The Kremlin website, 9/21/22

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Friends,

The subject of this address is the situation in Donbass and the course of the special military operation to liberate it from the neo-Nazi regime, which seized power in Ukraine in 2014 as the result of an armed state coup.

Today I am addressing you – all citizens of our country, people of different generations, ages and ethnicities, the people of our great Motherland, all who are united by the great historical Russia, soldiers, officers and volunteers who are fighting on the frontline and doing their combat duty, our brothers and sisters in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and other areas that have been liberated from the neo-Nazi regime.

The issue concerns the necessary, imperative measures to protect the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Russia and support the desire and will of our compatriots to choose their future independently, and the aggressive policy of some Western elites, who are doing their utmost to preserve their domination and with this aim in view are trying to block and suppress any sovereign and independent development centres in order to continue to aggressively force their will and pseudo-values on other countries and nations.

The goal of that part of the West is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country. They are saying openly now that in 1991 they managed to split up the Soviet Union and now is the time to do the same to Russia, which must be divided into numerous regions that would be at deadly feud with each other.

They devised these plans long ago. They encouraged groups of international terrorists in the Caucasus and moved NATO’s offensive infrastructure close to our borders. They used indiscriminate Russophobia as a weapon, including by nurturing the hatred of Russia for decades, primarily in Ukraine, which was designed to become an anti-Russia bridgehead. They turned the Ukrainian people into cannon fodder and pushed them into a war with Russia, which they unleashed back in 2014. They used the army against civilians and organised a genocide, blockade and terror against those who refused to recognise the government that was created in Ukraine as the result of a state coup.

After the Kiev regime publicly refused to settle the issue of Donbass peacefully and went as far as to announce its ambition to possess nuclear weapons, it became clear that a new offensive in Donbass – there were two of them before – was inevitable, and that it would be inevitably followed by an attack on Russia’s Crimea, that is, on Russia.

In this connection, the decision to start a pre-emptive military operation was necessary and the only option. The main goal of this operation, which is to liberate the whole of Donbass, remains unaltered.

The Lugansk People’s Republic has been liberated from the neo-Nazis almost completely. Fighting in the Donetsk People’s Republic continues. Over the previous eight years, the Kiev occupation regime created a deeply echeloned line of permanent defences. A head-on attack against them would have led to heavy losses, which is why our units, as well as the forces of the Donbass republics, are acting competently and systematically, using military equipment and saving lives, moving step by step to liberate Donbass, purge cities and towns of the neo-Nazis, and help the people whom the Kiev regime turned into hostages and human shields.

As you know, professional military personnel serving under contract are taking part in the special military operation. Fighting side by side with them are volunteer units – people of different ethnicities, professions and ages who are real patriots. They answered the call of their hearts to rise up in defence of Russia and Donbass.

In this connection, I have already issued instructions for the Government and the Defence Ministry to determine the legal status of volunteers and personnel of the military units of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics. It must be the same as the status of military professionals of the Russian army, including material, medical and social benefits. Special attention must be given to organising the supply of military and other equipment for volunteer units and Donbass people’s militia.

While acting to attain the main goals of defending Donbass in accordance with the plans and decisions of the Defence Ministry and the General Staff, our troops have liberated considerable areas in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and a number of other areas. This has created a protracted line of contact that is over 1,000 kilometres long.

This is what I would like to make public for the first time today. After the start of the special military operation, in particular after the Istanbul talks, Kiev representatives voiced quite a positive response to our proposals. These proposals concerned above all ensuring Russia’s security and interests. But a peaceful settlement obviously did not suit the West, which is why, after certain compromises were coordinated, Kiev was actually ordered to wreck all these agreements.

More weapons were pumped into Ukraine. The Kiev regime brought into play new groups of foreign mercenaries and nationalists, military units trained according to NATO standards and receiving orders from Western advisers.

At the same time, the regime of reprisals throughout Ukraine against their own citizens, established immediately after the armed coup in 2014, was harshly intensified. The policy of intimidation, terror and violence is taking on increasingly mass-scale, horrific and barbaric forms.

