City council is reportedly preparing materials to initiate criminal proceedings over mass cultural looting
— Read on www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/29/ukraine-accuses-russian-forces-of-seizing-2000-artworks-in-mariupol
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FRIDAY 29 APRIL 2022
MSNBC
- Russians made two attempts early in the war to storm the compound where Zelensky and his family were.
- Zelensky senses the world’s attention flagging.
- Biden has asked Congress for $33 billion for Ukraine.
- Former U.S. Marine was killed in Ukraine, fighting alongside the Ukrainians.
- Hospital within the steel plant was hit by a missile and largely destroyed. It makes it impossible for them to treat the wounded.
THE TELEGRAPH: Ukraine the Latest, Podcast
These notes are from a discussion with reporters in the region.
- There is fierce fighting for the Donbas.
- There are small incremental gains for the Russians.
- There are a lot of forces around the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.
- Ukraine has not been able to take forces out of that Southern region and reinforce the troops in the Donbas.
- The Russians aren’t advancing as much as was expected even in this second round, phase.
- Reporter in Ukraine: UN Secretary General, Guterres mouthed truths, but it left a lot to be desired. “I just expect better…from the UN.” Guterres just not saying enough.
- Kyiv came under shelling for the first time in weeks while Guterres was visiting. Demonstrates the contempt with which the Russians hold the UN.
- There was hardly any coverage of the UN visit to Moscow in Russia.
- One reporter argued that if Russia is removed from the UN, how do we get large nuclear powers around a table talking. The isolation of Russia may not be productive.
- There are countries where they do not agree with the perspective of Western countries. India and China do not agree with the EU, UK perspective. There’s no easy answer.
- The UN reflects the world order. When the world order breaks down, the UN breaks down.
- Reporter in Ukraine: Guterres made the statement: “I hope this city will be spared.” But what he failed to note was who is attacking the city that it needs to be spared? Russia is not mentioned. “He should say more.” He should “point the finger at Russia.”
- Reporter: If you start to remove powers like Russia from the UN it will not represent the world but just Western interests.
- Reporter argues, that we saw this happen with the International Criminal court. It is not considered a legitimate institution in some countries of the world because it did not take on Western powers. (Note: US officials have stated that they didn’t support the court because it might prosecute US officials for war crimes. Someone noted that the International Criminal Court might make it impossible for a few very rich and powerful men and their families to vacation.)
- Diplomacy is pretty much irrelevant now in the war against Ukraine.
- Passing Biden’s massive allocation of money will take Republicans. It reflects that the US doesn’t think this war is going to be over quickly. It’s a signal to the Kremlin that the US will continue to support Ukraine even if this goes on.
- There is reporting that the head of the Russian armed forces, Valery Garasimov, has been moved to Ukraine to either take control of the entire theatre (and replace Dvornikov), or take control of efforts in the Donbas. If he has been moved, it is “absolutely staggering.” What Putin is doing is taking a man from a policy position and putting him into an operational position. This does not always work.
- The reporter asks what this move says about other general, Alexander Dvornikov, who was overall theater commander. What went wrong? (Note: Dvornikov was supposedly put in charge of operations in Ukraine earlier in April to centralize control). Did Putin expect a result in the last couple of weeks from Dvornikov that he didn’t get?
- The reporter wonders if Dvornikov now in charge of the fighting in Donbas?
- Dvornikov, Alexander and Valery Gerasimov
- This is a top-down control in theatre. This speaks to problems.
- Gerasimov developed what is called the “Garasamov doctrine.” The doctrine is about combining various efforts into one war effort.
- It remains to be seen if this man, a policy leader, can become an operational field commander.
- It is still unclear exactly what role he has been assigned.
Final Notes:
- Time Magazine has published an article about Zelensky. At the beginning of the war, Zelensky was in a poorly reinforced place. The US and the UK were encouraging him to leave Ukraine and go to somewhere like Poland. This was in part because of their assessment that Ukraine would fall in a matter of days
- Dolphin pins have been established by satellite. Dolphins can find things under the water. They can spot mines under the water, submarines. But the most successful use of the dolphins always involves killing them. You can strap explosives to the dolphins. This option exists “if you have a heart of stone.”
