Forget Russia’s denials, I was there and saw when they went into Crimea and Ukraine

Russia’s Ambassador to Australia tried to deny his country had done anything — and chided us instead. But I was there and saw their attacks, writes Charles Miranda.

He said he was sick of Russia being portrayed as the Joker to the West’s Batman.

But Russian Ambassador to Australia Dr Alexey Pavlovsky did himself no favours when in a rare public address he presented as a comical caricature from a Soviet regime of old, with a distorted mantra of deniability.

Russia has never been the aggressor, he said, and despite the amassing of 127,000 troops on the Ukraine border today, well that was a reminder to its neighbour to maintain peace.

The Russian Federation Ambassador to Australia Dr Alexey Pavlovsky speaking during a press conference. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

His lengthy often historical oratory claimed in 2014 Russia never annexed Crimea, did not invade Ukraine’s eastern Donbas province, played no part in the bloody put down of protests in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

And then his clincher, Russia had no role in the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 that murdered 298 people including 38 Australians.

And if you thought differently, Dr Pavlovsky feigning patience, explained well it was because you are from Australia, you were not there, most likely not following world events and not understanding the “black and white facts”.

Well Dr Pavlovsky, I was there.

APCs and four tanks carrying Russian flags seen on the road from Donetsk to the Russian border. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

I was there in 2014 when Russian Special Forces swept into Crimea and took control of capital infrastructure and declared the Ukraine state Russian territory. Indeed your forces, stormed my hotel and later attempted to board and commandeer my plane while we sat on the runway that very first night of “the switch”, ordering it to abort takeoff as we tried to flee.

Alleged Russian troops guard the Perevalnoye Ukrainian Army Base. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

The athmosphere in Independence Square Maidan in Kiev in 2014 during Battle of Maidan. Pic Ella Pellegrini

I was also there in Donbas in 2014 and photographed your troops as they poured across the border in their tanks and armoured vehicles and then stopped a few miles into Ukraine territory to change uniforms, take down Russian flags and remove all markings to launch a masked war.

The shootings and bombings that followed, I was there cowering in a bunker with the locals.

I was also in the Maidan Square in Kyiv when a popular uprising against the Russian puppet Ukraine president Yanukovych saw him ousted.

21 July 2014: Sheltering in a bunker under a school with mothers and students amid intense fighting in Donbas. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

You sir described those events as a “coup” but I was also there when the Ukraine parliament voted the president out of office by 328 votes to zero, forcing him into exile in Moscow.

And finally I was also there, indeed one of the first Westerners there at a still smouldering cockpit of MH17 after it was shot down. You laughably suggested the Ukrainians were behind it despite an international criminal court concluding it was Russian-backed militia, firing a Russian made Buk missile from a missile system that came across the border on loan from the Russian Federation’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade.

20 July 2014: Debris and objects found scattered on the ground where Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 fell from the sky in Rozsypne, Eastern Ukraine. Pic Ella Pellegrini

“We are very concerned when people who are thousands of miles away are fanning hysteria,” you chided Australia.

How ironic given you are exiled here with us and your words and historical re-imaginations can only fan the historical distortions of your beautiful country and people.

Yes, I have been to your country as well and understand the fault lies not with the populace but those in leadership roles that seek a rewrite of history and no doubt a return of a USSR union of nations of old.

Originally published as Forget Russia’s denials, I was there and saw when they went into Crimea and Ukraine