Karaganov, Putin’s adviser: “It’s an existential war with the West. Hitting targets in Europe? It’s possible, if it goes on like this”

Per Sergej Karaganovformer director of Putinthat in Ukraine is one war against the West. Interviewed by Corriere della Serathe head of the Center for Foreign and Defense Policy in Moscow explained that the conflict was in his opinion unavoidable why Ukraine “it was filled with weapons and its troops have been trained by NATO, their army has become stronger and stronger ”. Also, according to him, there has been “a rapid increase in neo-nazi feeling in that country. Ukraine was becoming like the Germany around 1936-‘37“. The version of one of the men most listened to by Putin is the one that Moscow has been propagating since the beginning of the conflict, on the one hand denying the massacres and on the other blaming the Then the moves that led to the invasion ofUkraine.

Admits that his Country struck firstbut he did so “before the threat (Ukrainian, ed) became even more lethal “. A “existential war“That for the author of the ‘Putin doctrine’caused – and still causes – not only deaths, but the loss of “moral superiority“Of the Russians:” Now we are on the same ground as the West. The West has unleashed several attacks. We are now on the same moral ground. Now we are the same, we are doing more or less like you“. It is useless to refer to the diplomatic attempts that could have made Russia desist from invading the neighboring country: “We have had promises of all kinds from the West in these thirty years. But they lied to us or forgot them ”.

L’only big mistake committed by Russia, in Karaganov’s vision, it was accept in 1997 the ‘Founding Treaty‘on Russia-NATO relations, which provided for the enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance. “We signed why we were desperately poor, to collapse – he says – but this enlargement is that of an aggressive alliance. It’s cancer and we wanted to stop this metastasis. We have to do it, with a surgical operation “.

In his opinion, “the mass killings in Kosovo (against the Serbs, ed) occurred after the rape of Serbia. It was an unspeakable attack. And the process to Milosevic was a sad and humiliating show from European pettiness“. Moreover, the Serbian dictator was judged by International Criminal Courtwhose right is not recognized by Russia, such as theEuropean order emerged after the fall of the Berlin Wall: “We don’t have to acknowledge an order built against Russia. We tried to integrate, but it was Versailles 2.0. We had to destroy this order. Not by force, but by constructive destruction by refusing to participate in it. But when our last request to stop NATO was rejected, it was decided to use force ”.

On the objective of the war in Ukraine, the head of the Foreign Policy and Defense Council has clear ideas: “Most of the institutions are, in our opinion, unilateral and illegitimate. They threaten Russia and Eastern Europe. We wanted a just peace, but the greed and stupidity of the Americans and the short-sightedness of the Europeans have revealed to us that these actors do not want it. We have to correct their mistakes“. Listening to his words, the possibility that the conflict could spread and also involve other countries cannot be completely ruled out, because “if it goes on like this, the targets in Europe could be hit or they will be to interrupt the lines of communication “.

A hypothesis, the latter, which does not consider the recent ones failures of the Russian army, such as the withdrawal of troops from the Ukrainian capital. “What if the Kiev operation was meant to distract Ukrainian forces from the main theater in the south and south-east? – he asks rhetorically – Among other things, the Russian troops have been very attentive to do not hit civilian targets, we only used 30-35% of the weapons “. The massacres that took place in recent days and documented by the international media do not make sense, in the vision of Moscow: “The history of bushing it’s a staginga provocation “.

Karagarov ignores the evidence. But he also ignores the resources and people lost in 44 days of war: the Russians are “ready to sacrifice everything this to build a more vital international system. We want to build a fairer and more sustainable international system. Different from that which emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union and which, in turn, is now collapsing. Now we are all merging into chaos. We would like to build the Russian Fortress to defend ourselves from this chaos, even if for this we will become poorer ”. To avoid this, to achieve a ceasefire, “Ukraine must become neutral it’s completely demilitarizzata: no heavy weapons, whatever part of Ukraine remains. This should be guaranteed by outside powers, including Russia, and no military exercises should take place in the country unless one of the sponsors is against. Ukraine should be a peaceful bearing “.

–