Eastern Europe/Ukraine

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Austin
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Austin »

I think Russia wont intervene unless the new folks on top stop doing stupid things like breaking old Soviet Statues , Derecognising Russian as one of the official language or end up heavily rigging the elections in East/South or bringing NATO at its door step

They are just waiting and watching how things shape up , no official word from Putin yet on this.

Serious though the new guys should stop doing silly and stupid things and try to integrate the country.

The easiest part is the revolution the hardest part is running the country specially when its bankrupt.

They need good will of all the parties from West and East and of all the Ukranian people.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Austin »

Ammanpour trying to brush it up , check the interview

Ukraine: Putin's next move

http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/v ... v.cnn.html
Austin
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Austin »

I seriously wonder whats the haste to kick this guy out , the ex President would have any way got a kick out of his arse the way he handled the issue ....he was unpopular and then they did an agreement with him in presence of EU minister and Opposition and they they went ahead and kicked him out.

Why did they do an agreement with EU ministers presence if they wanted to kick him out ......defeats the purpose.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Austin »

Phone call from Putin led to end of Maidan bloodshed
The voice on the phone that persuaded President Yanukovych to give ground and end the bloodshed in Kiev last week belonged to an unexpected peacemaker: Vladimir Putin.

Russia’s involvement in Ukraine’s three-month political crisis has often been depicted as a spoiling role, but, according to Radoslaw Sikorski, the Polish Foreign Minister, it was President Putin’s intervention that proved decisive when the tension was at its height.

President Yanukovych was still stubbornly “fighting hard to preserve whatever he could and yield the least” in ­negotiations with opposition leaders and European diplomats that ran through Thursday night and into Friday, after snipers
Needs subscription for the full report
UlanBatori
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by UlanBatori »

May have just said just two words:
Babrakski Karmalovich
Philip
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Philip »

President Vladimir Putin has ordered an urgent drill to test the combat readiness of its military forces amid tensions with the West over Ukraine.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 54702.html
Russia's defence minister said in a statement that the exercise is intended to ensure Russian troops are prepared for 'crisis situations'
Antonia Molloy
Wednesday 26 February 2014

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a televised statement made at a meeting of top military officials in Moscow that the exercise is intended to "check the troops' readiness for action in crisis situations that threaten the nation's military security".

Shoigu said Putin ordered the exercise Wednesday afternoon.

The military will be put on high alert during the first two days and some will deploy to shooting ranges.

The actual manoeuvres, which will commence on Friday, will last four days, he said. The exercise will involve ships of the Baltic and the Northern Fleets and the air force.

Shoigu's statement made no reference to Ukraine, where tensions remain high following the ousting of Russia-backed President Viktor Yanukovych.

Russia has questioned the legitimacy of the new Ukrainian authorities and accused them of failing to control radicals who threaten the Russia-speaking population in Ukraine's east and south.

A senior Russian lawmaker on Tuesday told pro-Russia activists in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula where Russia has a major naval base that Moscow will protect them if their lives are in danger.

Putin has made no public comment on Ukraine since President Yanukovich was driven from power over the weekend after months of political turmoil sparked by his decision to spurn deals with the European Union and improve ties with Russia.

On Tuesday US Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary William Hague disputed the idea that the situation in Ukraine is a “zero-sum game” between Russia and the West.

They called for all nations to work together to help Ukraine peacefully achieve its democratic aspirations.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/f ... separatism

Violent protest in Crimean Ukraine as Russia orders test of combat readiness
Display of Russian military muscle comes as Ukraine's interim leaders try to form new unity government
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Prem »

http://news.yahoo.com/yatsenyuk-propose ... 26018.html

Yatsenyuk proposed as new Ukraine prime minister
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The leaders of Ukraine's protest movement proposed Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the country's new prime minister, as Russia's president ordered major military exercises just across the border.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered military exercises to test the readiness of units in central and western Russia, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a televised statement. He said the exercise would "check the troops' readiness for action in crisis situations that threaten the nation's military security.".. Ukraine's strategic Crimea region, fistfights broke out between pro- and anti-Russian demonstrators. About 20,000 Muslim Tatars who rallied in support of the interim government clashed with a smaller pro-Russian rally in the regional capital, Simferopol.One health official said at least 20 people were injured, while the local health ministry said one person died from an apparent heart attack.The protesters shouted and attacked each other with stones, bottles and punches, as police and leaders of both rallies struggled to keep the two groups apart.They started to disperse after the speaker of the regional legislature announced it would postpone a crisis session, which many Tatars feared would have taken steps toward seceding from Ukraine."The threat of separatism has been eliminated," Refat Chubarov, the leader of the Tatar community in Crimea, told the crowd.Crimean Tatars are a Turkic Muslim ethnic group who have lived in Crimea for centuries. They were brutally deported in 1944 by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, but returned after Ukraine's independence.The tensions in Crimea — a peninsula in southern Ukraine that is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet — highlight the divisions that run through this country of 46 million, and underscore fears the country's mainly Russian-speaking east and south won't recognize the interim authorities' legitimacy.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Philip »

There is little doubt now that Russia will intervene if its interests in the Crimea are in any way affected by the actions of the "mutineers",as PM Medvedev has described the current regime who have seized power.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/f ... separatism

Russia puts military on high alert as Crimea protests leave one man dead

Ukraine acting president draws up new cabinet as Putin orders armed forces drills near border
Harriet Salem in Simferopol, Shaun Walker and Oksana Grytsenko in Kiev
The Guardian, Wednesday 26 February 2014

The Kremlin ordered major military exercises on Wednesday as concerns about unrest in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula continued to grow and scuffles in the region left one person dead.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, ordered an urgent drill of his country's armed forces in western Russia, in what appeared to be a display of sabre-rattling aimed at the new government in Kiev.

The US reacted in a strongly worded message, with the secretary of state, John Kerry, saying that any military intervention in Ukraine would be a "grave mistake".

"For a country that has spoken out so frequently … against foreign intervention in Libya, in Syria, and elsewhere, it would be important for them to heed those warnings as they think about options in the sovereign nation of Ukraine," Kerry said last night.

Putin had earlier instructed his defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, to place Russia's military in a state of high alert for drills in the western military district, bordering Ukraine. The defence ministry denied the drills had anything to do with the political situation in Kiev, where the government of President Viktor Yanukovych was in effect toppled at the weekend.

But the move comes amid increasingly forthright statements from Moscow that the rights of ethnic Russians in Ukraine are being infringed.

Shoigu told a defence ministry meeting that forces must "be ready to bomb unfamiliar testing grounds" as part of the drill.

In his blunt message Kerry also announced the Obama administration was planning $1bn in loan guarantees and additional funding for Ukraine. But he said that US policy towards Ukraine was not aimed at reducing Russia's influence. "This is not Rocky IV," Kerry said. "It is not a zero-sum game. We do not view it through the lens of East-West, Russia-US or anything else. We view it as an example of people within a sovereign nation who are expressing their desire to choose their future. And that's a very powerful force."

Crimea has a largely pro-Russian population and earlier this week Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, warned there was a "serious risk" of separatism in the region.

In the regional capital of Simferopol on Wednesday there was a gathering of around 10,000 Crimean Tatars, a Muslim ethnic group that supports the peninsula remaining part of Ukraine. Waving Ukrainian flags they chanted: "Ukraine is not Russia."

The group clashed with a smaller pro-Russian rally nearby in which participants waved Russian flags. Protesters shouted abuse at each other, with the atmosphere growing more hostile by afternoon. The pro-Russian group swelled to about 5,000 later on as more protesters arrived on buses from the port city of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea fleet is based.

A smattering of rocks flew as the two sides engaged in fistfights at the frontline. The anger in the faces of both sides was visible shortly before the violence as they catcalled and jeered at one another and beckoned at each other offering the occasional middle-finger salute.

"You're defending all the millionaires who have stolen the land," shouted one angry Tatar. The Russians responded with a taunting rally cry of "Berkut, Berkut, Berkut", a reference to the police special unit responsible for much of the violence against protesters in Kiev last week that left at least 82 dead.

"Allahu Akbar!" chanted the Tatars as the other side responded with a rally cry of "Russia, Russia, Russia". Those in the Tatar camp held signs reading: "Ukraine to Europe." "We just want to be free," said Arsen Bilyalov a 36-year-old Tatar.

