1. About the hand of Soros
“As it turned out, dozens of MEPs were controlled by the structures of George Soros, and the European Commission, at the behest of one of the largest American pharmaceutical companies in the world, created a number of corruption schemes for the purchase of vaccines worth tens of billions of euros.”
The conspiracy theory that the financier and philanthropist George Soros controls Western politics is the heir to even older Jewish conspiracy theories that featured Rothschild and Rockefeller names. In the new iteration, where Soros plays the role of the “almighty Jew”, for some reason the European Parliament is often mentioned (whose powers are very limited and fall far short of the “world government”). For example, in October 2021, then-Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa tweeted an image with the caption "13 of 226 known Soros puppets in the EU Parliament". Sophie in't Veld, chair of the political fact-finding mission in Malta, who at the time was looking into Slovenia's compliance with the rule of law and media freedom agreements, was among those in the scheme. Some of the people in the picture were no longer members of the European Parliament, and one of them had died six months earlier. Jansha later deleted this tweet, but it managed to provoke condemnation among MEPs and authorities in other EU countries, as well as accusations of anti-Semitism (the conspiracy theory of the “almighty Soros” in the West is promoted mainly by anti-Semites).
As for the "vaccine case", it really exists and is currently being investigated by the European Prosecutor's Office. But there is no corruption in the case yet. In April 2021, the New York Times was the first to report that European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was in talks with Pfizer chief executive Albert Burla via text messaging to purchase 1.8 billion doses. The content of these conversations was requested by journalists and the aforementioned MEP Sophie in't Veld. However, EC Deputy Commissioner Vera Yurova responded by saying that SMS are not archived and are not subject to EU transparency rules. The lack of transparency in von der Leyen's "correspondence" sparked outrage among MEPs and civil society groups, who criticized the Commission for trying to avoid accountability.
2. About how multinational corporations kill American presidents
“For TNCs, even US presidents are just extras who can be shut up like Trump. All four assassinations of American leaders are connected to the corporate trail.”
About the murder of four presidents is a bold theory even for Patrushev. Everyone knows the conspiracy stories around the Kennedy assassination, and one of the most popular of them was invented and purposefully distributed through left-wing American newspapers by KGB officers, primarily from Service A of the KGB PGU. And in the 70s and 80s, when Patrushev served in the KGB, work on the dissemination of this disinformation continued actively. But even the KGB lacked the imagination to blame transnational corporations for the murder. And at the time of Lincoln's assassination, TNC did not exist at all. Abraham Lincoln was killed by a supporter of the southerners in the Civil War, John Booth – nothing is known about his participation in any corporations, even national ones. The remaining three participants in the conspiracy were also supporters of the Confederation. President James Garfield was assassinated by the mentally ill Charles Guiteau, who believed that it was he who led Garfield to victory in the presidential election, and who sought the post of consul in Paris for this. William McKinley was shot dead by anarchist Leon Czolgosz, who claimed that he killed the president because no one person can have huge privileges when others have none.
3. About the public debt of the USA and Great Britain
“The American public debt has reached more than thirty-one trillion dollars. England's debt of £2.4 trillion is the highest it has been since the Second World War and exceeded 101% of gross domestic product.
In fact, over the past two years, the US public debt relative to GDP has been gradually declining (however, this is partly due to a sharp jump in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic).
The same is happening in the UK, where overall external debt as a ratio of GDP is declining even regardless of the pandemic surge.
Patrushev’s painful fixation on the US national debt has been observed for more than a year, and in July 2022, he even predicted an imminent default by the US. Obviously, the KGB did not study the economy well: due to the fact that the US government debt is denominated in dollars, it cannot lead to default on its own, especially in conditions when the share of the US dollar in the foreign exchange reserves of the world's central banks is 62% and the dollar participates in 88% of currency trading transactions. US debt is important to the global financial market, and is used by private companies and foreign governments as a way to safely store capital. Moreover, buyers of securities need these instruments almost as much as the United States that issues them. If any of the countries holding US bonds suddenly want to get rid of them completely, it will either have to wait for their maturity or sell their bonds on the open market. Selling large volumes of securities at once will cause their prices to collapse, and other debt holders will simply buy bonds at a lower price, significantly increasing the profitability of their investment portfolios.
Yes, and there is no reason to consider the US national debt "too large", because it is approximately equal to the country's GDP – this is a serious, but not critical indicator. For example, Japanese foreign debt is twice as high as GDP, but even the Kremlin's propagandists are not talking about the upcoming Japanese default.
4. About how transnational corporations siphon resources from other countries
“This is exactly how multinational companies behave today, preferring to increase their capital by pumping resources from other countries.”
When Patrushev graduated from the higher courses of the KGB in the mid-70s, the training manuals were different, but the world has changed, and today the largest Western corporations have nothing to do with resources and cannot "pump out" anything. These are mainly IT companies: the top 5 largest corporations in the world today include Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), and Amazon. The only company in the top that really pumps out resources is the oil company Saudi Aramco, owned by Saudi Arabia, but Patrushev, apparently, has no complaints against the Saudis.
