The Fall of Aleppo: Another Reminder of What Russia Is

As the news about the fall of the Aleppo broke out, and the stream of reports of a new wave of violence against the civilians started flowing into our Twitter and Facebook feed, we all knew that Russia will have something to say about it. And here it is in the words of Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations:

Over the last hour we’ve received information that the military activities in east Aleppo have stopped… So there’s no question about cessation of hostilities, or humanitarian operations. The Syrian government has established control over east Aleppo and so now comes the stage of practical humanitarian initiatives.

He also noted that:

Now [Aleppo] is going to be under the control of the Syrian government, so there is no need for the remaining civilians to leave and there are humanitarian arrangements in place.

Hearing these cold-blooded lies is beyond infuriating, and the fact that this is almost all that people in Russia will hear about Aleppo is sickening. It just happens that if you speak only Russian you might not even know about the atrocities in Aleppo. But even if you do know about them, there is an almost zero chance you can organize an anti-war protest, as it has to be pre-approved by the local authorities, and they just don’t let them happen. Trust me, there are people in Moscow, who are trying.

Unfortunately, all of it is just another reminder that Russia has a tradition of engaging in military conflicts ignoring international law, breaching international humanitarian law, disregarding human rights, misinforming and/or not-disclosing information about its military presence and casualties to the international community and its own citizens, as well as threatening and abusing families of soldiers killed in military service.

That’s not new to me as I grew up with the Chechen wars and the battle of Grozny as a part of my daily TV routine. I also happen to know Russian mothers whose children died in Eastern Ukraine. But that’s not news to you either, you’ve heard about it and about many other horrors this world has seen.

So, why are we surprised? Did we really expect something different or do we forget that easily?