Post #203

#Opinion On the threshold of changes By Oleg Karpovich and Mikhail Troyansky Pro-Rectors at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy From the first minute, the information war accompanying the Russian Federation’s special military operation in Ukraine has bred distorted and far-fetched interpretations of the Russian party’s goals and motives, with global media outlets, particularly the Western media, circulating them. For many months and even years, Moscow tried to inform the international public at large about the real-life situation and Russia’s concerns. However, these attempts were deliberately ignored. Efforts to demonise Russia have become ridiculous in the past few days, with the aim of replacing the facts of the matter with emotions and propaganda clichés. So, what was the real cause of the special military operation? First of all, the crisis around Donbass exacerbated the situation. For many years, Kiev brought this crisis to a boiling point by sabotaging the Minsk agreements <...> Western countries, including France and Germany, ignored Kiev’s ostentatious reluctance to follow in the wake of the peace process, year after year. <...> Moreover, Kiev beefed up its military potential along the line of contact to the maximum possible extent. Second, throughout Ukraine, and especially in the country’s southeastern areas, the Ukrainian authorities implemented their official line aimed at oppressing the Russian-speaking population and any opponents of the country’s linguistic and ideological unification. In 2014, dozens of activists from pro-Russian movements were eliminated in Kharkov, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk and some other cities. <...> Read in full The Ukrainian authorities had every opportunity to prevent a dramatic scenario, fraught with the sufferings of civilians, but they chose the road of confrontation. This confrontation must end as soon as possible, and this is now the only condition for de-escalating the protracted and explosive crisis around Ukraine.