Miscellaneous News

Part 1

Basically, this conflict was provoked by Ukraine with the support of the West, which all these years did not notice the genocide of the Russian population in the Donbass, did not notice the genocide of the Russian population in Ukraine itself, says Azarov.

At the end of 2013, a conflict erupted in Ukrainian society, which turned into a bloody civil war in the centre of Europe. Even then, the authorities and the official media in the EU and the rest of the 'democratic world' took a firm stance in support of the Ukrainian rulers, covering up the horrific war crimes they were committing and giving them the halo of worthy fighters for democracy and territorial integrity.

When the logical thing happened and the local armed conflict grew and covered large parts of the country, including Russia, hysterically invited to war by the West and their Ukrainian puppets since 2014, the societies in the "democratic world" were already prepared by the propaganda to accept Russia as an aggressor that attacked Ukraine for no reason, and Ukraine itself as a civilized and democratic country that should be supported in every possible way in the war and whose place is in the composition of the EU.

Did Russia attack a peaceful Ukraine in 2022, or did the West ruin the country in order to use it as a tool against Russia - this is a question that can only be answered if one knows the facts and all the points of view in this conflict. Unfortunately, one point of view is being hysterically pushed through the mainstream media in our country, while the other is being pushed on social networks and privately funded websites and blogs.

In an attempt to help Bulgarian journalists learn about the ignored position of Ukrainians in our country, who have been fighting for peace in their country for eight years, an initiative group of journalists and intellectuals organised a teleconference with Mykola Azarov, where all present could ask questions to the famous Ukrainian politician. The event took place at the end of July in the hall of the Union of Bulgarian Journalists. Here we present the whole conversation with Mykola Yanovych Azarov.

Mykola Yanovych Azarov is a long-time Ukrainian politician, Prime Minister of Ukraine from March 2010 to January 27, 2014. Before that, he was deputy prime minister twice, minister of finance, head of the tax administration.

Transcript:

Dear Bulgarian journalists, I am glad that I have the opportunity to address you with an introductory speech, and then you will have the opportunity to ask questions, which I will try to answer. But first of all I want to say a few facts that you need to know and understand in order to have a good idea of what is happening now in Ukraine.

First of all, according to the Constitution, Ukraine was a non-aligned neutral state, a social state in which the equality of all peoples living in our country was ensured. Ukraine is a multinational country, there live Ukrainians, Russians, Bulgarians, Tatars, Jews, etc. More than one hundred and twenty nationalities.

The event that opened the process of turning Ukraine into a Nazi state was the coup d'état of February 21, 2014, which at one point destroyed the Constitution, canceled all legal norms of the current Constitution. Ukraine became a country of lawlessness, a country where the rights of all nations living in Ukraine began to be violated, and above all, the rights of the Russians, of the Russian-speaking population, which constituted about half of the population of Ukraine, began to be violated.

The first event was the cancellation of the rights of Russian-speaking people to use the Russian language. Such a law was passed on February 22, the day after the coup d'état. In response to these events, riots broke out in Crimea and in the southeastern part of the country. The unrest was strongest in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Odessa and a number of other cities: Kherson, Nikolaev, etc. An open suppression of the protests begins with the help of the army, the police, the use of tanks, weapons. In response, Crimea seceded, and an uprising began in Donbas.

Practically similar uprisings in Odessa and Kharkiv were brutally suppressed, thousands of people were shot. And in Odessa, as you know, dissenters were surrounded in the trade union building, the building was set on fire and more than 100 people were burned alive. This is the beginning of the events that led to this tragic conflict that is now happening in Ukraine. During all these eight years, the Kyiv regime of Poroshenko, and then of Zelensky, who replaced him, continued the conflict in Donbass. Every day, the cities and villages of Donbas were shelled. More than 15,000 civilians, including 300 children, have died in that period alone, according to official UN figures. And according to unofficial data, the number of victims is tens of thousands. About 30,000 buildings were destroyed. Schools, kindergartens, enterprises. More than two million people emigrated from Donbass to Russia, and several million people left Ukraine during this period because they lost their jobs.

These events led to the fact that Russia announced a special military operation, and essentially this conflict was provoked by Ukraine with the support of Western countries, which for all these years did not notice the genocide of the Russian population in Donbas, did not notice the genocide of the Russian population in itself Ukraine.

Suffice it to say that teaching Russian in schools was banned, Russian literature was banned, writers like Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and many, many others were banned. There it is in a nutshell.

The Ukrainian economy was destroyed in those eight years. Ukraine has become a beggar's country. It is the poorest country in Europe and one of the poorest countries in the world. In terms of mortality, Ukraine ranks first in the world in the number of deaths per 10,000 people of the population, and compared to 2013, the standard of living of the population has fallen several times. And we lived, our people lived, generally better than the inhabitants of Bulgaria. If we talk about it, if we compare the level of food prices, housing and communal services and other expenses of citizens, at that time our citizens had higher incomes than, for example, in Romania and Bulgaria, and higher than in Russia.

