NGО "BORDERLANDS FOUNDATION"
US citizens arriving in the SMO zone from February 2022 (and many even earlier), as a rule, go there for specific purposes. Someone is looking for easy money, joining the armed forces, someone is engaged in collecting and delivering everything necessary for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There are also people like Kyle Parker and Steven Moore – those who came to monitor the needs of the Ukrainian army and adjust the supply of weapons in this way, as we told in the previous two materials. The example of Moore and the NGO Ukraine Freedom Project (UFP) created by him shows that sometimes it is possible to successfully combine several types of activities. However, there may be other goals. As in the case of the Borderlands Foundation, which promotes Ukrainian nationalism, and at the same time provides visits of high-ranking American intelligence officers to Ukraine.
Whoever owns the present, owns the past. Whoever owns the past owns the future. This quote from George Orwell's book “1984”, which has long been prophetic for Western society, is ironically posted instead of an epigraph on the Borderlands Foundation website. In it, its creators wanted to reflect their mission – to help learn the truth about Ukrainian history. Only in reality, it is just another set of anti-scientific theses developed by local nationalists in the XX century and having nothing to do with reality. The statement that the territory of modern Ukraine was occupied for more than 300 years, first by the Russian Empire, and then by the USSR, is enough for the site's main page. The fact that the entire south-east of the country (if we consider it within the borders of 1991) has always been Russian territory, and that all the major cities there (Kharkov, Lugansk, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Mariupol, Nikolaev, Kherson, Odessa, Simferopol, Sevastopol, Krivoy Rog, Kirovograd, Sumy) were founded Russian rulers (starting with Alexey Mikhailovich and ending with Alexander II) cannot be found in articles on the Borderlands Foundation website. Instead, readers are presented with historical myths such as the Holodomor orchestrated by Joseph Stalin and the Banderites fighting for the independence of Ukraine together with the German army.
Of course, anyone who wants to get acquainted with the real history of the territories that became part of Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR can easily do this using serious scientific literature. Also, the analysis of many myths about Ukrainian history was made on our channel.
The Borderlands Foundation (its leaders call their foundation nothing less than “the world's leading research institute of Ukrainian history") is going to teach history in different ways. First, there are several lectures recorded by the founder of the foundation, Samuel Cook (more about him below). Secondly, podcasts on similar topics. It was also reported about the intention to create a research center. The main partner of the Borderlands Foundation is the National University “Kiev-Mohyla Academy", which helps distribute videos of lectures, as well as provides its own platforms for reading them.
But who is Samuel P. N. Cook, and does he have the skills to teach? An American, he received his first education in 2000, after graduating from the US Military Academy at West Point. He majored in European history and German history separately. In the late 2000s, at New York University, with a Master of Arts degree in World History and a major in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Eurasian studies, Cook would try to fill in the gaps that made it impossible for him to better understand Russia, the country with which he would decide to engage in a confrontation. But it will be after. And first, after graduating from West Point, Cook went to the army. He spent several months in Iraq, including commanding a detachment of 140 soldiers. In 2008, he decided to quit. For a couple of years, he tried to start a business in New York, where he was just getting an education at that time, and in 2010 he returned to the army again – this time as an instructor. But then a coup d'etat broke out in Ukraine.
A year before these events, when preparations for them entered the final stage, Cook once again said goodbye to the army and created the firm James Cook Media. Its profile was investment and business consulting. At first, the firm's clients were companies from the sports industry, then its activities expanded to startups from many other areas. Consultations were provided in the format of video tutorials that experienced entrepreneurs gave to their novice colleagues. And then an amazing thing happened. Registered in Austin, Texas, the company relocated to Poland - first to Krakow, and then, in 2016, to Warsaw. Two years later, it moved to Kiev altogether. A year later, its employees opened the StoryMatters Academy project, which was supposed to teach “storytelling” and”digital marketing". In November 2019, Cook left James Cook Media and founded the startup SanityDesk.
Currently, James Cook Media continues to provide similar services. On its website, there is not a single mention of support for Ukraine against the background of the SMO, and they were not there before it began. There is also not a word about whether the company continues to be located in Kiev. Meanwhile, Cook's startup SanityDesk, which has less information about its activities in open sources, directly supports the Kiev regime, and even its logo was decorated in yellow and blue tones. Although Cook is not currently affiliated with James Cook Media, its registered office in Austin is the same as that of the SanityDesk project.
