On the 25th of December 2016, 1/3 of the world-renowned Alexandrov Ensemble perished in a single plane crash, en-route from Sochy, Russia to Syria. This is tragic loss and a strong blow against Russia, against the singing ambassadors of Russia abroad and a bright symbol within.
As a tribute, I translated the following 2008 documentary, titled “The Singing Weapon”, which is how Winston Churchill referred to it after listening to its performance during the 1945 Yalta Conference in Crimea. If it is a weapon, then this ensemble is a “weapon” of peace unity and accord, which it brings with song and dance to all peoples.
The formatted subtitle file in ASS format can be downloaded separately. Full text of the script is below the video frame.
EDIT 11.05.2022
In the recent bout of censorship against all things Russian, YouTube also blocked the VGTRK channel, where the untranslatable original version of the film resided. I’ve now reviewed my translation, fixing a few things, and uploaded the video both to Odysee and to Rumble. The original you-Tube-related text is moved to the bottom of this post, past the transcript, for historic reference.
Back in 2017, when my translated version was taken down on third-party copyright claims, I relayed this development in a comment at Lada Ray’s Futurist Trendcast, and she nailed the overall problem in her reply:
Unfortunately, these silly indiscriminate western capitalist practices have penetrated Russia. Very sad. Those who do it are just like robots. They aren’t paid to think, just to block everything. Those at the helm don’t get it that you are actually helping promote their material by exposing it to wider western audience.
Alas, with this model Russian companies allow Western companies to control and censor what materials are available to the Western audience!
The complete song “Sacred War” (or “Holy War”) with my English translation of the lyrics:
Plus, an older translation in the comments on YouTube:
When I first heard of the crash, the tragic loss of almost the compete Red Army Choir – Alexandrov Ensemble, death of 9 journalists from three Russian channels, what tugged most at my heart, was mentioning of the Elizaveta Glinka’s name on the list of the people lost. She was know among the people by her endearing name Doctor Liza.
Throughout these past 2 years I have been reading about her valiant work, helping the children of the civil war-ravaged Donbass, where civilians, including many children, were (and still are) wounded, maimed and killed by the Ukro-Nazi artillery shellings.
Film: Doctor Liza, an Amazing Life (full English subs) – Доктор Лиза фильм
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC5–zWRqCY
UPDATE 2023: The two short interviews below are no longer available on YouTube.
Grapham Philips, I think the only Western (UK) freelance reporter, who documented the civil war in Donbass, share this fragment of interview with Doctor Liza, that he filmed in April 2016, telling her that “Many people think that you are an angel”:
She replied:
Let them say, Grisha (a kindly russification of Graham), it is funny, it is pleasant, but it’s funny. What kind of angel am I? I am just a common woman. Let them say it. As for work. I am working a lot. This is very hard, and there is nothing angelic in this work, you see. It entails long negotiations with bureaucrats, which are not always successful. See, for example, I just got a list. This is the new list for admissions to hospital. 2 wounded children. 2 blind children. Children born in 2014, that is already during the war. We are going to transport them, they are going to St.Peterburg, as hospitals in Moscow do not have places for such patients – and I want to draw the journalistic attention to this fact. And there are the documents for the children that have already been transported out – we work on each child case individually.
And in this April 2016 interview fragment to Graham, she tells that “Everything is possible”:
There was a girl, who was given a terrible outlook, and Vika (kindly shortening of Victoria), she became well, and was coming up to the guard and would dance – a little swan or some other part, she was making such a show – a child that could not even SIT before, she lay on the arms. So, you see… Everything is possible, Grisha (a kindly russification of Graham).
Doctor Liza, you will be remembered and stay in our hearts. Always.
These two RT articles, aptly capture the mood of this loss:
Renowned Russian humanitarian and charity activist Elizaveta Glinka, widely known as Dr. Liza, is feared dead after boarding the plane bound for Syria that crashed Sunday morning off the Sochi coast.
The 54-year-old head of the ‘Fair Help’ fund was supposed to travel to Latakia to deliver medical supplies to a hospital, according to the Human Rights Council.
