‘I began today with a phone call to the President of the Russian Federation. There was silence in response. This silence should have been in the Donbass. That is why I would like to address all citizens of Russia –
We are divided by a 2,000 km long border. On one side you have 2 lakh soldiers and 1 thousand armed vehicles. Your leadership has given them a step ahead and consented to go to the border of another country. This move could turn into a major war. Any reason, any provocative thing, a spark can burn everything to ashes. You have been told that this fire is going to give freedom to the people of Ukraine… but the people of Ukraine are free.
You have been told that we are Nazis, but how can they support Nazism, who sacrificed 8 million people to win over Nazism? How can we be Nazis? Ask my grandfather, who served in the infantry of Soviet Russia throughout the war and died as a colonel in independent Ukraine. You were told that we hate Russian culture. How can we hate a culture?
… Neighbors always enrich each other culturally. Due to this we are neither completely isolated nor completely mingled with each other. Of course we are different, but this is not a reason to become an enemy…
You listen to logic. The people of Ukraine want peace, the Ukrainian authorities want peace, they are doing everything for it… We don’t want war.
Still we were attacked, someone tried to snatch our land, our freedom, life, our children’s life, then we will protect ourselves. We will not attack, but defend ourselves. By attacking us you will see our face, not our back.
War means suffering, blood, soil and death of thousands, but millions. You were told that Ukraine is a threat to Russia. It was neither before, nor is it today, nor will it be in future. But the war is destroying this guarantee. No one will be guaranteed safety. Who among us will suffer the most? People’s. Who wants this war the least? People. Who is it that can stop all this? People. These people are in your midst, I’m sure.
I know this speech of mine will not be shown on Russian TV. But the people of Russia should see it. They need to know the truth. The truth is that it should stop before it is too late.
If the leadership of Russia does not want to come and sit with us at a table of peace, then perhaps it will sit with you at such a table. Do the Russians want war? I would love to answer this question but the answer is up to you… Citizens of the Russian Federation.’