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A small group of citizens protested in front of the Ukrainian embassy last week with a classic exchange of theses – to declare the victim of aggression by the “big brother” a justified goal and to wrap it all in some imaginary ideological sugarcoating, writes Truthmeter.mk
We republish the analysis below:
Is there any justification for the annexation of a part of a sovereign country, as practically happened with the occupation of the Crimea Peninsula by Russia? Is there a justification for supporting the existence of paramilitary units in part of a sovereign country, such as the Donbas region where the state of Ukraine has not had sovereign power for a long time?
If you ask that small group of citizens who protested in front of the building of the Embassy of the Republic of Ukraine in Skopje, they will certainly find an excuse. The rally, entitled “Against Nazi Glorification in Ukraine”, sought to attract attention with a speech and several slogans, apparently made in one place and with carefully selected “contents”. In addition to the name of the protest that was written on a banner the participants held placards with the words: “Against sending our children to fight for you”, “Nazis have no place in the EU” and “Fight alone against Russia.”
What do the most common and understandable facts say?
First, that Russia in 2014 militarily and administratively occupied the territory of the Crimean peninsula, which was an integral part of Ukraine. Was there an ideological dimension to that act? No, simply by using their vast military superiority, the Russian army pliers closed over the peninsula. There were international reactions, and the justification was that the former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (Ukrainian by nationality) “gifted” it to Ukraine, so they “now get it back.” History has it that Crimea was inhabited by people of Tatar descent who migrated to Siberia after World War II.
There is no excuse when it comes to the practically secessionist part of Kiev (Donbass) just because Russians live there, who want to join the “mother”. April will mark the eighth anniversary of the deployment in much of Ukraine of 40,000 fighters, between 9,000 and 12,000 regular Russian troops, then between 3,000 and 4,000 Russian volunteers and locals under weapons opposing the Ukrainian authorities (estimates by USA and Ukraine). It is a huge army and it practically “certifies” the occupation of the territory of a sovereign state. The clashes on the Ukrainian side killed about 4,700 soldiers and wounded 10,000, while on the opposite side (separatists) there were over 5,700 killed and between 12,700 and 13,700 wounded. As many as 1.4 million Ukrainians fled to the free part of the country, and close to one million went outside the borders of their homeland! Not to mention the destroyed homes, ruined economy and other damages!
There is no alibi to justify what was done in the conflict. Especially since the military actions seen so far, Russia can continue on a larger scale every hour, so much so that it can simply erase its supposedly brotherly country from the map.
And from the slogans of that small group of citizens in front of the Ukrainian Embassy in Skopje, it is obvious that there is a resourcing to something that is anachronistic in itself. Mentioning fascism today and linking it to the names of the traitors Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, who fought on the side of the Nazis in World War II, is completely biased and makes no sense. There are many traitors to every nation during World War II! Should anyone invade Norway because the famous Queensling lived there? Or attack Serbia because of Draža Mihajlolvikj and Milan Nedikj, famous traitors and collaborators with the Nazis? Not to mention the existence of the NDH led by Ante Pavelikj… But the Croatian people made great sacrifices in the anti-fascist struggle (40,000 fighters died in the ranks of the partisans in and around Split alone!).
We mention this due to the fact that the people of Ukraine also made huge sacrifices in World War II (there was a general mobilization), the country was completely burned and destroyed, because the bloody battles from 1941 – 1944 were fought on its territory! There were five Ukrainian fronts in the Homeland War, and the total losses are estimated at 22 million people. It is clear that in proportion to the population, space and military activities, the number of Ukrainians killed in the anti-fascist struggle is huge.
Hence, the accusations made at the protest by the speaker Vladimir Trajkovski are a construction that insults friendly people. Aside from the fact that this speaker is making a big leap in time, he conveys that generalization from 80 years, without giving any evidence of “fascism” that would deserve current treatment. It is even more unreasonable to talk about a state policy of “glorification of fascism”! Should that be an incentive for Russia to invade and occupy Ukraine with its military machinery?
Older readers, on the other hand, in this small and basically insignificant group probably see representatives of the so-called theory of limited sovereignty, which emerged during the Cold War in the USSR and which served as an excuse for the entry of tanks into Hungary (1956) or Czechoslovakia (1948). Well, even today the Russian leadership dreams of those times when military power does not know only its own state borders. After all, the inhabitants of the former Yugoslavia for decades felt the shadow of that theory in their daily lives.