Alexandra Sitenko

Hot #offthepress: The #BRICS before and after the Summit in #Russia An alternative, global intergovernmental body, such as BRICS, inherently gives countries of the Global South the opportunity to coordinate on global issues and brings them to the table of decision-makers. Beyond the meaty economic and demographic shifts on their side, belonging to a group with considerable international representativeness can be seen as a status symbol in itself, and the BRICS can thus be considered as a decisive prestige factor in global politics. Creating synergies between the goals of the UN’s Pact for the Future and those of the BRICS group could be a possible approach for the West for constructive engagement with the BRICS. library.fes.de/pdf-files/inte… Thank you @fes_russia and @FESonline

BREAKING: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will only meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once a lasting peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine is reached. 🔴 More on aljazeera.com

@pait 🙏🕊️☀️

@AVsitenko May their memories be a call for all peoples to live in peace.

Today is an important day of remembrance and gratitude for me. In memory of all the Soviet people who, at the cost of their lives or health, ensured a peaceful life for my parents' and my generation, and thanks to whom I am able to write this while living in Berlin. #80years These are the stories of my family members from 🇰🇿 & 🇺🇦 who fought faschism in #WWII from 1941 to 1945 (and returned home). And my 🇷🇺 grandmother who survived as a child in occupied Russia (Kursk). None of them ever spoke ill of the Germans as a nation or declared Germany to be their enemy forever (@AussenMinDE ). A🧵

@pait Yeah sure, but it would be unwise to turn backs on Russia entirely and turn only to the EU; sooner or later, they would face the same problem again.

@AVsitenko I am just reading the news. I am no expert. I only saw what happened to Armenia, and I understand why they thought they needed a reset.

Europe’s outdated binary thinking on display—forcing countries to pick sides. Those who do will ultimately be the ones harmed. Well, good luck, Armenia.

@pait In your binary world perhaps it did not.

@AVsitenko Allies, then. Armenia was close to Russia. That kept Azerbaijan at bay. When Azerbaijan concluded that Russia would not interfere, they invaded. Now Armenia is getting closer to France and others. Seeing this, Azerbaijan itself is talking softly. Armenia did not have a choice.

@pait What friends? There are no friends in foreign policy. Only interests. And for that, states (especially small ones) need to deal with different players, not to choose only one. The rest is kindergarten.

@AVsitenko My point was: it doesn't seem Armenia had a choice. They chose Russia, and they were abandoned, losing a war to Azerbaijan. I imagine they feel they need friends to avoid being invaded by the neighbors.

@pait There is a concrete statement I am referring. And it does not come from Russia. Read my post again.

@AVsitenko As I read the reports, it was Russia that abandoned Armenia, its longtime protégé. What for, I do not know.

Iran must, Iran must, Iran must... Germany is in no position to issue any "musts" against Iran. After all, Merz himself famously said just a few weeks ago that international law does not apply to Iran...

