Tag Archives: geopolitics

Maria Zaharova’s replies to the Finnish President Stubb

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Finnish President Alexander Stubb had the misfortune to show his complete lack of knowledge of history of his own country, and of the geopolitical realities and implications. The spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zaharova, was quick to grill Stubb on the matters of history. Below we present our translations of her Telegram posts, first published at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”.

Read also: The Art of Timely Betrayal. Why the Finnish SS avoided punishment? and On Historical and International Legal Accountability of Finland for the Occupation of Karelia During Great Patriotic War (WWII) (1941–1944).

Mannerheim, the Executioner

Maria Zaharova comments on Stubb’s 1944 “solution” for 2025

At yesterday’s meeting in Washington, the President of Finland Stubb literally said the following:

“Finland has a long border with Russia and has its own experience of interaction with this country during World War II. We found a solution in 1944, and I am sure we will be able to find a solution in 2025”.

The big question is, did Stubb understand the full hell of his statement?

Let’s dive into history.

From 1939 to 1940 and from 1941 to 1944, Finland was in a state of armed conflict with the USSR.

As a result of Finnish provocations, the Soviet-Finnish war began, in which Helsinki lost. Then there was a short break, and then Finland openly sided with Hitler and declared war on the USSR three days after the start of Operation Barbarossa.

Finland’s allies of Hitler matched him. As the Finnish politician of that time, Väinö Voionmaa wrote: “We are a state of the ‘Axis’ [Rome-Berlin-Tokyo], and also mobilised for attack”.

Finland committed real war crimes, which it itself admitted in 1946 following the trial of Finnish war criminals.

It was the Finns who played an important supporting role for the German Army Group North during the Siege of Leningrad – a genocide of the Soviet people. The President of Finland Ryti wrote to the German envoy: “Leningrad must be eliminated as a major city”.

From hunger, cold, bombings, and artillery shelling in besieged Leningrad, at least 1,093,842 people died, according to some estimates up to 1.5 million people. And these figures are continuously refined by historians and researchers – always increasing due to newly uncovered facts.
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The new Finnish doctrine: Ignorance, deception, and ingratitude. An Article by Dmitry Medvedev

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The following article war written by Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, and published by TASS.

UPDATE 15.09.2025: Russian MFA issued an official translation of the article on their Telegraph blog on September 13. We are updating this blog with the official text, making it a re-blog. All illustrations are ours.

👉 We are covering the “Finnish Question” in a series of posts at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”. The series “Finland’s Dirty Secret: From “Neutral” Ally to Hitler’s Partner” will be published at the Beehive later, upon its conclusion. Read the two publications by Maria Zaharova, in response to the Finnish PM Stubb’s ignoramous statements: part 1 and part 2.

👉 See also The Art of Timely Betrayal. Why the Finnish SS avoided punishment? and The European Genocide of the Russian People.

The new Finnish doctrine: Ignorance, deception, and ingratitude

Deputy Chairman of Security Council Dmitry Medvedev draws historical parallels between today’s Finnish leaders and their predecessors of nearly a century ago, and brings up the consequences of their past aggression against Russia.

Last week, I visited the Russian-Finnish border in the Leningrad Region and spoke with local authorities and our border guards. The border, once bustling, is now deserted. By Helsinki’s decision, decades of constructive and mutually beneficial relations have been ruined. Ordinary Finns are the first to feel the consequences. They had gained much from thriving trade and economic cooperation, and now they openly voice frustration with the misguided policies of their own government, which clearly go against their interests.

I would like to say a few words about the underlying causes of this situation. It is by no means accidental. Today’s turbulent geopolitics has brought to light the long-standing issues and revealed their true nature. This is what happened to Finland.

A visit to our northwestern regions in early autumn inevitably brings to mind one of the most tragic dates in the history of St Petersburg, which is the onset of the siege on September 8, 1941. Yet, it seems that we are the only ones to remember those dark days. The direct perpetrators of those events are making every effort to erase the traces of their crimes from historical memory, or at least to avoid “inconvenient” parallels with their current policies. And this concerns not only Germany, which at the official level refuses to recognise the siege of Leningrad as a crime against humanity.

Death to the German-Finnish Occupiers!
This is TASS Window #11 from Leningrad, created in July of 1944 by Vasily Selivanov.
The poster shows the Finns taking Hitler’s baits of the “Greater Finland to Urals and Leningrad”. It is accompanied by a verse by K. Vysokovsky.
— I’ll take the Urals! – the bandit cried,
Accepting Hitler’s bait at face value,
The Russian “Hurra!” was then heard,
Turning the bandits into dust and feathers!
Source: Beorn And The Shieldmaiden