I want to stress the following. We know that the majority of people living in the territories liberated from the neo-Nazis, and these are primarily the historical lands of Novorossiya, do not want to live under the yoke of the neo-Nazi regime. People in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, in Lugansk and Donetsk saw and are seeing now the atrocities perpetrated by the neo-Nazis in the [Ukrainian-] occupied areas of the Kharkov region. The descendants of Banderites and members of Nazi punitive expeditions are killing, torturing and imprisoning people; they are settling scores, beating up, and committing outrages on peaceful civilians.

There were over 7.5 million people living in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions before the outbreak of hostilities. Many of them were forced to become refugees and leave their homes. Those who have stayed – they number about five million – are now exposed to artillery and missile attacks launched by the neo-Nazi militants, who fire at hospitals and schools and stage terrorist attacks against peaceful civilians.

We cannot, we have no moral right to let our kin and kith be torn to pieces by butchers; we cannot but respond to their sincere striving to decide their destiny on their own.

The parliaments of the Donbass people’s republics and the military-civilian administrations of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions have adopted decisions to hold referendums on the future of their territories and have appealed to Russia to support this.

I would like to emphasise that we will do everything necessary to create safe conditions for these referendums so that people can express their will. And we will support the choice of future made by the majority of people in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

Friends,

Today our armed forces, as I have mentioned, are fighting on the line of contact that is over 1,000 kilometres long, fighting not only against neo-Nazi units but actually the entire military machine of the collective West.

In this situation, I consider it necessary to take the following decision, which is fully adequate to the threats we are facing. More precisely, I find it necessary to support the proposal of the Defence Ministry and the General Staff on partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation to defend our Motherland and its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to ensure the safety of our people and people in the liberated territories.

As I have said, we are talking about partial mobilisation. In other words, only military reservists, primarily those who served in the armed forces and have specific military occupational specialties and corresponding experience, will be called up.

Before being sent to their units, those called up for active duty will undergo mandatory additional military training based on the experience of the special military operation.

I have already signed Executive Order on partial mobilisation.

In accordance with legislation, the houses of the Federal Assembly – the Federation Council and the State Duma – will be officially notified about this in writing today.

The mobilisation will begin today, September 21. I am instructing the heads of the regions to provide the necessary assistance to the work of military recruitment offices.

I would like to point out that the citizens of Russia called up in accordance with the mobilisation order will have the status, payments and all social benefits of military personnel serving under contract.

Additionally, the Executive Order on partial mobilisation also stipulates additional measures for the fulfilment of the state defence order. The heads of defence industry enterprises will be directly responsible for attaining the goals of increasing the production of weapons and military equipment and using additional production facilities for this purpose. At the same time, the Government must address without any delay all aspects of material, resource and financial support for our defence enterprises.

Friends,

The West has gone too far in its aggressive anti-Russia policy, making endless threats to our country and people. Some irresponsible Western politicians are doing more than just speak about their plans to organise the delivery of long-range offensive weapons to Ukraine, which could be used to deliver strikes at Crimea and other Russian regions.

Such terrorist attacks, including with the use of Western weapons, are being delivered at border areas in the Belgorod and Kursk regions. NATO is conducting reconnaissance through Russia’s southern regions in real time and with the use of modern systems, aircraft, vessels, satellites and strategic drones.

Washington, London and Brussels are openly encouraging Kiev to move the hostilities to our territory. They openly say that Russia must be defeated on the battlefield by any means, and subsequently deprived of political, economic, cultural and any other sovereignty and ransacked.

They have even resorted to the nuclear blackmail. I am referring not only to the Western-encouraged shelling of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, which poses a threat of a nuclear disaster, but also to the statements made by some high-ranking representatives of the leading NATO countries on the possibility and admissibility of using weapons of mass destruction – nuclear weapons – against Russia.

I would like to remind those who make such statements regarding Russia that our country has different types of weapons as well, and some of them are more modern than the weapons NATO countries have. In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff.

The citizens of Russia can rest assured that the territorial integrity of our Motherland, our independence and freedom will be defended – I repeat – by all the systems available to us. Those who are using nuclear blackmail against us should know that the wind rose can turn around.

It is our historical tradition and the destiny of our nation to stop those who are keen on global domination and threaten to split up and enslave our Motherland. Rest assured that we will do it this time as well.

I believe in your support.

