The president of the Moscow Caledonian Club says he is “upset and heartbroken” at the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Vitaly Mironov, who opposes the war, said ongoing hostilities were a “human tragedy”.
The 60-year-old is worried for the welfare of many relatives, friends and former comrades living in Ukraine he served alongside in the Soviet Army.
He says Russian President Vladimir Putin and the entire Russian people must share responsibility for the tragedies unfolding.
However, looking at the bigger picture, the historian also believes the leaders of the Western world must share a burden of responsibility for “neglecting” Russia’s long-held security concerns over NATO-expansion since the end of the Cold War.
Vitaly accuses the West of supporting a “Russophobic” Ukrainian regime which he says has carried out its own atrocities against Russian-leaning citizens in the Donbass republics of Ukraine, since Russia invaded in 2014.
He raises a number of questions. These include why did Western leaders “ignore” the warnings and proposals made by Putin 15 years ago, in 2007, in his speech at the Munich Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe?
Why did the West not listen to the requests and proposals of Russia to find a variant of coexistence that would take into account the national interests of Russia and, above all, regarding Russia’s security?
Why has the West already made several waves of expansion of the NATO military bloc to the east and brought its military infrastructure close to the borders of Russia?
“What do I think about the fact that hostilities between Russia and Ukraine have begun?” said Vitaly.
“Of course, I don’t like it at all. I am absolutely upset and heartbroken seeing all these photos and videos.
“How can a normal person rejoice in war at all?
“This is a big tragedy. First of all, a human tragedy.
“But, I’m afraid, everything that’s happening only confirms my conclusions – that misunderstanding between peoples, neglect of each other’s national interests always gives rise to irresolvable contradictions and, ultimately, leads to war as the last way to resolve these contradictions.”
Centuries of Russo-Scots relations
For 28 years, Vitaly Mironov has been trying to foster peaceful relations between Russia and ‘the West’.
The Moscow Caledonian Club president, who famously brought the Edinburgh Military Tattoo to Red Square in 2007, founded the non-profit Russo-Scots organisation in 1994 after studying history at Moscow University.
The father-of-three, who’s married to a former Russian ballerina, has been using the remarkable 300-year-old links between Scotland and Russia to develop renewed social, cultural and economic bonds between the two countries, including Dundee.
Several years ago, he gave Dundee-born Hollywood superstar Brian Cox a tour of the Moscow Caledonian Club for a BBC TV series.
He also hosted Newport-based broadcaster and Scots language expert Billy Kay in Moscow.
More recently he brought a delegation of Russian journalists to Dundee and in 2018 he organised a special Oscar-nominated Holocaust film screening of anti-war film Sobibor in Aberdeen.
Lack of ‘understanding’
However, as tensions mounted between Russia and the West over Ukraine, he recently accused western “elites” of “failing to understand and not wanting to understand” Russia.
Before the invasion of Ukraine – an independent sovereign nation – he warned that peace was impossible without “understanding and respect” for each other.
Vitaly added: “I do not justify anyone to anyone and oppose the war.
“But it seems that in the current situation, the Russian leadership decided that military operations were the only way to resolve the contradictions (from the West).
“I emphasize that I’m just trying, like all of us, to understand what happened and where it can lead.”
Asked how he thought current hostilities would end and what Vladimir Putin’s end game might be, Vitaly said: “I can only guess, because I cannot get into the head of the decision maker.
“I am sure that Putin does not seek a global conflict with the West and that a global war will not happen.”
However, Vitaly said he could assume by his current actions that Putin seeks to “transform Ukraine into a state that no one can continue to use to create threats to the security of Russia”.
Hopes for early peace
He assumed this would be based on the principles of demilitarization and confederal principle (like Switzerland), or neutral non-bloc status (like Sweden or Austria).
Vitaly added: “I’m very worried about this situation.
“I have many relatives, friends and former comrades in the service in the Soviet army living in Ukraine.
“They all have different beliefs, but they are all people close to me.
“I hope you understand how difficult it is for me now.
“With all my heart I wish for the establishment of an early peace in Ukraine and further prosperity for all the Ukrainian people.
“Peace to Ukraine and all of us”.