It is the investments of transnational companies for many developing countries that have become a source of additional jobs and investments that pull them out of poverty, including through taxes that TNCs replenish local budgets. If large corporations only “suck resources,” as Patrushev claims, then it is not clear why Vladimir Putin holds the St. Petersburg Economic Forum every year, the main goal of which is to attract these same corporations to work in Russia.
5. About the "golden billion"
“In the face of dramatic changes in the world, the goal of corporations is to preserve the system of global exploitation. It is led by an elite of businessmen who do not associate themselves with any state. Below it are the so-called developed countries of the world, as well as the “golden billion”. And then – the rest of humanity, contemptuously referred to as the "third world".
The concept of the “golden billion”, which, by the way, Putin regularly uses in his speeches, is a conspiracy theory according to which the resources on the planet are limited, and the richest countries, with a total population of approximately one billion people, artificially limit the development of other countries in order to all the resources went to them alone. Neither in the West, nor anywhere else, except for the post-Soviet space, this idea is not known. For the first time, the expression “golden billion”, apparently, appeared in 1990, when an article by Soviet economist Anatoly Tsikunov (pseudonym – A. Kuzmich) “What is the“ golden billion ”of people on Earth, and why are they impoverished Soviet people?
The author argued that perestroika in the USSR is part of a global restructuring, the purpose of which is to subjugate the rest of the world to the developed countries of the West and, with the help of transnational corporations, turn it into a raw material colony. According to this Soviet dogmatist, the transition to capitalist relations in the USSR was undertaken in order to organize the access of transnational corporations to the country's resources. In Russia, this conspiracy concept is still popular in some circles, however, its supporters cannot explain why the standard of living and the pace of development of third world countries are positively correlated with the arrival of transnational corporations in these countries, and not vice versa, as their theory predicts.
6. How London ruined empires
“They acted like this before, when, for example, London, following the results of the First World War, collapsed empires and stamped dozens of countries out of them.”
The only empire that London has ruined is the British Empire, but it is not clear why Patrushev blames London for this, before that he was not noticed in the apology of British imperialism.
In total, during and after the First World War, four empires collapsed: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and German. Russia collapsed as a result of the February Revolution and the October Revolution of 1917, and what Britain has to do with it is unclear. Lenin was accused of being a German spy, but not an English one (England, as part of the Entente, fought against the Bolsheviks, not for).
The same is true of the collapse of other empires. Under the Treaty of Versailles, Austria-Hungary and Germany, of course, lost territory, but the collapse of empires was due to pressure from below, not from above. The constituent states of Austria-Hungary began to declare independence mainly due to massive demonstrations taking place throughout the empire. In turn, the reason for the demonstrations was the defeat in the First World War, the crop failure of 1918 and the economic crisis. The collapse of the German Empire occurred as a result of the November Revolution – an uprising in November 1918 with the participation of workers, soldiers, communists, social democrats and other forces, as well as the subsequent abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II from the throne. The reason for the revolution, again, was the defeat in the First World War and economic difficulties.
In part, Patrushev's words are true only in relation to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which was divided according to the Treaty of Sevres. However, he only completed a process that had been going on for a long time. Even before the start of the First World War, many territories were taken away from Constantinople (and for the most part the Russian Empire did it), in some cases, the countries that are part of the Ottoman Empire simply left it unilaterally (for example, as Bulgaria did in 1908) .
7. About how in Ukraine it is forbidden to speak Russian
“Millions of people are forbidden to speak Russian, their native language since birth, they are forced to forget their origins.”
Ukraine has never prohibited and never planned to prohibit speaking Russian. The current constitution of the country even contains guarantees for the languages of national minorities, especially Russian:
"In Ukraine, the free development, use and protection of the Russian language and other languages of the national minorities of Ukraine is guaranteed."
8. That the United States is to blame for Russia's attack on Ukraine
“The West, for the sake of its ambitions, is practically destroying the Ukrainian people, forcing the active generation to die on the battlefield and bringing the rest of the population to poverty…
The events in Ukraine are not a clash between Moscow and Kyiv, this is a military confrontation between NATO, and above all the United States and England, with Russia. Fearing direct contact, NATO instructors are driving Ukrainian guys to certain death.”
Patrushev's logic raises many questions here. If the war in Ukraine is a cunning NATO plan, why did Putin decide to participate in it? How would instructors drive Ukrainian guys to death if the Russian president had not announced a “special military operation”?
9. About how the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture are not banned in Crimea
“Please note that in Crimea the Ukrainian language is preserved as one of the state languages. Ukrainian cultural centers, Ukrainian song and dance ensembles continue to operate in many cities.
Formally, of course, Ukrainian, as well as Crimean Tatar in Crimea, are still considered state languages, but in practice they are being squeezed out in every possible way. It is enough to look at the official figures: for example, in the 2022/2023 academic year in general educational institutions of the Republic of Crimea, education is conducted in Russian – 222.8 thousand students (96.7%), in the Crimean Tatar language – 7.3 thousand students (3. 2%), in Ukrainian – 197 students (0.1%). However, even these figures may be exaggerated. So, in 2020, the head of the "Crimean Tatar Resource Center" Eskender Bariev in an interview with "Crimea. Realities» reported that in the annexed Crimea there is only one officially registered school with the study of the Ukrainian language – in Feodosia, "but, according to local residents, and this is not true, the language is not studied there." According to Krym.Realii, school administrations, under various pretexts (heavy workload, lack of teachers, premises), refuse to teach Ukrainian to children, even as a subject, not to mention the opening of Ukrainian classes.
