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Ukraine on Fire (2016)
warning : cigarette smoking
narrator: here in kiev in recent days the maidan the independence square has turned into a full-scale war zone more clashes in ukraine's capital kiev there is absolutely no doubt that snipers are working here. i counted 10 bodies viktor yanukovich: even today we don't know who shot those people. that is the problem reporter: now on the brink of civil war at least 70 dead so far and the death toll is rising vitaliy zaharchenko: these technologies i repeat, no country is safe from them reporter: what we saw here today was a revolution k : hail to ukraine putin: want to know what's happening in ukraine? victoria nuland: we have spent over 5 billion dollars to assist ukraine vitaliy zaharchenko: in big politics whatever they're talking about they are talking about money oliver stone: nato has expanded by 13 countries up to the borders of russia. 13 countries narrator: the focus has to be not allowing this crisis to turn into a hot war between ukraine and russia viktor yanukovich: this is a dangerous topic we're talking about war no one should feel safe today narrator: ukraine it's an ancient and proud land with a rich history filled with much beauty heroism and sacrifice ukraine is a border land a place where east meets west this is the flag of ukraine the blue represents the sky the gold is seeming endless fields of wheat ukraine is a prize many have sought and much blood was spilled in a quest to posess it ukraine has been the path for the western countries as they attempted to conquer the east in world war I and in world war II and every time the ukrainian people payed the highest price for this grand games of power history doesn't repeat but it surely rhymes said mark twain looking closely to the history of ukraine one will notice many rhymes being surrounded by stronger powers ukrainians needed a lot of cunning to survive the art they truly mastered in time was the art of changing sides iIn the middle of the 17th century ukrainian leader bogdan khmelnitskiy broke the peace they made with poland and sided with more powerful russia just over 50 years later as the russian-swedish war was raging another ukrainian leader ivan mazepa broke the union with russia and switched sides joining forces with the swedish invaders many times ukrainian history was written by third parties seeking to keep the gains of the revolution russia agreed to the humiliating brest-litovsky peace of 1918 which turned ukraine into a german protectorate another historical document that changed the fate of ukraine was the molotov-ribbentrop pact of 1939 one of many such agreements being signed between european countries and rising germany attempting to protect his nation from the approaching nazi threat Joseph Stalin negotiated a treaty of non-aggression with adolf hitler while promising each other peace soviet and german foreign ministers molotov and ribbentrop divided the map of eastern europe splitting it into german and soviet spheres of influence as soon as the molotov-ribbentrop pact was signed poland was split and in september of 1939 eastern poland became the western ukraine and a part of the family of the soviet republics and the USSR but even this bold dividing of land only delayed the war germany broke its promise to the USSR on june 22nd 1941 germany invaded the USSR and launched barbarossa the largest military operation in world history barbarossa was aiming for saint-petersburg, moscow and kiev, ukraine three destinations of major significance ukraine with its rich land and resources was an important industrial and economic source for the USSR to cut it from the soviet union would be a great success for most of those in the soviet union the second world war was about fighting the invaders of their land but it wasn't so simple for ukraine the truth is ukraine has never been one country when world war II began a large part of western ukraine welcomed the german soldiers as liberators from the recently enforced soviet rule and openly collaborated with the germans true scale of this collaboration was not announced for many decades after the war but we now know that whole divisions and battalions were formed such as ss galizien, nachtigal and roland just in the beginning of the war more than 80 thousand people from the galizien region volunteered for the ss galizien later known for its extreme cruelty towards polish, jewish and russian people on the territory of ukraine members of these military groups came mostly from organization of ukrainian nationalists the OUN founded in 1929 this organization had the ultimate goal of an ethnically pure ukraine and considered terror as acceptable measure for achieving their ends their official flag was black and red land and blood it will remain in ukraine's history long after the OUN ceases to exist in early 1940 the organization of ukrainian nationalists got its own leader - stepan bandera [for ukraine, for freedom, for honor, for glory] severely anti-semitic and anti-communist he proclaimed a free ukraine in 1941 his german allies found such an act of self-will unacceptable and they put him in prison for nearly all 2nd world war not participating in person bandera still managed to successfully spread his ideology many independent historians state that the OUN militia exterminated from 150 to 200 thousand jews on the ukrainian territory occupied by germans by the end of 1941 the most notorious and outrageous massacre took place on september 29 of 1941 in , kiev all kikes of the city of kiev and its vicinity must appear on monday, september 29 by 8 o'clock in the morning bring documents, money and valuables and also hand clothing, linen, etc any kikes who do not follow this order and are found elsewhere will be shot 33 771 jews were killed by the nazi and the ukrainian militia another outrageous massacre was carried out by the ukrainian rebels army and the OUN it happened on the territory of the german occupied polish wolyn and eastern galicia in 1943 and 1944 this genocide of poles was lead by m 35 to 60 thousand people in wolyn and 25 to 40 thousand people in eastern galicia became the victims of this massive ethnic cleansing operation sensing the inevitable loss of the german troops the OUN betrayed its former ally and began fighting against german and soviet forces in january of 1943 the USSR army began pushing back the german troops liberating one part of ukraine after another western ukraine was the region held by the germans the longest and was finally liberated on october of 1944 bandera's gangs continued their guerrilla war against soviets, carrying out bloody attacks on ukrainian villages and towns leaving chaos and victims among civilians this war went on till the mid 1950s when the last collaborators were eliminated or fled the country on may 7 of 1945 germany unconditionally surrendered and ukraine remained a part of the USSR peace after the second world war was short-lived the usa and the USSR nations who allied together along with england against the nazi later tragically became foes as the cold war began the era of political and military tension between the usa and the USSR lasted for nearly 45 years keeping humanity under constant threat of nuclear war. in this battle the usa never took its sights off ukraine because of its importance us intelligences were closely cooperating with ukrainian nationalistic organizations as a valuable source of counter-intelligence against the USSR cia documents just recently declassified show strong ties between us intelligence and ukrainian nationalists since 1946 from the cia reports it's obvious that they weren't mistaken about the ukrainian nationalists and stepan bandera according to the oss report of september 1945 bandera had earned a fierce reputation for conducting a reign of terror during world war II after the second world war bandera and other nationalist leaders fled to europe where the cia covered them the cia later informed the immigration and naturalization service it had concealed stepan bandera and other ukrainians from soviets the operations involving ukrainians continued for many years the nurenberg trials of 1945 and 1946 had put the political, economic and military leaders of fascist germany to justice showing the whole world the face of nazism and the crimes they committed but the ukrainian nazi were