Posts are circulating on Facebook that “Americans, Canadians, Poles and Britons” are trying to separate Ukraine from Russia. In support of the thesis, a quotation attributed to the German chancellor is presented Otto von Bismarckin which he would suggest that «the strength of Russia it can only be undermined by its separation from Ukraine’. An alleged quotation implying the belonging of theUkraine to Russia, and not its independence from Fly.
For those in a hurry:
- A book of Juliet Churchknown for his pro-Russian positions, takes up a quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck.
- The quote suggests that Ukraine belongs to Russia, not its independence from Moscow.
- There is no evidence that the former German chancellor said these words.
Analyses
This is one of the more extensive descriptions appearing in Facebook posts. The passage is cited as part of the book PutinphobiaOf Juliet Church, known to trust Western information. Other descriptions instead, they report only the alleged quotation from Bismarck.
Perhaps in front of the fireplace, Viktoria Nuland and her husband, Robert Kagan, had read Otto von Bismarck’s icy reflection on the design of a possible weakening of Russia. The Prussian prime minister had clear ideas but lived in the last quarter of the 19th century. One wonders if, by any chance, Viktoria Nuland and Robert Kagan glanced at the calendar as they set about putting that design into practice. “Russia’s strength” wrote Bismarck “can only be undermined by its separation from Ukraine. Those who want this to happen must not only divide them, but must turn Ukraine against Russia, turn two parts of the same people against each other and watch the spectacle of brother killing brother. To achieve this, they must identify and educate traitors among the national elite and, with their help, change the consciousness of a part of the people, to such an extent that they abhor everything Russian, abhor their own kind, without that he doesn’t even realize it. Time will do the rest.” A program of extraordinary clarity that was carried out a century and a half later, point by point, by teams of American, Canadian, Polish, British agents, and with the help of a large number of “traitors”, caught and bought within to the Ukrainian national elite. The problem is that Bismarck had well described what should have been done with the Ukrainian people to deceive them, betray them, force them to forget their origins and their history. But he had not given any indications or formulated hypotheses about the possible reaction of the Russian people. And the improvisation of the Americans manifested itself precisely on this point. While Ukraine was losing itself, drawn into the trap that had been set for it, Russia was reborn from its ashes.
The quote, however, is improperly attributed to Bismarckas the German newspaper explains DW extension who in 2014 contacted the political foundation based in Friedrichsruh, a village just east of Hamburg where Bismarck had his residence. At the request of DW extension replied Dr. Ulf Morgenstern who announced: «Bismarck never said or could have said anything like this». The professor explained that there is no evidence that the former German chancellor ever expressed this concept. Neither in the memoirs of his contemporaries, nor in the transcription of his speeches, nor in his writings and in the drafts of his letters. Notable then is Bismarck’s opposition to the Wochenblattpartei party which in those years in which the great empires were still the masters, proposed to «dismember Russia».
The only context that historians have been able to find in which Bismarck and Ukraine are mentioned simultaneously is a Russian-language document from 1926. This is a passage from the book by the Ukrainian pedagogue Ivan Rudovych entitled: The accession of Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky in Lviv. The passage reads:
«The former German ambassador in St. Petersburg, Prince Bismarck’s iron chancellor, assessed the Ukrainian question most appropriately; he raised the need for an independent Ukraine to maintain balance and peace in Europe. The secession of Ukraine would be such a serious amputation of Russia that it would not threaten European peace for many years.
As can be seen, the concept was not expressed by Bismarck. Furthermore, it is still different from what is stated in the Facebook posts. There is no mention of the only way to undermine Russia’s strengthbut an action that would greatly weaken Russia.
Conclusion:
Bismarck is credited with a false quote used to support the West’s intention to weaken Russia by severing it from Ukraine. However, not only does the quote not exist, but the passage from the book that inspired it isn’t as focused on the purported intent to weaken Russia as it would have you believe.
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The quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck about a separate Ukraine from Russia is unsubstantiated