- We should watch how the Russians celebrate May 9. We should watch what Putin says on this occasion. Are they happy with holding on to what they have or move forward with more ambitions?
- If the Donbas falls, it will be very significant.
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FRIDAY 29 APRIL 2022
UKRAINE UPDATE: 5:00 pm
THE KYIV INDEPENDENT
- The bridge across the Siversky Donets Riber has been blown up along with Russian rail cars, making it impossible for Russian troops to go by rail to the city of Lyman.
- Spotters have been arrested in Kyiv. They had been taking photographs of the damage done by the Russian shelling and sending it to Russian contacts.
- Police say Russian troops tortured, killed combat medic.
- There are fuel shortages in some regions of Ukraine.
- Ukraine reports 243 Russian crimes against journalists since February 24.
- 7 journalists have been killed, 15 missing, 14 died as combatants or from Russian shelling when they weren’t on duty, 9 were wounded and 8 journalists were abducted.
- Kyiv residents are asked not to drive private transport due to fuel shortages.
- Russian troops step up “filtration” in Mariupol.
- Russian occupiers abducted two British volunteers in Ukraine.
EUROMAIDAN PRESS
- Russian submarine struck Ukraine with cruise missiles.
- Zelensky: Talking about the Russian servicemen who tortured and killed civilians, “Some will wait for the international court and some will wait for night.”
- Dozens of Buryats and Chechens started a skirmish after they couldn’t agree on sharing stolen goods near Kherson. (Note: Buryats come from one of the poorest regions of Russia and one of the few alternatives for the young is to join the military. It is estimated that around 50 Buryats have been killed in Ukraine. The wider Russian population tends to care less about Buryat or Chechen deaths).
- Article about Buryats and the Ukraine war. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/04/27/this-war-is-a-vampire-buryat-activists-protest-ukraine-invasion-a77469
- Russian troops are preparing an offensive in Severodonetsk direction. They also make additional pontoon bridges over Siverskyi Donets to bring reinforcements to the Izium direction. Some of the Mariupol troops are being brought to the southern frontline.
- The first cargo of Ukrainian corn since the Russian invasion has been loaded for export in Romania.
- Russian military seized the Melitopol museum, found where Scythian gold was stored and most likely stole it. Treasures stolen from Kyiv cathedrals in the 1930s were discovered in Moscow State Historical Museum.
- Russian army strong-arms Kherson farmers to give up 70% of their harvest to Russia. They are stealing and transporting grain and agricultural machinery.
- The Russian offensive in the east has stalled. Russian forces are concentrating in an attempt to take Mykolaiv. Proxy forces began covert mobilization in Transistria region.
- Journalist Vira Hyrych has died in an air strike of her apartment building in Kyiv.
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The Russian army strong-arms Kherson farmers to give 70% of their harvest to Russia, steals to Russia grain and agricultural machinery.
— Read on euromaidanpress.com/2022/04/29/threatening-kherson-farmers-russian-troops-steal-grain-from-ukraine/ -
US officials say unnamed Russian spy services launched chemical attack on investigative journalist Dmitry Muratov on Moscow train
— Read on www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/29/russian-intelligence-behind-poisoning-of-nobel-journalist-dmitry-muratov-says-us -
THURSDAY 28 april 2022
UKRAINE UPDATE: 8:30 PM
EUROMAIDAN PRESS
- Residents of a village, Demydiv, flooded their village to slow down the Russians.
- Russia bombs hospital at Azovstal.
- More mass graves are found near Mariupol.
- Brazil Senate votes to recognize Holodomor, Stalin’s artificial famine of 1932-33.
- Russia is planning to stage a sham “referendum” in Kherson to declare the region a “Kherson People’s republic.” Such staged “plebiscites” are one of its favorite instruments and Kremlin plans a series of them in other Ukrainian regions.
- Russians fired stun grenades at Ukrainians having a peaceful protest.
- Russia’s ongoing forced conscription in Ukraine’s Donbas leads to defacto elimination of local male population, as occupiers use them as “cannon fodder.”