The clashes resulted in several serious injuries on the Russian side, as well as one death, apparently from a heart attack. The parliamentary session was cancelled as a result of the violence outside.

Ukraine's acting interior minister said he was doing all he could so as not to inflame tensions in Crimea further. "The police and all enforcement bodies in Crimea received instruction from me – at any cost do not provoke any conflict, any military confrontation with the civilians," Arsen Avakov said.
Link to video: Ukraine must form inclusive government, says William Hague

"I'm demanding law enforcement officers from Sevastopol to Simferopol to do all possible to prevent clashes between radical pro-Russian forces with any other radicals, including those who stand for European integration or Crimean Tatars," he added.

Avakov also announced on Wednesday that the notorious Berkut riot police, elite troops responsible for much of the violence over the past three months, had been disbanded.

"This special unit has totally discredited itself," he said, adding that a new unit would be established in time. The 4,000 former Berkut troops will now have to pass a revalidation exam in the next 15 days to determine whether they will serve in the new structure. He added that some top-ranking Berkut officers had fled already, and police were searching for them.

However, in another sign that Crimea is the only part of Ukraine where the new authorities are not welcome, a number of Berkut units returning to the region from Kiev have received a hero's welcome this week, and on Wednesday the newly-appointed pro-Russia mayor of Sevastopol invited the elite squad to join local law enforcement.

Since Yanukovych fled the capital at the weekend the protest movement has moved to take over the mantle of government, attempting to build bridges with the police and intelligence services, and continuing to patrol the capital with its own "self-defence units".

Turchynov, has drawn up a cabinet, which he announced to the crowds on Independence Square on Wednesday evening. It included a number of key figures in the protest movement, including the journalist Tetiana Chornovol, who was severely beaten after investigating government corruption and will now head an anti-corruption bureau.

Presidential elections have been set for 25 May. Frontrunners include the former boxer Vitali Klitschko and Yulia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister who was released from jail on Saturday.

She has not yet said whether she will run. Tymoshenko's ally Arseny Yatsenyuk was named as acting prime minister by Turchynov, to a mixed reception from the crowd.

Ukrainian pPolice are still searching for Yanukovych, who has been the subject of various rumours since he fled. The interim authorities said they believed he was hiding in Crimea, after a failed attempt to leave the country in a private jet from Donetsk airport. There were unconfirmed reports in Ukrainian media that Yanukovych had left Crimea by sea and was now in Russia with his two sons. One Russian news outlet claimed Yanukovych had been spotted at a government sanitorium just outside Moscow.

However, a top Russian foreign policy official told Russian media on Wednesday evening he was "absolutely certain" that Yanukovych was not in Russia. Mikhail Margelov added that he thought it unlikely that Russia would offer asylum to the disgraced leader, although just a day earlier a top Russian MP had said Moscow still considered Yanukovych to be the legitimate president of Ukraine.

Avakov said Ukraine's new authorities had pulled back from the search for Yanukovych in Crimea, fearing that treading too heavily could destabilise the fragile situation further.

"We decided the fate of Crimea is more important," he said.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Philip »

XCpt. from a report about the tension in the Crimea.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/f ... separatism
has a largely pro-Russian population and earlier this week Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, warned there was a "serious risk" of separatism in the region.

In the regional capital of Simferopol on Wednesday there was a gathering of around 10,000 Crimean Tatars, a Muslim ethnic group that supports the peninsula remaining part of Ukraine. Waving Ukrainian flags they chanted: "Ukraine is not Russia."

The group clashed with a smaller pro-Russian rally nearby in which participants waved Russian flags. Protesters shouted abuse at each other, with the atmosphere growing more hostile by afternoon. The pro-Russian group swelled to about 5,000 later on as more protesters arrived on buses from the port city of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea fleet is based.

A smattering of rocks flew as the two sides engaged in fistfights at the frontline. The anger in the faces of both sides was visible shortly before the violence as they catcalled and jeered at one another and beckoned at each other offering the occasional middle-finger salute.

"You're defending all the millionaires who have stolen the land," shouted one angry Tatar. The Russians responded with a taunting rally cry of "Berkut, Berkut, Berkut", a reference to the police special unit responsible for much of the violence against protesters in Kiev last week that left at least 82 dead.

"Allahu Akbar!" chanted the Tatars as the other side responded with a rally cry of "Russia, Russia, Russia". Those in the Tatar camp held signs reading: "Ukraine to Europe." "We just want to be free," said Arsen Bilyalov a 36-year-old Tatar.
Philip
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Philip »

Kerry the clown. He can't think outside the Hollywood box....office! Some sources say that 150,000 crack Russian troops are awaiting the "green light" if the Russian ethnic part of Ukraine is provoked beyond a point and their status is threatened.

John Kerry warns 'This is not Rocky IV' as Putin puts Russian fighter jets on combat alert
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 56583.html

Fighter jets along Russia's western borders have been placed on combat alert, amid continuing unrest in the Crimea region of Ukraine.

"Constant air patrols are being carried out by fighter jets in the border regions," Interfax quoted the Defence Ministry as saying.

PS:The timing of the Ukranian "putsch" was very cleverly timed during the Sochi Olympic Winter games,plus when Spring is around the corner,where as the days go by,warmer weather will make it easier for the population should Russia stop/squeeze gas supplies.

There is now no doubt that Ukraine will be partitioned unless the sponsors of the coup realise the grim reality of the situ and the enormous $35B debt that promises to bankrupt the country.Should partition take place,a few million Ukranian refugees could well add to the hordes of Bulgarians,Romanians,Poles,et al,who have surged into Britain after these countries joined the EU.Britain already drowning under extensive century record floods,will be drowned by the flood of refugees if the eastern remnant of Ukraine is given EU status.

"From the moment they received the signal to be on high alert, the air force in the western military region left for the ... air bases."

The apparent move comes as "criminals wearing military fatigues" seized the regional government and parliament headquarters on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula this morning.

Ukraine's acting president Oleksandr Turchynov issued a warning to Russia that any movement of its troops from their naval base in the southern Crimea region "will be considered military aggression."

Mr Turchynov, who is also the head of Ukraine's armed forces, appealed for Moscow to adhere to the rules of an agreement which allows Russia's Black Sea fleet to be based in Sevastopol until 2042.

"I am appealing to the military leadership of the Russian Black Sea fleet ... Any military movements, the more so if they are with weapons, beyond the boundaries of this territory (the base) will be seen by us as military aggression," he declared.

Meanwhile, in a bid to distance the US from a Cold War-style confrontation with Russia, US Secretary of State John Kerry told President Vladimir Putin to bear in mind that "this is not Rocky IV"

He said Russia must be "very careful" in any decisions it makes surrounding Ukraine, and that a military intervention in Ukraine would be a "huge, grave mistake".

"This is not Rocky IV," he said, referring to the 1990 film depicting a battle between the East and West, in which Rocky Balboa fights then-Soviet Union boxer Ivan Drago.

"Believe me. We don't see it that way", he told US TV Network NBC News.

"I think Russia needs to be very careful in the judgments that it makes going forward here," he added. "We are not looking for confrontation. But we are making it clear that every country should respect the territorial integrity here, the sovereignty of Ukraine.

"Russia has said it would do that and we think it's important that Russia keeps its word."

Mr Kerry's comments came after Mr Putin ordered the urgent drill test combat readiness of its military forces amid tensions with the West over Ukraine.

The exercise, involving 150,000 of precisely those forces which are likely to be used for any intervention, and their reserves, came amid growing claims that the country faces the threat of breaking up, as protests and violent sectarian clashes continue.

Russia said earlier this morning it would "uncompromisingly" defend the rights of its compatriots in Ukraine, while expressing concerns over "large-scale human rights violations", attacks and vandalism in the former Soviet republic.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/f ... ve-updates

Crimean parliament seizure inflames Russian-Ukrainian tensions

• Gunmen hoist Russian flag and sign saying ‘Crimea is Russia’

• Ukraine warns Russia against ‘military aggression’

• Russian envoy in Kiev summoned

• Russia puts fighter jets on alert
Ousted president Victor Yanukovych, who is wanted for alleged “mass murder” has entered the fray with regard to the events in Crimea, Interfax reports. It quotes him as saying:

It is obvious that the south-east of Ukraine and Crimea are refusing to accept lawlessness, in which leaders are elected by a mob.

