I recently came upon the article A big interview with the head of the Russian President’s Administration Sergey Ivanov. I read it without any particular pleasure. In the beginning of the article Ivanov strictly outlined Russia’s interpretations of the events in Ukraine. It is extraordinarily manipulative.
“It all began when Mr. Yanukovych proposed to postpone the signing of the association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. I emphasize: not cancel the signing, but he proposed not to hasten. As at the last moment, as they say, better late than never, he understood that the signing of this agreement is very detrimental to the country’s economy, that it would knock it out. Which resulted in the beginning of Maidan, supported by Western countries. And, as a consequence, the events in the southeast of Ukraine which grew into war, essentially, a civil one, a punishing one, as a result of which thousands of people died. The chain of events also includes the murders on Maidan, Crimea, the crimes in Odesa, the downed ‘Boeing,’ the continued attack of Ukrainian cities using direct fire, the humanitarian catastrophe.”
What is awe-inspiring is not what it says but the level at which these theses are officially sounded. The head of the Russian President’s Administration turned out to be a primitive descendant of Goebbels. The Nazi propaganda taught the bases of propaganda: say only the truth, just not all of it.
Ivanov consciously avoids mentioning a number of events which distorts this interpretation of the process. Yes, Euromaidan began as a consequence of the agreement not having been signed. I emphasize, Euromaidan, not just Maidan. It was a splash of civil protest. Relatively small. It would have gone down quickly and continued to be solved by politicians, is not for the forceful dispersal of the activist, if not for the unmotivated aggression on part of the law enforcement.
This evoked the real uprising of the people, and the issue of European integration became secondary. The protesters demanded respect for the law and justice.
But you, Ivanov, cannot grasp this. You have been a slave for ages. First you paid taxes to the Kyivan Rus, then the Khan of the Golden Horde, and after the latter fell, you considered Muscovite tzars to be your masters. And now you serve another master of the Kremlin.
It would seem that a state official, a Colonel General (according to the Russian Wikipedia) would have some semblance of officer’s honor… and it turns out that a big country is being governed by lying nothings and cowards who live in their own world of illusions.
Will any Ivanov have enough courage to tell the truth to his slave-owner, Putin? I doubt it. In totalitarian societies the presence of courageous and honest officials is unacceptable.
However sooner or later they will have to admit: you provoked the bloody events in Maidan. You gave shelter to our traitorous president who fled Ukraine. The you occupied Crimea and declared its accession to the Russian Federation.
And now you are fighting us, Ukrainians, in Donbas… With such small additions to Ivanov’s tale, the image becomes whole and truthful. However, at the same time, it is not good for Moscow. For this state the truth is detrimental, which is why they want to silence or distort it.
Any positive changes in out country will sooner or later become known to the Russians. You are scared of your own Maidan in Russia, which is why you are not allowing our country to develop and improve itself. You consciously and systematically tried and continue trying to distort us. And the war which the Kremlin began is not for Donbas, Crimea or a mythical ‘Novorossiya,’ not against Ukraine, the EU or the US The war is against the entire civilized world. The war is for you to preserve everything you’d stolen from your own people.
And the further the development of democratic countries, the deeper the degradation in Russia. Today Russian politicians are calling to return not to Soviet realities, but to restore the Empire and serfdom. Little time remains until the official return to slave ownership…
They are trying to make us stay in the Russian-Soviet axis system. We have to turn the page.
Ivanov and Putin will have to admit they were lying. In court. We won’t have to wait for long.