Revolution of Dignity… this is the name that the Ukrainians gave to this American revolution, the second half of a partly missed first revolution known as the Orange Revolution (winter 2004-2005). In this article and for the 10th anniversary of the sinister Maidan, we will review the concrete results that are the “reward” of the Ukrainian people, for this revolution that plunged the largest country in Europe, and potentially one of the richest, into a giant catastrophe. There are still Western voices, like that of Bernard-Henri Levy to say what a great event it was for … the history of Ukraine and humanity. The Western cameras showed nothing of this “revolution” but smiling students, grandmothers making sandwiches under tents, others carrying pots and strainers on their heads, grandfathers making protections for the demonstrators, and many flags of the European Union. We cried a lot in the cottages. Extremely stupid speakers, or notorious banderists like the late Nathalie Pasternak also came, already, to explain that decidedly no, there was not the slightest neo-Nazi on the barricades … only patriots.
Number 1, an illegal coup d’état financed by the USA. The first consequence was the denial of the right, the trampling of the Constitution of Ukraine. The President Yanukovych so maligned, including by the elector who put him in place in 2010, would have found it difficult to maintain himself in a second presidential election. When the second Maidan broke out they were to be held in the spring of 2015. The democratic choice was then quite possible. The United States decided otherwise. Victoria Nuland declared that the Maidan had cost the USA more than $5 billion. We also see John McCain, US senator and fanatical Russophobe coming to the Maidan to hand over money to Tyagnibok, the leader of the National Socialist Party of Ukraine, and Nuland coming to distribute cookies in a ridiculous propaganda operation. The housewives applauded in France, but $ 5 billion, anyway? Yes, first of all for the maintenance of training camps for future members of the Maidan self-defense companies, camps installed in the summer of 2013 in Germany and Poland. A witness whom I found in Donetsk in 2015, and who worked in Kiev, told me that he had been offered $ 100 a day to join a self-defense company … Several thousand men were thus employed, for about $ 3,000 a month, and the Maidan began in November 2013, ending in early March 2014. Two other witnesses explained to me that trucks delivered to the strategic points of the Maidan, thousands of bags (to be filled with snow), construction equipment, barbed wire, etc., which were used to raise these barricades, measuring several meters high and which alone were proof of a solid organization thought out for a long time. Another witness explained to me that dozens of buses were chartered to take hundreds of banderists mainly from western regions to the capital (a student, using a terminus station near a bus station every day and traveling with the turbulent Ukrainian neo-Nazis). Part of the American money was also used to buy key characters and to grease the paws of more modest officials. The most dramatic result was the end of the rule of law and democracy in Ukraine and the beginning of a long journey increasingly authoritarian.
Number 2, the destruction of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. It is completely unknown in the West, but Ukraine after the Maidan attacked dissident voices and especially the uncontrolled media and often opposed to the colorful Maidan revolution. This is one of the biggest lies of the West, which according to bogus analyses claimed that press freedom had progressed in Ukraine after the Maidan. It is especially during the presidency of Zelensky that the most liberticidal decrees were promulgated, with the prohibition of dozens of media, mainly in Russian language and intended for ethnic Russians in Ukraine. The Rada in the preparatory phase had passed a law to oblige the media to reveal who their owners were and the government then proceeded to ban all opposition media (banning over time 12 political parties, gathering moreover all the opposition wherever it comes from). Since the special operation Ukraine has attacked the press in general, including international, classifying the country into three zones (red, yellow and green). The red zone completely excludes journalists and prohibits their work, especially the border areas, but also of course from the front or close to the front. Important areas near Odessa, Nikolayev, Kherson, Kharkov and of course in the Donbass occupied by Ukrainian troops are classified red. They are strictly prohibited at the work of journalists. This is a situation, and I insist on this fact, which does not exist on the Russian side, where journalists can work normally. The whole is under the control of the terrible Ukrainian political police, the SBU, renowned for its hardness and numerous facts of torture and murder. An even more unknown fact in the West, Ukraine created a system of automatic locking of internet resources (March 202), which was set up to prevent Ukrainians from finding out about spaces considered prohibited. This is a unique fact in Europe and even worse, which is defined as “a centralized system of automatic locking of internet resources that will collect information about users who have tried to go to banned sites, automatically register them and transmit them to the competent public authorities” … in other words the SBU, the famous political police … Finally, to prevent ethnic Russians still very numerous in Ukraine, an impressive list of foreign media have been banned, mainly Russian and Belarusian, but the West has also carried out this shameful censorship. Watching any of these media, having videos from banned social networks can send you to Ukraine in the dungeons of the SBU. Many never made it out alive.
