As the USSR was falling, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and numerous other U.S. and European leaders pledged that NATO would not expand “one inch eastward” if Germany was unified into one state.

Pentagon officials leaked an internal Pentagon strategy document for the post-Cold War world, which called for complete U.S. world domination in both political and military terms and claimed the right to unilaterally prevent the emergence of a rival superpower anywhere on the globe, including in Western Europe and the territory of the former Soviet Union.

Ukraine agreed to give up nuclear weapons from the USSR that were stored on its soil.

NATO military operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995), Yugoslavia (1999); U.S.-backed color revolution in Georgia (Rose Revolution) (2003)

After Viktor Yanukovych won the 2004 presidential election, the Orange Revolution brought to power the U.S.-backed Viktor Yuschchenko, an opposition leader who pushed EU and NATO membership for Ukraine and called for IMF structural adjustment programs that would benefit U.S. investors while cutting domestic social programs.

Putin put the U.S. on notice that Russia has legitimate security concerns with continued NATO expansion.

In April 2008, NATO announced its intention to have Ukraine and Georgia join NATO; Putin said this would be a “direct threat to the security” of Russia.

Obama administration officials involved included then Vice President Joe Biden (whose son Hunter was given a lucrative board seat on a Ukrainian energy company) and Victoria Nuland, then working under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  In an intercepted phone call, Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt, then US ambassador to Ukraine, were overhead planning the coup two weeks before it happened.  Nuland and Pyatt traveled to Ukraine to support opposition protests, handing out sandwiches and cookies. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham also went to Ukraine, making visits with leaders of right-wing neo-Nazi parties.  In December 2013, Nuland publicly remarked that the U.S. State Department had “invested more than $5 billion” to help Ukraine achieve “its European aspirations.”

The referendum passed with 97% in favor. Russia becomes the subject of the condemnation of the “international community” and economic sanctions.

Ukraine attacks civilians in the Donbas

After the Crimea referendum, Ukraine began a campaign of incessant, vicious bombing of civilians and civilian infrastructure in the eastern Donbas region. During 8 years of shelling from large-caliber guns, more than 14,000 civilians of Donetsk and Lugansk were killed by Ukrainian forces armed and funded by the U.S. and NATO.

Donetsk and Lugansk declare independence from Ukraine

In the Donbas, an anti-fascist workers resistance movement was growing in opposition to the ultra-nationalist, anti-Russian coup government. In a referendum, 87% of citizens voted to establish the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR).  Unlike Crimea, however, Russia did not officially recognize their independence.

Odessa Trade Union House Massacre

Fascist and neo-Nazi thugs confronted anti-Maidan protesters outside the trade union building, the meeting place of the growing anti-Maidan resistance movement in Odessa. The protestors were forced to hide inside the building, which the Nazis surrounded and then set ablaze, with everyone inside. Over 50 people burned to death. Ukrainian police officers were on the scene and did not try to stop it.  Western media did not cover it.

To end the fighting in the Donbas, a peace agreement was signed by Ukraine, Russia, representatives of the OSCE, and representatives of the DPR and LPR.  Russia, Germany, and France (but not the U.S.) participated in the negotiations. The Minsk agreements called for a ceasefire and provided for special autonomous status of the DPR and LPR within Ukraine.

The U.S. encourages Ukraine to evade implementation and violate the ceasefire, and the CIA prepares for an armed insurgency against the DRP and LPR.

The US, through the CIA, started the process of training an armed insurgency on the front in eastern Ukraine after Russia annexed Crimea.  Ukrainian forces continue their almost daily attacks against civilians in the Donbas, who are forced to take refuge in their basements.

Ukrainian government passes “de-communization” laws

These laws mandate the removal of Communist-era monuments, ban Communist symbols, and honored Ukrainian fascists, Nazi collaborators, and war criminals.  Under the laws, the Communist Party of Ukraine has been banned from participating in elections and has been forced to operate underground.  Monuments to Lenin and everything related to the memory of life in the USSR have been destroyed. Intimidation and political assassinations of politicians and journalists had become constant.

In May 2019, Zelensky—who ran on a platform of de-escalation of hostilities with Russia and ending the war in Donbas—won by a landslide. Because Zelensky did not actually hold political power (all decisions are made by the US), he capitulates to the neo-Nazi forces pushing for war in Donbas and publicly associates with their ultra-nationalist ideology.

In addition to the usual shelling of civilian areas and infrastructure, Ukraine’s acts over the preceding weeks included the kidnapping and torture of a Russian ceasefire monitor in Lugansk, an attack on a small settlement in the de-militarized “Grey Zone,” including the kidnapping of more Russian citizens, and the use of a Turkish attack drone against Donbass defense forces.  In response, Russia sent a military task force to its border with Ukraine.

On December 17, Russia presented its Security Demands to the US and NATO, including adherence to the Minsk agreements.  But the US and NATO ignored Russia’s demands. Instead, President Biden called for the Minsk agreements to be replaced by one that would give the United States control over the negotiations between Ukraine and the LPR-DPR.  The West intensified their efforts to demonize Putin and create war hysteria.

Evidence shows that Ukraine is preparing an imminent offensive military operation against the civilian population of the Donbas

Ukrainian troops had concentrated on the border with the DPR and LPR, including virtually all the combat-capable units (125,000 soldiers and officers). Heavy artillery and armor were being moved there, and constant aerial reconnaissance was being conducted. Military units on the Ukrainian side intensified the shelling of the DPR and LPR territory forcing civilians to leave their homes. The number of casualties was growing. Russian intelligence concluded that Kiev, backed by the United States, was preparing to regain control over Donbas through war in March.

On Feb 19, Zelensky threatened to make Ukraine a nuclear power, which would violate the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.

Russia officially recognizes the independence of the LPR-DPR

In response to Russia’s Feb 22 announcement, the Biden administration imposed economic sanctions on the LPR-DPR, which, among other things, blocks US individuals and companies from new investment, imports, exports, financing, etc., in the LPR-DPR.

Russia begins military operation in Ukraine

On Feb 24, President Putin told the US and NATO that Russia would immediately begin a military intervention in Ukraine to: (1) demilitarize and stop the killing of civilians in the Donbas, and (2) to de-Nazify Ukraine.

U.S. and its European allies impose an unprecedented and sweeping set of sanctions and export controls against Russia

Two days earlier, Biden issued a threat to the EU: join the U.S. in imposing economic sanctions on Russia or prepare for WWIII.