as the United States. There are hundreds of them – I want to emphasise this – hundreds of bases all over the world; the planet is covered with them, and one look at the map is enough to see this.

The whole world witnessed how they withdrew from fundamental agreements on weapons, including the treaty on intermediate and shorter-range missiles, unilaterally tearing up the fundamental agreements that maintain world peace. For some reason, they did it. They do not do anything without a reason, as we know.

Finally, in December 2021, we officially submitted draft agreements on security guarantees to the USA and NATO. In essence, all key, fundamental points were rejected. After that it finally became clear that the go-ahead for the implementation of aggressive plans had been given and they were not going to stop.

The threat was growing by the day. Judging by the information we received, there was no doubt that everything would be in place by February 2022 for launching yet another bloody punitive operation in Donbass. Let me remind you that back in 2014, the Kiev regime sent its artillery, tanks and warplanes to fight in Donbass.

We all remember the aerial footage of airstrikes targeting Donetsk. Other cities also suffered from airstrikes. In 2015, they tried to mount a frontal assault against Donbass again, while keeping the blockade in place and continuing to shell and terrorise civilians. Let me remind you that all of this was completely at odds with the documents and resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, but everyone pretended that nothing was happening.

Let me reiterate that they were the ones who started this war, while we used force and are using it to stop the war. Those who plotted a new attack against Donetsk in the Donbass region, and against Lugansk understood that Crimea and Sevastopol would be the next target. We realised this as well. Even today, Kiev is openly discussing far-reaching plans of this kind. They exposed themselves by making public what we knew already.

We are defending human lives and our common home, while the West seeks unlimited power. It has already spent over $150 billion on helping and arming the Kiev regime. To give you an idea, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the G7 countries earmarked about $60 billion in 2020–2021 to help the world’s poorest countries. Is this clear? They spent $150 billion on the war, while giving $60 billion to the poorest countries, despite pretending to care about them all the time, and also conditioning this support on obedience on behalf of the beneficiary countries.

What about all this talk of fighting poverty, sustainable development and protection of the environment? Where did it all go? Has it all vanished? Meanwhile, they keep channelling more money into the war effort. They eagerly invest in sowing unrest and encouraging government coups in other countries around the world.

The recent Munich Conference turned into an endless stream of accusations against Russia. One gets the impression that this was done so that everyone would forget what the so-called West has been doing over the past decades. They were the ones who let the genie out of the bottle, plunging entire regions into chaos.

According to US experts, almost 900,000 people were killed during wars unleashed by the United States after 2001, and over 38 million became refugees. Please note, we did not invent these statistics; it is the Americans who are providing them. They are now simply trying to erase all this from the memory of humankind, and they are pretending that all this never happened. However, no one in the world has forgotten this or will ever forget it.

None of them cares about human casualties and tragedies because many trillions of dollars are at stake, of course. They can also continue to rob everyone under the guise of democracy and freedoms, to impose neoliberal and essentially totalitarian values, to brand entire countries and nations, to publicly insult their leaders, to suppress dissent in their own countries and to divert attention from corruption scandals by creating an enemy image. We continue to see all this on television, which highlights greater domestic economic, social and inter-ethnic problems, contradictions and disagreements.

I would like to recall that, in the 1930s, the West had virtually paved the way to power for the Nazis in Germany. In our time, they started turning Ukraine into an “anti-Russia.” Actually, this project is not new. People who are knowledgeable about history at least to some extent realise that this project dates back to the 19th century. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Poland had conceived it for one purpose, that is, to deprive Russia of these historical territories that are now called Ukraine. This is their goal. There is nothing new here; they are repeating everything.

The West expedited the implementation of this project today by supporting the 2014 coup. That was a bloody, anti-state and unconstitutional coup. They pretended that nothing happened, and that this is how things should be. They even said how much money they had spent on it. Russophobia and extremely aggressive nationalism formed its ideological foundation.

Quite recently, a brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was named Edelweiss after a Nazi division whose personnel were involved in deporting Jews, executing prisoners of war and conducting punitive operations against partisans in Yugoslavia, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Greece. We are ashamed to talk about this, but they are not. Personnel serving with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ukrainian National Guard are particularly fond of chevrons formerly worn by soldiers from Das Reich, Totenkopf (Death’s Head) and Galichina divisions and other SS units. Their hands are also stained with blood. Ukrainian armoured vehicles feature insignia of the Nazi German Wehrmacht.

