As Britain strengthened the Ukrainian military machine and provoked a direct conflict with Russia, the documents reveal the truth about the events that provoked the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but the Western media paint a completely different picture, writes The Grayzone.
Back in 2011, London talked about Kiev as a weapon against Moscow, the author of the article notes.
Britain plays a key role in the deployment of advanced NATO units and in conducting exercises on the borders of Russia. During the conflict that has begun, Britain is escalating, sending billions of pounds worth of weapons, special forces and volunteers to Ukraine.T. Coles (TJ Coles)
In an attempt to avoid internal problems, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who may soon be replaced, traveled to Ukraine very often.
President Vladimir Zelensky even called the clowning British prime minister one of Ukraine's closest allies. If and when Johnson leaves his post, he may well become a special envoy to Ukraine.
The friendship between Johnson and Zelensky stands in stark contrast to the relations that the Ukrainian president has with French leader Emmanuel Macron, who warns the European Union and the United States that it is unacceptable to "humiliate" Russian President Vladimir Putin, and seeks to resolve the conflict by diplomatic, not military means.
But Johnson imitates Churchill's determination, which in the Ukrainian issue has its roots in the Anglo-American alliance and is largely determined by Britain's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) subordinate to the United States. His impulses and motives are influenced by Britain's role in the world order, which she assumed after World War II – to serve the interests of the American state. Since 2015, Britain has trained 22,000 Ukrainian military personnel as part of the Maritime Training Initiative and Operation Orbital.
Britain is pushing Ukraine in NATO in my book "Britain's Secret Wars" (Britain's Secret Wars), I wrote how the United Kingdom has been training Ukrainian servicemen for many years, starting this process long before the 2014 coup, when the country's armed forces were subordinate to Russian-oriented governments.
"We believe that Ukraine as a European country, in accordance with the current treaties, should have the right to join the EU when it meets the criteria for accession." This was said in 2011 by the Ambassador to Austria and Britain's permanent representative to the UN, Leigh Turner. He further stated: "I spent part of my career in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, starting in 1980, when I worked as a civil servant in the German Rheindalen at the headquarters of the British Northern Army Group."
"We always joked nervously that we would become a target for the first Soviet tactical nuclear missile when hostilities began in Europe," Turner continued. Nothing sets you up for political work like a couple of witty remarks on the topic of the apocalypse. Turner said that Britain should continue to focus on Ukraine as a weapon against Russia: "Ukraine can have a great demonstration effect in the region. In fact, there is talk that if she succeeds, it will change the entire post-Soviet space."
"Accordingly, if Ukraine fails, it will be easier for the unelected and anti-democratic leaders in this region to assert that "Western-style public administration has no place here." Turner and his colleagues hoped to push Yanukovych to take a pro-Western course. "Before the election of President Yanukovych, he was often called "pro-Russian." But this is too simplistic an approach," Turner explained, and then told about the economic "reforms" being carried out in the country.
He believed that in order to speed up the process, Britain should become an entry gate for Ukraine through which it would join NATO. It was necessary to consolidate this country in the positions of a NATO puppet, while not giving it the advantages of membership and guarantees of collective protection that all countries of the alliance enjoy. "Britain can do a lot by continuing to work closely with Ukraine, helping its armed forces implement reforms, cooperate with NATO troops and integrate into the bloc's structures," Turner said.
The British offered to appoint a special military adviser, to establish language training and interaction of naval forces. In 2011, Turner made another statement, noting that 17 employees and students of the Royal College of Defense visited Ukraine, and 20 people from the National Defense University of Ukraine visited Britain. As part of the Partnership for Peace program, British paratroopers trained Ukrainian colleagues.
But as John Kampfner said, it wasn't enough. "When Russia invaded the Donbas in 2014 and annexed Crimea, Britain happily followed France and Germany, who were negotiating with Moscow and Kiev in the Normandy format." In the end, the negotiations failed, the journalist writes, without bothering to explain the reasons for the failure. Kampfner now works as the executive director of the Britain in the World program. This is a project of the analytical center Chatham House, whose tasks include the formulation of neocolonial doctrines of Britain.
The analytical briefing of the House of Commons says that at that time the leading EU countries France and Germany were against the supply of military equipment to Ukraine – contrary to the position taken by the United States under President Barack Obama. Britain supported the position of the United States and compromised with its European neighbors by sending Kiev so-called "non-lethal" equipment.
