Saturday 26 July 2014

Ukraine - RT reports

US pulling out its Cold War-era plans over Ukraine conflict, top commander admits
The United States military’s top commander said during a security summit this week that the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine has prompted the Pentagon to revisit old contingency plans unused since the days of the Cold War.


RT,

25 July 2014

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday at the Aspen Security Forum that the US Department of Defense has been “looking inside of our own readiness models to look at things we haven’t had to look at for 20 years.”

Commenting on the latest allegations against Russia to surface in the midst of the escalating situation in Ukraine, Gen. Dempsey said that the Kremlin “has made the conscious decision to use its military force inside of another sovereign nation to achieve its objectives.”

They clearly are on a path to assert themselves differently not just in Eastern Europe, but Europe in the main, and towards the United States,” Dempsey said of Putin’s government.

Hours before Dempsey delivered his address at the Aspen Security Forum, US State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said during a scheduled press briefing that new intelligence has surfaced suggesting Russia has been firing artillery at Ukrainian military positions from within its own borders. As RT reported at the time, however, Harf’s remarks were quickly questioned by Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee, who in turn called upon the State Dept. to present any evidence beyond the spokesperson’s otherwise unsubstantiated allegations.


I think that it would be best for all concerned here if when you make an allegation like that you’re able to make it up with something more than just ‘because I said so,’” Lee countered Harf’s claims.

Soon after, though, Dempsey said during his Aspen speech that reports of Russia firing into Ukraine, if correct, would constitute the “first time, I think, probably, since 1939 or so that that’s been the case.” That year, Soviet Union leader Josef Stalin led the Red Army into Poland unannounced and annexed that territory and its 13.5 million citizens on behalf of the USSR.
I think this is very clearly Putin, the man himself, with a vision for Europe, as he sees it, to what he considers to be an effort to redress grievances that were burdened upon Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, and also to appeal to ethnic Russian enclaves across Eastern Europe with … a foreign policy objective, but also a domestic policy objective,” Dempsey said. “And he’s very aggressive about it, and he’s got a playbook that has worked for him now two or three times. And he will continue to [use it].”
Regardless of what the Russian president’s intentions are, Dempsey said that Putin’s forces are in his opinion hesitant to engage in the Kremlin’s current campaign as interpreted by the US government.
I think that the Russian military is probably reluctant -- -- you know, this is risky for me to say this, and 10 of them could end up in a gulag tomorrow -- but I think that the Russian military and its leaders that I know are probably somewhat reluctant participants in this form of warfare,” he said.
Even still, Dempsey added, the results could be catastrophic.
At a time when some folks could convince themselves that Putin would be looking for a reason to de-escalate, he’s actually taken a decision to escalate,” Dempsey said. “Putin may actually light a fire that he loses control over,” he said. “There’s a rising tide of nationalism in Europe right now that has been created in many ways by these Russian activities.”

And I think that’s a real risk,” Dempsey said. “So I am maintaining an open line of communication with my counterpart, and so far, he’s doing the same with me.”
Earlier this week, Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, told reporters that the Defense Department was scheduled to send military advisers to Ukraine within weeks to “shape and establish an enduring program for future US efforts to support the Ukrainian military through subject-matter expert teams and long-term advisers.”
Sanctions against Russia spark AK-47 buying frenzy in US
Russian-made firearms are reportedly flying off the shelves of American gun stores after the United States Treasury Department announced sanctions last week against the maker of the popular AK-47 rifle.


RT,
25 July 2014


Kalashnikov Concern, the company responsible for the eponymous gas-operated 7.62 caliber assault rifle known largely around the world as the AK-47, is among the latest Russian-owned entities to be blacklisted by the US government following last Wednesday’s announcement that several Russian banks, energy firms and weapons makers were being targeted by new sanctions.

Gun sellers now say the Obama administration’s decision to sanction the company has caused a spike in sale in the week since, with some retailers warning customers that their stocks have been decimated upon the addition of Kalashnikov Concern to the Treasury’s roster of blacklisted businesses.

The latest round of sanctions does not bar the selling of Russian-made AK-47s within the US that have already been paid for in full, meaning long-time owners and the distribution companies not in debt to Kalashnikov Concern can continue to operate and offer the weapons as they did ahead of last week’s announcement. Imports of all of the company’s Russian-made weapons are now indefinitely on hold, however, and reportedly has prompted a peak in demand as a result.

Blaine Bunting, the president of Maryland gun distributor Atlantic Firearms, told the Huffington Post this week that orders for their AK-47-style rifles and shotguns have "tripled, if not quadrupled" since the day sanctions were announced.

"We have 15 employees here, and yesterday we started at 7:30 in the morning and didn't leave until eight at night," he told HuffPo on Tuesday. In all, the website reported, Atlantic Firearms parted ways with its entire stock of over 400 Russian-made guns, causing the distributors to post a warning to would-be buyers on its official site.

Due to recent import restrictions, we have had a run on our supply of Russian manufactured firearms. We are currently SOLD OUT of the Russian AK47 CAK-132 Wood as of 7/17/14. We are working with our importer to try and acquire what we can but are expecting price increases,” part of the Atlantic Firearms site reads.