Her fund also said that Glinka was “taking humanitarian supplies for the Tishreen university hospital in Latakia,” while the Defense Ministry confirmed the passenger list included her name.
There was some confusion regarding Glinka’s fate after the plane stopped over in Sochi for refueling. Several news outlets reported that she failed to board the flight after a security check.
As time passed, however, her mobile phone remained hopelessly switched off.
Eventually, Elena Pogrebizhskaya, author of a documentary film on Doctor Liza, wrote on her Facebook page: “Liza’s phone is out of coverage. She has not been in touch with anyone for 11 hours. This includes her family. Gleb [Glinka’s husband] says he wants to be alone… This is a nightmare.”
This was an additional shock to Russians on top of the death of the 64 members of the Alexandrov army choir.
“We were hoping for a miracle until the very last moment. And she was a miracle herself, a heaven-sent message of virtue,” head of the Presidential Council for Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov told Interfax.
“Dr. Lisa was the darling of all hearts for one simple reason. For many years, almost every day, she provided palliative medical care, feeding the homeless, giving them shelter and clothes. She took the sick and injured children from Donbass under a hail of bullets, so that they could get help in the best hospitals in Moscow and St Petersburg. She organized a shelter for children with amputated limbs, where they can undergo rehabilitation after treatment in hospital.
“To save the lives of others – this was her mission everywhere: in Russia, Donbass, Syria…” Fedotov added.
Born into a military family, which also includes a famous dietitian, Glinka graduated from the Russian National Research Medical Institute in Moscow to become a pediatric anesthesiologist. In 1986, she and her husband emigrated to the US, where she studied palliative care and graduated from Dartmouth. In America, she became involved with the work of hospices. Glinka later participated in the work of the First Moscow Hospice, after which the family moved to Ukraine for two years. In 1999, she founded the first hospice in Kiev.
In 2007, Glinka founded the ‘Fair Help’ fund in Moscow, which provides financial support and medical care to cancer patients, underprivileged families, the homeless, and others in need.
Last year, Dr. Liza organized an evacuation of children with heart conditions who were in need of urgent medical help, from Donbass to Russian hospitals. Parents and doctors told RT that due to the humanitarian crisis, it was impossible to treat them locally.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave out state awards for outstanding achievements in charity and human rights activities. Glinka was the winner of the first award, saying she would soon travel to Syria.
“We never know whether we come back alive, because the war – is hell on earth, and I know what I’m talking about. But we are confident that goodness, compassion and mercy are stronger than any weapon,” Glinka said, receiving the award.
Human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva, founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, said Glinka’s death was a huge loss.
“She was a saint, had enough strength for everyone, and was ready to help both the homeless and children,” Alexeyeva told TASS.
“It’s hard to speak about her, this is a huge loss, people like Dr. Liza are born once in a thousand years,” the human rights activist added. According to Alekseeva, Glinka was carrying a large amount of humanitarian aid to Syria.
Former human rights envoy Vladimir Lukin told TASS he was shocked by the tragedy.
“I am shocked. She was a wonderful person, she has done a lot of good things,” he said.
Those who never met Dr. Liza have also been deeply saddened by the tragic news.
“Eternal Memory # doktorLiza! Thank you for helping our children,” Aleksey Dyatlov wrote on Twitter.
“A human with a capital H, and a woman of action! Will never forget! Everlasting memory!” Aleksey Chenskykh wrote.
“Why is it that the best are the first to leave,” Nikita Kuznetsov asked.
People have been bringing flowers and candles to the office of the ‘Fair Help’ fund in Moscow.
“She was a miracle. She did things that most people thought were impossible to do. But that’s exactly what Elizaveta was all about. She worried about her colleagues to the point where she preferred to travel to hot spots herself,” Lana Zhurkina, Dr. Liza’s former colleague, told Life.ru.
A young mother in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, whose child Elizaveta Glinka helped when it suffered a serious disease, shared her sorrow with journalists.
“My daughter was diagnosed with congenital heart defect, she had to be urgently operated on. We met her [Glinka] in Donetsk – she sent us to St. Petersburg, where the child was successfully operated on, on the second day of [its] life.”
