Ukraine update - 03/23/2014

The western media is full of claims that the Russians are about to invade the Ukraine - and Moldova.

This claim does not even make GEOGRAPHICAL sense. The eastern, and Russian speaking parts of the Ukraine are - well - on the eastern side of the Ukraine, whilst Moldova (and trans-Dniestr) are on the western border.

That means that, to annex Moldova the Russians will have to cross from one side of the Ukraine to the other.

Are NATO expecting that we are not going to open our atlases?!

Compare where Moldova is and then where Kharkiv is- and then read the article below

Russia ready to annex Moldova region, Nato commander claims

Philip Breedlove says large force on eastern border of Ukraine could easily move into Trans-Dniester if the decision was made

the Guardian,

23 March, 2014

Nato's most senior military commander said on Sunday that Russia had amassed a large military force on Ukraine's eastern border, and warned that Moldova's separatist Trans-Dniester region could be the Kremlin's next target.

General Philip Breedlove, Nato's supreme allied commander, described the Russian force that began exercises 10 days ago as very, very sizeable and very, very ready.

"There is absolutely sufficient force postured on the eastern border of Ukraine to run to Trans-Dniester if the decision was made to do that. That is very worrisome," Breedlove said.

The White House also intimated that Russia may be readying for further action. Tony Blinken, Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, described the troop build-up as deeply concerning. He told CNN the Moscow's evident goal was to intimidate the Ukrainians, and added: "It's possible that they're preparing to move in."

Following Russia's annexation of Crimea last week there is deep uncertainty as to what Vladimir Putin may do next. The Russian defence minister, Anatoly Antonov insisted on Sunday that Russian troops near Ukraine's border complied with international agreements. Vladimir Chizov, Moscow's ambassador to the EU, told the BBC that Russia did not have expansionist views.

European diplomats say that Putin's immediate post-Crimea goal is to destabilise Ukraine and to sabotage its pro-western government in Kiev. Beyond this, they add, they believe Putin's ambitions may include creating a zone of Russian influence in the south and east of Ukraine as far as Odessa, which borders Trans-Dniester, cutting off Kiev's access to the Black Sea.

Russia already has a military presence in Trans-Dniester, also known as Transnistria, a Russian-speaking separatist territory in western Moldova that broke away two decades ago. Trans-Dniester's communist leadership has appealed for Russia to annexe the region. Moldova's president Nicolae Timofti, meanwhile, has responded by urging the EU to bring forward the signing of an association agreement scheduled for early summer.

Ukraine's acting foreign minister, Andriy Deshchytsia struck a pessimistic note on Sunday, saying the chances of all out war between Kiev and Moscow were growing. "The situation is becoming even more explosive than a week ago," he told ABC News.

Addressing a rally in Kiev on Sunday, Ukraine's defence minister Andriy Parubiy claimed that Russian forces could attack at any moment. "Putin's aim is not Crimea but all of Ukraine," he said. In a show of national unity, demonstrators unveiled a giant yellow and blue Ukrainian flag on the Maidan, the scene of Ukraine's uprising last month.

In deposed former president Viktor Yanukovych's eastern home town of Donetsk, around 2000 pro-Russian demonstrators gathered in Lenin Square. Speakers denounced the new government in Kiev as a fascist junta. They demanded a referendum on federalisation, a step to greater regional autonomy, and possible union with Moscow. The protesters also criticised Serhiy Taruta, a local oligarch parachuted in by Kiev to be provincial governor.

"We have an orthodox faith and a common history with Russia and Belarus," Roman Protsenko, a 36-year-old IT programmer from Donetsk explained, amid shouts of "Russia" and "Yanukovych". "This is Russian civilisation. We're different from the west. We are in favour of friendly relations but against Nato and the United States."

Pyotr Kandybka, a former Soviet marine geologist, now retired, said that British spies had financed the Maidan protest. He said that unless the EU stopped "supporting fascism" ultra-nationalists would soon sweep in from Ukraine into Poland and Germany, and cause trouble and mayhem there.

After the rally a crowd marched towards Donetsk's provincial administrative HQ. Riot police guarded the building. In previous weeks angry mobs have smashed windows, broken inside and raised the Russian flag. On Sunday, however, the protesters departed peacefully, in a sign that tensions in the east of the country may be beginning to subside, at least for now.

Europe's biggest geo-political crisis for decades will dominate a nuclear security summit opening in The Hague on Monday that will include what may prove to be the most difficult meeting to date between the US secretary of state John Kerry and the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. The two have talked almost daily but have agreed on practically nothing.

The encounter comes with Russia facing the loss of its coveted seat among the G8 group of leading nations and US financial restrictions imposed on the most powerful members of Putin's inner circle. European leaders appear gloomy about Ukraine's prospects as a single state – and the precedent Moscow's warp-speed annexation of Crimea sets for the rest of Europe.