Seven billion dollars could have flowed into a Ukrainian drone company backed by friends of Volodymyr Zelensky. Of that amount, 20 percent—nearly one and a half billion dollars—was reportedly set to be pure profit for the insiders: Zelensky’s inner circle and the ministers he personally appointed. This is the very same company that Zelensky himself has been hawking nonstop—personally flying it around to foreign investors as Ukraine’s great success story. The details come from secret audio recordings made by Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Bureau and leaked to an independent investigative journalist. Right now in Ukraine, politicians are openly talking about impeaching Zelensky. Tomorrow, a sitting member of parliament is going to read even more of these recordings publicly. I’m told some of the voices captured may include the First Lady herself. Other tapes casually refer to “Vova”—Zelensky’s nickname—as both a participant in the deal and the owner of one of four massive luxury mansions being built in Ukraine’s richest suburb outside Kyiv, each worth millions. Here’s the kicker: Out of 90 billion euros the European Union is lending to Ukraine, the first tranche is earmarked for “drone production.” They call it “defending the country.” Guess which company is first in line to get the money? On the recordings, a former Defense Minister is heard openly discussing how to steer a billion dollars from Western partners straight into the company of Zelensky’s friends. But let’s be honest: this isn’t really about defense. Drones aren’t just shields—they’re weapons. This is about offense. This is about keeping the war going. While ordinary Ukrainians continue to die under shelling, flee a collapsing economy, and watch our country disintegrate, the president’s inner circle is getting filthy rich. This bloody war is now entering its fifth year. And the people closest to Zelensky are profiting handsomely from it. Ukrainian activists, members of parliament, and independent media have been screaming this out loud. The only ones who refuse to report it? Western mainstream media. Instead of any serious scrutiny of corruption, you get glowing tributes to Ukraine’s “drone sector,” endless praise for “democracy’s great leader Zelensky,” and stories about exporting surplus weapons. So I’m asking my former colleagues in the media directly: Is this what journalism is now? Covering up massive corruption at the highest levels? Is this what “standing with the people” looks like? My country is dying. My people are dying—so that one man and his friends can get obscenely wealthy. If you’re in Ukraine, you already know there is nothing democratic about Zelensky’s government. This war is the only thing keeping him in power and money. The moment peace comes, it all evaporates. This isn’t about one man playing Winston Churchill. This is about the destruction of an entire nation. You may not be able to publish this by quoting your Ukrainian colleagues yet. But tomorrow, when a member of parliament—the highest elected office in the country—publicly reads these records, there will be no more excuses. The gap between what Western media tells you and what is actually happening in Ukraine has grown too wide. It’s time to close it.

Jetzt auch auf Deutsch: #Russland verfolgt einen hybriden Ansatz, der politische Unterstützung mit einer langfristigen Positionierung verbindet. Ziel: Präsenz zu bewahren und relevant zu bleiben, selbst wenn verbündete Regierungen zusammenbrechen. ipg-journal.de/rubriken/ausse…

@I_Katchanovski Have pity on them. Cause obviously that is the only way for those people to stay relevant. Ppl who write this kind of letters are pitiful and disgusting.

