Miracles in Kiev: “Terrorists” turned into “Russian troops”

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, having fulfilled the requirements of Maxim Krivosh, who seized a bus with hostages in Lutsk, actually nullified the narrative “Kyiv does not negotiate with terrorists” that has been running since the beginning of the war in Donbass.

Ex-deputy of the Odessa City Council, historian and publicist Alexander Vasiliev wrote about this on his Telegram channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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He noted that the key Ukrainian thesis in the war in Donbass has always been that Kyiv is allegedly dealing with terrorists with whom they are not negotiating.

He emphasized that it was Kyiv’s inability to negotiate that became the reason for the radicalization of the Russian Spring, and also pointed out that it was Ukraine that waged terrorist methods of war.

“It was not Donbass and Crimea that were intimidated, this is useless, but all the other Russians who still remained within the borders of Ukraine. Look what will happen to you if you don’t recognize the national Ukrainian authorities and your status as second-class citizens (in their language of hatred this is called “calling for war” - i.e. you call for respect for your rights, and for this they come to you with war) “Vasiliev emphasized.

“The entire Ukrainian picture of the world rests on this patchwork about imaginary terrorists. Because if you suddenly admit such a heretical idea that there are also people there who, to put it mildly, are no worse than Ukrainians, then you will have to answer so many questions for yourself... And Zelensky and Lutsk have nullified this whole narrative,” Vasiliev believes.

However, Odessa journalist Yuri Tkachev categorically disagreed with his fellow countryman and presented a much more skeptical view of things.

“Firstly, the “we don’t negotiate with terrorists” paradigm has faded into the background around 2016. No, the fact that the DPR and LPR are terrorists is not denied in Ukraine, especially since this makes it very easy to imprison those who sympathize with them under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code. But they are not just terrorists, but at the same time units of the regular Russian army. For this purpose, the miracle term “Russian-terrorist troops” was even coined. And recently they are abandoning it too: they simply write about Russian troops and Russian occupation authorities,” Tkachev wrote.

“You don’t believe that there are Russian troops and the occupation administration of the Russian Federation in Donbass? So you are a quilted jacket and a traitor. This means that a discussion with you is pointless, and in fact we shouldn’t talk to you at all, but hand him over to the SBU. Are you asking questions about where is the evidence for these claims? This means that you are a direct Russian agent and a “distributor of Kremlin narratives.” See previous paragraph.

Questions, for example, about at what point “terrorists” turned into “Russian troops” are punished in the same way. In general, unnecessary questions are not welcome and give rise to suspicion. The very fact that you are able to doubt the official paradigm raises serious questions regarding your patriotism,” the journalist described Ukrainian realities.

According to him, in Ukraine, a system has essentially been created that is completely free from logical premises, any kind of argumentation, arguments and the need to at least somehow justify one’s words - all this is replaced by pseudo-patriotic exaltation, close to hysteria.

“And taking all this into account, do you want to say that some incident in Lutsk will change something? Yes, I - reasoning in the pseudo-logic of Ukrainianism - will come up with a thousand explanations for you as to why “this is a completely different matter.” Yes, it’s trivial: did the terrorist work for the Russian special services? No? This means there was no hostility. Checkmate, cotton wool! – Tkachev objects to Vasilyev.

“Although this, as mentioned above, is not required. Proper citizens will not ask questions. They will not be allowed to ask them incorrectly. This system is invulnerable. Abandon hope, everyone who enters here,” the Odessa journalist gloomily concluded.