Oleg Goltvyansky: talk amidst the war

When the country is between innocence and victory

Half a year ago, this blog has already introduced you to Oleg Goltvyansky. Given the nature of the events taking place, the author decided that take two would be appropriate. A first-person perspective from the thick of the fighting is useful not only for those Ukrainians who are now trying to survive and win but also for an international audience and from a historical perspective.

AV: Glory to Ukraine, Oleg!

OG: Glory to the Heroes!

AV: Where are you now and what are you doing?

OG: I'm in the Donbas. In the so-called zone of United Forces Operation. Although after February 24, our whole country turned into a war zone, the scale of which we saw only in films about the Second World War. I am busy fighting the invaders. I command one of the units of the Marine Corps. By decision of the leadership, I was transferred from the Special Operations Forces to the Marine Corps. Until this autumn, I was engaged in the implementation of the concept of the Resistance Movement, one of the founding fathers of which I am. Resistance Movement is mostly the work of small sabotage groups. However, currently, I am engaged in the opposite type of activity - counter-sabotage.

AV: Six months ago, when we last talked, you predicted a big war in two years, not six months. Although at that time Russia had already amassed a large amount of military equipment near the borders of Ukraine. Did you participate in the panic prevention scheme recently uncovered by NSDC Secretary Danylov, or did you have your own reasons to expect war a little later?

OG: No one knew exactly when the war would start and spreading panic rumors is not our method. We knew one thing - if Putin decides to take this step, he will face defeat and disgrace in Ukraine. This war could not be avoided. Its beginning, as well as its end, was predetermined long ago, the scripts were written. Therefore, we hid and calmly waited for the beast to fall into our trap, like true hunters. And panic is never acceptable. Panic is the main enemy not only for the army but for the whole people.

AV: Which actions of our government do you approve of and where and in what ways they could do better?

OG: The war in Ukraine went according to the best scenario for us. Neither the Russian General Staff nor the US State Department, no one could predict that Ukrainians would be able to withstand the pressure of Russians. Here it is worth noting that the leadership of Ukraine proved to be 100% up to the task. We were planning to lose more territories. However, thanks to the competent actions of Ukrainian authorities and the dedication of the Ukrainian people, this did not happen.

AV: Why Ukraine still doesn't pre-emptively destroy enemy equipment on the territory of "mainland" Russia, in the Belgorod and Rostov oblasts, on the railways of the Krasnoyarsk Krai, after the start of the war?

OG: Ukraine is waging a defensive war. We are driving the enemy from our territory. We do not violate international law. Therefore, we act exclusively on the territory of Ukraine (reminder that Crimea is Ukraine). Recently, the Russian leadership has been organizing terrorist attacks on its own territory in order to discredit Ukraine before the international community and its own citizens. However, the whole world no longer believes to the lying leadership of the Russian Federation, which has shown its true face to the international community. Unfortunately, the people of Russia are still under the spell of false Kremlin propaganda. However, I think that sooner or later this spell will disperse and those who have lied to the Russians for so many years will not do well.

AV: Some conservative Europeans and Americans do not support Ukraine as much as they could because they believe that their political movements will be harmed without Putin. In many ways, we are lucky that the “rightist” Andrzej Duda is in power in our ally Poland, he does his fair share in bringing this public over to our side. As a right-winger, what can you promise these people in the field of cooperation with victorious post-war Ukraine? Will we find people who could help them overcome LGBT religion, defeat the modernism of Brussels, restore faith in themselves and European culture?

OG: It can already be said unequivocally that post-war Europe will be different. The old model of Europe has shown its inability to respond to new global trends. Old Europe, with its tolerance, is rotten from the inside. NATO is unable to provide security in the region. Therefore, we will soon see a New Europe with Ukraine as one of the leaders. Ukraine has established its geopolitical agency and became a leading world player due to this war. In Ukraine, the leading positions will be occupied by the nationalists, who were at the forefront of the independence struggle in this war. The significance of joining NATO and the EU for Ukraine will significantly decrease after the victory over Russia. Accordingly, we no longer need to accept their standards. The LGBT movement in Ukraine has never been popular. Most often, it included swindlers-grant seekers, or agents of the Russian special services, who needed to discredit Ukraine in front of Western partners. I know gay people who openly opposed gay pride parades, which is not surprising in principle, as they mostly consist of people who have nothing to do with the LGBT community: naturals-grant-seekers, liberals, Antifa, all sorts of underage punks of an informal look. For some, going to a gay pride parade felt like "defying the system." In Ukraine, we never had a large number of homosexuals, Russia had. We just have very beautiful women and that's enough for us. Therefore, the LGBT religion will never take root here.