Neo-Nazis are open about whose heirs they consider themselves to be. Surprisingly, none of the powers that be in the West are seeing it. Why? Because they – pardon my language – could not care less about it. They do not care who they are betting on in their fight against us, against Russia. In fact, anyone will do as long as they fight against us and our country. Indeed, we saw terrorists and neo-Nazis in their ranks. They would let all kinds of ghouls join their ranks, for God’s sake, as long as they act on their will as a weapon against Russia.

In fact, the anti-Russia project is part of the revanchist policy towards our country to create flashpoints of instability and conflicts next to our borders. Back then, in the 1930s, and now the design remains the same and it is to direct aggression to the East, to spark a war in Europe, and to eliminate competitors by using a proxy force.

We are not at war with the people of Ukraine. I have made that clear many times. The people of Ukraine have become hostages of the Kiev regime and its Western handlers, who have in fact occupied that country in the political, military and economic sense and have been destroying Ukrainian industry for decades now as they plundered its natural resources. This led to social degradation and an immeasurable increase in poverty and inequality.

Recruiting resources for military operations in these circumstances was easy. Nobody was thinking about people, who were conditioned for slaughter and eventually became expendables. It is a sad and dreadful thing to say, but it is a fact.

Responsibility for inciting and escalating the Ukraine conflict as well as the sheer number of casualties lies entirely with the Western elites and, of course, today’s Kiev regime, for which the Ukrainian people are, in fact, not its own people. The current Ukrainian regime is serving not national interests, but the interests of third countries.

The West is using Ukraine as a battering ram against Russia and as a testing range. I am not going to discuss in detail the West’s attempts to turn the war around, or their plans to ramp up military supplies, since everyone is well aware of that. However, there is one circumstance that everyone should be clear about: the longer the range of the Western systems that will be supplied to Ukraine, the further we will have to move the threat away from our borders. This is obvious.

The Western elite make no secret of their goal, which is, I quote, “Russia’s strategic defeat.” What does this mean to us? This means they plan to finish us once and for all. In other words, they plan to grow a local conflict into a global confrontation. This is how we understand it and we will respond accordingly, because this represents an existential threat to our country.

However, they too realise it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield and are conducting increasingly aggressive information attacks against us targeting primarily the younger generation. They never stop lying and distorting historical facts as they attack our culture, the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional religious organizations in our country.

Look what they are doing to their own people. It is all about the destruction of the family, of cultural and national identity, perversion and abuse of children, including pedophilia, all of which are declared normal in their life. They are forcing the priests to bless same-sex marriages. Bless their hearts, let them do as they please. Here is what I would like to say in this regard. Adult people can do as they please. We in Russia have always seen it that way and always will: no one is going to intrude into other people’s private lives, and we are not going to do it, either.

But here is what I would like to tell them: look at the holy scripture and the main books of other world religions. They say it all, including that family is the union of a man and a woman, but these sacred texts are now being questioned. Reportedly, the Anglican Church is planning, just planning, to explore the idea of a gender-neutral god. What is there to say? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Millions of people in the West realise that they are being led to a spiritual disaster. Frankly, the elite appear to have gone crazy, and it looks like there is no cure for that. But like I said, these are their problems, while we must protect our children, which we will do. We will protect our children from degradation and degeneration.

Clearly, the West will try to undermine and divide our society and to bet on the fifth columnists who, throughout history, and I want to emphasise this, have been using the same poison of contempt for their own Fatherland and the desire to make money by selling this poison to anyone who is willing to pay for it. It has always been that way.

Those who have embarked on the road of outright betrayal, committing terrorist and other crimes against the security of our society and the country’s territorial integrity, will be held accountable for this under law. But we will never behave like the Kiev regime and the Western elite, which have been and still are involved in witch hunts. We will not settle scores with those who take a step aside and turn their back on their Motherland. Let this be on their conscience, let them live with this – they will have to live with it. The main point is that our people, the citizens of Russia, have given them a moral assessment.