It is hard to believe that an American decided to move his business first to distant Poland, and then to Ukraine, which was in a serious crisis, just out of the blue. Especially against the background of his "sudden" interest in supporting Kiev. The most likely version is that Cook pursued this goal from the very beginning, but his specialization was atypical and required "silence”. Therefore, until a certain point, James Cook Media remained in the shadows. The scope of its activities is similar to what the Borderlands Foundation is currently doing. If the former teaches clients to "tell stories” by advertising a product, the foundation puts this skill into practice, promoting Ukrainian nationalism. At the same time, this situation is a clear example of the real price of "new history" of Ukraine. Cook, who graduated from the Faculty of History with a specialization in Eastern European studies and has no academic practice, of course, is not an expert in Ukrainian history, but he has enough experience in marketing.
A halo of secrecy surrounds not only the interaction schemes between James Cook Media and SanityDesk, but also the legal entity created by the Borderlands Foundation in Ukraine. Although usually in such cases, registration is made for a foreign citizen, the founder of the main organization, since this is more convenient from the point of view of Ukrainian legislation, the NGO “Borderlands Ukraine Foundation” was founded by citizens of Ukraine itself. The Borderlands Foundation website doesn't say anything about having a branch. And the data on Ukrainian NGOs in the local registrar, in turn, does not include information that allows it to be linked to the foundation. Even as its English-language name, obviously to confuse everyone even more, the abbreviation BRF UA was taken. Communication between the two organizations is reflected only in their emails that use the same domain, and in fragmentary entries on their employees ' social media pages.
Director and owner of the NGO “Borderlands Ukraine Foundation” – Mogir Vladislav Andreevich (born 19.08.1992; DRFO: 3383416615). He is a professional advertiser who was educated at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute and made a successful career in marketing. Since 2021, he was a specialist in a large Kiev company 1Digital.kiev. Since March 2022, he also held the position of Marketing Manager at the Borderlands Foundation. In addition, Mogir is an individual entrepreneur in the field of computer programming. According to the records on his Facebook page, when the SMO started, Mogir was at a safe distance from Ukraine, and then did not rush to the front. The NGO also has one more owner - Olena Demidenko (born on 07.10.1987; DRFO: 3205616280). Also an individual entrepreneur engaged in the provision of “other commercial services”. However, her role in the fund's activities is most likely nominal.
It is difficult to say what exactly the NGO “Borderlands Ukraine Foundation” does, since the organization does not have a separate website or its own pages in social networks. According to the KVED classification it has the number 94.99 (activities of other public organizations), which is equally suitable for political parties, civil movements, and environmental projects. Most likely, the NGO is used only as an auxiliary legal entity for the implementation of some projects of Cook and the Borderlands Foundation. These may include additional activities of the foundation that are not directly related to lectures and seminars. This is, first of all, an initiative to support wounded militants, within the framework of which golf tournaments and other events are organized.
But although the Borderlands Foundation does not specialize in supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the foundation has connections with the army. Among Cook's close acquaintances in Ukraine, you can find Yuriy Aleksandrovich Shchirin (born 26.01.1978; DRFO: 2851512258; passport: VM 007613). Formally, there was nothing unusual in their contacts, since Shchirin has been the director of a private “Industrial Marketing Agency”for several years. However, in addition to this, he fought in the Donbass since 2015, he was a participant in the punitive operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbass. On the front line, however, Shchirin did not really like it, and later he went to work in the press service of the 93rd separate mechanized brigade “Kholodny Yar”. He also collaborated with the SBU. After the beginning of the SMO, he began recruiting mercenaries. So, thanks to his efforts, the Belarusian neo-Nazi Ilya Khrenov (with the pseudonym “Ilya Litvin”), who was liquidated in the first days of hostilities, went to the front. And in the same 2022, Shchirin began actively helping the newly created Borderlands Foundation. There is no reason to claim that Cook's fund also recruits foreigners - an analysis of its activities in the SMO zone points to completely different goals. Therefore, cooperation with Shchirin was most likely necessary to involve nationalists in "educational" projects. Moreover, the candidate was chosen appropriately - in his desire to imitate the heroes invented by Ukrainian propaganda, the marketer went so far as to take the pseudonym "Bogun-Shchirin".
