The President of the United States Ronald Reagan referred to the USSR as the “empire of evil.” If we develop this idea further, the modern Russian Federation could be called the “empire of lies.” Considering the events of the last decade, Russia’s war against Ukraine, even the “empire of terror.” The essence of Russia, with its mythical “soul,” is pressure and blackmail. Civilized dialogue and respect for partners and neighbors are not their strong points. In everything, Russians see deceit and always act treacherously.
This behavior pattern is very revealing. Lies, blackmail, and terror are always about insecurity, lack of self-assurance. Behind attempts to deceive, trick, and bluff, to present desires as reality, rarely lies good intentions. The Russian Federation wants to be a geopolitical leader, but its state of a broken trough doesn’t allow for that. Therefore, the mentioned tools are incessantly utilized there. They compensate for their struggles in the quagmire with propaganda. Becoming victims of it is easy — confirmed by generations of Ukrainians.
Creating problems to have something to “solve”
Russian propaganda is active not only in Ukraine but also in Africa. People there are already beginning to suspect the scale of Russian lies. However, they still have doubts. So, they are being fed tales that Africa won’t survive without Russian grain. Yet, it’s the contacts with Russians, the presence of terrorists from the Wagner Group, that diminish the chances of a normal life in the region. Russia itself is the threat. If it’s not distanced from crucial processes, various scenarios are possible, but none of them are positive.
Russians played the record of their indispensability for Ukrainians. They constantly broadcasted into Ukrainian space inventions that without Russians, they were worth nothing and incapable of: creating anything substantial, maintaining a state, and ensuring citizens’ peace and security. This filth never ceased to flow from the well-funded mouths of propagandists. This undermined faith in Ukraine and prepared the ground and justification for the crimes that Russians are now committing in Ukraine. Therefore, the main threat to Ukraine, its state, and its citizens is indeed the Russian Federation.
Fabrications produced in Moscow have nothing to do with reality. Ukraine is a worthy democracy knocking on the doors of the European Union and following its own path. There are shortcomings and mistakes, but Ukraine strives to correct them. This cannot be said about Russia, where power has been usurped. Norms and values, as well as human life, hold no value for them. Democratic elections have been forgotten there, and power changes only after the death of the ruler. Most processes in Ukraine happen under the banners of dignity and freedom, while in Russia, people die like flies for the selfish interests of a bloody dictator.
See also: The Empire is attacking. How Russia took away Ukraine’s territories 100 years ago
The Puppet and his lackeys
The Russian authorities lie, but the truth still surfaces. Perhaps even Russians themselves are learning it. For now, they march like a flock of sheep towards the slaughter, following a leadership that is indifferent to people’s welfare. If Putin’s rating depended on waging war against hell, he would have started a “special operation” against flames and ordered soldiers to carry red-hot cauldrons and ford a river with sulfur. The worst part is that they would comply. Russians have grown accustomed to dying “for the sake of power” and endorsing terrorism. There, the ruler is always right, and might even believe they are God’s chosen, while the rest are insignificant beings. Dignity and humanity mean nothing to them. They acknowledge strength because they fear the dictator in the Kremlin.
However, for some reason, Russians hold contempt not for themselves but for Ukrainians. They doubt the existence of the Ukrainian nation and state. This is happening in a situation where Ukrainians have taken up arms and bravely fought against a formidable enemy. When Ukraine, once mocked, stands its ground and fulfills its duties in extremely challenging conditions! But what about the Russians?
“Russian” Buryat and Russian nationality
Unfounded accusations say more about the accuser than the accused. The same goes for Russia. Their fabrications about “Nazis,” “radicals,” and “failures” in Ukraine are not worth attention. What is truly evident to everyone is that the hatemongers, chauvinists, and xenophobes are Russians themselves. They hate everyone and everything, yet they don’t even have control over their own country — it’s manipulated by criminals. Russians are captive to stereotypes and inventions, prisoners of their military-political leadership, which uses them as expendable pawns and cannon fodder. It’s a pitiful role that they consistently play.
So, enough of the “ancient” history and “great” culture. The atrocities of the Russian regime are clear for all to see. It’s not in vain that Russians are already rewriting textbooks, indoctrinating students with an even more “correct” perception of history, the “special operation,” and the cruelty that Russians inflict on Ukraine. Once they distorted the history of World War II for the “population,” and now they want to whitewash Russian killers and cannibals of the 21st century. “Destroy, erase, and rule”— the Russian way of life. While annihilating peoples, their empire of terror also works on filtering memory, and then enforcing their own narrative of power.
They tried to label us as nameless individuals, who were always belittled and oppressed. This happened at a time when the inhabitants of Ukrainian territories were co-creators of many states: the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia, and Samogitia, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, even the Russian Empire. Local people managed to preserve their distinctiveness. Meanwhile, Russians themselves were like a rolling field, constantly shifting. Their national project within the empire and the USSR was vague and pitiful due to their dependence on the ruling course. Russians wanted to be the titular nation but didn’t undergo the process of nation-building in the 19th and 20th centuries and didn’t have their own center of power in the USSR — Moscow was merely a central authority for the whole Union. The facade of the Romanov Empire and later the Soviet empire never allowed an understanding of who Russians truly were. This situation remains unchanged to this day. They still don’t know who they are.
Russians are imperialists, Stalinists, and even Putinists. At least as long as the regime is in place. As soon as it falls and circumstances demand it, they’ll rebrand themselves. They will condemn wars for the public eye and shift all the blame onto the current bloody dictator. Even though the crimes of the Putin regime currently enjoy significant support within Russian society. Such is their “mysterious” soul: hating and despising everyone, accusing and incinerating. Why? To avoid confessing their own insignificance and emptiness that lies behind their eternal cries of “greatness” and “unity”? Destroying others to avoid speaking the truth about themselves, to evade acknowledging their own essence! How much more evidence is needed to realize that something is amiss with Russians, not with us, in order to stop looking in their direction and seeking understanding with them? It seems that these things should have been realized in Ukraine and the world long ago, but no!
Originally posted by Yevhen Hulyuk on Zaxid.net. Translated and edited by the UaPosition – Ukrainian news and analytics website
See also: How empires die: Putin’s Russia could cease to exist suddenly and quickly
