polite people
…they can’t kill every last one of us…
Kolya Ivanovich Malloff – 2014
Mariupol, Ukraine
The Kamaz truck growled through the mud revealing its presence. Diesel exhaust from the vehicles muscling ahead in the convoy, streamed through the birch grove as billowing horizontal ribbons of smoke. The stubby protruding knobs on the tires chewed up the terrain. All momentum torqued forward, slowly, ominously. The headlamps were turned to red, like a mobile darkroom exposing its developing movements. Inside the trucks, drivers and navigators were enhanced as cyborgs. The drivers saw the digital green illuminated display through their night-vision goggles. The co-pilots saw the high-contrast white on greyscale displays of their thermal night-vision goggles.
The convoy originating from Rostov-na-Donu was approaching the border east of Mariupol, heading into the contact zone. It comprised of twenty-five trucks, twenty Kamaz 4310 general utility trucks along with five 6560 heavy utility trucks. Shadowing the convoy by water just a few hundred meters off the coast in the notoriously shallow Sea of Azov were three Shmel gunboats of the Russian Navy. Loitering further back in the middle of the Sea of Azov was a powerfully armed Steregushchiy class corvette tasked at providing radar observation, integrated satellite support, fire control and electromagnetic interference for the convoy if required. It was ironic that such a package of advanced technology was being put into service to deliver exceedingly basic supplies to a somewhat impoverished and depleted countryside. It was akin to using the International Space Station to deliver a pizza.
Each vehicle was manned by a team of retired non-commissioned officers, or NCO’s. The reason for this was that the cargo was highly valuable, vital in fact, as any cargo being delivered into a conflict zone tends to be. The trucks were transporting everything from medicine, most of which was penicillin, aspirin and iodine, to countless palettes of bottled water, wool blankets, as well as a wide assortment of dry and canned foods stuffs. Two trucks also carried generators and battery complexes for providing power. All these supplies were going to relieve the people who had been pushed from their villages further east due to the shelling from the Ukrainian Army and the operations of their proxies, extremely violent far right-wing mercenary battalions. Villages such as Slavyanka, where many of our Doukhobor people originated from. A name that they carried with them to Azerbaijan and later to British Columbia, renaming landed villages of residency in honour of their long-forgotten homeland.
These mercenary battalions were and continue to be financed and supported by the CIA and NATO. Groups such as the Aidar Battalion, the Azov Battalion, the Dnipro Battalion, the Pravy Sector and also the political party that provides for them, the Svoboda Party were all colluding to tear the Ukraine apart at the seams. Many of these bad actors have come forward from the frozen and forgotten shade of the Nazi atrocities of World War II. All of these groups have been actively and financially supported by the Western political leaders, especially politicians and corporate entities from the USA, Germany, Poland, Canada and the United Kingdom. Supporting such evil actors was a strategic calculation exacted by Obama and Merkel as a means to exact geopolitical leverage against the increased economic strength of Russian energy and trade relations in Europe. Actors such as Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden were actively employing hostile strategies, killing residents in these villages so they could drill and frack the lands below them. This sinister political agenda and its aggressively complicit media coverage delivers a completely false narrative which enables and facilitates these ongoing war crimes to happen.
The convoy was a high value target for both practical and symbolic reasons and all the men operating the trucks knew that it could easily fall under mortar attack or ambush at any moment. Everyone was in a heightened state of alertness, all the NCO’s were suited-up in bulletproof body armour, communication earpieces, tactical optics and automatic rifles with suppressors. They were well aware that there was no way for the mercenary battalions lurking beyond the horizon to know what the contents in the Kamaz convoy were, be it humanitarian, military or other such supplies. These factors made the convoy a significant political target.
Having the vehicles driven and escorted by NCO’s provided diplomatic and operational cover for the Russian Federation. Diplomatic cover was provided in that these drivers were no longer enlisted as active soldiers in Russia’s Army and therefor their service fell into the category of civilian volunteers. Operational cover was provided in that if these vehicles came under military attack or ambush then these same volunteer drivers just happened to be highly trained special forces commanders who knew exactly how to defend and counter attack. This strategy provided a measure of security in an extremely politically charged and militarily dangerous operation.
