Traits accompanying Russian aggression abroad

--- title: Traits accompanying Russian aggression abroad author: Hoaxlines date: 11/7/2022 --- ## Traits accompanying Russian aggression abroad ### 1. "Separatist" movements and/or sends its military to "protect" Russian speakers [^1] * 2000 - Anti-Russian separatists in Chechnya and Dagestan were problematic for Russia. There is no evidence the US supported these groups, and the US did not recognize Chechen independence. * Common claims the US supported Chechnya relate to a Stinger missile. A think tank based in Moscow mentioned a Stinger missile obtained by Chechnya as from Afghanistan. The US had provided these to Mujahideen [^7]. * Still, belief that the US armed separatists may partially explain another part of Putin's methodology. Russia also attempts to co-opt the language of NATO to legitimize its actions. * 2008 - [Russia signs treaty to defend Georgia separatists](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-georgia-ossetia-russia-agreement/russia-signs-treaty-to-defend-georgia-separatists-idUSLH47192520080917) * 2014 - [White House issues warning to Kremlin, as Ukrainian official claims 2,000 Russian troops have arrived in peninsula](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/28/russia-crimea-white-house) * 2022 - [Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognized the independence of Moscow-backed rebel regions in eastern Ukraine](https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-russia-vladimir-putin-moscow-bcd0c04a2aa146e76b7e757f482f27bb) ### 2. "Threats" to Russian speakers or claims of "genocide" that are not supported by evidence * 1999 - [Imitating NATO: A Script Is Adapted for Chechnya](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/28/world/imitating-nato-a-script-is-adapted-for-chechnya.html) [^2] * 2004 - [Claims of Russian genocide or "ethnocide" in Ukraine](https://web.archive.org/web/20160806041444/https://anti-orange.com.ua/article/president/60/1169) * 2014 - [Crying Genocide: Use and Abuse of Political Rhetoric in Russia and Ukraine](https://carnegieendowment.org/2014/07/28/crying-genocide-use-and-abuse-of-political-rhetoric-in-russia-and-ukraine-pub-56265) * 2022 - [Putin’s claims that Ukraine is committing genocide are baseless, but not unprecedented](https://theconversation.com/putins-claims-that-ukraine-is-committing-genocide-are-baseless-but-not-unprecedented-177511) ### 3. Pipeline explosions, specifically those that carry Russian gas to other countries [^3] Some of these could be legitimate accidents from improperly operated or maintained infrastructure, but * 2006 - [Explosions in Russia Cut Gas Pipelines to Georgia](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/international/europe/explosions-in-russia-cut-gas-pipelines-to-georgia.html) * 2008 - [Raids Suggest Russia Targeted Energy Pipelines](https://archive.ph/i6zq9#selection-217.0-217.328) * 2014 - [Major Ukraine gas pipeline hit by blast](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27891018) * 2008 - [Raids Suggest Russia Targeted Energy Pipelines](https://archive.ph/i6zq9#selection-217.0-217.328) * 2022 - [Nord Stream blast 'blew away 50 metres of pipe'](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63297085) ### 4. Further exploitation related to energy * 2009 - [Gas crises between Russia and Ukraine](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-ukraine-gas-timeline-sb/timeline-gas-crises-between-russia-and-ukraine-idUSTRE50A1A720090111#:~:text=Gazprom%20cut%20off%20all,price%20again%20to%20%24458) * 2015 - [Russia resumed shipments of natural gas to Ukraine on Tuesday after a six-month shut-off](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-military/ukraine-accuses-rebels-of-violating-day-of-silence-russian-gas-flows-resume-idUSKBN0JN0L620141209) * 1995-2015 - [Price Manipulations by Russia (1990-2015)](https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/horizons/vol6/iss1/1) * 2022 - On April 27, Russia [cut off](https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/us/five-things-april-27-trnd/index.html#:~:text=Amid%20escalating%20tensions%20with%20Western%20powers%2C%20Russia%20has%20cut%20off%20gas%20supplies%20to%20Poland%20and%20Bulgaria%20after%20they%20refused%20to%20pay%20in%20rubles%2C%20rather%20than%20dollars%20or%20euros.) gas to Poland and Bulgaria in a move the European Commission called “[blackmail](https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1519218530914381825).” ###### [![](https://i.imgur.com/Fxrplxp.png)](https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1073&context=horizons) Figure 1. Brown, 2019 [^4] #### Return to [INDEX](/pMaYja49SZqXXN-wxelZMg) → ###### tags: `Hoaxlines` `Russia` `autocracy` `Timeline` ### Footnotes [^1]: The separatist movements in Georgia appear to have been substantial on their own and have a history that dates back to the fall of the Soviet Union. That does not appear to have been true in Ukraine, and individuals leading it have been identified as Russian military. Emails [exchanged between](https://informnapalm.org/en/frolovleaks-vii-budgeting-the-russian-spring-mayhem/) collaborators in Ukraine and contacts within the Kremlin show that the call for referendum were largely manufactured. Russia attempted to foment a civil war and when that was unsuccessful, sent troops without markings. [^7]: (1) [Claim (in 2004, 2015 and 2017): The U.S. government supported Chechen separatism](https://www.russiamatters.org/node/20317) (2) [Imitating NATO: A Script Is Adapted for Chechnya (Published 1999)](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/28/world/imitating-nato-a-script-is-adapted-for-chechnya.html) (3) [Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies](https://web.archive.org/web/20140501050127/http:/mdb.cast.ru/mdb/3-2002/ac/raowdsmcc/#:~:text=Nevertheless%2C%20they%20have,of%20Urus%2DMartan.), a group based in Moscow, reported of the Stinger missiles: "...a Stinger has a service life of two years and the United States long ago stopped their deliveries to Afghanistan from where Chechen rebels received them." (4) The CIA [attempted](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-12-06-9204210095-story.html) to buyback these missiles. (5) Members of the Taliban [came from](https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/taliban-afghanistan) the Mujahideen, a group that had resisted the Soviet Union occupation of Afghanistan with covert help from the CIA, although not all members of the Mujahideen went on to become the Taliban. Furthermore, the Taliban [recognized](https://web.archive.org/web/20210909020840/https://jamestown.org/program/the-taliban-formally-recognizes-chechnya/) Chechen independence in 2000, and Russia had accused the Taliban of supporting Chechen separatists. Thus, this seems the most probably explanation for how the Chechens came to possess a Stinger missile as the US did not even recognize Chechen independence.