spared of such fate and some were even granted amnesty by the cia by 1951 the agency excused the illegal activities of oun's security branch in the name of cold war necessity in 1949 m , the man responsible for the mass massacres in wolyn was moved to the usa where he died in 1989 without ever being investigated for his crimes protecting the ukrainian nationalist m the cia stopped criminal investigation of the immigration and naturalization service perhaps bandera lost his use to the usa or maybe the KGB agency outplayed the cia but in 1959 stepan bandera was killed in munich where he was hiding under the name of stepan popel i0t's fair to say that by sheer coincidence bandera became the main symbol of ukrainian nationalism because he wasn't neither its only nor its most powerful leader dmitriy dontsov was the father of the far right totalitarian doctrine in ukraine andriy melnik the leader of another fraction of the oun roman shuhevich the leader of the ukrainian rebel's army and many others bandera's dangerous ideology suppressed by the soviet government but supported by external forces was never completely eliminated the seeds of ukrainian nationalism were passed from generation to generation unfortunately not many years had gone by before they once again grew in 1954 ukraine's territory was expanded once more when nikita khrushev, leader of the USSR and an ukrainian himself generously gave the crimean region to ukraine historians will debate for many years about this being legal and 60 years later another series of dramatic events were taking place in crimea reporter: the eyes of the world are on ukraine as the crisis in crimea continues several dozens of well armed people have captured the government in crimea should ukraine just shrug its shoulders and say 'ok, crimea is lost'? narrator: the old argument would repeat once again the cold war was going up and down while both rivals were obsessed with growing their military capacity the turning point came with the perestroyka when the USSR got its new leader michael gorbachev, in the middle of 1980 perestroyka means restructuring towards democratization and modernization it certainly had a positive impact on the international situation reporter: astonishing news from berlin where the german authorities announced that the berlin wall doesn't mean anything anymore narrator: but inside the USSR the weakening of the kremlin control had different consequences the ukrainian nationalistic political organization called narodniy ruh or the national movement was established in 1989 viacheslav chernovol: i congratulate all of us in this remarkable event, the creation of our movement narrator: they advocated for independence of ukraine from the USSR and became the starting point for many of the ukrainian nationalistic and neo-nazi leaders in 1991 one of them, oleg tyagnibok founded 'c' or 'freedom' radical nationalistic party openly following the good old principles of bandera oleg tyagnibok: they were prepared and fought against russians fought against germans, fought against kikes and all other scum trying to take our ukrainian country from us narrator: purge ukraine from jews and russians ukraine for ukrainians and so on these statements got him the 5th place on the list of top 10 anti-semites in the world according to the simon wiesenthal center oleg tyagnibok: hail to ukraine crowd: hail to the heroes narrator: sadly such statements attracted numerous followers dmitriy yarosh founded another extreme right organization 't' or 'trident' in 1994 in april of 2013 yarosh became the assistant to a deputy from udar or strike party lead by vitaly klitchko later that year he founded another far right ukrainian neo-nazi group the right sector andriy parubiy would soon lead the whole army of the ultra-nationalistic warriors and the torch marches will once again lighting the streets of ukrainian cities [heroes never die] the world drastically changed in august of 1991 when the USSR de-facto ceased to exist and many new political formations appeared on the world map ukraine one of them for the first time in modern history it was truly independent and all on itself reporter: the red flag above the kremlin came down today when president resigned ending 70 years of communist rule in the USSR narrator: the years after the fall of the USSR were known as crazy 90s on all post-soviet territories reporter: he's leaving behind 15 individual states that share only a disaster economy and an uncertain future narrator: after the planned economy of the USSR the free market changed the rules of the game new businesses emerged quickly and soon the first oligarchs appeared a former country without class division became divided into unequal parts a few chosen ones became rich while the rest had to fight to survive putin: right after gaining independence a wild privatization of the state property began lowering the life quality of the people right after the independence and what is interesting, whoever was coming to power nothing changed for the people a constant robbery of the people was happening a constant robbery of the ukrainian people of course the people grew tired of this of this growing corruption narrator: the disappointment of the people made ukraine vulnerable to outside forces and soon people were to know the new kind of war one had never known before - the color revolutions reporter: the protesters are confronting the police while the result of the elections are being questioned and they are calling for a new vote narrator: for 24 years of its independence ukraine got through 2 revolutions in 2004 people came on the streets of kiev and started the orange revolution at that time ukraine once again became the battlefield of two forces russia and western countries the confrontation reached its peak during the presidential election of 2004 two major candidates western-backed viktor ushenko and russia-oriented viktor yanukovich almost equally shared the votes of the ukrainian people by the way - calling viktor ushenko western-backed was not an exaggeration his wife k viktor ushenko is a former us state department official and worked in the white house during reagan's administration the votes were split in a geographic principle traditionally pro-russia eastern ukraine voted for viktor yanukovich while western ukraine voted for viktor ushenko by the announced results viktor ushenko lost to viktor yanukovich but thousands of people didn't agree with that and came to the central square of kiev on november 22nd of 2004 the situation got wide press coverage reporter: the government election commission ignored the fraud accusations and declared viktor yanukovich president narrator: the international politicians such as former secretary of nato javier solana became frequent guests in kiev initiating negotiations between the parties javier solana: i'm hoping that together we can overcome these difficulties narrator: the results of the negotiations were often reached only on paper for example viktor ushenko never told his supporters to stop blocking the government institutions in the center of kiev therefore these non-violent protests lasted for a month during which the result of the previous election were canceled and new elections were announced the important nuance just 3 months before viktor ushenko suffered a mysterious still unsolved poisoning but it didn't prevent him from winning the new election but as we shall soon see there was much more than just the people's will to this victory this peaceful revolution and its leaders were warmly welcomed by the international community but the euphoria didn't last long viktor ushenko's government failed the reforms and lost its chance to establish democracy instead of setting into internal fighting viktor ushenko was not reelected for a second term but in the end of his presidency he had time to give one last gift to his supporters from western ukraine ushenko: in conclusion i would like to say something that is long awaited by the ukrainian patriots for many years i have signed a decree for the unbroken spirit and standing for the idea of fighting for independent ukraine i declare stepan bandera a national hero of ukraine hail to ukraine narrator: the hero status of stepan bandera was short-lived in 2010 viktor yanukovich was elected president and this time the international community had no doubts about the legitimacy of