RECOGNITION OF THE DPR AND LPR MUST BE RUSSIA’S FIRM ANSWER TO US PROVOCATIONS

February 16, 2022

Special Statement

The situation around Ukraine has sharply deteriorated over the past weeks. A hail of accusations of an intention to occupy that country has been unloosed against Russia. The real cause of the crisis is that the American puppeteers of the Kiev leadership and Bandera bands are persistently trying to organize a slaughterhouse in Donbass. In pursuit of their geopolitical goals they are again prepared to stage bloodshed.

The West categorically refuses to see Ukrainian troops concentration on the border with the DPR and LPR. Practically all the combat-capable Ukrainian units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been deployed there: 125,000 soldiers and officers. Heavy artillery and armor are being moved there. Constant aerial reconnaissance is conducted. All the signs are that an offensive operation against the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics is being prepared.

The group of Soviet troops near the Ukrainian border, even according to American data, is no more than 100,000-strong. Ukraine has 125,000 troops in the Donbass area. It is an elementary piece of military knowledge that a threefold superiority is needed to mount a successful offensive operation. So, who is threatening whom?

The Pentagon and even the Ukrainian Armed Forces command say they do not see signs of an imminent aggression.  The American intelligence, which has lived through the disgrace of being caught lying about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, does not seem to relish the prospect of being humiliated again. But this does not deter the Western politicians who habitually ignore obvious things. A”hybrid war,” with the use of slander, garbling of facts and disinformation is being waged against Russia.

Yes, Russia has interests in the whole post-Soviet space. It has them in Ukraine. These are the interests of peace and good neighbor relations, calm and dignified life of citizens, economic development and cultural cooperation.

Meanwhile the West in Ukraine seeks support of the most reactionary circles. The predecessors of today’s Bandera lot are directly to blame for the genocide of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples during World War II. Their punitive units together with the Nazis staged ghastly massacres of the population in the partisan areas of Byelorussia, burning alive the inhabitants of hundreds of villages. Today this grisly lot with its aggressive Russophobia and anti-Semitism is being supported by Western politicians.

More than 600,000 people in the DNR and LNR have already taken Russian citizenship. Our country is directly responsible for their security. We cannot allow victimization of these people if Bandera thugs move in. Russia has seen ample proof of their deeds. As a result of barbarous bombardment of DPR and LPR towns and villages more than 15,000 civilians have died. Tens of thousands of men and women, old people and children have been wounded. Hundreds have become refugees.

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation and our allies have firmly set down their position. We have declared it on April 24, 2021 in our Appeal “To the Fraternal People of Ukraine.” We reaffirmed it in the recent call of the CC of our party to our Ukrainian brothers “In the Name of the Sacred Bonds of Comradeship.” The peoples of Russia and Ukraine do not need war. It runs counter to the main interests of Europe. But the authorities of the United States need it.

Washington was defeated in all the wars of the past decades. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan are just some of the countries in which the US unleashed and ignominiously lost wars. Now it wants to fight proxy wars. This time around the Americans want to use Ukrainians as “cannon fodder.” Political cover, arms supplies, sending Western instructors – all this is openly nudging the Kiev authorities toward a military adventure.

American strategists have not only Russia and Ukraine but Europe in their gunsights. The US is seeking tough sanctions against our country using the “Ukrainian card.” This marks a new stage in the struggle against its economic rival, the European Union. The level of US trade with Russia is very low. But Europe has extensive and profitable trade and economic ties with our country. A military conflict with Russia would enable Washington to expose European countries to further damaging economic sanctions.

Defending Ukraine is not the goal American globalists set themselves. They are keen to gain competitive advantages by torpedoing the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline and make the EU’s economy dependent on costly liquefied gas. This is the underlying cause of the current military crisis around Ukraine.

Russia at long last is abandoning the harmful policy of kowtowing to the West. Those who want to understand what is really happening would do well to read Pushkin’s  poem “To the Slanderers of Russia.” Already then, almost two hundred years ago, the goals of the Western powers with regard to our peoples and the Slavic brotherhood were clear. This means that today it is extremely important to exhibit strong will as was done in 2008 when we supported the peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and again when we supported the legitimate governments of Syria, Belarus and Kazakhstan. It is high time to show mettle in Donbass.

We are surrounded by unfriendly states. It is impossible to retreat, there is nowhere to retreat. The West must become aware of Russia’s determination to defend its national interests and its friends.

Needless to say, the masses in our country can only be defended through a fundamental change of the path of its development. The CPRF rejects the current socio-economic course and proposes is own program of transformations “Ten Steps Toward the Power of the People” and of socialist revival. But some issues must be addressed immediately. We are prepared to support decisive measures of our authorities in defending the security of Russia and our fellow-citizens in the People’s Republics of Donbass. Beginning from 2014 we have constantly called for an official recognition of the DPR and LNR. The voice of millions of their people was heard loud and clear in the May 2014 referendum. It must be heard!

The Western governments and their Kiev vassals have trampled the Minsk Agreements underfoot. At this extremely important moment in our history we call on the deputies of the State Duma, regardless of their party affiliation, to back our initiative on official recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics by the Russian Federation.

It is impossible to tolerate dangerous provocations any longer. Russia cannot allow the seizure of the cities and villages of the two people’s republics, we have no right to ignore the danger of a massacre of civilian population by frenzied followers of Bandera with NATO’s blessing. War-mongers should remember the centuries-old wisdom: ”he who raises his sword shall die by the sword.” The time has come to say a firm ”no” to any international adventures!

Chairman of the CC CPRF.

Gennady Zyuganov