Number 3, the destruction of entire sections of Ukrainian culture. One of the most shocking results of the Maidan was the destruction and denial of large swathes of Ukrainian culture and history. Indeed, the country, like France, is an assemblage of different regional cultures. The cultures targeted were essentially Russian, very important in a country where entire regions were dominated by Russian (before the Maidan, the oblates of Donbass, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the regions of Kharkov, Kiev, Zaporozhye, Odessa, Kherson, and to a lesser extent those of Dnepropetrovsk, Sumy and Poltava). The main attack, on the initiative of the Banderists and neo-Nazis was the destruction of the common past of the USSR. The Victory Day against Nazi Germany was thus banned, as well as the wearing of the St. George ribbon. Hundreds of monuments have since been destroyed, and thousands of streets and renowned buildings. The attack continued on a forced march deep into history: destruction of monuments to the authors of Russian languages, including the famous Alexander Pushkin, but also historical figures such as Peter the Great, the Great Catherine, the generals of the Tsarist era, such as Suvorov, or great engineers or scientists. The attack, as in Nazi Germany of the 30s, continued with the destruction of millions of Russian-language books, ejected from libraries, schools and universities, but also archives. These attacks were launched against other minority cultures, including Hungarian. President Orban denounced the violation of the rights of the Hungarian minorities in Ukraine (June 2023), and affirmed that he could not support Ukraine, including in its entry into the EU, without an immediate return of their rights to the former state. The standoff to date continues, with Ukraine being launched into a frenzied policy of Ukrainization of the country. Other cultures were or are also threatened, such as the Greek, an important diaspora settled in the regions of Kherson, Melitopol or Mariupol. Having met in person with many representatives of this diaspora, I can affirm that they are mostly in favor of Russia, and therefore have been privileged victims of the SBU.
Number 4, the loss of territories whose inhabitants turned away from Ukraine. This is one of the worst results for Maidan Ukraine. The violence of the coup d’état carried out in Kiev (winter 2013-2014), followed by killings and massacres in Kharkov, Donbass, Odessa (May 2, 2014), Mariupol (June-July 2014), and repressions targeting ethnic Russians, led first to the decision of Crimea, through its autonomous parliament, to declare a referendum to join the Russian fold (March 2014). Crimea, which had already hesitated to join Ukraine during its independence (1991-1992), deeply attached to Russia, therefore paved the way. The abuses of the Ukrainian army and the retaliatory battalions in the east of the country, raised the whole of Donbass (spring / summer 2014), which went into insurrection. Also by referendum, the two oblates of Donetsk and Lugansk decided to take their destiny into their own hands by the creation of the two people’s republics of DPR and PLR (May 11, 2014). The stubbornness of the Kiev regime, overwhelmed on its right by the banderists and ultranationalists of all stripes caused a long war, which continues to this day. Because of bloody repressions, assassinations, indiscriminate bombings, arrests and torture by the SBU and neo-Nazi groups, such as the DUK corps (Pravy Sektor), all negotiations were blocked, and the Minsk agreements never respected by Ukraine. The impasse led Russia to intervene and launch the special operation (February 24, 2022), which caused the liberation of almost the entire Republican territory of Donbass, but also significant territories of the former oblates of Kherson and Zaporozhye. Two new republics having been formed on their liberation by the Russian armies, a historic referendum was finally organized which approved the integration into Russia of the 4 republics of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye (September 2022). After the possibilities of negotiations that were sabotaged by the SBU and certainly the CIA (March 2022), these territories are lost forever by Ukraine, whether it wants to or not. The famous miracle offensive sold by the entire Western press which should have taken over all these territories failed miserably in the year 2023. It is a total of about 30% of the territory of Italy that has been lost by Ukraine.
