There are two sides to every story, yet predictably only one side seems to have been reported by mainstream media concerning the situation between Russia and Ukraine. Arguably this has resulted in the media-guided conclusion of the masses that Russian President Vladimir Putin is simply a power-hungry despot. While this may be true, has Russia been misportrayed?

The Cides believe every country community has the right to peaceful self-governance without the interference of any 'superpower' be it the USA, China or Russia for its own self-interests. We wish for an immediate ceasefire and peace in the Ukraine.

“We do not intend to occupy Ukraine”

Putin presented Russia’s “side” within a speech to the Russian population on February, 24th 2022, where he announced Russia was embarking on a “special military operation” and from the first strikes Russia demonstrated that they had strategic targets. (video).

This was even brought to light by the Ukrainian President Zelensky who announced on February the 24th that Russian forces had targeted “military installations,” and these “installations” were soon observed to be that of American Biolabs installed in the Ukraine.

U.S Funded Biolabs

Yet mentioning the targeted “Biolabs” has been met by the now typical accusations of spreading “conspiracy theories” and “Russian propaganda” from mainstream media and fact-checking sites. Politifact. The “fact-checkers” believed that for weeks before the “invasion” Russia had been “falsely alleging bioweapon use by the U.S.” along Russia’s border”.

Allegations may have intensified over the weeks before Putin’s speech, but they had been consistent over many years. In July 2021 the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev told the newspaper Kommersant, that “more and more biological laboratories under U.S. control are growing considerably in the world and by a strange coincidence, mainly by the Russian and Chinese borders." No one seemed to hear him.

The Umbrella Agreement

It is a fact, not a conspiracy theory, that the American biolabs began functioning in August 2005 and according to a deleted article that has resurfaced, Barack Obama, a senator at the time, was said to be involved in spearheading agreements that led to their construction during the presidency of Yushchenko and the premiership of Tymoshenko (source).

Evidence that Biolabs are not a conspiracy theory can also be seen in a document from 2005 that speaks of an “umbrella agreement” concerning Biolabs.

The document was signed in Kiev on behalf of the US Department of Defense and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and is publicly available.

The two parties have agreed to keep information about the results of their activities secret and if Ukraine has classified any information, it should still be available to the Americans the agreement states (source).

Illegal Operations

According to deputies from a faction of the Ukrainian Rada known as the “Opposition Platform – for Life ”, these Biolabs are an “illegal operation” as American Military biologists are working to create bacteriological weapons assisted by an agency under the control of the Pentagon.

Arguing that the American military has been taking advantage of Kiev’s lack of control, the group filed a complaint with the United Nations also stating that the biologists have not publicly demonstrated any scientific achievements, or results of their research. Conversely, what had been noted by the Russian military is that 2014 saw a “sharp uncontrollable increase in the occurrence of dangerous and economically devastating infections (video source).

Death Factories

This was attributed to the Biolabs termed “Death Factories” in a petition that was officially sent to Ukraine president Zelensky in 2021 begging him to close down Biolabs in Ukraine.

Stating that Biolabs are a direct threat to countries in which they are located, the petition cites an example where trials of an anthrax vaccine were started in Georgia in 2013 and the same year, an epidemic outbreak occurred and since then, cases of anthrax have not stopped in the republic.

Outbreaks of various other infections have caused concern, one disease "similar in symptoms to the plague" was recorded in 2019, causing Russia to sharply increase border control. Importantly, the petition showed concerns that the neighbouring biolabs may have even participated in the creation of COVID.

Being financially dependent on the West renders the Ukrainian government powerless and unable to influence biolab activities and according to the Rada faction, history has shown that any interference will immediately result in a loss of financial support and power.

However, the US biolabs located in Ukraine pose a danger not only directly to Ukraine, but also to bordering countries, especially Russia. It could be argued therefore, that by targeting those biolabs Putin was protecting the people of not only Russia and Ukrainians too.

The U.S. Denial

Nevertheless, according to the US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, the labs that were operated and funded by the US Department of Defense were for “defensive research” Nuland then contradicted herself when saying that they would be “dangerous if they fell into Russian hands.”

That “Special Military Operation”

It seemed more likely that "The Pentagon had serious fears" that the world would become aware of the conduct of secret biological experiments on the territory of Ukraine” according to Major General Igor Konashenkov who at a press conference held by the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, announced that the biolabs had indeed been found.

Not only did they find a network of more than 30 U.S. biolabs but at the start of their special military operation, they found that the Ukrainian Ministry of Health had sent instructions to all biolaboratories to urgently eliminate stocks of dangerous pathogens.

War Crimes

It could be assumed that the US would want the evidence hidden because these laboratories are in violation of Article I of the UN Biological Weapons Convention. This violation, therefore, makes the US government “a clear-cut War Criminal, subject to the death sentence under the Nuremberg Laws established by the United States Government itself” according to Paul Craig Roberts from the Institute of Political Economy.

Roberts also asks the important questions: “What was Washington going to do with these pathogens? Which populations were going to be recipients of these gifts from Washington? Russia? Europeans and blamed on Russia?”

They Did Not Listen

“I hope you hear me,” the president said in his speech, and he had every right to believe that he was not being listened to. Putin had been consistently attempting to come to an agreement with the west or more precisely, the leading NATO countries to ensure an equal and indivisible security in Europe.

However, attempts to help preserve peace in Europe has been made by Russia since 1954, at that time the USSR, by requesting that they join NATO. This was - less than a decade after WWII - the year after Stalin’s death - just as even West Germany were being incorporated into NATO, but their request was refused.

While the Russian membership may have helped to ensure peace and an equilibrium within Europe, clearly the fear that the U.S would lose its hegemonic stance within the alliance was more important.

However, this did not stop NATO from expanding ever closer to the Russian border to include 30 member states, including former Soviet states. This was despite assurances that had been made in 1990 to the then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that the Western military and NATO would not advance an inch eastward.

Now the Western military bloc adjoins Russia’s northwestern borders and additionally, NATO has built up “permanent land, sea, and air forces near Russian territory, along with missile-defence installations” (source).

Putin has said many times that this threatens Russian security, he has been ignored which was evident when an announcement was made at the NATO Bucharest Summit 2008, agreeing that Ukraine and Georgia would become members. This was an obvious message to Moscow that it may not determine which governments enter NATO (source).

They’re Not Listening Still

Georgia and Ukraine are states on Russia’s doorstep and integrating into the West unsurprisingly elicited a forceful response from Russia, a full-scale land, air and sea attack which led to the almost ruination of Georgia who have not recovered (source). The NATO members therefore knew how Putin would respond when they again dangled the membership carrot to Ukraine, as he has already shown them.

Due to the NATO principle of “Collective defence” that has been enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. This means that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies, but Ukraine is not an ally which means they cannot come to Ukraine’s defence without it being in essence a declaration of war, therefore the Ukrainians suffering due to actions instigated by NATO are left to their own devices.

The actions of the US led NATO countries seem to be stuck in the Cold War era and regard Russia as the enemy and threatening Russian security for 30 years with the continued expansion of NATO military infrastructure eastward has been a priority for Putin. Yet his complaints regarding this and the biolabs in, as Putin says, the “porch of his house have fallen on deaf ears.

Only days prior to the “military operation” announcement Putin spoke about his concerns that the “irresponsible” Western Politicians had created fundamental threats for Russia “consistently, rudely and unceremoniously from year to year.”

Are they listening now? Now that Putin has taken matters into his own hands.
Perhaps They Never Will.

Research by Patricia Harrity

Russia the Evil – or the Misportrayed?