RT News - February 19th 2023 LATE

Donbass, Donetsk: Ukrainian troops launch a barrage of 40 rockets on the city of Donetsk, leaving at least seven people wounded according to local officials, who reiterate that the area does not have any military facilities. (see A below). Until the NATO supplied artillery was provided, the city centre wasn't able to be easily reached. Now Donetsk is under attack in one place or another, almost every day. (See previous posts and comments about Ukraine running out of ammo and the Kiev .gov begging for more). Igor Zhdanov reports.

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PRESS "SEE MORE" to open write ups, etc

Nord Stream 2: Mick Wallace, a beloved Irish MEP has brought up in the European Parliament, the terrorist sabotage of the Nord Stream 2 pipelines last year, citing the extensive report from Seymour Hersh. Mick Wallace asked "has the EU become so subservient to the USA that it is afraid to even ask?"

Veteran journalist Joe Lauria interviewed the award-winning writer Seymour Hersh on his Nord Stream pipeline sabotage investigation. He concludes NATO is the only logical suspect. https://consortiumnews.com/2023/02/16/watch-seymour-hersh-on-cn-live/ Joe Lauria spoke with Eunan O'Neill. Everyone agrees on one thing: the British and EU economies have been forever ruined as a result.

Syria aerial bombing: Syrian officials say at least five people were killed and 15 others wounded overnight following an Israeli missile strike on central Damascus. This coming less than two weeks after the devastating earthquake leaving nearly 5,800 dead with searches for survivors continuing still. Mohamad Ali reports with sad imagery at the scene of impact. (QS I am disgusted)
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African Union: Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea are seeking reunification with the Union. Each one must divorce with it's current policies in order to re-enter. Bisrat Melesse reports and explains. Attendees of the A.U. summit say closer economic cooperation with AU strengthens Africa, RT speaks to them and they explain to us why.
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AU Summit: The Israeli representative was removed after a dispute about her validity to be there, her accreditation. Israel had sent the wrong person and she was escorted out. Later she called South Africa, Iran and Algeria "extremists states" (QS and my money is on she won't be invited to the next one either.. )
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India/BBC: India's ruling political BJP party, say the BBC have not paid sufficient duties on income. The BBC's Mumbai and New Delhi offices were raided on suspicion of tax evasion. Despite the BBC having broadcast an inflammatory two-part documentary about India's president Modi, India's tax offices say it is not related.

China / USA relations: China says she is being used as a scapegoat as USA struggles to cover up it's own domestic problems. They cited the China Balloon hoax took preference to the environmental disaster in Ohio after a train crash with carriages containing toxic chemicals. (QS - did you know they blamed Donald Trump for this? - see earlier written posts). The chemical spill has caused serious pollution and worries about drinking water and livestock. Local residents don't believe they are receiving all the information they need.
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A) --- Ukraine targets Donetsk with massive shelling – monitor
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1) --- Officials reflect on hardships of staying in Zelensky’s bunker
2) --- West lacks operational tanks for Kiev – UK defense secretary
3) --- China to present Ukraine peace proposal
4) --- EU is in ‘urgent war mode’ – top diplomat
5) --- Shakespeare flagged as ‘far right’ literature in UK – media
6) --- UK food banks under record pressure – study
6a) --- Britons facing ‘permanent’ reduction in living standards – report
7) --- US trying to demonize Russia – Moscow
8) --- Kremlin responds to Crimea claim by ‘aggressive US hawk’
Long Reads: --- 9) --- Hunting for Russians: How a Ukrainian law firm runs a campaign targeting ordinary people in Western Europe
10) --- Doomed to fail: How Lenin and Stalin placed a ticking time bomb under the Soviet Union exactly 100 years ago
11) --- The Russian Civil War ended 100 years ago: Here's how Western powers played a significant part in the outcome
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19 Feb, 2023 12:53

A) --- Ukraine targets Donetsk with massive shelling – monitor

A total of 40 rockets have been fired at the Russian city, a group monitoring attacks on the Donbass regions has said

Kiev’s forces have launched a rocket attack on the city of Donetsk, a local organisation monitoring Ukrainian strikes on the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics said on Sunday. In just two minutes, a total of 40 projectiles were fired at the Russian city, using multiple rocket launchers, the statement claimed.

It is so far unclear whether the bombardment resulted in any casualties. Videos allegedly taken at the scene and published on social media by Russian news outlets show some local shops were severely damaged, with smashed windows and holes in the walls. The area around the buildings is littered with debris.

According to the monitoring group, the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), Ukrainian attacks earlier in the day also caused power outages at eight electrical substations throughout the city, leaving some 800 residents without power.

The projectiles struck an indoor market, municipal authorities in Donetsk said, causing “heavy smoke” in the area. At least three people were injured in the bombardment, the local territorial defense headquarters said.

The city mayor, Aleksey Kulemzin, accused Kiev of “systematic killing of civilians” in Donetsk. According to Kulemzin, several apartment blocks were severely damaged in the strike, which caused fires.

An indoor market also suffered serious damage, the official said, adding that the Ukrainian forces were well aware that the market was a “place of mass gathering” of civilians and that Kiev’s troops “knew exactly what they were firing at.”

Donetsk has been shelled continuously by Ukrainian forces since 2014, when the two Donbass republics refused to recognize the Western-backed coup in Kiev. The attacks further intensified after Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine almost a year ago.

On February 5, a Ukrainian strike killed three people in the city, as artillery rounds hit several residential blocks. According to the JCCC, Kiev’s attacks have resulted in more than 4,000 civilian deaths in the Donetsk People’s Republic alone since large-scale hostilities broke out.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571734-ukraine-targets-donetsk-strike/
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19 Feb, 2023 15:47

1) --- Officials reflect on hardships of staying in Zelensky’s bunker

Ministers and aides inside the Ukrainian president’s shelter were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, The Times reports

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and his associates spent almost two months in a bunker after the outbreak of the conflict with Russia, instead of the planned two weeks, and underwent significant hardships, The Times has reported.

The Ukrainian government “immediately” descended into a secure shelter under the president’s office on Bankovaya Street in central Kiev when Russia’s military operation was launched on February 24, 2022, the British newspaper reported on Saturday.