He is also quoted as saying that he is still president and that “constitutional order should be restored in Ukraine”.

Meanwhile, a respected Russian news outlet is reporting that Yanukovych is staying in a Kremlin sanatorium just outside Moscow. From AP:
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by K Mehta »

The war for syria/iran is being fought in ukraine. The control of crimea/sevastopol plays a very imp. part in supplying the syrians through latakia. Take that out and you take out the syrian support system. russia is going to ensure that doesnt happen. they will take over that part, georgia redux. would be nice if they take kharkov also.
jm2paisa
Philip
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Philip »

I think that the Crimea and a push for Kiev would "seal the meal".It will be great to see the rebels flee in their thousands to their EU sponsors.As the saying goes,"there are many ways to skin a cat",and Pres.Putin has several options.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/f ... on-ukraine

Vladimir Putin can inflict a costly revenge on Ukraine
President Putin's latest war games do not mean Russia is planning a military intervention, but the Kremlin has plenty of other options

Luke Harding
theguardian.com, Wednesday 26 February 2014

Events in Ukraine are accelerating fast. On Wednesday, there were skirmishes in Crimea between pro-Russian demonstrators and Muslim Tartars. Over in Moscow, meanwhile, Vladimir Putin, ordered his military to conduct exercises in Russia's western district, a region which – coincidentally or not – borders Ukraine.

The rhetoric has grown more heated, too. Russian officials have claimed the rights of Russians in Ukraine are being severely infringed. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed opposition protesters in Kiev who turfed out president Viktor Yanukovych as ultra-nationalists and "pogromists". Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev has said Ukraine's new rulers are not legitimate.

Still, President Putin's latest war games do not mean Russia is planning a military intervention in Ukraine. Such a scenario is unlikely, but the Kremlin has plenty of other options short of full-scale invasion to stir up trouble for Ukraine's new European-leaning interim team, unveiled on Wednesday evening in Kiev, and to destabilise the government before it has even started.

The most obvious is to encourage pro-secessionist forces in Crimea. On Monday, pro-Russian demonstrators in the port of Sevastopol – the home of Russia's Black Sea fleet – staged their own "counter-coup", installing a Russian citizen as mayor and demanding union with Russia. The mood is febrile. The spectre is of Ukraine splitting up.

But Russia's simplest instrument of control is economic.
As Andrew Wilson of the European Council of Foreign Relations puts it in a new briefing paper, Ukraine is on the verge of economic collapse. Ironically, he notes, this dire situation is "entirely self-inflicted". Foreign reserves are dwindling fast. The Ukrainian currency, the hryvna, is tumbling precipitously against the dollar, the graph of the two currencies resembling a ski-slope. But it isn't trade sanctions from Moscow that have taken Ukraine to the brink. Rather, Wilson argues, it was corruption by Yanukovych and his entourage, which sucked an estimated $8bn to $10bn from the economy between 2010 and 2013.

As a result, Ukraine is now staring into a fiscal black hole. Last December, Russia promised to bail out Ukraine with a $15bn bond-buying scheme plus a 30% cut in the country's gas price. In return Yanukovych scrapped plans to enter into a trade association with the EU, a move that sparked the street demonstrations which led to his overthrow two months later. Only $3bn of the loan was ever delivered. Moscow won't now pay the rest.

The International Monetary Fund has promised assistance, as have other EU states including the UK. But any new tranche of aid is only likely to materialise following elections for a new government in May.

In the meantime, the country, now run by a disparate, untested group of opposition politicians, hurtles towards default. The new acting president Oleksander Turchinov has indicated that his country needs $35bn for the next two years to avoid running out of cash.

"Ukraine is now broke and Russia can hit it hard," Wilson writes. "In the new situation, with Russian leaders already questioning the legitimacy of the new authorities, the most likely levers of Russian economic pressure – higher gas prices, reduced lending, call-back of loans and export restrictions – can cause immense damage. At this stage, Russia is weighing which options to use, but the pressure will undoubtedly be felt soon."


The Kremlin's most significant weapon is gas. Twice, in 2006 and 2009, Moscow halted the supply of gas exports to Ukraine in bitter disputes with the country's then pro-western orange leadership. Russia's Gazprom could now demand that Ukraine settles its outstanding gas import bills – about $1.6bn so far for 2014 and 2013. It could also insist that Ukraine pays its bill promptly, or in advance.

Moscow might also justifiably claim that Kiev has broken the controversial contract agreed by the then prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko in 2009, which commits Ukraine to paying for huge volumes of gas – 34bn cubic metres a year – whether it uses it or not. This winter it has used significantly less.

In this game of brinkmanship, Ukraine has a few cards of its own. Between 60% and 80% of Russia's natural gas exports to the EU transit via Ukraine. The last energy war in 2009 choked off supplies to much of Europe, badly damaging Gazprom's reputation with furious EU clients.

Lilit Gevorgyan, senior economist at IHS Global Insight, says: "Ukraine is not just a victim. They can create problems for Gazprom. There can be interruptions in gas supplies to the EU."

A Ukrainian default would also damage Russian investments in Ukraine, she adds. Russian banks have pumped substantial sums into Ukraine's defence, nuclear and agricultural sectors, and will not want to lose their capital.

So the country's new temporary leaders faces a series of impossible choices. If they pursue IMF-friendly policies, this will make them extremely unpopular. If they do not, the economy faces meltdown.

"The situation is dire. If the IMF insists on austerity it will destabilise the country anyway. Things will get worse before they get better," Gevorgyan says. "The question is if the country will accept this when people are not united. Is it really the right time to carry out reforms?"
The other option,always available!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 56583.html
Russian fighter jets on 'combat alert' amid continuing unrest in Crimea
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Philip »

http://www.defensenews.com/article/2014 ... y=nav|head

Minister: Russian Navy Taking 'Security Measures' in Crimea

MOSCOW — Russia is taking measures to ensure the security of its Black Sea naval fleet based on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, Russia’s defense minister said Wednesday as President Vladimir Putin ordered snap checks of the armed forces.

“We are watching carefully what is happening in the Crimea, what is happening around the Black Sea fleet. We are taking measures to ensure security of sites, infrastructure and arsenals of the Black Sea fleet,” minister Sergei Shoigu said, Russian news agencies reported.

The comments came as brawls erupted near the regional parliament building in Crimea’s main city of Simferopol between pro-Russian demonstrators and members of Crimea’s ethnic Tatar Muslim community, which back the new leadership in Kiev.

The Russian Black Sea fleet is based in the city of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, a mostly Russian-speaking region that was only incorporated into Ukraine in the 1950s when it was part of the Soviet Union.

Sevastopol, which has hosted the Black Sea fleet since tsarist times, has witnessed several pro-Russian demonstrations in recent days with hundreds rallying outside city hall on Tuesday.

Putin has not yet publicly commented on the regime change in Kiev at the weekend, where protesters have deposed President Viktor Yanukovych who fled the capital and has not been seen since Saturday.

After returning from the Winter Olympic host city Sochi, Putin called the security council together on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin website said. None of Putin’s remarks was carried by the media.

On Wednesday, Putin ordered a snap check of the battle-readiness of the armed forces in the west and center of the country, including the area bordering Ukraine.

“Generally speaking, the drill is not in any way related to the events in Ukraine,” Shoigu said.

But he said it will include military exercises “on Russia’s borders with other countries, including Ukraine.”

“The commander in chief has set the task of checking the capability of the armed forces to deal with crisis situations posing a threat to the military security of the country,” Shoigu told journalists.

The drill involves army, navy and air force troops based in the western military district, a vast territory bordering Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, Finland and the Arctic.

The drill will include 150,000 servicemen, 90 airplanes, 880 tanks, and up to 80 ships, he said. It started on Wednesday at 2 pm and will last until March 3.

Putin ordered a similar check last year and said at the time that such drills should become regular events.

The last such check was carried out in July last year, involving more than 80,000 troops in far eastern Russia. It was the largest such snap check since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Philip »

Why the Crimea is so Russian,it has always been a part of the Russian empire and the Crimean War was an attempt by the West,Britain in particular,to "contain Russia".Well,that campaign was famous for the "Charge of the Light Brigade" disaster for the British!

