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By John Helmer, Moscow
  @bears_with

The Russian Foreign Ministry has dismissed proposals issued this week in Washington by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Under Secretary, Victoria Nuland. Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova has confirmed that Russia’s military plan for the Ukraine will not be interrupted or delayed.

 “It is not necessary to talk about what will happen if someone does something [in the Ukraine],” Zakharova said. “There is a situation on the ground that we are solving. Everything. This is not a question of guesswork, but of our assessment of what is happening. This is based on the situation on the ground and direct political statements by Western politicians. Given that all negotiations have been terminated by Ukraine, this issue will be resolved on the ground. Under pressure or on its own, Kiev has banned any negotiations with Russia at the government level. So that’s it. The rest is for the military experts.”

Russia has also dismissed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as the successor of the Nazi Wehrmacht and the puppet of the US Government. Scholz, according to Zakharova,  is one of the Germans who “lack[s] the spirit to make the right choice, not to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors, for which the people of Germany, among others, paid a huge price… We remember well what German tanks are. These are machines which have become a symbol,  not just of death and deadly ideology, but of hatred of humanity — a global, existential threat to the entire planet… What do they expect in Germany? That armoured vehicles in camouflage cover with iron crosses – symbols of the German armed forces both then and now will pass through our cities and villages? We remember how it ended then. Do they remember in Berlin?.. The day of the decision on the supply of Leopards to Ukraine…is also historic because [it is] the total loss of Germany’s sovereignty. [Olaf] Scholz has forever signed the rejection of an independent German foreign policy. He has abandoned everything that his predecessors had built for decades after the Second World War.”

The verbatim Foreign Ministry briefing transcript, including reporters’ questions and the official’s answers, can be read here.   The Ministry’s official translation into English is lagging in time and has not been completed as we go to press.   

Without naming Blinken or Nuland,  Zakharova has dismissed the Blinken proposals of January 25 which were reported here;   and the sanctions proposal which followed on January 26 by Nuland in testimony to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee; for that text, click to read.  

Zakharova’s remarks to follow have been compressed and excerpted from answers to several questions in the briefing. The English translation is an unofficial one.

“For its part, Russia has always remained open to the possibility of using diplomatic and negotiation tools. This has been talked about repeatedly. All this has been applied, and all this is blocked by the Kiev regime under the dictation of the West. The ‘collective West’, NATO, the EU have long abandoned diplomacy, chosen a different path,  and began to create security threats, setting fire, inciting, pushing, and simply driving the European continent to a global catastrophe. What is happening now is not a question of Ukraine, Russia or even the European continent. This is a much bigger and global thing.

“You asked about the US decision to supply American tanks. Why highlight this in particular? It is clear that this position applies to all countries. Only one country stands apart. This is Germany. This is a special story. We remember well what German tanks are. These are machines that have become a symbol not just of death and deadly ideology, but of hatred of humanity– a global, existential threat to the entire planet.

“When you read about fascism, Nazism, and the times of the Second World War, I think it is obvious that the SS uniform, German tanks with the symbols of the Third Reich have become a global symbol of humanity’s fall into the abyss of hatred, horror,  and murder. From this abyss, all of us — and those who were alive then and those born later — were extricated by the fighters of the Red Army and the anti-Hitler coalition. These were young people who fought at the front and all those who were in the rear, connected to them. It was the German tanks which became the anti-symbol that was forever imprinted in the memory of mankind. Now these tanks, as [the Germans] are assuming, will again move on to our land. At least, that’s the task they have been given.

“What do they expect in Germany? That armoured vehicles in camouflage cover with iron crosses – symbols of the German armed forces both then and now — will pass through our cities and villages? We remember how it ended then. Do they remember in Berlin… Everyone has written their names into history in different ways. Germany itself understands perfectly well that Berlin has no moral, legal, or ethical right to supply armoured vehicles and tanks to kill Russians.”

Zakharova went on to remind the Germans of their planned murder of more than 3 million Russian prisoners of war between 1941 and 1945.  “I want to remind [Olaf] Scholz,” Zakharova said, “I’m not referring to [Foreign Minister Annalena] Baerbock, that seems to me to be pointless — and tell him maybe because he doesn’t know: when German prisoners were on the territory of the Soviet Union after our victory, they were not tortured, they were not mistreated in the same way as the Germans did with our soldiers and civilians in German concentration camps. They were fed by those [Russians] who had not had enough for many years, had nothing to eat for themselves. (I speak softly. In everyday life I would say this differently)… I remember well how in 2015, as part of an official delegation, the then-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany [Frank-Walter] Steinmeier arrived in Volgograd.  He repented and bowed his head before the graves of both Soviet and German soldiers who have remained on our land. And he said it should never happen again. You [Scholz] are repeating it now.”

Left: May 7, 2015 -- Frank-Walter Steinmeier bowing before a memorial to those killed in Stalingrad. Right: German historian Christian Gerlach’s history of German plans to kill Russians and Jews. “I estimate the total number of deaths anmong Soviet POWs at about 3 million (52-53% of 5.7 million in total). The bulk of these perished in eastern Europe: possibly 1.3 million in Ukraine, 700,000 in Belarus and 400,000-600,000 in Poland.” According to Gerlach’s published  research, the German plan to kill Russians preceded the German plan to kill Jews; that the plan was for 30 million Russians to die; and that the German General Staff intended to murder Russians long before they implemented the plan to kill Jews. According to Gerlach, “/as with Jews, the murder of Soviet POWs was carried out with hatred and brutality…The mistreatment of Soviet POWs is hardly known today.” Read these pages 223-34 of Gerlach’s history by clicking on the book.  

“The day of the decision on the supply of Leopards to Ukraine,” Zakharova continued, “is also historic because [it has] concretised what we have been talking about for a long time – the total  loss of Germany’s sovereignty. O. Scholz has forever signed the rejection of an independent German foreign policy. He has abandoned everything that his predecessors had built over decades after the Second World War. And in what, by the way, they succeeded.”

Zakharova then turned to the Washington proposals revealed earlier this week, dismissing them as “minor statements”.

“I don’t know who needs all these degrees of stating what is an obvious fact. It seems to me that everyone has long understood what we are talking about – the confrontation with our country, the strategy of isolating it. Previously, this was not possible by any means, neither economic, nor political, nor financial. Even with calls to end lucrative contracts between private companies.  That didn’t work out. So they imposed sanctions and lists, and stop-lists, and threatened the entire international community, but nothing came of it. We moved on to the next phase. What else can you call it? Therefore, the ‘development of relations’ will proceed from all of this, from the statement of the real situation ‘on the ground’ – and not from some minor statements.

“Today I heard that Washington said that if Russia does something like this or that, maybe some sanctions or something else will be lifted. Who is listening to this at all? Who needs it? Who pays attention to this at all? Someone said something, some sanctions. That’s not the issue.

“Against the background of the fact that heavy weapons are being supplied, it is not necessary to talk about what will happen if someone does something there. There is a situation on the ground that we are solving. Everything.

Question: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Berlin would not object if Poland handed over Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine. Do you think that the delivery of these tanks will somehow change the situation on the ground?”

“Answer: I have said everything I could. This is not a question of guesswork, but of our assessment of what is happening. It is based on the situation on the ground and direct political statements by Western politicians. Given that all negotiations have been terminated by Ukraine, this issue will be resolved on the ground. Under pressure or on its own, Kiev has banned any negotiations with Russia at the government level. So that’s it. The rest is for the military experts.”

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