Putin pretends war plans are devised by Russia’s General Staff and says he wants to be Ukraine’s security guarantor

OLENA ROSHCHINA — THURSDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2022, 18:55

Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, has not revealed to his citizens what his goals were in starting a war against Ukraine; he also stated that only Russia could be the guarantor of Ukraine's integrity and sovereignty.

Source: Putin, in a live-streamed speech at the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Moscow

Details: The presenter asked Putin to clarify what the plan behind the so-called "special military operation" was, because "society did not really understand".

The Russian president answered only in general terms and pretended that the key decisions are made by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Quote from Putin: "The most important thing is to help Donbas. If we had acted differently, we would not have been able to deploy our armed forces on both sides of Donbas. That’s the first thing. Secondly, the Luhansk People's Republic has been completely liberated. Military measures related to the Donetsk Republic are underway.

And, of course, when our troops approached from both the south and the north, it became obvious that the people living in these territories, which are historically Novorossiya, see their future with Russia. How could we not respond to that?" [Novorossiya, literally "New Russia", is a historical name used during the era of the Russian Empire for the area immediately north of the Black Sea and Crimea - ed.]

Details: Putin noted that the current state of affairs is a "logical continuation" of the situation he created.

Quote from Putin: "There was a plan and only one goal, to help the people living in Donbas. We started from this point. And what exactly the General Staff is planning there... Well, it is necessary... I know, of course, but this is not a case where it is necessary to talk about this in detail."

Details: Before that, Putin stated that Ukraine "was created as an artificial state", that Lenin "gave" the entire Donbas back to Ukraine and transferred "all of Malorossiya" to it, and that Stalin "transferred a number of Polish, Hungarian and Romanian territories to Ukraine". [Malorossiya, literally "Little Russia", is a geographical and historical term used to describe the modern-day territories of Ukraine, and a term that many Ukrainians consider disparaging, as it indicates imperial Russian culture that suppresses Ukrainian identity – ed.]

"The only real, serious guarantor of Ukrainian statehood, sovereignty and territorial integrity could only be Russia, which created today's Ukraine," the Russian president declared, summing up his manipulation of history.

Background: Russia is seizing territories in Ukraine’s south and east; earlier, it made attempts to seize the north and centre of Ukraine, and then it committed a second act of annexation [of four Ukrainian oblasts], despite being a guarantor of Ukraine's territorial integrity under the Budapest Memorandum.

CNN has reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin was giving directions to generals in the field himself, and the Russian military did not have a unified strategy on how to counter the Ukrainian defenders.

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