Link here.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to embed this important video, but I’ve included the link below. This is an important piece of compiled evidence about the massacre of protestors and police on the Maidan in February of 2014 – and who was culpable. – Natylie

This video compilation with added English-language subtitles provides a video reconstruction of the Maidan massacre of the protesters and the police in Ukraine. It contains synchronized fragments of numerous video and audio recordings of the Maidan massacre, in particular, videos of snipers in Maidan-controlled locations and their shooting the police and the Maidan protesters, and more than 80 testimonies about such snipers in the videos during the massacre itself. This video compilation visually shows that at least the absolute majority of Maidan protesters and the police were shot from Maidan-controlled buildings. This is an online Video Appendix A of a paper prepared for presentation at the virtual 10th World Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies in Montreal in 2021.

Link to video.

By Global Times editorial board, 9/16/22

Much of the western establishment media has been characterizing the meeting between Putin and Xi at the SCO summit as the Chinese leader subtly chastising Putin about the war in Ukraine, indicating some kind of incipient rift between the two. However, the Global Times – which is considered a mouthpiece of the Chinese government – seems to offer a different take on the matter. Emphasis by bolding is mine. – Natylie

On the afternoon of September 15 local time, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to exchange views on China-Russia relations and international and regional issues of shared interest. It has become a conventional practice for Chinese and Russian heads of state to have bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). It is not only crucial for the stable development of bilateral relations that the two countries’ heads of state to have regular in-person and in-depth exchanges of views, but it’s also very beneficial for regional peace and stability.

The atmosphere of the meeting was as positive and friendly as usual. President Xi noted that since the beginning of this year, China and Russia have maintained effective strategic communication, and that China will work with Russia to extend strong mutual support on issues concerning each other’s core interests, and deepen practical cooperation in trade, agriculture, connectivity and other areas. President Putin said that the world is undergoing multiple changes, yet the only thing that remains unchanged is the friendship and mutual trust between Russia and China, and the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is as stable as mountains. As uncertainty significantly increases in today’s international landscape, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era has always been on course and has not lost momentum.

China and Russia are each other’s largest neighbors, permanent members of the UN Security Council, and emerging powers. They also share a long border of more than 4,000 kilometers. The China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, which is based on the principles of “non-alliance, non-confrontation and non-targeting of any third party,” has been subject to interference and provocation from third parties. Especially after the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the US has stopped putting on a disguise. Instead, it has openly threatened and discredited the normal and legitimate cooperation between China and Russia. Such a scenario is rare in the history of international relations.

The good thing is that both China and Russia are countries with strong strategic determination and autonomy. Moreover, bilateral relations have a strong internal driving force. They have not and will not change their initial intentions and course due to drastic changes in the international pattern or pressure from third parties. They will always maintain their own logic and rhythm. In particular, the heads of state of China and Russia maintain close contacts and strategic communication in various ways, always leading the ties between the two countries in the right direction of development. The independent and autonomous value of China-Russia relations is both a summary of historical experience and innovation in international relations.

It is unlikely that China-Russia relations will go into rift or confrontation as expected and promoted by the US and the West. At the same time, China and Russia did not form the so-called anti-US alliance. China and Russia have united to resist the political virus of the US and the West while opposing hegemonism. These are the voices of justice from independent powers under the current international situation. It is entirely different from the “anti-US alliance” with a bloc political nature in the Western opinion context. Out of dark psychology, the US and the West desperately try to “drive a wedge” between China and Russia, hoping to defeat the two one by one; meanwhile, it forcibly “binds” China and Russia together, hoping to target the two at once. But no matter how hard they try, China and Russia have firmly maintained the right direction of “building partnerships instead of alliances.”

Such a choice made by China and Russia has made peace and cooperation a powerful force of inertia that has global significance, particularly today. Those uneasy or even fearful about this should reflect on and ask themselves, rather than spending their energy and thoughts on smearing others. The international community can clearly see that the US in recent years has strengthened the Five Eyes alliance, peddled Quad, pieced together AUKUS, and tried to create an “Indo-Pacific version of NATO.” All these are the most destructive force in the international system with the UN at the core. The outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is fundamentally the consequence of the failure of the Western military and political bloc in handling equal relations with a regional power properly.

Under such circumstances, imagine that if the international community does not have another powerful enough force to really intervene, balance, hedge, and even reverse the situation from the direction of maintaining world peace and stability and promoting multilateral cooperation. The future of this world may well be tragic – a complete resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is nowhere in sight, and potential crises elsewhere will be detonated. This is something that many countries, including China, do not want to see and are trying to avoid. From a certain level, this is the significance of the meeting between the heads of state of China and Russia. As President Xi pointed out, China will work with Russia to fulfill their responsibilities as major countries and play a leading role in injecting stability into a world of change and disorder.

