"I think the US and NATO have carefully carried out a massive propaganda campaign against Russia that has led most people in the West to unthinkingly accept the narrative that Russia is an enemy country run by a brutal dictator with expansionist ambitions," Wilayto, a co-founder of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, and coordinator of the Odessa Solidarity Campaign, said.
Wilayto has placed the responsibility for the current situation in Ukraine on the US and NATO.
"Since the right-wing coup of 2014, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with more than $2.5 billion in military aid. NATO and the U.S. regularly conduct large-scale military operations with the Ukrainian military on Ukrainian soil and airspace and in the Black Sea," he said.
The activist wondered what would happen if Russia were arming, training and mobilizing military forces near the United States.
"There is no doubt what the reaction would be," he answered.
Wilayto accused the US government of supporting the 2014 violent coup in Ukraine and bringing to power people who "have taken down memorials to Soviet heroes of World War II and replaced them with memorials to Ukrainian fascists who sided with the Nazi occupation."
"Before the coup, by its own admission, the US had provided $5 billion to non-governmental, so-called 'pro-democracy' organizations, a clear interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs, while the Soros foundation provided billions more," Wilayto said.
On Thursday, Russia began a special operation to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine, responding to calls from the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics for help in countering the aggression of Ukrainian forces. The Russian Defence Ministry said the special operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population is not in danger. Moscow says it has no plans to occupy Ukraine.
The move has elicited condemnation from Western leaders, sanctions on the Russian central bank, export control measures, and SWIFT cutoff for select banks. In addition, the European Union banned RT and Sputnik from broadcasting in the EU, with their accounts on YouTube and TikTok also blocked.