Mariupol was kinetic and hot. Recent skirmishes between the Russian speaking Eastern Ukrainian people of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) militia and the Azov Battalion were increasing in violence and intensity. The military actions were taking on an added dimension of darkness as needless violence was being exacted against innocent civilians for the purposes of sewing bad blood between the combatants.
The convoy was tasked to drop off 60% of its supplies to the militia in Mariupol and then reroute north taking an escorted lead into the City of Donetsk to unload the remaining 40% of its supplies. The convoy would then pick up and transport three hundred and twenty civilian women, children and elderly who needed immediate medical attention back to the Russian city of Rostov-na-Donu.
None of this activity was supported or acknowledged by Amnesty International or the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, who were monitoring the conflict, were well aware of the facts on the ground. Time and time again the OSCE had been muzzled by the EU and NATO. Western media outlets were completely complicit in peddling a false narrative to European and North American citizens. It has been argued that the battlegrounds of modern warfare consist of 70% informational, 25% economic and 5% military action. It is true that perception allows consent to be manufactured.
During the referendum in Crimea, the Western main stream media harangued non-stop about Russian aggression. They intentionally and consistently drove forward a complete misrepresentation of the true narrative. Creating all sorts of rabid fervour about this big bad Russian thug and his dictatorial machine that had stomped on democracy all across the Ukraine when the exact opposite was true. It was Washington, London and Berlin that had orchestrated a coup d’etat and were now activating and financing militant battalions that aligned themselves with Neo Nazi groups to attack Russian speaking Ukrainians. How could anyone expect Russia of all countries to be tolerant of such historically repugnant and socially belligerent operations.
The Western media wanted it both ways. They further attempted to diminish the Russian military presence in Crimea, which it is worth noting, was legally stationed at their Navy base in Sevastopol. When the Azov Battalion and Pravy Sector started to bus in their thugs to terrorize and kill the inhabitants of the Crimea, these stationed Russian service men were activated to protect the local Russian speaking inhabitants. They intercepted and neutralised the Ukrainian battalions from terrorizing and killing more civilians as they had done in Kiev, Kharkov and Odessa. By maintaining peace on the streets of Sevastopol and Simferopol they succeeded in thwarting NATO’s push to destroy the Ukraine and undermine Russian security interests. The Western media tried to diminish and effective Russian units and to belittle them, labelling them Little Green Men and Polite People.
This doublespeak from the Western media quickly became a popular meme in Russia. Russians do take great lengths to follow social and diplomatic etiquette. In fact, they excel at these things. So, for the Western media to attempt to diminish their military personnel by classifying them as little polite people and little green men, sent a wave of comic relief through an extremely unfunny situation. The meme stuck and now, the Russian public prides itself on this military brand of civility and patience. Polite People they are.
Upon entering the outskirts of Mariupol, near the Primorskoye district the convoy reconnoitered with DPR personnel to coordinate the latest ground intel on the enemy positions. The DPR militia reported that the Azov Battalion had deployed forward reconnaissance units near the Mariupol International Airport on the western edge of the city. The decision was made to offload the portion of the Mariupol supplies and immediately reroute north to Donetsk to avoid entering the heart of the city and risk being observed by the Azov reconnaissance and potentially attracting mortar fire.
Driving up the back roads through endless fields from Primorskoye to Donetsk some of the NCO’s started to grow visibly agitated. There was chatter on the radios of a recent war crime that had been uncovered outside the City of Donetsk in the Village of Pokrovsk, previously known as Krasnoarmeisk. A fierce and pitched battle had been underway for control of the Donetsk Airport. The newly created Donetsk International Airport had all but been destroyed. It was an extremely violent battle that swung back and forth before finally being won by the DPR under the command of two charismatic civilian militia leaders known as Mikhail Tolstykh call sign Givi and Arseny Pavlov call sign Motorola. These men lead their respective companies with honour and distinction and were quickly becoming folk heroes not just in the Eastern Ukraine but across the entire Russian speaking world. All the NCO’s were both inspired by and dedicated to the sacrifices that these civilians had dedicated themselves to undertake, that being, defending their homelands against the Nazi inspired battalions of the Azov, Dniepr and Pravy Sector. Both Givi and Motorola had tremendous clout as men of action throughout the Russian military and intelligence circles.