AV: As of now, there are just two radical, prominent vatniks left in our country - Ilya Kiva and Anatoly Shariy. The majority of members of the Opposition Platform for Life party behave quite adequately. Does this mean that after the war and victory, the term "vatnik" may die out as unnecessary?

OG: Yes, the SSU agent Vladimir "codename Moth" has indeed destroyed the entire pro-Russian electorate in Ukraine. Even the most stubborn "vatniks" realized that Russia is an enemy after the first Russian missiles arrived in Kharkiv. Sounds funny but members of the Opposition Platform for Life and priests of the UOC-MP are now fighting against the Russians. Of course, some rare individuals remained, but those are sick people. They are still waiting for Russia to win. However, Russia will not win. After all, you can defeat the army, but you can not defeat the people. Now the people of Ukraine with their army. I have never seen such popular support. Even here in the Donbas, everyone is trying to help us. Therefore, the war outcome is set in stone - Russian defeat and shame. Russian historians try to present the history of Russia as a history of victories, but this is not so. Russia repeatedly got hit in the teeth, and even their usual tactic - "meat rush" failed often. Let's remember the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and the revolution that followed. Russian rebellion, as the saying goes, is merciless. The spring of lawlessness cannot be compressed forever... Outward expansion instead of internal development does not lead to good, and an external conflict strengthens the ruling power only if it is quick and bloodless.

AV: What do you think are Russia's current goals and objectives? It seems to me that they are using terror to force the acceptance of their demands. Their forces are clearly not numerous enough for a full-fledged annexation. But how long will they be able to stay in this mode and won't a completely destroyed Ukraine be an even greater threat to them than the current one? What kind of "hello" would you like to convey here to the Z-imperialists from the Russian Federation?

OG: Frankly speaking, the Russian goals and objectives do not have the slightest significance for us since they turned out to be unrealizable. However, we can fantasize after analyzing what they declared. Without a doubt, the Russian leadership dreamed of capturing all of Ukraine, except for the western Lviv, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts. As far as I understand, the Russians were negotiating with the Hungarians so that they would "save Uzhhorod-adjacent Transcarpathia from the Russian threat" by annexing this region when the Poles would bring their contingent into the Galician Carpathians. However, this scenario failed miserably. Now they are trying to implement a plan "B". Having transferred all the forces from the Northern Front to the east of Ukraine, they want to drive the Ukrainian forces out of the Donbas and capture as many as possible on the left bank of the Dnieper. No doubt they need a land passage to the Crimea. They also want to cause maximum harm to the economy of our country. Ukrainians have begun to live too well in recent years. The minimum wage in Ukraine has already exceeded the Russian one, and the average one is almost equal. The average Russian could have a question: "how can Khokhols, whom we have always considered second-class people, live better than the great Russians." Russia is a clay golem, a large "Potemkin village" with a beautiful facade and rotten insides. All the fabulous incomes of Russia are stolen by the country's leadership, oligarchs, and officials, while ordinary Russians drag out a miserable existence in the stone jungle of their gray cities and dying rural settlements. Which nice things do they see in their lives? For many Russian soldiers, it was a culture shock what they saw in Ukraine. They could not imagine that it is possible to live like a human being. That the village can have electricity and asphalt roads. I pity them. Poor people living in the darkness of savagery.

