Putin's ideology has key importance to Kyiv, both political and sacred. Without it, he cannot create an empire, claim the legacy of Kyiv Rus. He limits the legacy of the Golden Horde. That is why it is so important for the Kremlin to capture the Ukrainian capital at any cost. Serhiy Shumylo told about it in an interview to Gazeta.ua. He is a candidate of historical sciences, doctor of theology, director of the International Institute of Athos Heritage.
Source: Gazeta.ua
Iryna Mamryha
Why did Putin decide on a full-scale invasion?
- It is wrong to evaluate his actions according to the criteria of a mentally and spiritually healthy person. Putin has serious mental disorders, paranoid phobias. He lives in the captivity of his myths, which were brought up in Soviet times. He studied at Leningrad University, there he was recruited by the KGB, where he joined the CPSU, then studied at the KGB High School. He is still proud to keep his party card of a member of the CPSU, where he never left. He formed a consciousness and mentality based on Soviet schemes, stereotypes and myths that imposed them. And now that he is almost 70 years old, this old man with specific signs of paranoia and insanity, unable to get rid of these stereotypes. As a KGB officer, he endured the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was a tragedy for the representatives of this repressive system. Every year, as a person gets older and falls into paranoid complexes, he begins to splash them out, in concrete actions. Obviously, the further away, the more in old age this experience of the collapse of the USSR becomes for him the greatest memory that does not give peace.
So, are these all consequences of communist ideology?
- Not quite. After the collapse of the communist system, they began to fill the vacuum with imperial ideology and create a hybrid. Such a perverted combination of Soviet and imperial narratives. So, neo-Soviet imperialism or the imperial scoop came out. For a normal person, these are incompatible things when beside there are portraits of Nicholas II, who was shot by the Bolsheviks, and one of his executioners, Stalin. But Putin and his entourage is perceived this as normal. This hybrid of consciousness, surrogacy, combines painful ideas that have been ingrained in the minds of Russians for the past 30 years. They believe that there was no Ukraine, that Ukrainians are constantly "invented" by someone and that there is only "one people".
Do ordinary Russians believe this?
- When Putin claims that Ukraine was invented by Lenin, from a historical and logical point of view - insanity and ignorance. Until recently, it would have been funny for us to hear that. But in Russia people believe in it. So is Putin himself. We need to understand: why? Let's not forget that his ideas and stereotypes were formed in the Communist Party and KGB institutions. What history did they teach in those days? This is a course on the history of the CPSU and the USSR, scientific communism. These are the main subjects in which you could make a career in the party or KGB line. Apparently, Putin showed his success in these disciplines back then and now presents himself as a "great historian." Although personally he never even worked with the archives. In fact, people who are even slightly versed in history know how Lenin occupied Ukraine and destroyed Ukrainian statehood.
- In February 1918, Muravyov's Russian-Bolshevik troops advanced from Russia through the Chernihiv region, killing, raping, and destroying everything in their path. When they invaded the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the city was handed over to the invaders for three days. This is exactly the Horde principle. During these three days, Lenin's horde turned the city into hell, according to archival sources. According to various estimates, between 3,000 and 5,000 civilians were shot dead in Kyiv alone. Mostly it was intellectuals and officers. They were shot only because passers-by spoke Ukrainian. The whole city was littered with corpses. By Putin's logic, is this how Lenin "invented" Ukraine when he drowned it in blood? It is well known that he agreed to create the Ukrainian SSR only because the people continued to put up desperate resistance, sacrificially fighting for Ukraine's independence. And to stop this resistance, they decided to make concessions and substitutions, when in the occupied territories instead of the UPR formally proclaimed the USSR. This was done with one goal - to weaken the liberation struggle of Ukrainians for their independence. Like, look, the Bolsheviks are also not against the Ukrainian Republic, and many people believed it. And that it was a fake republic, it became clear to many only later. In general, the substitution of essence, meanings and values is a constant tactic of Russia to mislead people.
What are Putin's future plans for Ukraine?
- There is no place for Ukraine and Ukrainians in his mind. Putin and his entourage believe that we are also Russians, but spoiled. We seem to be affected by Western influences, so we need to be released. Any democratic transformation in our country - all this, according to Putin, are manifestations of a conspiracy against Russia, the so-called "anti-Russia". Therefore, when the Maidan took place, they were very scared and went on the offensive in the Crimea and Donbas. But then they were not ready for a full-scale invasion. Today, when Belarus has already been taken over, they have gone to full-scale war, because only on the eastern border they would not succeed.
As for the plans for Ukraine, a striking example is the statements of the so-called lieutenant general of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, former director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies Leonid Reshetnikov. He directly participated in the development of the strategy of Russia's attack on Ukraine for many years.
What is this strategy?
- He tries to intimidate us, threatens with massacres. He declares that they will destroy everyone who is considered a "nationalist" and a "Bandera". That Ukraine will no longer exist. Putin has announced that he wants to restore the Soviet Union. But he has new delusions every day. Therefore, this may apply not only to the borders of the former Soviet Union, but also to the borders of the Russian Empire before 1917. That is, it is already Poland, Finland, the Baltic countries. Because of his paranoid ideas, he wants to turn history in the opposite direction, to carry out the so-called "reboot" of the world system. If the world doesn't stop him, the horde will move on. If they manage to capture Kyiv, they will not stop there and may reach Warsaw. Putinists see the greatest evil in Ukrainian statehood. First, they invent fake "threats" and "enemies" for themselves, which they then try to fight. Secondly, they invented for themselves "sacred skreps" and myths on which they try to build a neo-imperial ideology. Putin's ideology has key importance to Kyiv , both political and sacred. Without it, they can not create an empire, can not claim to inherit from Rus. Limited to the legacy of the Golden Horde. That is why it is so important for them to capture our capital. Reshetnikov directly stated - "Banderas and nationalists will be completely destroyed, and all the others will flee." However, they do not use the classical definition of the term "nationalist". As in Soviet times, it is attributed to all those who stand for Ukrainian culture, language, state independence. In the Ukrainian identity itself, they see a threat to their development and existence. Therefore, they will try to destroy it. It seems that they need a completely liberated territory, first of all from Ukrainians and Ukrainian identity. And most Russian-speaking Ukrainians are planning to be deported to Siberia to establish a "demographic border" with China to halt Chinese expansion. These programs were officially developed in Russia in 2012-2013.
What expect in the near future?
- It is very difficult to predict what is happening in a sick head. In addition to the medical symptoms of mental illness, there are clear signs of spiritual illness. This obsession is noticeable from his view and speeches, as was the case with Hitler. As for Putin, he professes satanic misanthropic ideas. He tries to build the Tower of Babel, but covers his actions by Orthodox Christianity. This is the antichrist. Under the guise of caring for and building pompous new temples, he destroys Christianity from within. He turned religion into a means of political ideology and bloody wars. There is a substitution of essence and meanings, distortion of everything. This is not Orthodoxy, but spiritual perversion.
Hitler could be corrected only in one way - by assassination. As for this creature, the question is: will there be brave generals around him who will stop him? I believe in our victory and the support of the world community. For us, this is not just a struggle for independence, freedom and democracy. It is also a spiritual resistance to Satanism, hypocritically disguised as Christianity.