“I’ll raise the whole world to burn Russia to the ground”. This is just one of the statements the former Ukraine PM Yulia Tymoshenko made in a phone call between herself and the former deputy secretary of national security and defense – Nestor Shufrych. Curiously, the two – supposedly right-wing supporters – are speaking in Russian during the conversation. The translated transcript is, as follows:
Shufrych: I can tell you I’m in shock over Crimea. I’m in total shock. I was talking to a friend of mine today, and he was almost in tears.
Tymoshenko: Right now I am ready to pick up a machine gun, and go and shoot the bastard in the head.
Shufrych: As I said yesterday, if, God forbid, a military conflict arises, I am a reserve officer and my oldest son is a reserve officer – we will pick up our weapons to protect our country.
Tymoshenko: This is totally getting out of hand. We should pick up some weapons and annihilate those damn bastards. […] I’m sorry I can’t be there right now and I’m sorry I wasn’t in a position of power. If I was, they would never get Crimea.
Shufrych: I’ve thought about that too. Maybe things would have been different if you were there. We didn’t have a strong power potential though…
Tymoshenko: I would have found a way to annihilate those fools. And I hope I can use all my connections and raise the entire world to burn Russia to the ground as soon as possible.
Shufrych: I can tell you right now that I’m your ally on this, and I was actually wondering what the remaining 8 million Russians still living in the Ukraine are supposed to do now. They’re outcasts.
Tymoshenko: We can shoot them with nuclear weapons!
Shufrych: I can’t argue with you on that one because what has happened is terrible, but here’s an option… Some of the actions were definitely illegal and we should go to an international court…
Tymoshenko: We should go to the Hague…
Listen to the original phone call (in Russian) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQQytR2im5k