I am proud, and I think we are all proud that our multi-ethnic nation, the absolute majority of our citizens, have taken a principled stance on the special military operation. They understand the basic idea of what we are doing and support our actions on the defence of Donbass. This support primarily revealed their true patriotism – a feeling that is historically inherent in our nation. It is stunning in its dignity and deep understnding by everyone – I will stress, everyone – of the inseparable link between one’s own destiny and the destiny of the Fatherland.

My dear friends, I would like to thank everyone, all the people of Russia for their courage and resolve. I would like to thank our heroes, soldiers and officers in the Army and the Navy, the Russian Guards, the secret services staff, and all structures of authority, the fighters in Donetsk and Lugansk corps, volunteers and patriots who are now fighting in the ranks of the BARS combat army reserve.

I would like to apologise that I will not be able to mention everyone during today’s speech. You know, when I was drafting this speech, I wrote a very long list of these heroic units but then removed it from my text because, as I said, it is impossible to mention everyone, and I was afraid to offend anyone I might leave out. My deepest gratitude to the parents, wives and families of our defenders, the doctors and paramedics, combat medics and medical nurses that are saving the wounded; to the railway workers and drivers that are supplying the front; to the builders that are erecting fortifications and restoring housing, roads and civilian facilities; to the workers and engineers at defence companies, who are now working almost around-the-clock, in several shifts; and to rural workers who reliably ensure food security for the country.

I am grateful to the teachers who sincerely care for the young generations of Russia, especially those that are working in very difficult, almost front-line conditions; the cultural figures that are visiting the zone of hostilities and hospitals to support the soldiers and officers; volunteers that are helping the front and civilians; journalists, primarily war correspondents, that are risking their lives to tell the truth to the world; pastors of Russia’s traditional religions and military clergy, whose wise words support and inspire people; government officials and business people – all those who fulfill their professional, civil and simply human duty.

My special words go to the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. You, my friends, determined your future at the referendums and made a clear choice despite the neo-Nazis’ threats and violence, amid the close military actions. But there has been nothing stronger than your intent to be with Russia, with your Motherland.

I want to emphasise that this is the reaction of the audience to the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Once again, our deepest respect for them all.

We have already begun and will expand a major socioeconomic recovery and development programme for these new regions within the Federation. It includes restoring production facilities, jobs, and the ports on the Sea of Azov, which again became Russia’s landlocked sea, and building new, modern road,s like we did in Crimea, which now has a reliable land transport corridor with all of Russia. We will definitely implement all of these plans together.

Russia’s regions are currently providing direct assistance to the cities, districts and villages in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. They are doing it sincerely, like true brothers and sisters. We are together again, which means that we have become even stronger, and we will do everything in our power to bring back the long-awaited peace to our land and ensure the safety of our people. Our soldiers, our heroes are fighting for this, for their ancestors, for the future of their children and grandchildren, for uniting our people.

Friends, I would like to ask you to pay your respects to our fellow soldiers who were killed in the attacks of neo-Nazis and raiders, who gave up their lives for Russia, for civilians, the elderly, women and children. (A minute of silence) Thank you.

We all understand, and I understand also how unbearably hard it is for their wives, sons and daughters, for their parents who raised those dignified defenders of the Fatherland – like the Young Guard members from Krasnodon, young men and women who fought against Nazism and for Donbass during the Great Patriotic War. Everyone in Russia remembers their courage, resilience, enormous strength of spirit and self-sacrifice to this day.

Our duty is to support the families that have lost their loved ones and to help them raise their children and give them an education and a job. The family of each participant in the special military operation must be a priority and treated with care and respect. Their needs must be responded to immediately, without bureaucratic delays.

I suggest establishing a dedicated state fund for bringing targeted, personalised assistance to the families of fallen fighters, as well as veterans of the special military operation. This entity will be tasked with coordinating efforts to offer social, medical support and counselling, and also address matters related to sending them to health resorts and providing rehabilitation services, while also assisting them in education, sports, employment and in acquiring a new profession. This fund will also have an essential mission to ensure long-term home care and high-technology prosthetics for those who need that.

I am asking the Government to work with the State Council Commission on Social Policy and with the regions to resolve the organisational matters as quickly as possible. The state fund must be transparent in its work, while streamlining assistance and operating as a one-stop-shop, free from red tape or administrative barriers. Every family without exception, and every veteran will have their personal social worker, a coordinator, who will be there for them in person to resolve in real time any issue they might face. Let me emphasise that the fund must open its offices in all regions of the Russian Federation in 2023.