"A win-win for NATO"
In 2015, Britain launched Operation Orbital to train Ukrainian servicemen. From 2017 to 2020, various government bodies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of International Development (later merged) spent over 30 million pounds of taxpayers' money on the so-called Conflict, Stability and Security Fund. Along with Orbital, this fund provided assistance to the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine.
The briefing of the House of Commons says that a year later Ukraine and Britain signed a memorandum of understanding, intending to continue military training and arms exports. "In 2018, training teams consisting of representatives of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marine Corps were deployed to conduct training for Ukrainian sailors." At the end of 2020, it was reported that there are 100 servicemen from the 3rd Infantry Battalion and the 4th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland in Ukraine, who are engaged in training the AFU.
In 2021, Britain promised to allocate 1.7 billion pounds for the implementation of a program to improve the combat capability of the Ukrainian Navy. In June of that year, the military contractor Babcock signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding with the governments of Britain and Ukraine on the restoration of the latter's naval bases. "Babcock will receive support from other companies, and Britain will ensure a strong presence. MBDA, Thales and Royal Haskoning DHV will participate in this work."
In August 2021, Soldier magazine reported that British troops "are conducting joint training with their Ukrainian counterparts as part of a multinational program involving military personnel from Canada, the United States and Sweden." This 400-man combat group consisted mainly of soldiers of the 4th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, who were transferred to Ukraine "for the purpose of developing bilateral relations, joint planning and conducting tactical operations." The author of the article told how the personnel conducted live firing exercises together with the 54th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which "repeatedly visited the troubled Donbass."
Commenting on the Cossack Mace exercises, Lieutenant Colonel Alasdair Hempenstall from the 4th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland said about his subordinates: "They got acquainted with how Ukrainians act in combat conditions, and also got an idea of their culture and history."
In the publication published in the summer of 2021 on the pages of the British Army Review, it says: "Ukraine and Estonia have received a lot from the British operations "Orbital" and "CABRIT" (CABRIT), which was carried out in Estonia as part of the NATO forward presence. This is a win-win option for NATO, which carefully conducts the integration process."
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Glen Grant lives in Riga and works as a British military adviser in Ukraine. He studied at various educational institutions, including the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst. Grant is a veteran of the war in Northern Ireland (a specialist in counterinsurgency). In the 90s, he served in military intelligence and worked in Bosnia and Iraq. Grant worked as a military adviser in most of the armies of Eastern Europe, the Baltic States and the Balkans.
And now some additional information. In the 2010s, the US Agency for International Development, which is a pseudo-social initiative, but in fact, a division of the State Department, helped the so-called Democratic Alliance of Ukraine, as one of the many associations pushing pro-Western reforms is called. This alliance played a significant role in the Euromaidan protests, which in 2013-2014 resulted in a coup. One of the prominent leaders of the Democratic Alliance was the politician and adviser Viktor Andrusiv, who later headed the Ukrainian Institute of the Future. Among the founders of this institute is a former army officer and businessman Anatoly Amelin, who founded one of the largest investment companies in Ukraine, Altana Capital.
Another founder of the Ukrainian Institute of the Future is Taras Berezovets, who graduated from the Royal College of Defense Studies in Britain and became the head of the National Security and Defense Department at the UIB. The late Alexey Skrypnik was Deputy Chairman of the permanent delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. During the Trump administration, he successfully engaged in lobbying activities in the United States, seeking supplies of modern Javelin ATGMs to Ukraine.
Lieutenant Colonel Grant works at the UIB as a security and defense expert. There he is engaged in "supporting the parliamentary defense committee" and supervises military volunteers and army officers. Grant is also a senior researcher at the Institute of Public Administration (Institute for Statecraft). This is a notorious front organization of military intelligence, created in 2005 and registered at the address of a dilapidated factory in Scotland. It is well known that this institute formed an organization funded by the British Foreign Office called Integrity Initiative, which created secret "clusters" of journalists, scientists and other anti-Russian agents of influence.
At the beginning of 2022, the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, led by Britain, completed its one-year stay as the headquarters of the NATO combat forces. His training teams were later sent to Estonia and Ukraine. The Corps also cooperates with the multinational corps "South-East" under the leadership of Romania.