- Two Russian missiles hit central Kyiv.
KYIV INDEPENDENT
- Several countries have advised their citizens to leave Moldova and Transnistria.
- US, Germany, France and Canada told their citizens to leave Molova over the “deteriorating security situation.”
- UN is ready to participate in the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal in occupied Mariupol.
- Russian force school teachers in occupied town to switch to Russian curriculum. (Note: Like DeSantis in Florida).
- Spanish army ship arrives in Poland with 200 tons of military assistance for Ukraine.
UKRAINE WORLD
- Is Russia preparing a new Holodomor in Ukraine?
- The operating room in the Azovstal facility collapsed because of Russian shelling.
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WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 2022
UKRAINE UPDATE 2: 7:30 PM
THE NATION MAGAZINE: START MAKING SENSE
Biden’s refugee policy for Ukrainians is a disgraceful story. David Nassaw is interviewed.
According to Nassaw, a history professor and writer abut displaced persons, Biden’s policy is “a disaster.” He notes:
- 5 million refugees have left Ukraine. Many others have left their homes but are still in Ukraine. We are talking about 10-12 million Ukrainians who are displaced.
- Poland, Moldava, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania are countries where they have gone.
- EU’s 27 countries have expedited the refugee process.
- Canada has agreed to admit an unlimited number of Ukrainian refugees. The process is easy and they can get assistance to live and work. There are no pathways to citizenship.
- It took Biden a month to decide what to do. At the end of March they decided to admit 100,000 Ukrainians who already had family members in the U.S.
- “disgraceful”
- The people were required to go to the UN and be certified as refugees. This perhaps takes six months. After that you can begin the process to apply for asylum in U.S. This process takes between two and ten years.
- You are told you should not apply for visas to travel to the US. The process is a “frightening one.” It is cumbersome.
- You can fly to Mexico from anywhere in Europe without a visa. With all the roadblocks, they are less than refugees from other parts of the world.
- Ukrainians with money have established their own networks. The easiest way is to fly to Mexico. They then, come to the border.
- Trump used the Covid crisis to close the border. But there are exceptions for Ukrainians. The border is closed, but if you are Ukrainian, you are allowed in. Everybody else is turned back. They are allowed to stay until their court appearance. There is no path to citizenship.
- There is no path to citizenship in any of the Biden plans.
- Biden says he is going to close the Mexico route and establish another route. This is a “disaster.”
- No Ukrainian can apply under the new plan. This sponsor has to be approved and apply for the Ukrainian. The sponsor has to name a particular Ukrainian. Then the Ukrainians have to have all kinds of screening. It will take months if not years to go through this after they are sponsored. Only let in for a two year period maximum.
- They get “humanitarian parole” which was established for the Afghans. It expires in two years and you have to get another set of permissions.
- In the past it was assumed that immigration was for citizenship, no longer. It is a temporary status.
- Why is Biden doing this? He understands that the process of letting the Ukrainians in, highlights the racist nature of the immigration process. The process is “disgraceful.”
- The more advantages given to the Ukrainians the greater the disparity in the whole process will be public.
- The right has power through the courts. The Federalist Society and Trump and McConnell put in highly unqualified judges. They are listening to the republican arguments. Biden has not been able to undo the legacy of the Trump administration. Rick Scott and others wrote early on a letter to HHS, don’t let in the Ukrainians because it’s the first step of an invasion.
- A delegation went to the border an said: Ukraine is being invaded by Russia and we are being invaded by Ukrainians.
- Democrats are afraid that the midterms will center on immigration.
Notes: Fox News is non-stop pumping the danger of the people coming over the border. They will make immigration an issue whatever Biden does about the Ukrainians. The current policy has only alienated everybody. So, once again, the Democrats because they are afraid, AFRAID, of alienating people who will never vote for them, refuse to provide programs that people who might vote for them will rally around. The Democrats are hopeless.