That was in 2013. Now there's nothing to even compare it to. All public guarantees of human rights and freedoms have been destroyed and abolished, there is no political opposition, all opposition political parties, all opposition media are banned and liquidated, they are simply closed, they do not exist. There are only those who support the line followed by the Zelensky regime.

Zelensky's regime is a puppet regime, people have gathered around him who have no idea how such a large country as Ukraine is governed. And suffice it to say that during these eight years Ukraine's gross domestic product has more than halved. The activity of all industrial enterprises has been stopped. Ukraine has become an appendage, essentially an agricultural appendage of European countries. Here is a brief overview of what is happening in Ukraine.

So, peace in Ukraine is certainly possible, the existence of Ukraine as an independent state is certainly possible, but this requires a change of regime, the coming to power of a nationally oriented leadership that is guided above all by the interests of the people of Ukraine.

- Yesterday the Bulgarian government decided to expel 70 Russian diplomats. What do you think about this?

- Yes, I know about this event, what can I tell you, it is an absolutely hostile act. In general, Bulgaria and the peoples of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation have long-standing, very good, friendly relations. I have always had a very warm attitude towards Bulgaria and Bulgarians, of course. By the way, among my closest friends... I lived in Donetsk, there was a very large Bulgarian diaspora there. I don't know if you know, in Donetsk, in Mariupol there were whole Bulgarian villages. One of my friends was Bulgarian by nationality, so I can only regret that the Bulgarian government implemented this puppet position, following the course of the absolutely aggressive and stupid policy of the European Union and NATO countries. The expulsion of 70 diplomats, still a lot, this is practically the liquidation of the Russian embassy, this is the freezing of all relations.

I note that Bulgaria's relations with the countries... previously with the Soviet Union, with the Russian Federation, have always been very mutually beneficial. And now, what the Bulgarian government is doing, of course, does not meet the interests of the people of Bulgaria. That's my point of view.

Why did I always compare Ukraine with Bulgaria, with Romania, because Bulgaria has been a member of the European Union for 15 years, and we were about to sign an association agreement with the European Union, and I carefully observed the economic characteristics, the social characteristics of such countries as Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and I saw, somewhere nominal wages are higher, but if we compare prices, then this difference in wages was equalized in favor of Ukraine. And we had much cheaper gasoline and gas, costs for housing and communal services than in Bulgaria, for example.

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- Why did you postpone the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU in 2013?

- Good question, thank you for that. Actually, the association agreement as we refused to sign it was signed after the coup d'état. So it is very easy to compare the warnings that I gave about this association agreement with what has really happened in these eight years.

Let us take one point that is so serious, which I warned my people about and tried to correct in the association agreement with the European Union - this is a free trade area. That was an important part of the agreement. We were opening up our market to the goods of the European Union, while the European Union was effectively keeping its market closed. Why? Because it was included in the association agreement, and we have been trying for three years to change this situation, that industrial goods supplied to the European Union from Ukraine must meet the standards and norms of the European Union's technical regulation.

As you know, Ukraine's industry, which we inherited from the Soviet Union, operated according to its own standards. These standards were sometimes stricter than the European Union's standards, in most cases they were stricter, especially with regard to food quality, for example. In some places they were lighter, but in general they were absolutely, shall we say, normal. For example, say, the deviation of the frequency of the current in electrical appliances from the accepted one, the deviation parameter. I could go on quoting many such technical norms. As a result, it turned out that every refrigerator manufactured in European Union countries had access to the Ukrainian market, but our refrigerator did not. Why? Because by some parameters, technically, by half a degree, by half a hertz, or there by a quarter of a hertz, or by some other parameters, somewhere it did not meet.

And that is what worried me, because it meant that we were opening up our market for free to the strong, competitive sector of the European Union, and we ourselves were getting nothing in return. That is why I put the question to the leadership of the European Union: we need to rebuild our industry to your standards, but that takes a lot of money and a lot of time. We estimated that it would take about eight years to rebuild all our factories, plants, factories to European Union standards and, for example, as a minimum, about EUR 100 billion. The European Union refused to do this.

The second point that did not suit us was the imposition of quotas, or the quota principle for the delivery of our agricultural products. Just think, they gave us a quota of 20,000 tonnes of wheat that we could supply to the European Union duty free and everything else with duty. That is, free trade zones, say, for agricultural products did not work. I think there was 10,000 tons of meat there, I don't remember exactly anymore, such ridiculous quotas were planned for us, which basically closed the market to us.

And who defined them? They were determined by the Poles, the French and other agricultural producers who were afraid of the competition of high-quality, technological and volume production ... because we had already reached a grain production level of 70 million tons and could export about 40 million tons, even more. And so the European Union set us a norm of 20,000 tons.