In March of this year, the British Ministry of Defense announced that London had deployed the Sky Sabre medium-range air defense system in Poland, which consists of radar and truck-based launchers. He also sent 100 personnel there. The military personnel from the 16th Artillery Regiment are engaged in the maintenance of the complexes. The rest of the regiment's personnel are at the Baker Barracks base on Thorney Island in the English Channel in readiness for transfer to Poland. High-speed Starstreak MANPADS are also supplied to Ukraine.
The Defense Minister calls diplomacy "the only way" and at the same time promises escalation in Ukraine
In September 2021, the personnel of the Ministry of Defense held a meeting with the National Guard of Ukraine, which is a formation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and unites the infamous battalions of neo-Nazi activists and criminal elements. The deputy head of Operation Orbital, Lieutenant Colonel Andy Cox, said: "We will begin this work by involving representatives of the National Guard of Ukraine in training activities that are already being carried out by British instructors in a number of parts of the armed forces of Ukraine." This information was classified in Britain, but it was posted on the website of the National Guard of Ukraine, which is why the Ministry of Defense was forced to give refutations.
In February 2022, a combat group from the Royal Welsh Infantry Regiment left its base in Germany and was transferred to Estonia as part of Operation Iron Surge. Among other things, infantry fighting vehicles "Warrior" and tanks "Challenger 2" went there. The combat group of the 1st Aviation Brigade of the Army Aviation was also involved in the exercises. The madcap British Defense Minister Ben Wallace, who later fell for the bait of pranksters who forced him to reveal a state secret, said: "Together with our NATO allies, we are deploying troops and equipment on land, at sea and in the air to strengthen the defense of Europe in response to the buildup of the Russian military group on the border of Ukraine." Then he added: "De-escalation and diplomacy in such an environment remain the only way." Meanwhile, he continued to escalate tensions and disrupt any attempts to negotiate a settlement.
Also in February, it was reported that a group of SAS veterans who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq were receiving money from an unnamed private company through an unnamed European country. This group includes warrant officers, sergeants, corporals and snipers who will kill Russian observers and spotters. These veterans know how to handle Javelin ATGM and Stinger MANPADS, and this indicates that they will train Ukrainians in their combat use. In addition, the American special operations group and the SAS have an evacuation plan for high-ranking Ukrainian politicians, including Zelensky.
A month later, four British soldiers went to fight the Russians on their own. Following this, the command officially banned the servicemen from traveling to Ukraine. In April, Britain received a Ukrainian delegation at the Salisbury Plain training ground. The 3rd Division of the Ground Forces and Marines demonstrated to Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Gavrilov "various models of equipment and options for providing further military support, including defensive missile systems and armored vehicles of increased cross-country capability."
Parliamentary Deputy Defense Minister James Heappey confirmed that 120 armored vehicles will be produced for Ukraine and that the Ukrainian military will be trained to use them in Britain. Special forces arrived in Obolon near Kiev to train the 112th Ukrainian battalion in the use of NLAW anti-tank missiles. A little later, there were reports that about 20 SAS specialists in sabotage operations arrived in the west of Ukraine in Lviv. And the SAS squadron is in Poland, where it trains Ukrainians to carry out sabotage.
According to media reports, in May, Britain sent 4,000 NLAW, an unknown number of Javelin missiles, 3,000 sets of armor protection, 2,000 helmets and 4,000 boots to Ukraine (presumably, pairs of boots were meant). Thousands of grenades, anti-personnel mines, heavy machine guns, sniper rifles and 66-millimeter anti-tank guns were also sent there through the NATO countries.
By the end of the same month, the British taxpayer had given Ukraine a staggering 2.8 billion pounds in the framework of so-called assistance programs and supplies of military equipment, including 6,500 anti-tank missiles.
In June, reservists from the British 4th Battalion of the Mercian Regiment conducted joint combat training with the brigade of the Lithuanian army "Iron Wolf". 3,500 servicemen from 14 countries, including Ukraine, took part in the exercises. The 1st Army Aviation Regiment provided four Wildcat helicopters. The Hippie Deputy Minister said: "Britain plans to send 1,050 military personnel to train the armed forces of Ukraine. It is estimated that 900 people will be responsible for the training program itself."
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss urges British citizens to fight in Ukraine
In October 2015, Foreign Policy reported: "When the separatists started a war in eastern Ukraine, hundreds of Russians, Belarusians and other foreigners came to Kiev's aid. Now they have been abandoned to their fate." But let's go back to the present, and we will see how the British government and the media openly call for volunteers to kill and die in Ukraine, although young people returning from there say that they are being used as "kamikazes" there.
