🚨Don't miss this important part of the story: #Russia has drafted "kill lists" of exiled dissidents in #Ukraine, many in Kyiv. It's yet another indication Kremlin rhetoric about NATO is just that. So appeasing Putin regarding NATO won't even mollify him. foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/18/rus…
#Russia Planning Post-Invasion Arrest & Assassination Campaign in #Ukraine - targeting prominent Ukrainian political opponents, anti-corruption activists, and Belarusian & Russian dissidents living in exile in Ukraine.
foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/18/rus…
Biden administration was "startled" by how formalized #Russia's kill lists are — targeting Russian & #Belarus #dissidents in exile in #Ukraine, #journalists and anti-#corruption activists, and vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic #minorities and LGBTQI+ persons.
Blinken speech alluded to intel that #Russia would target political opponents with arrest or assassination: "Conventional attacks are not all that Russia plans to inflict upon the people of #Ukraine. We have information that Russia intends to target specific groups or Ukrainians"
UK report noted: "Russian security services had extensive penetration of Ukrainian local government structures and had begun mapping out networks of individuals who could be relied upon to run local governments in the event of a Russian invasion."
FSB began kill lists in Dec.
#Russia's FSB & Airborne Forces' wargaming scenarios "mapped which locals would be supportive and began working on lists of targets who would not. The intent was to establish the command-and-control links…and to locate and ELIMINATE Ukrainian leaders who would rally resistance."
btw #Russia making kill lists to "eliminate Ukrainian leaders who would rally resistance" is pretty much the Stalin genocide playbook to subdue #Ukraine. And makes Putin claiming "genocide" BY Ukraine even more perversely cruel.
These kill lists show Putin's invasion intentions wouldn't even stop at war crimes & genocide against Ukrainians. He'd eliminate #Ukraine as a refuge for dissidents from #Russia & #Belarus. He's likely livid that Russians can live well & free in a democracy & still speak Russian!
That Putin's thugs have kill lists with Russian dissidents & journalists on them should also serve to debunk once and for all Putin's favorite pretext for his aggression: that he's protecting Russian speakers & ethnic Russians. His brutal repression *targets* ethnic Russians!
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