The secrecy around the bunker was so high that those who accompanied the head of state underground had to sign a special non-disclosure agreement. According to the document, they were banned from revealing any details about the shelter’s design, location, amenities, or even the food that they were given.

With Russian forces were located in the suburbs of Kiev, it was a period of trauma and terror for Zelensky’s ministers and aides, the paper said. “We don’t speak about that much any more,” Ukraine’s agrarian policy and food minister Nikolay Solsky replied when asked to recall the opening weeks of the fighting.

A government insider told The Times that staying in the bunker was a tough existence as “you don’t see the sun, you don’t know the time.”

Zelensky’s team experienced the conflict through their iPhones, according to the paper. They were always busy, with their sleep being “snatched and often disturbed,” it added.

Some Ukrainian officials were “growing weary of life in the underground bunker,” with one of them confessing that he once fled the shelter to eat at a restaurant, the paper wrote.

Due to fears that Kiev could fall to the Russian forces, the underground stay was prolonged for the country’s leadership, a government source told The Times.

According to the paper, Zelensky only emerged from the shelter from time to time to record video messages “to reassure the people that he had not fled.”

Earlier this month, former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, who mediated contacts between Moscow and Kiev at that time, revealed that Zelensky had started making his addresses only after being assured that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had no plans to eliminate him.

Bennett claimed that he secured such a promise from Putin during talks in the Russian capital, and phoned Zelensky immediately after leaving the Kremlin. Two hours later, the Ukrainian leader posted a video from his office in Kiev, explaining that he was “not hiding” and “not afraid of anyone,” he said.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571739-zelensky-bunker-ukraine-kiev/
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19 Feb, 2023 07:35

2) --- West lacks operational tanks for Kiev – UK defense secretary

Armies have been “hollowed out” over the last three decades, Ben Wallace said

After pledging to supply Ukraine with modern heavy tanks, many Western nations have now discovered that a significant part of their weaponry is not fit to take part in any conflict, The UK's Secretary of Defence Ben Wallace has said.

In a Saturday interview with Der Spiegel, Wallace noted that Germany organized a meeting with its NATO allies this week to discuss tank deliveries. “That's when the problems became obvious. The political decision is there… The politicians sent their military to the depots only to find that their tanks are not operational or repaired for delivery to Ukraine,” he said.

According to Wallace, NATO has to face the painful truth that “our armies have been more or less hollowed out over the last 30 years… There are numbers of how many tanks each country has. But then there is the reality that tells us that far too few of them are operational,” he noted.

When asked whether the tanks would arrive in Ukraine on time, the British defense chief made a call to “give the other partners a little more time,” describing Western-made armor as “not a silver bullet to win the war instantly” and highlighting the importance of training Kiev’s troops.

Wallace went on to say that similar issues apply to ammunition. “In terms of ammunition stocks, too, we found that our peacetime plans were not sufficient. We didn't count on a real war, so the target numbers for the ammunition were too low,” he said.

In January, the UK, Germany and the US decided to supply Kiev with modern heavy armor – Challenger 2, Leopard 2 and M1 Abrams tanks respectively. Germany has also approved the re-export of Leopard 2s from third countries to Ukraine, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz pointing out recently that many nations who'd asked Berlin for re-export permission have failed to deliver the tanks.

Russia has repeatedly warned the West against supplying Ukraine with arms, saying it would only prolong the hostilities. Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has claimed that Western tanks sent to Kiev “will burn” and will fail to change the outcome of the conflict.
https://www.rt.com/news/571726-uk-lack-tanks-ukraine/
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18 Feb, 2023 19:49

3) --- China to present Ukraine peace proposal

The country’s top diplomat cautioned that “some forces” might oppose Beijing’s plan

China will present a plan aimed at peacefully resolving the conflict in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. Those calling for continued fighting “don’t care about the life and death of Ukrainians,” he also warned.

“We will put forth China’s position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” Wang said, without providing a timeline for the proposal. “We will stand firm on the side of peace and dialog.”

Wang did not outline any specifics of the plan but said that “the territorial integrity and sovereignty” of those involved should be respected, as should the “legitimate security concerns” of the belligerents. “Attacks on nuclear power stations” must also be opposed, he said, likely in reference to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, which Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shelling.

China is well positioned to broker peace, he said, as it is “not a party directly concerned, but [it] did not sit idly by” since Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began nearly a year ago.

China has refused to join the Western-led sanctions regime against Russia, and has deepened its economic ties with Moscow over the last year. During this time, Wang said that China backed the peace talks in Belarus and Türkiye, the latter of which were abruptly ended by the Ukrainian side last spring, despite an agreement being reached in principle.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has claimed that Kiev withdrew from these talks at the West’s request, while Ukrainian media reports blamed former British PM Boris Johnson for urging the Ukrainians to back out of a deal.

“We saw a framework text on the peaceful resolution of the crisis, however that was stopped” Wang told his audience in Munich. Without directly blaming any Western countries, the Chinese diplomat suggested that “some forces might not want to see peace talks materialize.”

“They don’t care about the life and death of Ukrainians or the harm to Europe,” he continued. “They might have strategic goals greater than Ukraine itself.”

American and NATO officials have consistently urged Ukraine to keep fighting, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declaring in December that a ceasefire would lead to “a phony peace.” European leaders, meanwhile, have largely stuck to the US line that Kiev will decide when to sit down to talks.
https://www.rt.com/news/571713-china-peace-plan-ukraine/
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19 Feb, 2023 15:53

4) --- EU is in ‘urgent war mode’ – top diplomat

Josep Borrell claims the war in Ukraine will be over unless Europe resolves the ammo shortage

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has called for more and faster weapons and ammunition shipments to Ukraine. His words come amid Western promises of new armament deliveries for Kiev and growing shortages in Europe’s own stock.

“We are in urgent war mode,” Borrell said on Sunday, during the last day of the Munich Security Conference. He added that the conflict would be over if the shortage of ammunition was not resolved in “a matter of weeks.”

The diplomat bemoaned the depletion of European stockpiles, claiming that the Union “forgot about classical wars... only engaged in expeditionary forces and technological Blitzkrieg.”

He announced that the EU defense ministers will hold a special meeting on March 8-9 to attempt to resolve this issue. Borrell said that he will also present the idea of using the 3.6 billion euros ($3.6 billion) of the European Peace Facility to jointly buy ammunition for Kiev, using the EU’s experience in joint procurements of Covid-19 vaccines.