the elections in january 2011 viktor yanukovich repealed the hero title of bandera and after almost 4 years of his presidency another revolution shook ukraine unfortunately this one was anything but peaceful oliver stone: mr yanukovich, i am an american i'm an outsider in this situation and it's very complicated but i would like, as a filmmaker to just jump into the action and go to those moments in november 2013 you're president of ukraine, been president for 3 years at this point the country is in a bad economic shape you have a trade agreement with russia and now you're seeking making a better agreement with eu and you're negotiating can you tell me at that moment what you were thinking? yanukovich: this was truly a very complicated period for ukraine and wee needed to find a solution for the problems of 2013 so we had 2 partners first of all we were relying on the international monetary found but the IMF for a year of negotiations was proposing us options that were unacceptable a significant rise of energy resources prices for the people, natural gas first of all that meant a significant rise of the people's expenses while their income would stay at the same level we wouldn't agree with that we proposed another option and we officially got rejected by the imf in november of 2013 the other option was russia russia said - we're ready to work with you as partners if you take our interests in consideration putin: because the economy of russia and ukraine were established as one absolutely unique economical relations were born the russian market was completely open for ukrainian products and our customs border with ukraine is completely open in that way the eu would enter our market with its products without any negotiations yanukovich: and so when we began calculating the balances we saw the agreement prepared by the eu for ukraine requires a lot of economic efforts and losses and the eu wouldn't compensate any of it and the russian market would drastically reduce putin: we said of course, if ukraine decided to do that than it's their decision and we respect it but we mustn't be the ones to pay for it yanukovich: our negotiations with the eu didn't succeed and that's why we proposed to make a break reporter: violent clashes are happening in kiev where about 100 thousand people came on the streets to protest against the government's decision to delay the signing of the association agreement with eu oliver stone: vitaliy, you were the minister of inner affairs of ukraine in that period so basically you were the head of ukraine's police so tell me your vision on the protests happened in november through february vitaliy zaharchenko: we had the information that these mass protests were being planned anyway and they were to start in 2015 but the opposition used the fact that the government decided to delay the signing of the association agreement with eu narrator: arseniy yatsenuk the leader of the opposition block the fatherland oleg tyagnibok, the leader of the oppositional far right radical party c vitaliy klitchko, the leader of the opposition party udar reporter: on thursday leaders of the eu and ukraine stated that the negotiation on the association agreement can be resumed after the 2 day consulting but now the association agreement is of the table angela merkel: we expected more from you yanukovich: i want you to hear me 3 and a half years i've been working on this question 1 on 1 with strong russia reporter: pro-eu protests on the streets of kiev enter the 2nd day the protesters are now joined by the leader of the opposition ukranian world boxing champion vitaliy klitchko he called the protesters to maintain pressure on the government after it's refusal to sign a major trade deal with eu oliver stone: you go back to kiev the next day after the interview with merkel and protests are on, am i right? can you tell me about that period? yanukovich: in the beginning of this i had an understanding that these are peaceful actions and you can negotiate with peaceful protesters and i was willing to do that vitaliy zaharchenko: talking about protests of november through february one has to account the dynamics of their development that happened beforehand in ukraine there are many public organizations that are being funded from abroad a huge number of journalists getting foreign grants narrator: robert perry is an investigative journalist working in washington dc best know for his disclosure of the iran-contra in 1980s he's a founder of consortiumnews.com and he's reported extensively on the crisis in ukraine and what stands behind it robert perry: a ngo is a non-governmental organization and many ngo's are quite legit and working for good purposes trying to help people, solving medical and water problems but there are some ngo's that are funded by the government services and serve more the purpose of that government rather than trying to serve the people that they're supposed to work with one thing we saw in the 1980s at that point the cia had been largely discredited because of the scandals that were exposed in the 1970s narrator: for 15 years the cia had secretly financed the overseas national students activities and associations but then it came light of a big web of cia penetrations robert perry: so, when the reagan administration came in there was this concept that instead of having the cia that would traditionally go into these countries funding their media, ngo's and different political operations that was essentially passed to a new organization called national endowment for democracy created in 1983 and it would do pretty much what the cia would do penetrate the country, support different political groups preparing activists, journalists, business groups and pushing the interests of usa foreign policy sometimes against the interests of the host countries government they were also supplying an organizational and financial support and help in trainings of activists on their work with journalists to be able to present their view in the best way they worked on things like how to get popularity how to make things viral, how to use it to get support for your ideas narrator: and the support was granted m h, a founder of one of ukraine's new media muatafa naem: good evening or better good night narrator: tv knew very well how to make something go viral it was his notorious post on facebook on november 21st of 2013 that have lead the first crowd to maidan muatafa naem: I made this post just to check if there are any willing people or we were just talking narrator: if you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed if you read the newspaper, you're misinformed mark twain to be heard in this modern world of media and social networks you got to embrace them all as the disturbing events of euromaidan started on november 21 of 2013 3 new tv channels went on the air and immediately gained great popularity spilno tv found on november 21st 2013 hromadske tv found on november 22nd 2013 espresso tv found on november 24th 2013 broadcasting directly from opposition protests these channels went viral openly supporting protests and encouraging more and more people to come to maidan vitaliy zaharchenko: the first mass actions began november 21st 2013 at first they were peaceful actions a lot of different types of people were coming young and old, some of them brought children it was clear that they trust the government and the police also they were walking free and there were no hints that any force will be used against them so the law enforcement officers were doing their job of protecting the order without firearms but among those protesters some radicals were already spotted they were connected with far-right parties and neo-nazi organizations so on november 24th they did the first aggressive action on november 24-th the first attack on government office was made and also the first attack on the police officers that were guarding it the second attack on the ukrainian security service officers happened on november 25th then the notorious events of november 30th narrator: november 30th of 2013 became the first turning point of the maidan though the events of that night were widely covered in press the truth about what exactly happened is still uncertain vitaliy zaharchenko: i will tell you how i personally saw these events i got a call from popov the head of the kiev administration he said that