I do not think that Russia will be able to stay in the offensive war mode for a long time. You can already see that they are out of breath. Now, of course, there will be another peak of escalation. I think later this battle will be called the Great Battle for Donbas. They are drawing forces here... The spring military draft has begun... This will give them the opportunity to unleash another 150,000 people. However, we can grind them too. Especially if the "allies" stop talking nonsense and finally give us modern weapons, in particular, we need aviation and air defense. Moreover, air defenses should not be close-range, like the Starstreak MANPADS (although this is better than nothing), but normal, at least like the Patriot or S-400 air defense systems. If NATO is so afraid of Russia that it cannot punish the aggressor country, then at least they must give us equipment and we ourselves will tear out the sting from the Russian hydra. The excuses of the Europeans look very pitiful against the backdrop of this conflict and I would like to remind our Western partners of the words of Winston Churchill: “If a country, choosing between war and shame, chooses shame, it gets both war and shame.” If Europe does not help Ukraine then Russia's next move will be the absorption of the Baltics and NATO again will have to swallow it, because the fattest Europeans do not want to fight. The Balts and Poles understand this perspective very well, therefore, they help us. And the Hungarians simply forgot 1956... If the world had really punished Russia for Crimea in 2014, there would not be all this nightmare now and the same Europeans would not have to pay such a high price for gas. However, the world remained silent and now we are all reaping the fruits of this silence.

Modern Ukraine, without a doubt, will be the biggest threat to Russia now. After what the Russian army has done here, we will take revenge. Nowhere will the Russians have peace now. Everywhere they will endure pain. Pain for everything that the Ukrainians have experienced. Looking at our destroyed cities, at our murdered children and raped women, there is only one feeling - HATE. Thanks to Putin, a great Anti-Russia arose on the very border of Russia - Rus-Ukraine. Just to think that some 10 years ago we considered the Russians brothers and thought that they were no different from us. Now we see that these are not brothers at all, they are bandits and sadists, descendants of the Golden Horde, living by war, lies and hatred.

Of course, I want to say hello to the Z-patriots from Russia. I want to convey these words to them: the war is not over yet, but you should already understand that you are finished. For everything you have done, you will have to be held accountable. We will find everyone and punish everyone! However, the most terrible thing for you will be to see the death of the Russian Empire so beloved by you, which your demon-possessed king tried so hard to restore.

AV: Restoring the population will be one of the main post-war tasks. Do you have any ideas for legislative initiatives which will simplify the formation of families and increase the birth rate?

OG: I think polygamy should be allowed in the military. Heroes must have many wives and many children. The experience of post-war Europe has shown that "people of color" resettlement does not provide the desired result. They do not want to work and live mostly on welfare. In addition, miscegenation of the population has negative ethnocultural consequences, degradation of the nation, and a decrease in the average level of IQ. We need a lot of Ukrainian children because we will need to restore the economy. I also consider it possible to settle fighters of the foreign legion in Ukraine and give land allotments to them. These people responded to the call of Ukraine and arrived to fight for the independence of our Motherland. We are indebted to them for this. I initiated the foreign legion creation on the basis of the Russian Legion of Euromaidan back in 2015. Discussed this issue with the leadership of the SSU. Unfortunately, at that time this initiative did not receive wide support and the project was closed after my departure to the Special Operations Forces. After the start of the war, many of my projects and concepts were pulled out of the safes, where they had been gathering dust for many years, and brought to life. Two more very important ones are ahead - the "Project of Russian Autonomy" and the "Program for the integration of citizens from the former territories of the Russian Federation into Ukrainian society."

AV: In any barrel of tar there must be a spoonful of honey. What joyful, interesting, and hopeful events happened to you and your comrades during the war?

OG: In the first days of the war, of course, there was a shock, but it soon passed. There was simply no time for depression and snot. Then we were saved by Ukrainian humor, memes about the ship, and Chornobaivka. We wandered all over the front line, without sleep and food. For us, one thing was important - victory. Now that the chaos of the first days has been left behind, the understanding has come that we are moving towards victory with all our might, and sooner or later it will come. Nothing can stop it now. Thoughts about how we will live after the victory, of course, warm the soul of every soldier. We will definitely live better, return to our families, and restore our destroyed country. We will build a new Ukraine. It will be a completely different country after the war. The war showed who is who and became a big filter for people. Like it or not, everyone united for the sake of victory. All the people were consolidated. Thanks to this, Ukraine will be able to make a big breakthrough. Finally, we will live humanly, on our God-given land.

AV: Good luck and skill!

OG: Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!