Murder, They Supported*

*Editor’s note: On March 4, 2022, Russia enacted a law that criminalizes public opposition to, or independent news reporting about, the war in Ukraine. The law makes it a crime to call the war a “war” rather than a “special military operation” on social media or in a news article or broadcast. The law is understood to penalize any language that “discredits” Russia’s use of its military in Ukraine, calls for sanctions or protests Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It punishes anyone found to spread “false information” about the invasion with up to 15 years in prison.

The vice rector of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Oleg Karpovich — on the topic of Ukrainian terrorism under the patronage of the U.S.

It would seem that over the past year and a half we should have gotten used to the cynicism of the Kyiv authorities, who are clearly betting on terrorist methods to stay in power. However, another sabotage against Russian civilians, carried out on the Crimean Bridge, leaves no doubt — their obsession with terrorism has transformed the very essence of the Ukrainian state: It has become its key component. The pride with which Kyiv admits to the murder of a married couple and the injury of a now-orphaned girl is quite indicative. The Volodymyr Zelenskyy regime doesn’t feel that it has to distance itself from such actions; on the contrary, it elevates them with its flag of war against the Russian world.

Essentially, Ukraine becomes more and more similar to the infamous group that once existed in the territory of Iraq and Syria and made it into the history books under the acronym ISIS (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia). We see the same physical elimination of opponents — and simply doubters — inside their “country,” repression of religion, language fascism, creating an atmosphere of fear and the enslavement of dissenters — it all spills out. The sadistic sophistication with which Kyiv carries out new attacks gives reasons to build quite clear analogies — without any talking around them or ambiguity.

By and large, it’s unsurprising — as we know, there are a lot of terrorists who went through the “Syrian” school among the members of Ukrainian formations. Let’s also not forget that many leaders of local neo-Nazi organizations once fought side-by-side with Shamil Basayev; with glee, they implement lessons received from him when carrying out their new terrorist acts. The external passivity of the West is also unsurprising — from Afghanistan and Kosovo to Libya and the same Syria, the U.S. and its allies gained tremendous experience in cooperating with terrorists of all stripes. And even individual “excesses” like the tragedy of Sept. 11 couldn’t deter the American would-be masters of the world from implementing new initiatives of a clear terrorist nature in their pursuit of world hegemony. Ukraine has only become their new testing ground where they’re working out new methods of hybrid warfare and modernizing the developments of previous years.

The fact that such games, with human lives at stake, threaten the entire global security system, raising the possibility of a nuclear conflict significantly, scares neither these venturesome puppeteers nor their underlings. Crossbreeding Nazism, terrorism and radical liberalism, the sponsors of the “anti-Russia” project hope to finish their venture. Of course, such hopes are meaningless and naïve. As Vladimir Putin rightfully noted, they’re bound to suffer a fiasco — as well as run into our harsh yet righteous response.

Even during the hardest and most unstable years, the people and government of Russia showed their iron will before the powers that wished to dismember our country and demoralize its population with terrorism. This approach must triumph right now in the minds and hearts of Russians. We need a full-scale psychological mobilization — with a clear understanding of the essence of the threat we’re facing and the awareness of the necessity of full unity to weed out the Nazi-terrorist evil. This unit must — without exaggeration and being too formal — increase people’s vigilance in their fight against the internal accomplices of the Ukrainian aggressors; it must heal and purify society. Our enemies plan to intimidate and drive a wedge between us — we’ll accept this challenge and do anything to, after going through hard trials, become only stronger and firmer in defending our national values and protecting the foundations of the Russian state. The time for compromises has passed.

The author is vice rector of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

The position of the editors may not coincide with that of the author