This is an excerpt from a very useful article on the July and August 2014 Yalta conferences supporting Moscow's assaults on Ukraine.
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.... someone was present at the July Yalta conference from "Mothers of Ukraine". In his notes of the discussions at the conference which Brenner includes in his statement, he writes:
"Representative of the Co-ordination of the Movement 'Mothers of Ukraine': I would like to say to our international guests if you look at mothers who do not have food for their children you would make your draft statement not milder but more severe. Ukraine is destroyed."
We do not know for sure if the representative in question was Galina Zaporozhtseva, even though the latter is the sole public face of "Mothers of Ukraine" and pops up as its representative everywhere from the European Parliament in Brussels to Russian television studios in Moscow, dropping in on round-table discussions of the Izborsky Club while en route.
But it certainly is the case that the politics of "Mothers of Ukraine" are the politics of the former police officer and champion of the Berkut who set up the organization.
The first public appearance of Zaporozhtseva is to be found in an article published in Prokhanov's "Zavtra" in December 2013. The article quoted "colonel of the militia Galina Zaporozhtseva" in an article siding with the Berkut in its conflict with the Maidan protestors. (29)
Zaporozhtseva's television career began the following month, when "Novosti Novosty" channel interviewed "colonel of the militia Galina Zaporozhtseva" about the Maidan protests.
Zapozhtseva explained the 'real' causes of the unrest: "A massive number of terrorists from Syria and the Near East" had arrived in Ukraine, and it was their activities, carried out "behind the backs of students, youth, women and old men" which had resulted in the mayhem of the Maidan. (30)
Speaking for the first time on behalf of "Mothers of Ukraine" in a television interview in April of this year, Zaporozhtseva again defended the Berkut:
"Today scandalous practices are underway in relation to the colleagues of the Berkut who honorably fulfilled their professional duty. As a jurist I can categorically confirm that all actions of the Berkut, from 24th November onwards, were within the framework of the law concerning the militia.
"We also know, and have information about this, that the Berkut did not possess any weapons. All accusations which are now being fabricated against them – and I will insist on this – are intended to cover up the real criminals who opened fire on people." (31)
That is to say: The "Mothers of Ukraine" began life not as the mothers of Ukrainian soldiers but as the mothers of members of the Berkut who had shot and killed demonstrators during the Maidan protests. (Assuming that "Mothers of Ukraine" actually has any existence apart from Zaporozhtseva's media profile.)
The same month an appeal issued in the name of Zaporozhtseva and "Mothers of Ukraine" to "everyone who cares about the fate of our country" condemned the "state putsch" which had overthrown Yanukovich and the "bandits" who had seized control of Parliament.
"Armed thugs" were terrorizing "towns and villages throughout the country". A "foreign intervention" had taken place in the guise of a "western-Ukrainian nationalist movement" and its aim was "the genocide of the Slavs." (32)
The day after the 2nd May attack on anti-Maidan protestors in the Trade Union Building in Odessa Zaporozhtseva, now introduced as a "retired colonel of the militia", was interviewed at length on Russian television:
"I saw the true face of fascism. … There is no law, there is no state, it is pure fascism. There is an information blockade about what is happening in Ukraine. But Russia broadcasts information. What Russia says is true, pure truth. … In Ukraine fascism has risen again." (33)
In a subsequent television interview about events in Odessa Zaporozhtseva claimed that acts of cannibalism had taken place in the Trade Union Building:
"We are busy gathering information to hand over to international organisations. There are facts of cannibalism in the Trade Union Building in Odessa. … They were eating human flesh there, they were wandering around with napkins." (34)
In July Zaporozhtseva was again interviewed on Russian television. She took it as an opportunity to thank Russia for its role in helping refugees: "Let us call things by their names. This is a war. A war is underway. Thank you, Great Russia. This is the only country which is today accepting citizens of Ukraine." (35)....
Please enjoy the full article here:
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