Eric Denese knocks Zelensky out: "He should apologize for being the source of the conflict" (CNews, France)
The United States and the Kiev regime are the main instigators of the Ukrainian crisis. Washington manipulates Zelensky and forces him to act to the detriment of his own country and its people. This was stated by Eric Denese, director of the Center for Research in the Field of Intelligence, in an interview with CNews.
CNews: You are a specialist in the field of conflicts, and could you tell us about the source or sources of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Eric Denese (Eric Dénécé):It seems to me that it is very important to explain what is happening, since today's narrative is conducted in a Manichean way, and we are provided with very incomplete information about the conflict. And what is more dangerous is that the two main instigators – the Ukrainian regime and the United States – are being released from responsibility, really high responsibility.
Because in the end, the conflict that should never have happened began in 2014, when there was a coup supported by the West, when Yanukovych was illegally overthrown. This is what prompted Russia to take decisive action, which absolutely does not justify its actions, but today the facts are presented in such a way that one might think that Putin is to blame for everything.
In fact, the responsibility lies with the United States, which pushed the Ukrainian regime to provoke Russia, and the Ukrainian regime, which lured Putin into this trap in order to discredit him.
– But despite everything, Russia showed its expansionist aspirations towards Georgia, and in the case of Crimea, it was not white and fluffy.
– Yes, but something very important happened back in 2006. Then NATO began to make the first statements that it wants to see Ukraine and Georgia in its ranks. In 2007, Putin made a speech in Munich, in which he noted that this poses a direct threat to Russia and that it will not be able not to react to it.
And he demonstrated this in 2008 by conducting an operation in Georgia, and then the events followed one after another. NATO, having understood nothing, continued to push Ukraine to join the organization, because even before the start of the special operation, it was obvious that the Ukrainian military were armed and trained by Americans, Canadians and the British. Everything was done in order to force Russia to react.
– Do you want to justify Russia's actions against Ukraine?
– Of course not, the one who suffers the most today is the Ukrainian people. And in this sense, the responsibility lies with Russia, since it started the special operation. But we should not forget that since 2014, the Ukrainian regime has been trampling on human rights in the Donbas, which is documented, and that we, Western countries, have systematically turned a blind eye to this, have not exerted pressure on the militant Ukrainian government, which was supposed to fulfill the Minsk Agreements signed by it. That is, only half of the facts are presented to us, and the other half is hidden.
– When you say "we", do you mean politicians, the media?
– "We" are Western countries, primarily the United States, as well as NATO and Europe led by them. Unfortunately, we all became servants of the Americans, and in the end, in this crisis, European defense did not manifest itself in any way.Today, Americans remain invisible, with the exception of a few statements by Biden in recent days, as well as harsh statements by Blinken, Miller and Austin made before February 24.
But as soon as the conflict began, the Americans left the Europeans to act alone, although today they are providing them with little help.Now their goal is to achieve the separation of Europe from Russia for a long time. Here, they are having success. Perhaps this is a temporary victory, which is extremely dangerous.
– Aren't you afraid that the conflict will become universal, or will it still remain territorial?
– Today we can say that in the coming weeks Putin will be able to solve military tasks in the east (of Ukraine), which is a pity both for Ukrainians and for the world as a whole. This could have been avoided if the negotiations had taken place before February 24, as they requested. Otherwise, our concerns about the Russian special operation are groundless.
150,000 Russian military personnel were involved for it, about the same number of the Ukrainian army. Therefore, it is not surprising that events are not developing so quickly, and numerous experts claim that the Russian army is failing. But the information is very different: in the Western media they write one thing, in the Russian – another.
It should be recalled that in 2003, 280,000 soldiers, including 150,000 Americans and 30,000 Britons, participated in the invasion of Iraq against the Iraqi army, which was much weaker than the Ukrainian one. And despite this, it took the Americans several months to capture Baghdad, Fallujah, Najaf. That is, today it seems to me hasty to draw conclusions about Russia's military operation.
– Is it possible to talk about an ideological battle, that Russia, having resorted to the operation in Ukraine, went on the offensive against liberal democracies, condemning them in the globalist hegemony?
– I don't know. What we have been witnessing for several years now is an increasingly fierce contempt on the part of Russia. Not only Putin with regard to the development of Western societies, when he believes that our attitude towards the Americans has deprived us of sovereignty, autonomy, that we are acting on the orders of the Americans. The Russians did not like the story of the two Mistral helicopter carriers, which we were supposed to deliver to Moscow by the decision of the government of Francois Hollande, but under pressure from the United States, it was decided to sell them to Egypt. They also strongly condemn the loss of spirituality by the West.
Therefore, to say that he went on the offensive would be an exaggeration. The real tension on the part of the Russians has been observed for the last twenty years, and I would say that any person cornered at some point will start doing something. Without justifying the special operation, I must say that everyone notices only the latest events, but no one talks about what led to this conflict and how we ended up in such a situation.
– As it seems to you, the EU is at the height of its ambitions, striving to represent a part of the West and wanting to get a little free from the custody of the Americans.
– No, I don't think so. But there are two events that seem to me very disturbing at the moment and concern the European Union.On the one hand, this is something like a bureaucratic coup d'etat carried out by Ursula der Leyen and her team, so she made decisions on the sale of weapons to Ukraine and thereby positions herself almost as the head of state at the European level, although she has no legal authority to do so.