There was a drought in the European Union, I think in 2012, and then the leadership of the European Union approached us with a request to supply 500,000 tons of wheat to the European Union market. And then I, so to speak, scathingly told them: people, you were just proving to us that you do not need more than 20,000 tons, and now you need 500,000 tons, and we can supply you with 5 million. In addition, our grain was of higher quality than the French grain, saturated with herbicides, chemical fertilizers and so on, environmentally friendly.

Therefore, the association agreement was not equal, but after the coup d'état, when the puppets Poroshenko, Yatsenyuk came to power, they instantly signed this agreement. And so eight years passed, even before the start of the military operation, before February, Ukraine practically lost almost all of its industry. The tractor and aircraft industries are suspended, we stopped making satellites, space rockets, we don't make airplanes, etc. The question is who won by Ukraine becoming the poorest country in Europe? And I already said, we were at the level of Bulgaria and Romania. Who won?

That is why we refused to sign this agreement in this form, it was not profitable for us and this has been confirmed in these eight years.

Another fact is that at that time we had a free trade zone within the former Soviet Union, that is, we concluded an agreement in 2012 on duty-free trade with Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and a number of other countries. That is, we had a market for our products, a very large one, it is almost 250 million people, and in case of signing such an agreement with the European Union, our eastern partners told us: choose either a free trade zone with us, or with them, or we sit down and solve the issues of how the goods from the European Union go to our Ukrainian market duty-free, and then from our market to Russia duty-free. And Russia and the European Union do not have any agreement on a free trade area. This is a huge question, the cost of these questions is tens and hundreds of billions of dollars or euros. We put this question to the leadership of the European Union, but the European Union took a firm position: choose either the EU or Russia!

To go to the European Union and cut all economic ties with Russia, with whom we had 35% of the total trade and from where we get cheap gas, oil, uranium materials, etc., was suicide for us. Therefore, we could not agree to such an unlawful arrangement. This is the reason. Therefore, if the country's leadership is guided above all by national interests, it becomes uncomfortable for the collective West. And by the way, following the example of Bulgaria and Romania, I see it very well. And not only. Ask the Baltics what they gained from joining the European Union. The Baltic countries, let's say, like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. I know very well, I have been there on visits, unofficial and official. What did they win? A third of the population of these countries emigrated, and the countries are small. A third of the population, practically no industry, lives on subsidies. If the European Union stops doping these countries tomorrow, they will scatter around the world.

Therefore, I emphasize once again, globalization means that we have to open our markets, and those markets that were closed to us remain closed. Even if they are formally open, in order to enter these markets, it is necessary to carry out an extremely serious modernization of the industry. Well, tell us who does it, in these same Baltic states, in Bulgaria and Romania, who deals with it? For example, do you have a program for the development of your economy for the next 20 years? 100% sure there is no such program.

- Don't you have the feeling that some people from Ukraine have undergone unnatural changes in thinking?

- Of course, this issue has its own complex nature. When the process of disintegration of the Soviet Union began... And as you know, the communist ideology dominated the Soviet Union, in which internationalism was an integral part, that is, we have neither Ukrainians, nor Russians, nor Tatars, nor Mongols, but there are Soviet people who live friendly, living together, which creates its common culture, its common economy, and within these cultures distinctive national cultures develop. That was the ideology.

So, the ideologues of the collapse of the Soviet Union Gorbachev, Yakovlev, Shevarnadze did not think of anything better, these were the leaders of the Soviet Union at that time, than to destroy the Soviet Union through nationalism. That is, to instill in the peoples of the Soviet Union the feeling that someone is oppressing them, that someone is preventing them, that they are living like a colony. And so, nationalism began to rear its head in its most primitive, crudest forms. For example, in Ukraine they said, it was in the year 89, 90, 91, that supposedly Russia was robbing Ukraine, that food and goods were being exported from Ukraine and all this was going to poor, unfortunate Russia, and that is why Ukraine was living so badly . The entire procedure for the collapse of the Soviet Union was built on this primitive psychology.

This is very easily perceived by people, because it is easier for such simple, stupid ideas to enter the head that as soon as we separate, we will live better. Moreover, these things were not said in the markets, they were said by the leaders of the then Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of Kravchuk and the like. And nationalist currents began to develop, which took the form of enmity, primarily with Russia.

As an economist, as a long-time leader, a member of the country's leadership, of governments at various levels, I was a minister, prime minister, I perfectly understood that the situation is exactly the opposite, that absolutely all national republics are subsidized at the expense of Russia. And the Baltics and Ukraine. Subsidized in what way? For example, gas was supplied to us absolutely free, oil was supplied to us absolutely free, etc., etc. Our factories and enterprises were built free of charge for us, I mean for the people of Ukraine. In practice, huge annual subsidies were given to develop the coal industry, which was unprofitable.

