That there is now a war in Ukraine, said Dalia Grybauskaité, the former Lithuanian president, that is our fault. The guilt of all countries united in the European Union, each of which had a reason for not punishing President Putin of Russia too harshly when he suddenly took over Crimea in 2014. Strong language in the first part of the three-part documentary Putin and the West (VPRO), broadcast on Wednesday and can still be watched. Almost all the leaders of the major EU countries have their say and what they say does not lie. Barosso, president of the European Commission in 2014, talks about how frustrated and resentful Putin is. His successor Juncker recalls how “hurt and offended” Putin was when he was expelled from the G8 of the most powerful EU countries. The then British Prime Minister Cameron says bluntly that “lies are part of Putin’s diplomacy”. French President Hollande agrees. The Russian strategy, he says, is one of “lie and deny”. Lie and deny.
Fascinating and terrifying at the same time that 27 countries (of the EU) apparently could not prevent Putin from taking Crimea and then Donbas. No one wanted war with Russia – of course not. But what then had to be done to chase Putin back? Sanctions. Very strict, suggested Poland. Moderately strict, said Hungary. We will, said Italy, but not now. And rather no sanctions on energy supplies, Germany said. Also force a ceasefire with Putin? That’s fine, Putin said, but later. The EU acted too little and too late against Putin, is the conclusion of Lithuanian President Grybauskaité. Only if Putin had been punished immediately and harshly, she says, further escalation might have been avoided.
Uniforms with skulls
In Wagner: Putin’s Shadow Army (BNNVARA) you see what escalation looks like. That’s called war. Even before the official invasion of Ukraine, men with skulls on their uniforms fought there. Mercenaries of the Wagner group, recruited from ex-soldiers, fortune seekers and prisoners. Marat Gabidulin (56) joined the militia in 2015. He is an ex-soldier from the Soviet army, was a hit man for the Siberian underworld and spent three years in prison. No, he didn’t ask questions about the status of this army. “I knew it was not legal.” Meanwhile, he flips a lighter between his fingers. That keeps them flexible, he says. Useful when he needs to load his weapon. He shows his medals, three black crosses, one he received for a victory over IS in Syria.
Wagner appears where Russia has something to gain. They came to the aid of Assad in Syria. How, that can be seen in the video in which Russian soldiers torture a Syrian deserter. With a sledgehammer on his feet, his hands. Hand grenade in his pants. Arms off. Hang upside down. Head off. Put in the fire. All smiling and with music on. These are the men who are “restoring order” in Mozambique, in Sudan, the Central African Republic and now in Ukraine.
Putin has nothing to do with the Wagner group, he says. Strange that he has its founder, Dmitri Utkin – nicknamed ‘His Dark Majesty’ – as a guest at official banquets. Mercenaries appear to reside on the same military bases as the Russian army, using the same equipment. They are fed, clothed, transported by the Russian Ministry of Defense, but do not operate on its behalf. Yes Yes.
The French journalists have been followed and threatened in making this documentary. In Putin’s Russia they are seen as accomplices of US intelligence. Just as Ukraine is not a sovereign country, according to the Russians, but a “creation of the CIA and the EU”.