"I'm very worried the unlawful attempt to alter the recognised borders of our European neighbourhood, 25 years after the end of the Cold War, will open Pandora's box," The German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Welt am Sonntag. Steinmeier visited Donetsk on Saturday. He described the situation there as anything but stable.

Over the weekend, the last Crimean airbase in Ukrainian hands fell to Russian forces following a dramatic onslaught. An armoured personnel carrier burst through the main gate of Belbek airbase near the administrative capital of Simferopol. Two more Russian armoured personnel carriers followed and gunmen fired automatic weapons into the air and threw stun grenades.

Several unarmed soldiers began singing the Ukrainian national anthem. During the operation, Russian troops captured the base commander, Yuri Mamchur. Ukraine's acting president Oleksandr Turchynov demanded the release of Mamchur – the head of the Ukraine air force's 204th tactical aviation brigade – who, he said, had been kidnapped in the early hours of Sunday and taken prisoner.

Here is the response to the claims from Moscow.

So far, in my interactions with friends (who admittedly keep up with the play, on the whole), I have yet to find anyone who trusts the official western narrative

Moscow: No troop build-up or undeclared military activity near Ukraine borders

Russia is observing all international agreements on troop limits in regions bordering Ukraine, the Russian Deputy Defense Minister said, adding that foreign missions’ inspections can confirm that

RT

23 March, 2014

The statement was made in response to reports by several foreign media outlets over concentrations of "thousands" of Russian servicemen on the Russian-Ukrainian border.

“By the way this issue has during the last month been regularly raised in telephone conversations between Russia’s Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu, and his foreign counterparts, including US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and even acting Ukrainian Defense Minister Igor Tenyukh,” Anatoly Antonov, the Russian Deputy Defense Minister said.

Sergey Shoigu has, in a very transparent manner, informed all of them about the real situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border. He also stressed that Russia has no intention to concentrate troops there, Antonov said.

Following recent probes by foreign missions in Russia of Ukraine’s bordering regions, foreign inspectors came to the conclusion that "Russian Armed Forces are not undertaking any undeclared military activity that would threaten the security of neighboring countries," Antonov added.

The official said eight foreign inspection groups have recently visited Russia.

“Our venues and regions, where troops are stationed near Ukrainian borders, have twice been checked by the Ukrainian military,” the Deputy Minister said. “Besides, we have had on our territory inspectors from the US, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.”

Seven of those eight missions were interested in Russian regions bordering with Ukraine, Antonov said. Foreign inspectors were allowed to talk to chiefs of the Russian military units, make pictures of deployment sites and military vehicles, and control them during relocation.

“We did our best to meet our partners’ requests by allowing them to inspect all of the sites they wanted to. We have nothing to hide,” Antonov said.

The deputy minister said he was hoping that participants of those inspecting missions would inform their countries’ leaderships of what is really going on at the border between Russia and Ukraine.

"We believe this would to large extent facilitate release of tension, something the head of the Pentagon, Hagel, called for during his recent phone conversation with Minister Shoigu.”

Germans, French ‘nullified military co-op with Russia under pressure’

Berlin’s and Paris’ moves to halt military cooperation with Moscow are derailing the bilateral efforts of recent years and are completely unconstructive, Antonov said. However, according to the defense official, the two did so under pressure from their NATO ally.

“Obviously, the proverbial ‘Atlantic solidarity’ has made our French and German partners come up with loud statements against Russia,” Antonov said.

“Refusing from contacts and delegatory exchange though military departments brings to naught the positive tendencies established in the recent years, including the cooperation on Afghanistan, the dialogue on transparency of military activity and military-technical cooperation. We perceive the decision of the German side as taken under pressure and unconstructive,” Antonov stressed.

Both Russian and German defense ministries have recently undertaken some “serious efforts” in mutually beneficial cooperation, the official noted. He also highlighted the “unprecedented” bilateral work with France, including that of the Air Forces and Airborne Forces, noting that a “new impulse of cooperation” had been planned for 2014.

Addressing media on Sunday, Antonov stressed that Russia and its European partners are equally interested in military cooperation. It is “very easy to ruin what has been done by our countries [in the field of military cooperation] and it will be very difficult to restore relations,” he said.

The Russian side hopes that Germany and France will review the situation on the Ukrainian border upon receiving reports from the international inspectors and will move to restore the severed ties, Antonov said. For now, Moscow will act in accordance with the “existing realities,” he added.

Meanwhile there is a real stirring-up of feeling in the east of the country.

Massive anti-Maidan rallies grip eastern Ukraine as residents demand referendum

Rallies have swept eastern Ukraine, with residents protesting against Kiev’s coup-imposed government and demanding a referendum to decide on the future of the region. Thousands took to the streets in Kharkov, Donetsk, Lugansk, and Odessa on Sunday.