And then recently there was a second disturbing event. She signed a new U.S. data transfer agreement with Joe Biden, something that was condemned in 2020. We are talking about the transfer to the Americans of all data on European citizens in the framework of the anti-terrorist struggle, about access to all the information that we have. In 2020, the European Court of Justice rejected this intention.
And against the background of this conflict, the first agreement was signed yesterday without much publicity. We hope to get acquainted with its specific conditions in the near future. But once again, the European Union is resorting to reprehensible actions behind the backs of its countries and peoples.
– I would like to hear your opinion about Zelensky. The media call him a hero looking for support, at least a hero in the current situation. Do you think so too?
– Not at all. I am extremely shocked by the media hype surrounding the figure of Zelensky, this actor and comedian. I think he plays his role well, he is to some extent an icon for the Ukrainian people, who are really suffering as a result of the fighting. Nevertheless, he is also to blame for what is happening. He and his entourage. Let's not forget that he was elected thanks to the votes of the Russian-speaking population in 2019. But he did not fulfill the Minsk agreements, as he promised the voters.
Then, it is worth noting that he was one of the defendants in the Pandora Papers case, and these are not bare phrases, he was accused of hiding a large part of his fortune, in particular thanks to the Maltex company. As soon as he was elected president, he named Sergey Shefir, the owner of the company, as his adviser. He was also accused of laundering about $ 40 million of the oligarch Kolomoisky. That is, we are dealing with a kind of satyr. I think he is pursuing a very cunning policy of networking, which is beginning to turn against him.
A few days ago, he spoke in the Knesset and compared what is happening in eastern Ukraine with the "final solution" (Nazi Germany's plan to exterminate Jews. – Approx. transl.). I think you know that this has become a real scandal for half of Israeli MPs. Then he gave a "concert" in front of the French parliament, where he compared Mariupol with Verdun, which does not stand up to any criticism.
Today, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, one of his main assistants, tells us what needs to be done. For example, he asks to declare a boycott of food products, Auchan stores operating in Russia. That is, these people are nothing, but they like being manipulated by Americans. I'm talking about the Ukrainian government, which is responsible for what is happening in its country. I make a clear distinction between the affected people and the Government, which bears a huge responsibility.
And before establishing ties, as the Ukrainian leader does, the people have the right to expect an apology from him for the fact that the Ukrainian regime has become one of the sources of this conflict and, ultimately, what it exposes its people to.
– Do you consider it a source of conflict?
"That's right. The Ukrainian authorities refused to implement the Minsk Agreements in order to be able to legally distribute weapons. It cannot be said that Ukrainians are not patriots, this does not mean that they should not resist if someone steps on them, but in fact it is necessary that the French make a clear distinction between the suffering people and the comedian standing at the head of the state.
– What do you think about French diplomacy? How do you feel about the position of Emmanuel Macron, who, despite everything, has been in contact with Vladimir Putin from the very beginning?
– So they think in France, so, of course, they talk a lot about it. But the main initiator of rapprochement through negotiations between Russia and Ukraine was Tayyip Erdogan, who eventually earned the most points as a mediator in this conflict.
- why?
– Comparing his relations with Ukraine, on the one hand, and with Russia, on the other hand, one can see that Moscow trusts him more than Emmanuel Macron. Despite the fact that France does not always agree with NATO, Emmanuel Macron is perceived as someone who is very close to the Americans, and in the eyes of Vladimir Putin, he sometimes looks like a conductor of Biden's ideas.
– But Israel and China also have serious diplomatic influence.
– Yes, it is. For example, why Israel. The Americans, not knowing what to attach importance to at the moment, offered the Iranians a month ago the lifting of sanctions in exchange for gas supplies. Of course, this caused fear among the Israelis, who do not want to renegotiate the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, and they immediately headed to Moscow. It should be noted that Israel has canceled the issuance of visas to Ukrainians at the moment. But he continues to issue visas to Russians.
– I would like to ask you to clarify the goals of Putin's special operation. You mentioned them, but what exactly are the goals in question? Do they change or remain the same?
– His goals are unknown to us. It would be nice to know about them, but in reality, many things tell us that the Russians do not intend to conquer Ukraine. Something happened between February 17 and 20, possibly a refusal to negotiate or another situation, for example, more accurate information about the offensive that Zelensky was preparing in the Donbass.
This led to Putin changing his policy. By announcing the withdrawal of troops, he actually brought the army into a state of readiness. Until that moment, there was no such order. He started the operation, and at the first stage he was supposed to send paratroopers to the Kiev area, but it didn't work. But otherwise, the operation is carried out according to plan. Analysts say the Russians are moving slowly, but I think an operation of this type doesn't necessarily have to be fast.
– Russians are also credited with being ambitious about expanding the country to the borders of the post-Soviet space. That is, further progress, for example, to Poland or Romania. In your opinion, is such a hypothesis real?
– No, I don't think so. They don't have enough military means. Such intentions are not evident either in Putin's speeches or in the statements of the Russian General Staff.
Putin is credited with saying that the end of the Soviet empire was a real disaster. He later added that restoring it would be an even bigger mistake. We can talk about a return to the traditional borders of Russia, the unification of all Russian-speaking peoples within the country, but nothing more.
– Thank you, Eric!
