Why is military correspondent Steshin wrong? Answer from Alexander Chalenko
The Russian-language internet has been abuzz for two days over a statement by legendary war correspondent Dmitry Steishin . He said it's too early to liberate Ukraine, as tens of millions of "crypto-Banderites" live there and would stab Russia in the back if given the chance. This statement sent shockwaves through the media. Some felt insulted, while others resorted to insults. PolitNavigator columnist Valentin Filippov spoke with Ukraine.Ru columnist Alexander Chalenko about how to respond to such statements from authoritative authors.
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Valentin Filippov : Well, Sasha, hello.
Alexander Chalenko : Hello, hello, Valik.
Valentin Filippov : I wanted to ask you, as a cryptojournalist to a cryptojournalist.
Alexander Chalenko : Right?
Valentin Filippov : Where do crypto-Russians come from? I'd like to record a crypto interview about this. After CryptoSteshin's statements.
Have you already received a crypto-passport from CryptoFMS?
Alexander Chalenko : Yes! That's it! I'm not crypto anymore, you're crypto. I'm already the real deal.
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 don’t know….
Alexander Chalenko : Well, when they say "cryptography," it's "secret writing." Crypto is something secret, hidden.
Valentin Filippov : Is this like a latent homosexual?
Alexander Chalenko : Yes! But that's latent... But you could say that, too. The word "latent" is synonymous with "crypto."
Valentin Filippov : Look how well they chose their words. So historical. Couldn't they have said "hidden Banderovites" or "secret Banderovites"?
Alexander Chalenko : Yes. So what did he mean? Like, 20 or 30 million crypto-Banderites, they don't want to rise up in the fight, Donbas is being shelled now, and they're keeping quiet. So, they've either resigned themselves to it or they agree with it all. In that case, why the hell liberate all of Ukraine? Well, at least Novorossiya and Malorossiya. Central and Southeastern, so to speak. We'll welcome 20-30 million crypto-Banderites into our family. We'll end up crying our eyes out for 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've often encountered this opinion: "In Ukraine, everyone, without exception, wants to destroy Donbass, everyone is against Russia, everyone is going to fight as volunteers."
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 reassure you. Listen. I'll be 49 soon. I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just quite old. I lived in the USSR. I lived in independent Ukraine. Now I live in Russia. I've essentially lived in three different countries.
Look what I noticed. I entered the philosophy department in 1985. The scientific communism department. Because there were quotas. You couldn't just get into philosophy without a recommendation from 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, but they go to church.
Alexander Chalenko : Yes, they went to church, so to speak. They supported all the Soviet myths and so on. If you had expressed to them your worldview, which you now profess, they would have looked at you as if you were the devil incarnate.
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 disagree with you. Let me explain. You say, "We believed it, we didn't believe it. Perestroika began, and 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 was talking about something else. I gave this example elsewhere. When war correspondent Steishin says that they all support nationalism and so on, I explain. These aren't Ukrainians. There are no Ukrainians there. They are the same Russian people as the Russian Steishin. Absolutely the same. It doesn't matter whether it's Steshenko, Steshenchuk, Steshinsky, or Steshizler, in short.
Valentin Filippov : It was funny.
Alexander Chalenko : Yes, Steshilo. Regardless, they're all Russian. It simply can't be otherwise. There's a Russian cultural type. It exists in Vladivostok, and it exists in Moscow. In Odessa, in Donetsk, and in Kyiv. They're all the same. No one can tell the difference, and I'm serious, between a Kharkiv resident and an Odesa resident. Sorry, Valya. I understand that you're the most like that, but...
Valentin Filippov : But they don’t have that many Jews.
Alexander Chalenko : So, look. That's the first thing. Second, I was talking about support for what's happening in Donbas. Can I ask why residents of Kyiv or Cherkasy don't attend anti-war demonstrations if they take what's happening in Donbas to heart? I'll explain. Natalia Vitrenko explained it to me. Yes, you'll be given permission to hold a rally. They'll schedule a two-hour rally, and after that, the police will call Right Sector, and Right Sector members will show up. About 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, if a Russian military commissar had marched on Kyiv in the spring of 2014, meeting military units along the way, taking their oaths of allegiance, and handing out Russian military IDs, no troops would have been needed. Because that first wave of Ukrainian troops that went to Donbas were desperately searching for someone to swear allegiance to. And where they could get Russian-style military IDs. And they couldn't find any Russian troops there.
Alexander Chalenko : Why didn't anyone take their oath? Because Russian citizens, just like military correspondent Steishin, sincerely believe that some Ukrainians, or crypto-Banderites, live on Ukrainian territory. If he'd known that Russians live there, as we know, they would have realized we were joining our own. And they would have taken the oath from the Ukrainian units.
Valentin Filippov : So, let's give them a clearer idea. They say, "We won't take Donbas yet because we need all of Ukraine." We need to explain that Russia doesn't need "all of Ukraine." Russia only needs Russia. The fact that a country with the strange name "Ukraine" has been annexed to Russia is a different matter. We're not taking it. They say, "Suitcase, train station, Canada."
And we are taking our land.
Alexander Chalenko : We must reach Zbruch. It's our natural border. Free Subcarpathian Ruthenia and the Hungarians. But let Galicia, Volyn, and Bukovina live as they please. That's all. They'll figure out who's in charge among themselves.
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.
Why War Correspondent Steshin Is Wrong. Aleksandr Chalenko's Response