“Boy in panties” and the bloody heritage of the empire. Why did Russia actually attacked Ukraine – The Hill column

According to the author of the column, since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2014 he was persecuted by one Russian phrase: “They crucified a little boy in panties.”

“It sounds grotesque, as if from some creepy fairy tale. And this, of course, never happened. But for many people in Russia, it could have been quite, ”Chakhoyan said.

He recalled that Russian state television “It evaporated this fake to millions of viewers as long as the aggressor military countries were striking in Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. According to the author, the viral spread of the fake showed how the state, the media, the intelligentsia and the “ordinary Russians” were struck in the approval of their colonial identity, which neither rulers nor subjects can get rid of.

Chakhoyan writes that Russia is not created by common values ​​or beliefs, but is an empire collected by force and lies, and is kept on theft of other people’s art, culture and history. The essay of Russian dictator of Putin of 2021 on 5000 words in which he denied the existence of Ukraine and promoted his fake narrative about “One people, “was in fact a threat -” Ukrainians should either admit that they are Russians or die, “said in a column. According to the author, Putin actually formulated everything that Russia is obliged to invade, kill, torture and rape Ukrainians.

In Russia, there was a lot of chances to lose their imperial skin, but it did not do it, writes Chakhoyan. Unlike Spain, Portugal or Belgium, which abandoned colonialism, the Russian Federation has always considered its losses as temporary failures, and even the collapse of the USSR after defeat in Afghanistan “He did not destroy this imperial spirit, ”the article says.

Chakhoyan also reminds that the predecessor of Russia Muscovy rose in the XIII century due to its role of tribute collector for the Golden Horde. At that time, Kyiv has been flourishing for 600 years and was a cultural and political center. King Ivan the Terrible in 1547 “turned one of the greatest scams in history. ”and declared himself “The king of all Russia ”, and Muscovy – the heir to Kievan Rus. Europe did not first peck: diplomats, travelers and scientists further used the name Muscovy. As the author explains, “the name of Russia was not inherited from Kiev, but stolen.”

The column is also quoted by historian Janusz Bugaysky, who noted that Moscow relied on control by means of force as an organizational principle. The Kremlin still suppresses dissent and clings to the past because it cannot offer the future.

Read also:

Timothy Snyder

Putin’s favorite legend. Let’s look at it by points

“Moscow rules by humiliation and oppression to legitimize the management model in which it takes away resources in its provinces, considering places such as Siberia or the North Caucasus, as internal colonies, ”the author explains.

Chakhoyan emphasizes: many in the West prefers to think that the problem is in Putin, but in fact the dictator is “not the exception, but the rule. ” The author of the book, the Russian War, Jade McGlin, wrote that Russia’s war against Ukraine is popular with a large number of Russians and is acceptable for even more. They cannot be considered passive victims of state propaganda.

According to McGinn, Putin does not attach views to the Russians views on foreign policy, but voices what many already believe in. The Kremlin narratives find a response not because they are imposed, but because they deprive the audience of the need to recognize their complicity in an unjust, sadistic and criminal war, according to the material.

Chakhoyan believes that the militancy of the aggressor country is caused by a deep sense of uncertainty that cannot be suppressed. Citizens of the Russian Federation have embarrassed with oppression and came into the posture of apathetic victims, however, “rotating the view outside, they accept the way of thinking of colonialists seeking meaning in the conquest of neighbors.” In this way, Russia tries to erase the memory of violence in the past.

“The struggle of Ukraine today is the battle not for the territory, but for historical justice and truth. The little boy in panties has never been crucified, and the Russian people should learn it. Moscow’s criminal war forced the world-and the Russians themselves-to look differently at the delusions that the empire was kept on them. Most of all, this aggressive recollector needs a devastating defeat, ”the author summarizes.