Though this analyst is sceptical of a reunification of the Crimea with Russia,events on the ground and some further stupidity by the new regime ,ight tip the scales.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/com ... 55580.html
Unlikely odds of a Russia-Crimea reunification
The new government in Kiev is extremely unlikely to do anything to directly provoke the Kremlin

There was never the slightest doubt that Crimea was the likeliest flashpoint of any confrontation between a new and broadly pro-Western government in Kiev and Russia. It is a measure of the gravity of Ukraine’s crisis that such tensions have flared so starkly and so soon.

If historically the east of the country, largely Russo-phone and home of much of Ukraine’s heavy industry, feels close to Moscow, these links pale beside those between Russia and the Crimean peninsula. If Russian and Ukrainian history are entwined, as is rightly said, then nowhere is that truer than Crimea.

Between the 18th and 20th centuries, the peninsula belonged to the Russian empire
, particularly appreciated by the tsars and Russian nobility on account of its Mediterranean climate. The Crimean War, between 1853 and 1856, essentially an effort of the major West European powers to “contain” Russia as the Ottoman Empire declined, is also etched into Russia’s historical memory.

Long after the emergence of the Soviet Union, Crimea remained part of the Russian federation. Only in 1954 did the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (himself a Ukrainian) hand it over from Russia to the sister Socialist Republic of Ukraine. And even now Sevastopol, scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the Crimean War, is headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, strategically crucial for a Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean and beyond. That lease had been extended by Ukraine’s ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych until 2042.

Despite a slight decline since Ukrainian independence in 1991, ethnic Russians remain a majority in Crimea, with 58 per cent of the population according to a 2001 census. The peninsula’s status as an autonomous republic within Ukraine, with its own constitution, recognises this reality.

Many earlier European wars began on the pretext of the aggressor power – Germans in the Second World War, Serbs and Croats in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, and most recently Russia in its 2008 incursion into another former Soviet republic, Georgia – stepping in to “protect” supposedly threatened ethnic minorities.

Crimea is well qualified to become another example, and events – at least on the face of things – suggest it could be, with the Russian government denouncing the protesters who toppled Mr Yanukovych as “mutineers” and “terrorists”, and crowds waving Russian flags taking to the streets of Simferol.

President Vladimir Putin meanwhile, who as Prime Minister masterminded the 2008 war, is following the usual script of big-power muscle flexing. He has ordered a sudden exercise of 150,000 troops in western Russia, the part of the country that borders Ukraine. A quite normal procedure to test combat readiness and one that, while unannounced, had long been planned, according to Kremlin spokesmen. It has absolutely nothing, they add, to do with events in Ukraine. Of course.

Any “merger” or “re-unification” of Russia and Crimea would moreover be pretty straightfoward geographically. The two are separated by the mere 2.5 mile-wide strait that divides the Black Sea from the Sea of Azov, while Crimea can also be easily reached through territory in eastern Ukraine historically sympathetic to Russia.

But there are strong reasons events may not come to this. The new government in Kiev is extremely unlikely to do anything to directly provoke the Kremlin, for instance by demanding the Black Sea Fleet’s withdrawal from Sevastopol. President Putin may also think twice. For one thing, Ukraine with its 46 million people is a very different proposition from tiny Georgia. And while Russians are a majority in Crimea, there are also significant Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar groups (24 per cent and 12 per cent) who have made common cause against any Russian intervention.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Austin »

Ukraine’s aggregate external debt reaches 80% of GDP
Ukraine has found itself in the deepest economic, political and social crisis throughout the entire history of its independence (the former Soviet Republic declared itself independent in 1991 - Itar-Tass),” the document says.

“The aggregate external debt has reached $140 billion or about 80% of the Gross Domestic Product,” it says.

“The short-term debt stands at $65 billion, which is four times more than the country’s foreign exchange/gold reserve currently totaling a mere $ 15 billion.”
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by rgosain »

Philip wrote:Why the Crimea is so Russian,it has always been a part of the Russian empire and the Crimean War was an attempt by the West,Britain in particular,to "contain Russia".Well,that campaign was famous for the "Charge of the Light Brigade" disaster for the British!

Though this analyst is sceptical of a reunification of the Crimea with Russia,events on the ground and some further stupidity by the new regime ,ight tip the scales.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/com ... 55580.html
Unlikely odds of a Russia-Crimea reunification
The new government in Kiev is extremely unlikely to do anything to directly provoke the Kremlin

There was never the slightest doubt that Crimea was the likeliest flashpoint of any confrontation between a new and broadly pro-Western government in Kiev and Russia. It is a measure of the gravity of Ukraine’s crisis that such tensions have flared so starkly and so soon.

If historically the east of the country, largely Russo-phone and home of much of Ukraine’s heavy industry, feels close to Moscow, these links pale beside those between Russia and the Crimean peninsula. If Russian and Ukrainian history are entwined, as is rightly said, then nowhere is that truer than Crimea.

Between the 18th and 20th centuries, the peninsula belonged to the Russian empire
, particularly appreciated by the tsars and Russian nobility on account of its Mediterranean climate. The Crimean War, between 1853 and 1856, essentially an effort of the major West European powers to “contain” Russia as the Ottoman Empire declined, is also etched into Russia’s historical memory.

Long after the emergence of the Soviet Union, Crimea remained part of the Russian federation. Only in 1954 did the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (himself a Ukrainian) hand it over from Russia to the sister Socialist Republic of Ukraine. And even now Sevastopol, scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the Crimean War, is headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, strategically crucial for a Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean and beyond. That lease had been extended by Ukraine’s ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych until 2042.

Despite a slight decline since Ukrainian independence in 1991, ethnic Russians remain a majority in Crimea, with 58 per cent of the population according to a 2001 census. The peninsula’s status as an autonomous republic within Ukraine, with its own constitution, recognises this reality.

Many earlier European wars began on the pretext of the aggressor power – Germans in the Second World War, Serbs and Croats in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, and most recently Russia in its 2008 incursion into another former Soviet republic, Georgia – stepping in to “protect” supposedly threatened ethnic minorities.

Crimea is well qualified to become another example, and events – at least on the face of things – suggest it could be, with the Russian government denouncing the protesters who toppled Mr Yanukovych as “mutineers” and “terrorists”, and crowds waving Russian flags taking to the streets of Simferol.

President Vladimir Putin meanwhile, who as Prime Minister masterminded the 2008 war, is following the usual script of big-power muscle flexing. He has ordered a sudden exercise of 150,000 troops in western Russia, the part of the country that borders Ukraine. A quite normal procedure to test combat readiness and one that, while unannounced, had long been planned, according to Kremlin spokesmen. It has absolutely nothing, they add, to do with events in Ukraine. Of course.

Any “merger” or “re-unification” of Russia and Crimea would moreover be pretty straightfoward geographically. The two are separated by the mere 2.5 mile-wide strait that divides the Black Sea from the Sea of Azov, while Crimea can also be easily reached through territory in eastern Ukraine historically sympathetic to Russia.

But there are strong reasons events may not come to this. The new government in Kiev is extremely unlikely to do anything to directly provoke the Kremlin, for instance by demanding the Black Sea Fleet’s withdrawal from Sevastopol. President Putin may also think twice. For one thing, Ukraine with its 46 million people is a very different proposition from tiny Georgia. And while Russians are a majority in Crimea, there are also significant Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar groups (24 per cent and 12 per cent) who have made common cause against any Russian intervention.
Philip, there is a feeling that the events in Kiev may encourage others in Minsk, and the Russians are petrified of any attempt at regime change by NGO in Byellorussia. The road from Moscow to Minsk has been the scene, twice, of the most brutal warfare in history, which was described Vasilly Grossman as deep war. It is for these reasons we are seeing the snap drills and the activation of Perimetr. Similarly some of the salami slicing tactics by the Russians in the Crimea may be preparations for something bigger.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Philip »

Tx Rgos. Belarus seems to be more in tune with staying under the wing of Mother Rossiya,but as you state there are mischief makers afoot all over the former Warsaw Pact nations.There is no doubt now that Russia is about to seize the Crimea,as the Crimean airports have now been seized by pro-Russian entities,paving the way for flights into the Crimea from Russia to shore up the defences and take charge of the ground situ.For all practical purposes the Crimea is now back in Russian hands were it belongs historically.Rmember that it is also an autonomous region of Ukraine.There is f..k all that the west can do about it and Russia is going to turn the eco squeeze upon the leftovers of the Ukraine and let the West attempt to bail it out.All that remains is for a pro0-western Ukranian puppet to declare war on Russia for its "custody" of the Yokraine and before you can blink,it will be
"Chicken a la Kiev",aka "Chicken a la bomb"!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/f ... -secession
Conflict fears rise after pro-Russian gunmen seize Crimean parliament
Gunmen storm Crimea's regional administrative complex in Simferopol and hoist Russian flag above parliament building.