they would like to begin installing the equipment for the christmas tree on the square i explained him that while people are on the square it shouldn't be done at about 1am when people began to leave the square i had a talk with the head of the ukrainian security service i asked his opinion on the current situation and he said i suppose, thank god, it's over. we have an information that it is over. because since November 21st i was literally living and sleeping in my office if i was lucky to have couple of hours a day to sleep at about 3am i came to my home, set-up my alarm for 6:30am first thing in the morning i turned on my tv it was set to channel 5 and it showed a lot of ambulance cars and a lot of injured people reporter: armed with rubber bats police officers were attacking the protesters it happened early in the morning the witnesses say that the police were indeed using the rubber bats vitaliy zaharchenko: honestly it just hit me with a cold sweat yanukovich: my first reaction on maidan protesters being hurt by the police was instant we had to investigate who ordered to disperse the protesters to use force against them i was against using force against violating the human rights zaharchenko: there is no way popov could make such a decision by himself and who was the highest official for him? the highest official for popov was a head of the president's administration sergei liovochkin narrator: coincidentally, sergei liovochkin was a close associate of many us politicians the ukrainian security service had evidence that on that night contacted with the opposition leader and discussed the disperse of maidan with installing the christmas tree as an excuse the news media reported that the police cold-blooded attacked students peacefully sleeping in their tents but scenes from the event seem to tell a different story it appears that the protesters were expecting the police there were dozens of journalists, and cameras from the new tv channels already there but the most suspicious was a group of well trained young men that arrived practically at the same time as police they spread in the crowd and began provoking the police with insults, stones and torches robert perry: the right sector in ukraine represents the far-right ukrainian population they often had their militias that were coming to maidan some squads were shipped into kiev as muscle for the demonstrations the demonstrations ran from being peaceful to being increasingly violent narrator: the first step in any investigation is to to find the motive it is now known that sergei liovochkin has the highest favor among his us friends outraged about what was reported on the news people came out the next day to express their disturbance by the actions of police stone: the violence started to take off when? yanukovich: unlawful actions practically began on december of 2013 the events taking place at that time in kiev were very radical neo-nazi organizations took part in them young men that were armed with different improvised weapons such as iron bars, baseball bats and even vehicles were used like tractors, they were using tractors to attack the police officers that were defending the government institutions and the president's administration building how could a president come out to talk to such an uncontrollable crowd? whom to talk to? the technologies used at that time, they were planned beforehand narrator: as veiled and masked as the color revolutions may be an attentive viewer can see a subtle pattern revealing their true nature to make crowds act like one group you have to unite them on the subconscious level masterminds of the color revolutions know that well and mastered this art symbolism is one of the most powerful tools to achieve this goal revolutionary political organizations with surprisingly similar names and even more similar symbols appear in those countries that are soon to be hit by revolutions they are often described as being aware and active but actually trained and radical they are the ones who take the first shot, literally to convert protests into outrage their fingerprints can be found everywhere on the map of color revolutions using all the experience of past generations simple but effective tools like chanting, do a great job crowd: together we are strong narrator: well know for exciting the crowd and creating a group identity they depersonalize the individuals and create a group thats easily manipulated crowd: if you're not hopping then you're russian man on stage: thank you friends hail to ukraine crowd: hail to the heroes zaharchenko: of course it couldn't be done without money so many ngo's grants given to ukraine and it's not a secret narrator: incidentally, one of such organizations hromadske tv received generous donations from the dutch and us embassies as well as the renaissance foundation founded by george soros george soros: i've set up a foundation in ukraine before ukraine even became independent from russia and the foundation has been functioning ever since it played a significant role in the ukrainian events now narrator: i like criticism but it must be my way mark twain stone: did you see any evidence that the us is involved? did you feel the presence of the us? yanukovich: the us officials were often guests there were congressmen victoria nuland came very often we were discussing with her but after those discussions she was going to maidan to support the protesters and accuse the police of using force actually we saw all of those messages on maidan chris murphy: we will come here, at this square to celebrate with you and ukraine that stands together with the eu and us perry: well members of congress were visiting ukraine one of the most known was senator john mccain so the high us official the person who had run for president was talking to the people that were acting against their democratically elected government saying that the us is with them mccain: i'm senator john mccain and it's always a pleasure to be back in ukraine perry: senator mccain was giving people the feeling that they are being supported by the most powerful country on earth mccain: this is not about the future you want for your country this is about the future you deserve yanukovich: a lot of delegates were coming i was saying that one shouldn't first of all, say what isn't true one shouldn't take the side of the protesters and protect their rights and making the conflict worse with it when the protesters capture the government institutions tell me is it acceptable in any other country for instance if an ambassador of ukraine went to see the protesters in ferguson and give out cookies or pies and accuse the police of the us i consider this unacceptable in any country of the eu so why then ukraine was treated that way? stone: who was your highest level contact at that time? yanukovich: i was constantly in contact with mr biden i had regular phone talks with him but the thing is that mr biden was saying one thing and what was happening in ukraine was completely another stone: and the us ambassador? yanukovich: the us ambassador in ukraine was constantly receiving the maidan delegates in his embassy we knew it very well we were tracking this and we had the impression that there was a headquarters of this process inside of the us embassy perry: in early february of 2014 as the maidan crisis became more violent there was a phone call that was intercepted between the assistant secretary of state in europe victoria nuland and the us ambassador in ukraine geoffrey pyatt reporter: one should question the credibility of ukrainians after a private chat of the top us ambassador was leaked online nuland: i think yats is the guy who's got the economic experience the governing experience he's the what he needs is klitsch and tyahnybok on the outside i just think klitsch going in he's going to be at that level working for yatseniuk it's just not going to work pyatt: yeah, no, i think that's right. ok good, do you want us to set up a call with him as the next step? nuland: sullivan's come back to me vfr [direct to me] saying you need biden and i said probably tomorrow for an atta-boy and to get the details to stick so biden's willing perry: so you had this remarkable phone call where two high officials in the us government are openly talking about coup and about how they're planning to dysfunction the government of ukraine nuland: fuck the