Ukraine, facts and fiction

Russian military action in Ukraine is something Western elites have coveted for a long time, looking to Russia's eventual defeat as the antechamber of its subjugation and dissolution, anticipating China's fate.

The West, a world that is being lost in LGBT decadence, in gender, in absurd identity policies, would gain from the definitive Russian defeat a new "unipolar moment” with no expiration date, in which perversion, slavery and double-thinking would flourish: in the end, the whole of humanity would succumb, subjected to the horrible New World Order of Davos and its high priest, Klaus Schwab.

In essence, we are facing a showdown in which the official Western propaganda presents Russian decisions as a giant leap into the void, due to the criminal madness of Vladimir Putin and therefore doomed to failure.

Economic sanctions of an unprecedented intensity, a continuous and total media barrage and the apathy of Western public opinion (the Italian one included) already tired from two years of pandemic hysteria, all this has allowed us to elevate as model of ruler a former actor, Volodymyr Zelensky, a mediocre one mostly used in roles of little value. The government in Kiev, continually instigated by Washington, was thus able to hide its enormous responsibilities in the current crisis, responsibilities that are not recent and date back to before the 2014 coup. Even the Nazis of the Azov battalion have benefited from this situation and, indeed, Western public opinion should look at them with the affectionate understanding that is reserved for rude but sincere guys, a little boorish but solid and reliable.

Russia clearly has another vision of the issue and has evidently accepted the challenge with the determination of those who have long prepared for the inevitable.

Leonid Savin, a Russian analyst and political scientist, has agreed to answer some questions: his answers allow us to understand the Russian point of view better than the Western press and the same Italian press allows.

Why did Russia start the military operation in Ukraine? What does Russia want and what does it want to achieve with this military action?

In short it was done because of the rise of existential threat to Russia itself — from aggressive rhetoric to real facts. Bioweapon labs of the Pentagon were already deployed in Ukraine as well as neo-Nazi paramilitary units shelling cities of Donbass for the last 8 years. Russia tried to rise attention to this problem for many years (incl. mediation for Minsk agreement) and last attempt was in Dec. 2021 where Moscow told that if red line will be crossed there will be certain military-technical answer. USA and NATO not agreed for Russian proposes and huge military attack of Ukrainian forces in Donbass was planned. Russia followed preemptive defense action.

Nazis exist, still and unfortunately, in all parts of the world. Why are those in Ukraine so important?

The Ukrainian case is very specific, cause during WWII many inhabitants in Soviet Ukraine were killed, tortured and persecuted by German Nazi troops. There was large number of collaborants who supported German Nazi and served as polizei — descendants of them claimed that they supported independence of Ukraine, not Nazi Germany. This myth was largerly distributed in Ukraine since 1991 and after first colored revolution in 2005 when pro-Western presidential candidate Victor Yushenko came to power process of glorification of Nazi collaborators of Ukrainian origin was started on state level. It was supported and promoted by western organizations and funds, mostly from the US and Canada. Need to mention that some contemporary politicians in the US and Canada (for example Paula Jon Dobriansky, are children of Ukrainian nationalists and Nazi collaborants).

In your opinion, does the Russian government believe there is a link between American biolabs in Ukraine and the Covid epidemic that has hit the world? If so, why?

There are leaked and revealed documents from these labs where interesting experiments stated — bats and birds considered like carriers for dangerous diseases and migration routes indicated that Russia was used as target. By the way some bats with labels of such labs already were found in Russian cities close to the border of Ukraine. Personally, I think that there were attempt to develop something more dangerous and serious than Covid.

The West responded to the Russian decision by imposing a surprising number of sanctions. How is the social and economic situation in Russia now?

It was not a surprise. Since 2014, Russia has been living under sanctions imposed by the West. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin already told that Russia was prepared for pressure. We can see some volatility of national currency just now, but it seems that the ruble was bouncing back in value. Also, we have some limits like travels abroad because some air companies cancelled flights, and supplies were interrupted. But in general, situation is normal, there is no hunger strikes, you can find food in stores, prices on fuel are not shooting up.

Why were about half of the Russian Central Bank's gold reserves abroad, potentially blockable by Western governments, as actually happened?

It was inertia of pro-Western agenda — to keep Russian reserves abroad. But now Moscow will be wiser. Anyway, I think that all reserves will be unblocked in future, because Russian counter-sanctions are effective. They will bring more trouble for the West in the future.

Who are Russia's most reliable allies these days?

Belarus, China, Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have not supported Western sanctions. They are looking forward for cooperation. Of course, there is also Kazakhstan, Kyrgizstan and Armenia (members of Eurasian Economic Union together with Belarus and Russia). There's also nearly all African countries, the ASEAN block (expect Singapore). Latin American countries are neutral and so is Turkey (a NATO member).

One last question, which involves Italy. How can you describe the current relations between Russia and Italy. How do you think they are going to evolve in the future?

Italy appears on the official list of Russia-unfriendly countries. Like other countries, Italy will suffer from the Russian measures as well. A lot depends on what steps the EU and the government of Italy are going to take next. Even after normalization of relations, there will be other rules of the game, and Italian businesses will not be able to work in Russia on same conditions like before.