The report on the war in Ukraine has been published. Boris Nemtsov was working on before he was killed. Reported information confirm the alleged Russian involvement in the conflict. Things that the whole world already knew and that will not change Western diplomatic action.
Immediately after the publication of the famous report by Boris Nemtsov, significantly entitled Putin.War, the headlines have focused on the apparently most striking figure: more than 200 Russian soldiers returned home from Ukraine in body bags. Yet, this information is not only not in itself sensational, but not even adds anything new to what we already knew about the Russian involvement in the war in Ukraine.
Despite the Kremlin stubbornly denies the intervention of regular Russian troops in Ukraine and the supply of arms to the separatists, Moscow’s role in the war in Donbass is only an open secret. In addition, the Russian government has never denied the presence of Russian troops among separatists, saying (sometimes in defiance of the evidence) that they are only volunteers. The existence of numerous Cargo 200 – the code name for the transport of the fallen – across the border had already been widely documented by independent journalists and local witnesses. The impression is that Nemtsov’s report more of an oppositionmove against Putin.
Nothing new
The report is actually nothing more than a collation of information that were already known butdisseminated. Sources are mostly journalists, articles and reports appeared on Russian independent media. But there are also eyewitness accounts and information services Ukrainians.
In a word, one could say that the document does not have the force capable of challenging the Kremlin’s version. From this point of view, it seems to confirm the hypothesis that is not why Nemtsovwas killed, as it someone had suggested. It would be very little motive.
That Russia is controlling remote war in Donbass is a secret only to those who do not want to see. I myself have gathered in Donetsk numerous accounts of the presence of Russian military regular troops at least on some occasions and how they are recruited in cities across the border.
What reported in Putin.War also matches with the more likelyhypothesis so far, namely that apart from general support to the separatists, Russian regular army helped separatists in the crucial moments of the war that marked their biggest victories, like in Ilovaisk and Debaltseve.
A source of information for the Russians
Even with its limitations, the document has the merit of putting in a row a series of scattered information, making them easier to be shared. In addition, it provides some interesting information, which had remained a bit ‘on the sly. Like the role of Chechen soldiers, appeared in Donbass since the early days of the unrest, and the issue of mercenaries. “The head of special forces veterans Fund of Sverdlovsk region, Vladimir Yefimov”, the report says,“confirmed that Russian ‘volunteers’ who are involved in combat operations in the Donbass, get money for it. There are regulations on wages: 60-90 thousand rubles a month gets enlisted personnel, 120-150 thousand – the senior staff.”
Western diplomats welcomed with its publication with indifference, suggesting that their action against Russia will not change, and this is probably its greatest limitation. But the explanation could’ve given Nemtsov’s former colleague and friend, ex-prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov. “It is a document for Russian citizens to be able to compare information and understand what is happening,” he said. “They are who are overwhelmingly dependent on state television. Propaganda is not letting citizens make their own conclusions.” An even harder task.
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The report on the war in Ukraine has been published. Boris Nemtsov was working on before he was killed. Reported information confirm the alleged Russian involvement in the conflict. Things that the whole world already knew and that will not change Western diplomatic action.
Immediately after the publication of the famous report by Boris Nemtsov, significantly entitled Putin.War, the headlines have focused on the apparently most striking figure: more than 200 Russian soldiers returned home from Ukraine in body bags. Yet, this information is not only not in itself sensational, but not even adds anything new to what we already knew about the Russian involvement in the war in Ukraine.
