Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated Western leaders are provoking Moscow into attacking Ukraine.
QUICK FACTS:
- In Dec. 2021, Independent Russian pollster, the Levada Center, found that nearly two-thirds of those asked blamed the United States, NATO, or Ukraine for the escalating tensions in Eastern Europe.
- Ilya Shepelin, a Russian analyzer who studies government-run media says airtime to Ukraine is at its peak since Crimea was seized by Russia in 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported.
- The Levada Center also found that participants have said they change the channel immediately when any topic of Ukraine comes on the television or radio.
- “The main point is that we don’t want to attack Ukraine,” Shepelin said. “We are peace-loving, but Western media are making us the aggressors.”
RUSSIANS ON THEIR PERSONAL VIEW OF THE CRISIS:
“…people don’t want to go to war over this. And if there are real losses, there will be a real protest against the Kremlin.”
BACKGROUND:
- Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also reiterated similar statements, calling on the West not to stir panic amid Russian troops surrounding the country’s border, BBC reported.
- In a press conference in Kyiv, Zelensky told reporters that the mention of invasian was threatening the Ukranian economy and the “destablisation of the situation inside the country.”
- Zelensky said that the threat of Russian aggression has been happening for years, and reminded people it should not cause any reason for concern.
- As other embassies have evacuated Ukraine, Zelensky held firm on his stance, saying “Diplomats are like captains. They should be the last to leave a sinking ship. And Ukraine is not the Titanic.”