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But all these facts never appeared on the screen or anywhere else, and thus, for 30 years, the population of Ukraine was brought up in a hostile attitude towards Russia. And the European Union was presented as the bearer of everything most progressive, everything best, which is worth taking as an example. Let's take Germany as a model and we will live like in Germany. I always told my people: guys, in order to live like in Germany, we have to do like the Germans for about 1000 years. Well, not 1000 years, but at least 500. And to live like in Germany, we must be German, respect the law, obey all the regulations, be obedient and so on... When we develop this legal culture, then we will close to Germany.

But we don't need to get any closer to Germany. Our country Ukraine, according to its potential capabilities, should live much better than this poor Germany. Can you tell me what's in Germany? There is nothing. Poor soil, brown coal. What else is there in Germany? But there are centuries of labor that made Germany a highly developed European country based on the resources they extracted from other countries. And we don't have to extract any resources. We have the entire Mendeleev table. We have an educated people, we have excellent scientists, specialists. We were building the best wide-body aircraft in the world. No one has yet managed to reach the AN-70, no one, neither Airbus nor Boeing, has been able to create such an aircraft as we created in the late 1980s and early 1990s and exhibited in the showroom of La Bourget in Paris. It is the largest wide-body aircraft in the world. We created the Mriya aircraft that can lift space rockets, satellites, shuttles, etc.

There is no need to strive to become Germany, we must be guided first of all by our own interests, and our interests are to live in peace and friendship with all our neighbors, with absolutely everyone and above all with the Russian Federation. You have to be an idiot and a fool to come into conflict with Russia. Just an idiot and a fool and an enemy of his people. Such were Zelensky and Poroshenko.

- We have information that Russia has found evidence of experiments in biolaboratories in Ukraine...

- That's absolutely true. In Ukraine, in 2008, Tymoshenko's government signed an agreement with the US Department of Defense, more precisely, such an agreement was signed between the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the United States Department of Defense, to create a network of biological laboratories in Ukraine, allegedly to protect against deadly infections, etc. Permission to sign such an agreement was given to the Ministry of Health by the Tymoshenko government. The creation of such laboratories began, they were created in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and a number of other cities. The budget for these laboratories was provided by the United States Department of Defense.

When our government came to power in 2010, the Ministry of Health, where the entire leadership was changed, posed the question to the government: what are these laboratories, what do they do. Because the agreement was secret. Top Secret. And in this agreement, they acted on the principle of extraterritoriality, that is, these laboratories were not subordinate to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and, accordingly, to the Government of Ukraine. And they were not allowed to provide any information to the government of Ukraine.

We were surprised by this arrangement. Of course, we knew Yushchenko and Tymoshenko well, they were 100% American agents, and the fact that under the pressure of the Americans they agreed to create such laboratories did not surprise us. We demanded from the Americans that our specialists be admitted for inspection. In my opinion, by two years there was correspondence, refusals, all kinds of delays, etc. Finally, in 2013, we sent a letter to the USA with a request that these laboratories be closed, since we cannot agree to operate on our territory any biological laboratories that we do not understand.

And now, as far as I know, the data from such a biological laboratory in Kharkiv is in the possession of the Russian Ministry of Defense, and the documents are partly disclosed, partly studied, but they confirm our fears, that our fears were absolutely legitimate. In general, Americans behave quite brazenly in Ukraine. I must say that on their instructions, for three or four years, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine was headed by the American Ulyana Suprun, that is, a person with American citizenship headed the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

Is this normal? We have the highest death rate in Ukraine, for that alone I would fire every minister if it were me. The health system has been destroyed, we see this even when dealing with the wounded, the personnel who were injured during the military conflict. Our health care system is completely destroyed. So, I can confirm, there were such biolaboratories, and this is not compatible with the status of a sovereign, independent state, which Ukraine was considered to be.

- Why did a military conflict arise between Russia and Ukraine?

- The military conflict between Russia and Ukraine was provoked, of course, by the Americans. It was they who prevented the implementation of the Minsk agreements. Why do I speak so confidently about this? Because of the degree of control over all state structures by the Americans, you can't even imagine what it is about... Although if we look at Romania and even your country Bulgaria, there is also serious foreign influence there, very serious. But in our country it has crossed all borders. Our judges, prosecutors, law enforcement structures, such as the Anti-Corruption Agency and a number of others, are staffed by the Americans. All judicial selection committees pass through the American filter. This financial credit support from America precludes the conduct of an independent policy in Ukraine. It just shuts down.

Well, Biden, when he was vice president and gave a press conference after his resignation, directly said: I told Poroshenko, if you don't replace the Prosecutor General Shokin, you won't get a billion loan. He said it, I'm not saying it, he said it at the press conference. You can easily check the TV archives and find this interview of his. What can be said next?