eu pyatt: no, exactly perry: i'm not saying the whole us government is like this there is a division but for neocons it is very important to change the dynamics in the eastern europe they are very smart the neocons are highly skilled in propaganda they know well all of the push points of the american people they had this experience when they were heating things up around central america in 1980s reporter: the sandinista ground forces are now armed with Russian artillery perry: they've been applying the same strategies ever since they were being very dedicated to achieving their goals they still want to get rid of certain governments they want a regime change in syria, in iran they're very skilled at this they have a lot of allies in the media and government and that means they have a lot of influence on creating the narrative robert kagan: i think in america these days we have somehow sold ourselves that there are a lot of ways of dealing with this problem other than hard power vladimir putin cares about hard power perry: the neocons are now demonizing the leader of the country that sells to the american people so you don't just argue the policy, you attack the leader the neocons are very skilled at picking out leaders features and then highlighting them for yanukovich you can say that he is a hulking political leader but he was turned into a devil he is thoroughly corrupt, evil that wants to kill people on maidan those innocent wonderful demonstrators in that way we now have the villain and the victim and then you keep repeating that basic scenario and it works with american people mccain: you got to realize who vladimir putin is he's an old kgb that wants to restore the russian empire perrt: you make them demons and the american people find that this way they can understand the world once that happens the journalists or someone else find it hard to say 'now hold on, there is no certain white hat and black hat it's all very complicated' and if you say that you're instantly branded as an apologist of yanukivich or putin the one, who dared to say that is now under attack no matter who it is - a journalist, academic or whatever narrator: any good director will tell you that tempo and rhythm are the main instruments to hold an audience's attention zaharchenko: the technology itself that was used in the maidan consisted of the necessity of the sacral victims, the sacrifice it's a part of technology narrator: it can also be called a method of betrayal when the allies are thrown into the revolutionary flame the idea is simple when the preparation is done all you need is a trigger to be pulled to set the chain on motion the murder of politician rafik hariri triggered the cedar revolution looking back at the mysterious poisoning of viktor ushenko right before the orange revolution in 2004 we now see that he became the sacred victim himself most political analysts agree that the compassion of the ukrainian people tilted the scales towards his presidency the number of victims among protesters during euromaidan totalled over 100 they were called the heavenly hundred and were immediately mythologized the beating of students on november 30 of 2013 was an obvious trigger for euromaidan those who sent trained provocateurs on the square very well realized that peaceful protesters were the ones to get hurt the most it's hard to keep the protests going for months on end the tension weakens, people get tired holidays are also big danger for revolution masterminds people want to get home to their family and friends and one needs to be inventive to keep them in the cold tents on december 25 of 2013 journalist tatiana chernovol was chosen to be a tool to fire up maidan again reporter: investigative journalist tatiana chernovol known for her investigations of corruption in ukrainian government was found beaten near kiev on christmas narrator: her heroic deeds look more like small crimes trespassing of the presidential residence the siege of kiev city's administration breaking into the car of ukraine's security service it looked like tatiana was willing to make the news rather than reporting them and gain the popularity that could be transformed into votes for her political party the fatherland the beating of tatiana chernovol became a real christmas gift for the media despite the fact that in just 3 days all the suspects were arrested and confessed that it was a road accident the world media kept insisting on a political background for that crime instantly tatiana became a heroic martyr uniting people around her image reporter: the beating of a journalist among the political turmoil caused protests narrator: the euromaidan was once again a center stage and tatiana in less than 2 months was already healthy enough to attack the office of the regions party the political party of viktor yanukovich tatiana chernovol: this is the place where the people that beat me came from this is the nest of this criminal mafia government the death squads are also being controlled from here narrator: one of the staff 65-year old it specialist vladimir zaharov was killed during the attack so, where is tatiana now? well, she finally got her position of power in the new government one month later the time came for another act armenian ukrainian protester sergei nigoyan was one of the first to arrive on maidan he wasn't radical or violent but instead was full of hope for the better future watching sergei read the patriotic poem is like watching a casting for the role of the sacred victim sergei nigoyan: keep fighting you are sure to win god helps you in your fight for fame and freedom march with you right at your side narrator: unfortunately sergei got the part the video went viral after sergei was killed early in the morning on January 22 of 2014 the circumstances of his death remain unknown to this day even though the whole event was constantly filmed there were no records or witnesses to help the investigation and his body was removed immediately from the crime scene sergei became the first martyr of euromaidan police officers were appointed as his killers almost 2 years later the official investigation still has no results now it's widely believed that he was killed by provocateurs to escalate the conflict god speaks to people in the language of signs on January 26 2014 pope francis prayed for ukraine addressing thousands of people on saint peter's square after the prayer two white doves were released from the window and were immediately attacked by a crow and a seagull those who understand the symbolism easily read this event as that soon two great powers represented by a crow and a seagull will be tearing apart two slavic nations the white doves this omen gave hope to the ukrainian people saying that by god's will two doves will be saved but it also predicted severe hardship and many victims the events, that made the history of color revolutions as the most massive in human sacrifice yet arrived right on schedule - one month later reporter: during the last weeks this european capital was caught in a violent uprising today is the bloodiest day yet the protesters are advancing towards the government region of the city they are armed with molotov cocktails we also saw handguns and shotguns there are casualties from both sides she just said that there are 6 dead people up there not just injured, dead, shot by snipers zaharchenko: on february 20 the police officers were being shot at yanukovich: i got this information that snipers are shooting and there are casualties from both sides zaharchenko: the conservatory is where the first shots were from this place was under control of the maidan forces narrator: and here again we see our old friend from narodniy ruh andriy parubiy who was at the peak of his glory as a self-proclaimed maidan commandant which in fact means leader of the radical opposition : we had warned them that maidan may take more action if our demands aren't fulfilled in the next days putin: it was to spread chaos and certainly yanukovich wouldn't benefit from growing chaos reporter: here you can see protesters escorting a line of special forces officers it's still not clear where they are taking them 67 officers are officially declared missing stone: 14 officers dead, 43 wounded, right? zaharchenko: 20 people dead and more than 150 with gun wounds yanukovich: then it was clear, on february 20-21 that an armed overthrow