Borrell himself was wary of the ammunition shortages back in September, saying supplies were “depleted.” This assessment was echoed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who warned that the Alliance’s countries were running out of rounds they could donate to Kiev’s war effort.

Multiple EU countries and the US have pledged to send modern, Western-made tanks to Ukraine; however, the process will take months with no clear timetable. The UK and France are also mulling sending fighter jets to Kiev, with London already training pilots. However, French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this month that sending warplanes was not something that could be done “in the coming weeks.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this month that the weapons shipments to Kiev would not stop Russia from achieving the goals of the military operation, but would instead just “prolong the suffering” for Ukraine.
https://www.rt.com/news/571740-borrell-urgent-war-mode/
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19 Feb, 2023 14:44

5) --- Shakespeare flagged as ‘far right’ literature in UK – media

The works of the British playwright were among those reportedly included in a list of ‘key texts’ read by white nationalists

Several of the UK’s most respected television shows, movies and works of literature have been included in a list of works that could potentially encourage far-right sympathies, compiled by the taxpayer-funded and government-led ‘Prevent’ counter-terrorism programme, according to the Daily Mail.

Works by JRR Tolkien, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell and even William Shakespeare, as well as classic movies ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ and ‘The Great Escape’ were cited in a list published by the British paper on Saturday as being highlighted by the counter-terrorism watchdog, for their potential use by far-right agitators to promote troublesome viewpoints online.

“This is truly extraordinary,” historian and broadcaster Andrew Roberts said of the list to the tabloid. “This is the reading list of anyone who wants a civilized, liberal, cultural education.

“It includes some of the greatest works in the Western canon and in some cases – such as Joseph Conrad’s ‘The Secret Agent’ – powerful critiques of terrorism. [Edmund] Burke, Orwell and Tolkien were all anti-totalitarian writers.”

In addition to movies and works of literature, television shows such as the original ‘House of Cards’ series and even the BBC’s ‘Great British Railway Journeys,’ presented by former Conservative politician Michael Portillo, are mentioned by ‘Prevent’ as being potentially attractive to people with far-right viewpoints.

It said in a recent report by its Research Information and Communication Unit (RICU) that far-right corners of the internet had promoted ‘reading lists’ and ‘important texts,’ as well as other media which could potentially stoke radicalism online.

The ‘Prevent’ counter-terrorism programme was set up by the British government in 2011 as a means to safeguard against “vulnerable people being drawn into criminal behaviour,” with an emphasis on combating ultra-right groups and Islamic extremism.

However, a recent audit of its practices found that ‘Prevent’ “often falls well short of the extremism threshold altogether” and that it “has a double-standard when dealing with the extreme right-wing and Islamism.”

Amnesty International has also been highly critical of the project, saying it is “deeply prejudiced” and has “no legitimacy”.

Despite its perceived failings, as highlighted by the review into its standards and practices, major changes are not expected in the management of ‘Prevent,’ which has operational costs of £49 million per year.
https://www.rt.com/news/571736-uk-shakespeare-far-right/
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19 Feb, 2023 13:52

6) --- UK food banks under record pressure – study

Almost 90% of those surveyed have seen soaring demand, according to the Independent Food Aid Network

The UK’s food banks are being overwhelmed by an "unprecedented" increase in demand amid double-digit inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, new research has found.

According to the survey published on Sunday by the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN), an institution uniting more than 550 independent food banks, 89% of organizations have seen a rise in the number of people seeking support in December and January as compared to the same period one year ago.

Moreover, over 80% of food banks reported that many Britons who were asking for help were doing so for the first time in their lifetime. About 50% of the organizations covered in the survey also said that if demand increased, they would be forced to cut the volume of assistance or to refuse some applicants altogether.

The document attributed these developments mainly to increases in the cost of living. These have been spurred by skyrocketing inflation and soaring energy prices, exacerbated by the sanctions the West imposed on Russia over the Ukraine conflict. Other reasons include inadequate wages and the waiting time needed to receive a first social security payment from authorities, as well as benefit deductions.

Warning that the current situation is "unsustainable," IFAN urged the UK government to increase social security assistance to match the rising day-to-day costs, and to eliminate the five-week waiting period to receive a first social security check.

While in recent months inflation in the UK has somewhat eased up, as of January it still amounted to 10.1%. Meanwhile, food inflation reached 16.7% in the same month.

Against this backdrop, earlier this month the National Institute of Economic and Social Research claimed that UK households were suffering a "permanent" reduction in living standards amid the crisis. It also warned that seven million – or one in four – British households would be unable to fully cover their energy and food bills from this April, when the government starts scaling back its subsidies program.
https://www.rt.com/news/571737-uk-food-banks-overwhelmed/
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9 Feb, 2023 12:04

6a) --- Britons facing ‘permanent’ reduction in living standards – report

This year seven million households will be affected, economists have predicted

UK households are suffering a “permanent” decline in living standards as wages lag behind double-digit inflation and families struggle to pay their bills, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) has warned.

According to a forecast by the UK’s oldest independent economic research institute released on Wednesday, 7 million households, which is the equivalent of one in four, will be unable to cover their energy and food bills once the government starts scaling back its subsidies program in April.

Energy prices remain high, while inflation is running above 10%, more than five times the Bank of England’s 2% target. NIESR said the target will not be reached until the second half of 2025.

Grocery inflation alone soared to a new record of 16.7% in the four weeks of January, taking the average annual food shopping bill in the UK to £5,504 ($6,781), up £788 ($974) from last year, according to the latest research by Kantar.

NIESR economists warn that middle-income households will be hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis. While the poorest families receive additional state aid, the middle classes will face a decline of between 7% and 13% in their disposable income, or as much as £4,000 ($4,800).

“What we’ve seen is that the shocks that have come along have progressively made us poorer per person,” said NIESR director Jagjit Chadha.

Although the institute believes the UK will narrowly escape a recession, it predicts the country will see “anemic” growth of just 0.2% this year before GDP rises 1% in 2024 and 1.6% in 2025. For millions of households it “will certainly feel like a recession,” NIESR warned.

“This malaise seems to be affecting large parts of the advanced world but on many measures the UK looks as though it’s towards the bottom of performance and I think that’s a great concern,” said Chadha.

