Putin lied that there would be no war with Ukraine. Chronology of deception of the President of the Russian Federation
24.02.2022 Ilya Koval (Илья Коваль). Translated by GOOGLE + Tommy Potter(Илья Коваль Хронология обмана)
The Russian authorities over the past months have denied reports of an impending invasion of Ukraine. DW collected their statements, which on February 24 became outright lies.
In the early morning of Thursday, February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised address to the Russians, announced the start of a "military operation" on the territory of Ukraine. Thus began the war between the two countries.
The West has been talking about the threat of such a scenario since the end of 2021, pointing to the anomalous concentration of Russian troops directly at the Russian-Ukrainian border. At the same time, Russian leaders, including Putin, have repeatedly denied the existence of invasion plans and even ridiculed such fears of the West. DW traced the chronology of the big lie of the Russian authorities.
Peskov's lie: Russia never attacks first
The American newspaper The Washington Post was the first to publicly report on the suspicious pulling of Russian troops to the border with Ukraine on October 30, 2021, and on November 1, Politico confirmed this information with published satellite images. The first reaction of the Russian side followed on November 3, when the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called these reports an "information salvo" and a "fake campaign."
On November 12, Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov also joined in the denials. "Such headlines are nothing more than empty, groundless whipping up of tension. Russia poses no threat to anyone," he said. Later, Peskov tried to present this information as "camouflage to cover up aggressive thoughts" not of Moscow, but of Kyiv, which allegedly wanted to "solve the problem of the southeast by force."
On December 26, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation answered the question of Vladimir Solovyov whether Russia would attack first: "Russia has never attacked anyone first." On February 20, Peskov developed this idea: "Russia, which has survived so many wars, is the last country in Europe that even wants to utter the word" war ".
Peskov, like
is boss, does not pronounce this word even now. Instead, he talks about plans to "neutralize the military potential" of Ukraine.
Lavrov's lie: "And when should we not attack?"
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also actively tried to convince the world community that Russia would not start a war. Speaking at a press conference in Geneva on January 21 after meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, he said, in response to a question from an American journalist: "You claim that we are going to attack Ukraine, although we have repeatedly explained that this is not the case. Claiming, that this will happen, you immediately ask: “Why now?” And when should we not attack?”. It seems that on February 24, a serious answer appeared to Lavrov's playful question.
On February 15, nine days before the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry called statements about the impending attack on Russia "information terrorism" and laughed at a Polish journalist who, at a press conference between Lavrov and Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, asked again: "That is, invasions will not?". The head of Russian diplomacy called the media employee "dumb".
Lies of Putin: troops are moving across the territory of the Russian Federation and there is nothing to be afraid of
Personally, Russian President Putin has also repeatedly denied plans to attack Ukraine. At the "Russia Calling" investment forum on November 30, 2021, he answered a direct question from one of the businessmen: "Should investors be afraid of the possible entry of Russian troops into Ukraine?" Putin reassured him: "Look, the possible entry of Russian troops into Ukraine was discussed at the beginning of the year - we conducted the Zapad-2021 exercises - but, as we see, this did not happen."
After negotiations with French leader Emmanuel Macron on February 8, the President of the Russian Federation again stressed that the fears were unfounded: "The movement of our troops on our own, I want to emphasize, territory is presented as a threat of Russian invasion - in this case, to Ukraine. Allegedly, the Baltic countries also feel in danger, and other states are our neighbors. On what basis is not very clear."
Even on February 22, after announcing the recognition of the self-proclaimed "DPR" and "LPR" within the borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine, Putin maintained that this did not mean war: "We expect, and I want to emphasize this, that all disputed issues will be resolved during negotiations between the current Kiev authorities and the leadership of these republics.
Moreover, de facto announcing the start of a war with Ukraine, the Russian president continued to contradict himself: "At the same time, our plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories. We are not going to impose anything on anyone by force."
Other Russian officials also made speeches of this kind. And now, when Russia nevertheless unleashed a war, they are trying in every possible way to justify military operations against a neighboring state.