“This is a terrible tragedy, she has helped so many children, so many adults, and provided hope and faith,” the woman said.
A Russian Defense Ministry medical facility is to be named after the renowned humanitarian activist, Deputy Minister of Defense Ruslan Tsalikov told journalists.
“The humanitarian cargo of the ‘Fair Help’ fund was sent by another aircraft. It is already in the airport of Khmeimim, and of course we will finish Elizaveta Glinka’s job,” Tsalikov added.
Meanwhile the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, said that a children’s clinic in Grozny has been named after humanitarian activist Elizaveta Glinka.
“Dr. Liza devoted herself to the most noble cause – saving children,” Kadyrov wrote on Instagram. “She had a brilliant medical training and could have worked in some clinic, but she chose the hard path of helping those, who could not get help from elsewhere.”
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has given an order to rename the republic’s main children’s hospital after famous Russian doctor and charity activist Elizaveta Glinka, also known as Doctor Liza, who died in the plane crash off Sochi’s coast on Sunday.
“I have decided to name the republic’s Children’s Clinical Hospital in Grozny after Elizaveta Petrovna [Glinka]. [Head of the Alexandrov Ensemble] Valery Mikhailovich [Khalilov] has been posthumously awarded the Chechen Republic’s medal for merit. I am confident that the names of these great people will forever remain in Russia’s history,” Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram page.
He wrote that Elizaveta Glinka had dedicated herself to the most noble of all causes – saving children in places of war and conflict – and will forever remain in people’s memory because of that. He added that the death of the members of the Aleksandrov Ensemble was a tragic loss, as they have inspired Russia’s military to heroic deeds for many years.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has ordered that one of Russia’s military hospitals be named after Elizaveta Glinka, the Defense Ministry’s press service reported on Monday. In the same statement, the Russian military promised to complete the philanthropist’s mission and pass on the aid that she had wanted to personally deliver to the hospital in Latakia, Syria. In fact, the aid has already arrived at the Russian Air Force base in Khmeimim on another flight.
The minister also ordered that the Moscow School of Music be named Valery Khalilov, the press service reported.
The Tu-154 airliner belonging to the Russian Defense Ministry crashed into sea off the coast near Sochi in the early hours of Sunday morning, killing 84 passengers and eight crew members. The passengers included 68 performers from the AleksandrovEnsemble, a famous Russian military orchestra and choir, including its director and conductor Valery Khalilov and nine journalists from three Russian TV channels.
Read more
Elizaveta Glinka, often known in Russia by her nickname ‘Doctor Liza’, also died in the crash. Glinka was known as a selfless philanthropist, the founder of the first hospices in Russia and Ukraine, and the head of the NGO ‘Fair Help,’ which provides financial support and medical care to cancer patients, underprivileged families, the homeless, and others in need.
In 2015, Glinka organized the evacuation of many sick children to Russian hospitals from the unrecognized republics in Donbass.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented Glinka with the state’s top award for the year for her outstanding achievements in charity and human rights activities. At the ceremony, she promised that she would soon travel to Syria.
In short, that article was describing an absurd situation after closing of the Ukrainian office of Euronews. Euronews closed down its Ukrainian-language office in France. It was created in 2011, and as with all the Euronews participating countries, Ukraine was to pay a certain license contribution towards running of their department. (Russian VGTRK, btw, owns 7% of shares of Euronews). After the 2014 “revolution” Ukraine decided that Europe owes Ukraine for the defence of the European values, and stopped paying. The Ukrainian department was then financed by Euronews from the common funds, but was not disbanded as Russophobia was in high demand. At the same time Euronews tried to get the money from Ukraine (€10 mill) through Ukrainian court system. To the European amazement, Ukraine did the same number as they did on the Russian Gazprom – the debtor started dictated conditions. Euronews haven’t got a cent. Now, in December 2016 Euronews shut down the Ukrainian department. And here comes the essence of the story:
The journalists from that department attempted first to apply to the Russian-language department (currently the most profitable in the Euronews consortium, with good salaries), but were refused. The reason from the management was this: Ukrainians do not have enough command of the Russian language and culture to work in the Russian department (after all, that’s what the rabid Ukrainian propaganda was all about all this time!). Ukrainian Euronews journalists – who only the day before were “defending Europe against Russian aggression” – suddenly did a U-turn and indignantly stated that they were all born in USSR, are from the same country, and anyway, Russian department employed Armenians and Belorussians, so why are Ukrainians discriminated. When it became clear that Euronews would not budge on the decision, they did another U-turn and started blaming, who else – Putin for not allowing them to work in the Russian department of Euronews… Curtain.