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund said that Britain will have the worst economic performance among other major industrialized nations, and will become the only G7 member to face a recession this year.
https://www.rt.com/business/571187-uk-living-standards-permanent-decline/
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19 Feb, 2023 12:47

7) --- US trying to demonize Russia – Moscow

Russia’s ambassador has responded to Kamala Harris’ accusations of ‘crimes against humanity’

Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov has slammed accusations by Washington that Russia had committed “crimes against humanity” as an attempt to vilify Moscow and escalate the conflict in Ukraine.

“We consider such insinuations as an attempt, unprecedented in terms of its cynicism, to demonize Russia in the course of a hybrid war, unleashed against us,” Antonov said in response to questions from reporters on Sunday.

He added that these claims were being used to “justify Washington’s own actions to fuel the Ukrainian crisis” and keep militarizing Kiev.

The diplomat also accused the US of turning a “blind eye” to Kiev’s actions in the conflict and “completely ignoring” years of shelling settlements in Donbass.

"Washington’s two-facedness is outrageous. Why is the State Department silent about the atrocities of Ukrainian cutthroats? What are the American human rights organizations thinking? Why is no one calling for the punishment of fascist thugs?"

US Vice President Kamala Harris said on Saturday that “the United States has formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity.” The claim was made during the Munich Security Conference, with Harris adding that Washington had “examined the evidence” and that Russia’s actions “will be held to account.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said the American government would work with Kiev “to ensure that Russia’s crimes do not go unpunished.” The vow was accompanied by additional funding for the Ukrainian authorities.

Earlier this month, footage purportedly showing Ukrainian troops executing Russian prisoners of war was posted online. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the silence of the international organizations about this incident “disgraceful.” A day later, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights spokeswoman Marta Hurtado said they believed the video was authentic and “raised concern.”

Russia began a military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The ongoing conflict has led to multiple allegations of war crimes from both sides.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571732-antonov-harris-war-crimes/
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19 Feb, 2023 11:59

8) --- Kremlin responds to Crimea claim by ‘aggressive US hawk’

Washington’s support for Kiev’s strikes on the peninsula highlights its role in stoking global tensions, Putin’s spokesman said

The US government’s public endorsement of Ukrainian attacks on Crimea shows the growing foreign policy gulf between Washington and Moscow, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said on Thursday that Russian military installations in Crimea “are legitimate targets” for Ukraine, and that Washington supports Kiev’s attacks on them. The peninsula overwhelmingly voted to become part of Russia in 2014 following a Western-backed coup in Kiev, but Ukraine still views it as part of its own territory.

In an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV channel, Peskov described Nuland as part of “a very large group of the most aggressive hawks in American politics”.

The spokesman said the diplomat’s remarks “once again emphasize the depth of differences between us” and highlight “the role of the United States as the main instigator of existing global tensions.”

On Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned Nuland’s statement on Crimea as “staggering” and “absurd,” calling it proof of “the US involvement in the Ukraine conflict.”

In addition to supplying Kiev with weapons, the US is now “pushing the Kiev regime to further escalation,” she said. “This is what we had warned about before and what had forced us to launch a special military operation.”

Earlier this month, the US announced a new $2.17 billion security package for Ukraine, including ground-launched, small diameter bombs (GLSDB) with a range of up to 150 kilometers (93 miles). The weapons could potentially give Kiev far greater ability to launch strikes on Crimea.

On Wednesday, Politico reported, citing sources, that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a group of experts that Washington was not “actively encouraging” Kiev to seize Crimea, as it believes such attempts would be a red line for Moscow, triggering a drastic response.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chair of the national Security Council, warned that any strikes inside the peninsula would be “met with inevitable retaliation using weapons of any kind.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/571730-kremlin-nuland-crimea-claim/

(Watch Ms. Nuland on India and other matters, including Russia's "crappy weapons" https://youtu.be/dxA2ZD6bhcU )
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9) --- Hunting for Russians: How a Ukrainian law firm runs a campaign targeting ordinary people in Western Europe

The Lviv-based lawyers promise to ‘solve the issue’ of the ‘rashist’ presence - By Felix Livshitz

Boutique Ukrainian law firm T&M has launched an appalling new service allowing residents of Western European countries to “cleanse Europe of rashists,” a reference to the derogatory neologism used by officials in Kiev, which combines the words “Russian” and “fascist.” https://www.tmlaw.com.ua/en/index_en.html

Titled “give in charge rashist” (apparently a bad translation of the Ukrainian title “turn in a rashist”), the webportal invites visitors who are “tired of potential invaders living near you” to “let us know and we will try to solve this issue in the legal field.”

“We are a team of lawyers who decided to use legal methods to cleanse Europe of potential invaders,” the site explains. “No one will know who surrendered the rashist. It's completely free. You pay nothing, but you get a bonus to karma. You are making a personal contribution to a peaceful future.”

Reporting a “possible aggressor” is said to be “easy.” Concerned citizens can easily use a form to anonymously submit the names and social media accounts of Russian citizens living in any European country, who may be “potentially dangerous” and a “carrier of propaganda and violence.”

In return, the Lviv-based T&M “do everything to ensure that the relevant European authorities check the legality of such a person's stay in Europe,” and ”send a corresponding statement to the state authorities of the country in which the presence of a potentially dangerous rashist was reported.” The obvious desired end result is that the Russian in question will be arrested and deported, or perhaps even worse.

A disclaimer at the bottom of the page states the service “is not intended to incite ethnic, racial, religious or other enmity,” and only serves to bring its stated targets “to justice.”

T&M has been operating in Lviv since 2014, specializing in sports law, road traffic accidents, IT and technology transfer, and corporate relations. “Give in charge rashist” is a sub-page of T&M’s main site and links back to it in its disclaimers section.

“We do not collect your personal data in any way, and we use the personal data of rashists that you provide us exclusively for contacting state authorities,” it concludes. It is unknown if any “rashists” have been reported to authorities as a result of this abhorrent resource, or where they are located or what has happened to them if so.

Initiatives like this have the (likely intended) effect of creating a highly hostile environment for Russians living or traveling abroad, in which they are, regardless of their political leanings and beliefs, perceived as one and the same – “the enemy within”, plotting on behalf of the Kremlin, to the detriment of local citizens, the host country's national security or sovereignty.