Andreas Umland, who backed a call for total mobilization in Ukraine by a neo-Nazi admirer of Hitler, Anton Shekhovtsov, who headed the Dugin's organization in Crimea, and their ilk resort to a Stalinist-like denunciation of my open access book “The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins" link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9… They and their ilk want not only to censor my book but also to go after my university job and subject me to criminal persecution/sanctions by the Zelensky regime because they are incapable of challenging my evidence-based analysis. Instead of following standard academic norms and practices, they resort to such collective denunciation of a book and a scholar, which is typical of Soviet practices. And their denunciation is based on primitive fraud, fakes, and slander. Umland’s first draft, which was formulated with Skekhovtsov involvement, was sent to his handpicked recipients on January 1, 2026, but the absolute majority of them did not sign. He spent 4 months on collecting signatures by adding denunciation of Elon Musk, whose Starlink has been critical for communication of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the Russia-Ukraine war. They also smear David Sacks for his GoFundMe contribution. Ukrainska Pravda, propagates defamation, denunciations, and fake news concerning me. I helped to publicize in the US media kidnapping and killing of its founder, but it now turned into an equivalent of Soviet Pravda. It’s revealing who joined such Stalinist-like denunciation by means of false claims. For them, politics trumps merit, evidence, and scientific research. Open-access publication of my book was funded by open access publication grant from the University of Ottawa and over 350 GoFundMe contributors. Contrary to the denunciation, Elon Musk did not fund my book but helped on Twitter/X to stop an attempt to block my GoFundMe. I publicly thanked Elon Musk and all contributors, whom Umland, Shekhovtsov and their ilk slander. They also propagate primitive fakes about popularity of my book, because it reached 249,000 views and downloads on the publisher website 6 months since its official publication. They falsely claim that Musk and Sacks covertly promote its views and downloads on X. Like their Soviet counterparts denouncing books, which they did not read, they did not even read the book’s preface or read it but propagated deliberate fraud, nevertheless. My preface clearly states: My academic publications, which primarily concern conflicts and politics in Ukraine, have reached over 2,000,000 reads and downloads just on my academic websites and the publisher sites. My research-based Twitter and Facebook posts and YouTube videos reached over 125,000,000 views. I am one of the most cited political scientists who specialize primarily in politics and conflicts in Ukraine. My research-based publications, interviews, and comments appeared in more than 4,000 media reports in more than 80 countries. They include such major Western media as ABC News, BBC Ukrainian, Associated Press, Canadian Press, CBC News, CTV News, France 24, France Télévisions, Daily Beast, Euronews, Global TV, Globe and Mail, Guardian, Hill TV, La Presse, Le Figaro, La Razón, La Stampa, National Post, Reuters, Sky News Australia, Times Higher Education, Vice, and Washington Post. My paper, "The “Snipers’ Massacre” on the Maidan in Ukraine," is the most downloaded paper among almost 20,000 papers on subject of ‘Ukraine’ in Academia.edu, a major registered-based research depository and site for scholars. I published its greatly expanded and updated versions and parts in peer-reviewed journals and books. These open access studies have over 1,000,000 views and downloads. Four my papers are among the top dozen most downloaded papers on subject of ‘Ukraine’ on Academia.edu. Umland, Shekhovtsov, and their ilk are well aware about impact of my previous studies, but they deliberately propagate fakes. My book was published by a major Western academic press following very positive peer-review by two experts. It was endorsed by four leading American, British, and Ukrainian scholars. In her reviewof my open access book, a noted British journalist wrote that “The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins is not just another study of the conflict. It is a tour de force of advocacy—for truth—a feat of evidence gathering and probably the closest that anyone has come to disentangling the host of conflicting narratives that have so characterised this war.” The book is based on primary evidence and not on narratives propagated by Russian, Ukrainian, and Western governments. But Umland and co in their denunciation deliberately misrepresented findings of my book which clearly states: The analysis shows that the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, represented the extreme escalation by Russia of the conflicts with Ukraine and the West, the civil war in Donbas, the annexation of Crimea, and the Western-backed violent and illegal overthrow of the pro-Russian government in Ukraine by the oligarchic and far-right alliance by means of the Maidan massacre and assassination attempts during Euromaidan. NATO accession of Ukraine was a major factor, but it, like the role of the far right, was inflated by Russia. Russian imperialism was also significant but secondary factor. Ukraine is not a democracy. Umland, Shekhovtsov, and their ilk try to force scholars to parrot the Zelensky government propaganda and propagate fake narratives that they propagate themselves, such, as false flag Nord Stream bombing by Russia, genocide in Ukraine, Ukraine as democracy, and no neo-Nazis in Ukraine. They falsely claim that the blocking of the nearly finalized Istanbul peace deal by the Western governments is Russian propaganda and denounce my book for this even though this was stated or de facto admitted by the head and members of the Ukrainian delegation, ex-prime minister of Israel, president and foreign minister of Turkey, Victoria Nuland and several other such top officials. They falsely link me and my book to the Russian media because a noted US-educated German professor specializing in Ukrainian history was one of those who congratulated me on X with its publication. They falsely equate the Zelensky regime with Ukraine and Ukrainians and their support for the violent overthrow of the Ukrainian government, mutual killings of Ukrainians in civil war in Donbas, and the proxy war to the last Ukrainian with supporting Ukraine and Ukrainians. They choose to attack and defame one of a few Ukrainian political scientists in the Western academy specializing primarily in conflicts in Ukraine. Umland and Shekhovtsov resorted to such denunciation in retaliation ofreferences in my book to their partisan whitewashing of neo-Nazis in Ukraine: Some researchers, especially from partisan think tanks, regarded the role of the far-right organizations and formations in Ukraine in Euromaidan, and the war in Donbas as insignificant or marginal. They focused on numerical strength of far-right organizations and electoral support for the far-right parties and ignored or denied the far-right involvement in political violence, such as the Odesa massacre and the civil war in Donbas. They claimed that the presence of Russian-speakers in the Azov regiment and other neo-Nazi-led armed formations is evidence of their relative tolerance and asserted that the Azov regiment moderated by abandoning its far-right roots (see, for example, Umland, 2019, 2020)... Anton Shekhovtsov compared the mass killing of people by a fire in the Trade Union building in Odesa to his killing of Colorado potato beetles by collecting them in a box and then burning them” (Anton, 2014). He was earlier a leader of the Crimean branch of the pro-Russian far-right Eurasian Youth Union led by Aleksandr Dugin (AntiNATOvskii, 2006). The denunciation of me and my scholarly book by Umland, Shekhovtsov, and their ilk is not only an open attack on academic freedom but also an attempt to censor my book and subject me to criminal prosecution or sanctions by the undemocratic Zelensky regime for my academic research. They falsely link my book to Russian propaganda, Russian media, and “apologetics” of the Russian invasion, which are all criminal offensives in Ukraine. There were many such cases of political persecution in Ukraine. My house, land, and all other property in my native Western Ukraine were illegally seized in retaliation of my scholarly studies of the Maidan massacre in Ukraine. I was blacklisted on the Ukrainian government-linked Myrotvorets hit list for “crimes” of showing involvement of radical nationalists and neo-Nazis in this massacre of the Maidan protesters and the police and for exposing the SS Galicia division veteran, who was given standing ovations in the Canadian parliament by the Canadian government, parliament, Zelensky, and his delegation. The Ukrainian government agency, headed by the leader of the OUN, which collaborated with Nazi Germany and was involved in organizing the SS Galicia Division, threatened me with criminal prosecution for exposing involvement of neo-Nazis in the Maidan massacre. Their Stalinist-era predecessors published in a Ukrainian newspaper a similar denunciation of Mykhailo Krawtchouk, my distant relative, and his mathematical book, during the Stalin’s Great Terror. Two volumes of this mathematical book were translated and used by the American inventor of the electronic digital computer in inventing his computer to speed up solutions of mathematical equations by methods that this noted Ukrainian mathematician developed. He was then arrested on false charges and perished in Stalin's GULAG. Now, their contemporary successors use this invention for similar political denunciation of me and my academic book. They have no decency left.

