From a Russian Horse's Mouth

"Of course we are concerned, because Ukraine is on the brink of civil war. Will we use them? [Russian forces massed near the eastern Ukraine borders] I can give you my personal assurance: our troops won't cross the Ukrainian border."
"It's the last thing we want. It would be a disaster. Not for the world community ... It would be a total disaster for the Russian identity."
Georgiy Mamedov, Russian Ambassador to Canada

Georgiy Mamedov, Russian ambassador to Canada, downplayed the latest expulsion of a Canadian diplomat from Moscow, calling the attaché a 'military spy' following a speech on the Ukraine crisis Tuesday in Toronto. (Chris Young/Canadian Press) 

 

A very nice man, Mr. Mamedov. He scoffed a month ago at the very nonsense that Canadian newspapers were publishing, stating that Russia was on the cusp of claiming the Crimea as Russian territory after insinuating itself into the affairs of Ukraine when its president was deposed and a caretaker government installed. Russian fulminations over the 'criminality' of the 'fascists' who removed the Russian-approved president forespoke what was to come.

At that earlier time, Ambassador Mamedov claimed the media were doing a great disservice to the intelligence of the Canadian public, among them a sizeable ethnic contingent of Canadian-Ukrainians, feeding them absurdly slanderous propaganda. His motherland, he puffed, indignantly, had no intention whatever of interfering in Ukraine, let alone expropriating Crimea. But what Ukraine had done respecting Viktor Yanukovych was 'illegal'.

Russian forces, furthermore, massed on the eastern border were present there for the explicit purpose of deterring "vengeance" attacks against ethnic Russians who just happen to be living in Ukraine. Russia had no intention whatever of invading the eastern region of Ukraine. It just so happens that pro-Russian Ukrainians, Russian speakers and ethnic Russians are agitating on their own initiative to leave Ukraine and move into Russia's orbit.

Canadians are not ordinarily known to be rude and disrespectful, nor are they. On this occasion, an address by Ambassador Mamedov to a Toronto audience of business elites at the prestigiously influential Empire Club, the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress had bought a few tables at the lunch. During the speech and in the question-and-answer session following, they lobbed accusations and harsh questions at the ambassador.

A protester holds a sign as Russian Ambassador Georgiy Mamedov delivers a speech on 'Russia, Ukraine and Crimea - The Russian Perspective' to the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto Tuesday. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)

"Are you not embarrassed to represent a government that tells outright lies to the global community, to heads of state and to its own people ... and that provides safe harbour to murderers and thieves?", asked one Ukrainian-Canadian Congress member, while Paul Grod president of the congress, spoke of the ambassador's version of Ukrainian history as "fantastical". Definitely not admiringly so.

Mr. Mamedov skipped over the charge levelled by Ukraine and the United States that many of the pro-Russian armed militants refusing to surrender their hold on government buildings in eastern Ukraine just happen to be in point of fact, Russian soldiers. As for the disagreements between Canada and Russia that have resulted in the expulsions of diplomats, that was characterized dismissively as meaningless tit-for-tat.

The sanitized version of events, the description of the fraternal association between Ukraine and Russia, the intermingling of its people and customs, the inter-reliance on trade and industry, all mitigate for closer ties between the two countries in an aura of companionable friendship, certainly not the hostile attitude that Russia feels emanating from the current false leadership smacking of fascistic tendencies.

Matters were not helped when the Maidan protests that evolved around corruption became degraded toward revolution at the hands of extreme nationalists leaving the new regime with no constitutional foundation. The reality is, as Moscow sees it, the "only legitimate" leader is the one who was deposed. Matters came to a head when the regime moved to take away official language status for Russian.

A US state department presentation purports to show the involvement of Russian special forces in eastern Ukraine. Photograph: AP

"Then there was another revolution, in Crimea", he went on, to a chorus of scornful laughter from a segment of the audience. The annexation of Crimea, as far as Mr. Mamedov was concerned was just and reflective of history and heritage.