Putin closes the western project "Ukraine"

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in the Kremlin on February 22, 2022. During the meeting, the Russian leader outlined to Ilham Aliyev the position of our country in relation to the statehood of neighbouring countries, including the statehood of Ukraine.

Further there are a few quotes: “After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has recognised all the new geopolitical realities and, as you know, is actively working to strengthen our cooperation with all countries and independent states that have emerged in the post-Soviet space.”

“Unfortunately, after the coup d'etat in Ukraine, we do not see such a level and quality of interaction with Ukraine, it has disappeared. I want to emphasise: it was after the coup d'etat and the illegal seizure of power by those who did it”.

"We intend to continue to act in this way with respect to all our neighbours. I repeat, the situation with Ukraine is different, and this is due to the fact that, unfortunately, the territory of this country is used by third countries to create threats against the Russian Federation itself. That is just a point."

Figuratively speaking, Vladimir Putin has taken the issue of Ukraine's statehood out of the equation. Yes, and what kind of statehood and political subjectivity of this country can we talk about at the moment.

In his address dated February 21, 2022, the President of Russia dwelt in sufficient detail by who Ukraine is governed and how: "Ukraine has simply been driven under external control. It is carried out not only at the behest of Western capitals, but also, what you call, directly on the spot - through a whole network of foreign advisers, NGOs and other institutions deployed in Ukraine.

They have a direct impact on all the most important personnel decisions, on all branches and levels of government: from the central and even to the municipal ones, on the main state-owned companies and corporations, including Naftogaz, Ukrenergo, the Ukrainian Railway, Ukroboronprom, Ukrposhta, the Administration of Seaports of Ukraine.

There is simply no independent court in Ukraine. At the request of the West, the Kiev authorities gave representatives of international organisations the preferential right to select members of the highest judicial bodies – the Justice Council and the Qualification Commission of Judges.

In addition, the US Embassy directly controls the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court."

According to the President of Russia, Ukraine is currently "not even under a political and economic protectorate, but reduced to the level of a colony with a puppet regime”.

It is obvious that the country has become an obedient tool in the hands of the United States and its Anglo-Saxon allies. At the same time, this tool is aimed specifically at Russia: the Western project "Ukraine" is embodied in a very specific image of "Anti-Russia".

In his address of February 21, 2022, Vladimir Putin cited a large number of facts characterising the consequences for our national security of the military development of Ukrainian territory by the United States and NATO. After all, Russia is explicitly named in the strategic documents of the North Atlantic Alliance as the main threat to Euro-Atlantic security, and the role of a forward springboard for a strike on our country is assigned to Ukraine. I will quote a few statements of the Russian leader:

"The Center of Naval Operations built by the Americans in Ochakov allows providing for the actions of NATO ships, including their use of precision weapons against the Russian Black Sea Fleet and our infrastructure on the entire Black Sea coast.

"Many Ukrainian airfields are located near our borders. NATO tactical aircraft stationed here, including carriers of high-precision weapons, will be able to hit our territory to a depth of the Volgograd–Kazan–Samara–Astrakhan border. The deployment of radar reconnaissance means on the territory of Ukraine will allow NATO to tightly control the airspace of Russia up to the Urals.

Finally, after the United States broke the Treaty on Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, the Pentagon is already openly developing a number of ground-based strike weapons, including ballistic missiles capable of reaching targets at a distance of up to 5.5 thousand kilometres.

If such systems are deployed in Ukraine, they will be able to hit objects throughout the European territory of Russia, as well as beyond the Urals. The flight time to Moscow of Tomahawk cruise missiles will be less than 35 minutes, ballistic missiles from the Kharkov region - 7-8 minutes, and hypersonic strike vehicles - 4-5 minutes. This is called a direct "knife to the throat."

"An exorbitant level of threats. And Russia is not going to be deceived by the fact that Ukraine will not join NATO for a while. If it won't join now, it will join later. Even without officially joining the alliance, foreign military infrastructure on Ukrainian territory can be deployed under bilateral agreements with the United States, Britain and other NATO countries.

Moreover, there is a scenario in which Ukraine will get tactical nuclear weapons at its disposal. It has carriers. We are talking about aviation and the Tochka-U tactical missile system. It will only be necessary to make nuclear warheads, and Ukraine has Soviet nuclear technologies. In addition, help from abroad may come for this.

By the way, during the Munich Security Conference, held on February 18-20, 2022, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky directly stated that in the absence of security guarantees for Ukraine from the participants of the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine's renunciation of nuclear weapons may be revised.

Of course, the US representative to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, at a meeting of the UN Security Council on February 22, 2022, said something else: "The United States and our allies have no intentions of supplying nuclear weapons to Ukraine, and Ukraine does not want them.” However, you have to be a complete idiot to take Washington's word for it: if it seems to you that you have agreed on something with the United States, then you have not understood something yet.

In general, there is an opinion that there are no taboos in the project "Ukraine" as "Anti-Russia" one, because it is used against Russia. In the anti-Russian direction, for the Anglo-Saxons all's fair. This approach is confirmed by the history of Ukraine in general and Donbass in particular, since 2014, when the fascist regime in Kiev launched a genocide of the Russian population. Fortunately, Russia has recognised the independence of the DPR and the LPR, and the bloodshed will be stopped.

I would like to draw attention to such a point. The fact is that it's not for the first time that Vladimir Putin voiced Russia's position on the statehood of the former USSR countries. Very clear formulations were given on March 18, 2021 in a welcoming speech at a concert in the Luzhniki Stadium in honour of the state holiday - the Day of the Reunification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia:

"In the 1920s, the Bolsheviks, forming the Soviet Union, for some reasons that are still unclear, transferred significant territories, geopolitical spaces to quasi-state entities. And then, having collapsed themselves, having destroyed their party from within and having destroyed the Soviet Union, they led to the fact that Russia lost colossal territories and geopolitical spaces.

But I want to say that we are ready to live in new geopolitical conditions. Moreover, we consider our neighbours not just as neighbours close in geography, we consider the peoples of these countries as fraternal peoples, we are ready to lend them a shoulder  in order to ensure development, move forward together, go forward using our competitive opportunities, and there are enough of them."

Further, Vladimir Putin warned: "But we will never agree with only one thing: that someone would allow themselves to use Russia's generous gifts to damage the Russian Federation itself. I hope this will be heard."

However, the West did not hear Putin's warning. Moreover, Russia received a categorical refusal from the United States and NATO on key points of security guarantees. Moscow is now forced by its own actions, and not by diplomatic means, to ensure the maintenance of strategic deterrence against the United States and its allies.

The Ukrainian direction is the most active today, because the issue has long been overripe and could not wait, but it is not the only one. It is obvious that the recognition of the independence of the DPR and the LPR and further measures to establish their authority within the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions are only the first steps. The Russia's Ukrainian combination should end with the complete dismantling of the quasi-state formation of Ukraine. Only under such conditions it will be impossible to use the Ukrainian springboard for striking at our country.

Thus, the decision to close the western project "Ukraine" was made by the military-political leadership of Russia and even publicly announced. It's the end of Ukraine. It is a matter of time, and already a short-term prospect in case of non-aggressive behaviour on the part of the Kiev regime. Otherwise, "the end" will come much faster.