Dec 9- Ariana Gic on false Russian narratives
Thread published on December 8, 2022
Who is Ariana Gic…
Ariana Gic is an activist, and a political and legal analyst sanctioned by Russia. She is Director of the Direct Initiative International Centre for Ukraine. She also writes for The Starting Point.
Ariana Gic on persisting Russian narratives
I remain irritated by the following false narratives:
1. Thriving democratic Ukraine will compel Russians to change Russia. They'll demand democracy.
2. Russia invaded Ukraine in response to Ukraine's 2013-14 Maidan Revolution to prevent drive for democratic change in Russia.
1. Ukraine IS a democracy. It would be thriving if not for Russia. Russians are not "inspired" by democracy anywhere. If they were, they'd be fighting tooth and nail for it. They've travelled abroad, they have it on their doorstep in neighbouring EU countries.
Russians are certainly NOT inspired by the people and nations they deem to be "less than". They don't see democracy in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine, and think, "I want that! Let's be like them!" Russia would be vastly different if that were so. It's not. Stop dreaming.
2. Let's drop the "Russia invaded in response to Maidan" nonsense once and for all. Russia capitalized on Ukraine's weakened statehood in the period of the Revolution of Dignity. Moscow executed a long in the works plan of military invasion.
Russia was moving GRU and ordinary Russians to pretend to be local Ukrainians in the *months* leading up to the illegal takeover of Crimea, Ukraine. Russia had maintained military presence in the Ukrainian peninsula with its Black Sea Fleet for years and years with intention.
It's really dishonest to say that Moscow was afraid Russians would take to the streets to fight for EU integration en masse because Ukrainians wanted to be free of Russian chains and corruption.
Russia wanted to maintain and grow its control over Ukraine. It wanted to destroy Ukraine - JUST LIKE TODAY. And it struck at what it saw as an opportune moment it helped create. Recall that its aim was to create "Novorossiya", not quell democratic protests.
Let's not pretend that Russia's military invasion in February 2014 was about anything other than an imperial war of conquest. It was the start of the genocidal war of extermination of the Ukrainian nation and people b/c RU simply cannot conquer Ukraine by political means alone.
Russia didn't just up and throw together an ad hoc plan and military invade Ukraine because, "hey, they want stable democracy, and we're scared the people here who see Ukrainians as subhuman will be motivated to do same!". No.
Moscow executed a long established military invasion plan when Ukraine was in a weakened state due to Russian subversion. Moscow weakened UA military from within by the Russian agent and puppet president Yanukovych who Putin has been hiding in Russia since 2014.
Let's stop the false narratives based in fantasy thinking and fake premises.
Lawfare by Rogue Actors Against Democracy: From attempts to silence honest journalism to hijacking reality by legal means. Summit
Lawfare is one of the tactics increasingly employed by rogue actors seeking to undermine democratic processes in countries around the world.
By abusing judicial processes or institutional proceedings, rogue actors turn the laws of our free societies into weapons undermining the very fabric of our democracies.
By maliciously taking advantage of legal instruments, they pervert our legal principles, harass people, target organizations, and undermine institutions to advance their nefarious agendas.
By using legal tools as political weapons to silence truth, validate falsities, and harass opponents, they subvert free democratic processes, and hijack our reality to affect our decision making.
Interventions by: Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Nicholas Tenzer, Ariana Gic, Andrius Kukilius, Andrew Rettman, Catherine Belton and Hanna Hopko
Watch it on Facebook: https://fb.watch/hhvik0MzXY/