No, I am not on Vlad Putin’s payroll, and am no supporter of Russia or anyone else. However, with the possibility of a nuclear World War III at some point, it is surely worthwhile knowing for the record, however long the record lasts, the Russian point of view. The propaganda of freeing the Ukraine from Nazis is just … nonsense. As revealed at the pro-Russian site, RT.com, from a recent speech given by Putin, at the Victory Day Parade in Red Square in Moscow, Russia had to invade because a large-scale offensive against the breakaway republics in the eastern Donbass region was under way. “We saw the military infrastructure unfolding [in Ukraine]; hundreds of foreign advisers starting their work; there were regular deliveries of the most modern weapons from NATO countries. The danger grew every day,” Putin said. “Russia gave a pre-emptive rebuff to aggression – this was a forced, timely and the only right decision by a sovereign, strong and independent country.”