PUTIN'S LETTER TO CITIZENS OF THE WORLD
FEBRUARY 26, 2022
Dear citizens of the world, I greet you.
International news has been rich in events since last October. You have certainly read, heard, a certain number of things, sometimes true, sometimes totally hackneyed. I understand that the offensive that my country is currently waging on Ukraine gives rise to several interpretations. But I am going to enlighten you, ever so slightly, not only on my motives, but on the conduct of world affairs in general. I will be brief, concise, so be focused.
I come to power in a bloodless country, devastated by the humiliating defeat suffered by the West, which not only succeeded in breaking up the empire that had existed for more than half a century, but also in integrating the sister Republics in his camp. The economy is down, people are struggling to make ends meet, no one respects the Russians anymore, whose President is a recognized alcoholic. The Russian Federation, at the beginning of the 21st Century, is the worst manifestation of what a non-State is.
From the outset, faced with the observation of the military and economic weakness of my country, I understood the need to work in good harmony with the victors. I therefore ask for my country to join the great military organization bringing together the countries of Europe and America, convinced that in cooperation and understanding, we could together create a safer world without harmful hegemony. But George Bush, President of the USA, answers me in the negative. The reason is very simple: his country does not want an alliance with another country which could eventually compete with it militarily.
I understand then that the past will not be erased as easily as I thought, quite naively. Above all, I have seen over the years that the West, led by the United States, has no intention of letting the world run free, contrary to the promises of a free and civilized world that it brandished for the needs of his cause.
In reality, behind this democratic facade, hides the tacit will to impose a system of values, its system of values, on the rest of the planet, without distinction of civilization, history, culture... I understand that the West simply tries to fight the dictatorship of others (the one that does not suit him) by his own dictatorship.
These observations lead me to react accordingly, because if nothing is done, the great civilization which is that of my Russia, will be dissolved, relegated to the drawers of history, from which it will only be taken out to teach children something they will never need in life. I therefore decided to give back to the Russians the feeling of national pride which must be the basis of any emancipation project, and which is sorely lacking in African countries in particular. Russians must once again feel proud to belong to the greatest country in the world!
For this, strengthening military capabilities is essential, because even if we inherited nuclear weapons after the breakup of the USSR as the main Republic, our military skills suffered a great blow with the economic and social crisis that almost decimated the country. The military project being completed, I embark on the path of rebuilding the economy, to make it stable and strong. Gone are the sovkhozes, the kolkhozes, and other outdated initiatives of the Soviet era! From now on, Russia adopts the market economy, it must live with the times, without being swallowed up.
In terms of strategy, although my country is ultimately surrounded by potential enemies, I maintain a certain serenity about its security. However, I do not hesitate to publicly denounce the global hegemonic will of the USA which, very often, and in defiance of the international law that many evoke, acts in a way that does not allow a glimpse of a peaceful global future.
Why did they go to war in Iraq, thousands of miles from home?
Why did they decide unilaterally, and despite the reluctance of other partners, within the framework of NATO, to defenestrate the Libyan regime, which is nevertheless stable and important for the stability of North Africa and the Sahel?
Why did they need to divide Sudan?
What was the need to hasten the fall of the Syrian regime and openly destroy a country that had asked for nothing?
In less than 20 years, the Americans and their European followers have been the cause of so many deaths, that one is logically entitled to wonder - unless one clearly refuses to reflect - if democracy and the values so vaunted should be exported in such bloodbaths.
Ah! Solzhenitsyn, where are you? To the Archipelago of the Gulag, you could have opposed The civilized savagery of the free world! I wager that our country would not have lost in exchange.
In this new world of civilized savages, does not my Russia, having developed military capabilities, have a say? It is surprising to note the anti-Russian and anti-Chinese speeches of the former colonial powers in Africa, when their former colonies, which have become independent, wish to cooperate, according to the provisions of international law, which are opposed only to my Russia, with the latter or with China. The rejection by the European Union of the Chinese project of the new Silk Roads, which should cross some European countries, is significant of this complex attitude towards the other. If colonial Europe considers certain regions as zones of influence in which others should not fit, why should I be forbidden to do the same in my near abroad?
In 2008, faced with the sudden expansionist impulse of an insignificant leader of a former vassal republic, should my Russia remain silent and take it upon herself?
Faced with the programmed defenestration of the Syrian regime by the USA and their eternal Israeli ally, shouldn't my country have to intervene? If for Libya, we were not reactive enough, for Syria we decided to act. Who could blame us?
Faced with the disorder organized in Ukraine by the Ukrainians themselves, unable to agree on the line to give their country, divided between Europhiles and Russophiles, shouldn't my Russia have to intervene to try to put an end to the conflict, especially since the regular army had decided to target the Russophile populations, thus leaving the risk of genocide hanging over?