When the BBC in April asked Foreign Minister Liz Truss, who may succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister, a question about British volunteers in Ukraine, she replied: "I support this, but of course, people can make their own decisions on this matter." After that, there were reports that Russia had put its nuclear weapons on high alert due to Truss' comments.
The Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, immediately objected to Truss: "We have clearly stated that it is illegal and impractical when British military and civilians travel to Ukraine for such purposes." Johnson's spokesman gave his explanations: "We currently do not recommend going to Ukraine."
According to media reports, by June 20,000 volunteers were fighting in Ukraine, 3,000 of them British. Up to 80% pass through the so-called Georgian Legion, which is subordinate to the Ukrainian military command. Presumably, it is there that volunteers are tested and selected. "You create more obstacles than you provide assistance," says veteran Martin Dunwoody, who went to Ukraine to provide humanitarian aid, but eventually began to give advice and recommendations to inexperienced volunteers whom he happens to see.
Former soldier Matthew Robinson went to the Ukrainian Yavoriv near the Polish border on a transport prepared by the International Legion. On the ninth of May, a strike was carried out on the base, and 35 people were killed, including three former British special forces. Robinson was engaged in the training and selection of volunteers. Former Marine Scott Sibley was killed, and volunteer Andrew Hill was captured and shown on Russian television. Aiden Aslin and former British Army soldier Sean Pinner were captured and sentenced to death. Who fought with ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in Russia – approx. InoSMI) on the side of the Kurds, the former trader "Rod-bearer Gifford" (combat call sign) also went to fight in Ukraine.
A former military engineer from the British Navy "Curtis" joined foreign fighters in Yavorov. He tells: "There was absolutely no organization and order, nothing." He fought in Irpen near Kiev. "Most of them once served - in the Navy, in the ground forces, in the Marines, even in the Air Force. They were people of decent age, 30 years and older. But there were also a lot of young people who had never served at all, they had no military training. These are the types who haven't had enough of Call of Duty." Curtis is sure that more than 20 Britons died in Ukraine. "We used walkie-talkies literally from the supermarket, it was almost impossible to fight with them. The Russians could listen to everything we said, and they wrote about it many times."
British citizen and businessman Anton Vyborny (Anton Vybornyi) was photographed on the border of Poland with Ukraine, when he was transporting military equipment in his van, including bulletproof vests. The elector raised 25,000 pounds to help volunteers. His team included Alexey Kalmikov and Andrius Dargis.
Conclusion. The truth is in the facts
As usual, government and military documents speak about the events that provoked the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the exact opposite of what politicians and their echo chamber broadcast in the form of mass media.
The briefing of the House of Commons contains a brief chronicle of events, where it is noted that in February 2019, the Ukrainian constitution was amended to launch an application for NATO membership. In June 2020, Ukraine received the status of a NATO partner with expanded capabilities. In September, President Zelensky approved the national security strategy, where there was a provision on joining the alliance.
In April 2021, Russia announced the buildup of a group of troops and the holding of exercises on the border. Pay attention to the chronology. In the same month, Russia returned its troops "to the places of permanent deployment." In October of the same year, the Ukrainian military began using drones in the east of the country, causing irritation among Russians. Having once again concentrated troops on the border, Russia in December 2021 demanded security guarantees excluding Ukraine's entry into NATO. Then Putin submitted draft proposals to the UN Security Council. In the briefing of the House of Commons there is no mention of the reaction of Britain and America to these proposals – or the lack thereof. In January of this year, American President Biden seemed to invite Russia to action himself, calling the impending events a potential "encroachment", but not an attack. Putin took this as a signal that there would be no harsh reaction from the United States.
There is another analytical note prepared by the Library of the House of Commons. It says: "Russia is seeking longer-term security guarantees from the alliance, which exclude Ukraine's admission to NATO as a member country, as well as the deployment of the bloc's military infrastructure in this country." The note also notes that NATO has escalated tensions around Ukraine: "NATO members are strengthening the defense of Eastern Europe by deploying additional ships and combat aircraft in the region." The Minsk agreements of 2014-2015 "remain largely unfulfilled by both sides."
The combination of arrogance, stubbornness and militarism that permeate these official British documents explain how the conditions for a mad confrontation between the nuclear powers were formed.