Fears of a major regional conflict in Crimea pitting Russia against the west intensified on Thursday after pro-Russian gunmen seized the regional government and parliament building in a well co-ordinated military operation, while similar groups were on Friday morning controlling access to the airports of Simferopol and Sevastopol.

Early on Friday morning about 50 armed gunman reportedly marched into Simferopol's airport after arriving in Kamaz trucks. They first cordoned off the domestic terminal and then moving on to other areas. Russia Today described them as similarly dressed and equipped to the "local ethnic Russian 'self-defence squads'" that seized the parliament and government buildings.

Witnesses said the men at the airport were bearing Russian navy flags. The AFP news agency said the airport was operating as Friday dawned, with passengers checking in for flights. The Associated Press said dozens of the armed men continued to patrol the airport and they refused to speak to media. AFP said representatives from the new leadership in Kiev had been due to arrive at the airport on Friday.

In Sevastopol armed men were reported to have set up a perimeter around the city's combined military-civilian airport, known as Belbek, on Friday morning. The Interfax news agency described them as Russian servicemen who said they had gone to Belbek to stop "fighters" flying in.
A gunman outside Simferopol airport in Crimea A gunman outside Simferopol airport in Crimea. Photograph: David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters

On Thursday morning in Simferopol men dressed in fatigues stormed Crimea's administration, hoisting a Russian flag above the parliament building. About 120 men were holed up inside armed with heavy weapons including rocket-propelled grenades and sniper rifles, witnesses said.

With gunmen controlling the building, Crimea's parliament voted to hold a referendum on the region's status on 25 May, the same day Ukraine goes to the polls in presidential elections. It also voted to sack the region's cabinet. The move puts the predominantly ethnic-Russian region on a collision course with Kiev's interim government and will fuel concern Ukraine is sliding inexorably towards break-up.

It was unclear whether the gunmen were undercover Russian soldiers or members of a pro-Russian self-defence militia formed in response to Ukraine's revolution, which has included radical nationalist groups. The former head of the Crimean parliament, Serhiy Kunitsyn, described the men as professionally trained and armed with enough weaponry to defend the complex for a month.

Late on Thursday the US vice-president, Joe Biden, spoke with Ukraine's interim prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Biden promised Ukraine's new leadership the full support of the US, a White House statement said.

Russia's ousted ally Viktor Yanukovych, the former Ukraine president, who fled Kiev last week after his troops shot dead more than 80 people, resurfaced on Thursday to insist he was still the country's legitimate leader – excoriating Ukraine's new leadership as he did so.

That government confirmed 39-year-old former opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk as acting prime minister, and gave two of the former regime's most prominent victims places in the new administration. Tetiana Chornovol, an investigative journalist beaten up by thugs, heads a new anti-corruption office. Activist Dmytro Bulatov, who was kidnapped and had part of his ear cut off, becomes Ukraine's youth minister.

Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, who has been in the job since Yanukovych fled the country, warned Russia not to intervene in the crisis by moving troops. The Kremlin's Black Sea fleet is based near Simferopol in the port of Sevastopol. Turchynov said: "I am appealing to the military leadership of the Russian Black Sea fleet. Any military movements, the more so if they are with weapons, beyond the boundaries of this territory [the base] will be seen by us as military aggression." Ukraine's foreign ministry also summoned Russia's acting envoy in Kiev for consultations.

The White House said it was closely watching Russian's military manoeuvres, ordered by Vladimir Putin next to Ukraine's border. Putin also put fighter jets on a state of high alert.

The US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, called on the Kremlin to show restraint and reaffirmed Washington's commitment to Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

After meeting Angela Merkel, David Cameron said he and the German chancellor were particularly concerned. Nato's secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, urged Russia not to do anything that would escalate tension or create misunderstanding.

Poland's foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, described the seizure of government buildings in the Crimea a "very dangerous game". He told a news conference: "This is a drastic step, and I'm warning those who did this and those who allowed them to do this, because this is how regional conflicts begin."

Hours after the parliament building was seized, Yanukovych revealed he was in Russia and had sought protection from Putin. He said he would hold a press conference on Friday in Rostov-on-Don, close to Ukraine's border and his home city of Donetsk.

His unusual choice of a provincial press conference venue suggests he still nurtures hopes of a return to power, possibly as the leader of a breakaway Russian-backed enclave encompassing Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

Yanukovych appeared to give approval to secessionist pro-Russian forces in Crimea, and said an "orgy of extremism" had swept the country. "Now it is becoming clear that the people in south-eastern Ukraine and in Crimea do not accept the power vacuum and complete lawlessness in the country," he said.

In Kiev, members of Ukraine's new government hinted that the country would sign an association agreement with the EU next month. It was Yanukovych's decision in December to dump the agreement – and instead accept a bailout from Russia – that prompted the street demonstrations that eventually led to his overthrow. Ukrainian officials branded the referendum decision by Crimea's parliament as unconstitutional.

Earlier in Simferopol, the gunmen barricaded doors into the parliament building with wooden crates. Police sealed off the area on Thursday, as a crowd supportive of the seizure gathered outside. Two people died and 35 were injured during clashes outside the building on Wednesday between pro-Russian demonstrators and Muslim Tatars. About half of Crimea's 2 million population are ethnic Russians. The Tatars – the peninsula's original Turkic-speaking Muslim inhabitants – are 300,000 strong and support the authorities in Kiev.

Witnesses described the moment when the armed men turned up. "We were building barricades in the night to protect parliament. Then this young Russian guy came up with a pistol … we all lay down, some more ran up, there was some shooting and around 50 went in through the window," Leonid Khazanov, an ethnic Russian, told Reuters.

Khazanov added: "They're still there … Then the police came, they seemed scared. I asked them [the armed men] what they wanted, and they said: 'To make our own decisions, not to have Kiev telling us what to do'."

The former head of the central executive body of Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Jemilev, said the situation was extremely worrying. He suggested the gunmen had arrived from Sevastopol, where the Russian fleet is based. "The people in camouflage and without any distinctive signs came by buses from the Sevastopol side. There are reports of movement of armed vehicles of the Russian fleet in different directions. We also got signs that in many hotels there are Russian soldiers wearing civilian clothes. The Russian general consul office says they have nothing to do with these events. But they would hardly tell the truth."

Jemilev speculated that the gunmen could be Russian soldiers or members of Berkut, the now-disbanded riot police unit deployed against opposition protesters in Kiev. Lifenews.ru, a pro-Kremlin Russian website with links to Russia's spy agencies, however, said they were veterans from the army and police. According to US diplomatic cables leaked in 2010 by Wikileaks, Russia's military intelligence wing – the GRU – is highly active in Crimea.

About 100 police had gathered in front of the parliament building on Thursday. A similar number of people carrying Russian flags later marched up to the building chanting "Russia, Russia" and holding a sign calling for a Crimean referendum.

Many wore orange-and-black striped ribbons that symbolise support for Russia. One of them, Alexei, 30, said: "We have our own constitution, Crimea is autonomous. The government in Kiev are fascists, and what they're doing is illegal … We need to show our support for the guys inside [parliament]. Power should be ours."

"Yesterday Russian people were attacked and murdered by Tatar extremists. We will not allow this fascism from Kiev to happen here," said 43-year-old construction worker, Spartak. "Crimea wants independence and we want parliament to hold a referendum on this. We have been hijacked."

Policemen informed passersby that Karl Marx Street was closed due to the presence of snipers in the areas. Nearby shops and businesses have closed and pulled down their shutters.

The acting interior minister, Arsen Avakov, who said the attackers had automatic weapons and machine guns, urged calm. He said on Facebook: "Provocateurs are on the march. It is the time for cool heads."