If the Americans had told Poroshenko or Zelensky, implement the Minsk Agreements... After all, what are the "Minsk Agreements"? The territorial integrity of Ukraine is preserved by granting autonomy to the Donbass, and that's all. Peace be upon you, do not shell Donbass, let this Donbass, as a part of Ukraine, by the right of autonomy, implement its national cultural policy, first of all for the rights of the Russian-speaking population. In Donbas there are 95% Russian people, Russians by birth. Therefore, do not touch the Donbass, do not prevent them from living as they see fit, and you live as you want. This is the meaning of the Minsk agreements. But the Americans were not interested /in their implementation/, they needed a conflict that would weaken Russia as their main rival, that would allow the introduction of economic sanctions, would allow the introduction of other restrictions, etc.

Therefore, for eight years they stomped in place and engaged in idle talk. I said right away that all these Minsk agreements are basically false agreements that will simply enable the strengthening of the regime in Kyiv. And so it happened, because during all these eight years the opposition was liquidated, the opposition media was liquidated, the Kiev regime was strengthened by creating Nazi units, death squads.

Look, how many politicians were killed, it is impossible to count... Not a single media reported about it. How many of our comrades were simply killed, were forced to leave the country, were in prison. Please tell me... the only human rights defender in Ukraine, Yelena Berezhnaya, after her speech at the UN Security Council on the topic of human rights in Ukraine, was imprisoned. Is this normal? What do the permanent members of the Security Council think about this? If a citizen of Ukraine, after a public speech in the Security Council of Ukraine, is accused of treason and imprisoned... Is this normal? She is the only human rights defender, director of the Institute of Legal Policy and Social Protection in Ukraine.

Therefore, a military conflict was reached, it was inevitable, the only question was who would start first. The Kiev regime had concentrated a large group in Donbas, about 125 - 150,000 military personnel, that is three quarters of the Ukrainian army. Why had he concentrated them there, do you think? And sometime in October or November, the famous analyst from the Stanford Center, George Friedman, published a large material in which he outlined the scheme according to which the events in Donbas will develop. He made virtually no mistakes. This was very reliable information, reliable information. And the way the military conflict is being conducted now shows that the Kiev regime was preparing to quickly crush the resistance of the Donetsk and Luhansk militia corps. These, of course, were weak military units. Unconditionally, within three or four days they could take over Donbass. And this created a mortal danger for the population that lived there. Because it was clear what kind of purges were taking place in Kharkiv, Odessa and other southeastern centers of ours. In general, of course, the conflict could be avoided, but for this it was necessary to change the leadership of Ukraine.

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- Zelensky won the elections with promises to stop the war in Donbas...

- And Poroshenko also came and won the elections... Well, under Poroshenko, the elections were manipulated, but it doesn't matter, that's in the past. He also came with a promise to stop the war in Donbass. He said he would stop it within five days, but as you know, the war under his leadership lasted five years in Donbass. And if you remember, Poroshenko made such a statement that our children will go to school, and their children will sit in basements. Was it so? That's exactly how it was and I'm not making it up, it can be checked in the archives. Someone in the West of the so-called civilized countries to be outraged? Now, if Scholz divided his population in two and said that one part would go to school, the other part would sit in basements, would he remain Chancellor? I doubt. I highly doubt it. And here everything got out of control.

Poroshenko's regime is rotten because the regime in Kyiv is characterized by three words. This is corruption, first of all, it is violence against its citizens and fraud. These three words very clearly characterize the regime, because under Poroshenko the country entered a period of total corruption at all levels.

I thought that when Zelensky came, maybe he would reduce it in some way, but on the contrary, under Zelensky, corruption took on a total character. It covered absolutely all spheres of management at the regional level, at the district level, at the state level. Officials, deputies, ministers, etc. Despite the fact that some laws were passed that were not implemented at all, they were passed only to show something to the European Union: "here we passed". So many bodies were created that should fight corruption... Even a High specialized anti-corruption court was created, that is, they broke the judicial vertical of the state. Instead of one Supreme Court, there were two Supreme Courts. One court is general and the other, you see, is for corruption. And what then, has corruption decreased? No. The Europeans themselves put the fight against corruption in the first place in their demands for the candidacy of Ukraine and the EU. But it is impossible to fight those who create corruption.

Zelensky's regime itself provoked and created this corruption. Zelensky's entire entourage is mired in corruption. Ask how Zelensky managed to become a billionaire during this time... Americans know this very well. All his offshore accounts, all the scams with Privatbank, all the connections with Kolomoisky, everything is known, but he arranged them. This is the puppet that obediently does everything it is told.

Now the second point - the violence. This is a country where there are dozens, if not hundreds, of Nazi organizations whose sole mission is to terrorize the population.

The fraud...the fraud is total. Zelensky and his entire entourage lie about everything, everyone and everywhere. If Poroshenko, and I know him very well as a person for 20 years, is a pathological liar, he even lied when he didn't have to, then Zelensky is an actor who is prompted and utters texts prepared for him without thinking that these texts are false. He talks about victories at the front, when the scale of losses in manpower has already acquired an unthinkable character, and he hides this from his people.