We should not forget that it would have been impossible to impose the siege of Leningrad, a siege that took hundreds of thousands of civilian lives, without the involvement of the Finnish armed forces. Succumbing to revenge-seeking moods and striving to revise the outcomes of the 1939-1940 Soviet-Finnish standoff, the Finnish leadership recklessly plunged into the furnace of war alongside Nazi Germany. At that time, ultra-nationalist propaganda narratives prevailed in Finnish society. With the approval of their Nazi brethren, Helsinki seriously discussed the idea of Finnlands Lebensraum (Finland’s Living Space). The country’s military-political authorities intended to reclaim territories ceded to the Soviet Union under the Moscow Peace Treaty of March 12, 1940 and to reach “natural borders of Greater Finland” from the Gulf of Finland to the Barents Sea, including East Karelia, Leningrad and its environs, and the Kola Peninsula freeing these lands from the hated Russians. In their wildest fantasies, the Finns wanted to advance beyond the Ural Mountains all the way to the Ob River. Back in the day, these territorial claims (in proportion to the country’s actual size) were among the greediest in Europe. They even surpassed territorial claims to neighbouring states voiced by other Axis countries, including Italy, Romania, and Hungary.
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Sergey Shahray: the first and main reason for the collapse of the USSR was the destruction of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)

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The historiographic article you are about to read was written by Sergey Shahray for Interfax and published on December 7 2021 on the 30th anniversary of the destruction of the USSR. We have briefly touched upon this topic in the article One more redeeming factor for Yeltsin. Read also The referendum on the independence of Ukraine on December 1, 1991: how Kravchuk deceived Sevastopol and Crimea and Moving documentary about The All-Union Referendum on the Future of the USSR, which was held on March 17, 1991.

December 1991 was the last month of the Soviet Union’s existence. On December 1, Ukraine declared full state independence in a referendum, and on December 5, its Supreme Council denounced the Treaty establishing the USSR in 1922. Three days later, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed an agreement on the creation of the CIS, which was joined a week and a half later at a meeting in Alma Ata by other republics that were part of the USSR.

On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the CIS, Honoured Lawyer of Russia, Professor Sergey Shahray reflects on the reasons for the collapse of the Union in an article published on the pages of the Interfax project “30 years ago: chronicle of the last days of the USSR”.

The collapse of the USSR: only the facts

Thirty years have passed since the collapse of the USSR, which became not only a key geopolitical event of the late twentieth century, but also a huge personal tragedy for millions of Soviet citizens. The historiography of the “perestroika” and the disintegration of the USSR today has thousands of domestic and foreign publications. However, the key question remains the same: was the collapse of the USSR a historical accident that had no objective basis, or was the catastrophe natural and inevitable in the historical conditions prevailing at that time? As you know, diametrically opposed answers to this question were formulated back in the early 1990s, and so far neither scientific nor, especially, public consensus has been achieved.

Despite the fact that the history of the collapse of the Soviet Union itself goes further and further into the past, interest in this topic is growing. Today, when the world is constantly facing unexpected challenges and dramatic changes, the historical experience of managing large-scale socio-economic transformations, including the analysis of successes and disasters, as exemplified by the last years of the USSR, is of exceptional importance. The value of this kind of comparative research depends to a large extent on attention to documentary sources that demonstrate the relationship of the particularities of the decisions made with a specific historical context.

The documents and facts prove that under the prevailing historical conditions, starting from the end of August 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union was inevitable. However, this conclusion is at odds with the concept of conspiracy, which has become established in the minds of many contemporaries and those who have never lived in the Soviet era and look at the events of the past through the prism of myths, emotions, and free interpretations.

It is an absolutely amazing phenomenon, when documents that are accessible to everyone, necessary for a comprehensive view of the whole picture of historical events, remain out of sight year after year not only of the general public, but also of specialists. Even more surprising is the fact that in the course of the attempts to return to scientific and public discourse, many documents that are important for understanding the process of the collapse of the USSR sometimes cause rejection, since filling in the gaps inevitably forms other chains of causes and effects. And the logic that grows out of the documentary and factual basis, taken without exceptions and omissions, turns out to be inconvenient and uncomfortable for those who value the myths of alternative history.

What were the key reasons for the disintegration of the USSR?

The first and main reason is the destruction of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).

It is necessary to clearly identify the “point of no return”, the moment after which it was impossible to preserve the Union of the USSR. Official documents and archival materials allow us to determine this milestone absolutely precisely – the end of August 1991: the attempted coup d’etat with the creation of the Emergency Committee (August 19 – 21, 1991), the withdrawal the General Secretary of the CPSU from the CPSU with a call to all honest communists to leave the CPSU, the decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to suspend the activities of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the proclamation on August 24, 1991 of the independence of Ukraine.

After that, the situation “crumbled” – the process of disintegration became avalanche-like and irreversible.

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the backbone, the supporting structure and the real mechanism of exercising state power in the USSR, and that is why the collapse of the CPSU inevitably led to the collapse of the Soviet state.

As the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation subsequently established, “the governing structures of the CPSU and the Communist Party of the RSFSR carried out state power functions in practice contrary to the existing constitutions”. That is why the growth of contradictions within the once monolithic party and its slow and then landslide disintegration were the main reason for the collapse of the union state and the central government.

Let’s consider this process and the trajectory of erroneous decisions of the supreme union state and party authorities in more detail.
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“Situation in several European countries with the desecration and destruction of monuments dedicated to those who fought against Nazism during World War II” – Russia’s Foreign Ministry’s report

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Read the full report at the site of the MFA!

Since the end of the World War II, approximately 4’000 monuments to Soviet soldiers have been erected in Europe. A total of more than one million Red Army soldiers are buried in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. In general, the peoples of the USSR and Europe paid a much higher price for the Victory over Nazism, measured in tens of millions of lives.

Vandalised Soviet soldier graves in Germany

The Soviet army liberated Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria (the eastern part of the country and Vienna), Romania, Yugoslavia and a number of other European countries from Nazism.

The majority of Soviet monuments were erected specifically in these countries. There are also monuments to the Soviet soldier in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, and France.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many memorials ended up on the territory of states bordering Russia that emerged from the former Soviet republics. In several of these countries, the chosen course toward reviving Nazism and rewriting history has had a serious impact on the memorial legacy of the Great Patriotic War.

❌ Decommunisation, the destruction of monuments to our common history and culture, the desecration of the graves of fallen Soviet soldiers, neo-Nazi torch marches, the glorification of Nazis and their collaborators, the physical elimination of ideological opponents — many of these practices, and often all of them at once, have become commonplace in Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as well as in Poland, the Czech Republic and a number of other European countries.

These very countries are the focus of this report. Under the guise of “decommunisation” laws and by dismantling monuments to Soviet soldiers, the governments of these countries are attempting to “reinforce an anti-Russian front”.

At the same time, monuments to Nazi criminals are being erected, their protection is being enshrined in law, and rare acts of activists opposing Nazi memorials are harshly prosecuted. The key objective of such steps is the complete erasure of historical memory.

This report has been prepared as part of the Russia’s Foreign Ministry’s efforts to draw attention to the manifestations of various forms of Nazi glorification, neo-Nazism, racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance in foreign countries.

The report focuses on the actions of certain countries, primarily the Baltic states, Poland, and Ukraine, which, using Russia’s special military operation aimed at denazification and demilitarisation of Ukraine, as well as the protection of the peaceful population of Donbass, as a pretext, have sharply escalated a long-standing practice of destroying Soviet, Russian, and often their own memorial heritage on their territories.

📄 Russia’s Foreign Ministry’s report on the “Situation in several European countries with the desecration and destruction of monuments dedicated to those who fought against Nazism during World War II” contains a detailed account of the unlawful actions by authorities of Ukraine, the Baltic states, Bulgaria, Moldova, Poland, Finland, Germany, and the Czech Republic, targeting Russian and Soviet monuments.

The report can also be downloaded as a PDF file.

The report is long, but should be read, or at least skimmed through, by all – including its 262 soure references!

👉 In July of 2023, documents were leaked from the NATO summit in Lithuania, where one of NATO’s action points was the targeted destruction of Soviet monuments. Tsargrad reported back then:

The destruction of monuments to Soviet soldiers and generals in Europe is not just the whim of individual Western politicians, but the official course of NATO. Hackers have declassified the alliance’s documents, revealing the conspiracy.

The hacker group “From Russia with Love” has gained access to documents collected by the organisers of the NATO summit, which is taking place in Vilnius these days.

It follows from them that the systematic destruction of monuments to Soviet soldiers-liberators, which began before their time, is not the Russophobic manifestations of individual Young Europeans, but the official course of the West, adopted at the NATO level.

The documents say that the destruction of Soviet monuments is an extremely important job. This vandalism allows us to destroy the “Russian narrative” that Europe was freed from fascism thanks to Moscow.

In addition, the destruction of monuments, according to the NATO leadership, contributes to the international isolation of Russia.

Moldova – the sad results of 33 years of independence

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This translation concludes for now our series of articles about the Moldavian/Romanian conundrum, taking a look at the newest history of and the state of affairs in Moldavia. The article appeared on August 28, 2024 in the “Rythm of Eurazia” Dzen blog, written by Ilya Kiselyov.

Moldova – the sad results of 33 years of independence

Drawing by A. Gorbarukov

Every year in August, a kind of “independence parade” takes place in the post–Soviet space – states that have been formed for more than 30 years celebrate the dates of their declaration of independence. At the same time, for some reason, all these dates are given a festive character, although not all of the post-Soviet countries have been able to demonstrate progress in their development over the past years, and a number of them can be safely described as in a state of decline and even degradation.

It is noteworthy that the latter primarily include those post-Soviet states that have chosen the Western direction in their geopolitical orientation. These countries lost their independence, which they gained in 1991, joining the EU and NATO like the Baltic republics. As a result, they had to pay for this not only by obeying the decisions that are made outside of their the countries, in Brussels, but also by actually abandoning their own economy, inherited from the USSR.

Similar processes are taking place in those post-Soviet states that have not yet “earned” the right to join the EU, but whose authorities are very eager to do so. One of these post-Soviet states is the small Republic of Moldova, which celebrates Independence Day on August 27. Its current authorities, led by President Maia Sandu, are doing everything to drag their country into the EU.

The active stage of renunciation of sovereignty in Moldova began in 2009, when a coalition of pro-Western parties came to power in the republic, proclaiming a course towards “European integration” and joining the EU. Today, this process is being promoted by the head of state, as well as the PAS party as the parliamentary majority forming the government of the country. At the same time, blasphemously, “independent” Moldova is governed by people who have in their pocket a passport from neighbouring Romania. It’s hard to believe, but these includes absolutely all the top officials of the country: the president, the Prime Minister and members of the government, the Speaker and members of Parliament, the head of the Constitutional Court, most other judges, employees of ministries, law enforcement agencies and special services.
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Germany cancels the Soviet Union on Victory Day!

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The news coming from Germany, with the question arising: Is the war with Nazi Germany definitely over?                                                

Decree of the Berlin government.
Restriction of general use of public squares and freedom of assembly from May 8, 2025, 06:00, to May 9, 2025, 22:00.

The following is prohibited:

a) wearing a military uniform or its elements;
b) wearing military insignia;
c) a separate or highlighted display of the letters “V” or “Z”;
d) demonstration of St. George’s ribbons;
e) demonstration of flags and banners with Russian symbols, coats of arms of the USSR, Belarus, the Chechen Republic, as well as images of the heads of the respective states;
f) demonstration of symbols and signs capable of glorifying the Russian-Ukrainian war, including:
– flag of the USSR;
– Russian and Soviet military flags;
– images of the Ukrainian territory without Donbass (Lugansk and Donetsk regions, Kherson, Zaporizhie and Crimea);
– flags of the separatist regions of Luдansk and Donetsk, as well as territories under Russian control (Kherson, Zaporizhie, Crimea);
g) reproduction and performance of Russian marching or military songs, in particular all versions of the song “Holy War”.

Source: the channel of the political analyst Razvozzhaev, translated by us at “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”

In fact, by imposing these restrictions, Germany unequivocally confirms two things: that Russia is fighting with fascism in Ukraine; and that Germany is abhorred by the Victory over fascism 80 years ago, thus seeing the need to erase all the symbols of that Victory from public view!

‼️ This is continuation of the fascist practice, with further tightening of the screws. Last year we described it in the post German “humanistic” intermezzo over – Berlin back to its good old fascist inclinations. However, last year, in a display of public disobedience, not dissimilar to that displayed by the good people of the occupied Europe, someone projected the Victory banner on the Brandeburg gate.

👉 First time this was introduced in May 2022, it was the St.George ribbon that became forbidden. We wrote about it in the Beehive article The “Immortal Regiment” broke through the prohibitions in Germany – a reportage from Frankfurt. People came with white ribbons with the words “I am the St. George Ribbon, forbidden in Germany” written on them. We shall see if there will be more creative approaches to the civil disobedience against Fascism this year. Maybe red garments with a yellow flower arrangement on the chest could become fashionable! Or striped shoelaces in black and orange!

“We freed them, and they will never forgive us for this.”
— Georgy Zhukov
Photo: Georgy Zhukov and Konstantin Rokossovsky in Berlin, July 12, 1945

Next up, are two excellent commentary posts by “The Islander”:

Germany’s Nazi Amnesia: When Baerbock Bans the Liberators

In an act soaked in historical irony and Russophobic revisionism, German FM Annalena Baerbock, a descendant of a Wehrmacht officer (highly decorated and a true believer Nazi) now seeks to ban Russian and Belarusian officials from attending commemorations of Nazi Germany’s defeat. The very nation whose grandparents ignited the deadliest war in human history is now arrogating moral authority to deny those who paid the heaviest price for Europe’s liberation from fascism.
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Berlin is heading east again – How Germany intends to become the military leader of the European Union

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Translation of the article in RT in Russian by Gevorg Mirzayan.

Germany is negotiating with private companies to deploy its armed forces to the eastern flank of NATO. This was reported by the German Handelsblatt. Among these companies are the German airline Lufthanza, railway workers from Deutsche Bahn and a number of other logistics structures. Berlin wants, in the event of a war in the east — that is, more simply, with Russia — to ensure the transfer of personnel, ammunition, weapons systems, etc.

At first glance, it sounds ridiculous, even pathetic to some extent. After all, it turns out that the Bundeswehr does not have its own transport capabilities. Years of cuts and savings on the development of the army have led to the fact that the German Armed Forces — once the most powerful in Europe — are now forced to rely entirely on private carriers in logistics. And it turns out that these people are now threatening Russia with war!

However, if you look deeper into the situation, it doesn’t seem so funny any more. After all, these negotiations show the difference between Germany and France on the issue of future confrontation with the Russian Federation.

European elites and mainstream media now see a future clash (and even war) with Russia as inevitable. Journalists and a number of biased opinion leaders say that after the end of the war in Ukraine, Moscow will begin to restore historical and geographical justice in the Baltic States, and then it will deal with Poland. Some European leaders think the same way: they are well aware that in the context of a systemic conflict with Europe (which Europe has started and is not going to end) Russia will also act aggressively. In addition, they suspect that the Kremlin and the Russian people will never forget Europe’s behaviour during the conflict in Ukraine. Neither German tanks with crosses on their towers in the Russian steppes, nor Czech and French howitzers firing at peaceful Russian cities, nor murderous strikes by British missiles. This means that we can forget about any kind of collective security system in Europe with Russia’s participation. Instead, we need to build a European system of collective security against Russia. And most importantly, without the United States, which is increasingly moving away from European affairs in favour of Eastern ones.
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Recommended reading: “Lost Illusions, or How the International Criminal Court has become a legal nonentity”, by Dmitry Medvedev

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“Lost Illusions, or How the International Criminal Court has become a legal nonentity”

– by Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman, Security Council of the Russian Federation, PhD in law

Abstract

A strive for justice and a desire to bring the powerful to liability for crimes against public good and humanity is the idea that has always united people. Yet not all embodiments of this idea are worth existing, the ICC being the case. Legal deficiencies of its constitutional document, the Rome Statute, in terms of its internal contradictions and incompliance of its provisions with the UN Charter, its political bias, selectiveness of its ‘justice’, unlawfulness of issuing arrest warrants for heads of sovereign states which are not parties to the Rome Statute, notwithstanding the fact that such warrants are ignored by many countries, as well as the fact that the ICC, in essence, has transformed from an international justice body into a tool of legal struggle, clearly shows its complete failure. In this respect it shall fall into the oblivion, while its judges, prosecutors and other officials who took unlawful decisions may and shall be prosecuted for crimes under the Russian criminal law. In the author’s opinion, Russian lawyers should voice their comprehensive and well-based professional criticism of the ICC decisions at all forums, present international legal position of Russia in respect of the Special Military Operation, the Ukrainian conflict and other relevant challenging issues to the global legal community, media and people in different countries. Moreover, taking into consideration deficiencies in the ICC’s activities the interested parties could consider a possibility of establishing another international criminal court, which will be spared of them. This Court’s constitution shall be based on the established rules of international law, and its jurisdiction may be extended to the crimes of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and terrorist attacks.

The complete article (in English) in PDF format can be downloaded from the publisher’s site of “Law Science”.

The following summary of the article was published by the Telegram channel of the Russian Embassy in South Africa:
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Russsia’s policy as escalation management. A reply to our reader.

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Our reader, JMF, came up with an extensive comment to the article Eurofascism, like 80 years ago, is a common enemy of Moscow and Washington, which we felt warranted an equally thoughtful reply in an article of its own.

In contrast to the SVR Press article, I submit the following:

“US Plays ‘Mediator’ in its Own War on Russia”
Brian Berletic, April 22, 2025

I’ve read Brian Berletic’s analyses for years, and find him an incredibly astute observer.

I read the SVR piece with some trepidation: not because its recognition of Euro-fascism is misplaced — it certainly isn’t — but because it seemingly gives too much credence to a potentially beneficent role on the part of the US.

Knowing many aspects of my country’s darker history and recognizing our current “Fuehrer’s” malign tendencies, I’ve grown somewhat alarmed by Russia’s apparent warming toward the US. I hardly think that any “alliance” is eventually likely between our two countries, as the SVR article speculates in its conclusion. To the contrary, the current negotiations strike me as extremely self-serving for the US side. And should a war break out between Europe and Russia, I strongly suspect that the US stance would be much like that of Harry Truman (while still in Congress) during World War 2: ‘Let the two sides exhaust each other, and then we’ll move in and pick up the pieces.’ [paraphrased]

The SVR piece also quotes a US academic regarding Britain’s employment of “concentration camps and genocide”. But as I recall from other reading, Hitler’s inspiration was drawn directly from the US internment and genocide of native Americans. And several other observations can be as equally applied to the US as to Europe.

I sincerely hope that Messrs. Putin and Lavrov remain extremely cautious and sceptical when dealing with the Trump administration. While Witkoff seems a sincere negotiator, he is only the messenger, in this case for a likely pack of wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing.

Here, JMF added the entire quote:

“If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible, although I don’t want to see Hitler victorious under any circumstances. Neither of them thinks anything of their pledged word.”
– Senator Harry S. Truman

Reply from Beorn And The Shieldmaiden

Brian Berletic’s publications are, indeed, well-worth reading, and we often forward his Telegram posts to our channel.

This article “US Plays ‘Mediator’ in its Own War on Russia” is no exception and overall, we agree with the analysis in Brian’s article. Incidentally, toward the end it contains one paragraph that in a way addresses the concern, outlined by JMF:

Russia, for its part, has left the door open for honest negotiations and has provided the United States ample exit ramps from both an unwinnable proxy war and indefinite confrontation with Russia into the future. The US is obviously not interested. Russia had, throughout “peace talks” with the US, continued its war of attrition against Ukrainian forces, continuing the process the New York Times describes as the central contributing factor for the proxy war’s current failure.

The Shieldmaiden and I also pondered the seemingly contradictory policy of Russia towards the USA, and The Shieldmaiden came with a concise and encompassing definition: “escalation management”.

Russia, just like the USSR in 1938-1940, is doing its utmost to prevent a world war, without conceding own interests. The goals for the SMO have been set in 2022: denazification and demilitarisation of Ukraine. And, as Peskov said the other day, they will be achieved regardless, either through peaceful means or militarily. Naturally, a peaceful realisation of those objectives is preferable.

So, what Russia is doing now, is a pro-active escalation management as multiple levels and dimensions are involved in the diplomacy of shaping the battlefield for the best outcome control in predicted risk situations, including psychological ones. Russian is guiding Trump’s impulsive and unpredictable emotionally-charged presidency into a more subdued form, balanced out by equally emotional (and economic) counterweights. Hopefully this will contribute to prevention of World War III flaring up on the usual battlefield – Europe.

EU, for its part, has already designated 2030 as “the year when Russia will invade Europe”, which, applying the 180 degree rule, means that Europe is planning the next “drang nach osten” for that year. This is what Russia need to avoid, using Trump’s impulsivity if need be, to achieve that goal. That is also the underlying motive for the article from the SVR, to rebuild the diplomatic ties with the USA as the only force that can influence Europe.

Still, Russia is very much mindful of the history of WWII and the preceding years. As in this contemporary Soviet caricature from “Kukryniksy” about the “Munich Conspiracy”, where UK and France are offering Czechoslovakia to the German wolf, while hilding up the sign with the words, pointing “To the East”.

Eurofascism, like 80 years ago, is a common enemy of Moscow and Washington

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The Press Bureau of the External Intelligence Service (SVR) of Russia published an insightful analytical article, drawing on many historical parallels. One thing that they have not explicitly stated, though, is that the USA is once again, just like in 1944, inserting itself as a solution to the problem they contributed to create in the first place – we shall not forget Nuland’s cookies of 2014!

The article is opened by a caricature, which is a modern variation of the well-known War-time “TASS Window” (see our article The “TASS Windows” – the windows to our struggle in the Great Patriotic War), which appeared after the… allies deigned to open the second front.

The Hour Draws Near
The merciless, fearsome punishment
Shall not escape the German squid
The monster can expect the blows
Coming from here and there.
Artist: M. Cheremnych, verse by Demyan Bedny.

UPDATE 20.04.2025: We have replaced our translated text with the official translation that appeared at the Telegram channel of the Russian Foreign Ministry. The original text in Russian is at the site of the SVR.

Eurofascism is Moscow’s and Washington’s common enemy, just like 80 years ago

– The Press Bureau of the SVR of Russia, April 16, 2025

A hind-sight study of Western states’ policies attests to Europe’s “traditional propensity” for various forms of totalitarianism which regularly produces cataclysmic global conflicts. Specialists believe that the current rift in relations between the United States and the EU countries who blame Donald Trump for totalitarianism in the context of the upcoming 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War is becoming a factor that contributes to an alliance of convenience between Moscow and Washington the way it used to occur in the past.

This is confirmed, in particular, by a scandal involving French European Parliament member Raphael Glucksmann who demanded that the Americans “who have chosen to side with the tyrants,” return the statue of Liberty, Paris’s gift to the United States. Raphael Glucksmann, one of the globalists and a dedicated supporter of the Kiev regime, criticises the Oval Office master for slacking support for Ukraine and firing civil servants who stick to liberal views. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed the “daring Gaul” having reminded that “unnamed low-level French politician” that it’s only because of the United States of America that he is speaking French and not German now.

It was pointed out that the multiple dictatorial regimes that were in power in France “distinguished” themselves by unparalleled cruelty and atrocities. Among those mentioned are the Jacobin dictatorship that killed thousands of French citizens in 1793-1794 and imprisoned 300,000 on suspicion of “counterrevolution,” as well as Napoleon’s bloody acts. It was stressed that America is free thanks to their ancestors’ readiness to counter such dictatorships as the British monarchy or the Jacobin revolution.

Experts believe that the notion of Eurofascism was introduced by French author and columnist Pierre Drieu La Rochelle who collaborated with German occupational authorities during WWII, and justified it as an ideology inherent not only in Germans but also other “societies” in Europe. In this context we can recall the French volunteer SS-Division Charlemagne which was named after Emperor of the Carolingian Empire, “Europe’s unifier.” The division’s soldiers were defending the Reichstag from the assaulting Red Army till the last hours of the German Nazi regime. Twelve of those fanatics were captured by the Americans and handed over to French General Phillipe Leclerc. As early as May 8, 1945, he ordered to shoot those war criminals without unnecessary judicial procrastination.
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The referendum on the independence of Ukraine on December 1, 1991: how Kravchuk deceived Sevastopol and Crimea

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Reading time: 37 minutes

This in-depth research and chronology article by Lyubov Ulyanova was published in the Sevastopol publication “ForPost” on November 30, 2022.

Without understanding the events and manipulations happening in the Ukrainian SSR in 1991, it is impossible to understand the mechanics behind the collapse of the USSR.

On March 17, 1991 the majority of the Soviet citizens voted for the preservation of the Union. But this vote was disregarded. Moreover, Ukraine held a referendum on independence, first denouncing the Union treaty of 1922, while Crimea was falsely assured that Ukrainian SSR has no intention of leaving the Union. This largely made the referendum on the secession of Crimea from Ukraine inevitable at some point in time, and that finally happened on March 16, 2014, after USA, dissatisfied with their already significant control of Ukraine, decided to push the country even further away from Russia though a Nazi-powered coup d’etat.

The article, while being long, is very much worth every minute that you will spend reading it, as it clears up many questions. One can summarise the key takeaways:

  • The “granite” colour revolution of October 1990, when protesters were taken with busses from Western Ukraine to Kiev.
  • Ukraine denounced the 1922 treaty, which means that Ukraine reverts to it’s pre-USSR state of not existing at all.
  • Ukraine expected to keep the borders as they were within the Union (i.e., following the 1922 Treaty and its amendments)
  • Ukraine used the “right to self-determination” to hold a referendum on independence
  • Ukraine denied Crime to have the UN-enshrined right to self-determination to hold its own referendum on independence
  • Ukraine promised that it will not leave the Union
  • Ukraine left the Union
  • Ukraine regarded USSR as “former”, non-existent
  • Ukraine deferred Crimea to the head of the USSR (Gorbachev) to repeal the 1954 decree of transfer of Crimea, thus recognising USSR as existing.
  • The process was closely guided from Canada and the USA
  • Crimea could appeal to the leadership of the USSR to repeal the 1954 decree, with a logical legal implication that as Russia is the legal heir of the USSR, Russia can repeal that decree on behalf of the USSR.

Watch also the following video, where Kravchuk speaks about the break-up of the USSR:

The referendum on the independence of Ukraine on December 1, 1991: how Kravchuk deceived Sevastopol and Crimea

Ukraine ratified a completely different text of the Belovezha Agreements compared to Russia and Belarus, and this calls into question the legal force of the Agreement as a whole.

Kravchuk distracted and deceived Sevastopol and Crimea in 1991.
The caption reads: “One must decide today that what can be decided today”. Date: 26.10.1991

Lapshin M.I. (Stupinsky territorial electoral district, Moscow region)… I have a question about the denunciation of the 1922 Union Treaty… Just look at the map of the USSR in 1922, and we will see that the states that have denounced the treaty today were located within completely different borders. Does the denunciation mean a return to the old days, when Russia was without the Far Eastern Republic, Kazahstan and Central Asia were part of the RSFSR, the border of Belarus was just west of the Minsk region, and Ukraine, to put it mildly, could show for itself quite different territory from what it currently has (most likely, it was, first of all, a hint at Crimea and Sevastopol – author note). Are we not creating the basis for huge territorial claims against each other by denouncing the Union Treaty?”

USSR 1922

This question, asked on December 12, 1991 by one of the deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR during the discussion in the Russian Supreme Council of the Agreement on the creation of the CIS, a few days after the “Belovezha”, was basically ignored by other participants in that discussion.

However, today, more than 30 years later, it cannot be said that this question was completely meaningless.
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Europe: Destined for Conflict? – George Friedman, 2015

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Reading time: < 1 minute

On February 4, 2015, George Friedman held a talk at the Chicago Council for Global Affairs. The complete recording of this revealing presentation is available on YouTube.

We created a 14 minute long extract from the Q&A section of the talk with what we feel are highlights of the American plan for the Ukraine in particular and Europe in general, adding a few of our comments and illustrations.


Backup at Rumble.

Now, 10 years later we can all safely say that the American plans were playing out before our eyes as outlined in the talk.

From our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”

CIA Against Detente

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Reading time: 8 minutes

The article appears in the “Historian” magazine, written by Alexander Kolpakidi. We added an illustration to better drive home the point about MSM collusion.

US President Dwight Eisenhower was quite far-sighted, but America in his time was not yet mature enough to understand the changed balance of power in the world.

The first timid steps of this president towards “détente” were resolutely opposed by the majority of the American elite, and the CIA twice became an insurmountable obstacle to the president’s path, thwarting his plans.
The first time this happened was due to the myth that America was lagging behind in the number of bombers.

It all started when the experts from the Rand Corporation began to study the vulnerability of the bases of the Strategic Aviation Command. Although the United States had superiority over the USSR in both nuclear weapons and bombers at that time, experts painted a terrifying picture of how a Soviet strike would destroy American strategic aviation on the ground and the United States would remain helpless before the “terrible Russians.”

The CIA was tasked with assessing the power of the Soviet air force. This task was performed in an absolutely amazing way. Intelligence agents had to… estimate the total production area of the aviation plant in Fili and, based on this estimate, calculate the production rate of strategic bombers. American military factories must be somewhat different from ours in terms of the rational use of the land allocated to them. Based on the CIA agents walking around the factory fence, which, in addition to the workshops, enclosed squares, garbage dumps and wastelands, it was concluded that the production of Soviet bombers was growing fantastically.

These “scientifically” based calculations were supported by even more “scientific” observations. On July 3, 1955, the Day of the Air Force, during the aviation parade in Moscow, the American intelligence officers diligently counted the bombers which took part in the celebration. The numbers turned out to be fantastic. The only thing the Americans didn’t realise was that they kept counting the same planes circling in the area of the air parade. This consideration was too primitive for the intelligence aces.

Based on these calculations and observations, the CIA estimated that the USSR would deploy 500 such aircraft by 1960. The terrible data got into the press, and the hysteria that broke out about the “bomber gap” significantly limited Eisenhower’s freedom of manoeuvrer for a while.

– The article continues after the illustration…

♦️♦️♦️

The “Soviet threat” (which nowadays morphed into the “Russian threat”) remained with the USA, constantly whipped into the frenzy among the general public by the “free press”.

Andrey Krylov drew this caricature for the Soviet satirical magazine “Krokodil”, published in issue №2 in 1983.

— Remind our readers that the USSR has a superiority in armaments.
— But we do not have facts, sir…
— On the other hand, we have freedom of press.

♦️♦️♦️
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The project of a unified European army is impossible for several reasons.

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Reading time: 3 minutes

This is an article, written by Andrey Medvedev, which we translated at our channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”, and illustrated with a fitting caricature from the past. The description of the illustration follows after the article in question.

Most European armies are simply not combat ready. Some don’t have enough equipment. Some have problems with manning.

There are not many warring armies in Europe. The French, Poles (in Ukraine), British PMCs, Portuguese mercenaries (yes, they are considered very cool in Africa). Well, that’s about it.

To one degree or another, European armies participated in operations in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The Europeans still gained combat experience, the British and the French first of all. The French paratroopers have their own “sixth company” – the story of the heroic battle near the village of Uzbin.

But, in all joint operations, the Europeans were commanded by the Americans. Even if the group was formally headed by an English general. Everything was supervised from Washington. And when creating a European army, the problem of combat control and the question of “who’s in charge here” will come to the fore. How do you imagine that Poles will obey the Germans? Or the French obeying the Poles? Everyone’s got sky-high ambitions there. “Every gopher in the field is an agronomist.”

Therefore, it is more likely to assume that some kind of joint military structures will appear in Europe. For example, Poland implements the format of the Polish-Baltic unified military leadership. And that’s not a fact, considering that Poles see Vilnius as their own. Here, even the common Russophobia will not help to create a unified army. It is impossible to imagine that the Poles would create a single military structure with the Czechs and Slovaks, and the Hungarians with the Croats. The historical case is very complicated everywhere, full of grievances and unrealised ambitions.

The united European armed forces can only be created by someone else, an outside force. The Warsaw Pact, or NATO, is an example of this.

♦️♦️♦️

The caricature demonstrates just what Andrey Medvedev wrote!

It appeared in the 1952 issue № 09 of the Soviet satirical magazine “Krokodil”, drawn by Yuri Ganf. The grumpy American is sitting at a desk with the American flag holding the text “The Command of the European Army”, which makes it absolutely clear who is in charge.

The American is ticking off the “Applications” list, scrutinising the German and the French armies.

The French sheep sternly requests of the USA, while pointing at the Bundeswehr swastika-bearing wolf:

To the question of guarantees

— I will not object against our common service in the European army, as long as you give me a certificate that he became a vegetarian.

The illustration followed the news item, quoted in fine print:

“During the negotiating about the inclusion of the army of Western Germany into the so-called “European army”, the representatives of France demanded guarantees for the security of the Franco-German border.”

Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at a UNSC Briefing on Ukraine, 17.02.2025 – Repost

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Reading time: 11 minutes

This is probably the strongest condemnation of the “civilised West” to date. Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at a UNSC Briefing on Ukraine is available in English at the site of the “Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN”. Video in Russian is available at their Telegram channel.

Before reading on, do watch the following three short videos:


Backup at Rumble.


Backup at Rumble.


Backup at Rumble.

Main statement:

Mr. President,

We thank Roger Waters for his statement with an analysis of the history of the Ukrainian crisis and assessments of the significance of the Minsk agreements with regard to the relevant diplomatic efforts.

Today marks ten years since the adoption of UNSC resolution 2202, which endorsed the “Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements”. Having thus expressed its support for the solutions that had been found in Minsk a few days prior, the Council took the implementation of these agreements under its supervision. We all hoped then that a long-term and lasting peace would finally come, but all hopes of ours were fated to fail. Moreover, today the very word-combination “Minsk agreements” has become something of a diplomatic euphemism replacing the words “failure” or “lie”. We believe that our Security Council has every reason to analyze why this happened and why peace in the east of Ukraine never came after that.

First of all, let me briefly recall that the 13 points of the Package of Measures unambiguously defined the sequence of concrete steps to normalize the situation in Ukraine and bring Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LNR and DNR) back to Ukraine’s fold. The last of these steps was to restore Kiev’s control over the State border in the east of the country. For this to happen, the Ukrainian leadership needed to undertake a number of measures geared towards granting the LNR and the DNR broader autonomy and protecting the identity of the Russian-speaking population.
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