Turchynov, speaking to the parliament in Kiev, described the attackers as "criminals in military fatigues with automatic weapons".

He also called on Moscow not to violate the terms of an agreement that gives the Russian Black Sea fleet basing rights at Sevastopol until 2042.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Paul »

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... rticles%29
Neo-Nazis Pour Into Kiev
A stream of European jihadists have traveled to Syria to wage holy war. Now a group of European neo-Nazis are traveling to Ukraine to save the white race
In early February, Fredrik Hagberg stood at the rostrum in Kiev’s City Hall, offering fraternal and comradely greetings from Sweden to the sweaty, bruised, and exhausted Ukrainian insurrectionists scattered throughout. The place was festooned with flags—some celtic crosses, a stray Confederate banner, a standard for the political party Svoboda, whose members essentially controlled the building—reflecting the dubious politics of its occupiers.

Revolutionary tourists, thrill seekers, and parachute journalists suffused Kiev. Sen. John McCain, actress Hayden Panettiere, and French intellectual Bernard Henri-Levy roused massive crowds with paeans to freedom and national sovereignty, while offering moral support to the opposition forces led by former boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Austin »

vic
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by vic »

Russia should enforce a Yugoslavia type solution on Ukraine.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by anmol »

Russian helicopters heading to Sevastopol, Ukrain
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Dilbu »

Masked Forces at 2 Airports in Crimea; Russia Disavows Move
SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — Armed men of uncertain allegiance took up positions at two airports here in Ukraine’s Crimean region on Friday, fueling concerns about possible Russian military intervention or a separatist rebellion in a region with stronger historical ties to Russia than to Ukraine’s central government in Kiev.

Although there were no confrontations or bloodshed by midafternoon, the appearance of a large number of masked men with assault rifles unnerved residents and travelers, who were buffeted by warnings from Kiev of military meddling by Moscow and statements from the deposed Ukrainian president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, that the country had been taken over by fascists and “bandits.”

In Simferopol, the regional capital of Crimea, men dressed in camouflage and carrying assault rifles moved into position at the international airport and a second airfield nearby. Their military uniforms bore no insignia and it was not clear who they were or who was commanding them. They declined to answer questions, but did not interfere with normal airport operations.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Prem »

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... risis.html

Russian foreign ministry admits to entering Crimea from its Black Sea Fleet base as the Ukraine's interior minister accuses country of 'armed invasion'
( Video of Yanukovych " Statement That he Will fight)

Ukraine crisis live: UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on Ukraine crisis
The UN Security Council will hold a "private meeting" in 15 minutes followed by consultation to discuss the rapidly changing situation in Ukraine, a spokesman said.
Lithuania, which currently holds the council's rotating presidency, requested the meeting. "We have just been informed that the Security Council will hold a private meeting this afternoon at 3:00 pm, followed by consultations to discuss the situation in Ukraine," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Philip »

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/f ... ia-ukraine

Crimean coup is payback by Putin for Ukraine's revolution
After what Moscow regards as the western-backed takeover of Kiev, the Kremlin's choreography has been impressive
Luke Harding
theguardian.com, Friday 28 February 2014 15.35 GMT

Simferopol
Russian flags outside the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol. Photograph: David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters

Days after the end of Vladimir Putin's Sochi Olympics, the borders of Europe are shifting. Or, more accurately, military forces suspected of acting on Moscow's orders are creating a new cartographic reality on the ground.

Overnight, alleged undercover Russian special forces seized control of Simferopol airport, in the administrative capital of Crimea. The move comes less than 24 hours after a similar squad of shadowy, well-armed, Russian-speaking gunmen seized Simferopol's parliament building and administrative complex. If anyone was in doubt what this meant, the gunmen left a clue. They raised a Russian flag above the parliament building.

Ukraine's interior minister, Arsen Avakov, described the operations in Crimea in apocalyptic terms. What was unfolding in the south was "an armed invasion and occupation in violation of all international agreements and norms", he posted on Facebook. That's certainly how it seems.

Moscow's military moves so far resemble a classically executed coup: seize control of strategic infrastructure, seal the borders between Crimea and the rest of Ukraine, invoke the need to protect the peninsula's ethnic Russian majority. The Kremlin's favourite news website, Lifenews.ru, was on hand to record the historic moment. Its journalists were allowed to video Russian forces patrolling ostentatiously outside Simferopol airport.

Wearing khaki uniforms – they had removed their insignia – and carrying Kalashnikovs, the soldiers seemed relaxed and in control. Other journalists filming from the road captured Russian helicopters flying into Crimea from the east. They passed truckloads of Russian reinforcements arriving from Sevastopol, home to Russia's Black Sea fleet.

The Kremlin has denied any involvement in this very Crimean coup. But Putin's playbook in the coming days and months is easy to predict. On Thursday, the Crimean parliament announced it would hold a referendum on the peninsula's future status on 25 May. That is the same day Ukraine goes to the polls in fresh presidential elections.

The referendum can have only one outcome: a vote to secede from Ukraine. After that, Crimea can go one of two ways. It could formally join the Russian Federation. Or, more probably, it might become a sort of giant version of South Ossetia or Abkhazia, Georgia's two Russian-occupied breakaway republics – a Kremlin-controlled puppet exclave, with its own local administration, "protected" by Russian troops and naval frigates. Either way, this amounts to Moscow's annexation of Crimea, de facto or de jure.

From Putin's perspective, a coup would be payback for what he regards as the western-backed takeover of Kiev by opposition forces – or fascists, as the Kremlin media calls them. The Kremlin argument runs something like this: if armed gangs can seize power in the Ukrainian capital, storming government buildings, why can't pro-Russian forces do the same thing in Crimea? (It is another high-stakes manifestation of the Kremlin's favourite doctrine, "whataboutism". If Kosovo, then Crimea etc.)

There are, of course, signal differences. Despite the presence of radical Ukrainian nationalists, the vast majority of opposition demonstrators in Kiev were ordinary citizens. They were fed up with the corruption and misrule of President Viktor Yanukovych and his clique. It was a bottom-up revolution. The protesters were armed with little more than homemade shields, rubbish helmets and molotov cocktails.

In Crimea, by contrast, the shadowy Russian troops are equipped with the latest gear – they are professionals, not amateur homegrown revolutionaries. Ukrainian officials point to the GRU, Russian military intelligence. And the warp-speed tempo of events in Crimea is being dictated from the top, not the bottom – from Moscow, rather than the street.

The choreography has been impressive. Within hours of the airport seizure, Russian MPs proposed a bill in the state Duma simplifying procedures for getting Russian passports to Ukrainians. The goal, the MPs said, was to protect a "brotherly nation". Russia's most important opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, meanwhile, has been placed under house arrest for two months and denied access to the internet. The Kremlin, that most risk-averse of entities, has everything covered.

It only remains to be seen what role Yanukovych will play in this fast-moving drama. Despite having fled the country, he insists that he is still Ukraine's legitimate president. He is giving a press conference on Friday in the southern Russian town of Rostov-on-Don, close to the Ukrainian border.

This may seem like a bizarre provincial venue. But there is method here too: Russia refuses to recognise Kiev's new pro-western interim government as a legitimate partner. It is likely to continue to treat Yanukovych – whose regime is accused of plundering $70bn (£42bn) from Ukraine's treasury – as the head of a government-in-exile. It may even seek to return him to Crimea to continue his "executive" functions. Given Yanukovych's love of bling, Crimea's sumptuous Livadia Palace – where Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met to discuss Europe's 1945 postwar carve-up – might serve as his new HQ.

Spare a thought, meanwhile, for Crimea's Tartars. They are the peninsula's original Turkic-speaking Muslim inhabitants. Well-educated and politically organised, they now number 300,000, 15% of Crimea's population. They want to remain part of Ukraine. They support Kiev's new pro-EU leadership.

They also have their own awful folk memories of Russian colonisation and exile: in 1944, Stalin deported the Tartars and other smaller groups to central Asia. They mostly came home after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Understandably, they may now fear being cast once again in the role of fifth columnists. So far the Kremlin has said nothing about their rights.

