The Building Russia-American tension - 03/26/2015

Why Is Russia Building Massive Underground Bomb Shelters?

Zero Hedge,

26 March, 2015

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,


Did you know that the Russians have a massive underground complex in the Ural mountains that has been estimated to be approximately 400 square miles in size?  In other words, it is roughly as big as the area inside the Washington D.C. beltway.  Back in the 1990s, the Clinton administration was deeply concerned about the construction of this enormous complex deep inside Yamantau mountain, but they could never seem to get any straight answers from the Russians.  The command center for this complex is rumored to be 3,000 feet directly straight down from the summit of this giant rock quartz mountain.  And of course U.S. military officials will admit that there are dozens of other similar sites throughout Russia, although most of them are thought to be quite a bit smaller.  But that is not all that the Russians have been up to.

For example, Russian television has reported that 5,000 new emergency nuclear bomb shelters were scheduled to have been completed in the city of Moscow alone by the end of 2012.  Most Americans don’t realize this, but the Russians have never stopped making preparations for nuclear war.  Meanwhile, the U.S. government has essentially done nothing to prepare our citizens for an attack.  The assumption seems to be that a nuclear attack will probably never happen, and that if it does it will probably mean the end of our civilization anyway.
Needless to say, the Russians are very secretive about their massive underground facility at Yamantau mountain, and no American has ever been inside.  The following is what Wikipedia has to say about it…

Large excavation projects have been observed by U.S. satellite imagery as recently as the late 1990s, during the time of Boris Yeltsin’s government after the fall of the Soviet Union. Two garrisons, Beloretsk-15 and Beloretsk-16, were built on top of the facility, and possibly a third, Alkino-2, as well, and became the closed town of Mezhgorye in 1995. They are said to house 30,000 workers each. Repeated U.S. questions have yielded several different responses from the Russian government regarding Mount Yamantaw. They have said it is a mining site, a repository for Russian treasures, a food storage area, and a bunker for leaders in case of nuclear war. Responding to questions regarding Yamantaw in 1996, Russia’s Defense Ministry stated: “The practice does not exist in the Defense Ministry of Russia of informing foreign mass media about facilities, whatever they are, that are under construction in the interests of strengthening the security of Russia.” Large rail lines serve the facility.

Back in 1996, the New York Times reported on the continuing construction of this site.  U.S. officials were quite puzzled that the Russians were continuing to build it even though the Cold War was supposedly over at that point…

In a secret project reminiscent of the chilliest days of the cold war, Russia is building a mammoth underground military complex in the Ural Mountains, Western officials and Russian witnesses say.

Hidden inside Yamantau mountain in the Beloretsk area of the southern Urals, the project involves the construction of a huge complex served by a railroad, a highway and thousands of workers.

Within the U.S. intelligence community, there was a tremendous amount of debate at that time regarding the purposes of this facility, but what everyone agreed on was that it was going to be absolutely massive…

A report in Sovetskaya Rossiya said the project involves construction of a railroad, a modern highway and towns for tens of thousands of workers and their families. 

“The complex is as big as the Washington area inside the Beltway,” said an American official familiar with intelligence reports.

A couple of years later, a top U.S. general said that he believed that the complex at Yamantau had “millions of square feet available for underground facilities”…

In 1998, in a rare public comment, then-Commander of the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) Gen. Eugene Habinger, called Yamantau “a very large complex — we estimate that it has millions of square feet available for underground facilities. We don’t have a clue as to what they’re doing there.”

It is believed to be large enough to house 60,000 persons, with a special air filtration system designed to withstand a nuclear, chemical or biological attack. Enough food and water is believed to be stored at the site to sustain the entire underground population for months on end.

A few years after that, in 2003, there was an article in the Washington Post by Bruce G. Blair in which Yamantau was mentioned as a potential key target for U.S. nuclear war planners…

Die-hard [U.S.] nuclear war planners actually have their eyes on targets in Russia and China, including missile silos and leadership bunkers. For these planners, the Cold War never ended. Their top two candidates [i.e., targets] in Russia are located inside the Yamantau and Kosvinsky mountains in the central and southern Urals.