That's why I hurt for my people, I hurt for my country, but all this can only change with a change of government. And I have no hope that the Europeans will realize it, because the Europeans themselves are absolutely, so to speak, vassal in their attitude towards the Americans. And the Americans follow their strategic line, they have two rivals, two enemies, these are Russia and China. And of course, so to speak, they have a position to weaken China as much as possible by economic means and Russia by military means.

- Did you know about Zelensky's drug addiction?

- Honestly, I didn't know. I didn't know much about Zelensky at all. This was, so to speak, an ordinary comedian, who was invited to various events such as birthdays, paid with him, as a rule, in cash, and therefore to say that this person has some idea of state discipline, knows what the Constitution is , what with legal order, it is not serious. Just a completely unprepared person. But they created an image for him.

There were about 30 episodes about such an uncompromising anti-corruption teacher Goloborodko, and people were simply deceived, the most primitive deception technologies were used, that supposedly this actor would be such a fighter against corruption. He plays his role well, now he plays the role of commander-in-chief who leads the armed struggle, etc. But in the end, it is clear to any normal person that he is not leading any struggle, everything is decided there for him and he does not play any role, he only appears in a T-shirt...

As for drugs, I've heard a lot about it, I hear from people close to him, but I don't want to talk about it because I personally don't have any data, and what I've heard, I'm sure you've heard too.

- What happened in 2014 - an armed coup or a democratic change of power?

- The very question you ask seems completely absurd. What democratic change of power can we talk about when, according to the Constitution, the presidential elections were supposed to be in January 2015, and we are talking about the events of February 2014, that is, there was a year left until the elections. What kind of democratic change of power can we talk about if they tried to kill the legally elected president of the country. Just like Gaddafi, just like Saddam Hussein at the time... They just tried to kill him, destroy him. What kind of democratic change of power can we talk about if the Constitution does not provide for the post of "acting president"... Such a position simply does not exist. There is a certain procedure for removing the president from power, it contains a number of points, none of these points corresponded to the moment when, under the threat of assassination, Yanukovych was forced to leave Kyiv.

What to talk about if already after I resigned ... And I resigned because Yanukovych offered my resignation in exchange for a political settlement of the conflict and we had an agreement with him that I would write a resignation letter and he would announce it only when the square will be freed, the government buildings will be freed from the conspirators: the building of the Ministry of Agriculture, the building of the Kyiv City Hall, the House of Trade Unions. When the armed fighters are withdrawn from the city, when the legal authority in Kyiv is restored, that's when I will resign. That is, my resignation in exchange for a political settlement of this crisis. Yanukovych agreed, but as soon as I signed my application, he made it public. Then I told him: my resignation is a direct way to remove you from the post of president, which is what happened.

What kind of democratic change of power can we talk about if my car, in which my wife was, was fired upon, fired with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Miraculously my wife was not hurt, just a miracle. Tell me, what does my wife have to do with the coup? Did anyone even say a word, protest or remark? What kind of democratic change of power can we talk about when, after the coup, murders of Party of Regions activists began across the country, when the headquarters of the Party of Regions in Kyiv was burned down, where two technical workers were killed. In the center of Kyiv, the building of the party headquarters was set on fire and two people were killed. When absolutely all regional, district, city branches of the Party of Regions, the ruling party at the time, were defeated. Many of the activists were killed or forced to flee. What is this - a democratic change of power?

Or do the governments of Germany and France, whose embassies were in Kyiv and who, I know for sure, every day send quite objective, truthful reports about what was happening in Kyiv, do not know about this? Everyone knew very well, and Merkel knew, and Hollande knew, and everyone else knew.

What kind of democratic change of power are we talking about if, on the 21st, they sign an agreement on political regulation between Yanukovych and the so-called opposition, whose guarantors were the German foreign minister, the French foreign minister, the Polish foreign minister. Three guarantors signed, and on the same day a crowd of armed men set out to kill Yanukovych. On the same day, the buildings of the presidential administration, the government and the Supreme Council were captured. On the same day, under the barrel of machine guns, the deputies voted for the absolutely illegal removal of Yanukovych, the removal of the chairman of the Supreme Council, the illegal election of a certain Turchynov as chairman of the Supreme Council, and Turchynov suddenly became the acting president begins the appointment of ministers, etc. What kind of democratic power change is this?

Of course, I was surprised that this coup d'état in the center of Europe was recognized as a "democratic revolution". After the 14th year, Ukraine ceased to be a legal state, this is what you need to understand. And the fact that now Ukraine, the regime in Kyiv, has received the status of a candidate for the EU, means that the leaders of the EU countries like such a Ukraine. Ukraine, which is completely lacking in human rights, completely lacking in democratic freedoms, in which there is a complete lack of any opposition, in which live a poor people who are forced to fight Russia. This is the country that likes to be a member of the European Union.