All of this presents the west with one of its biggest crises since the cold war. Russia has mounted a major land grab of a neighbouring sovereign state. How will the west react?
How will the West react? Ha!Ha! Just like their "actions" in Syria.As O'Bomber did,hid under his grand Oval Office table,afraid to use even the most "minimal strike",to quote Sec. of State clown Kerry!

O'Bomber "warns Putin" I'm sure that the Russian Pres. is shivering in his boots and hiding in a Kremlin bunker!
Airports were taken over by armed men in combat fatigues. Barricades shut off road links to the region. Military helicopters were seen flying in across the border. Armoured personnel carriers rolled along roads. And the Crimean peninsula’s main port, Sevastopol, was blocked off.

Yet, after all that, it still remains unclear whether Ukraine had been subjected to a fully fledged invasion by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces, as Kiev’s new government claimed. What was very clear, however, at the end of another day of fast-moving drama, was that Kiev had lost control of part of its territory. Crimea, already semi-autonomous, may not yet be ruled by the Kremlin as the majority of its population is aggressively demanding, but it was slipping away, almost hourly, on Friday.

US President Barack Obama has warned Russia there will be costs if the country intervenes militarily in Ukraine. Mr Obama said the US is deeply concerned by reports of military movements by Russia inside Ukraine.
Now Yanukovych is still alive and kicking and a very useful tool to use against the fascist junta.He is still the legitimately elected president,even though he may have lost the plot and support of the majority of the people.They will swing back if the junta cannot deliver-they've already imposed currency restrictions which will only hurt the ordinary people more.Yanukovych can be used to control large areas of the Ukraine even outside of the Crimean peninsula/autonomous region,even a march on Kiev! That would send the junta packing ,fleeing in vast numbers into the already plagued EU in deep eco crisis.I can imagine David Cameron welcoming in tens of thousands of Ukranian "refugees" in addition to the flood of Bulgarians,Romanians,Poles et al,in the new United (European) Kingdom!
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by TSJones »

I hope Putin gets himself involved in a real nasty guerilla war. Keep him busy for a while. :)

Don't worry Ukraine, you want some tech goodies, who's your uncle?
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by krisna »

unmistakbly there are western powers backing the turmoil in many countries around the world including ukraine. uncle sam is prominent in it with plausible deniability all over.
One day chickens will come roost near their own borders when there is a mismatch between economy strenght and military power.

A nation cannot be strong forever.

reminds me of old ussr recently.
UlanBatori
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by UlanBatori »

What will Ukraine do if there are Russian sanctions and embargo on vodka exports? :eek:
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Victor »

If the Crimea and Southeastern Ukraine are allowed to secede or even if they are given sweeping autonomy within a unified-on-paper Ukraine, it would have serious repercussions on our J&K situation. It looks like that may be the only way out of this mess as the pro and anti-Russia sides are totally irreconcilable.
member_28352
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by member_28352 »

^^^^ Lets not score a self-goal by making false equivalences.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Singha »

Afaik western Ukraine is rich in agriculture and eastern in mining.
Philip
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Philip »

If Ukraine splits into two,as is most likely,from being in "sh*t street",Ukraine will be flushed into the septic tank.
Its economy is a "busted flush" ,which needs either the Euro or Roubles to stay afloat.and I can see how overjoyed Frau Merkel is going to be in an EU attempt to bail out Ukraine!

As for Pres.Putin,he has pulled off a master stroke in the de-facto seizure of the Crimea,righting the wrong of Kruschev's "gift" (Kruschev was Ukranian remember?) of the Crimea during the era of the USSR .At that time it mattered little,but after the collapse of the USSR,it rightly should've reverted back to Mother Russia.As for "war",the Ukranians on paper may have better forces than the Georgians,but for how many days can they fight against the well-trained and equipped Russian forces,bereft of money,material and men.
The leader of the putsch ,Turchynov has warned of "grave consequences".He's spot on.There will be plenty of graves of Ukranian soldiers if it further antagonises the bear.

The Western/Yanqui hope is that if Pres.Putin intervenes in the Ukraine,it will take its eyes off Syria,which is the plum that the west wants to pluck.It reasons that Putin cannot manage a two-front campaign.The Yanquis seem to have forgotten how swiftly the Russians reached Berlin in '45!

The manner in which Russian forces are stealthily entering the Crimea in small groups,no great airlift,ground invasion,etc.,looking more like a "police action" (how Britain described its invasion of the Suez Canal during the last century post WW2.This is clever tactics from Pres.Putin.Before the Kiev clique know it,the Crimea will be safely under Russian control,waiting for the Crimean referendum which will gain them their Independence,whatever and firmly under legitimate Russian protection.Like Bhutan,the Crimea could become a Russian "protectorate"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ukrai ... 61476.html

Ukraine latest - The invasion begins: armed Russian-speaking gunmen with Crimea in their grip as Barack Obama warns Moscow
Kim Sengupta

Crimea
Saturday 01 March 2014

Russian troops were on the move inside Ukrainian territory on Friday, prompting US President Barack Obama to warn Moscow that “there will be costs for any military intervention”.

It was unclear exactly what the Russian forces were doing but two airports in Crimea was taken over by armed men in combat fatigues, barricades shut off road links to the region, military helicopters were seen flying in across the border and armoured personnel carriers were on the roads. The Crimean peninsula’s main port, Sevastopol, where Russia’s Black Sea fleet is based, was also blocked off.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement that armoured units were operating inside Ukraine, but insisted they were acting in accordance with an agreement with Kiev. Their mission was to protect its naval base, the ministry said in a statement.

However, Ukraine’s interim President Olexander Turchynov condemned the “naked aggression” against his country and accused Russia of a “military invasion and occupation”.

Ukraine “will defend its independence, and any attempts of annexation or invasion will have very grave consequences”, he said, as he made a personal appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops.

Mr Obama, in a press conference late on Friday, voiced his concern at the unfolding events and warned Mr Putin that Russian military interference in Ukraine’s affairs would have consequences.

“We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine,” he said.

“Any violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilising, which is not in the interests of Ukraine, Russia or Europe.

“It would present a profound interference in matters that must be decided by the Ukrainian people.

“Just days after the world came to Russia for the Olympic Games, it would invite the condemnation of nations around the world. And indeed the United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine.”

There were numerous reports of Russian forces arriving in Crimea.

Serhiy Astakhov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border service, said eight Russian transport planes landed at the Gvardeiskoye airbase north of the regional capital Simferopol with unknown cargo. He said the people in the planes refused to identify themselves and waved away customs officials, saying they did not require their services. There were unconfirmed reports that nearly 2,000 troops had been flown in to the base.

Pro-Russian Cossacks rally outside the Crimean parliament building Pro-Russian Cossacks rally outside the Crimean parliament building (Getty Images)
Associated Press journalists in Crimea spotted a convoy of nine Russian armoured personnel carriers on a road between Sevastopol and Simferopol.

However, it remained unclear how many of the armed men in military clothes in Crimea were Russian soldiers, and how many were pro-Russian Ukrainians. What was very clear, however, was that Kiev had lost control of part of its territory.

Crimea, already semi-autonomous, may not yet be ruled by the Kremlin as the majority of its population is aggressively demanding, but it was slipping away, almost hourly.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier on Friday that he had called the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the second time in two days, and Mr Lavrov had told him the Kremlin would respect the former Soviet republic’s sovereignty.

“There are enough tensions. It is important for everybody to be extremely careful not to inflame the situation and not send the wrong messages,” Mr Kerry said.

The UN Security Council was holding private talks on the crisis, though action by the council is unlikely as Russia is a veto-wielding permanent member.

Britain announced that it is advising against all travel to the Crimean peninsula and urged any British citizens there to leave.

Foreign Secretary William Hague tweeted that he had spoken to Mr Turchynov on the phone and was planning to travel to Kiev for talks with the new government on Sunday.

Boots belonging to a protester are left on a makeshift memorial at the Independence square in central Kiev Boots belonging to a protester are left on a makeshift memorial at the Independence square in central Kiev (Getty Images)
Speaking in public for the first time since he fled Ukraine a week ago, the former President, Viktor Yanukovych, told reporters in Russia that Moscow “must use all means at its disposal to end the chaos and terror gripping Ukraine”. But he denied encouraging military intervention.

The local administration in Crimea has already said a referendum will be held on 25 May – when Kiev plans to hold national post-revolution elections – on whether the Autonomous State of Crimea should have even greater autonomy.

