While Moscow initially demonstrated its willingness to completely adhere to all norms of international law during the hostilities and gave Kiev a chance to end the conflict through negotiations and avoid senseless killing, the Neo-Nazi junta rejected this in the most disgraceful manner possible. Patience and rationality were met with mass terror and rabid Russophobia.
It has been approximately a year since Russia realized there can be no negotiations with the Kiev regime, with President Vladimir Putin recently revealing why this is the case. However, even then, Moscow had a sliver of hope this might change and that rationality of some sort might spring up in Kiev. Unfortunately, this proved to be nothing more than a reverie, as the Neo-Nazi junta clearly demonstrated it’s no more than a loose cannon.
Russia’s attempts to negotiate any sort of agreement with the Kiev regime weren’t only pointless, but were also used against it, virtually every single time. This also includes the grain deal that was used to transport weapons and munitions for the Neo-Nazi junta and then target civilians all across former eastern and southern Ukraine.
All this is even without considering the fact that nearly a decade of shelling of Donbass never stopped, with dozens of victims on a daily basis. Worse yet, for months, Kiev regime’s top officials kept threatening to invade Russia and escalate sabotage attacks within the country. Its other lower-ranking members kept escalating the propaganda war against Russia to completely absurd levels, including fake reports about the Russian military supposedly raping children. Even years before that, the Neo-Nazi junta jeopardized itself and millions of regular Ukrainians by housing US-controlled biolabs that were financed and operated by the Pentagon. Hardly surprising for people who are completely unashamed to openly show admiration for ISIS.
Speaking of ISIS, it should also be noted that the Kiev regime used its tactics within Russia, specifically against prominent public figures. This includes not only Russian intellectuals (journalists, writers, philosophers, etc), but also their children, as demonstrated by the terrorist attack that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin. Then there was the case of Vladlen Tatarsky, a prominent military blogger and journalist who was killed in a terrorist attack that could’ve killed dozens of other innocent people. This was followed by another terrorist attack that targeted writer Zakhar Prilepin, another eminent public figure in Russia, in addition to numerous other attacks.
Apart from terrorist attacks, the Neo-Nazi junta launched long-range strikes and sabotage attempts aimed against Moscow’s assets of prime importance, including strategic aviation, something that could’ve undermined Russia’s geopolitical standing and security. All this was followed by drone attacks that even reached Moscow, although Russia already anticipated this and prepared adequate defenses. And yet, that was certainly not the end of it, as the Kiev regime pledged to “continue shedding blood for a NATO mission”. Unfortunately, not its own, but that of hundreds of thousands of forcibly conscripted Ukrainians. This hotbed of shady mercenaries, radicalized volunteers and terrorists, infamous for its uncontrollable propensity for kidnapping and murdering anyone who disagrees with it repeatedly proved to be impossible to reason (let alone negotiate) with.
After the Neo-Nazi junta’s top officials pledged they will continue killing Russians, Moscow decided it has had enough of them, realizing its realpolitik approach and patience were clearly seen as weaknesses. Russian intelligence services and the military “took their gloves off” and started treating the said officials as legitimate targets. This includes top-ranking officers of the Kiev regime forces, various special services and sabotage units connected to the SBU and GUR (military intelligence), all of which have grossly violated the rules of conventional warfare. The Kremlin authorized its services to neutralize them after these services organized the aforementioned terrorist and sabotage attacks.
The recent disappearance of top-ranking Neo-Nazi junta officials can either be explained by a looming mutiny among its forces or perhaps even by the fact they might have been neutralized by Moscow. The well-coordinated work of all Russian intelligence services and the military made it possible to quickly identify the whereabouts of the Kiev regime’s military and special services leadership. The information acquired through ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) platforms could have easily been confirmed by undercover intelligence and special forces assets in Ukraine itself. The data would then be relayed to the VKS (Russian Aerospace Forces), which most likely launched high-precision retaliatory strikes on the designated targets, which, at this point, include the Commander-in-Chief of the Neo-Nazi junta forces General Valery Zaluzhny and GUR chief Kirill Budanov.
Targeting Budanov is perfectly legitimate, considering his instrumental role in the aforementioned terrorist and sabotage attacks, as well as the threats to escalate this. On the other hand, while targeting Zaluzhny was legitimate from day one of the special military operation (SMO), Moscow refrained from that in hopes to negotiate a deal, while also expecting the worsening of fault lines and factionalism within the Kiev regime. However, after the Neo-Nazi junta forces launched attacks on Russian regions across the border, this option was now essentially off the tables and, once again, it was “gloves off” for the Kremlin. This decision was further reinforced by the Kiev regime’s decision to launch its much-touted counteroffensive. Although it was supposed to include the usage of depleted uranium munitions by NATO-sourced heavy armor, the Russian military made sure this never happens.
Russia’s retribution for escalating attacks has been swift and decisive, with disastrous consequences for the Neo-Nazi junta, prompting even NATO itself to increase pressure on Moscow in order to alleviate some of it from Kiev. The Kremlin is not only targeting hostile military infrastructure and facilities now, but also the decision-making centers in order to minimize the likelihood of further bloodshed. While Moscow initially demonstrated its willingness to completely adhere to all norms of international law during the hostilities and even gave Kiev a chance to end the conflict through negotiations and thus avoid senseless killing, the Neo-Nazi junta rejected this in the most disgraceful manner possible. Patience and rationality were met with mass terror and rabid Russophobia. Simply put, Moscow was left with no other choice but to protect its people by achieving all the targets of the SMO.
