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Despite the Anglo Alliance of the US-UK claiming that a Russian invasion is “imminent,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation is not “more intense” than it was in April. In fact, despite leading the imminent Russian invasion propaganda since March 2021, he now complains that Western media creates a false image of the situation and hurts the country’s already struggling economy.
“They’re saying ‘the war is tomorrow’ – this causes panic on the market and elsewhere,” he said.
Shortly after Zelensky’s complaints about Western media hysteria, Foreign Policy magazine in an article published titled “Russia Can Win in Ukraine Without Firing a Shot,” tried to shift the blame onto Russia and claimed that Ukraine is becoming more difficult to insure. Because of this, “without sending a single soldier across the border, Russia could make Ukraine’s economy tank.”
It was omitted in Foreign Policy that the Kremlin continually stresses that it has no intentions of war with Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed this again on Friday and said “if it depends on Russia, then there will be no war. We don’t want wars.”
Rather, the current crisis in Ukraine is entirely manufactured and exaggerated by the Anglo Alliance. It appeared unexpectedly over the winter when the Anglo Alliance was more strongly prioritising its resources towards China, especially in the lead up to the Winter Olympics that begins on February 4.
None-the-less, Zelensky said on Friday that $446 million in investments flowed out of the country due to the manufactured crisis. It comes as the Ukrainian economy already struggles and is about to be dealt an even bigger blow when it loses billions of dollars in transit fees as a result of the opening of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. With investors fleeing the country, believing that a Russian invasion is imminent, Kiev has been forced to use reserves to stabilise the hryvnia, Ukraine’s currency. Zelensky has said he will need about $5 billion to stabilise the economy, a disastrous position to be in considering the hryvnia fell to its lowest level against the US dollar in seven years on January 27.
The Ukrainian president also criticised the decision by the Anglo Alliance to withdraw non-essential diplomats, saying: “Yes, I think it was a mistake, I say this openly.” According to Kyiv Independence, Zelensky acknowledged that it was more of Ukraine’s mistake than that of the foreign governments. “Under these circumstances, everyone is essential. Everyone should stay.”
It now appears that Ukraine desperately regrets propagating the idea of an imminent Russian invasion and allowing the Anglo Alliance and its media apparatus to grab hold of this idea. Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov also does not expect an attack, saying “At the moment, the Russian armed forces have not created a single strike unit to indicate that they will launch an attack tomorrow.” In addition, the Supreme Rada abruptly withdrew the “On transitional state policy” bill that was first lodged in August 2021. There, Russia is referred to as the “aggressor” and any documents issued by the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics are recognized as invalid.
With the Ukrainian economy tanking and Anglo diplomats withdrawing from the country, it is now too late for Kiev to rollback what it created itself. By exaggerating a Russian invasion threat, Ukraine expected to have its military bolstered by the West on the cheap and increase its opportunities for NATO and EU membership.
Even worse, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Sunday that it is “very unlikely” British soldiers would be deployed to fight in any conflict. In addition, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said that because Ukraine was not a member of the military alliance, there were “no plans to deploy NATO combat troops.”
In effect, Kiev acted as a willing agent of provocation and tension against Russia on behalf of the Anglo Alliance and NATO, but in turn will not receive troop support if a war is to breakout. Zelensky could have an even bigger crisis to face now – preserving his own position as president if the Ukrainian economy is to completely collapse due to the prioritisation of military provocations instead of economic development.
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Paul Antonopoulos is an independent geopolitical analyst.
