THE war between Russia and Ukraine is part of a wider conflict between capitalist powers, between Russia on one side and Ukraine and the expansionist Nato powers on the other.

Neither side in this war stands for the real interests of the peoples of Russia, Ukraine, or of Europe more widely, which include living in peace and determining the future of their own society free from outside domination.

Putin represents the interests of Russia’s big business oligarchs who profit from the theft of that country’s economic assets from the Russian working class. Far from wishing to restore the Soviet Union, he rejects socialism and has explicitly attacked Lenin’s policy of federalism and autonomy which guarantees the rights of nations and nationalities.

The Ukrainian government represents the Ukrainian oligarchs who, like their Russian counterparts, stash their stolen wealth in Western banks such as Credit Suisse and launder much of their money through the City of London. The Ukrainian Communist Party and its MPs — who uphold Ukraine’s national sovereignty — have been banned and the country thrown open to Western capital.

Nato is an alliance of imperialist powers, dominated by the US, with a long history of bombing, invading, occupying, and partitioning sovereign nations up to the present day including Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Libya, and Syria.

The eastwards expansion of Nato and the EU in breach of documented pledges to ex-president Gorbachev and ex-foreign minister Shevardnadze; Nato’s military build-up in eastern Europe and the Baltic states and in the seas and oceans around Russia; the US- and fascist-backed coup to replace Ukraine’s democratically elected president by pro-Western politicians in 2014; the unpunished massacre at the Odessa trade union HQ; the refusal of the Ukrainian government to implement the UN-backed Minsk II Agreement including autonomy for the Donbass region; and in recent days — as recorded by observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) — the escalating attacks on the “people’s republics” in Donetsk and Lugansk ... all have created the conditions for today’s war.

However, none of this justifies the widespread military offensive launched by President Putin on February 24. This onslaught further destabilises Ukraine and will strengthen the hand of those elements in eastern Europe, Britain, the US, and Nato who prefer expansionism, militarism, provocations, and war to negotiation and the peaceful settlement of problems between and within states.

Already, the giant oil and armaments corporations of the US, Britain, and Western Europe are making enormous profits out of this conflict.

The Communist Party of Britain, therefore, calls for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, a halt to all military operations, and the beginning of negotiations to bring about a just settlement of the Ukraine question.

Where necessary and by agreement, UN peacekeeping forces should be stationed in Ukraine to protect communities from further attack. Western governments in the OSCE should reverse their withdrawal of observers from the country.

Sanctions against Russia will not only make any progress more difficult, they will also damage the wellbeing of the peoples of Russia, Ukraine, and the rest of Europe including Britain while making Europe more dependent on energy supplies from US corporations and Middle East dictatorships.

Instead of warmongering and sending yet more military forces and armaments into eastern Europe and the Baltic states, the British government should be using its permanent membership of the UN security council to work alongside China for peace and a negotiated settlement.

The objective should be a demilitarised and neutral Ukraine whose sovereign borders are respected and guaranteed internally and externally.

The Communist Party of Britain stands in solidarity with all peoples and movements who demand an immediate end to military action in Ukraine and condemns any moves to silence anti-war voices whether in Britain, Ukraine, or Russia.