The Court in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has made a decision that Scythian gold, which was on loan from the Crimean museums to the Dutch museums in 2013-14, belongs to Ukraine. The gold has been taken out of Dutch museums and shipped off to an unknown location in 2014, after Crimea voted to re-join Russia.
My heart is singing at these news, especially at the solidarity the people of the Russian World are showing in the face of intimidation and outright Fascism.
My Ukraine predictions are beginning to spectacularly come true!
As my followers know, I have predicted since the very beginning of 2014 that between 2016 and 2018 US and EU will dump Ukraine, albeit slowly. More than once I used the words ‘they’ll throw Ukraine out as a squeezed-out lemon.’ I also predicted that between 2016 and 2018 Ukraine will turn back to Russia, but only after Ukraine’s economy is destroyed.
The economy has been destroyed by the Kiev junta’s actions and by those oligarchs and ukro-nazis who have been stealing what little is left of Ukraine’s former riches.
The ongoing “Russian World” song flash mobs is rolling through Ukraine like wildfire. In these flash mobs, organized at the train and bus stations, people sing their favorite Russian songs. The song flash mob has spread to Russia, where people sing Ukrainian songs, to show their love and solidarity, and to Kishinev, Moldova, where people have beautifully sang famous Soviet songs, chanting “Moldova, Ukraine, Russia – together.” The Kishinev flash mob so far has been the largest and longest, with a true mini-concert organized at the train station. You can find several first song flash mobs here:
The song flash mob marathon continues, and it has already come to Siberia, Crimea, Nikolaev and Donbass. More former Soviet republics are expected to join in soon. The idea of this flash mob is simply spectacular. In fact, I like it so much that I decided to re-post some of the videos of the song flash mobs on my YT channel. Stay tuned for that.
As per my 2014 prediction, the people are awakening, they are slowly but surely losing their fear of ukro-nazis and violent Ukraine oligarchs. They are remembering their true roots, despite the mass brainwashing attempts of the past 20, and especially last 3, years.
The soft and peaceful song flash mob protests have shown where the affinities and allegiances of the population residing in Ukraine and Moldova really lie. These flash mobs bring hope and confidence that there is a better tomorrow. And this is just the beginning!
It is happening per my other original prediction: Ukraine citizens have to wake up and start acting themselves. Waiting for someone else to come and save them won’t work.
The Kiev regime, installed in 2014 by the US and EU, is on its last legs. By 2017 we will see HUGE, HUGE changes beginning to manifest in Ukraine. As I also predicted, Russia has been doing everything to keep Ukraine intact. But the trick is that it has to be a Russia-friendly territory. I also predicted that whether it would end up as a very loose confederation or federation, or whether it will simply become a part of Russia, the word ‘Ukraine’ won’t be used in 10 years time (or less). The territory that will emerge out of this chaos will bear a different name(s).
Also, per my original 2014 prediction: Putin’s slow, purposeful and peaceful remolding of the situation is succeeding. After the US/EU successfully subverted Ukraine, the plan was to turn the situation around carefully and peacefully, in such a way as not to antagonize the masses of the population, preserving as many Ukrainian lives and as much Ukrainian industry as possible.
The key to success is the remolding done asymmetrically and internationally. In this delicate and volatile situation, it is the butterfly effect that works wonders. Every seemingly unrelated global move by Russia has influenced the outcome in Ukraine. It is a masterful surgical intervention, which is subtle and delicate, yet effective.