was happening reporter: opposition leader vitaliy klitchko called his followers to stay alert each of you here should stand strong, he said because we're not going anywhere yanukovich: at that same period we were negotiating with the opposition and very often we agreed, but as i found out later, it was just a game the part of the opposition that didn't take part in the negotiation the radical one, they didn't care and listened to no one they were doing their job narrator: like in 2004 during the orange revolution the international leaders felt that it was time to interfere and put both sides of the negotiation putin: three european foreign ministers came to kiev putin: they took part in the meeting between president yanukovich and the opposition agreed on carrying out a presidential election before schedule agreed on the ways of building relations between the president and the opposition the ukrainian president and the leaders of the opposition have agreed on a truce just like in 2004 the opposition or at least its radical faction the right sector, lead by dmitriy yarosh had no intention of fulfilling his part of the bargain dmitriy yarosh: the achieved agreements do not comply with our expectations the right sector will not lower the weapons the right sector will not unblock any of the government institutions until our main demand is fulfilled the resignation of viktor yanukovich yanukovich: i have signed such document but a bit later i understood that whatever document we are to sign the overthrow scenario was planned and it was imminent so, basically none of our actions mattered radoslaw sikorski: if you don't sign this you will have martial law the army, you'll all be dead the opposition leaders said that they have found a way to end the bloodshed but first they wanted to announce the conclusion of the negotiations it was soon clear that the protesters weren't happy putin: so the next day mr viktor yanukovich left to visit the second largest city in ukraine, x as soon as he left his office it was taken using weapons what do you call that? yanukovich: the thing is i flew there by helicopter the escorting cars were going separately but no one knew about it so the escorting cars were going and they got under gunfire also our intelligence had an information that there were special mercenaries who's objective was not to capture the president, but to kill so i asked for mr. putin's permission to go to russia the permission was granted and also i was helped on february 24th i got on russian territory at the same time kiev was saying the last goodbye to the victims of the massacre it was also welcoming those who came to power on the cost of their lives ukraine's parliament has voted for assigning alexander turchinov as an acting president he called the lawmakers to form the new government by tuesday this event followed the dismount of president viktor yanukovich on saturday perry: and they removed yanukovich without following the constitutional procedure for impeachment yanukovich: the impeachment procedure wasn't followed the constitutional court had to be involved the supreme court and it wasn't done and of the deputies had to be voting in the parliament the parliament of ukraine consists of 450 deputies the constitution of ukraine requires at least a majority of 338 deputies vote in favor but only 328 deputies voted yes they didn't have the of parliament votes the us state department immediately called the new government legit and it was a part of the coup scenario in this way they eliminated the possibility to revive the agreement of february 22 that could get viktor yanukovich back in power then you had eastern ukraine resisting crimea wanted to separate and the situation came out of control on sunday the people are to decide whether they want to leave ukraine and join russia the campaign with slogan 'together with russia' is being carried by moscow the crimean referendum situation was also happening at that time the crimean referendum was initiated by the people of crimea it was their response to the maidan representatives' attempts to make the same coup in crimea it is not a secret that the population of crimea was always pro-russia crimean authorities, agreeing with the populace fully supported viktor yanukovich's decision to stall the signing of the 2013 trade agreement with eu as the event in kiev took place crimean authorities made a declaration: based on the will of the crimean people who elected us we declare that we will not give crimea to extremists and neo-nazis seeking to seize power in ukraine at the cost of the blood of the country and its citizens after the regime change in kiev rumors began spreading in crimea that new authorities will be ruthless to the ones who oppose them dmitriy yarosh: hail to ukraine crowd: hail to the heroes this lead to the pro-russia demonstrations of the people that aren't in agreement with the new government in kiev on february 27 the government institution in the capital of crimea was seized by pro-russia protesters the crimean government was dismissed and the new leader c a was assigned as the leader of the crimean autonomous republic they certainly were hoping and asking the russian government for protection on march 16 the crimean referendum was held and the people voted for leaving ukraine and entering the russian federation the situation in crimea has been presented as russian invasion and again, nobody takes it seriously look at the poll numbers some of them were done by the us agencies themselves showing that people of crimea want to join russia but in the us news media it's all been presented as russian invading and faking this vote where people were voting literally at gun point and that's how they got 96% of the votes for joining russia the idea of referendum in crimea is quite simply unconstitutional there are questions whether this vote was really free and fair especially considering the military presence of russia in crimea now so that's how it's shown to the american people the reality is very different the atmosphere here is certainly remarkable thousands of people gathered in the capital of crimea this is happening after last sunday when the referendum was held where the majority voted for reuniting with russia crowd: russia, russia i'd like to ask you what is democracy? democracy is a policy based on the will of the people how do you know the will of the people? in the modern world it's done by voting over 90% of people came and over 90% of those people voted for joining russia the will of the people has to be respected don't bend international law and democracy principles according to your current geopolitical interests every time we had no combats there, no shooting, no one was killed what is described by the west as russian invasion in crimea is in fact a presence of russian soldiers can you clarify that? russian soldiers in crimea, as it is known were there for ages, because the black sea naval base was in crimea as long as 1804 the c naval base became the main naval base of the russian empire on the black sea during the 2nd world war heroic defense of c lasted almost a year and took hundreds of thousands of lives therefore the naval base in crimea has a legacy of historical pride for the russian black sea fleet as well as being of huge strategic importance in 1962 during the ongoing arms race the USSR began sending rockets to cuba those of us alive at that time remember how frightened and angry we were by that fact and how it nearly grew into a nuclear conflict because the weapon of such power was based that close to the us if the us considers cuba to be its backyard then crimea is merely at russia's doorstep what are the consequences of the us or nato capturing that naval base? very dramatic because base itself means nothing but there is one thing i'd like to focus on why do you think we are reacting on growth of nato so much we're worried by its decision making practice i know how it's done when countries become a nato member it's very hard for them to resist the pressure from such a large country which is the leader of nato, the usa and than anything can appear there very easily missile defense systems, new bases, new offensive systems, if needed and what should we do? we're forced to counteract meaning putting those objects that are threatening us on the aim of our missile systems the situation is stressful sergei