It only took a day for Russia’s Investigative Committee to report that it had opened a criminal case against British citizen James Scott Rhys Anderson, accusing him of terrorism and mercenary activities.

On Sunday, I reported on Anderson’s having been taken into custody in the Kursk region of Russia while fighting as a volunteer with Ukraine’s International Legion. Few details were available at that time. But yesterday, the Investigative Committee said that Anderson, along with other members of Ukraine’s military and (allegedly) some foreign mercenaries, had illegally entered Kursk with weapons, military equipment, and drones armed with explosive devices. [RFE/RL, November 26, 2024.]

The group are accused of intending to “intimidate the local population, cause ‘significant’ property damage, and destabilize government operations.” [Id.]

I never cease to be amazed at how the leadership of a society that gave birth to such writers as Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Gogol, and numerous other masters of the ironic can fail to recognize the irony in its own behavior.

Year after year, decade after decade, century after century . . . the Russian government continues to twist and pervert fact into unrecognizable shapes, blaming the enemy du jour for having manipulated or forced it into committing its unspeakable acts of brutality.

When Ukraine’s allies — most or all of them members of NATO and/or the EU — were restricted from committing to send troops on the ground in Ukraine, President Zelensky put out a call for international recruits . . . and thousands of volunteers responded. Russia has labeled those volunteers as mercenaries — a category not protected under international law — and at times accused them of terrorism . . . making it open season on any volunteers encountered on Russian territory.

But what of the 11,000 or so North Koreans sent by Kim Jong Un to Vladimir Putin’s army for training and deployment to Ukraine? And Russia’s own Wagner Group of mercenaries? Or the Chechen fighters? And now, if Russia’s most recent diplomatic effort succeeds, Yemen’s Huthi rebels may well be added to the mix.

I suppose there’s not a terrorist or a mercenary in that bunch.

That’s not Russian irony . . . that’s an out-and-out lie. And not even a convincing one.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/27/24