While T&M appears to have launched this resource on its own initiative, there are reasons to believe the Ukrainian authorities approve of “give in charge rashist”. Ever since February 24, officials in Kiev have repeatedly demanded that other European states embargo any and all things Russian.

On December 7, Culture Minister Aleksandr Tkachenko implored the West to “boycott Tchaikovsky until this war is over.” Many European countries have already cancelled or indefinitely postponed countless concerts, dance shows, and exhibitions with even the mildest connection to Russia. The letter Z itself (used as a symbol of Moscow’s military assault on Ukraine) is being so stigmatized that businesses such as banks and food delivery services have changed their logos.

While such slights, as well as T&M’s report-a-Russian initiative, might not be taken seriously by some, attempts to criminalize and demonize Russians have been ongoing, and have led to people being killed. In December 2014, Ukrainian politician and activist Georgy Tuka launched the website Mirotvorets (‘peacemaker’ in English).

Mirotvorets publishes a constantly updated list of people considered by the hidden authors of the website to be the “enemies of Ukraine,” who have said or done things that constitute “signs of crimes against the national security of Ukraine, peace, human security, and the international law.” Some individuals listed have ended up dead, and when this happens, the word ЛИКВИДИРОВАН (“liquidated” or “eliminated”) is stamped across their entry on the site in big, red letters, along with an ‘X’.

Sometimes people end up on the Mirotvorets hit list for basic administrative reasons. In September 2018, hundreds of residents of the Zakarpatye region, including government officials, who took Hungarian citizenship were added. This led to condemnations from Budapest, and denials from Kiev that it was involved in the website.

The next month, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto angrily fired back that “it is a lie that the Ukrainian state has nothing to do with the website,” and claimed the country’s then-President Petro Poroshenko “gave his consent to the hate campaign in an attempt to increase his popularity.”

As well as average citizens, many Western figures with a high profile have ended up on Mirotvorets. This includes American journalists Chris Hedges and Glenn Greenwald, anti-war politicians Tulsi Gabbard and Rand Paul, British musician Roger Waters, and many others, such as “warmonger” Henry Kissinger. His “crime” was to worry in public that Kiev’s anti-Russian actions threatened retaliation from Moscow.

Despite the European Union, G7, United Nations and multiple rights groups calling for Mirotvorets to be closed, it has remained open. Ukrainian officials have also used the website to vet entrants into the country at border checkpoints since its launch, on top of existing government databases of undesirable elements.

While the website is managed in secret, evidence has emerged that it is closely tied to Kiev’s powerful intelligence agency, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and its domain is hosted in Langley, Virginia, US, not far from the headquarters of the CIA. Which raises the question: is “give in charge rashist” an attempt by these same dark actors to take Mirotvorets global?
https://www.rt.com/russia/568508-ukrainian-law-firm-russians/
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10) --- Doomed to fail: How Lenin and Stalin placed a ticking time bomb under the Soviet Union exactly 100 years ago

The USSR's promotion of national identities left it doomed from the very get-go

Exactly 100 years ago, on December 30, 1922, the largest country in world history was created. At the First All-Union Congress of Soviets, representatives of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) and Belarusian SSR, and the Transcaucasian Federation all signed Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR.

The huge country left an ambiguous legacy, and most of the Bolsheviks’ promises were never fulfilled. However, despite its collapse in 1991, to this day the history of the Soviet Union remains relevant for residents of Russia and the former Soviet republics. In fact, it was the beginning of Bolshevik rule that marked the national revival of minorities and the creation of republics that received not only autonomy, but also the right to secede from

RT recalls how the decision to create the USSR was made and why its structure was determined by a dispute between the “red chiefs” – Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.

According to Lenin's original plan, the USSR was not really meant to be a “state” from the point of view of “state structure.” It was supposed to be a free confederation of independent states (republics), each having nearly full sovereignty. That’s where the phrase “self-determination up to secession” came from. The unity of this formation was ensured not by “state” or “supranational” mechanisms, but by a single ruling Communist party.

Such a model assumed the possibility of the USSR’s unlimited expansion, up to a global scale. Any country could merely recognize the Communist Party as a “ruling and guiding force” and integrate into the Soviet Union as a new republic. That is why the formula of self-determination up to secession did not particularly concern the leader of the world proletariat, Vladimir Lenin. After all, if communism won over the whole world, where and for what reason would its republics secede? “We still have to conquer five-sixths of the earth's landmass to have the USSR all over the world,” proclaimed chairman of the 5th Congress of the Comintern, Grigory Zinoviev, in June 1924.

This logic applied not only in the 1920s, but also after the end of World War II, when the Belarusian SSR and the Ukrainian SSR became co-founders of the UN, having their own foreign policy departments. When the “global growth” model was transformed during perestroika, it became apparent that the Soviet republics were held together within the Soviet Union only by a bureaucratic management system. The concept of a single space was doomed. As a whole, the USSR could only exist within the framework of its historical mission, “the construction of communism.”

Autonomy or federalization?
In June 1919, the RSFSR, Belarusian SSR, and Ukrainian SSR officially united their armed forces, economy, finance, transport, and mail services. The role of national authorities was assigned to the Russian people's commissariats – analogues of ministries. Republican communist parties joined the Russian Communist Party-Bolsheviks, or ‘RCP(b)’ as territorial organizations. A paradox then arose: the entire territory controlled by the Bolsheviks was governed as a single state, while the republics formally remained independent.

For the Bolsheviks, this meant little – the Communist Party held a monopoly over politics and decision-making anyway. However, following the end of the acute phase of the Civil War, the problem of external representation arose. On the eve of the international debut of the new government, at the Genoa Conference in April-May 1922, it was decided that a delegation of the RSFSR would speak for all the republics. But in the future, foreign partners wanted to clearly see who they were dealing with. Moreover, the country’s own population had to understand where they lived.

Joseph Stalin was the party’s specialist in interethnic relations (although, according to rumors, Nikolai Bukharin could have been involved in writing his main work “Marxism and the National Question”). As the RSFSR People’s Commissar of Nationality Affairs responsible for working out the issue, he proposed to include the remaining republics in the RSFSR as autonomous entities. In autonomization, Stalin saw a means of solving several problems at once. Firstly, it could strengthen a single national space and create a rigid vertical alignment of power. And secondly, it would weaken local nationalists and “social-independents” who advocated the full sovereignty of the Soviet republics and were annoyed by the interference of the central government in their affairs. At the same time, the central power and the all-Russian legislation would extend to new territories. Essentially, the plan did not envisage the unification and formation of a new state, but an absorption of the national Soviet republics by the RSFSR.