Every peace of the puzzle has to fall into place. US and EU neo-con/neo-liberal NWO agenda has failed. They overshot and overestimated their capability. You can’t go point-blank against Russia – The Great Balancer, and expect to get away with it. Napoleon and Hitler tried…
This hybrid 4D war isn’t like any war fought before. But it’s still a war and the result will be the same. Every Russian move in Syria and the Middle East; Putin’s recent BRICS, Japan, China, India and Central Asia deals; Turkish Stream and Nord Stream 2; the Crimean Kerch Bridge and the railroad to bypass Ukraine; new pro-Russian presidents in Moldova and Bulgaria and anti-establishment revolts in the EU – all these have worked towards the shift in Ukraine. The election of Trump and Democrats suffering a staggering defeat in these US elections seal the deal.
OPERATION POROSHENKO DUMP
Please recall that in 2014 I also said that only Russia will be able to restore the territory we now call Ukraine. Only Russia can resurrect its industry and economy. Neither EU nor US are either capable or interested in doing so.
This prediction of mine is also materializing. US can’t wait to dump Ukraine. The only thing both EU and US need is a way to save face.
Trump’s election made it natural and logical to shift the foreign policy of the US in such a way as to save face and get out of the rotten Ukraine deal. But additional push was required. That’s how “Operation Poroshenko Dump” was born. Incidentally, this is my own title no idea what the US calls it.
Here’s the scoop. A Ukraine Rada deputy turned whistleblower, Alexandr Onischenko, escaped to London. In his pocket he carried damning evidence against Ukraine president and oligarch Petr Poroshenko. Below is Onischenko’s exclusive live interview with Russia24 channel during talk show 60 Minutes.
Per Onischenko, he was recently recruited by US to record compromising conversations within Ukraine’s corridors of power.
(LR: Please note that Onischenko is far from being above board: he himself got rich assisting Poroshenko’s corruption and illegal schemes.)
On Poroshenko’s behalf, he delivered cash to buy votes of Rada deputies. This was done routinely, as a matter of course. Onischenko says that there were many laws and government appointments which passed Rada only because Poroshenko bought votes. Each deputy was paid amounts commensurate with their weight and popularity. The votes were bought to remove from important state posts anyone who wasn’t Poroshenko’s men and to install those Poroshenko had in his pocket. This included the post of Prime Minister, Attorney General and Rada Speaker.
Onischenko confirmed that if Poroshenko really wanted to stop the war in Donbass, he could do so very easily, by ordering Rada to vote in a specific way. But Poroshenko wants war in Donbass because he is a ‘greedy bastard’ (there were a few strong words used throughout). He makes huge profit from the war and confrontation.
(LR: Poroshenko owns the heavy industry brand Lenin’s Forge. He kept the name of this globally recognised plant, built by the USSR, despite ban on Soviet symbolism in Ukraine. The plant makes much of the tanks and weapons that kill the people of Donetsk and Lugansk. Poroshenko made a killing during this civil war: his fortune exploded by 7-fold and more during the period between 2014 and 2016, making him a billionaire.)
Onischenko said that IMF, US and EU loans were stolen and split up between Poroshenko and those in power, as soon as they were disbursed.
Onischenko described how Poroshenko, abusing his post as president of Ukraine, engaged in racketeering and mafia tactics to squeeze other oligarchs. The example given is that of Renat Akhmetov. Poroshenko gave order to start a media smear campaign against Akhmetov’s company. Armed thugs were sent to his plants, where they intimidated and beat up managers; several deaths were reported. Then Poroshenko demanded money. Akhmetov ended up paying him $200 million. After that, smear campaigns and attacks against Akhmetov properties ended.
(LR: Renat Akhmetov once was the richest oligarch in Ukraine, who was Yanukovich’s handler. Akhmetov, much like the rest of Ukraine oligarchs, lost a lot after 2014 coup. Poroshenko is the only oligarch who made a killing. Same is true for ex-PM Yatsenyuk, who simply stole a cool billion dollars. Per data I received, Yatsenyuk now resides in the US. He purchased two dosen (24) luxury condos and mansions throughout the US. More in EARTH SHIFT REPORT 3: OLIGARCH WARS).