But this is not the time for whining, because on the other side of the wall, hatred is tenacious, and old demons are active. Indeed, the old Biden, who also called me all the names of birds, decided to create an artificial disorder on the old continent. While since 2015 there has been a relative calm in Ukraine, in the ideological and military conflict between East and West, this gentleman offered to add a layer by urging the Ukrainian leader, a famous comedian it seems, to position themselves vis-à-vis my great Russia as little Nicolas Sarkozy and his cronies did with the insignificant Georgian leader. It seems that the lessons of history are not learned, because whoever provokes my Russia, suffers the ire of my missiles.
Despite holding several rounds of negotiations, nothing helped. The Americans, whose hatred of my Russia has never waned despite the end of the Cold War and the indisputable – although logically disputed – hegemony they have acquired over the world, have decided not to not listen to our legitimate demands and proceed with forceps, the new provocation being to support Ukraine's request to join NATO, in the name of international law with variable geometry. As a result, they unfailingly accept the idea of positioning their military arsenal on the western border of my country, something which in 1962 in Cuba, in the opposite direction, had made the world fear a nuclear war, so much had the Americans proclaimed their refusal to see the Soviet military arsenal on its border. Americanized international law did not exist for Cuba in those days!
To overcome this problem, I proposed a very simple solution, which was already used during the Cold War: the constitution of Ukraine as a neutral state, on the model of Finland at the time. What has gone down in history as Finlandization is, in my opinion, a way out of an implacable logic, with regard to the structural incomprehension between the Americans and us.
Unfortunately, the comedian, who certainly believes himself on a film set, confusing reality and fiction, lets himself be tricked by fictitious promises of Western support. He and his friends refuse to understand the great issue of protecting my country, not only from a military point of view, but also from a civilizational point of view. A quick glance at the geographical map of Eastern Europe makes it possible to understand my position: on the entire western flank, I am surrounded by countries flying the NATO flag, and having, as a result, adopted the mode of politico-societal organization proposed by the West. I'm not stupid, I've read George Kennan's "The Long Telegram", I'm well aware of the containment theory he was already proposing in 1946, and its counterpart, the domino theory, which was to become - and which still are – the two main thrusts of American foreign policy.
Following this logic, the Western idea is very clearly to surround my Russia with arms and social organizations to the standards desired by our enemies, so that sooner or later, our country will disappear, either by military means or by soft way. A great replacement of the Russian people and civilization is therefore to be feared!
It is in the face of all this, butted against the bad faith of those who want to make our identity disappear, to annihilate the nation of Oleg the Wise, the descendants of Vladimir the Great, to ignore the contribution of Anne of Kiev, to refute the legacy of Vladimir Illitch, which I have decided, in full awareness of the risks that this represents, to act and not to suffer. Peoples of the world, understand my position, it is very simple, and I think that if each of you succeeds in making the projection in the context of your own country, you will understand that there was no other alternative, under the same conditions of dialogue of the deaf, as what is happening today in Ukraine. Either that or take the risk of having close to me a foreign armed coalition openly hostile to my people, to their history, to their civilization, in the country which is and will remain the cradle of Russia, and which has benefited of the best in terms of military cooperation during the time of the USSR. For the survival of my Russia, I cannot afford to have such a large territory totally devoted to the Western cause, from which any kind of attack could arise at any time.
Notwithstanding this pressing security issue, I have no intention of occupying Ukraine. It is too vast a territory, with an openly and mostly pro-Western population, it would cost us too much in time, energy and money to embark on a colonizing adventure. I would like talks to be held with Ukrainian leaders who are aware of the geopolitical importance of this country, and of its role in the current configuration of stability and security in Europe, and not with acculturated pseudo leaders, with no political strategy other than to be in the pay of the Americans. In the interest of my Russia, and of the Ukrainian populations, it is important that a frank and sincere dialogue be held as soon as possible, with, I repeat, a responsible Ukrainian government! Otherwise, the other solution would then be the partition of Ukraine, and the international recognition of the Donbass republics which are populated by Ukrainians who prefer attachment to the values of greater Russia to Western assimilation.
In this ideological war, dear peoples of the world, you must understand that if the USA is ready to do anything to impose itself everywhere, my Russia is ready to do anything to refuse assimilation, the importation of a major civilizational danger into its near stranger. It will therefore unfortunately be, according to the American doctrine of the savagery of the civilized world, who will have the best weapons and the best global strategy, if reason, across the Atlantic, does not prevail over emotions.
The ball is in their court. Americans to give our world a chance for peace.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin