Tag Archives: Russia

Everything about Russia in all its incarnations through the centuries – Rus Tzardom, Russian Empire, USSR, Rusian Federation.

World War Zero, or the so-called “Crimean” War. A documentary.

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There was a question from one of the subscribers at a friendly channel if there exist an honest English-language documentary about the Crimean war.

As a matter of fact, there is one 4-part Russian documentary with English subtitles, from Star Media, called “World War Zero”

All 4 episodes can be accessed though this YouTube playlist. Make sure to turn on subtitles and select your language.

Here are the introductory lines of the first film:

The Battle of Sinop, 1853
These four hours of the battled passed quickly, like one minute.
The tension reached its utmost point, when the enemy broke down and opened fire.
In the blink of an eye the sky, the water, and the land were became red as flame and blood. That was a magnificent victory of the imperial fleet.
The entire world witnessed again the decisiveness and courage of the Russian warriors. It seemed that the Black Sea would be safe forever.
It only remained to wait till the sea becomes calm, the smoke from the fires disperses, and it would be safe again to approach the home coast, the bay of Sevastopol.
Only one person, the winner, a famous admiral, Nakhimov, standing on the deck of Empress Maria, understood: this was only the beginning of a terrible and merciless world war.
This war is most often called the Crimean War.
But the Crimean battles, including the famous defence of Sevastopol, are only a part of a greater war.
The warfare embraced vast territories, from the Baltic Sea and Arctic to the Caucasus and the Pacific Ocean.
The war was waged on the lands that were remote from each other, its players were pursuing global goals.
With every new step the ideological struggle was growing more intense.
These factors are signs of a world war.
That was namely the reason why the Crimean War of the mid-19th century was called the Zero World War.
It became a kind of a rehearsal for the upcoming First and Second world wars.

While we are on the subject, we have earlier written a short overview article on the topic: The “Crimean” War misnomer – A bigger picture

Oscar-winning film lies about the Red Army. A re-blog of MFA statement

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The re-writing of history is happening in two planes – the erasure of the actual history through the destruction of the monuments, and the implanting of a “new” narrative in the minds of the people. We told about the destruction of the monuments through a video clip from the film “Warsaw ’21” in the article “Warsaw ‘21” – a political thriller with a fragment on the essence of the Polish destruction of the Soviet memorials, while the alteration of the history with the “new narrative” is happening though the films, like the one criticised below.

For an additional story about the liberation of Poland, and how that event gets malformed in the minds of the Poles, see our 2015 article The Sorrow of a Warsaw Woman. Why Poland is not happy to be liberated from fascism?

Soviet and Polish soldiers plant the victory banner. Warsaw, January 1945. The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

Oscar-winning film lies about the Red Army

Nikolai LAKHONIN, Chief Counselor, Foreign Ministry Information and Press Department
March 17, 2025

The annual Oscars Academy Award ceremony attracts attention of the whole world. Recently, another such show took place. We would like to talk not about the American film Anora (rated R) with Russian actors (we congratulate them on their great success), but about the drama A Real Pain (rated R) directed by Jesse Eisenberg.

It is also an American film, made by Americans primarily for Americans and about Americans. This is important. The picture is about historical memory in the perception of American descendants who survived the Holocaust. The genre is a road film: the main characters travel to memorial sites, get acquainted with monuments in the Polish capital and go to the Majdanek concentration camp museum. The picture has already been seen by millions, and after it received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, even more people will see it. The screenwriters of such films lay down powerful narratives. And since they contain a distorted view of the most important events related to our country, we cannot remain silent.

The myth of the Red Army

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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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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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On March 17th 1991, the referendum on the preservation of the USSR was held

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On March 17th 1991, the referendum on the preservation of the USSR was held. we are commemorating the event with a series of posts at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”, as well as publications here and at our Odysee and Rumble channels.

The question at the referendum was formulated as follows:

“Do you consider it necessary to preserve the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics, in which the rights and freedoms of people of any nationality will be fully guaranteed?”

113.5 million people voted in favour of preserving the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, that is, almost 78% of those who voted.

In accordance with Art. 29 of the USSR Law “On National Voting” of December 27th 1990 No. 1869-I, a decision made through a referendum of the USSR is final and can be cancelled or changed only through a new expression of the will of the peoples of the USSR.

“The fate of the peoples of the country is inseparable; only through joint efforts can they successfully resolve issues of economic, social and cultural development”, stated the official commentary of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

On November 6th 1991, Yeltsin banned the Communist Party throughout Soviet Russia.

On December 8th, the will of citizens to live in a single multinational state was cynically and brazenly trampled on, when in Belovezhskaya Pushcha Yeltsin, Kravchuk and Shushkevich, without any legal authority to do so, with the criminal inaction of Gorbachev, secretly signed an agreement from the people that “The USSR as a subject of international law and as a geopolitical reality ceases to exist”.

On December 25th Yeltsin officially dissolved the Soviet Union. Next day, USSR to longer existed.

Word to the Rector — on the disappearance of the CIS documents


Backup at Rumble.

Russia is the legal successor of the USSR on the territory of all the Union republics.
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A posthumous sentence. How the French legalised Petlyura’s murder

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The extrajudicial execution of the Ukrainian Nazi Demyan Ganul yesterday bears a certain resemblance to the extrajudicial execution of the Ukrainian ultra-nationalist and mass-murderer, Simon Petlyura, 99 years ago. Demyan Ganul was, among other, one of the people behind the Odessa massacre of May 2, 2014, for which a few days ago, the European Court of Human Rights has found Ukraine to be responsible.

Read on and compare. The article is from “Argumenty i Fakty”, published on October 26, 2014.

A posthumous sentence. How the French legalised Petliura’s murder

A bust of Simon Petlyura in Rovno, Ukraine.

Three shots fired at a Paris shop window

On May 25, 1926, a stranger approached a man who was looking at a street window at the corner of Paris Boulevard Saint-Michel and Rue Racine. After asking the man a question in Ukrainian and receiving an answer that satisfied him, the stranger took out a revolver and shot the man three times.

The shooter did not try to escape, but remained at the scene until the police arrived. After handing over the weapon to the police, he stated that he had shot a murderer.

The victim of the attack was taken to a nearby hospital on Jacob Street, where the man died fifteen minutes later.

The killer’s name was Samuel Yakovlevich Schwarzburd. His victim was Simon Petlyura, the former head of the Directory of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, one of the most well-known figures of the time of the Civil War.

Both the killer and his victim were, as they say, “products of the era”.
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Europe: Destined for Conflict? – George Friedman, 2015

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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”

Macron’s belligerent talk, Russian MFA’s sharp reply, and the lesson of the “civil” war from 1918

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Macron recently decided to play the role of one of the riders of Apocalypse and delivered a very belligerent speech, which drew a shap response from the Russian Foreign Ministry, which we reblog in full below.

But first, to the events of 1918, when another, similar crusade against Russia was started by the West. The same fratricidal “civil war” as we see now in Ukraine, where Russians are killing Russians.

The material is from our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”.

On March 6, 1918, an English landing force landed in the port of Murmansk from the cruiser “Glory”. The open military intervention by the Entente of Russia began.

On March 14, the British cruiser “Cochrane” arrived in Murmansk with a new detachment of interventionists.

March 18 – French cruiser “Admiral Ob”.

The Americans joined later: on May 27, the American cruiser “Olympia” entered the Murmansk port, from which a detachment of American infantry soon disembarked.

The topic of foreign intervention against Soviet Russia in 1918-21 has been completely cast out of sight, completely “blurred”, and sometimes even disputed. There is practically no mention of it in the modern media.

This intentionally or unintentionally creates the myth of the Civil War as a war exclusively between “Whites” and “Reds.” Which is obviously a manipulation.

So, shall we remember who supported the “Whites” against the “Reds” with their manpower and equipment?

1. 🇬🇧 England. 28,000 soldiers – Arkhangelsk (1918), Murmansk (1918), the Baltic (1918), Revel (1919), Narva (1919), the Black Sea (1920), Sevastopol (1920), the Caspian Sea (1920), Transcaucasia (1918), Vladivostok (1918).
2. 🇺🇸 USA. 15,000 soldiers. – Arkhangelsk (1918), Murmansk (1918), Trans-Siberian Railway
3. 🇫🇷 France – Arkhangelsk (1918), Murmansk (1918), Odessa (1918), Kherson (1918), Sevastopol (1918), Siberia.
4. 🇦🇺 Australia – 4,000 soldiers. Arkhangelsk (1918), Murmansk (1918).
5. 🇨🇦 Canada – Arkhangelsk (1918). Murmansk (1918).
6. 🇮🇹 Italy – Murmansk, Far East.
7. 🇬🇷 Greece – 2,000 soldiers. Odessa, the Black Sea.
8. 🇷🇴 Romania – Bessarabia.
9. 🇵🇱 Poland – The North of Russia, the South, Siberia.
10. 🇯🇵 Japan. 28,000 soldiers – Far East (Vladivostok, Sakhalin)
11. 🇨🇳 China – Arkhangelsk (1918), Murmansk (1918).
12. 🇷🇸 Serbia – “Serbian Battalion”. The North of Russia.
13. 🇫🇮 Finland – Karelia. The Karelian and Murmansk legions, created by the 🇬🇧 British.
14. 🇩🇪 Germany. Ukraine, the Baltic States, part of European Russia
15. 🇦🇹🇭🇺 Austria-Hungary. (Germany’s ally)
16. 🇹🇷 Turkey (the Ottoman Empire). Transcaucasia.

🇨🇿 We can also recall the Czechoslovak Corps, which became the trigger of the Civil War.

In total, more than 20 countries took up arms directly or indirectly against the young Soviet Republic. Do not forget that the “Whites” were also fully funded by the Entente.

It was no accident that Stalin was saying, “The so-called Civil War”.

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👉 Read also Occupation of Russia by the USA in 1918-1920. The “international intervention” during the post-revolutionary unrest.

What do English, French, coming with war against us, want?

— A “Civil war” flyer by the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, 1918.

THEY SEIZED the road to Murmansk, the entire coast of the White Sea, Onega Lake, Arkhangelsk.
THERE WERE TRAITORS who helped them.
The peaceful population was shelled with GUNS from the cruisers — for what, what have we done to them?
ASK THE WORKERS OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE: WORKERS-BROTHERS, WHAT DO YOU WANT?
They will say WE WANT PEACE, WE hate WAR, but we still don’t have the strength to overthrow those who send us to the slaughter!
And what do you want, king, president, lords and dukes, merchants, bankers, landowners of America, England, France, Japan?
— Ha ha ha! What do we want? WE WANT TO DEVOUR YOU, we want to take over your forests in the north, as well as harbours, your roads.
WE WANT flax and hemp, forest and bread, everything your country is rich in, copper and iron, lead, silver, platinum, gold — WE WANT to capture IT ALL.
WHAT DO WE WANT? — these gentlemen will say, we want to capture both the North, the Volga, the Urals, and Caucases. We need your oil sources, your mines, your fishing grounds, we’ll take everything!
WHAT DO WE WANT? — they will say WE WANT TO PUT ON YOUR NECK THE TSAR, because in our country, King George is a relative of Romanov, because our bourgeoisie is relatives of yours, and our landlords are relatives of yours.
You have overthrown the NOBILITY, and WE WILL AGAIN PUT THEM ON YOUR NECK.
You overthrew the landowner, and we’ll put him on your neck again.
Do you want to live a free independent life? And we’re thrusting you back into slavery.
— That’s what these people want.
— CHASE THEM AWAY!

Foreign Ministry Statement regarding French President Emmanuel Macron’s speech

In the run-up to the EU summit dedicated to Ukraine crisis and confrontation with Russia, and clearly trying to set the tone for the upcoming gathering, French President Macron made an extremely aggressive anti-Russia speech calling our country, as he did on multiple previous occasions, a “threat to France and Europe.” Without providing any evidence, as he usually does, he accused our country of all the deadly sins from cyber attacks and interference in elections to our alleged plans to attack other countries in Europe.

We have heard him come up with similar fabrications and provocative claims before as well. Perhaps, this was the first time he laid them out in such an intense and irreconcilable manner which made them sound like a catechism for the Russophobic action programme.

Notably, the French leader has repeatedly made public his plans to call President Putin on the telephone to discuss ways to achieve peaceful settlement in Ukraine and to ensure security in Europe. The Russian side has always been open to discuss these matters. However, Macron, this time again, confined himself to clamorous public rhetoric.

The French President is trying hard to convince the French citizens of an “existential threat” coming from Russia. In fact, Russia has never threatened France, but, instead, helped it defend its independence and sovereignty in two world wars. However, Macron’s statements, in fact, pose a threat to Russia.
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For those still calling the start of the SMO on February 24, 2022 for an “unprovoked Russian aggression”

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Facts for those who still parrot the US propaganda calling the start of the SMO on February 24, 2022 for an “unprovoked Russian aggression”

From our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”

This is a news item from February 21, 2022, as found on TV Zvezda.

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A video from the place of preventing of the violation of the Russian state border by a sabotage and reconnaissance group from the territory of Ukraine has been published.

A unit of the Russian armed forces promptly arrived at the scene of the clash and destroyed both infantry fighting vehicles with anti-tank fire.
2022-02-21 19:38:01

A unit of the Southern Military District unit, together with the border patrol of the FSB of Russia, prevented the violation of the Russian state border by a sabotage and reconnaissance group from the territory of Ukraine.

On February 21, 2022, at about 6 a.m. Moscow time, in the area of the village of Mityakinskaya, Rostov region, on the section of the state border of the Russian Federation with the Republic of Ukraine, a border patrol of the FSB of Russia detected the penetration of a sabotage and reconnaissance group.

To detain the sabotage group, the border patrol of the FSB of Russia requested reinforcement from the unit of the Russian armed forces of the Southern Military District allocated for operational protection of the state border.

During the clash, two infantry fighting vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine crossed the state border with the Russian Federation from the territory of Ukraine for the emergency evacuation of the sabotage group.

A unit of the Russian armed forces promptly arrived at the scene of the clash and destroyed both infantry fighting vehicles with anti-tank fire.

As a result of the clash, 5 violators of the border of the Russian Federation from the sabotage and reconnaissance group were destroyed. There are no casualties among the servicemen of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the border troops of the FSB of Russia.

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

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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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Pokrovsk 2025 – Only Russians live here

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In Pokrovsk, a Euronews film crew recorded a local resident who, like many others, refuses to evacuate to Ukrainian territory


Backup at Rumble.

During the interview it became clear that no one is afraid of the arrival of the Russian army and the capture of Pokrovsk, because “by passport they are Ukrainians, but in their souls they are Russians.”

In conclusion it was said that “there are no Ukrainians here, everyone is Russian.”

The look on the Euronews journalist’s face at the end is priceless.

Source: Slavyangrad

Meanwhile:

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are preparing a new counteroffensive in the Donetsk People’s Republic. They have accumulated units near Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) and intend to deliver an unexpected blow. The Kiev regime has set the task of recapturing lithium mines that American President Donald Trump has set his sights on, Russian experts believe.

Military expert Valery Shiryaev announced the accumulation of Ukrainian troops south of Krasnoarmeysk. According to him, the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ attack in the Kursk region, which began on February 6 and did not produce any significant results, has another purpose – to conceal the preparation of an offensive in another area.

Source: AiF

False Flag Alerts!

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‼️ The Ukrainian special services, with the assistance of their Western curators, are preparing to carry out a series of high-profile anti-Russian provocations, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said.

It is planned to undermine a foreign vessel in the Baltic Sea with Russian-made mines, and blame Russia.

According to calculations by Ukrainian and Western intelligence agencies, such an action will push NATO to close Russia’s access to the Baltic Sea.

Source: RIA Novosti

💥💥💥

‼️ Kiev, together with European special services, is preparing attacks on representatives of the Russian non-systemic opposition and entrepreneurs fleeing the law living abroad, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said.

It is planned to involve people from Asian and Middle Eastern countries as performers. Up to $20,000 is offered for participation in such acts. A condition for the perpetrator in case of arrest is to blame the Russian special services, the agency noted.

Source: RIA Novosti

One more redeeming factor for Yeltsin

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From our “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden” Telegram post… We have previously written about Yeltsin Centre and its imminent opening in Moscow. While the centre itself raises many questions, there turns out to be one more redeeming factor in favour of Yeltsin, besides him proposing Putins candidacy to Clinton.

This redeeming factor might warrant a memorial plaque, but not a whole centre though. In any case, here is what Andrey Medvedev had to say on the matter of the history of 1990s:

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I have been observing for several days the indignation of citizens about the opening of a branch of the Yeltsin Center in Moscow. It was opened with fanfare, the most fashionable location was chosen for it, while it remains unclear who i paying for the party.

However, with all my very difficult attitude towards Yeltsin and his era, and with all my complaints about Yeltsin, it is worth noting that if it were not for him, it is unclear what country we would be living in now.

The year is 1990. The Declaration of Sovereignty of the RSFSR is adopted. Why is it adopted? This is a response to Gorbachev’s decisions. Because Gorbachev is starting to promote a plan to raise the status of autonomous national republics within the RSFSR to the level of union republics. Actually, this is what Trotsky once dreamed of doing.

On April 10 and 26, 1990, the relevant laws of the USSR were adopted, and the union leadership, which had already essentially destroyed the Soviet Union, began implementing the plan. Raising the status of autonomous national republics to the status of union republics is a catastrophe and the end of historical Russia. This is the loss of 51 percent of the territory, and this means guaranteed civil wars in the coming years.

And here Yeltsin, his entourage and deputies adopt the Declaration on the Sovereignty of the RSFSR. How else can you block the decisions of the lunatics from the union leadership?

The most interesting thing is that everyone wants to save Russia from the disaster, both Communists and Democrats, Russians and representatives of other nationalities. And even Yeltsin’s opponents.

The Declaration of Sovereignty is adopted almost unanimously at the Congress of People’s Deputies of the RSFSR. 907 – for, 13 – against and 9 – abstained. On the map provided by the respected Alexander Dyukov, you can see what would have remained of Russia if Gorbachev had implemented his plan (pink areas).

That’s how it was. Yeltsin, of course, did a lot of strange and wrong things. That happened, he was shaming the country and himself. All kinds happened.

However, 1990 and the Declaration of Sovereignty, 1993 and the prevention of civil war in Russia (BATS note: this point is highly debatable as it was rather the defusing actions of Zyuganov and the Communist Party that prevented greater bloodshed during the Bloody October of ’93), and 1999 with the choice of Putin as his successor – these are three situations when Yeltsin saved the country. Despite the fact that, in general, I repeat, most of us have a difficult attitude towards Boris Nikolaevich. I also don’t like what the Yeltsin Center does in general. However, I dislike the map of Russia that could have been created if Gorbachev had realized his ideas even more.

How Ushakov and Suvorov liberated Italy in 1799 during the reign of the Russian emperor Paul I

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The article was translated from Russian and condensed by a friend.

See also Russian Help to Italy – The Selfless Deed Now, Just As 111 Years Ago for a story from a later era.

Once, Russian troops took Rome, under Admiral Ushakov

There is an opinion that Rome was founded by the Slavs, but that’s another story.

This story will focus instead on October 1799, when a small Russian landing force liberated the “eternal city” from the French invaders.

Admiral Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov

This page in the history of Europe is carefully hushed up by Western scientists and politicians.

In 1796, French troops led by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) invaded Northern Italy. They brought European “democracy” there on their bayonets:

  • Genoa became the Ligurian Republic (June 1797);
  • Milan became the center of the Cisalpine Republic (July 1797);
  • The further advance of the French army to the south led to the emergence of the Roman Republic (February 1798);
  • Finally, the Parthenopean Republic was formed in Naples (January 1799).

This “republican” experiment, however, proved short-lived: in 1798, Russia entered into an anti-French coalition with Great Britain, Austria, Turkey, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

In April 1799, the combined Austro-Russian army under the command of General A.V. Suvorov defeated the French troops in Northern Italy.

Southern Italy

However, the French continued to hold positions in the south. Napoleon’s capture of Malta, the Ionian Islands and Egypt followed.

Thick line – main fleet of Ushakov; thin line – Ushakov’s divisions; steepled area – zone of patrol of the Russian fleet

Historic note and map from Crimea News:

On August 24, 1798, a squadron of the Black Sea Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral F.F. Ushakov sailed from Sevastopol to the Mediterranean Sea to operate against France.

The Black Sea Fleet squadron consisted of 6 battleships, 7 frigates, and 3 dispatch vessels. A landing force of 1,700 naval grenadiers of the Black Sea Naval battalions was received on the ship. The squadron also had 35 midshipmen from the Black Sea Fleet School.

During the two and a half years of the campaign, the Black Sea Fleet squadron did not lose a single ship, the total losses amounted to about 400 people. As a result of the expedition, Russia gained a base on the Mediterranean Sea, strengthening its presence in the region.

Then the Russian fleet under the command of F.F. Ushakov entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, and then into the Adriatic Sea, where the Ionian Islands were liberated from French troops.

F.F. Ushakov stormed the fortress on the island of Corfu, the main base of the French: soon after, Ushakov, at the urgent request of King Ferdinand, had to go with his remaining ships to Naples, where the “democracy” of the rabble was raging too, which, having gone wild, attacked not only the “Jacobins”, but everyone from whom it was possible to profit.

Here is what the Russian representative at the Neapolitan court, Italinsky A.V. Suvorov, reported on September 12, 1799:
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The power of monuments of the past. Part 1. Ivan Krylov’s “The Wolf in the Kennel”

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The material originally posted at our Telegram channel “Beorn An dThe Shieldmaiden”.

One of the reasons why NATO and the Ukro-Nazis, among others, are so panic-stricken in the face of the Soviet and Russian monuments that they seek to destroy them is of course that the monuments represent the power of the collective past of the nation, giving strength and guidance to the present generation.

In the autumn of 1944 issue № 41 of “Krokodil” we can admire such a guidance in a drawing on page 8.

Here the Soviet soldiers are driving on the armour of a tank past the monument to Ivan Andreevich Krylov, the famous Russian poet, fable-writer and translator. On the pedestal they read the words from one of his works, “The Wolf in the Kennel”, written in the fateful year of 1812:

You shan’t make peace with wolves in any other way,
Than flogging their skins away.

To which they salute, exclaiming:

— The task to flog the skin is understood, Ivan Andreevich!

Artist: M.Cheremnyh

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“The Wolf in the Kennel”

by the Russian poet Ivan Krylov, written in 1812.

A wolf at night, thinking to get into the sheepfold,
Got to the kennel in its stead.
Suddenly the whole kennel yard rose up –
Sensing the Gray bully oh so close,
The dogs are barking in the stables and wishing for a fight;
The dog-keepers shout: “Oh, guys, there’s a thief!”
And instantly the gate is locked;
In a minute, the kennel became hell.
They’re bustling: one with a club,
Another with a gun.
“Fire! – they are shouting, – fire!” They came with fire.
My Wolf is sitting with his back pressed into the corner.
Teeth snapping and fur bristling,
With his eyes, it seems, he would like to eat everyone;
But seeing that he’s not in front of a herd here
And that the time of reckoning, at last,
comes to Him for all the sheep, –
My cunning man started
With negotiations
And he began like this: “Friends! What’s all the fuss about?
I, your old matchmaker and godfather,
I came to make peace with you, not at all for the sake of a quarrel;
Let’s forget the past, let’s set up a common mood!
And not only will I not touch the local herds in time to come
But I’m happy to fight for them with others
And I affirm it with a wolf’s oath,
that I…” – “Listen, neighbour,”
Here the hunter interrupted in response, ”
“You are Gray, and I am, buddy, gray haired with my age,
And I’ve known your wolf nature for a long time;
Therefore, the custom of mine is:
You shan’t make peace with wolves in any other way,
Than flogging their skins away.”
And immediately released on the Wolf a pack of hounds.

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Here is the original text of the fable in Russian, taken from Russian poetry
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Did Putin Deport or Save Children?

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Below is a re-blog of an article by Putinger’s Cat from their Telegram channel.

Kids from Mariupol at a Crimean children’s camp. August, 2023

Could the fact that children were taken to safety on passenger planes belonging to the Russian military and from military airfields be considered as extreme in given circumstances?

The topic of forced deportation of children from the war zone periodically pops ups in the Western and Ukrainian media. In such recent publications, a report put together by Yale University, a prestigious US school, and supported by the State Department has been cited frequently. The author of the report, Nathaniel Raymond, who happens to head the Yale Humanitarian Research Laboratory, claimed that “planes and vehicles under the direct control of Russian President Vladimir Putin were used in a program to remove children from the occupied Ukrainian territories.” According to the report, this happened in the mid-2022, and the mentioned children from the Donetsk and Lugansk regions were first brought to Rostov and, from there, transported, by plane, to the Chkalovsky military airport near Moscow. Mr. Nathaniel Raymond went as far as actually claiming that one such flight took place on September 16, 2022, by a Tu-154 M aircraft, registration number RA-85123, operated by the 223rd flight detachment of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.

Due to thе air traffic restrictions and temporary local airport closures implemented at the onset of the SMO, at times, it’s only possible to fly out of the region on special flights of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. The receiving Chkalovsky airport in Moscow is, essentially, no different from civilian airports. The Tu-154 plane that allegedly transported children to Moscow is a legendary Soviet passenger plane from the 1970’s. Another seventeen such aircraft are currently in service with the Ministry of Defence. Therefore, the fact that children were taken to safety on passenger planes belonging to the Russian military and from military airfields should not be viewed as something extraordinary in these circumstances, as the Yale University author suggests.

The topic of forced deportation of children from war-torn territories received little attention and was rarely commented on by the Russian public. “Russia did not kidnap but rather rescued Ukrainian children, bringing them out of the war zone. What were we supposed to do, leave children in orphanages, under artillery fire?” This question was raised by President Putin at last year’s Russia-Africa summit.

Ten-year-old Kira and thirteen-year-old Bogdan, from Kherson, are among the four hundred children who returned, from Russia, to their parents in Ukraine via third countries. In an interview with CNN’s correspondent Nick Patton in April of 2023, Kira repeated, twice, that her time spent in an orphanage in Crimea was “great”. On the other hand, Bogdan claimed that he was “bored” because children were taught “singing Russian songs” and that “Ukrainians and Russians are fraternal peoples who must live in harmony.” In the report, Kira’s father, Alexander, and Bogdan’s mother, Irina, admitted that they voluntarily sent their children to an orphanage in Crimea because, as single parents, they did not have the means to support them in wartime conditions. After the withdrawal of the Russian army from Kherson, they changed their minds, and, a few months later, Russian authorities returned their children, through a third country, as per procedure.

However, the Yale University report claims that children from Ukraine were subjected to “pro-government and paramilitary propaganda”, which “was documented in camps where thousands of children were transferred to and subjected to patriotic re-education” as part of the process of “forced naturalization” of Ukrainians, which, according to the report, represents “elements of crimes against humanity.” Kira and Bogdan spoke with Nick Patton in Russian, the use of which has been prohibited in Ukraine’s public spaces since 2019. In some parts of Ukraine, for example, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, the so-called language police are tasked with punishing anyone who is heard speaking Russian. Logically, the “language police” would have punished Kira and Bogdan’s parents, had they caught their children speaking Russian to an American journalist.

The Hague based International Criminal Court (ICC), which many mistakenly identify as the Special Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, charged Russian President Vladimir Putin, in March 2023, with the “illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine” and issued a warrant for his arrest. Maria Lvova-Belova, an employee of the presidential administration in the Kremlin who oversees children’s rights, was accused of the same crime – the “crime” of taking children from war-torn areas, with the available means, and returning them to their parents when possible.