When Georgia was on the verge of joining Nato in 2008, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin stirred up bitter separatist tensions, made baseless claims of genocide, and carried out military exercises nearby. How hollow those words sound now as history looks set to repeat itself, with this hateful dictator using identical tactics and trickery in Ukraine. And, once again, Putin makes phoney assertions of genocide, as well as lying about Ukrainian attacks on mother Russia. Putin reacted to the ousting of his ally by stealing Crimea – the first annexation of sovereign territory in Europe since the Second World War. He then sent in his tanks and troops when it seemed Ukraine was on the point of crushing rebels that he supported in Donbas.

Source: Daily Mail February 22, 2022 05:08 UTC