Robert Farle is a German politician. He was a member of the Communist Party of Germany for 17 years. In 2015, he joined Alternative for Germany [AfD — ed.], and since 2021 he has been a member of the German Parliament [Bundestag — ed].
He is known for his position against the supply of weapons to Ukraine, because in this way “Germany becomes a participant in the war.”
On his personal Facebook page, which is read by more than 72 000 followers, Robert Farle repeatedly spoke negatively about the events in Ukraine and about Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally.
In this post, Farle accuses Volodymyr Zelenskyy of criminal orders and demands an investigation into the Bucha massacre:
“But what urgently needs investigation are the circumstances of the Bucha massacre, which is blamed on the Russians, and in which many questions remain unanswered, in particular, who is actually responsible for the killed civilians.”
“Both warring parties are trying to protect the civilian population as much as possible, and secondly, there are no documented war crimes here.”
“The head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, admitted to the British The Times newspaper that he killed pro-Russian journalists. A popular example of this is the daughter of the Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin. If it is proven that President Zelenskyy gave the orders regarding these assassination attempts, then Zelenskyy himself will have to be tried as a war criminal before the International Criminal Court, like, for example, Serbian President Milošević.”
In the following post, Robert Farle talks about the lack of democracy in Ukraine and the fact that the country was preparing for war with Russia long ago before the invasion:
“Zelenskyy took many Ukrainian citizens abroad, whose Ukrainian passports were confiscated. Among them are people’s deputies and representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This has nothing to do with democracy. In this way, the opposition in Ukraine is pushed aside and forced out of the country.”
“After ZEIT’s interview with Angela Merkel, the whole world learned that Merkel, along with French President Macron, cheated Putin in the Minsk ceasefire agreements. According to Merkel herself, the goal was not to ensure peace in the east of Ukraine, but simply to buy time for Ukraine to be armed with NATO for the future war against Russia.”
In yet another post, the German deputy mentions US interests in the war and emphasizes that Zelenskyy wants the war to escalate.
Let’s analyze these statements.
“The Russians are blamed for the Bucha massacre, but an investigation is needed”
An important point is that he denies Russia’s responsibility for the atrocities committed and accuses Ukraine of murders and fake evidence by Russia itself: “not a single local resident suffered from any violent actions while Bucha was under the control of the Russian armed forces.” The evidence of crimes is a deception, staging, and provocation of the authorities in Kyiv.”
Human Rights Watch researchers [an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization that protects human rights in more than 70 countries — ed.] who worked in Bucha from April 4 to 10, 2022, a few days after Russian troops withdrew from the area, found numerous evidences of executions, murders, enforced disappearances, and torture, all of which could be considered war crimes and potential crimes against humanity.
The researchers also analyzed photos and videos from the scene of the events and interviewed local residents, who confirmed that it was the Russian military who committed the murders of the civilian population.
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine also established the identities of Russian servicemen who participated in the military operations in Buch and who were involved in the crimes committed.
“Absence of documented war crimes”
Ukrainian Helsinki Union together with human rights defenders ZMINA, Center for Human Rights, Truth Hounds, and Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group launched the campaign “Tribunal for Putin”. Its purpose is to document war crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Information is collected directly from witnesses, victims, and open sources. The collected data is supported by photos and video materials and, with the consent of the people, is transferred to law enforcement agencies.
As of July 17, 2023, the organization has documented 45,676 cases of war crimes.
The General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine also conducts calculations. As of July 6, 2023, the following were registered: 96,874 war crimes, 17,018 crimes against the national security of Ukraine.
The independent international commission of the UN also records war crimes during the Russian-Ukrainian war and confirms a large number of crimes committed by the Russian army.
“Zelenskyy gives criminal orders”
“There is a full-scale war between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. The main goal of Russia in this war is the destruction of Ukraine as a state and Ukrainians as a nation. the Russian Federation does not shy away from any means, even terrorist ones (undermining the Kakhovka Dam, mining the ZNPP, etc.). The war is waged not only by military means but also in the information war. We have repeatedly heard calls from Russian propagandists and “experts” for the total annihilation of Ukrainians, including with the use of nuclear weapons. It was the propagandists who put a lot of effort into zombifying the Russian population, depopulating Ukrainians, and spreading hatred and intolerance. Therefore, those journalists who promote the conduct of war by harsh methods are the same criminals as those soldiers of the Russian Federation who loot, kill the civilian population, and commit other war crimes. Kyrylo Budanov is a military commander who performs tasks in a certain area during wartime. The choice of targets for attack is dictated by military necessity. As for Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he is hardly immersed in the details of the operations conducted by Kyrylo Budanov to such a degree.
To accuse the president of Ukraine of giving orders to destroy someone with a specific surname is to equate him with Putin. Zelenskyy is the democratically elected president of a democratic country and acts according to the procedure, not according to his own likes or dislikes,” — Viktor Yermoshkin, analyst at the Analytical Center for Studying and Countering Hybrid Threats, comments on this thesis.
“There is no democracy in Ukraine, the opposition is expelled from the country”
The Ukrainian Review has already written about the situation with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and explained in detail all the prerequisites and reasons for the events related to it. And they also analyzed international data on democracy in Ukraine.
“The thesis that “there is no democracy in Ukraine, the opposition is expelled from the country” has nothing to do with reality. One can argue for a long time about the concepts of democracy, define indices, but there are certain general provisions. For example, this is electability – elected parliament, president, local self-government bodies — this order of things was and remains in Ukraine. We also maintain the division into branches of government, and the principle of the rule of law is followed (not without nuances, but in general, it is fair to say that this norm is observed). And in general, if we talk about the temporary restriction of rights, it is caused by the introduction of the legal regime of martial law, which is provided for by the Basic Law, and the introduction of this state also took place in accordance with the established procedures. So, any propaganda breaks down into legal facts.