In September 1922, Joseph Stalin sent his project to Vladimir Lenin and soon presented the program of "autonomization" before the preparation commission for the Central Committee Plenum on the Relationship Between the RSFSR and Other Soviet republics. The commission, chaired by Vyacheslav Molotov, met on September 23-24, 1922, and managed to approve the plan developed by Stalin. Now it had to be approved at the plenum of the Central Committee, which was scheduled for October 5. However, Lenin, who was in an unstable condition at the time due to deteriorating health, refused to accept the project and demanded the creation of the USSR according to the model of maximum federalization – that is, with semi-independent Union republics.

His proposal would not only create tension within the party, but also show the world an example of a “fundamentally new solution to the national question.” Lenin insisted on the creation of equal treaties between the republics with the possibility of other non-capitalist countries around the world joining the Soviet Union in the future. This included creating a new constitution and forming federal authorities with representatives from all republics. The Soviet Union was conceived by its ideologists as a global communist project, open, among other things, to the accession of those countries that were never part of the disintegrated Russian Empire. This was a serious argument for those who criticized Stalin's plan of autonomization. After all, focusing on the world revolution as a global project, the federation was seen as the most convenient structure of the state, since it would be easier to include new subjects.

At the same time, appeasing some of the nationally oriented Bolsheviks was also an important issue. Some influential national communists, who were especially strong in the Ukrainian SSR and Transcaucasian SFSR (especially among Georgians), opted for the prospect of confederation since they wanted a greater degree of freedom.

This is most clearly evidenced by the so-called “Georgian incident.” On October 20, 1922, at a meeting of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee of the RCP(b) a dispute arose between Grigory (Sergo) Ordzhonikidze and the Georgian Bolsheviks on whether Georgia should enter the USSR as part of the Transcaucasian SFSR or independently. When Ordzhonikidze called his opponents “chauvinistic rot,” one of them, Akaki Kabakhidze, called Ordzhonikidze “Stalin’s donkey," and Ordzhonikidze hit him in the face.

The central power had to intervene, and a Central Committee commission headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky headed to Transcaucasia. Without even talking to the other side, its representatives sided with Ordzhonikidze. Lenin, however, no less strongly supported the Georgian Bolsheviks and demanded that Ordzhonikidze be expelled from the party for assault. At the same time, both Stalin and Lenin understood that the incident, spurred by feelings of nationalism, was a serious issue that could have consequences for the future of the state.

A ticking time bomb
Discussions on autonomization and federalization lasted throughout the autumn of 1922 and ended with the victory of Lenin's project. Shortly before the signing of the treaty, Lenin summoned Stalin to his Gorki residence near Moscow and demanded he change the first paragraph. Soon, he wrote the note “On the formation of the USSR” to politburo members in which he expressed the opinion that the RSFSR should recognize itself as equal with other republics and enter the union “together and on an equal footing with them.” Lenin made concessions, and both political and territorial compromises.

This was motivated by the fear that a single administrative apparatus would lead to bureaucrats discriminating against peoples in remote parts of the union. “It is necessary to distinguish between the nationalism of an oppressive nation and the nationalism of an oppressed nation, the nationalism of a large nation and the nationalism of a small nation. In relation to the latter nationalism, almost always in historical practice, we, the nationals of a large nation, find ourselves guilty of an infinite amount of violence. Moreover, we commit an infinite amount of violence and insults without noticing it,” he wrote. Stalin, however, stood by his opinion and in a note to the members of the politburo called Lenin's position “national liberalism.” Yet the authority of the leader of the world proletariat, despite his serious illness, remained unquestionable.

The morning of December 29, 1922, was lively outside the Bolshoy Theater in Moscow. Figures in overcoats, commissar's leather uniforms, and national costume floated out of the frosty fog. Delegates of the First All-Union Congress of Soviets were gathering to establish a new state. On the same day, the delegations of the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and Belarusian SSR, as well as the Transcaucasian SFSR signed an Agreement on the Formation of the USSR. A day later, it was approved, and December 30 became the day of the formation of the Soviet Union, which existed for almost 69 years.

Except for issues concerning foreign policy and foreign trade, finance, defense, and communications, which were transferred over to the Union authorities, each republic had jurisdiction over all remaining areas. The All-Union Congress of Soviets became the supreme body of the country. Between its convocations, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, consisting of two chambers – the Union Council and the Council of Nationalities, was established.

The adopted declaration outlined the reasons, principles, and goals for the unification of the Soviet republics. The most important principle was the right of peoples to self-determination, and the ultimate goal was the creation of a World Union of Communist Republics.

“Access to the [Soviet] Union is open to all socialist Soviet republics, both existing and future. The new Union State will serve as a stronghold against world capitalism and a decisive step towards uniting the working people of all countries into a World Socialist Soviet Republic," stated the first Constitution of the USSR, adopted on January 31, 1924.

The new state was deliberately given supranational character, so that in the future any “Soviet socialist republic” could be accepted into it. Advocating the liquidation of the state as such, the Bolsheviks saw only a temporary solution in such a state structure. Initially, Lenin even proposed to call the state the “Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia,” but eventually it was decided to avoid geographical references. The USSR coat of arms is the only example of its kind where the entire globe is depicted but state borders are not marked in any way.

A failed project
However, the hopes of the “Old Bolsheviks” for a world revolution were not fulfilled, and the system created with this perspective in mind could not resist the onslaught of new realities. The thesis of “peaceful coexistence” with the capitalist world was established soon after the Second World War in the mid-1950s, although Vyacheslav Molotov found it “disorienting” until the end of his long life. This wasn’t incidental, since Molotov saw the USSR enter into another race with the United States, in addition to the “arms race” – the race for “quality of life” – also lost by the Soviet system. It turned out that outside of the task of spreading communism in the world, the Soviet Union, as a whole, was an impossibility.