As allies falter, #Moscow avoids war but still quietly secures influence across the Global South. An arrticle by @AVsitenko. ips-journal.eu/topics/foreign…

Rather than binding itself to costly and potentially open-ended military commitments, Moscow seeks to preserve footholds and remain relevant, even when allied governments weaken or collapse. My new piece for @ips_journal ips-journal.eu/topics/foreign…

Russia and India have made their most substantive defence pact yet, allowing them to station soldiers and aircraft on each other’s territory. aje.news/skqw57 via @AJEnglish

Claudia Sheinbaum: “Democracy means putting love before hate, fostering generosity rather than greed, and fraternity over war”.

I used to be naive. I genuinely believed that an appeal to humanity would be enough — that if I explained what our country is going through, people would understand and realize the war must end. But then I realized how many people are actually profiting from this war. How many simply hate Russia and are ready to fight it to the last drop of Ukrainian blood. And how many are just genuinely ignorant. Humanity alone isn’t enough here. I was naive. Yet so many people still remain uninformed and cynical… For some "noble" purpose taht costs existance of my country. I’m grateful to everyone who understands that Ukrainians deserve peace — and that peace is the only way to save Ukraine.

Jude Law, playing Putin, on the end of Cold war: “We have extended an olive branch. We have not surrendered. They (the US) should bear that in mind from time to time.”

I watched it yesterday at Cinemaxx in Berlin. The film is much more balanced than I’d expected. The 1990s in particular are well portrayed. Two quotes from that part: “Russia became a self-service shop.” “The Russians are tired of horizontality. They long for verticality.”