By Sarah Lindemann-Komarova, Echo of Siberia, 9/9/22

Sarah Lindemann-Komarova has lived in Siberia since 1992. Was a community development activist for 20 years. Currently, focuses on research and writing.

The summer of sanctions in Siberia has come to an end and their impact is a mix of muted and opportunity generating. Passing the six month mark for the SMO, the people and corporations who needed or wanted to leave, left.  Coping strategies for the people and corporations who stay continue to evolve and in the case of corporations, leaving sometimes looks a lot like staying. The shared moments are surprise that the sanctions bark is bigger than their bite and everyone recognizes that we live in a new world. 

There are only two complaints of note. The first is the loss of IKEA. For several months they hung in, doors closed and paying full salaries for employees on the assumption they would re-open in May. Then the announcement that they were done. This was another nail in the coffin of hope for a quick end to the SMO, everyone knows the sanctions are here to stay.

Evidence of some Western corporations coping strategies for leaving while staying in the lucrative Russian market appear every day. Reebok sent out an announcement last week, “We want to quickly announce that while the Reebok retail and online store have suspended their work, the company FLO OBUV RU LLC has received the right to sell goods under the Reebok brand in Russia.” 

An American friend with 20+ years of business experience in Russia described the new incarnation of McDonalds as “placeholding” because the new name, “Vkusno i tochka” (Delicious Period), is not “brandable”. This is supported by the underwhelming signage on the drive through. The “Try MacCombo” is now just “Combo” together with “Snacks” and “Deserts” with photos of basically the same products.

Coke is supposedly out but it is still available. One rumor was they would continue to produce but would not be investing in Russia any more. That would be bad news for the seemingly endless list of new competitors vying to fill the niche. Three of them were recently available in one supermarket. Bochkari Cola and Uni Cola with labels drafting on Coke’s trademark white on red script. The third got more creative adding an eye-catching monkey in a cap to illustrate the white on red name, “Funky Monkey Cola”

The second complaint is the additional costs and time required for travel to the West. Three friends found different routes to achieve a one stop Novosibirsk-Chicago through Antalya, Dubai, and Istanbul. However most end up with two stops traveling first to Moscow and then on through Istanbul. Despite the considerable challenges associated with travel, no one I heard complain followed it with, “Putin has to go”. 

On the plus side of restricted Western travel is the opportunity it provides to develop domestic tourism. This process began with COVID, but sanctions kicked it into high gear. This has had a considerable impact in the Republic of Altai. Building the infrastructure to make it easier for tourists to visit this beautiful, mountainous region. This summer, the renovated airport welcomed 3 flights a day from Moscow (7 on Fridays and Sundays). 2 million people visited the Altai in 2021 and 4 million are expected to come in 2022.  

The development by Sberbank of a year-round ski resort in the village of Manzherok (full disclosure, I live there), is providing an anchor and a magnet for this development. The first chairlift opened in 2010 and in 2020 the Bank announced it would invest an additional 4 Billion rubles ($65,000,000) by 2024. A 5-star hotel is set to open for New Year’s as planned before the SMO. Rumor was the primary sanctions issue could be the need to find a replacement for the interior decor ordered from Italy.  

According to Stanislav Kuznetsov, Deputy Chairman of the Sberbank Board, “we want to demonstrate the powerful tourism potential of the Russian regions. We see that as soon as the infrastructure appears that provides the necessary level of comfort and transport accessibility, the visits to domestic resorts increases dramatically. And this is an increase in the revenue side of regional budgets, and new jobs, and in general the money that remains inside the country and works to develop its economy.”

This massive corporate investment is happening together with an enormous growth in family owned businesses and SMEs. In addition to the traditional selling of souvenirs and fresh vegetables and fruits from their gardens, people are investing by building cabins or small hotels on their property. An IT couple from Moscow came as COVID digital nomads, liked the Village, bought a small hotel, and are currently renovating another tourist property. A world class massage therapist and her husband personally built a spa complex next to their home complete with sauna (including a river rock shower), massage room, and rental space. Another young couple opened a coffee takeout in a rental space on the main drag. All these businesses are booming.  

