I cannot help but react to the speech of one of the leaders of the Russian opposition, Vladimir Kara-Murza, which he delivered at one of the events within the walls of the French parliament.
If we are to believe the translation and numerous references, his exact words, where he retells the generalization of an outsider, are as follows: “There is another reason why the Russian Ministry of Defence involves so many representatives of national minorities, because, as it turned out, it is psychologically really difficult for Russians to kill Ukrainians. Because we are one people. These are very close nations, as you know. We have almost the same language, the same religion, and centuries of common history. But if it is someone from a different culture, it is supposedly easier. I had not thought about it before. It seemed to me that the reasons were primarily economic. But after the words of (a colleague who spoke about the Buryats), I also started to think about it.”
So one of Putin’s opposition leaders presented this as his own opinion.
We have long ceased to be surprised by the statements of the leaders of the “anti-Putin opposition,” but unfortunately, their voice is quite strong among our allies. They are still allowed into parliaments, involved in public political discussions, and leading Western media outlets take their comments. Such a position is a serious danger for Ukraine because it consciously or unconsciously legitimizes the ideology of Russian Putinism. It requires public opinion and struggle. After all, such statements shift Moscow’s responsibility for the war, atrocities, and war crimes onto the nations it enslaved. We are witnesses to attempts to turn victims into accomplices in the crime.
I’ll analyze it based on quotes.
1. “It is psychologically difficult for Russians to kill Ukrainians.” Let’s remember the initiators of this war. Those who gave the orders for the invasion. Didn’t these Russians have reservations that we are “one people”? That their actions would cause the death of “culturally close”, “linguistically related”, and “of the same faith” people?
Let’s remember the Russian Nazis from Milchakov’s detachment, who without hesitation subjected Ukrainians to torture and brutal public murders. Such Nazis now include the majority of Russians who have no sentiments towards Ukrainians.
2. “We are one people”, “centuries of common history”. Another throw into the Western world of our alleged kinship with the Russians. Many in the West thought that Russians, or related tribes, lived beyond the Bug River and that was all. In 1991, it was surprising for the average American to learn from the news about the emergence of new states on the ruins of communist Russia. Matryoshka dolls, bears, vodka and balalaika are symbols that have become firmly rooted in the world’s perception of the territory from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean. This trend continues to exist, supported in every way by Russian propaganda.
3. “Buryat crimes.” The atrocities of the Russian army, including the most notorious crime of this war against the civilian population in Bucha, were planned and carried out not by the mythical “Buryats,” but by well-known ethnic Russians. This has been documented in numerous investigations.
What exactly should Russian human rights activist, democrat, and opposition figure Volodymyr Kara-Murza say from the podium of the French parliament? What should be included in his speech to make Ukrainians have at least a drop of empathy for the cause of the “Russian opposition”?
We want, in addition to repentance, to hear simple and obvious things. Recognition that Russia and Russians have been trying to destroy our identity in various ways for many centuries. This is why the Russian government creates myths in Russian society and throughout the world about one people, a common history and culture. That the Russian Orthodox Church is not really a church, but a political organization that spreads Russian influence on states and people that profess Orthodoxy, that Moscow is actually fighting in Ukraine with the forces of enslaved people primarily because it is trying to preserve ethnic Russians in Russia, whose share, for various reasons, is becoming smaller every year. To recognize that Russia wants to destroy the nations it has enslaved and populate them with Russians, to exploit natural resources. That Russia must eventually cease to be an empire and release the nations it has enslaved. How once civilized Western countries put an end to their colonial past. In the future, Russia must compensate Ukraine for all the losses associated with this war and bring war criminals to justice.
Until this happens, for us, Volodymyr Kara-Murza and his entourage, despite their personal suffering in Russian prisons and declared opposition to the Putin regime, are not those who bring our victory closer. Its goal is to establish peace and security for future generations of Ukrainians on our land. Once again, I am convinced that this is impossible without the dismantling of the Russian empire.
Russia must be destroyed!