ARTICLE

‘Nothing Will Ever Be the Same’: The Russians Returning Home After Years of Wartime Emigration
By Ksenia Elzes
THE MOSCOW TIMES
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/02/19/nothing-will-ever-be-the-same-the-russians-returning-home-after-years-of-wartime-emigration-a88077

Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled the country after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — escaping mobilization, political pressure, or simply seeking a more stable life abroad. Some have since made the difficult and often controversial decision to return.

Through in-depth conversations with these returnees, The Moscow Times explores their complex journeys — the urgency of their departures, the struggles of exile and the bittersweet reality of coming home to a changed Russia.

Their stories reveal the personal cost of war, the weight of leaving everything behind and the uneasy feeling of returning to a country that both is and isn’t the same as the one they left.

Alexei, 29, left Moscow in September 2022, returned in June 2023

When mobilization was announced in the fall of 2022, I fled to Turkey in a panic. At that moment, I didn’t care where — I just needed to escape being sent to Ukraine. Turkey seemed like the best choice: close, relatively easy paperwork, a warm climate and a Russian-speaking community. But things didn’t go as planned.

In Istanbul, I rented an apartment in Avcilar. The landlord took three months’ rent upfront but didn’t officially register the contract, saying it would be “easier.” That was my first mistake. When I applied for a residence permit, I found out my district was no longer eligible. Rental prices had skyrocketed, and landlords were hesitant to rent to Russians without guarantees. I eventually found another apartment and submitted my documents, but mass rejections of Russian applicants had begun. No one understood the logic — some were approved, others weren’t. Many speculated it was political pressure or a move by the Turkish government to curb migration.
news

When my application was rejected, I had three choices: stay illegally and risk fines and deportation, try another country, or return to Russia. I was drained — financially and emotionally. Another move wasn’t an option. So, I booked a flight through Armenia and went back.

Landing in Moscow, I realized I’d lost half a year and a small fortune, only to end up where I started. On the surface, life seemed normal — people pretended nothing had changed. But I knew it was an illusion. I started sending resumes to foreign companies, hoping to leave again.

My biggest lesson? Emigration isn’t just about buying a ticket and renting an apartment. Without a clear strategy, backup plan, and legal knowledge, you can end up with nothing. But one thing is certain — I won’t stop trying to find my place outside Russia. I don’t want to live in a military dictatorship. For me, February 24 has been going on for three years — and I refuse to be complicit.

Anna, 41, left St. Petersburg in March 2022, returned in July 2024

Before the war, my family had been working on getting Israeli passports through my Jewish grandfather. We had tickets for March 1, 2022, planning a short trip to finalize the paperwork. But then February 24 happened. We left — and never came back.

It was one of the hardest times in my life. I owned a small coffee shop in St. Petersburg — something you can’t run remotely. My husband had an easier time; he worked for an American pharmaceutical company and managed to relocate. Without his salary, we wouldn’t have lasted in Israel. Our savings would’ve run out in months.

We settled in Jerusalem. The government paid for two weeks in hotel quarantine due to Covid. The kids were going stir-crazy. We rented an apartment without seeing it first, but luckily, it matched the photos. My husband worked remotely, the children started school and I eventually found a job as a supermarket manager.

Then October 7 happened. We always knew Israel was unstable — there had been terrorist attacks and shellings — but we never expected something like this. We were shocked that Israeli intelligence failed so catastrophically. We had trusted the Iron Dome, the army, the security system. Suddenly, we were running to bomb shelters multiple times a day. We adapted, the kids adapted, but it was hard.

After two and a half years, my husband lost his job. He tried to find another, but couldn’t. My supermarket salary wasn’t enough for a family of four. The thought of returning had already crossed our minds — especially after the war with Hamas began. We still had our apartment in St. Petersburg, our car, our friends. My coffee shop was still running, managed by my friend. When my husband finally got a job offer in Russia, we decided to go back.

Our older daughter was overjoyed. She had never adapted to Israel. But returning felt surreal. St. Petersburg had changed. On the drive home from the airport, we saw military recruitment billboards every 200 meters. Food prices had doubled. And the atmosphere — maybe I’m imagining it, but I feel fear in the air.