The start of what used to be referred to as “green tourism” pre-dates the appearance of the ski resort but the season was short, half of June and July. Nadiya, one of the first to build a tourist cabin in the early 2000s, said she now has bookings through the winter. She was disappointed when “Booking.com” pulled out as a result of the SMO because she liked the clients it attracted but she is fully booked without it.  

But growth comes with headaches. Several of these new businesspeople have shifted to a minimum stay model since changing sheets every day was a nightmare.   Everyone suffers because prices for all goods (locally produced and chain stores) are oriented to the vacationer, there are traffic jams even on the one lane roads in the Village, and if you don’t shop by 11am on a Friday you will be standing in a long line.

Manzherok is located in the northern, most accessible part of the Republic 20 minutes from the airport, so development here is not surprising. The speed and breadth of what is happening in the south heading to the Mongol border is more notable. This is not happiness for some long time Altai visitors. One man, who has been exploring the wildest parts of the region since the 1980s, said he didn’t even want to go to Mars (a multicolored geological wonder) because of the crowds hiking up the colored hills. These crowds have traveled a dirt, rock infested, car killing 7 kms to get there. On a recent hike to the Sofiyskiy Glacier, we encountered a group of middle-aged Scandinavian walking stick hikers who turned around when they saw how rocky the terrain was. 

In the middle of what used to be nowhere, a young woman from Moscow opened an outdoor pop-up Café that would look right at home in Woodstock NY. Business is good so she plans to stay open into October when it is still possible to sit comfortably on the puffy chairs and stare at the still snow covered mountains.  An Altai family has turned Babyshka’s small plot of land into a tourist compound. Simple but comfortable with an outdoor toilet they are making available to other tourists for 25 r.  The male relatives did all the construction and the mother and daughter are running the operation. 

Valera, an Altai driver explained that during the Soviet Union the land on the way the Glacier was one of the largest state farms in the country. Now, the only animals you see are camels that sometimes block the road. In the Village Beltir, what wasn’t destroyed by the “transition” was done in by the 7.3 earthquake in 2003. No one was killed but the population that was 1500 is now hovering around 77. 

Valera has less business this year but the problem could be competition. The center of Chagan Uzun Village was filled with drivers and a wide range of exotic vehicles to travel to whatever destination you chose. When the tourist season ends, he will fly North and to make money since this part of the Republic is not yet outfitted for year round.   

Of course, the plan for the Republic was to continue to develop the foreign adventurer market segment. Traveling through Altai to Mongolia was the standard route for round the world bikers. New Zealanders visited us during the World Cup, two American women, a biathlon Olympian and a cold water swimmer, have also stopped by. Other Americans came even when it meant a 7 hour drive from Novosibirsk or a 2AM car ride to the airport in Barnaul. I have not hosted or encountered any foreigners this summer.

Meanwhile Russian families are making their happiest memories outside my window on the banks of the Katun River, reveling at the astonishing blue and green Geyser Lake in Aktash, and, experiencing the terror of driving down the Katy-Yaryk Pass. Everything looks normal but the situation with Ukraine is always there, lurking in the background. 

The matron of the family tourist compound explained where the men were, her husband is making money in the North. She followed this with a pause and lowered her head before saying she had two sons serving in the Ukraine. Others, have elderly relatives in the Donbas who refuse to leave their homes. Most often it comes up when people talk about summers passed that were spent visiting family in the Ukraine. For some, the relationships are surviving, for others not. Even if unspoken, first and foremost in everyone’s thoughts is of the tragedy and loss. For many there is also fear and confusion at the pervasiveness of Western hatred towards Russians and how it is expressed beyond the sanctions. 

Anyone who says they know how this will all play out is a fool. My best guess for the Russians is based on some wisdom I got from a woman on a train. January 31st, 1992, five weeks into the brave new world called a democratic-capitalist Russia, I was traveling from Moscow to Novosibirsk. My coupe mate was Baba Marsha, 60 and toothless, her oldest son just stole the cow that was her only valuable possession. Her advice, “If you want to understand Russians, you need to understand two words: terpelivwi (patient) and peredjit (living through it)”. 

These sanctions, like all the disruptions that have happened over the last 30 years (in addition to what the 20th Century rained down on this country), will be patiently lived through by most. That may turn out to be a good thing…or at least not the worst thing.