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- Is the so-called legal anti-terrorist operation and the use of the army in internal conflicts?

- You ask a strange question. The Constitution of Ukraine prohibits the use of the army in internal conflicts in the country, prohibits it in plain text. And Yanukovych had the opportunity to crush this conspiracy against him with the help of the army, but he did not do it, as you know. He did not give the order to use force at all when the so-called "Maidan Defense Battalions" of armed fighters were formed. Already at that moment, knowing what was happening and having all the absolutely legal powers to eliminate this conspiracy, he said to me: I do not want the blood of my people on my hands. And those who replaced him were not afraid of blood, they shed the blood of tens of thousands of people.

The population of Ukraine has decreased. When I was prime minister, the population of Ukraine was 42.5 million people, now we are removing Crimea - 2.5 million - 40 million remain, we will remove 8 million from Donbas - 32 million remain, we reduce 6 million people who left Ukraine - 26 million remain. And we will reduce approximately 700 thousand per year from the population. How many remained in Ukraine? About 20 million people. That is, in eight years, these scoundrels have reduced the population of Ukraine by almost half. No country in Europe knows such a rate of extinction. Probably even historically only the plague and smallpox could have caused such a degree of extinction in the country.

Therefore, the so-called anti-terrorist operation was absolutely unconstitutional and a normal Constitutional Court would have annulled it, but we did not have a normal Constitutional Court, it was simply liquidated. It has not worked at all for two years now. And during these years, when this anti-terrorist operation took place, he was simply made a puppet, obedient and non-working.

- What effect would EU rules have on Ukraine? Industry development or collapse?

- So that you can imagine what Donbas is... Historically, Donbas developed as the main industrial center of the Russian Empire. Why did it develop as such? Because the reserves of coking coal, the reserves of thermal coal, the reserves of ore, the favorable geographical location, near the port of Mariupol, are concentrated in one place. And that's why energy, metallurgy, chemical industry and mechanical engineering began to develop in this center. Because the coal industry implies energy and mechanical engineering.

For example, at the request of the refractory industry, quarries began to be developed, and the bowels of Donbas are rich in everything, everything that is needed for the development of metallurgy, everything was in Donbas. And in Soviet times, Donbas began to melt steel, and the highest quality in the world. I emphasize the highest quality. Armor steel was rolled, I reveal some secrets, now we can talk about them. That is, the most expensive types of steel were produced in Donbas and Donbas, of course, to some extent was a competitor of the industry of the European Union and other centers of metallurgy. But after the European Union began to move, so to speak, "harmful production" to the periphery, I do not think that Donbass was in any way a competitor of the European Union. However, the European Union regularly conducted anti-dumping investigations against our semi-finished products, against our products, introduced quotas and various restrictions.

In practice, with this increase in the consumption of metals in the world, which happened in the last decade, Donbass was the golden piggy bank of Ukraine. It brought Ukraine about a third of foreign exchange earnings. Imagine, Donbas produced a third of foreign exchange earnings for Ukraine. He had all the opportunities for his development. Unfortunately, these privatization processes that came to Ukraine in the early 2000s, which transferred almost all serious industry into private hands and far from quality hands, to be honest, they limited the development of Donbass. Of course, Donbass was not developing at the pace at which it developed in Soviet times, production by all indicators .... If, say, in Soviet times 150 million tons of coal were mined, then recently the output fell to 40 million tons, our government raised it to 40 million and now it has fallen to 20 million tons. You see the degree of degradation.

And what is coal? Coal is energy, less energy is needed now, less coke is needed, which means less steel is melted, etc. This is the degradation, it happened as a result, once again I emphasize that all these enterprises went through the process of predatory privatization and began to work without a future, without development. And I, as prime minister, developed a program for the modernization of industry, including in Donbass. It was a serious ten-year program that provided for a transition to more environmentally friendly productions, more productive, which ultimately provided not for the export of semi-finished products from metallurgical production abroad, but for the production of finished products. A serious, big program, but it was foiled by a coup d'état. No one came back to her again.

In general, after the coup d'état, all strategic programs for the development of the country, infrastructure simply stopped being financed and were forgotten. We forgot that we have 15 nuclear units of power plants, which... some of them are already out of service, they need to be modernized and expanded. Some of them are about to go out, that is, it is a dangerous production of electricity using nuclear sources. Very dangerous, they must be stored and kept in good condition at all times. But temporary leaders came, for whom the main task is to fill their pockets, to fulfill the wishes of the Americans, that's all, nothing else is needed. That is why there is a degradation, a very rapid degradation of the state.

- How do you see the future of Donbass?