I remind myself: Living in Russia doesn’t make me a criminal. But I keep up with the news, and I know what’s happening in Ukraine should never have happened. My husband and I have good jobs now. Our daughters go to a private school — we hope to shield them from propaganda. We’ve cut ties with all the Z-patriots we once knew. We live in a bubble.

But nothing will ever be the same. And the thought of leaving again never really goes away.

Sergei, 40, left Nizhny Novgorod in October 2022, returned in November 2024

I first thought about leaving in early 2022, but my wife and I had no savings or passports. By the time we got our documents, the initial panic had subsided. Then, when mobilization was announced, the fear hit again. Friends were leaving — some in a rush, others with detailed plans. By the time my fifth friend left, I knew we had to go too.

We moved to Turkey in October 2022 with two suitcases. It quickly became clear that staying wasn’t an option. Like most Russians, I was denied a residence permit. No explanations, no clear criteria — just rejection. Some said it was political, others blamed the housing crisis. Either way, we had to leave.

Next, we tried Armenia. No visa required, similar culture, many Russian expats. At first, it seemed perfect. We found an apartment in Yerevan, made friends and even started learning Armenian. But within a year, it became clear we couldn’t stay. Prices had soared, Russian bank cards stopped working and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict made everything uncertain. Our savings were running out, and my wife, who never fully adapted, wanted to go home.

At first, returning felt like a failure. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was just another step. I wasn’t conscription age, had never served, had no military specialty — my risk of being drafted was low. And life abroad was becoming impossible.

Back in Nizhny Novgorod, things were eerily familiar. People worked, went to bars, and pretended nothing had changed. There were more “Z” symbols and military billboards, but otherwise, daily life continued. I had mixed feelings — everything was easier, yet the war was still there, in the background.

The hardest part was telling friends who stayed abroad. Some understood, others saw it as a betrayal. But I’ve made peace with my decision. I want to outlive Putin’s regime. I want to be here when it collapses and help rebuild.

For now, I work, save money and keep my options open. The future is uncertain everywhere. At least here, I know the rules of the game.

Their stories reveal the personal cost of war, the weight of leaving everything behind and the uneasy feeling of returning to a country that both is and isn’t the same as the one they left.

Alexei, 29, left Moscow in September 2022, returned in June 2023

Anna, 41, left St. Petersburg in March 2022, returned in July 2024

Our daughters, 7 and 11 at the time, struggled the most. The younger one had just started school, the older one was in that fragile stage between childhood and adolescence. They thought we were going on vacation. Yes, we explained the war and Putin, but no child can fully process something like this.
ars wait in line on the road for the Verkhny Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border in September 2022. Valery Sharifulin / TASS
ars wait in line on the road for the Verkhny Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border in September 2022. Valery Sharifulin / TASS

But nothing will ever be the same. And the thought of leaving again never really goes away.

Sergei, 40, left Nizhny Novgorod in October 2022, returned in November 2024

For now, I work, save money and keep my options open. The future is uncertain everywhere. At least here, I know the rules of the game.

ARTICLE EXCERPT:

Finnish Intelligence Officer Explains the Russian Mindset
April 4, 2022
By Colonel Martti J. Kari (ret)
https://archive.org/details/russian-strategic-culture

“What Is Truth?

The Russian idea of truth is interesting. After all, language tells how people think, how they perceive the world, and how society thinks. The United States has two words for positive rights: “liberty” and “freedom.” Russia has two words for truth and three words for lie. This is certainly not a coincidence.

There’s the word “pravda,” which is truth but not absolute truth. Rather, the kind of truth that gets rid of awkward or bad situations. It’s like tactical truth. “Istina” is the opposite of a lie. Istina is true, as true as can be. But pravda is rather… sometimes it can be true, at other times not so true.

There are three words for lie. “Vranyo” is a white lie but on the strategic level. It is also kind of a way to get rid of nasty situations. The Russians know it, but we don’t realize it. We think that there are only truth and lies in the world. It’s just black and white. But the lie in Russia was born under Mongol rule; violence and lying were the way to survive. This tradition has been in their system ever since.

Russia has the word “krugovaya poruka,” or gang guarantee. It means that when we have some set of people with a common goal. Be it the Kremlin leadership or the Russian armed forces or whatever. We have a common goal so I step out of the circle and lie to an outsider. My gang hears that I lie but they don’t judge me as a liar because they understand that I am using tactical truth (vranjo) to achieve the greater goals of our gang. The use of tactical truth, or a lie, is accepted if it is done for the benefit of the in-group. Just like you can steal when you don’t steal too much or from the wrong guy. You also get to lie if you lie for the sake of the gang.

