Interview with Nikolay Patrushev reveals twisted Russian reality and inconsistent propaganda

In an interview with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev made claims that Moscow isn’t at war with Kyiv, but instead, the confrontation is an attempt by the West to use Ukrainians in its standoff with Russia. Below is excerpts from the Russian TASS citing the interview, with comments in italic/bold.

“The events in Ukraine aren’t a clash between Moscow and Kyiv. It’s a military confrontation of NATO, first of all the US and Britain, with Russia. Fearing a direct engagement, NATO instructors push Ukrainian men to certain death,”

No. Russia started this war by attacking Ukraine – who defends itself and receives aid from other countries for its defense. Russia doesn’t own Ukraine and no one has attacked Russia.

Patrushev went on to say that Russia is using the special military operation to “free its regions from occupation and must put an end to the West’s bloody experiment to destroy the fraternal people of Ukraine.”

It’s not a “military special operation”, It’s a war that Russia has started.

Russia isn’t “freeing” regions from occupation, its occupying another country’s land. If Germany declared that St Petersburg is now annexed, would they be “liberating” it then, if they entered the city? It’s an absurd statement.

There’s no intention whatsoever in the West of destroying the Ukrainian people. On the contrary the support for the Ukrainian nation, its independence and people has been overwhelming since Russia’s 2022 invasion started. Not only to help Ukraine defending itself against the Russian aggression, complying with the Budapest Memorandum and the UN Charter, but also to rebuild the country when the war is over and to integrate it in the European economy and by caring for Ukrainian refugees.

And no, Russian and Ukrainians are not brother (fraternal) peoples. At least not anymore, if it ever was. Why would Russia be to decide over who is Ukraine’s brother people? Russia has clearly showed its not a brother nation through killing its “brothers” bombing, devastating and causing endless pain and suffering.

“We are not at war with Ukraine because we can’t have hatred for ordinary Ukrainians by default,” he said.

Yes, you have invaded a country called Ukraine and the country’s armed forces, consisting of Ukrainians, are now defending it. It’s called a war and it’s fact. No hatred?! Well the list of examples of Russian propaganda in this article tells totally another story. Nikolay Petrushev, maybe you should acquaintance yourself with what your country currently is doing in Ukraine? The killings, the atrocities committed towards Ukrainians, the horrors of the war. Real brother people don’t do this. Ever.

The official said Ukrainian traditions are familiar to Russians, just like the Russian heritage is inseparable from Ukrainian culture.

It is not up to Russia to decide whether Ukraine and its culture is inseparable from Russia or not. Ukraine left the Soviet Union more than 30 years ago and is since an independent nation.

“Get this: the Ukrainian language is one of the official languages in Crimea. Ukrainian cultural centers, Ukrainian folk song and dance groups continue to exist in many cities. A considerable number of people in the south of the Far East regard Ukrainian culture as their own, given a large proportion of migrants from the times of Stolypin,” he said, referring to Pyotr Stolypin, a prime minister of the Russian Empire in the early 1900s, who oversaw a resettlement policy.

This is a bit curious, since Russia’s propaganda machine repeatedly says that Ukrainians are actually Russians and denies the Ukrainian nation, identity and language. See examples in the links here and here . And also curious, considering the intense russification efforts that are undertaken in the Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine

“The sooner the people of Ukraine realize that the West is using them to wage a war on Russia, the more lives will be saved,” Patrushev continued. “Many have realized that long ago, but they are afraid to say that publicly out of fear of reprisals. It’s not a part of the West’s plans to save someone’s life to the detriment of its enrichment and other ambitions. Even so, the Americans, the British and other Europeans often create an illusion that they protect civilization from barbarians.”

According to the official, “all this story with Ukraine was engineered by Washington to rehearse the technologies of dividing a people that’s one and sow discord.”

Once and for all: Russia alone started this war, not the US (or anyone else). Had not Russia started it, it would be no war.

“Millions of people are prohibited from speaking Russian, their native language, and are forced to commit to oblivion their origins. The West, to serve its ambitions, is practically decimating the Ukrainian people, forcing the vigorous generation to die at the battlefield and bringing the rest of the people to poverty,” he said.

People speak Russian freely in Ukraine, it can be heard all around you in many Ukrainian cities. Even the Azov battalion, that Russia likes to depict like ‘nazis’, often speaks Russian among themselves.

And no – it’s Russia, not the West, who is decimating the Ukrainian population, causing death and horror wits its war on Ukraine – while also decimating its own, Russian, population in the process.

This is rather yet another depiction of the utter cognitive dissonance Russian propaganda displays, while trying to legitimize and saw confusion about its illegal and brutal war of conquest in Ukraine.

As apparent, Russia and its malicious propaganda cannot be trusted and should be disregarded.