Did Brzezinski say a phrase about a new world order in the ruins of Russia?

“The new world order will be built against Russia, on the ruins of Russia and at the expense of Russia” - for several decades, these words, allegedly said by Zbigniew Brzezinski, have served Runet users as an illustration of the anti-Russian policies and threats of the West. We checked whether Brzezinski really said this.

A quote from Zbigniew Brzezinski about a new world order in the ruins of Russia has been circulating for years in the Russian media, Russian-language blogs and social networks ("Channel One", Esquire, "Business newspaper", LiveJournal, Facebook). You can find several variations of this quote: some sources talking about the world order in general, someone clarifiesthat US hegemony will be built on the ruins of Russia.

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a Polish-born American diplomat who served as National Security Advisor to US President Jimmy Carter (1977–1981), by the author numerous books and articles, including about Russia. Brzezinski died in May 2017 at the age of 89.

In an article about Brzezinski published the day after his death, the Russian edition of Esquire magazine leads quote from the diplomat indicating the original source: “This is what he wrote in his famous book “The Great Chessboard” (published in 1997): “The new world order will be built against Russia, on the ruins of Russia and at the expense of Russia. We destroyed the Soviet Union, we will destroy Russia too. You have no chance.” Search for citations in full text of the book for the keywords “against Russia” (“against Russia”), “on the ruins of Russia” (“on the ruins of Russia”) and “at the expense of Russia” (“at the expense of Russia”) did not produce results. IN translation of a book It was also not possible to find similar phrases in Russian. On the contrary, in the book Brzezinski writes: “For them (the USA and Germany. - Ed.) the impulse to expansion is political, historical and creative. This impulse is not driven by hostility towards Russia, nor fear of it, nor the desire to isolate it.”

In English, this quote is found in only three sources: in translation articles "Komsomolskaya Pravda" in English blog (2013), in book Russian writer Russia is in a State of Ferment Again (2019) and in the English version of the Russian site about astrology and numerology Marbellamar (2020). In RuNet, this phrase began to spread much earlier.

For example, in 2011, the host of the Channel One program “However” Mikhail Leontyev mentioned Another common version of the origin of the quote: allegedly Brzezinski said these words during his speech in Lviv in 1999 on the occasion of his being awarded the title of honorary citizen of Lvov. According to Leontyev, the full quote was: “For us, Ukraine is an outpost of the West. A new world order under US hegemony is being created against Russia, at the expense of Russia and on the ruins of Russia...” However, firstly, Brzezinski was not in Lvov in 1999 - he visited him in 1998. Secondly, this quote is not in transcript that 1998 speech, published in Ukrainian in the independent magazine I.

But in the publication of the newspaper “Duel” for 1999 we managed to find article with the headline “Brzezinski admonishes the Little Russians,” telling about that very ceremonial session of the City Council, where Brzezinski was awarded the title of honorary citizen of Lvov. According to the “Duel” commentary, the article was originally written for the newspaper “Sevastopolskaya Pravda” by a Lvov journalist, colonel of the USSR Armed Forces Yuri Kirillov. The author seems to be reporting from the scene and retelling Brzezinski’s words: “It is important that Ukraine constantly and consistently moves to the West, because if it neglects this and does not define itself as a Central European state, it will be drawn into Russia’s sphere of influence. A new world order under US hegemony is being created against Russia, at the expense of Russia and on the ruins of Russia. For us, Ukraine is an outpost of the West against the restoration of the Soviet Union.”

Kirillov further writes that Brzezinski’s conclusions and instructions were “enthusiastically received by radical nationalists.” “Their general opinion was expressed at a session of the Lviv City Council by deputy Yaroslav Lemik: “It’s a pity that we do not have the authority to award anti-adviser number one the title of honorary citizen of Ukraine,” Kirillov ends the article. It is worth noting that the reliability of the words of the deputy of the Lviv City Council Yaroslav Lemik also raises doubts: a search for a quote on the Internet did not produce a single result, except for links to Kirillov’s article itself.

We tried to contact the editors of Sevastopolskaya Pravda to find out whether the article with the headline “Brzezinski admonishes the Little Russians” really appeared in the 1999 issue. We have not yet received a response to the request. Thus, it is difficult to determine whether journalist Yuri Kirillov was present at that ceremonial session of the City Council in 1998 and which publication first published Brzezinski’s non-existent “quote”: “Sevastopol Truth” or “Duel”.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Did ex-adviser to the US President Zbigniew Brzezinski talk about the billions of the Russian elite in accounts in the US?
2. What Zbigniew Brzezinski said about Russia
3. Endgame: review of the book “The Grand Chessboard”
4. Foreign Policy Thinker Zbigniew Brzezinski Dies At 89