Crimean lawyers face refusals to conduct legal proceedings in any language other than Russian. And in June 2022, the Russian Orthodox Church subjugated the parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that remained on the peninsula, where services were held in Ukrainian.
As for Ukrainian songs in Crimea, it is enough to recall numerous cases of persecution for their performance. For example, for the song "Chervona Kalina", which was sung by the winner of the contest "Mrs. Crimea – 2022" Olga Valeeva and her friend in October 2022, the girls were found guilty under two articles: on discrediting the Russian army (20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) and on propaganda Nazi or extremist symbols (20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). Valeeva was fined, and her friend was imprisoned for 10 days.
10. How the US created terrorist organizations, from al-Qaeda to the Taliban to ISIS
“They themselves created terrorist organizations, such as Al-Qaeda, the Taliban Movement or ISIS, to achieve their goals, and they themselves fought against them. Arranging a demonstration liquidation of terrorist leaders, like Osama bin Laden , a hundred new ones were trained and armed.
Of all Patrushev's conspiracy theories, this is his favorite (the Insider has previously refuted it). Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden supported the Afghan Mujahideen in the 1980s against the Soviet occupation. The US then collaborated with the Mujahideen; according to some versions (however, still unconfirmed), bin Laden also received American funding.
But with the Taliban, the situation is fundamentally different. This radical Sunni Islamist movement arose already in the 1990s and aimed to overthrow the government led by President Burhanuddin Rabbani, created by the Mujahideen after the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The sources of funding for the Taliban in its early years are unknown; according to some assumptions, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan are involved in this. But it is absolutely impossible to understand why the United States would need to support an aggressive anti-Western Islamist group that fought against the Afghan government loyal to the West and Burhanuddin Rabbani's Northern Alliance in a situation where the USSR left Afghanistan and generally collapsed, and the Cold War was considered over. By the way, let us recall that now representatives of the Taliban are received at the official level in Russia, and not in the United States.
The version about the creation of ISIS by the Americans is even more absurd, since from the very foundation of this terrorist organization, the United States waged a bloody war against it. We can only say that after the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country began to rise in terrorist activity, which contributed to the growth of the popularity of the Islamic State. Later, these mistakes of the American administration were admitted , for example, by Barack Obama.
11. The fact that the United States withdrew troops from Afghanistan to focus on Ukraine
“The US presence in Afghanistan turned not into a fight against terrorism, but into the creation of multi-million dollar corruption schemes and a multiple increase in drug production. The sudden departure of the Americans from this country, as it turned out, was largely due to the fact that they were concentrating on Ukraine, where, according to them, the preparation of the Kyiv puppet regime for offensive anti-Russian actions was going well. By the way, this was also confirmed by US Secretary of State Blinken , who said that if the US military had not left Afghanistan, Washington would not have been able to allocate so much money to Ukraine. In addition, part of the equipment exported from Afghan soil was transferred to Europe, mainly to Poland, allowing the Europeans to carry out the militarization of the Kyiv regime.”
The US withdrawal from Afghanistan has indeed facilitated subsequent assistance to Ukraine. However, there is a contradiction here already mentioned: it turns out that Washington, having withdrawn troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, knew for sure that in February 2022 Putin would decide to attack Ukraine? All this characterizes the Russian president as a puppet who only carries out the insidious plans of the United States to "militarize the Kyiv regime."
12. How US intelligence agencies recruited ex-Nazis during the Cold War
“After 1945, the Americans, the British and the West German authorities controlled by them reported on the denazification of their zone of occupation of Germany, while the Nazis saved from punishment were used to create the armed forces of the FRG, as well as an agent network of American and British intelligence, including for covert operations against countries socialist camp.
The CIA, which until 1948 was called the US Strategic Services Directorate, actively used former employees of the Abwehr and the Nazi Reich Imperial Security Directorate to create new German intelligence services.
Indeed, the CIA helped Franz Huber, the head of the Gestapo in Vienna, who was responsible for sending tens of thousands of people to death camps, get away with it. In the decades following World War II, American intelligence recruited at least 1,000 ex-Nazis to work against "communist bloc" countries in the Cold War. However, Patrushev is silent about the fact that the KGB also actively used former Nazis for undercover work, for example, SS officer Heinz Felfe . As a KGB agent, Felfe headed the "Counterintelligence Soviet Union" department in Germany, that is, he had to hunt down himself. Now the Russian media and officials present Felfe as a "hero" and "super agent of the KGB", and in 2008 he received congratulations on his 90th birthday from the FSB and the Foreign Intelligence Service . In addition, let's not forget that the NKVD collaborated with the Gestapo during World War II until the summer of 1941, deporting German and Austrian refugees from the USSR who were trying to escape the Nazis.