This article appears in the September 23, 2022 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
Exposure of Ukraine’s Nazi Kill List Is Breaking Through the Fog of War
[Print version of this article]
Sept. 18—The international mobilization by the Schiller Institute and the Executive Intelligence Review (EIR), to rip the cover off of the “official narrative” of the war in Ukraine, has begun to awaken millions of people around the world to the fact that the U.S., UK and NATO are in fact the instigators of the war against Russia, using Ukrainian bodies to do the dying, as they prepare for full-scale direct war on both Russia and China.
Among the most evil aspects of the perverted, openly Nazi regime, which was proudly placed in power by the U.S.-funded and directed coup against Ukraine’s last democratic government in 2014, are the hit list published by the Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) under the Security and Defense Council, and the Myrotvorets kill list published by the Security Service of Ukraine’s (SBU) intelligence apparatus. These operations are so extremely counter to every moral standard acceptable to civilized society that even some members of the corrupted U.S. Congress are finally being forced to investigate their crimes, as well as the official U.S. and UK funding of these abominations.
EIR has published five reports on the growing backlash to these mafia-style kill lists funded by the U.S. government and controlled by the U.S. State Department, the British Foreign Office, and the NATO military command (See EIR Vol. 49, Issues 31–35). This was followed by an EIR Press Conference: “Shut Down the Ukrainian Hit List Targeting Americans and International Voices of Opposition” on Sept. 7, which brought together former military and intelligence officers, journalists, political leaders, academics and others to expose the hit list and the fake narrative about the “unprovoked” Russian military operation and the “democratic” Ukraine government.
The developments following EIR’s Sept. 7 press conference and the Sept.10–11 Schiller Institute’s Sept. 10-11 Conference, “Inspiring Humanity to Survive the Greatest Crisis in World History,” have unfolded rapidly. Here are several of the most important:
The EU Proudly Sets Up Its Own Kill List
On Sept. 14, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the annual EU “State of the Union’’ address in Strasburg, turning the event into a costume party, dressing up in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukraine flag, and inviting President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife to stand next to her. While retailing the now-common lies about Ukrainian democracy and military prowess, and pledging an undying commitment to maintaining the sanctions on Russia and arming Ukraine ‘til the end of time, she also declared openly that the EU (clearly on behalf of NATO) was setting up its own version of the CCD kill list, which she called the “Defense of Democracy Package,” an operation to expose (and punish) entities and persons who “spread propaganda from autocratic regimes.” Von der Leyen said:
Think about this: We introduced legislation to screen foreign direct investment in our companies for security concerns. If we do that for our economy, shouldn’t we do the same for our values? We need to better shield ourselves from malign interference. This is why we will present a Defense of Democracy Package.
Recall that the U.S. tried to do the same, setting up the Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year, which caused such an uproar in the Congress and the citizenry that it was soon officially terminated (although the censorship against free speech is continuing under a different name).
Meanwhile, the State Department has created its own variety of a “kill list”—targeting nations rather than individuals. On Sept. 14, an unnamed “Senior Biden Administration official” told the media that the intelligence community “found that Russia has covertly transferred over $300 million ... to foreign political parties, officials and politicians in more than two dozen countries” aiming to undermine democracy. Recall that Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland bragged openly in the days leading up to the Maidan coup in 2014 that the U.S. had spent $5 billion creating anti-Russian NGOs and sundry covert operations in order to overthrow Ukraine’s elected government.
The State Department spokesman went on:
The U.S. intelligence community is privately briefing select countries on Russian covert financing targeting their specific political environments. We’re keeping these briefings confidential given the sensitivity of the data, and to empower these countries to enhance their election integrity privately.... [W]e’re putting these foreign parties and candidates on notice that if they accept Russian money secretly, we can and we will expose it.” [emphasis added]
The only countries mentioned were Bosnia, Montenegro, and Albania.
CCD List Is Down, But Still Operative
EIR reported in August that the mounting pressure from The Schiller Institute and other like-minded organizations had forced the CCD to take down the list of 72 international individuals (the first 31 being speakers at Schiller Institute conferences) targeted as Russian assets and “information terrorists” to be treated as “war criminals.” But we warned that the removal of the list from the website was only cosmetic, and the list was still operative, in conjunction with the SBU’s Myrotvorets website. (In fact, the CCD never took the list off their Telegram channel). They have now officially demonstrated that the list is active, posting reports attacking two prominent opponents of the Nazi regime who were already on the hit list, and even adding two more names to the list!
In early September, the CCD posted additional attacks on Scott Ritter, a former Marine intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector who blew the whistle on the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and who has played a leading role in demanding the U.S. Congress stop funding, and shut down, the CCD hit list. Under its “Experts of the Week” column, the CCD attempted to explain “How the Distorting Mirror of Russian Propaganda Works,” since Ritter had implied a “lack of support for Ukraine in the U.S.”
The CCD also brought up new “charges” against former CIA officer Ray McGovern for his presentation at the Sept. 10–11 Schiller Institute Conference, reporting the obvious fact that U.S. pressure on the United Nations prevents the truth being told. For example, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has refused to report the fact that it is Ukrainian forces that have been shelling the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). CCD notes: “This has been noted in Russian media.”