It’s a form of DOUBLETHINK, as Orwell showed in 1984. At the kitchen table, different things are said than outside the home. Everyone understands that Bob speaks very differently around the kitchen table than he does in public. Everyone understands why he does so. The in-group creates their own story. For example, “We had nothing to do with the poisoning of Skripal.” Or that “We have nothing to do with the shooting down of the Malaysian plane.” This is based on the fact that we in the West, under the rule of law, when we make an argument we need to be able to unequivocally prove our claim to be true. But when Russia makes an argument, there are always SMALL GAPS left here and there. We Westerners start to think about it, “Is that really so?”

The notion of LIE and TRUTH works differently in Russia. For example, in 1939, Russia installed a puppet government in Finland. They pushed the narrative that the working population of FINLAND was tired of Marshall Gustaf Mannerheim’s “fascist junta” even though it was the rightful government of Finland. When Russian troops invaded Finland, they noticed it wasn’t so. We don’t realize the use of Russian tactical truth.

When they went to CRIMEA, PUTIN said, “They are NOT RUSSIAN FORCES.” If our commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defense Forces were to deny that a Finnish soldier was a Finnish soldier, that would lead to unfortunate situations. The soldier would go on a strike or get depressed or something. But the Russians were proud that the president was able to use tactical truth.

PUTIN said, “They are not Russian forces.” We started thinking here in the west, “Well, who are they then? Where did they come from?” This gave Russia the two or three days needed to TAKE OVER CRIMEA COMPLETELY. Then PUTIN remembered, “Oh, they WERE Russian troops after all.”

Or the SHOOTING DOWN of a Malaysian plane. It has been PROVEN unequivocally that the missile that shot that plane down was from a Russian Air Defense Brigade. The wildest stories that were moving in Russia were that, when the situation was at its hottest, the PEOPLE WERE ALREADY DEAD (?) there on the plane. THIS STORY WAS SPREAD. Those people who died in the accident did not die in the attack but they were already dead (BEFORE the missile struck). But NO ONE questioned it because the RUSSIANS KNEW it was a TACTICAL TRUTH. They did NOT QUESTION how the captain agreed to fly a plane full of dead people, about to be shot down. No one questioned it because they knew it was a tactical truth.

Or, in the DONBASS REGION, brave miners fought the “fascist junta” in Kiev. HOWEVER, some so-called civilian protesters had apparently forgotten to REMOVE THEIR TUSSIAN ARMED FORCES TAGS. Or “We have nothing to do with the hacking of the DNC, the US Democratic Party.” In fact, they got caught, both the GRU, the Russian military intelligence service, and the FSB, the civilian intelligence, were both caught on the servers. OR that “We don’t have anything to do with the poisoning of Skripal.” EXCEPT that there was a RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE COLONEL who had received the Hero of the Russian Federation honorary medal from Putin. There was also a doctor present who was tasked with making sure Chepiga, who was performing the poisoning operation on Skripal would NOT be exposed to the poison himself.

The funniest thing here is that Chepiga’s GRANDMOTHER, who lives near Arkhangelsk, in her FOOLISHNESS had published a picture of Chepiga RECEIVING the medal from PUTIN himself. You’ll never guess what happened to Grandma after that? Grandma disappeared.

We need to understand that the USE of Russian TRUTH and FALSEHOOD is completely different from our thinking. If they say something, they won’t necessarily mean it but the TACTICAL TRUTH is meant as an instrument to SLIP through a slightly open doorway to get out of a NASTY SITUATION.”
‘

ARTICLES

1. Is there any truth to Russia’s ‘Ukrainian Nazis’ propaganda?
-Russian propagandists are constantly saying Ukraine is full of Nazis, and posting alleged evidence online. DW’s fact-checking team has investigated some of this supposed evidence.
Kathrin Wesolowski
12/03/2022
https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-is-there-any-truth-to-russias-ukrainian-nazis-propaganda/a-63970461

EXCERPT: “PUTIN’S NARRATIVE ABOUT ‘UKRAINIAN NAZIS’
So the fact is that many of the claims about alleged “Ukrainian Nazis” are invented, or misleading. But the narrative persists because Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian propagandists are constantly spreading false information.

