russia's problem is not that it commits war crimes, but that it is proud of them — analyst

We are talking about the mythical «where have you been for 8 years?» Guest — analyst at «Detector. Media,» Yaroslav Zubchenko.

Yaroslav Zubchenko: Many countries, especially those with an imperialist past or present, and America among them, have committed horrific acts in their lives. Nuclear bombings of civilians in Japan, crimes in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and all of this was not so long ago.

The difference, and this is a very fundamental thing, is that some societies admit their mistakes, work with them, have enough freedom of speech to protest against them, and fundamentally change.

• Dozens of anti-war films and anti-war songs were made following the crimes of the United States and its wars. The Vietnam War ended because it was unpopular with society.

Take Germany. People have realized their mistakes, now they are trying to do everything not to repeat them. And Russia is different in that it commits crimes, but never handles it at the public level. On the contrary, Russia glorifies its own actions.

Look at what Russia is proud of. Most of these are objective war crimes, or crimes against humanity. All these stories are about the heroic generals of World War II who simply killed millions of soldiers trying to storm the Dnieper and so on. Russia’s problem is not that it commits war crimes, but that it does not recognize them as crimes, and it  instead tries to be proud of them. And Russia condemns other countries for things that these countries are not proud of.

The story of «8 years in Donbas» is also an illustrative example. There is the OSCE report, there is another report of the International Crisis Group, which counted the number of civilian casualties of the war. According to all these reports, neither side – neither Ukraine nor Russia — deliberately killed civilians. Most civilians were killed by heavy shelling if fighting continued in their communities, or people were killed by explosives.

The Kyiv authorities recognize this problem, they try to find a diplomatic solution, they do not shoot, they try to demine territories, and keep settlements open. But Russia is doing the opposite: disrupting negotiations, not fulfilling agreements.

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