The two newly-listed persons by the CCD are American journalist Ben Swann and Italian journalist Dominico Quirico. “Proof” of Swann’s “Russian agentry” was that he “asserts that Russia did not shoot down the Malaysian MH17 commercial flight; the Russian ruble is the most stable currency this year…, and the BRICS countries are ready to face the economic warfare of the West.”
Quirico’s “crime” is that of “intimidation,” by warning that Ukrainian attacks on Crimea might lead to World War III! The Italian daily, La Stampa, they whine, reported that “Quirico expressed concern about the recent Ukrainian attacks on Crimea. According to him, the consequences may be catastrophic … for Russia the invasion of Crimea [by Ukrainian armed forces] is the equivalent of an offensive on Moscow,” and might lead to world war. CCD calls this an “intimidation tactic, … one of the Kremlin’s most common tools for keeping the conquered territories of Ukraine,” ignoring the fact that Crimea’s citizens, unwilling to accept the criminal fascist coup regime in Kiev, voted overwhelmingly to reunite with Russia in early 2014.
Journalists Mobilize Against the Kill Lists
On Sept. 6, the day before the EIR press conference against the kill lists, the Foundation to Battle Injustice, directed by Russian citizen Mira Terada, sponsored a meeting in Moscow and online, of journalists who have been targeted for attack and possibly death for reporting the truth on the warfare in Ukraine. Terada noted that there are 341 journalists on the lists, 12 of whom have been killed.
Eva Bartlett, a Canadian journalist who has been reporting from the Donbas for years, attended the Moscow event and wrote a report for RT. Bartlett, who, like Terada, also spoke at EIR’s Sept. 7 press conference, noted that: a German journalist complained that the German government is doing nothing to protect the German citizens who are on the list; a French journalist has received multiple death threats and must take extreme precautions; another German, and her mother, had their bank accounts seized, while criminal charges were placed against her; a Finnish journalist said the targeted people are vulnerable anywhere since the reach of Myrotvorets was global, like ISIS; a Russian journalist was placed on the kill list for reporting the fact that there are 327 minor children on the kill list; a Dutch journalist fears returning home for fear of criminal charges for doing her job as a reporter.
The Schiller Institute received the following report on Sept. 12 from Filippo Rossi, a Swiss-Italian journalist who participated in EIR’s Sept. 7 international press conference:
Three days ago, the day after the conference held by EIR, I got the news that a colleague and close friend, Mattia Sorbi, drove over a Ukrainian mine resulting in the death of his driver. He survived, saved by Russian military in the Kherson region, Ukraine. A day later, looking on the Myrotvorets website, I found out he was put on the list. Of course, this is a scandal that must be addressed.
The attempted assassination was covered in the Italian daily Il Giornale, which acknowledged that the Myrotvorets kill list is “maintained by the government intelligence agency Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and affiliated with Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.” Sorbi has written for La Repubblica, Rai Uno television and Radio24 radio network.
Children on the Kill Lists
One of the most repulsive aspects of the kill lists is that 327 minor children are on the list. Dmitry Polyanskiy, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, has appealed to the UN and UNICEF on the issue:
Since Oct. 2021, Russia has repeatedly called on the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) both publicly and through diplomatic channels, to address the illegal activities of Myrotvorets. Currently, it contains private data, including home addresses, of at least 327 children, which poses a direct threat to their lives and safety. We call on UNICEF to step away from the double standards in its mandate “to protect all children from violence and abuse all over the world” and condemn the activities of Myrotvorets and its blatant violations of children’s rights.
Perhaps the most famous of the children targeted on the Myrotvorets list is Faina Savenkova, now 13 years old, who lives in the Lugansk People’s Republic. At the age of 12, Faina issued a video appeal to the United Nations to stop the war against Donbas. She said: “For Europe, the war started in February 2022. But for us it started in 2014,” when Faina was 5. She expressed her hope that the “children of the world can be friends and that there will be less and less war.” For this she is threatened with death.
Max Blumenthal of Grayzone interviewed Faina, together with Mira Terada, on Sept. 16. Terada discussed her Foundation’s “Open Letter” to the United Nations demanding it take decisive action to shut down Myrotvorets, as it clearly represents a violation of human rights. She also discussed her participation in her Foundation’s Sept. 6 press conference and with the Schiller Institute in EIR’s Sept. 7 press conference, both of which addressed the topic of shutting down CCD and Myrotvorets. Terada ended the interview by making the point that because the Myrotvorets “kill list” contains the home addresses and social networks of targeted children, it becomes an “open menu” for human traffickers, pedophiles, and other criminally minded people.
Julian Assange’s Father Denounces Myrotvorets
Julian Assange’s father, John Shipton, and brother, Gabriel Shipton, attended Mexican Independence Day Sept. 16 as special guests of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has offered asylum to Assange. At a press conference during their visit to Mexico, John Shipton was asked by a representative of the Schiller Institute about the Myrotvorets kill list. His response:
The Myrotvorets website is scandalous, absolutely scandalous, and the financing of that by the State Department is just, well, a disgrace. And the advocation of thuggish brutality against anyone who disagrees or comments upon Ukraine: it just has to stop. It’s a scandal.