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WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 2022
UKRAINE UPDATE: 3:30 PM
UKRAINE WORLD (@Ukraine_world) (Best twitter feed and podcast)
- Ukrainian: “We have nowhere to return to…”
- Ukrainian: “The Russian army robbed me of my husband, my daughter of her father, my parents of their son.”
- Belarus’s lower house of Parliament approved a bill allowing security forces to use military equipment against civilians.
- Poland announced that the country has become independent of Russia’s gas.
- Ukrainian: “We have already changed the world.”
KYIV INDEPENDENT
- French government seizes three Russian oligarch’s villas. The list includes Oleg Deripaska, Kirill Shamalov, and Musa azhaev.
- Ukraine’s GDP may fall by 30-50%
- Ukraine intelligence reports that Russians will give a propaganda press tour in Mariupol.
- Putin threatens with “immediate strikes” countries that intervene in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
- 80% of Kharkiv zoo animals evacuated to safety.
- The Feldman Ecopark Zoo was home to 5,000 animals. 100 have been killed by Russian shelling as well as five employees who stayed behind to take care of the animals.
- Zelensky is invited by Indonesia to attend the G20 summit.
- Russia uses white phosphorus bombs again.
- Gazprombank executive, Igor Volobeuv, leaves Russia to defend Ukraine.
- Russian forces violently disperse crowds at pro-Ukrainian rally in Kherson.
- Norway allocates $44 million to buy weapons for Ukraine.
UKRAINE, RUSSIA AND THE AMERICAN RIGHT
“Rand Paul parrots Russian propaganda, suggests Ukraine had it coming.” By Aaron Rupar, Substack.
- Rand’s dad, Ron Paul, has long been an apologist for Putin.
- Ron argued that Russia was not responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and that Putin had the right to invade neighboring countries.
- Rand was evidently unbothered that the Trump campaign shared polling data with the Kremlin during the 2016 election.
- Rand traveled to Russia in 2018 to meet with an official wo was under US sanctions for interfering with the 2016 election. He took with him a hand written note from Trump to Putin.
- He voted in 2017 to block NATO membership for Montenegro, which led John McCain to say that Rand was “now working for Vladimir Putin.”
- In the Congressional session with Anthony Blinken, Paul parroted the Kremlin’s line.
- Paul suggested that Biden had antagonized Putin by refusing to slam the door on Ukraine’s NATO ambitions.
- Paul then said that the important thing was that Ukraine, Georgia, Modolva, were formerly part of the Soviet Union, and therefore part of Russia.
- Anti-NATO sentiment if not a fringe view within the GOP.
- Earlier in April, 30 percent of House Republicans voted against a symbolic resolution of support for NATO
- Less than three years ago, Republicans sided with Russia while Trump was trying to disarm Ukraine.
- John Bolton has said that he think Trump would have withdrawn from NATO had he gained a second term.
- NATO support was one of the first things Trump’s campaign chair Paul Manafort excised from the Republican platform in 2016. This was shortly before he was indicted for being an unregistered agent of Putin’s puppet government in Ukraine. (Note: I still have a vivid photographic image of the television screen when I heard Manafort had changed the language in the GOP’s party platform.)
TWITTER:
- BBC: Chinese drone firm pauses operations in Russia.
- Olga Tokariuk: In Kherson, Russians have created a prison camp where 300 Ukrainian activists and war veterans are being held.
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Also: Tucker Carlson’s claim that Elon Musk “unshackled” his Twitter account is unadulterated BS.
— Read on aaronrupar.substack.com/p/rand-paul-ukraine-putin-propaganda -
TUESDAY 26 APRIL 2022
UKRAINE UPDATE, 8 AM
This is day 61 of the war on Ukraine.
MSNBC
- Kuleba: Ukrainian Foreign Minister: Every day is crucial for us. Russia is concentrating their efforts in the Donbas. That is the real battleground. From Kharkiv to Mariupol. How painful it is receiving messages from the steel plant in Mariupol. People are dying because of lack of medicine. “It’s ruthless.” “Russian people share the responsibility for this war.” They share responsibility with Putin for the rapes and the looting. “The Russian people have to awake…” “Russian war machine must be stopped.” “We will pay the price for the safety of the world.”
