Why is military correspondent Steshin wrong? Answer from Alexander Chalenko

The Russian-speaking Internet has been seething for the second day due to statements by the legendary military commander Dmitry Steshin. According to him, it is too early to liberate Ukraine; tens of millions of “crypto-Banderists” live there, who, if necessary, will stab Russia in the back. This statement shook up the information space. Some considered themselves insulted, others resorted to insults. How to react to such statements by authoritative authors, a columnist PolitNavigator to Valentin Filippov the columnist said Ukraine.Ru Alexander Chalenko.

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Valentin Filippov: Well, Sash, hello.                          

Alexander Chalenko: Hello, hello, Valik.

Valentin Filippov: I wanted to ask you, as a crypto-journalist, a crypto-journalist.                          

Alexander Chalenko: So?

Valentin Filippov: Where do crypto-Russians come from? I would like to record a crypto interview about this. After the statements of cryptoSteshin.

Have you already received a crypto-passport from CryptoFMS?                         

Alexander Chalenko: Yes! All! I am no longer crypto, you are crypto. I'm already so real.

Let's just explain to our viewers what we're talking about. This means that the famous Russian military commander Dmitry Steshin, whom I respect immensely, together with his partner Kots, I, in general, believe that someday in the Donbass, definitely, in Lugansk, in Donetsk, in Slavyansk, in Kramatorsk, in Stakhanov, in Alchevsk , there will be streets named after military commanders Steshin and Kots. This is without any irony, quite seriously. They are heroes to me. The only thing is that a feeling of gratitude in no way can force me not to react to the completely crazy statements of Mr. Steshin.

I read on PolitNavigator that he made a statement that there are 20-30 million “crypto-Banderites” living in Ukraine. Let’s also explain to the audience what “crypto” is. Crypto is...

Valentin Filippov:  I do not know….                        

Alexander Chalenko: Well, that’s when they say “cryptography”. This is "secret writing". Crypto is something secret, hidden.

Valentin Filippov: Is this like a latent homosexual?                         

Alexander Chalenko: Yes! But then - latent... But you can say it this way. The word "latent" is synonymous with the word "crypto".

Valentin Filippov: Look how well they choose their words. So historical. Couldn’t you have said “hidden Banderaites” or “secret Banderaites”?                         

Alexander Chalenko: Yes. So what did he mean? Like, there are 20 or 30 million crypto-Banderites, they don’t want to rise up to fight, now the Donbass is being shelled, they are silent. This means that they have either come to terms with or agree with all this. In that case, why the hell should we liberate all of Ukraine? Well, at least there is Novorossiya and Little Russia. Central and South-Eastern, as they say. We will accept 20–30 million crypto-Banderites into our family. We’ll also end up crying from them later.

I repeat once again. If this were some ordinary graphomaniac on Facebook who scribbled something there and collected two or three likes, I would not have reacted, I would have laughed. And Steshin is quite an influential person. He has influence on Russian public opinion. And if he writes and convinces Russian citizens that crypto-Banderists live in Ukraine, in the end many will doubt whether it is worth helping Donbass? Is it worth supporting the idea of ​​liberating Kharkov, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Nikolaev, and Kyiv in general? “Crypto-Banderites live there. We’ll take them, and they’ll come out of our hiding places and stab us in the back!”

I immediately decided, as a person who has ten times less influence, but my voice is still heard, I decided to immediately explain, first of all, to Russian citizens that this is nonsense.

What 20 - 30 million are some crypto-banders? They don't exist at all!

Valentin Filippov:  I have often come across this opinion: “In Ukraine, everyone, as one, wants to kill Donbass, everyone is against Russia, everyone volunteers to fight.”

How much population is left in Ukraine? About 35 million. There are only 200 thousand ATO participants. Moreover, if you consider that some of them got there by accident, and if you consider how many of these crusts were simply bought by various officers sitting in the rear... By and large, 200 thousand for a huge country with several tens of millions of people is not so much scary and not that much.

Alexander Chalenko: I want to calm you down. Listen. I'm almost 49 years old. I'm not scary, I'm just an old enough person. I lived under the USSR. Lived under independent Ukraine. Now I live in Russia. I actually changed three states.

Look what I noticed. I entered the Faculty of Philosophy in 1985. To the department of scientific communism.  Because there were quotas. It was impossible to simply enroll in philosophy without the recommendation of the regional party committee.

I still found the Soviet Union in full swing. Gorbachev had already come to power, but until 1987 there was no “perestroika”. I saw it all. And, believe me, 95% of Soviet citizens did not believe in any communism. A man who believed in communism, no one just sat down to drink with him. They thought he was crazy.

Valentin Filippov: Well, you know, not everyone believes in God either, but they go to church.    