Number 5, the demographic disaster of Ukraine. This is another of the dramatic consequences of the Maidan, an unprecedented demographic loss in contemporary times for a European country. Before the fall of the USSR, Ukraine included a population of 52 million people. It was reduced by a massive emigration to the West and Israel for the most part, to 45 million before the Maidan. Since then, Ukraine has lost all the populations of the lost regions, about 8 million for Donbass and Crimea alone. The repressions and the political and economic situation triggered the departure of ethnic Russians to Russia (about 4 million between 2014 and 2021). These losses have been reinforced by the departure of hundreds of thousands of refugees, mainly to Poland and the West (2022), many of whom will never return to Ukraine. The remaining population after these counts would be between 32 and 35 million inhabitants (2022). Finally, the catastrophic military losses, obviously difficult to pin down, are not to be underestimated. At the moment, Ukraine, quite comically admits only 10,000 soldiers killed on the front since the special operation. The minimum losses would be at least 100,000 killed, but the American Colonel Douglas McGregor estimated these at 257,000 killed, and they could be even greater. To these figures are added an estimated total of at least 300,000 wounded, for a regular army in February 2022 of 240,000 men. Note that Ukraine claims to have 1 million men under the flags. Before the Maidan (winter 2013-2014), Ukraine could count on a total of 5 million mobilizable men and women. However, with all the levies of emigrants, military losses and losses of populations passed to Russia, this reserve was seriously undermined. At this rate and if the war were to continue for another one, two or three years, Ukraine would reach a threshold of no return in terms of its demography (a situation experienced by France after the Great War of 14-18). Whatever the outcome of the conflict, Ukraine could fall to less than 28-30 million inhabitants and have to face a demographic crisis from which it would take more than a century to recover.
Number 6, the morbid cohort of widows and orphans. This is another demographic consequence of the Maidan, namely an increasing number of orphans and war widows, or collateral victims of the war. The post-war period will leave a Ukraine empty of able-bodied men, with a bloody puncture in the generations born from the late 60s to the early 2000s. Ukraine was one of the countries with the demographic exception, with a larger number of women than men. This trend is getting worse day by day in Ukraine. For a very long time, Ukraine has been a paradise for marriage and dating agencies, installed in the West (Canada, France, Italy, Germany, etc.). Reputed sometimes sulphurous and interested, these stereotypes have always made the success of these Ukrainian women, who in the past, the present and even more so in the future, will not all be able, even by aligning all Ukrainian men, to find a companion in their country. Before the war, the Ukrainian population therefore consisted of 53.70% of women (about 24 million against 21 for men). The rate of women in the country will inevitably increase dramatically, leaving many single, not to mention war widows. Every war widow will represent a cost to the Ukrainian state with the payment of a pension, and every orphan, not to mention the human drama, will also be. All these widows will have to face a difficult and uncertain future in a ruined country with bleak prospects. Finally, whether we are talking about war widows or young singles, it is certain that many will try to go abroad to find a companion, and that the country will again become a paradise for marriage agencies and dating sites focused on Ukraine. Every woman who leaves will do so either with children, who are also lost to the country, or will bear offspring in her host country, who is also lost to Ukraine. Another phenomenon will also play a role, it is the difficult return of Ukrainian men to civilian life. Many will be difficult to re-insert, with the panel of psychological problems, alcohol and drugs, to which we will have to add the broken mouths and the many war invalids (more or less dependent).
