Dear Editor:
RE: Narrative silenced, Aug. 3.
Like most reasonable people and like the writer, I too would like to see an end to the war in Ukraine.
However, the writer appears to be implying that the impediment to peace is the supply of weapons and money to Ukraine by the western allies under the NATO umbrella, and specifically the United States.
Yet it was not the United States or any of the western allies who invaded Ukraine and caused this horrendous conflict. That responsibility rests solely with Vladimir Putin and Russia. Perhaps the writer should address her concerns to President Putin.
It was Russia that invaded and then annexed Crimea in 2014, territory that was until then part of the sovereign state of Ukraine. This was and is in direct violation of the 1997 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Russia and Ukraine as well as international law and the United Nations Charter. The 1997 treaty, amongst other things, stated the “recognition of inviolability of existing borders and respect for territorial integrity”.
Following that, Russia then began to arm and support separatist forces in the eastern territories of Ukraine known as the Donbas.
Apparently not content with the slow pace of that conflict, Putin and the Russian government authorized a full invasion of Ukraine beginning in February of 2022. Since that invasion, Russia has received arms and military technology from several countries including Iran, North Korea, Belarus and possibly China. Hardly bastions of freedom.
I would suggest that the quickest path to peace in Ukraine would be for the invading Russian troops to withdraw from the sovereign territory of Ukraine (including Crimea) and for the Russian government under Putin to stop supporting separatist forces in Ukraine.
Until that day, I fully support our government and the other NATO members providing military and humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainians.
Michael Vasil,
Fergus