Edit: I see GWB posted a second before but as I added the text it makes sense to keep the dupe as well. Russian diplomat to the UN quits and pens scathing letter slamming Putin’s ‘intolerable’ war in Ukraine Boris Bondarev wrote: ‘Never have I been so ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year’ https://www.standard.co.uk/news/wor...-put-ukraine-war-boris-bondarev-b1001823.html " Statement My name is Boris Bondarev, in the MFA of Russia since 2002, since 2019 until now - Counsellor of the Russian Mission to the UN Office at Geneva. For twenty years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year. The aggressive war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine, and in fact against the entire Western world, is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people, but also, perhaps, the most serious crime against the people of Russia, with a bold letter Z crossing out all hopes and prospects for a prosperous free society in our country. Those who conceived this war want only one thing to remain in power forever, live in pompous tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage and cost to the entire Russian Navy, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity. To achieve that they are willing to sacrifice as many lives as it takes. Thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have already died just for this. I regret to admit that over all these twenty years the level of lies and uprofessionalism in the work of the Foreign Ministry has been increasing all thei tme. However, in most recent years, this has become simply catastrophic. Instead of unbiased information, impartial analysis and sober forecasting, there arer propaganda clichés in the spirit of Soviet newspapers of the 1930s. A system has been built that deceives itself. Minister Lavrov is a good illustration of the degradation of this system. In 18 years, he went from a professional and educated intellectual, whom many my colleagues held in such high esteem, to a person who constantly broadcasts conflicting statements and threatens the world (that is, Russia too) with nuclear weapons! Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not about diplomacy. It is all about warmongering, lies and hatred. It serves interests of few, the very few people thus contributing to further isolation and degradation of my country. Russia no longer has allies, and there is no one to blame but its reckless and ill-conceived policy. I studied to be a diplomat and have been a diplomat for twenty years. The Ministry has become my home and family. But I simply cannot any longer share in this bloody, witless and absolutely needless ignominy. "
Thanks for posting his entire statement. Hopefully the personal risk Boris Bondarev is taking by making his statement and resigning in this way is fully appreciated by readers. Perhaps his action will be part of a positive chain of events that leads to Russia wanting to exit their costly and futile war against Ukraine.
Russia going around the country with their spiffy new "mobile recruitment centers." Good chance for a guy to sign right up because those recruitment officers do not appear to be all that busy, eh? Sign right up to go to Ukraine and kill a few grannies and children or maybe spend life in prison or buried in a ditch. Maybe they should go to concerts like that one in St. Petersburg (where the crowd was chanting "FucK War") and park outside the concert area. Lots of young men there. Know your customer, as they say. Russia Scrambles for Soldiers Amid Ukraine War Manpower Shortage https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022...ers-amid-ukraine-war-manpower-shortage-a77750
If I were there I would tell those recruitment officers to get rid of those stupid fucking mobile recruitment centers and turn them into Taco Trucks and the lines will be down the street and around the corner. Hopefully, they have internet in the little town in Siberia where they said I will be going. They call it a "camp" so it sounds like there are at least a few fun things to do there. They are paying for my transportation and everything.