Even in his speech (here subjected to a DW fact check) shortly before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in late February, Putin spoke of Russia having to “denazify” Ukraine. So-called denazification is a historical term that has to do with the policy of the victorious Allied powers toward Nazi Germany after World War II. They wanted to rid the country of Nazi influences and remove those associated with the ideology from office.

But the comparison with Ukraine does not hold up, Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies told DW back in February. “The president of Ukraine is a Russian-speaking Jew, who won the last presidential election against a non-Jewish Ukrainian candidate by a huge margin,” he said, adding that the talk of Nazism in Ukraine was completely unfounded.

Umland said that although there were right-wing extremists groups in Ukraine, they were relatively weak in comparison with many European countries. “We had a unity front of all the right-wing radical parties at the last [EU] parliamentary elections in 2019, and that unity front received 2.15%,” he said.

What about the Azov Battalion?

There has also been criticism of right-wing Ukrainian militia members who were fighting against the separatists in the east of Ukraine earlier this year — above all, the Azov Battalion. Umland said that although it was founded by a right-wing extremist group, it was integrated into forces of the Interior Ministry, the National Guard, in the fall of 2014.

After that, he said, there had been a separation of the movement and the regiment, with the latter still using the former’s symbols but no longer being classified as part of the right-wing extremist scene. During military training courses, extremist soldiers had sometimes come to light, he said, but they had then “been revealed and named as a scandal.”
.
.
.
2. Vladimir Putin’s false war claims:
- Shortly before launching a full-scale war on Ukraine, Vladimir Putin outlined his reasons for the attack. Russia, he said, must “defend itself” and “denazify” Ukraine. Much of this is false.
02/25/2022
Joscha Weber | Andrea Grunau | Matthias von Hein | Eugen Theise
Deutsche Welle (DW) News
https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-do-vladimir-putins-justifications-for-going-to-war-against-ukraine-add-up/a-60917168

DOES UKRAINE NEED TO BE ‘DENAZIFIED’?

CLAIN: To stop the alleged mistreatment and “genocide,” Russia must “strive to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.”

DW fact check: FALSE.

PUTIN’S STATEMENT IS A PROPAGANDA NARRATIVE that lacks any basis. Putin uses the term denazification, which refers to the Allies’ policy for Nazi Germany after World War II. They wanted to rid the country of Nazi influences and remove incriminated individuals from their posts.

However, the COMPARISON WITH UKRAINE IS WRONG, Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS), told DW: “This talk of nazism in Ukraine is completely out of place,” he said. “The president of Ukraine, VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, is a RUSSIAN-SPEAKING JEW WHO WON the last presidential election by a huge margin AGAINST a NON-JEWISH Ukrainian candidate.”

**REACTIONS from the JEWISH COMMUNITY have been swift. The Auschwitz Museum and the US Holocaust Museum CONDEMNED PUTIN’S “MEGALOMANIA” and HIS EXPLOITATION of history for HIS FALSE NARRATIVE.

While there are far-right groups in Ukraine, Umland said, they are relatively weak compared to those in many European countries. “We had a united front of all radical right-wing parties in the last parliamentary elections in 2019 where they won 2.15% of the vote.”

Ulrich Schmid, professor for Russian culture and society at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, describes Putin’s claim as “A PERFIDIOUS INSINUATION.” It is true that there were individual far-right groups during the Euromaidan protests in 2013 and 2014. Today, however, they play a subordinate role, said Schmid, who researches nationalism in Eastern Europe. “They exist, BUT IN RUSSIA ITSELF there are at least as MANY FAR-RIGHT GROUPS as in Ukraine.”

Right-wing Ukrainian combat units fighting separatists in eastern Ukraine, such as the Azov Regiment, have been criticized in the past. The Azov regiment was founded by a far-right group, but was incorporated into the Interior Ministry’s troops, the National Guard, in 2014, Umland said.

After that there was a separation of the movement and the regiment, which still uses right-wing symbols, but can no longer be classified as a right-wing extremist body. Right-wing extremist soldiers were noticed from time to time during training courses for military personnel, but those revelations came to light and caused a scandal, Umland argued.”

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.