lavrov: if we're being attacked we will definitely respond you know, it seems to me that i don't always understand the logic of our partners sometimes i have the impression that they need to set better discipline set things straight in their atlantic enclave and it requires an enemy iran does not fit this part at all i am concerned about the expansion of nato it has expanded by 13 countries up to the borders of russia 13 countries this is a very dangerous topic we are talking about war war between russia and the us it's sheer madness in early spring of 2014 eastern ukraine had also risen against the new ukrainian government this region's population both culturally and geographically close to russia feared that the newly formed ultra-right government would cause the growth of nationalism and they had reasons to worry the status of the russian language in ukraine was one of the key questions for years declaring the russian language as the second official was one of the key points of viktor yanukovich's presidential campaign in 2012 yanukovich's government passed a law that declared russian the second official language in those regions where more than 10% of the population consider it as their native mostly on the east and south of ukraine the ukrainian nationalists initiated massive protests opposing the law and an attentive observer can see here a few familiar faces oleg tyagnibok: we have shown that those bastards those gangs can be defeated on february 23rd of 2014 the very next day after the regime change the new government voted to denote the official status of the russian language and even though later acting president alexander turchinov vetoed this act, it still sent a message this alarmed the russian-speaking regions and they went on the streets to protest in response the maidan supporters carried out their own demonstrations when the two parties met the tension was growing and it lead to tragedy one person died and about 50 were injured in clashes during the pro-russian march to protest against the new kiev government on april 6 the crimean scenario began repeating in eastern ukraine the protesters seized the government institutions and the next day april 7 they proclaimed the people's republic of donetsk kiev replied by announcing an anti-terrorist operation in eastern ukraine by that time the international media was screaming about a russian invasion in ukraine russia could be on the verge of invading ukraine but disregarding such strong words in the media the ukrainian authorities never declared a war state why? imf cannot give money to countries engaged in ongoing war zaharchenko: you know, in big politics whatever they're talking about they are talking about money too much money was already invested in ukraine to stop half way victoria nuland: we've invested over 5 billion dollars to assist ukraine in its course to assure secure, prosperous and democratic ukraine on developing what kind of democracy was this money spent? installing a democratic regime, as they were calling it i guess they meant the kind of regime that is now happening in donbass obviously the funding was continued and the conflict had to keep going getting more and more deadly as parties on both sides were using more and more lethal weapons mr. turchinov, who practically started a war is responsible for it, he started a war on his own people he sent troops to donbass they did what i didn't do, they started the bloodshed the world seemed too busy with greeting the new democracy in kiev to notice what was being done as it was spreading its wings over the country many in southern ukraine were watching the revolution with concern and an anti-maidan movement was formed in odessa in january of 2014 the protesters set up camp in front of the trade union house a building that would soon become a monument of a massacre itself it is difficult to overestimate the importance of odessa it is strategically located on the black sea and is the largest sea port of ukraine it's not surprising that ukraine's new authorities were watching this situation unfold with growing concern more and more protesters were joining the anti-maidan while the situation in the east was heating up the new ukrainian government didn't have the power to go to war on two fronts if odessa were to join the uprising it would seriously complicate the situation this rebellion had to be extinguished immediately and by any cost and that cost was high on may 2nd 2014 soccer fans flocked to the center of the city the excuse was a ukrainian soccer championship match surprisingly a number of those fans that came to odessa just before the match also turned out to be fighters for maidan's self-defense militia along with members of radical organizations from all parts of ukraine crowd: hail to the nation, death to the enemies, ukraine, above everything, ukraine, above everything these fans wore masks armed and shouting nationalistic slogans began a disturbance in the city marched to the anti-maidan tents and attacked them the anti-maidan protesters sought shelter in the trade union house but it was a trap maidan supporters started throwing molotov cocktails to the building until it caught on fire people burnt inside or trying to escape jumped through the windows although the fire station was less than a mile away it took almost half an hour for them to arrive and by then the damage had been done but here is an interesting fact just a few days before the tragedy a messenger from maidan andriy parubiy made a visit to odessa interesting coincidence that some of those he was meeting with were seen as active participants on that fateful day but not everyone was mourning on the popular political talk-show shuster live the news about the people burnt alive in odessa was welcomed with a long round of applause oleg liashko: among the dead in odessa were 15 russian citizens 10 were from transdnestria republic and no one from odessa on its facebook page the right sector announced the events of may 2nd as a proud moment of national history an official investigation is going on now for nearly two years and still has no conclusion but it seems that experts had all the information needed from the beginning andriy parubiy: of course the provocation was started by putin's agents that attacked the ukrainian demonstration the great importance of odessa can be seen in the fact that on may 30 2015 it was honored with a very special new governor an old friend of the us born and raised in ukraine's neighboring country georgia a quick look at his biography gives one understanding that he was prepared for a special mission michael saakashvili: i'm a peaceful protester take your hands off me mister saakashvili was receiving a us state department scholarship and later worked at the new york organization kmara a group we heard about in color revolutions history saakashvili: what we have here is democratic bloodless revolution this is the revolution of roses and this is michael saakashvili with kmara overthrowing the legitimately elected president edward schewarnadze saakashvili: changing the government by peaceful methods is the european way i'm proud of it soon after the rose revolution blossomed fully georgia announced its intentions to join nato and to build a nato military base on fertile georgian land right on the border of russia saakashvili: we will never give our freedom and independence we will never give a piece of our territory Saakashvili's mission was accomplished at least to his friends and nato the georgian populace wasn't quite as happy in 2007 they took it to the streets and mr. saakashvili responded with force the people's discontent was growing saakashvili's party lost parliamentary elections and the opposition took control he said that according to the constitution the new parliament's majority has to form a new government with him as a president michael decided not to wait the results of the new presidential elections and fled the country on october 2013 in 2014 saakashvili refused the summon to appear in court as a witness in some criminal cases later that same year he was accused of abuse of power and embezzlement saakashvili wound up in the us and soon his friends in washington found him a new assignment michael actively supported the maidan and very soon was rewarded with a high position in the new ukrainian government first as a the president's counselor and then