Hunter Stuart, a reporter at HuffPo, wrote that similar shops across the US are witnessing the same thing. At Nampa, Idaho’s Armageddon Armory gun shop, for example, the store’s entire inventory of bought 60 Saiga semi-automatic shotguns made by Kalashnikov was bought within days of last week’s announcement.

"We sold out of them instantly," he said.

Other shops in Oklahoma and North Carolina told Stuart that their stocks were being depleted quickly after the Treasury Department’s announcement.

According to Kalashnikov Concern, however, the latest sanctions are only hurting the US market, not Russia’s.

The products of Kalashnikov enjoy great demand in the United States,” the company said in a statement after last week’s announcement. “Preorders on civilian products are three times the annual volume of deliveries. Thus, the sanctions taken against Kalashnikov go against the interests of American consumers.”

Also blacklisted by the Treasury in the latest rounds of sanctions are armaments and parts manufactured by Izhmash Research & Production Association of Russia, a centuries-old company known as one of the best-selling firearms manufacturers in the world.

RWC Group LLC, the sole company that exports Concern Kalashnikov to the US, said last week that they were refraining from making any immediate comment regarding the sanctions. The company did not respond right away to RT’s request for comment on Friday this week.

Ukraine used phosphorous incendiaries, cluster bombs against cities – Russian military


RT,
25 July 2014
Ukrainian troops have on many occasions used incendiary weapons and cluster bombs against militia-held cities, acts that are banned under the international law regulating warfare, the Russian military said.

The accusation was voiced on Friday by Major General Viktor Poznikhir, the deputy commander of the chief operations branch of the Russian General Staff. Earlier some media reports claimed that munitions, which are not allowed to be used against civilian targets, were used in eastern Ukraine by the Kiev troops in their assault on armed militias.

According to the general, the Russian military are certain of a number of such attacks by Ukrainian troops. Those include artillery shelling with incendiary shells on June 12 in Slavyansk, on June 24 and June 29 in Semyonovka and on July 7 in Lisichansk. There were also air strikes with incendiary bombs on June 21 in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk and on July 23 in Donetsk and shelling with cluster shells on June 24 in Semyonovka.


We have sufficient proof that in the cities and villages of Ukraine I mentioned, ammunition based on phosphorus was used,” Poznikhir said. In all those instances characteristic fast-falling clusters of sparks were spotted in the air and massive fires on the ground were reported, proving that those were not illumination flares.

The evidence behind the ministry’s assessment includes eyewitness accounts, injuries sustained by the victims of the attacks and media reports from Ukraine, the Russian general said.

The incendiaries were used against residential areas where only civilians were present at the time,”Poznikhir stressed. “We believe the Ukrainian side wanted to produce a demoralizing effect on the people and inflict serious damage to communal infrastructure, which would create the conditions for a humanitarian disaster.”

Most of the incidents mentioned by the general happened in or near Slavyansk, once the most defended strongholds of the Ukrainian militia, which for two months held out against the siege by Ukrainian troops. The city was eventually abandoned by militia forces, which regrouped and fortified other Ukrainian cities. 

Those are currently under Ukrainian attack.

The use of incendiary weapons against civilians or military objects located in civilian areas is forbidden by Protocol III of the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons. Ukraine is a signatory to the protocol. Cluster munitions are prohibited by the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but Ukraine did not ratify that agreement.



Over 40 mortar shells ‘fired to kill’ into Russia from Ukraine
At least 45 mortar shells fired at targets located inside the Rostov-on-Don region have been unleashed by Ukraine’s army, Russia’s border officials said. The barrage destroyed multiple houses and forced an evacuation of civilians.

RT,
25 July 2014


Investigators say they were examining the site of a previous shelling near the Primiusskiy hamlet right on the southwestern edge of Russia on Wednesday, when a cannonade went off from the other side of the border.

There is no doubt that those shooting from the Ukrainian side picked their target, and tried to kill Russian security officials,” said Investigative Committee representative Vladimir Markin.

It is only the poor training of Ukrainian gunners, and the timely evacuation of Russian officials under the cover of armored vehicles that thwarted their plan.”

Six houses in the village were damaged, and one woman received a concussion as a result of a nearby explosion.

The barrage is continuing from the other side of the border, and its intensity has not decreased,” said Vasily Malaev, the regional border service spokesman.

Shells from artillery fights in Ukraine have frequently landed on Russian territory since the beginning of summer. Primiusskiy was previously shelled just two days ago.


Осколки от украинских снарядов попали во дворы жителей хутора Примиусский http://rostov-news.net/society/2014/07/23/16427.html 

Earlier this week, a temporary refugee camp for Ukrainians fleeing the conflict was relocated further from the border, after several mortars landed nearby.

Additionally, one man was killed and two others received serious injuries when a Ukrainian shell hit a house in the region earlier this month.



На хуторе Примиусский под Ростовом разорвались три украинских снаряда http://nahnews.com.ua/na-xutore-primiusskij-pod-rostovom-razorvalis-tri-ukrainskix-snaryada/ 
At the time, the Russian Foreign Ministry described the incident as “an act of aggression” and threatened “irreversible consequences” if attacks were not discontinued.

Ukrainian officials have denied responsibility, and say that it is Russia that has been using its artillery to support anti-Kiev militants in the Donetsk region across the border.

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