Ultimately, the practical fulfillment of the right of nations to self-determination played out as a cruel joke. Shortly after the creation of the USSR, a process of nation-building was launched in the new Soviet republics. The 185 nationalities of the Soviet Union were divided into union republics directly subordinated to the central authority. These included autonomous republics within the Union republics, autonomous regions within the territories, and national districts. At the same time, it was determined which of the subjects should have rights and privileges, and which should not. For example, each national republic had its own Communist Party and academy of sciences, but Russians were not allowed to have these. Following the foundation of the USSR, the RSFSR was entirely sterilized of state infrastructure.

The new borders between the republics, largely drawn up with economic needs and Communist rationality in mind, also caused discontent. For example, Abkhazians and Ossetians did not want to be part of the Georgian SSR, and the Russians who lived in Donbass did not want to be governed by the Ukrainian SSR. Some majority Tajik regions became part of the Uzbek SSR, and Nagorno-Karabakh, with a predominantly Armenian population, was included in the Azerbaijani SSR.

Subsequently, all these issues caused the aggravation of interethnic conflicts and the implementation of the republics’ right to secession, preserved in all Union constitutions. This right was first invoked in 1990 by the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Georgian SSRs. Their example was eventually followed by almost all the other republics, of which there were fifteen in the “classic” composition of the USSR. The attempt made in 1991 by the first and last President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, to prepare and agree on a new version of the Union Treaty was unsuccessful not only because of the attempted coup by part of the leadership in August, but also because of cardinal disagreements on the division of powers between the central authority and the republics, including the budget issue.

In December 1991, the Supreme Soviets of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia announced the denunciation of the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR. The corresponding resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR was canceled by the State Duma of Russia in March 1996, but the deputies clarified that their decision did not affect the sovereignty of Russia and other former Soviet republics.

By Alexander Nepogodin, an Odessa-born political journalist, expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union.
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https://www.rt.com/russia/569146-100-years-of-soviet-union/
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11) --- The Russian Civil War ended 100 years ago: Here's how Western powers played a significant part in the outcome

What were foreign interventionists doing in Russia during a conflict which helped to define the 20th century?

One hundred years ago, on October 25, 1922, the Russian Civil War drew to a close. It was on that day that the Provisional Priamurye Government in the Russian Far East, the last anti-Bolshevik Russian state enclave, ceased to exist.

The remnants of the White movement left Vladivostok. By that time, the territory of the former Russian Empire was almost entirely controlled by the Bolsheviks, although islands of resistance continued popping up sporadically in various parts of the country for several more years.

The Russian Civil War wasn't similar to other such conflicts that most people know. Unlike the American Civil War fought between the Northern and Southern states or the Spanish Civil War between the Francoist forces and the Republicans, the fighting in Russia was not simply a standoff between two uncompromising sides. The opponents of the Bolsheviks, which were collectively known as the ‘Whites’, were unable to present a united front against the ‘Reds’ due to discord within their own ranks. Moreover, separatists who were active on the periphery and generally leaned towards the Communists often intervened in the confrontation between the main warring groups and factions, which were the Bolsheviks, Monarchists, Februarists, Mensheviks, Socialists, Anarchists and other scattered forces adhering to various ideologies.

The theater of the Russian Civil War looked very much like a blood-covered patchwork quilt on fire, with short-lived state entities appearing now and then across the vast expanse of the country. It was an ‘all-against-all’ kind of warfare, with numerous coalitions and alliances formed and then disbanded time and again. As this was happening, however, the Bolsheviks claimed more and more Russian territory.

And the Allied interventions – coming from states that had previously been friendly with the Russian Empire and were even supposed to help it crush the Bolshevik regime – took place right in the middle of all that bloody chaos. But instead of supporting Tsarist Russia, their course of action ended up serving the Bolsheviks’ goals.

RT looks back at how the global community exploited the country's weakness and, instead of trying to disrupt the formation of a state that would later evolve into one of its bitterest enemies, on the ruins of imperial Russia, did its best to facilitate the process.

It all started with foreigners
It’s probably no coincidence that the official start date of the Russian Civil War is identified by many historians as the revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion – on May 17, 1918 – even though by that time hostilities had already been going in the south for a few months.

The Czechoslovak Legion was a volunteer armed force with the Russian Imperial Army composed predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I. In the fall of 1917, the Russian Provisional Government granted the group permission to increase its force by enlisting Czech and Slovak prisoners of war and deserters from the Austro-Hungarian Army, many of whom wished to fight the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the independence of their homelands and gladly joined the Russians.

The decision backfired after the October Revolution ended the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks moved to sign a separate peace treaty with the Central Powers, thus effectively undoing a lot of the Russian Empire’s achievements of the previous decades. The Czechs hurried to denounce the new revolution and declare their support for the deposed government.

Thus, formally, the Czechs turned against the Bolsheviks, but it became clear over the course of the conflict that they were primarily fighting for themselves rather than for any other cause.

First, the Czechoslovak Legion was swiftly reassigned to the command of Paris and effectively became a part of the French army. Second, one of the founders and leaders of the Legion, Tomas Masaryk, who was also the future first president of Czechoslovakia, was actively involved in negotiations with all parties to the Russian Civil War. He abstained from siding with the White movement, tried to forge a relationship with the Bolsheviks and even allowed Communist propaganda in the Legion’s units.

The Legion, which was stationed at the time on the territory of modern Ukraine, was eager to leave Russia for France, but that plan was foiled by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ceded a large chunk of the Russian Empire’s western lands, including Crimea and present-day Ukraine, to Germany. The Czechoslovak Legion had to retreat eastward in a hurry.

Masaryk decided that the Legion should travel to the Pacific port of Vladivostok and even negotiated a deal with the Bolshevik authorities. Tensions continued to mount, however, as each side distrusted the other, and ultimately the Legion had to fight its way to the Pacific along the Trans-Siberian Railway, refusing to surrender its weapons to the Reds or to deal with them in any way – until they had no choice.

Treachery of the Allies
The Czechoslovaks easily foiled all attempts to disarm them and kept capturing towns along their route. Everywhere they went, Whites from the Siberian regions joined them. Also, they were able to seize the Russian Empire’s gold reserve.

