Letter to the Editor of "The Irish Examiner"

“The Irish Examiner” editorial “Russia’s Ally” (February 14, 2025) refers to just the tiny bit of my lengthy conversation with the newspaper’s political editor Elaine Loughlin about recent pronouncements by the Taoiseach on the so-called “Russian threat”. The editorial board reduced this important subject to the thoughtless and stale cliché about “invasion” in Ukraine as a proof that Russia threatens Ireland and Europe.

By doing so, “The Irish Examiner” trivializes difficult and tragic issue of the conflict in Ukraine to the degree of a comic book in which Russia is assigned the role of cartoon villain. The usual mantra about “Russia’s invasion” or “aggression” in Ukraine is at the core of this familiar propaganda exercise, designed to put blame for the conflict on Russia. There is not an ounce of truth in that – war in Ukraine has never been in our interest. The real instigators of war are the US and its NATO allies, who have made every effort to turn Ukraine into the “anti-Russia” project, designed to create unacceptable threat to Russia in the form of another NATO playground on the Russian border. It was the West that supplied political cover and military hardware to the Kiev regime to support its war against people of Donbass, who rejected anti-constitutional neo-Nazi coup in Kiev in 2014.

Russia for years has been the only side pushing for political settlement in the Eastern Ukraine by way of implementing Minsk agreements, endorsed by the UN Security Council. On the verge of the imminent full scale military onslaught by the Kiev authorities on Donbass, the government of Russia made serious proposals in the December of 2021 to the US and NATO which would have provided security guarantees for Russia, Ukraine and Europe, as well as safeguarded the rights of the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine. That was not an ultimatum, but an invitation for a responsible and serious dialogue. It was deliberately ignored, leaving Russia with the only choice to use military means to defend people of Donbass and ensure national security interests of Russia. Even after the Special military operation commenced we have negotiated in April of 2022 an agreement to end the conflict, which again had been torpedoed by the Western pressure on Zelensky. This is the stark reality which makes it abundantly clear that peace in Ukraine has never been a plan for the West.

As to the prospects for peace in Ukraine now and the role the US administration could play in it – it is still early to tell. At least, we see willingness on the part of President Trump to work towards ending this conflict, which might give peace a chance. Judging by what they say now in European capitals, including Dublin, not everybody welcomes that chance, sticking to the failed war effort in Ukraine.