as the governor of odessa the day before taking this position he renounced his citizenship in georgia and became a ukrainian citizen saakashvili: i will always be a proud citizen of my proud homeland as they say the battle is worth the blood both literally and figuratively h : i know well the true price of mr. saakashvilli's reforms he is actually a part of the ongoing in ukraine project that is being carried out by certain forces geoffrey pyatt, the us ambassador to ukraine had visited saakashvili just a month after he took his position in odessa geoffrey pyatt: as long as the odessa administration delivers results you're going to see a steady flow of washington visitors coming here the meeting was productive and geoffrey was generous no matter how well saakashvili did his job it seemed like he needn't worry about his finances on his facebook page he posted an official document showing the new governor of odessa gets salary of almost 200 thousand dollars a year for comparison, the governor of maine gets 70 thousand dollars a year so if odessa became a us state he would be at the top of the list mr saakashvili must have felt good in his new home since he is an old fellow from the orange revolution of viktor ushenko who is the godfather of his son ex-president of georgia michael saakashvili was assigned the governor of odessa it is literally a spit an insult to the people of odessa to all the ukrainian people he wasn't even granted a us working visa in the universities where they tried to put him to work they didn't want him but he was considered worthy of being the governor of odessa are there no honest professional, able to do that job ukrainians? a war, once launched doesn't choose its victims we are just learning at this hour that malaysian airlines has lost contact with one of its planes the plane was indeed shot down by a missile while flying over ukraine near the russian border 298 people were on board no survivors found perry: it was a murder, a crime and this odd carelessness about the investigation there was a report, a very limited report two months after the event and it was said that the next report would be on the anniversary of the event if you're dealing with a criminal investigation you need to work while the traces are still warm and one should wonder about the media's disinterest in this investigation but even without answers fingers were pointed immediately that's not an accident that is happening because of russia's support evidence indicates that the plain was shot down by a missile that was launched from the territory controlled by the russia-backed separatists inside of ukraine without a doubt the country in which territory it happened is responsible for this horrible tragedy the malaysian boeing wasn't the first plane to play a big part in russian-american relations on september 1st 1983 korean airlines flight 007 new york seoul was shot down by a soviet interceptor aircraft over territory of USSR in the sea of japan reagan: there is absolutely no justification either legal or moral for what the soviets did the tragedy of the korean boeing was considered a perfect excuse to demonstrate the nato military power within dangerous proximity to USSR borders on november 2nd 1983 nato launched massive drills working on the scenario of response to an escalation causing nuclear war followed by placing a pershing-2 ballistic missile in europe what reagan did could cause a paranoic overreaction of the soviets and start war a recently declassified us intelligence report shows that for the first time since the cuban missile crisis the world got close to nuclear war just like in 1983 the catastrophe with the malaysian aircraft is leverage to push the enemy a new wave of sanctions fell upon russia immediately after that the us is declaring new sanctions against russian economy almost a year and 3 months later the dutch safety council published the report man on a stage: ladies and gentlemen the mh17 crash was caused by the explosion of a 9H314M missile launched from an air defense missile system that exploded outside of the aircraft's cockpit the report didn't blame any specific group or person it estimated a very wide area of 300 square kilometers as the zone where the missile was fired at the same time the russian missile systems manufacturing company a-a conducted its own investigation ian novikov: the results of our experiment completely disprove the conclusions of the dutch commission about the missile type and the launch place during the experiment they blew up an entire airliner cockpit with a missile and came to the conclusion that the malaysian plane was shot down by an old 9M38M1 missile not used any more by russia but still used by ukraine the company claims that the missile was launched from the territory controlled by the ukrainian military one would expect that these controversial results would cause the rise of interest on this incident but the malaysian boeing tragedy had already fulfilled its geopolitical role and so was soon forgotten the goal was achieved after the third wave of sanctions against russia the tension between the two countries skyrocketed and the question now becomes are we truly witnessing cold war II and if so what are the chances of surviving it in 1947 the bulletin of atomic scientists launched the doomsday clock project it represents the time-line to the annihilation of life in 1953 at the peak of the cold war it was closest to midnight as the superpowers were creating massive nuclear arsenals this is the story of ever expanding nuclear weapons as the world began to grasp the insane danger of nuclear warfare and took measures to control the arms race the situation was constantly getting better in 1991 the clock was its furthest ever 17 minutes to midnight that time of hope was short-lived as the world was becoming more and more unstable in 2015 the bulletin of atomic scientists moved the clock to 3 minutes to midnight today uncertain climate change the modernization of nuclear weapons and huge arsenals present undeniable threat to the existence of humanity the us and russia launched massive nuclear weapons upgrade programs which violates the existing agreements on reduction of nuclear potential the clock is now just 3 minutes to midnight because international leaders are failing to perform their most important duty ensuring and preserving the health and vitality of human civilization perry: the role of an american journalist is to inform the american people the best you can in what you were able to find out and to not be afraid of any kind of attacks that come with that nuland: the vast majority of those who participated in maidan were peaceful protesters uhh if you had a chance to see the pictures many of us participated i was there there were mothers, grandmothers, veterans congressman: before you proceed i'd like to ask you were there neo nazi groups involved? nuland: there were, as i said almost every color of ukrainian represented there including not the best of them congressman: so the answer is yes perry: and that's the patriotic role of a democratic journalist is to give the public as much information as possible so they can operate their role of responsible citizen and to control the government or at least to be aware of what is happening we truly believe that there is only one way to protect yourself from this game of manipulation awareness knowledge is power the ability to recognize the red flags and save your country from being dragged in all this chaos and mayhem this relates to each and everyone of us because war today does not only come with tanks and bombs it comes with the manipulative mass media the journalism that lies and hides and twists facts that are more focused on making the news rather than on reporting them zaharchenko: i want to believe that there will be peace in ukraine there will be law and order there will be democracy i wish the best for ukraine yanukovich: i pray to god that the people in ukraine reunite for all the hate that now exists to disappear i wish that there will be peace in ukraine we understand that the world has changed you can't keep everything frozen in a state of cold war you need to look to the future many times in our film we have shown the spiral of history while we often repeat our mistakes it also always gives us another chance and hope |
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