INTERNATIONAL UKRAINE ANTI-FASCIST SOLIDARITY

  By Evgeny Glebov Prisoners of war are usually treated according to rank. Officers get better treatment. They can be used as camp supervisors. They can refuse to work at all. But other ranks often end up doing heavy, and sometimes meaningless jobs, poorly fed and treated quite cruelly. The Nazis and the Japanese militarists even carried out hideous experiments on them. POWs have, however, long been treated differently in Russia. In the 18th century Peter the Great set new standards. The Czar understood that they would have to be sent home when war ended . On his orders prisoners were well kept and paid the going rate for their work. Many retained fond memories of their days in captivity. It was the same in Soviet times. For example, there was a separate Main Directorate for Internees and Prisoners of War within the interior ministry (the NKVD) the GUIVP, and not the Gulag. The food standards in the GUIVP were higher than in the Gulag, set at the level of the norms for Soviet worke...

We support the victory not of Russia, but of the world against resurgent fascism in Europe by Theo Russell I represented the NCP and the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity campaign and met comrades and friends at a key-note conference in Moscow on the Ukraine crisis last month. I  joined campaigners from Holland, France, Austria, Italy, Brazil, the Basque Country and India, who overcame the difficulties in travelling to Russia imposed by the imperialist sanctions regime, to meet in the Russian capital for the sixth annual conference of the Red Square-Molotov Club. The Moscow conference which ran from the 23rd to 25th May  included members of Russian parties and Russian experts, Ukrainian political emigrants, and representatives from the Donbas  as well as members of the international peace, communist, socialist, and social democratic movements. The conference was organised by the M.A.R.T. Corp Radio & TV agency and the main topics were the conflict in...

The Kremlin warned Britain of the grave consequences of supplying Ukraine with depleted uranium (DU) shells. Some said this simply meant escalation. Others, the gurus of the bourgeois media who pose as ‘military experts’, told us that they posed no danger to Ukrainian civilians and that, in any case, this was just another empty threat from the Russians who would soon be on their knees following a Ukrainian spring offensive. What none of them foresaw was that the “grave consequences” that would follow would be the taking out of the DU ammo dumps and the possible release of deadly radiation into the air.      That’s exactly what happened when a Ukrainian military depot was totally destroyed by a Russian ballistic missile this week. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says reports that radiation levels have risen in the aftermath of the Russian strike are wrong. Whether deadly gamma rays really were released when the warehouse went up is a matter of indifference to...

By New Worker correspondent People’s China has launched a new initiative to end the war in Ukraine with a 12-point plan that calls for a cease-fire and the resumption of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. The Putin government has broadly welcomed the Chinese initiative. The Germans say it needs to be seriously considered amid reports that Britain, France and Germany are proposing to send Ukraine a new tranche of weapons and economic aid as a sweetener for opening up a dialogue with the Russians. And even the Ukrainians are taking it seriously. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky says he wants to meet China's leader Xi Jinping to discuss Beijing's proposals on ending the war in Ukraine which he said showed that China was involved in the search for peace. But the Americans have already dismissed it out of hand.      China's plan calls for peace talks and respect for national sovereignty. However, the 12-point document does not specifically say that Russia must withdraw ...

Over 2.85 million have fled to Russia with Poland a distant second  Ukrainian refugees fleeing their homeland in 2022 have resettled in Russia more than any other country, according to a report by Statista published last week. It revealed some 2,852,395 people had left their conflict-stricken homeland for the neighboring country as of October.      Trailing Russia in a distant second is Poland, which hosted 1,529,355 Ukrainian refugees as of December. Another 1,021,667 have fled to Germany as of November, while Czechia is home to 467,862, according to numbers from earlier this month.      While Russia and Poland border Ukraine and thus present closer destinations for its inhabitants, Germany has attracted an outsized number of displaced people with its large financial support payments, which amounted to €449 per month as of June. Poland, by comparison, offered just over €15.      Since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine ...

An anti-imperialist position on the crisis in Ukraine The war in Ukraine is raging on with no end in sight. People are suffering, and fears are rising that the conflict could widen and even involve nuclear weapons. Many well-meaning people are calling for a ceasefire and negotiations. We all want peace, but it does no good to promote solutions that don’t take into account what led up to the war in the first place. Back in 1991, as the Soviet Union was collapsing, the U.S. government promised that NATO would not expand “one inch” eastward. But since then, all 14 new NATO members have been former Soviet states or allies. Sweden and Finland are expected to join soon. Both Georgia and Ukraine, which border Russia, have asked to join. That would complete the encirclement of Russia’s western flank. It would be as if Russia were building an anti-U.S. military alliance of all South and Central American countries and was about to admit Mexico. Obviously, the U.S. would see that as an ex...

