Putin Wages War Against the Democratic World
A reminder of past Russian aggression
On March 3, Olena Halushka of the Anti-Corruption in Action Center Ukraine and the International Center for Ukrianian Victory tweeted this infograph:
It’s a summary of Putin’s past kinetic and non-kinetic aggressions starting in 2008. I’ve written the information out below. Read it: it is stunning. We spoke with Olena about Putin’s genocidal war on Ukraine in early March on EuroFile@6 Spaces, and will be posting the full recording soon.
I wanted to leave this infograph here as a reminder that Putin and his regime have been destabilising the international order, and waging war on democracy at least since 2007.
AntAC_UA Infograph: Putin Wages War Against the Democratic World:
Cyberattack against Estonia in 2007
Temporary occupation of Georgia’s territories since 2008
Temporary occupation of Crimea 2014
De-facto occupation of Donbas since 2014
On-going militarisation of the occupied territories
Downing MH17 in 2014
Intimidating and repressing the ethnic minority of Crimea, the Crimean Tatars
Arresting Ukrainian and Russian citizens on political grounds
Passportisation of Ukrainian citizens in occupied territories
Refusing to withdraw Russian troops and weapons from occupied Donbas
Cyberattacks against foreign critical infrastructure
Restrictions of navigation through the Kerch Strait and in the Black Sea
Unleashing a torrent of disinformation targeted at uprooting democratic societies
Killing at least 21 journalists since taking power in 2000
Warehouse explosions in Czech Republic in 2014
Intervention into Syria to support B. Assad’s regime in 2015
Brutal bombing of Aleppo in 2016
Intervention in the US elections 2016
Intervention in the Italian referendum 2016
Assassination of Z. Khangoshvili in Germany in 2019
Crackdown on Russian civil society, including mass arrests of protesters in 2012, 2019
Poisoning opponents including A Litvinenko in the UK (2006), E. Gebrev and his son in Blugaria (2015), S. Skripal and daughter Yulia in the UK (2018), Navalny (2020)
Developing and apply novel poisoning agents from the Novichok family which is contrary to international obligations
Support for A. Lukashenkos’ regime in Belarus
Imprisonment of A. Navalny in 2021
Obstructing Sea Breeze 2021 training exercises
Harassment of British HMS Defender in the Black Sea in 2021
Disregarding resolutions in the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, PA and others
Involvement of Russian mercenaries in war crimes in Africa
Military build-up on Ukraine’s borders in 2021
Putin began to build his totalitarian state at home, chipping away at civil liberties, and attacking his own people, well before 2007.
He wasn’t shy about ordering the air bombing of Grozny on September 24, 1999 when he was prime minister. Once he was president in 2000, he ordered the Duma to pass laws which consolidated power in hands, and in subsequent years, he changed the constitution to extend his presidency. Over the years, he gradually clamped down on the free press and dissidents by passing ever restricting laws on the freedom of speech and association.
When Russian specialists tell you that Putin doesn’t care about his own people, believe it. He was too busy on vacation in Sochi to save the Russian sailors that were stranded at the bottom of the sea in the Kursk submarine. He ordered his troops to fire on an elementary school in Beslan, causing the death of over 200 children. As documented by the OCCRP and Navalny’s investigations, his gang of oligarchs and family members have stolen inestimable amounts of money and resources from the Russian people.
And now he’s turned his war machine on Ukraine…
These are events from November 10, 2021 to February 15, 2022.
Via AFP: The Timeline of Russia’s renewed attack on Ukraine
There is a concerted effort by pro-Kremlin proxies across the West that would like to sweep Putin’s past under the rug. They’d like you to believe that NATO and the US are the primary enemies pushing Ukraine to wage war on Russia. The Solovyevs and Simonyans of the world would have you believe that Ukrainians are nazis and satanists. Put it all aside.
Putin cannot erase what he has done, and what he and the Russian armed forces are doing in Ukraine right now. We’ll certainly never forget: 2+2=4.
Thanks for reading
Mo