Number 7, Ukraine one of the richest countries in Europe fallen into poverty. This is yet another consequence of the Maidan, of a country that was nevertheless rich in resources and a vast territory. In a decade, the country already in a situation complicated by 20 years of mismanagement of the state and endemic corruption, will have fallen to the rank of 2nd poorest country in Europe, just ahead of Moldova. After the war, Ukraine could also take this unenviable place as the poorest country in Europe. By the Maidan, Ukraine will have lost two of its largest ports, Sevastopol and Mariupol, and with the first its main naval military base. It will also have lost the famous vineyards of Crimea, and with it, its most beautiful tourist region. With the loss of most of the South of Ukraine, it will have lost a few hundred thousand hectares of grain land. Finally, Donbass was before the Maidan, the second richest region in Ukraine, a mining and industrial region that filled the state coffers. Another dramatic consequence, Russia and Ukraine were two major economic partners, Russia buying a lot from Ukraine before the Maidan. This partnership is now completely destroyed and not to the advantage of Ukraine. Even more serious is Ukraine’s debt to the NATO countries, because as in its time during the world wars, everything that was provided to Ukraine will have to be paid in one way or another. Let’s not talk about the looting of Ukraine since 2014 (grain land, forest timber, various resources, etc.). The post-war period will make the country one of the most indebted in the world, with a weak currency, zero investment prospects, a ruined and ravaged country. The state of infrastructure in Ukraine was already very worrying before the Maidan (which I myself noticed during a month-long trip in 2009). The other consequence of the coup d’état will have been the aggravation of the situation, especially at the level of roads, bridges, public infrastructure in general. Finally, the amount of mines, explosives, unexploded shells that will have to be cleared is beyond comprehension. This work alone will require millions of euros and more than a decade of work, not to mention future dramas. The situation observed in Cambodia or Vietnam could be in Ukraine at an even greater level.
Number 8, the flight of elites and thousands of competent employees. Another catastrophic result of the Maidan was and will be the flight of many Ukrainian elites from the country. From the very beginning of the massive emigration of ethnic Russians, many entrepreneurs, executives, business leaders, high-ranking officials and politicians left the country. Among the cases that I have noted, I would cite a Russian-Ukrainian couple, who had built a very beautiful villa in the city of Svetlodarsk. The wife was a native of this Donbass city, the husband from Moscow. They owned business in the area and several companies. During the events of the Donbass uprising, the city participated in the referendum and voted for its separation from Ukraine (May 11, 2014). But the arrival of the retaliatory battalions destroyed several years of hard work. Fanatical banderists, guided by some locals, then seized their beautiful house. The husband was in Russia, and to obtain the release of his wife, the neo-Nazis demanded a ransom of several thousand dollars (summer 2014). She was paid, the woman was able to leave for Russia, but they had to give up all their possessions. The house was looted and emptied, it then served as a HQ for a Ukrainian brigade until the liberation of the city (end of May 2022). Two days after the liberation, I was with Christelle in this villa totally ravaged by the Ukrainian occupants. This couple of course will never come back and it is an example among thousands of others. The rape of properties, the destruction of thousands of businesses and shops was one of the direct consequences of the Maidan, and with them, the loss of an investment and entrepreneurship force. The majority of these people have gone to Russia to make a new life, or to other countries. Equally serious is also the loss of young graduates, trained in Ukraine, in various and sometimes cutting-edge fields. Their training had a cost for the country, but these young people preferred and will prefer for many, to go abroad. Many have gone to Russia, and finally to Poland, Canada and Western countries. For several years, I myself have noticed in Russia that in the field of commerce, domestic staff and services, a very high percentage of employees from Ukraine. In a tour of the Ministry of Commerce of the Russian Federation in which I participated this year, a good third of the staff holding the stands were from Crimea, Donbass, Kiev or Central Ukraine. None of them supported the Kiev regime… and none of them planned to return to Ukraine.