The NOC’s had been monitoring the radio frequencies between Givi and Motorola as they performed their sweep-up operations in and around the Donetsk International Airport. Disturbing news was coming out of Krasnoarmeisk.
‘Repeat, what was the count?’ Ramzes asked. Ramzes was the call-sign of one of the NCO’s manning the lead Kamaz 6560 heavy utility truck. Before retirement he was a commander in the Russian Military Intelligence (GRU) Spetsnaz forces. These units were specifically trained for incursions on foreign soil and were considered the elite of the Russian Army.
‘Over 200 confirmed.’ Came an answer from the static abyss of the radio. There was a crackle followed by a long silence. A cold silence. A silence that created dirt in the hearts of men.
‘How many men are there now?’ Furthered Ramzes.
‘Sparta Battalion[1] and Somalia Battalion[2] plus two more in companies in support,’ returned the anonymous NSO, another crackle, ‘ten kilometers from Donetsk, over.’ Again, a silence overcame the convoy. The sounds were still being generated but they fell into the mud, muffled and killed. The darkness grew louder in the silence. It seemed each truck was occupied by the numbness and coldness of the reality that had been revealed. Twenty long minutes down the road the convoy approached its rendezvous with the DPR, where they were to offload the remainder of their supplies and take on the civilians to return to Rostov-na-Donu. The convoy parked in position. The trucks remained idling, a few of the NCO commanders got out to meet with the DPR commanders.
‘How much time do you need to unload the supplies and load the civilians?’ Ramzes inquired.
‘Twenty-five minutes to unload. Forty-five to load,’ Shevchenko replied. Shevchenko was a veteran of the Soviet War in Afghanistan. Many of these Ukrainian DPR militia were older and had served with the Red Army when the Ukraine was a Republic of the USSR. Some of them were too young but were driven to defend their home cities due to the events that were transpiring across the country.
‘Get me Givi on the radio,’ Ramzes ordered. Within seconds a radio was produced and handed over.
‘Givi, this is Ramzes do you copy?’
‘Ramzes this is Givi, go ahead.’
‘What is the status of your company and the situation at Pokrovsk?’
‘Company has two wounded, we are sweeping the tunnels north of the airport. There are pockets of these mother fuckers, but we are dealing with them, over.’ There was only coldness and hatred in Givi’s voice.
‘And civilians?’ Ramzes pressed.
‘Not fucking good,’ Givi answered, ‘I am walking through this hell now. We have uncovered 229 in the last two days.’ Givi and his battalion, as well as Motorola and the battalion he commanded had been pressing the Azov Battalion for several days and had pushed them out of the Donetsk International Airport. The Azov militants were retreating back towards Kharkov and had abandoned their rear bases. They barely had time to cover up their activities, or perhaps they were left for the DPR to uncover.
The Azov Battalion had engaged in what the CIA calls a ‘tactical war crime’ otherwise known as an operation that is meant to demoralize the enemy and perpetrate ongoing violence. Such tactics have been used and well documented by CIA proxies throughout Latin American theatres since the 1950’s. These tactics have been employed in Afghanistan, Iraq and more recently in Libya, Syria and Yemen as part of the Arab Spring.
The Azov Battalion had left 286 female corpses in a mass grave. The youngest was ten years old, the oldest was sixty-three. The women were all raped and tortured in extremely violent methods. Many had limbs sawed off, many were burned, many had bottles smashed in their vaginas, many had their chests caved in and their breasts sawed off.
War is not a game to be enjoyed on a Play Station or an XBox. It is something real that destroys the lives of both its victims and its survivors. This history lives on –– even in death. It is the ugly under belly of our living history and it has claimed the lives of people from the Don River Basin, people who have been struggling for peace ever since our people were exiled from this region.
Doukhobors may have renounced violence and killing, but what is to be done when such terror comes home to roost. It is hard to fathom that allowing such violent hate crimes to go without an adequate response is in any way acceptable. Heroes like Motorola, Givi and others like Mozgovoy, Mamai and Anashtenko all gave their lives to protect these people. People that were born in villages like Slavyanka exactly in and around the areas where our Doukhobor people originated. May these victims and the heroes that gave their lives defending them rest in peace.
Вечная Память
Soldiers of the Donbass who gave their lives for their land and people.