CNN
- Clarissa Ward: When the rockets start falling the cell phone service disappears for a while. There are equipment shortages. “…seriously brave and resilient people…”
- Lavrov: “The danger is serious and real.” (Of nuclear war).
- Austin says the U.S. wants Russia and Putin “weakened.”
- Jim Sciutto: Austin’s words seemed to convey something more offensive than in the past. Administration is saying no, it’s doesn’t.
- Anchor: “It’s a shift, an important shift.”
- The mayor of Mariupol is reporting that Russians are forcing local civilian to work mass graves for food. Discovery of additional mass graves.
- The Americans want it to look like they are in lockstep with Ukraine.
NYT
- Lavrov warned Ukraine’s allies not to underestimate the “very significant” risk of nuclear war.
- Germany is sending radar-equipped heavy tanks specially designed for air defense to Ukraine, a major policy reversal.
- Two explosions have rattled Transnistria, a region of Moldova. There were reports of explosions at a security agency building. Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency claims that the explosions are a provocation intended to legitimate Russian military action there.
- Kuleba is urging the establishment of an immediate ceasefire to evacuate people from Mariupol.
- Kuleba is saying that the new Russian threats from Lavrov about nuclear war are an indication that “Moscow senses defeat in Ukraine.”
- Lavrov accused NATO of creating a proxy war in Ukraine.
- There were explosions in Zaporizhzhia, a southern port city. Ukrainians are anticipating an attack.
- Russians have seized the City Council building in Kherson. The Russians are expected to stage a “referendum” to bolster the appearance of dominance in the region.
- Russian forces have captured the eastern city of Kreminna as they try to advance toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
- Fighter in Mariupol: “…they are trying to wipe us off the face of the earth.”
UKRAINE WORLD (@Ukraine_world)
- Yesterday, Russian forces carried out 35 strikes on the Azovstal plant.
- There were at least 200 civilians abducted from Kyiv for “exchange fund.” Freed hostages report beatings, torture, being forced to sign something with their eyes closed.
- Russians again attacked residential regions of Kharkiv.
- A corridor for evacuation was announced through loudspeakers by the Russians near Azovstal. They then launched an artillery strike.
- Reports of Russians taking women and threatening to kill their children if they don’t reveal military positions of Ukraine’s forces.
- Reporting from Christo Grozev: The two most powerful AM transmitters in Europe were in Transnistria and Russia was using them to cover Ukraine with propaganda. They were bombed with no casualties.
KYIV INDEPENDENT
- It is impossible to restore electricity to a third of residents in Donetsk.
- Poland sanctions Gazprom, Russian and Belarusian oligarchs.
EUROMAIDAN PRESS
- Fires at Russian oil depots not far from the Ukraine border.
- The goal of Russian forces at the moment seems to be to establish full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk and to establish a land route with the occupied Crimea.
- Russians are attacking railway junctions to prevent supplies from coming in.
- They are using strategic bombers, ships and submarines to launch missiles and conduct bomb strikes on military and civilian infrastructure.
- Russian forces seem to be trying to blockade Kharkiv.
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Heavy fighting in the East. Ukrainian army preparing defenses in Zaporizhzhia. US Secretary of Defense Austin: “We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”
— Read on euromaidanpress.com/2022/04/26/russian-forces-intensified-activities-in-the-east-resumed-attacks-against-azovstal-plant/ -
The security institutions, the ‘siloviki’, that are key to propping up the regime are exchanging recriminations for a growing list of failures in the war on Ukraine.
— Read on cepa.org/vicious-blame-game-erupts-among-putins-security-forces/ -
MONDAY 25 APRIL 2022
@cjjohns1951
UKRAINE UPDATE
CNN
- Russians still refuse to provide a humanitarian corridor out of Mariupol.
CEPA: Article: “Vicious blame game erupts among Putin’s security forces.” (4/25/22)
- Recriminations are being exchanged over the failures in the war.
- The military is evidently not happy with the scaled down plans which abandon the goal of taking the entire country of Ukraine and concentrating on the Donbas.
