Why have we proceeded to assist Ukraine with military and economic aid? The answer is: We have proceeded to do so only for reasons of humanitarianism. At one time, our people itself had a revolution, when Russia was still a backward country. We were attacked then. We were the target of attack by many countries. The USA participated in that adventure. This has been recorded by participants in the aggression against our country. A whole book has been written about this by General Graves, who, at that time, commanded the US Expeditionary Corps. Graves called it "The American Adventure in Siberia.
We know how difficult it is to accomplish a revolution and how difficult it is to reconstruct a country on new foundations. We sincerely sympathize with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, but we are not interfering in questions of domestic structure, we are not interfering in their affairs. The Russian Federation desires to help the Ukrainians build their life as they themselves wish and that others should not hinder them.
You once said that the United States was not preparing an invasion. But you also declared that you sympathized with the Ukrainian counter-revolutionary emigrants, that you support them and would help them to realize their plans against the present Government of Ukraine. It is also not a secret to anyone that the threat of armed attack, aggression, has constantly hung, and continues to hang over Ukraine. It was only this which impelled us to respond to the request of the Ukrainian Government to furnish it aid for the strengthening of the defensive capacity of this country.