RT,

23 March, 2014

About 5,000 protesters gathered in the city of Kharkov on Sunday to rally in favor of federalizing the country and holding people’s referendums in eastern Ukraine.

The demonstrators also demanded to make Russian the official language of the Kharkov region. Russian is the most common first language in the eastern regions.

Furthermore, the residents of Kharkov proclaimed illegitimate the political part of the EU-Ukraine association agreement signed by coup-installed Prime Minister Yatsenyuk. Some of the protesters headed to the Russian embassy, asking Moscow to investigate the legality of the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine and addressed Crimeans, asking to help the region.

The rally in Kharkov was also dedicated to two protesters who were killed last week by members of the ultra-nationalist Right Sector movement, which played an active role in the Maidan protests. The demonstrators chanted slogans such as “Glory to Kharkov defendants!” and “We won’t live under Bandera!”

 Pro-Russian protesters hold a banner reading "Odessa for referendum!" stage a rally in the center of the Ukrainian city of Odessa on March 23, 2014 (AFP Photo / Alexey Kravtsov)Pro-Russian protesters hold a banner reading "Odessa for referendum!" stage a rally in the center of the Ukrainian city of Odessa on March 23, 2014 (AFP Photo / Alexey Kravtsov)

Stepan Bandera was the head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Bandera's nationalist movement collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II and was involved in the ethnic cleansing of Poles, Jews, and Russians. OUN was also responsible for the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, which resulted in about 100,000 murders.

Meanwhile in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk, preliminary results of an improvised referendum were announced to a several thousands-strong rally.

According to the results, over 100,000 people voted in favor of joining Russia in a people’s referendum that was carried out in the form of a poll in Lugansk.

The poll was initiated last Sunday and will continue for another week.

Another 1,000 people gathered near the building of the regional security service, protesting against the current authorities in Kiev.

The city of Donetsk, also located in the Donbass region, also witnessed protests on Sunday, as more than 2,000 people took to the streets. They demanded that a referendum be held to decide the future of the region and handed out ballot papers.

Pro-Russian protesters shout slogans during a rally in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on March 23, 2014 (AFP Photo / Alexandr Khudoteply)Pro-Russian protesters shout slogans during a rally in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on March 23, 2014 (AFP Photo / Alexandr Khudoteply)

The protesters hoisted a Russian flag near the city council building, chanting “Russia” and “Berkut” while the building was surrounded by police.

Thousands also gathered for a rally in the Black Sea coastal city of Odessa on Sunday, protesting against the coup-imposed government in Kiev. They carried Ukranian, Russian, and Crimean flags and chanted slogans such as “Ukraine and Russia are together” and “Odessa is against Nazis and tycoons,” as well as “Referendum!”

The peaceful demonstrators urged authorities to release Anton Davidchenko, the arrested leader of People's Alternative, a council that coordinates the work of regional public organizations. They demanded an end to the persecution of activists accused of separatism.

Davidchenko’s mother, Lubov, who participated in the rally, urged all mothers in Ukraine to “prevent their sons from going to the criminal war, which the West-backed far-right authorities and tycoons in Kiev are trying to unleash between the fraternal Slavic peoples in the interests of their Western sponsors,” Itar-Tass reported.

“The authorities in Kiev are speaking about war with Russia, but in fact they are at war with their own people. The majority of Ukrainians do not support [Kiev’s] policy, but Kiev prefers not to pay attention to the people’s opinion, retaliating with repressions,” stated city council deputy Sergey Bovbolan.

Pro-Russian protesters wave Russian flags along with the flags of the Donetsk region during a rally in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on March 23, 2014 (AFP Photo / Alexander Khudoteply)

Speakers at the rally called for an end to the disinformation campaign waged by local media, and for authorities to stop putting pressure on TV channels.

A crowd comprised of thousands of Odessa residents walked through the central streets, visiting the Polish embassy to remind them of Bandera’s crimes.

Poland, Ukraine's western neighbor, has been very vocal during the crisis, supporting the current far-right Kiev authorities. The country also hosts the US military. The Pentagon dispatched 12 warplanes and hundreds of troops to Poland following the Crimean referendum.

The decision to hold a referendum in Crimea was sparked by the bloody Maidan protests that resulted in the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovich. Crimea refused to recognize the coup-imposed government. The referendum held last Sunday resulted in over 96 percent of voters answering in favor of the autonomous republic joining Russia. In turn, Russia accepted the people’s will and welcomed Crimea’s integration on Monday.

People in the eastern regions of Ukraine fear that the far-right Kiev authorities will not represent their interests. Residents of the Donbass region – the majority of whom are Russian speakers – were particularly unhappy over parliament's decision to revoke the law allowing the use of minority languages, including Russian