In April, Kiev organized a false-flag operation in the city of Bucha near Kiev, accusing Russia of massacring civilians. Moscow demanded an impartial investigation and stressed that all Russian troops had fully withdrawn from Bucha on March 30, adding that Ukrainian forces were shelling the city around the clock.      Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov lambasted Ukrainian claims of massacres in the city of Izyum in the Kharkov region, stressing that Kiev is lying in a bid to pin the blame on Russia.      "It is the same script like the one in Bucha, everything goes like that. It is a lie and we will be contending for the truth," he said.      Russian troops and militia forces withdrew from the Kharkov region earlier this month as they regrouped to concentrate on the liberation of Donbass.      On Friday, Ukrainian authorities alleged that mass burial sites were found in Izyum after Russian troops withdrew, claiming th...

by James Tweedie In a scene from the 1974 film The Four Musketeers the vain Porthos (Frank Finlay) shows the pious Aramis (Richard Chamberlain) his new trick: He draws his rapier and throws it into the bullseye of a target.      Aramis tells Porthos to try that again, but with himself as a live target. The musketeer easily parries Porthos’ hurled sword to one side. “Only Porthos could invent a new way of disarming himself!” Aramis scoffs, before chasing his friend around the gymnasium.      NATO leaders obviously don’t watch enough classic swashbucklers. In their rush to arm the Ukraine since before the start of Russia’s ‘demilitarisation’ operation there, several eastern member-states have managed to demilitarise themselves without Moscow having to lift a finger.      Poland has sent 232 T-72 main battle tanks, almost half its entire tank fleet, over the border into the Ukraine. The Donbas militias have already captured some examples with a...

  Six months into the conflict, what exactly does Russia hope to achieve in Ukraine? by Dmitry Trenin  Putin’s latest comments reveal that Moscow’s thinking has shifted and compromise is no longer on the agenda.      Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to Ukraine as an “anti-Russian enclave” which has to be removed. He also said that the Russian soldiers taking part in the military operation there were fighting for their “own country.” These statements carry important implications.      Over the last six-plus months, the mantra of the Russian officialdom has been that all aims of the offensive will be reached. On purpose, however, the specific objectives, such as how far Moscow’s forces plan move into Ukraine, have never been spelled out. This cannot but raise speculation about what the Kremlin is actually hoping to achieve.      The only person who can authoritatively answer that question, however, is the President...

Only one in three UN members back new anti-Russia resolution International support for Ukraine has dropped dramatically since March. Only one in three UN members back new anti-Russia resolution.Only one in three UN members back a new anti-Russia resolution US and EU ambassadors backed Ukrainian envoy to the UN Sergey Kislitsa after a Security Council meeting on 24August 24, 2022. But Ukraine’s latest proposal to condemn Russia has attracted the backing of just 58 out of 193 UN member states, a far cry from the number that symbolically supported Kiev in the General Assembly in March.      Kiev’s envoy to the UN Sergey Kislitsa heralded the proposed resolution on Wednesday, following the Security Council meeting convened on Ukraine’s independence day. The session featured a video address by President Vladimir Zelensky, for which the council had to override protocol requiring in-person appearances, and a series of statements by Western governments denouncing Russia.  ...

Slowdown of Moscow Op in Ukraine's Pace a Conscious Decision to Minimize Civilian Casualties On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived on a working visit to Uzbekistan, where a meeting of the defense ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states takes place.      Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that slowing down the pace of the offensive during a special military operation in Ukraine is a conscious decision, it is due to the desire to minimize civilian casualties.      "Throughout the special operation, we have strictly observed the norms of humanitarian law. Strikes are carried out with high-precision weapons on objects of the military infrastructure of the Ukrainian Armed Forces - control points, airfields, warehouses, fortified areas, objects of the military-industrial complex.      At the same time, everything is being done to avoid civilian casualties. Of course, this slows down the ...

 As the tide turns in Ukraine, is the US preparing to throw Zelensky under the bus? With Kiev’s defenses unraveling, the narrative surrounding the country’s leader has suddenly changed in Western media By Glenn Diesen Professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway and an editor at the Russia in Global Affairs journal In a display of support, the US has protected Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky from any criticism ever since Russia attacked Ukraine in February. As it becomes evident the war has been lost, someone will have to take the fall, and it appears that Washington is preparing to throw the leader in Kiev to the wolves. The beginning of the end The US proxy war against Russia was beneficial for Washington as long as there was a stalemate that was draining Moscow’s military, economic and human resources, even threatening to demote Russia from the rank of a great power. For example, Congressman Dan Crenshaw justified his support for the process by arguing that “invest...

  Long live workers' solidarity and a multipolar world! On 28 July 2022, Muscovites and residents of the Moscow region gathered in front of the US Embassy in Moscow to meet with Communist deputies in support of the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine as well as in protest against the aggressive policy pursued by the United States and its satellites against Russia.      The second part of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century were characterised by unrestrained American expansion along with, the policy of inciting local wars, inspiring "colour revolutions", unrestrained exploitation of people and resources initiated by them.      After the treacherous destruction of the USSR, the undivided domination of the world oligarchy, carried out through the policy of the United States has been established over humanity for some time.      The Ukrainian events have clearly demonstrated the destructive nature of impe...

Moscow has scrupulously observed the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners, while the government of Ukraine has tortured, starved and deprived of medical care the Russian soldiers in its captivity, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Wednesday. The West’s unwillingness to hold Kiev accountable has resulted in violations and outright crimes, Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin told reporters.      Russia has taken “painstaking” steps to observe the Geneva Convention on the treatment of POWs, among them holding more than 40 weekly meetings with representatives of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and establishing a medical commission on seriously ill and injured prisoners. So far, 18 such prisoners have been sent back to Ukraine, General Fomin said.      There have also been 27 exchanges of POWs and the bodies of dead servicemen, while the ICRC has received more than 1,500 letters home from the Ukrainian prisone...