This was announced after deputies had met gunmen who had taken over their parliamentary buildings in the capital, Simferopol. Yesterday, new Crimean officials were named, most of whom were sympathetic to separatism.

The bitterness, division and the desire for retribution that has surfaced since the overthrow of Mr Yanukovych was evident on the streets of Simferopol yesterday. Gangs of Russian-speaking men used racist epithets against Crimea’s vehemently anti-Moscow, minority Tatar community.

Into this combustible mix appeared Vladimir Zhirinovsky, seen by many internationally as a somewhat absurd figure but not here, not in the current atmosphere.

The veteran demagogue of the Russian far right turned up at a roadblock outside Simferopol. Beaming members of the Crimean People’s Brigade were only too happy to help him on his way to Sevastopol, the home of Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet.

Ukrainians encircle an area filled with floral ltributes and candles as they remember those killed during the recent violent protests, in Kiev, Ukraine Ukrainians encircle an area filled with floral ltributes and candles as they remember those killed during the recent violent protests, in Kiev, Ukraine (EPA)
There, Mr Zhirinovsky held two addresses. One, in front of the local government offices, as befits a deputy state Duma speaker, was relatively restrained: “Russia will help the economic situation here in the south-east… We Russians don’t want to create the impression we will ‘take’ Crimea… Crimea should decide its future for itself.”

Later, however, an address to men wearing the orange and black ribbons of the Russian military order of St George, was different. “Be faithful to yourselves, be proud to be Russians; we were here long before there were any ‘Ukrainians’. These ‘Ukrainians’, they have their Maidan [Kiev’s Independence Square, the centre of the protest movement]. Well, we have our Magadan.
There were loud cheers – the crowd knew he was referring to the gulag in eastern Siberia at the time of Stalin, where thousands perished.

Mr Zhirinovsky had flown into Simferopol on Friday afternoon. In the morning, six military trucks had arrived at the airport, disgorging men in combat fatigues, balaclavas, and helmets who were carrying semi-automatic rifles and PKN machine guns. They had brought mortar rounds and, according to airport officials, rations for two months.

The men refused to answer questions by journalists about whether they were Russian. The carriers bringing the men had no number plates and their fatigues had no regimental markings but were remarkably like the combat uniforms tested recently by the Russian ministry of defence, especially that of the marines.

Pro-Russian supporters rally outside the Crimean parliament building Pro-Russian supporters rally outside the Crimean parliament building (Getty Images)
They patrolled in front of the building; a lot of it, seemingly, for the cameras. The effect of combat readiness was somewhat weakened, however, by their Kalashnikovs being unarmed, the magazines stuck in their pockets. An airport security officer, who had retreated inside the departure lounge, claimed they were “Russian military, from Sevastopol”, but this could not be confirmed.

Later in the morning came members of the “People’s Brigade” with their orange and black ribbons. One, Aleksei, said he was there because “fascists and criminals” from the Maidan were on their way from Kiev. He had also heard that “people who had made themselves ministers” were due. The new Interior Minister, Arsen Avakov, was due to arrive to hold talks with local leaders.

This was cancelled because their safety could not be guaranteed. Mr Avakov said that what was happening in Crimea was “an armed invasion in violation of all international agreements and norms”.

But he admitted that Ukrainian forces would not intervene. To do so, he claimed, would need the declaration of a national emergency.
Pics from news channels shows a Russian missile corvette armed with (what appears to be) 4 supersonic Yakhont missiles.Perhaps we might see the first combat action of the Yakhnot/BMos missile.
Last edited by Philip on 01 Mar 2014 10:02, edited 2 times in total.
Austin
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Austin »

Russia interested in Ukraine stability, acts within existing agreements – UN envoy
Churkin reminded that is was the opposition forces who broke the EU brokered agreement and forced Yanukovich to leave the country.

“Legal aspects of declaring him to be not president any longer are very questionable,” Churkin said. “What happened there is that immediately after this agreement was signed – not just by President Yanukovich and opposition leaders but the signatures were fixed by the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland, supported by the European Union – immediately there were threats that they will be storming the Presidential residence unless he resigns by 10am the next morning. My understanding is that is what caused him to leave the city. And that of course was not something which was envisaged in the agreement. That was a clear breach of that agreement.”

The best way to resolve the crisis in Ukraine will be a return to that agreement, Churkin believes.

“The best way to resolve the crisis is to look hard again at the February 21 agreement and try to do things the way they were described there,” he said. “They need to have a constitutional dialogue and process of forming a new constitution. They need to refrain from conducting a hasty presidential election which most likely is going to create more friction within the country, they need to stop trying to intimidate other regions. They need not just to declare, but to show, in their actual policies that this is about national reconciliation, unity, territorial integrity of Ukraine. They need to work to establish a common ground here.”

Churkin added that without a request from Crimean authorities Russia opposes any internationally imposed mediation to settle tensions there.

“This is something that should be analyzed. Crimean authorities should be asked what they think about such a mission ,” said Churkin. “But we are against an imposed mediation,” he said. Earlier, US ambassador Samantha Power told reporters that Washington has offered creating a mediation mission to settle the situation in Crimea.
Austin
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Austin »

Seems like President Yanukovich was tricked by EU/Maidan negotiators to sign the agreement and when they got that he was told to quit ...some master stroke by Western Intel :lol:

He is equally responsible for this mess though so no sympathy for Yanukovich
Austin
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Austin »

Russia should take a chill pill and relax .....there is no point raising stake in Crimea where it already has significant support locally.

Once the IMF deal is signed the terms of the deal would make any government up there unpopular and there would be revolt in East and South Industrial heartland.

Play the game via soft power no need to use any hard power.
vic
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by vic »

I think Russia should not annex Crimea but let it become Sovereign Republic of Crimussia. If USA tried to start Guerilla War in Ukraine & Crimea then Russia should arm freedom fighters with man portable SAMs and ATGMs in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Let Crude Oil reach USD 1000 per barrel.
Philip
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Philip »

The moves have already been made for a legitimate merging of the Crimea and Russia,in whichever manner that the Crimeans want it.The current junta in Kiev is being called illegitimate by the Russians and pres-in-exile Yanukovych

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/f ... hite-house
Political leaders moved fast in Moscow with the parliament rapidly introducing a law that would make it easier for new territories to be added to Russia's existing borders, a move that seemed directly linked to events in Crimea. The bill would allow for regions to join Russia by referendum if its host country does not have a "legitimate government". MP Elena Mizulina said: "If as the result of a referendum, Crimea appeals to Russia with a desire to join us, we should have the legal mechanisms to answer."

Russian nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky flew to Crimea and addressed cheering crowds in Sevastopol, promising them financial and psychological support against the new government in Kiev.

Another law under discussion would ease the requirements for Russian-speaking Ukrainians to receive Russian citizenship, and late on Friday, the Russian foreign ministry said it had ordered its consulate in Simferopol to begin "urgently" issuing passports to members of the Berkut riot police. The toughest regiments of police in Ukraine, Berkut regiments were used by Yanukovych against peaceful protesters. In the western city of Lviv, Berkut officers got down on their knees and begged forgiveness for the actions of their colleagues, but in Crimea, the returning troops have been greeted as heroes.

In Kiev, a new cabinet was voted in by the parliament on Thursday and needs to get to work to ease the appalling state of the economy, with Ukraine's currency weakening and the country facing a serious risk of default. The new government has been recognised as legitimate by most regions of Ukraine outside Crimea, but still has work to do to integrate law-enforcement bodies and restart the functioning of the state.

Ukraine's armed forces are dwarfed by Russia's – but would be no pushover if the Kremlin did decide to go for broke. "It is a nightmare for everyone," said Igor Sutyagin, a Russian military expert. "The entry of Russian troops would be a deep humiliation for Ukraine … It would be a second Chechnya."
Singha
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by Singha »

Crimea has the great port of sevastopol...scene of huge fighting in ww2...the southmost prong of the Wehrmacht attack army grp south. Losing crimes means Ukraine would be left with one great port only..odessa i think.
vivek_ahuja
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Videos coming in of Russian helicopter gunships and airborne troops moving into the Crimea...



vivek_ahuja
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Sevastopol airport closed off:

Image
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