- I am optimistic about the future of Donbass. I emphasize once again, it was already prepared by God, mother nature ordered that both natural resources and human resources be concentrated in Donbass. Despite the losses, after all, Donbass has the highest qualified human potential, I mean for industry. Of course, the destruction that was caused during the military operation .... But why was it caused? Because, for example, the plant in Azovstal should not be turned into a battle arena, no military units, no artillery installations should be placed there, that is, the leadership of the Kyiv regime deliberately created a situation of destruction of its industrial base. They knew that Donbass was not theirs, Donbass would never be part of Ukraine, so they did not feel sorry for such enterprises as Azovstal, for example, the Ilyich plant, which together produced 15 million tons of steel a year. It is a huge enterprise even on a global scale. As for the reconstruction, I think that Donbass will be restored because, I emphasize once again, there is the favorable location of absolutely all sources of resources to ensure that with minimal logistical costs ..... Well, imagine that you transport coal from Siberia for example, or from Australia, or pick it up nearby. Some mines of the coke plant are located at a distance of one kilometer, they can be fed by a conveyor. That is, it does not need to be transported by train, distilled thousands of kilometers. I believe in the future of Donbas, there is no other way out.

When Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk came to power, they started hammering into people's heads that Donbass is subsidized, that Ukraine allegedly subsidizes Donbass, that Ukraine does not need Donbass and without Donbass Ukraine will develop, but we see how it develops. Crashed twice. I was asking a simple question: exercise your brain, does Ternopil Oblast border Ukraine or Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, where there is nothing but forests? There is nothing, there is no industry. The entire west of Ukraine has always been subsidized. I know it well. For one year I worked as the Minister of Finance. The entire west of Ukraine was subsidized. Where did the grants come from? They took from the Southeast. That is, Donbas fed Ukraine, Zaporozhye fed Ukraine, Kharkiv, the Southeast... And all other regions were subsidized. About 20 districts were subsidized, well, some of them were at zero.

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And there were deeply subsidized ones, like the Western ones, where the male population went out to work, and the women too, where practically nothing was produced. Despite our efforts to uplift these areas, unfortunately there was no period of stability. I have worked in three governments of Ukraine. One government worked for two and a half years, another existed for two years, a third for four years with interruptions. Was it possible to implement such a serious long-term program for 10-15 years to really raise these areas economically? Of course, it was possible, they needed subsidies, significant inputs, investments. They could rise, but they were subsidized. And Donbas can rise even without anyone's help, now, of course, help is needed. But once it reaches a certain level, it is able to provide for itself. For example, agriculture was very well developed in Donbass, few people know about it, but Donetsk region produced so much pork that it was enough for the population and there was a surplus, poultry meat was produced more than needed for own consumption, the surplus was exported outside the region. A million tons of wheat were produced, that is, more than needed. Fertile soils, a good climate and a good location of industrial enterprises - Donbass has everything, absolutely everything. Now, even for the restoration of the industry, there are excellent sands, clays, building materials, absolutely everything is there, there is no need to go elsewhere, to bring materials... It has its own brick production, concrete production, cement production . What's wrong? It has everything needed for recovery.

- How do you see Ukraine after the war?

- I am convinced that Ukraine as a country will survive. Everyone who says that Ukraine will go somewhere, merge or split... I don't believe that, and I think that the question of the future structure of Ukraine will have to be approached realistically, but at the bottom of everything I think that Ukraine is not a country that should become a source of any threats to its neighbors. She was never a source of threats. Until the year 14, we had excellent relations with all our neighbors, and with the Baltic states, and with Poland, and with Russia, the thought that a military conflict was possible did not even occur to us. We don't need to spend huge amounts of money on our defense, our military, etc. We do not have them, such resources, it is necessary to direct these resources to the development of the country and the improvement of the well-being of the people. We must not be a poor country in the center of Europe. And we have all the possibilities in the foreseeable future, in 10-15 years, to turn Ukraine into a prosperous country, we have everything for it, it just must not be hindered. I am sure that Ukraine will live up to the hopes, it will exist, I mean, of course, not with such a leadership, that's for sure.

And about Zelensky... now Zelensky is being given a halo. Apart from the official media, nothing else works there, everything is absolutely forbidden, but when information about the real situation in the country reaches the people, when people begin to understand that he is the reason, that his policies, his gang, his entourage brought Ukraine to disaster, then believe me, he will be one of the most hated leaders of Ukraine, one of the most overlooked and hated. And his current patrons will recoil from him when the facts of his enormous corruption, the corruption of his entourage, the fact of his decision-making that has been tragic and has led to grave consequences for the Armed Forces of Ukraine become clear. He virtually destroyed the Armed Forces of Ukraine. When this truth becomes clear, I stress, people's attitude towards him will change.

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FriedButter said:

China officially no longer holds more then $1 trillion of US debt and now Japan holds like 20-30% more than China lol.

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9dashline said:

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Guys, I dont think a Dyson Sphere future awaits humanity...

We are deep in the midst of the Energy Trap with no way to bootstrap ourselves to crawl back out and EROEI has already diminished below the criticality threshold of inflection point...

The Internet itself is not long for the world, it was nice knowing yall folks

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