Poroshenko did similar numbers on other oligarchs. Alexandr Onischenko recorded a number of such secret negotiations and conversations conducted in Poroshenko’s office.
Spy stuff: the recorder was located in his wrist watch. He passed all the recordings and his additional testimony to the US Department of Justice. It has been announced that the official investigation into Poroshenko and Rada has begun.
Lada Ray: Poroshenko and his cronies immediately branded Alexandr Onischenko ‘Putin’s agent.’ Onischenko has taken this very badly and got nervous, indignantly responding to the effect that he is an ‘honest crook’ and, if anything, ‘he is a US agent’ (lol).
Incidentally, Onischenko mentioned that he has been friendly with Donald Trump. Whether it’s true or just his fantasy is another story.
Again, let me stress that Onischenko is just as guilty as the rest of them. He was the one who participated in many of these schemes and who personally delivered million dollar bribes to Rada deputies. Just like the rest of these criminals, he got rich off Ukraine people’s misfortune.
But he has been a good Trojan Horse inside Ukraine junta, fulfilling his role admirably. The fact that he was recruited as a spy means that US is getting ready to dump Poroshenko. In fact, in Ukraine there is more and more talk that Poroshenko should be hung for his crimes.
Trump and the new people who come with him need solid evidence to save the US face and justify what Trump is preparing to do in 2017: dump Ukraine as a bad dream. Trump will make a deal with Putin. The release of Ukraine out of USA’s clutches will be Trump’s peace offering to Russia.
One of the reasons to do so is to get on a better side of Russia. But there is another: USA is financially in a much worse situation than being admitted; militarily and politically it is stretched too thin. US needs to consolidate its resources. USA under Trump is gearing towards dropping the non-performing ‘assets’ such as Ukraine. Hence dropping the Kiev junta and Poroshenko after supposedly finding out how corrupt he and his regime are (as if it wasn’t clear from the start). After all, Ukraine failed to fulfill its purpose: it didn’t become a convincing anti-Russia, as Soros, Nuland and the rest intended.
Below I am re-blogging beginnings of three of the latest Lada Rey articles, relaying the latest developments from Ukraine. Please follow the links to read the articles in full!
I thought this would be a great time to summarize some news coming in from Ukraine and from other places.
The events in Ukraine are beginning to heat up and manifest in an accelerated fashion. The Kiev junta and oligarchs are getting nervous and the people are beginning to awaken. At the same time, the ukro-nazi element is also activating. My prediction about Ukraine turning around between 2016 and 2018 is beginning to materialize, but unfortunately, with a lot of hardship for the population. The problem is, also per my prediction, that the population has to go through this hardship and the economy has to get destroyed, in order for the people to awaken and start acting.
The events are developing very swiftly: yesterday ex-president Viktor Yanukovich testified in the trial against the Berkut police. Berkut is accused of killing a number of activists during the Kiev Maidan. Kiev tried very hard to prevent this testimonial and the hearing was sabotaged by Ukraine’s ministry of interior and ukro-nazi thugs. But it did happen, with some scandalous revelations. Yanukovich promises more to come.
More high-level Ukraine operatives, preparing to blow up military targets, were arrested in Crimea. To date, Russian FSB neutralized a huge network of spies and terrorists, however, the work continues.
Not being able to cause real damage in Crimea and to somehow get back at Russia, Kiev kidnapped two Russian servicemen of Ukrainian origin from Crimea. The story is a bit like a thriller and I’ll talk about it as well.
After all the failures, no doubt in an attempt to save face and show how tough they are, in the beginning of December, Kiev threatens to do missile launches near Crimea and breaching the Russian airspace, which are bound to generate a danger for the civilian aircraft and tourism. MH17 comes to mind, as well as the 2001 catastrophe when Ukraine training missile shot down Russian civilian plane flying from Israel, killing all passengers on board. Kiev never issued a clear admission of its responsibility. Most recently, Kiev threatened civilian aircraft from Belarus with being shot down (I’ll talk about all this in the upcoming video).
…
They are indeed accelerating, for better or worse, though it does look like it will get even darker before the dawn comes…