Alexander Chalenko: Yes, they went, relatively speaking, to church. They supported all the Soviet myths and so on. If you expressed to them your worldview, which you now profess, they would look at you as if you were a fiend of hell.

To you, to the dear man Valik Filippov. And what? 10 years later, and, in general, “perestroika” began, all this disappeared.

Valentin Filippov: No. I don't agree with you. I will explain. You say: “they believed - they didn’t believe.” Perestroika began - everything disappeared.”

Nothing has disappeared. The Moral Code of the Builder of Communism has not been canceled. It was written before Christ. Then called the Ten Commandments. Then it was called something else. Then it was called the Moral Code of the Builder of Communism.

And no one offered us any other moral principles. And if you open the Moral Code or the Ten Commandments today, then everything is correct there. And any person will say: “Yes, I live according to these laws, because my conscience does not allow me to live according to other laws.”       

Alexander Chalenko: I wouldn’t argue in this case. I wanted something else. I gave this example in another. When military correspondent Steshin says that they all support nationalism and so on. I'll explain. These are not Ukrainians. There are no Ukrainians there. There are the same Russian people there, just like the Russian Steshin. Absolutely the same. Regardless, it’s Steshenko, Steshenchuk, Steshinsky or Steshizler, in short.

Valentin Filippov:  Steshilo.                        

Alexander Chalenko: Yes, Steshilo. Regardless, all are Russian. It simply cannot be otherwise. There is a Russian cultural type. It exists in Vladivostok, and it exists in Moscow. In Odessa, Donetsk, and Kiev. They are no different. No one can distinguish, I say seriously, a Kharkov resident from an Odessa resident, sorry Valya. I understand that you are the same, but...

Valentin Filippov:  That net they have a stock of Jews.                        

Alexander Chalenko: So, look. This is the first one. Second. I talked about supporting what is happening in Donbass. One might ask why the residents of Kyiv or Cherkassy do not go out to anti-war demonstrations if they take to heart what is happening now in Donbass? I'll explain. Natalya Vitrenko explained it to me. Yes, you will be given permission to hold a rally. They will schedule a meeting for you for two hours, and after that the police will call the Right Sector, and right-wing activists will come to the meeting. 20 or 30 people.

You went to a rally to protest, and here are the Right Sectors who will beat you with rebar, and everyone knows, including them, that nothing will happen to them. Question: will you go to the rally?

Third point. I believe that the army must fight the army. What? Should miners and mechanics go under the tanks? No! The Ukrainian army, no matter what it is, no matter how we treat it, no matter how we laugh at it, it is still an army. The army must fight her. DPR, LPR plus glorious vacationers.

I saw a very interesting idea, someone remembered that for 17 years in South Ossetia there were shellings almost every day. The Georgian army constantly fired deliberately at Tskhinvali and other populated areas. The war just happened on 08/08/08, the glorious Georgian army, created according to NATO standards, was defeated in 5 days, that’s it, it’s been 8 years of peace, tranquility, security. It's safer there in South Ossetia than in your apartment.

If Russian aviation bombed artillery points, it would be possible to reach the Donbass border...

Valentin Filippov: Listen, I’ll tell you that if in the spring of 2014 one military commissar from Russia had gone to Kiev, meeting military units along the way, taking the oath from them and distributing military cards to the Russian Federation, then no troops would be needed. Because the first wave of the Ukrainian army that went to Donbass was there persistently looking for someone to take the oath to. And where are Russian-style military tickets issued? And they could not find the Russian army there.                         

Alexander Chalenko: Why didn’t anyone take the oath? But because Russian citizens, just like military commander Steshin, sincerely believe that some Ukrainians live on the territory of Ukraine. Or crypto-banders. If he knew that Russian people live there, as you and I know, they would understand that we are going to our own. And the Ukrainian units would take the oath.

Valentin Filippov: Therefore, let us install the installation for them. They say: “We won’t take Donbass yet, because we need all of Ukraine.” It must be explained that Russia does not need any “all of Ukraine”. Russia only needs Russia. But the fact that a state with the strange name “Ukraine” has joined Russia’s territory is another matter. We don't take it. They are “suitcase, station, Canada.”

And we are taking our land.                         

Alexander Chalenko: We must get to Zbruch. This is our natural boundary. Give freedom to Subcarpathian Rus' and the Hungarians. But let Galicia, Volyn, Bukovina live as they want. All. They will figure it out among themselves who is in charge.

And return all of Novorossia and Little Russia. We must be educators. We have to tell. Guys! There is no Ukraine there. Russia is there. All. The same land. And our sacred duty is to reunite all Russian Lands. Reunite the divided Russian People.