BREAKING: Putin claims Ukraine started the war in 2014, not Russia

Speaking online to members of the presidential Human Rights Council, Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia did not start the war in Ukraine.

According to Russian state media Tass on Wednesday, December 7 Putin said that the war was started by Ukraine authorities back in 2014.

Adding that the special mission would take time he said that they had enjoyed many successes in Ukraine and that there was no need for another mobilisation (call-up) of reservists. According to the figures he provided, around 150,000 of the 300,000 called up are presently in Ukraine.

He went on to say that only Russia could guarantee its territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine. He added that western human rights organisations were created primarily as an instrument of influence over Russian politics and the domestic policies of other post-soviet countries.

Expressing his distrust and dislike of these organisations, he said: “The doctrine of human rights is used to destroy the sovereignty of states.”

Putin has gone on to say that nuclear weapons are only a means of protection, as an opportunity for a retaliatory strike. But he warned that the threat of nuclear war is increasing. 

Pre-meeting advice

Members of the Council were apparently urged prior to the meeting not to upset Putin with “thorny questions” about the war according to an unnamed source who was speaking to an independent media station. 

According to the investigative news website Vyorstka, the Council Chair Valery Fadeyev cleared the topics to be discussed with the presidential administration in advance of the meeting today. 

Off-limits topics include Russia’s draconian law criminalizing “fake news” about the military; anti-mobilization protests; the Wagner mercenary group’s recruitment of prisoners for the war; and an explosive video showing a Wagner deserter being executed with a sledgehammer.

Among the items they were told not to discuss was the “toxic” issue of Russian troop deaths in Ukraine, and nor to raise the issue of the poorly run mobilisation campaign. 

The Human Rights Council

A puppet body of the Kremlin, members of the Council were changed recently to remove anyone seen to be critical of the war in Ukraine, instead being replaced with those who were supportive of the invasion. 

Topics for discussion

The presidential administration had apparently given the thumbs up to discussion around sanction, about the cancellation of Russian culture in the west and pretty much any issue that did not involve the war. The two notable exclusions being dissidents and the freedom of the Assembly. 

It is widely accepted that Putin and Russia did start the war although opinion is divided as to whether the West had provoked the leader with the expansion of NATO. Many believe that more could’ve been done to stave off the invasion. 

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