However, there were fewer and fewer battles for the Legion to take part in. By autumn, the war with Germany was over and the Czechs had won their independence – an event that, paradoxically, depleted their morale: the soldiers could think of nothing else but returning to their homeland. In 1919, they hardly did any fighting at all – instead, they went on a looting spree. As they were in control of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Czechs would routinely stop trains, rob everyone on board and 'empty' the train cars of refugees. This eventually earned them their nickname, ‘Czechosobaks’ (which in Russian literally means ‘Czechoslovak dogs’).

One of the victims of the Czechs’ tyranny on the railroad was the White movement's most prominent figure, Alexander Kolchak, who had been named supreme ruler of Russia not long before. His train was repeatedly stopped by the Czechs in late 1919, until it ended up in the town of Nizhneudinsk. At that time, in the neighboring city of Irkutsk, a leftist group that included Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks established a political group called the Political Center, which demanded that Kolchak hand over power to Anton Denikin. Kolchak was then promised safe passage, but his personal guards were to be replaced by Czechoslovaks. Admiral Kolchak accepted these conditions, but that did not save him from eventually being executed. On January 15, 1920, the Czechoslovaks turned Kolchak over to the Political Center, and the Socialist-Revolutionaries threw him into prison.

After an attempt by White forces loyal to Kolchak to recapture the former supreme ruler in Irkutsk, the interventionists behind the Czechs announced that they were prepared to fire upon the Whites to prevent Kolchak from escaping. To prove that their intentions were serious, the former Entente allies disarmed several units of the White Guardsmen.

As early as January 21, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks surrendered power in Irkutsk to the Bolsheviks. The latter interrogated the admiral and sentenced him to execution by firing squad.

The handing over of Kolchak to the Bolsheviks was, in a way, the foreign legion's 'payment' for a chance to safely leave Russia. With the prisoner in their custody, the Bolsheviks promptly began negotiations with the Czechoslovaks. The two sides exchanged detainees and the Central Europeans promised to return the gold reserves to the Soviets as soon the last foreign soldier left Irkutsk. In September 1920, the last servicemen of the Czechoslovak corps left Vladivostok aboard the US Army Transport ship Heffron.

But that was not the end of the Czechs' involvement in the Russian Civil War.

Aliens in Russia’s north
The need to evacuate the legion was used to justify the Western intervention after Germany’s ultimate defeat. However, foreign troops had been on Russian territory several months before the end of World War I. Ostensibly, their presence was the result of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, although in actuality Russia’s ‘allies’ from the Entente had agreed on the occupation zones of the Russian Empire well before it was signed. The Bolsheviks’ peace treaty with Germany was just the catalyst to force the Allied powers to act more resolutely.

There was an attempt to justify the intervention by the need to establish an anti-German front in Russia with or without the cooperation of the Soviet government. The Allies were afraid that the Germans, who had landed in Finland, might be able to capture Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, Russia’s main northern ports, which also held military supplies.

The British reached out to the Bolsheviks and offered to land in Murmansk and take the city before the Germans could do so. In spite of the peace treaty, the Reds were indeed afraid of possible German advances, so they took London's offer while trying to maintain secrecy and shifting the responsibility to the local authorities.

After direct threats from Germany, the Bolsheviks realized they had made a mistake, but it was too late to try to push the Brits out. In the spring of 1918, 1,500 British troops were stationed in Russia’s north.

The subsequent landing of 9,000 more servicemen in Arkhangelsk was not coordinated with the Bolsheviks at all. Apart from the British, soldiers from other countries, including Italians, Serbs, and Americans, were involved in the operation.

The Red Army was helpless to thwart the landing and simply withdrew from the city before the Allied forces arrived. Enemies of the Bolshevik government led by Captain 2nd Rank Chaplin tried to exploit the situation, but, much to their disappointment, the British had their own plans for Arkhangelsk. They installed a leftist government headed by Nikolai Tchaikovsky, an English socialist with a long track record of socialist agitation.

The local officers were not pleased by such a turn of events, so they orchestrated a coup in September 1918 and arrested the leftwing politicians. The British intervened by freeing all of those who were jailed and removing the conspirators from Arkhangelsk.

Anti-Bolshevik forces in the sparsely populated northern regions lacked resources and struggled to feed their armies so, consequently, they had to depend on the interventionists, who had no intention of helping the Whites topple the Reds.

Foreign troops spent the whole of 1918 stationed in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk without making any serious attempts at major inroads beyond pushing a few kilometers inside Russian territory.

After the end of World War I, even the Allied powers themselves had trouble figuring out what they were still doing in Russia, given that they were not actively fighting the Bolsheviks and lacked the power to do so. By 1919, the Red Army had become a formidable force that a few thousand foreign soldiers were no match for.

Ultimately, in September of that year, the Allied powers simply boarded their ships and left the region.

Americans in Siberia
The intervention was much more active in the eastern part of Russia, through which the country’s main transport artery, the Trans-Siberian Railway, passed.

The Americans landed an expeditionary force dubbed ‘Siberia’ consisting of about 8,000 troops in Vladivostok in August of 1918. They immediately declared that they were completely neutral and gave assurances that they would not interfere in Russia’s internal affairs or provide support to either the Whites or Reds. While the British in the north were still engaging in political intrigues, the Americans claimed to be simply guarding the railway.

Perhaps the American mission would have been less upsetting for the locals had it not been headed by General William Graves, for whom the word ‘monarchist’ was a terrible curse word. Having no understanding of the local situation at all, he thought the Bolsheviks were something akin to America’s Founding Fathers and that they were fighting for freedom against tyranny, while he considered all Whites to be monarchists.

As a result, Graves sympathized with the Bolsheviks and put spokes in the wheels of the Whites. His relations with the latter's officers, who could see the American general’s actual deeds, were very strained. For example, in the fall of 1919, he blocked a shipment of weapons bought by Whites on the grounds that they allegedly wanted to attack him.

The manager of affairs in the Kolchak government, Georgy Gens, observed:

“In the Far East, the American expeditionary forces behaved in such a way that anti-Bolshevik circles became convinced that the United States did not want to see the triumph, but rather the defeat of the anti-Bolshevik government. They expressed sympathy for the partisans, as if encouraging them to take further action.”

In his opinion, “It was clear that the United States did not realize what the Bolsheviks were, and that the American general, Graves, was acting according to certain instructions.”

Another White leader, Ataman Grigory Semenov, recalled:

“Almost all the weapons and uniforms coming from America were transferred from Irkutsk to the Red partisans,

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