HAS RUSSIA MADE AN 'UNPROVOKED' & UNWARRANTED ATTACK ON UKRAINE?

If the people of any nation know of the horrors of war better, or with greater resistance to future war than the Russians, I would be very surprised. Having lost in excess of 25 million of their fellow countrymen and women and reminded constantly and in particular on an annual basis on May 9th each year they are unlikely ever to forget the sacrifice made by them during WWII. This was one of many reasons also why the dove of peace became a particularly common subject of artists and sculptors during the years after its conclusion.

However, Russia is being accused currently of waging an "unprovoked" attack on Ukraine, waging an unwarranted war with no historical, legal or logical basis to it. I have to say that only those who have not heard a single thing concerning the last eight years of Russia's determination to find a peaceful resolution there could believe this. 

In 2014 Ukraine's president and government were replaced, not at the ballot box but through a violent insurrection overwhelmingly backed by western political elites with some of them mingling with those instigating that insurrection. Soon after this Crimea voted to rejoin Russia and the two Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine took control of their own administrative functions as a countermeasure fearing the new regime posed a danger to their language, pro-Russian connections and culture. Subsequently as Kiev sent a military force there and violence broke out leading to a siege of the two republics by the Ukrainian military they asked Putin to allow them to join the Russian Federation.

Putin's response was to deny them this request, even though the republics had held an enthusiastically attended referendum which showed the people by majority wanted no more to do with control by Kiev. Putin's stance was that the two republics ought to remain as an integral part of Ukraine but should appeal to Kiev to be given a high degree of autonomy and so safeguard their language, culture and many diverse affiliations and relationships with Russia. Putin advocated a federalized system for Ukraine such as exists elsewhere in the world where two or more such radically different peoples managed their affairs to maintain peace among them.

Thus, after a vicious war where many died, including thousands of civilians in the two republics due to random bombardments by the Ukrainian army and its extremist militias aligned with them Kiev finally came to the negotiating table. This came about with the formation of a self-defence force built by the republics to face down those who were firing mortar shells and the occasional missile into the civilian-occupied spaces of the villages, towns and cities of the two republics. The negotiations were held in the Belarusian city of Minsk and so became known as the Minsk Accords, or Minsk Agreements. This agreement principally called on Kiev to begin direct talks with the leaders of the republics to create a dialogue required to come to a peaceful settlement. A second requirement of Kiev was to pass a law granting the area of the republics special status that would grant them the ability to run their own affairs and maintain their own distinctive culture, their predominantly Russian language, their close connections to Russia through inter-marriage and otherwise, and the preservation of their legacy of commemorating the liberation of the Donbass by the Soviet Red Army during WWII. The Minsk Accords were duly signed, then ratified at the United Nations.

That was in 2015.

For seven years long, through the Normandy Format where representatives of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine met regularly, the stumbling block was always the resistance of Kiev to the two steps noted above. I wonder, does this sound as if Putin was longing to invade Ukraine? Didn't he have justification enough as he saw the video films of Ukrainian shells hitting the apartment blocks in the republics, seeing as I am sure he must have, as I did the constant stream of photographs where both young and old, male and female civilians had been struck down by mortar shells on their town streets or in their homes. The attacks were at their most horrendous and bullets, mortar shells and the occasional missile hit but were almost completely absent from western news media.

Did Putin take that opportunity to invade Ukraine? He did not. He had to watch the absolute misery of the people in the republics and simply hope they could withstand all they were going through. The total of the dead in and around the two republics from that time to this stands at around 15,000. Putin had to avoid all temptation to intervene and put all his hopes into getting the peace and reconciliation and autonomy for the republics through the Minsk Accords. And this he did.

Putin knew personally what horrors come from war. Besides knowing at a very deep level the history of the second world war he also suffered a personal family loss from the Great Patriotic War as Russians have named it. There is no reason to believe that Putin was averse or an exception to the deep and abiding fear and loathing for war that the Russian population feels as a whole. Waiting and hoping that Minsk would lead to a solution in Ukraine that would allow the people of the republics, within the area known as the Donbass the security and freedom from fear they needed to continue to thrive and retain their own unique culture within Ukraine.

It was not to be.

Just a few months ago the Kiev representatives at a final, nine hour meeting of the Normandy Four stated that they no longer wished to discuss the Minsk Accords. If they were unwilling to take the only path available to peace and reconciliation what was the alternative?

During last years continuing into the early months of this one Ukraine had been building up its troop deployments near the borders of the republics, training by western military personnel of Ukrainian troops was also underway as well as manoeuvres with NATO troops. In recent times the president of Ukraine, Zelensky, who had campaigned on bringing peace to the Donbass suggested that Ukraine might regain its nuclear status. Zelensky had become ever more belligerent over the years since his hopeful beginnings as president and openly talked of 'taking back' Crimea and the republics. The rhetoric from NATO about Russia as an adversary did not help matters. Everything pointed to things getting ever worse for Russia with Ukraine already showing signs that it had de facto become a member of NATO, anathema for Putin as he held Russia's security as his highest duty. Then, early in February Russian intelligence caught wind of an imminent Ukrainian attack planned against the two republics.

Putin clearly and finally gave up all his hopes for a peaceful settlement with Kiev regarding any possible agreement that could bring any kind of peaceful resolution that would bring reconciliation between Kiev and the republics. He saw that the extremist forces of the Maidan who had caused the downfall of both president and government of Ukraine in 2014 now embedded in the Ukrainian military and National Guard would never allow this eventuality to come into being but were dedicated instead to the genocide through ethnic cleansing of those they called 'Moskals' (Russians) these being the millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians who lived in the two republics.

That was it for Putin. He quite clearly could stand for no more delay.

In the next days Russia recognised the two republics as sovereign entities and that the Russian Federation agreed to their request for protective assistance due to their being under imminent threat.

So, on February 24th Putin green-lighted Russia's 'Special Military Operation' which continues to this day with the goals of ensuring Ukraine becomes a neutral nation, never to join NATO, to ensure the liberation of the republics from the eight year siege by Kiev's forces and the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.

Having read the above I wonder if anyone can place any faith at all in the words of those who say that Russia has made an "unprovoked" and unwarranted attack on Ukraine.