''Putin. War'' (russian: Путин. Война) is a report based on materials prepared by the Russian opposition politician
Boris Nemtsov about the
2014–2015 Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Published on the website ''Putin. Itogi'' on 12 May 2015, it covers the preparations for the
annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the involvement of Russian troops in the
War in Donbas
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
. The report includes testimonials of Russian soldiers taken prisoner in Ukraine and photos of Russian military personnel who died in the hostilities.
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]
Authors
Boris Nemtsov began working on the report at the end of January 2015. After Nemtsov's assassination, his close associate Ilya Yashin headed a team of opposition journalists and activists, who continued writing the report and prepared it for publication.[
]
Structure and content
The epigraph of the report is a post by Boris Nemtsov in Facebook on 31 January 2015:
The task of the opposition today is education and truth.
And the truth is that Putin is war and crisis.
The report consists of a preface, 11 chapters and a conclusion. It has 65 large-format pages with 46 color photographs and 8 charts.
Chapters:
#Why Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
needs this war
#Lies and propaganda
#How they took Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
#The Russian military in the east of Ukraine
#Volunteers or mercenaries?
# Cargo 200
#Vladimir Putin's Army Depot
#Who shot down the Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
#Who rules the Donbas
#The humanitarian disaster
#What does the war with Ukraine cost?
Chapters cover the events from the beginning of Euromaidan when the Kremlin developed plans for the "annexation of Crimea" up to the start of 2015. The report includes information from relatives of Russian servicemen who died in Ukraine. The authors write that Putin's " hybrid war" involves doublethink
Doublethink is a process of indoctrination in which subjects are expected to simultaneously accept two conflicting beliefs as truth, often at odds with their own memory or sense of reality. Doublethink is related to, but differs from, hypocrisy. ...
, falsehoods and сowardliness, concluding:
The cowardly and despicable war unleashed by Putin will cost the country a lot. We will be paying for this adventure with the lives of our soldiers, economic crisis and political isolation.
We will pay with enmity from our long-time allies. No people are closer and more like kin to the Russians than the Ukrainians. These are our brothers - without any pathos -- and the war between Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
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, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
and Ukrainians in Donbas is impossible to characterize in any other way except as fratricide.
This war is the shame of our country. But the problem will not go away by itself. Putin must be stopped. And this can only be done by the Russian people themselves.
Let us stop this war together.
English version
A special issue of the ''European Union Foreign Affairs Journal'' (EUFAJ) from Germany includes an English translation of the entire report as well as the original text in Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
(publication date 21 May 2015).[
An American ]NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
, the Free Russia Foundation, also published a translation of the report into English.[ It was presented on 28 May 2015 at the Atlantic Council in ]Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Reactions
In Russia, 14 printing companies refused to publish the report.[ PayPal blocked an account raising funds for the report.][
]
Statement to the Prosecutor General
The head of the NGO "Officers of Russia" Anton Tsvetkov sent a statement to the Prosecutor General of Russia, Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation with a request to verify the report ''Putin. War'' for the presence of false information. Tsvetkov said that the facts in the report are based on distorted and anti-Russian sources.Генпрокуратура проверит «доклад Немцова» на клевету
// Известия. — 2015. — 15 мая.
References
Links
''Putin. War''
Доклад Немцова
on putin-itogi.ru
pdf-file of investigation
on Google Drive
Boris Nemtsov's parting shot
{{Authority control
Anti-war movement
Opposition to Vladimir Putin
People's Freedom Party
Russia–Ukraine relations
Vladimir Putin
War in Donbas
2015 documents
2015 in Russia