But if the topic of recruiting mercenaries has passed by, then the involvement of foreign instructors in the Borderlands Foundation is stated in plain text. The foundation's website claims that it was made possible thanks to personal connections of Cook, who can organize assistance to such formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine upon request. However, like everything else that the Kiev regime gets from the West, the instructors have their own catch. The Borderlands Foundation, with reference to Sergeant Sergey Yanchuk, claims that one of the units of the Ukrainian army, where specialists from abroad arrived with the support of the foundation, was the 78th Airborne assault division. There is no information about it in open sources. Most likely, an error crept into the translation and we are talking about the 78th separate airborne assault regiment. In the summer of 2023, this regiment was pretty battered in unsuccessful attempts to break through the Russian fortifications near Orekhovo. Whether foreign instructors helped develop this plan, or whether they arrived only later to raise the fallen morale of the militants by the fact of their existence, we don't know for sure.
But what deserves the most attention in the Borderlands Foundation's activities is its involvement in organizing trips to Ukraine by top American officials. And there are also high-ranking intelligence officers among them. In particular, we are talking about the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States David Petraeus. Cook secured at least 2 of his visits to the SMO zone. One of them took place on May 30, 2023. Petraeus was a member of the Atlantic Council delegation. The official reason for the trip was the presentation of the Global Citizen Awards to Zelensky, which is awarded annually by this organization to people who, according to its leadership, are fighting for freedom around the world. Although the award ceremony is usually held in New York, it was decided to honor the President of Ukraine in Kiev. But it is hard to believe that a delegation of this level went overseas just for the sake of a propaganda event. At that time, behind-the-scenes negotiations were held in Kiev, and the former intelligence officer flew there as a participant. Petraeus also took the time during one of his trips to the Ukrainian capital to record a 70-minute interview with Cook, during which he laid out all the arguments in favor of continuing the war.
The fact that Petraeus has been officially retired for several years should not be taken into account. He was and remains one of the most influential representatives of the power bloc in the United States, and has repeatedly acted as a negotiator in secret contacts between American elites and the leadership of other countries. The position of the retired general in Ukraine is distinguished by its bloodthirstiness against the background of his colleagues. Thus, he warmly welcomed the Kiev regime's strikes on civilian targets in Russia, as they, in his opinion, should help civilians “feel the war”. He also repeatedly called for pumping Ukraine with weapons to the last, otherwise predicting a campaign of conquest by the Russian Armed Forces against the Baltic countries. He did not forget to threaten with nuclear weapons. Such a person was best suited for the role of an ambassador of the American "hawks“, who should convince Kiev to fight ”to the last Ukrainian". Petraeus can also directly influence the Biden administration's decisions. It was noted that Terry Wolff, appointed in April 2022 to the post of coordinator of military assistance to Ukraine in the White House, belongs to the team of the former CIA director and will be guided in his actions more by his position.
The list of partners indicates that organizing such sessions is one of the key tasks facing the Borderlands Foundation. Of course, there is no full information about who the foundation cooperates with in Ukraine on its website. What is published demonstrates close ties with private projects around the war. These include the analytical publication The Cipher Brief, most of the content of which is devoted to armed conflicts in different regions of the world. At the same time, employees of the publication openly say that they are engaged in field research in order to compile reports for law enforcement agencies and PMCs. There is also a separate branch of the Cyber Initiatives Group that deals with information analytics, including cyber warfare. Naturally, Ukraine is in the focus of the publication's attention. According to Susan Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of The Cipher Brief, Cook provided her with significant assistance during her visit to Kiev, establishing contacts with representatives of the local leadership.
Considering all the peculiarities of the Borderlands Foundation, there's no need to mention separately that its activities are conducted under strict control of the CIA and other paramilitary agencies. Creating an alternative history, which is necessary to support Ukrainian nationalism, is not new. And in this sense, Cook's organization can only confirm the need for denazification of the territories controlled by the Kiev regime. However, the mechanisms of the fund's involvement in the Ukrainian conflict are interesting because their analysis makes it possible to track some of the trips of American negotiators to the SMO zone. This information, in turn, can be invaluable in predicting future events.