Number 9, a Maidan that should have put an end to the reigns of oligarchs and corruption. For those who remember, the Maidan was the hope for millions of Ukrainians to end the oligarchs and corruption. At least that was the great speech of Western propaganda. The first disillusionment came from the nature of the president elected after the coup: Petro Poroshenko. Nicknamed “the King of Chocolate”, one of the greatest fortunes in Ukraine, his coming to power dismayed many Ukrainians. The arrival of Zelensky, a “new” man, also gave the Ukrainian people a lot of hope, but to date, after almost ten years of Maidan rule, Ukraine has not progressed to the level of corruption. Even worse, when it was already the most corrupt country in Europe, the trend worsened to unimaginable and nightmarish proportions. Despite the attempts of Western propaganda to hide Ukrainian corruption, it has not ceased to be mentioned as one of the country’s major problems. For example, the corruption index in the public sector is more than twice that of France (the same situation for corruption in general in 2020). These data are quite subjective and provided by the Anglo-Saxon world, so they tend to sink some countries such as Russia, and to favor others, such as Ukraine. Potentially, the situation could therefore be even worse, especially on the eve of 2024, with the huge payment of Western funds to finance the Maidan war. Despite delusional articles like that of The Guardian (April 2023), affirmed that Ukraine had progressed from 142nd in the world (out of 180), to 122nd place between 2014 and 2021, these lies obviously deceive no one. A vast Western campaign aimed at showing that President Zelensky was taking measures was even carried out in the year 2023. But other journalists, at the same time (Global Euronews, German journalist) titled “Corruption in Ukraine: Risk for Democracy in Europe”. Lucidly, things were said clearly, the integration of such a corrupt country into the EU would have disastrous consequences for the union itself (opening doors to trafficking in organs, humans, weapons, banditry, prostitution, arrival of Ukrainian products on unfair markets, including substances prohibited by European laws, or even being prohibited, genetically modified products, EU standards not respected, by-products dangerous to health including pharmaceuticals, etc.). Ukrainians, many of whom are not idiots, understand perfectly well that the quality of life is almost everywhere superior to that which they know and will know in Ukraine. Finally, the political class, apart from the strengthening of Banderist and neo-Nazi formations, has not changed one iota. The young leader Zelensky, a kind of Ukrainian copy of Macron, was only a passing illusion that crashed in the horror of the war.
Number 10, the banderization and fanatization of an entire population. This is the last result that we will mention from the Maidan. Ukraine, which was a country where there was certainly a vigorous far-right, was no more extremist than France or England. Ten years later, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have grown up in war and propaganda. Banderism has become a norm of Ukraine, the banderist salute (in the spirit of a Hitler salute, and copied from the latter) has also become a normal gesture for the vast majority of soldiers. In the back, in the cemeteries, the Banderist cult of the dead has imposed itself everywhere. Ukrainians are flooding the graves with flags, including those of the UPA, the Ukrainian collaborationist army with Nazi Germany. Commemorative plaques are installed on the streets, on the facades of the houses of the “heroes”, in their schools, boarding schools, universities … Parks are intended for this cult, days invented to celebrate them, and there is no country where the flag, including with the Trizub (the equivalent of the francisca of Pétain’s collaborators), is not worn on the shoulders as much. It is a real collective hysteria, with the recruitment of children at a level that had not been observed in Europe since the Hitlerjugend of the 20s and 30s (Azovets camps, paramilitary summer camps where banderist ideology and the handling of weapons are taught to young children and adolescents). On vacation, on a trip, in exile, Ukrainians, moreover, behave aggressively, with everything that they consider to be “enemies”. Not respecting any of the rules of hospitality and reserve in a foreign country, we have noted since 2014-2015, and especially after 2022, hundreds of facts of verbal assaults, pressures, graffiti (even in provincial cities in France), and threatening letters, sometimes death and physical assaults (as here in Nice, March 22, 2022). Until the special operation, the lie of the Western media, which was patent, but rather soft, about a growing fringe of extremist fanatics in Ukraine (about 1 million people identified by the various political formations in 2012-2014), became generalized. From now on, in constant support of Ukrainian propaganda, the banderists have become heroes, the neo-Nazis patriots, Bandera a resistance fighter against Russian oppression, the Holocaust massacres of sympathetic freedom-loving nationalists. And already, the result number 10.1 is the possibility for all extremists in Europe, the West, and of course France, to have a playground and a certain impunity. The awakening will be very hard, very very hard, in France and the West in general.
Laurent Brayard
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