- Fingers are being pointed especially at the FSB’s Foreign intelligence Branch, for misinforming Putin about the true conditions inside Ukraine that have led to failure.
- Other branches of the FSB also blame the Foreign Intelligence Branch.
- Immediately after the war started, journalists lost their sources. While it was one thing to complain when the country was not at war, a war was different.
- This has radically changed. Calls started to come in especially about reporting on Sergei Beseda, one of the heads of the Fifth Service of the FSB, which gathers political intelligence on Ukraine and cultivates the pro-Kremlin opposition in Kyiv.
- “The general was sent to the infamous Lefortovo prison in Moscow, which has had a horrible reputation since the Stalin purges – innumerable victims have been murdered in the building’s basement.”
- “The Kremlin has made frantic efforts to hide the details of Beseda’s arrest” even going as far as the change his name in prison records.
- Russia’s main investigative authority, the Investigative Committee, denied Beseda’s criminal prosecution.”
- It was rumored that compromising material on Beseda was provided by a rival agency (the foreign intelligence service of the SVR).
- This does now, however, mean that the military and intelligence services are opposed to the war, far from it.
- They are opposed to scaling back the war as Putin is now evidently directing.
- In short, “the military now demands all-out war.”
- Those in the military feel that they are fighting with one hand tied behind their backs while NATO is fighting an all-out war.
- A well-known blogger (and veteran of the National Guard) blogged in an open letter to Putin, “Are we fighting a war or masturbating.” He demanded an escalation or ending the war.
- There are various signs that the military wants more war rather than less. (Note: The statement of army General Rustam Minnekaev about taking not only Southern Ukraine, but Transnistria).
- It is thought that Sergei Shoigu has managed to keep criticism away from the military itself. He is the Minister of Defense.
- Members of the security services are even privately criticizing Putin.
- This distance between Putin and the services is new and important.
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UKRAINE UPDATE: SUNDAY 24 APRIL 2022, 2PM
“Russian World: The heresy driving Putin’s war.” Article Euromaidan Press.
• The doctrine of Russian World is “an ideology that is theological at its core.” It pits “Holy Russia” against the “godless West.”
• World-renowned theologians have condemned the Russia World as heresy.
• Cyril Hovorum, Stockhold School of Theology, interviewed by Euromaidan Press.
• The doctrine was developed under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church.
• This doctrine frames the war in Ukraine.
• Putin has supplied the guns and the church has supplied the ideas.
• The “core of the aggression is ideological: it’s a distorted theology..”
• The idea was developed by the Church and taken over by the Kremlin.
• Putin referenced ideas from this doctrine in the speech on the eve of the war.
• “It is a form of exceptionalism, nationalism.” “a form of exceptionalism that means that belonging to a tribe makes you different and exceptional.”
• Russia is believed to have a special mission from God to save the world from itself.
• “That’s why it’s important to take into consideration religion when we try to understand this war.”
• The Russian belief is that the West has been corrupted by liberal ideas and values which are dangerous. The “traditional values” they support are conservative and anti-liberal.
- “that’s why we see these strange alliances like between the Kremlin and some white evangelicals in the USA.”
- Many radical Muslims, especially supporters of Daesh in the Middle East, see Russia as fighting their common enemy, this global demon/shaitan of the West.”
- Unfortunately the average Russian believes this ideology.
- “Putin has the support of the majority of the population regardless of his actions.”
- The main part “in forming this ideology was played by the Church…:
- “Patriarch Kiril (the leader of the Russian Orthodox church) is the author of this ideology.”
- The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) wanted to attract people and fill a void that was left with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- “The disappointment in the Communist ideology became complete…”
- The Church saw this as an opportunity.
- “Instead of Christianizing the deideologized Russian population it led to ideologizing the Christian Church…””The Church has been ideologized ad putinized…”
- “I believe the Russian World is a sort of idolatry.”
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Russia’s war against Ukraine rests on doctrine of the Russian World, an ideology that is theological at its core, as it pits “Holy Russia” against the “godless West.”
— Read on euromaidanpress.com/2022/03/18/russian-world-the-heresy-driving-putins-war/