As for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, some church members turned out to be citizens of another, hostile state. Even in this case, you will not see any legal documents or organized activities regarding the forced expulsion of these persons from the territory of Ukraine. I think it is correct to speak here not about the political opposition, but about the opposition to the Ukrainian state. And as you remember, the activities of organizations that are directed against the state and the constitutional system are prohibited by law. In short, you will not be able to methodically single out any vulnerable group or name organized actions against it – there are no such facts. Instead, the professional work of the power bloc and security agencies revealed that some people on the territory of Ukraine remain citizens of the aggressor country, as well as that they are in a certain way tangential to Russian plans in Ukraine (starting with informing and ending with attempts to commit violent acts). In this case, it is neither legally nor politically possible to talk about the persecution or forced removal of some groups of people, it is only about restoring law and order and legality,” — comments Artem Oliinyk, head of the analytical center Institute of Governmental Relations.
“The Minsk Agreements are delaying the time for Ukraine to prepare for war with Russia”
Olena Mokrenchuk, an officer of the Public Affairs Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, agreed to comment on it this time:
“Yes, after our army was destroyed and disintegrated, it barely survived, but survived thanks to individual patriots. Talk to our servicemen and officers — they will all tell you that at the beginning of the war, almost all our brigades were staffed. What this means: on paper, they are there, there is a team, but absolutely no personnel. That is, in 2014, only five brigades were able to fight the enemy. Therefore, it is especially fair, yes, we recruited volunteers, everyone who had the desire and opportunity to hold a weapon in their hands. Petro Poroshenko used these Minsk agreements to raise our army to the level where we could not die heroically, but defend our country. So, what’s the problem? yes, we wanted to be a powerful army, we wanted to protect our country. If someone doesn’t like it, that’s their problem.
If the claim is that we were preparing to attack someone in this way, I have a question, how can this be seen? We were going to defend, there was no question of an attack. Even now, when we have a full-scale war going on for the second year, we have no idea about crossing the border and seizing something on the territory of the Russian Federation. Such plans never existed and do not exist. To talk about an attack… let them show specific examples, statements of Ukrainian politicians or commanders who call for this. But there is no such thing.”
Angela Merkel’s statement about preparing for war is commented by Oleksandra Reshmedilova, an expert of the United Center for Political Forecasting:
“Regarding Angela Merkel’s statement. It seems to me that within Germany, changes are definitely ripe in the leadership regarding how to comment on their actions and how, conditionally, to distance themselves somewhat from responsibility for the fate that befell Ukraine. That is, is there collective responsibility in France and Germany for the agreements that were signed with the Russian Federation and the negotiation process that lasted so long and was insisted on by the European partners? I do not rule out that Mrs. Merkel may publish her memoirs, as Hollande once did. And maybe Macron will do it, because he is finalizing his career, and just like Merkel, he will not return to politics. They will turn this page, and the most important thing for them is that their names should not have a question mark or an exclamation mark, but three dots, and the responsibility will fall on the next leaders. That is, now it is Scholz in Germany, and in France there is a certain intrigue about who will become the next president.
There will also be more questions ahead, as prototypes of new agreements need to be prepared. Effective agreements, so that it is not Minsk-1, Minsk-2. There must be security guarantees, and the question is whether, for example, Germany itself will be a security guarantor for Ukraine. And if it does, what can it offer to Kyiv.”
“Zelenskyy seeks escalation, war is in the interests of the USA”
“In these theses, the authors and propagandists try to absolutize the role of the Russian-Ukrainian war, covertly imposing the idea that Russia represents a threat to the United States or the Atlantic bloc of such a level that America is ready to fight with Ukrainian forces, thereby weakening Russia. Due to the populism of this thesis, it is perceived by a foreign audience. Everything is simple here: America solves its problems with Moscow, Zelenskyy uses the moment to take territory from Russia and cause maximum damage to the country, and Europeans/Americans/Africans/Asians act as forced observers who gradually fall into greater dependence either on America, or China or more stable neighbors. The condition for success is simplicity and unambiguity since it is easier for the average person to immediately accept such an interpretation than to understand the essence of the conflict of distant countries for a long and difficult time. Then the question should be asked, what should be answered or what counter thesis to advance, as long as politics remains reactive.
I think it will be most effective here to focus on the fact that US interests were more focused on Asia, and Zelenskyy tried to avert the attack through diplomatic channels until the last day before the full-scale invasion (even at the Munich Security Conference 2022, a few days before the start of the attack, Zelenskyy strongly called on the world community and Russia to prevent the next development of events). While Washington was preoccupied with dealing with Beijing, dealing with the Middle East and other regions, Ukraine was not a strategic priority for the west, and the west did not supply Ukraine with weapons, except for some batches of anti-tank systems of a defensive nature in the last weeks and months before February 24, 2022. So, this war in Europe was definitely not in the interests of the US or NATO in general, since there were no serious preparations or plans, and the problem of Russia was considered no more than a factor of regional instability, and therefore Moscow was more of an irritant and allergen than a dangerous mutation. Therefore, in no case, even after reviewing the chronicle of reactions and events since the beginning of 2022, it will not be possible to confirm the propaganda theses”, — believes Artem Oliinyk, head of the analytical center “Institute of Government Relations”.
Robert Farle’s statements only play into Russian propaganda. As for the current politician, such activity threatens to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the audience and the loss of support for helping Kyiv in victory over Russia.
Anya Ostymchuk
