Russia and Ukraine

[Thumpalumpacus]

Oh, and for those apologists spending their time trying to blame this Russian atrocity on NATO and America, this plain threat from Foreign Minister Lavrov makes it clear who started this wart, and who will start the next one, if the former SSRs don't take diktats from Moscow:

MOSCOW, March 10 (Reuters) - Russia on Friday cautioned allies across the former Soviet Union of the perils of aligning with the United States after what Moscow said was a Western-backed coup attempt in Georgia similar to the Ukrainian "Maidan" revolution of 2014.

Russia, tied down in the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, has seen its authority challenged by a number of neighbours and traditional allies since President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February last year.

In Tbilisi, thousands of Georgians took to the streets over three consecutive nights to protest against what they said was a Russian-inspired "foreign agents" law that threatened to derail the country's bid for closer ties with Europe.

"It is very similar to the Kyiv Maidan," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state television, referring to the 2014 Maidan revolution which toppled a pro-Russian president in Ukraine.

"It seems to me that all the countries located around the Russian Federation should draw their own conclusions about how dangerous it is to take a path towards engagement with the United States' zone of responsibility, its zone of interests."

https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-cau...023-03-10/

This is the nation and its behavior which Bel and IR are seeking to justify. "If you leave me I'll kill you" is classic spouse-abuser verbiage ... yet they're okay with it.