Press release, 31 May 2014
The participants in the NATO PA Economic and Security Committee meeting heard a warning about the threatening world war. Andrei Illarionov, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity and former Chief Economic Adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, confidently stated this in his presentation titled The Political and Economic Situation in Ukraine and Its Relationship with Russia and the West.
Mr Illarionov stresses that the events in Ukraine are only a small part of the plan. “This is not an internal affair of Ukraine. This is a war, a Ukrainian–Russian war. This is Mr Putin’s war against Ukraine. This war is just a prelude to a much larger war. It is already called the world war. This is a war that the Russian regime is waging against the entire world.”
Andrei Illarionov says that it is not a new cold war. Preparations have been made long before it. Some of the methods are the same as the ones Russia used in Georgia, some are new, while other methods such as a military coup, establishment of a terrorist regime, killings of political opponents, forced organisation of elections and referendums, establishment of a new totalitarian regime were used as early as the October Revolution.
The former Chief Adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin asserts that the war in Ukraine is not accidental and that it has been planned for many years, once Putin had realised that Ukraine was drifting away from the sphere of interests of the pro-Eurasian empire. “Preparations for aggressive actions in Ukraine were observed in the summer of 2003, when Mr Putin admitted that it was completely unacceptable that Kyiv, historic city of Russia, was beyond the boundaries of the Russian Federation. This myth was reinforced later on.”
As stated by the speaker, over the last five years a concept of the Russian world has been developed. According to this concept, there is no such an ethnic group as Ukrainians or Belarusians. They, together with Russians, make up one nation and should belong to one state. Mr Putin eventually stopped calling Ukraine a state and switched to using a new term, i.e. territory.
Andrei Illarionov states that the on-going campaign has three objectives. The first one is Ukraine which should be under Mr Putin’s control or destroyed as an independent state. Second, the creation of the Russian world by combining the largest fragmented nation in the world, Russians, into one state of Russia. The group would include ethnic Russians, irrespective of the place of residence, Russian-speaking people, compatriots and their descendants, who have ever lived on the territory of the Soviet Union.
The speaker underlines that there are plans to break the Western Alliance into two camps. The so-called front states—Baltic States—should be destroyed and continental Europe should be neutral in respect of Russia or could become friendly to Russia.
Andrei Illarionov draws the attention of the participants in the NATO PA to Russia’s actions that are referred to as a new, hybrid and unconventional type of war in many aspects. “What is special is that all the modern technologies are being used simultaneously. Political and military means are used in combination with intelligence and counter-intelligence, learning from the mistakes on the other side, and information, propaganda and cyber war. The mixture of non-governmental actors, religious organisations, private persons, financial and trade instruments, and corruption has become popular. Children and women are used as human shields. One of the key features of this war is that there is no longer a clearly defined geographical or military border.”
The speaker believes that it is necessary to develop a counter strategy and to realise that this is war. “We must understand that Mr Putin’s regime is aggressive and fiercely fights against both internal (the opposition) and external (Georgia, Ukraine) enemies. It is important to understand our mistakes, reach an agreement on long-term strategic targets and start their implementation. In international law, it is crucial to develop a new definition of aggression.”
According to Andrei Illarionov, a new international document such as the Helsinki Act should be drafted, which would confirm the borders of European states and which would also be signed by Russia. In the opinion of the former Chief Adviser to Vladimir Putin, the real solution to the crisis and the war is making Russia a democratic state. Only then will it be possible to avoid casualties and achieve a more stable world, peace and freedom.
Please find more on the NATO PA and the Spring Session here: www.lrs.lt/lt2014nato-pa.
Saulë Eglë Trembo, Public Relations Unit, Communications Department, Office of the Seimas,
tel. +370 5 239 6203, e-mail: [email protected]
