Press Release: December 26,2024
Root Causes of the Conflict
In 2014, with the active support of the US and the EU, an armed coup was staged in Kiev, bringing to power radical nationalist forces fully supervised by the West. Their task was to destroy a single historical, economic and spiritual space shared by Ukraine and Russia. Since 2014, the totalitarian regime in Kiev has systematically violated human rights, including those of ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine, planted Russophobia, massively falsified history by glorifying Nazi war criminals of the Great Patriotic War period, and carried out aggression against civilians in Donbass. According to the Western strategy, Ukraine is expected to join NATO, and the alliance is conducting a large-scale military deployment on its territory. The country has been turned into a bridgehead to fight against Russia and has become a serious threat to Russia’s security.
Role of the “Collective West”
Today, Kiev is conducting its military operations against Russia almost entirely at the expense of Western financial and military support. Since the beginning of the Special Military Operation, the total Western aid to Ukraine has amounted to more than 350 billion US dollars. Supplies of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine are growing. Their nomenclature is constantly expanding. The Kiev regime is being equipped with increasingly destructive and lethal systems, including inhumane weapons (cluster munitions, depleted uranium shells) and various types of missiles. Washington has announced the supply of banned anti-personnel mines for the needs of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Despite the fact that sensible elites in unfriendly countries are increasingly realizing the futility of financial injections into Ukraine and its inability to win on the battlefield, the U.S. and its satellites continue to contribute in every possible way to the further escalation of the conflict. They actively invest in the training of the Ukrainian military, assist in the recruitment of foreign mercenaries who flock to Ukraine from various “hot spots” around the world, and regularly exchange intelligence, including information from satellites and reconnaissance aircraft of NATO countries. In November 2024, Kiev received permission to use Western long-range weapons (ATACMS, SCALP and Storm Shadow) to attack internationally recognized Russian territory.
Amendments to Russia’s Nuclear Doctrine
The Russian President’s Decree of November 19 this year amended Russia’s nuclear doctrine to expand the list of military threats to be neutralized by “means of nuclear deterrence.”
In response to the use of Western long-range weapons, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the largest sites of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex, the Yuzhmash facility, on November 21 this year. The Oreshnik ballistic missile in its non-nuclear hypersonic configuration was successfully tested under combat conditions.
Targets for engagement in further tests of our latest missile systems will be determined depending on the threats to Russia’s security. These targets may include the military infrastructure of those states that allow their weapons to be used to attack our country.
As President Putin said, “It was not Russia, but the United States that destroyed the international security system. We have always preferred to settle all disputes by peaceful means. But we are also ready for any scenarios that may arise.”
Settlement Prospects
Russia has never given up on a political and diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis, as it has repeatedly stated. In a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry on June 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented concrete proposals for a final settlement of the conflict. Their key points include the withdrawal of Ukrainian armed formations from the new Russian regions, i.e. the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson; the recognition of the new territorial realities; Kiev’s refusal to join NATO; the lifting of all Western sanctions against Russia; and the guarantee of full rights for Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine. In essence, what is being proposed is not a truce or ceasefire, as the West might prefer, to allow the Kiev regime to recover, rearm and prepare for a new offensive, nor a freeze on the conflict, but a definitive end to it. The negotiating process should culminate in peace in Europe, a new system of regional security, and non-confrontational relations between Russia and NATO.
However, both Kiev and the West continue to think in terms of war. The Russian proposal for a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict was met with an invasion of the Kursk region by the Ukrainian armed forces. They are acting like the most brutal and despicable terrorists, shooting civilians, looting Russian villages, attacking journalists and threatening nuclear facilities.
The Kiev regime is carrying out terrorist attacks against civilian and social facilities in Russia, resulting in deaths and injuries. The failure of Western countries and international organizations to condemn these unlawful actions contributes to their further expansion.
Attacks on Russian Journalists
The media front was and remains one of the main fronts in the aggressive anti-Russian campaign of the “collective West”. Zelensky’s calls to “test the latest weapons in Ukraine” also refer to information warfare.
The arsenal of such means has no legal or moral limits. The Kiev regime continues to test the “limits of what is allowed” by its Western handlers and does not encounter a hint of condemnation of its openly terrorist methods either from the capitals of “advanced democracies” or from the countless human rights structures and mechanisms controlled by the West. All sources of information inconvenient to the ruling Ukrainian leadership and not suppressed by repression – bans and blockades – are subjected to targeted measures, including arbitrary arrests, imprisonment on absurd charges, and physical violence, including murder.
Such patronage of the Kiev regime has been nurtured by the West for years, long before 2022.
The current authorities in Kiev openly brag that they are conducting a real hunt for dissidents. They make no secret of the fact that they are the perpetrators of the planned brutal murders of Russian journalists and publicists – Daria Dugina, Oleg Klokov, Maxim Fomin (aka Vladlen Tatarsky), Rostislav Zhuravlev, Boris Maksudov, Semyon Eremin, Valery Kozhin, Nikita Tsitsaga and Yulia Kuznetsova. And by 2022 – Russian journalists in Donbass. The priority of such “targets” is broadcast on television screens, which encourages the Ukrainian fighters to carry out such terrorist acts.
The Bürgenstock Format and the Peace Formula
Today, Kiev and the Western countries continue to promote Zelensky’s so-called “peace formula”, which has nothing to do with peace, by organizing events of the Bürgenstock format. The “formula” is essentially a set of unrealizable demands to achieve Russia’s capitulation. This means the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Donbass, Crimea, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, payment of reparations and confession of guilt in international tribunals. By imposing their approaches, Ukraine and its overseas masters are trying to minimize the importance of other countries’ peace proposals and monopolize the right to present them. The ultimate goal of the “Bürgenstock” meetings is to involve the Global South in an anti-Russian coalition. To this end, in September-October this year they forced meetings of the so-called “working groups” on nine out of ten points of the “formula”. According to their idea, these meetings should pave the way for a second “peace summit”. It is planned to invite Russia to this event only for the purpose of issuing a collective ultimatum to us, allegedly on behalf of the world majority. This is unacceptable to us. We will not participate in this farce, even if we receive an invitation.
The West and its puppets in Kiev are trying in vain to hide their own aggressive aspirations under the guise of “formulas,” “formats,” and “peaceful summits” that lead to nothing. Achieving peace is not part of their plans. They have a fantasy of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia. It will never happen. This is a way to nowhere. It is necessary to look realistically at the situation “on the ground” and be aware of what is happening.
It is impossible to achieve a just settlement without taking into account Russia and its interests.