Both were huge construction projects begun in the late 1970s, when U.S. nuclear firepower took special aim at the Communist Party’s leadership complex.

Fearing a decapitating strike, the Soviets sent tens of thousands of workers to these remote sites, where U.S. spy satellites spotted them still toiling away in the late 1990s.

But the Russians have not just been building giant underground facilities deep in the Urals.

They have also been constructing thousands of new underground bomb shelters in major cities such as Moscow.

The following is an excerpt from an RT article in 2010…

Nearly 5,000 new emergency bomb shelters will be built in Moscow by 2012 to save people in case of potential attacks. 

Moscow authorities say the measure is urgent as the shelters currently available in the city can house no more that half of its population.

In the last 20 years, the area of air-raid defense has been developed little, and the existing shelters have become outdated. Moreover, they are located mostly in the city center, which makes densely populated Moscow outskirts especially vulnerable in the event of a nuclear attack.

In order to resolve the issue, the city has given architects a task to construct a typical model of an easy-to-build shelter that will be located all over the city 10 to 15 meters underneath apartment blocks, shopping centers, sport complexes and parks, as in case of attack people will need to reach the shelters within a minute.

Of course all of this construction cost the Russians a lot of money.

One estimate put the cost at “anywhere from half a billion to a billion dollars”…

Though the bunkers are supposed to be designed to shelter the population in the event of a nuclear attack, government officials say it’s only a precaution and they do not expect such an attack or nuclear outbreak (e.g. Chernobyl) to occur. Neither RT or the Russian government provided estimates for the cost of the facilities. A Popular Mechanics article that reviewed a number of different types of bunkers and building practices had varying prices depending on the type of shelter. Since the proposed Russian bunkers would hold roughly 1000 people each (based on the population count and other details), one could estimate that the lowest price point for a bunker this size, with basic necessities like bathrooms and reserve food for a day or two, may run in the area of around $100,000 – $200,000. This would put a conservative price tag for 5000 shelters anywhere from half a billion to a billion dollars. A significant investment, indeed.

So what about us?

Has the U.S. government constructed any bunkers for the survival of the general population in the United States?

Of course not.  In the event of a nuclear war, I guess they just expect pretty much all of us to die.

The Russians also recently finished work on a brand new national defense center in Moscow that contains extensive underground facilities…

Russia is launching a new national defense facility, which is meant to monitor threats to national security in peacetime, but would take control of the entire country in case of war.

The new top-security, fortified facility in Moscow includes several large war rooms, a brand new supercomputer in the heart of a state-of-the-art data processing center, underground facilities, secret transport routes for emergency evacuation and a helicopter pad, which was deployed for the first time on Nov. 24 on the Moscow River. The Defense Ministry won’t disclose the price tag for the site, but it is estimated at the equivalent of several billion dollars.

In addition, the Russians have also been developing a new anti-ballistic missile system that is designed to keep U.S. nuclear missiles from getting to their targets in the first place.

The U.S. doesn’t have anything like the S-500 that is currently being developed by the Russians.  At the latest, it is scheduled to be deployed in 2017, but there are rumors that it is already starting to be deployed today.  The following comes from military-today.com…

The S-500 is not an upgrade of the S-400, but a new design. It uses a lot of new technology and is superior to the S-400. It was designed to intercept ballistic missiles. It is planned to have a range of 500-600 km and hit targets at altitudes as high as 40 km. Some sources claim that this system is capable of tracking 5-20 ballistic targets and intercepting up to 5-10 ballistic targets simultaneously. It can defeat ballistic missiles traveling at 5-7 kilometers per second. It has been reported that this air defense system can also target low orbital satellites. It is planned that the S-500 will shield Moscow and the regions around it. It will replace the current A-135 anti-ballistic missile system. The S-500 missiles will be used only against the most important targets, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, AWACS and jamming aircraft.

Sadly, most Americans are not interested in this stuff at all.

These days, most Americans just assume that the Russians are “our friends” and that a war with Russia could never possibly happen.

What they don’t realize is that the Russian people see things very, very differently.  Today, 81 percent of Russians have a negative opinion of the United States.  Our interference in the conflict in Ukraine has made the Russian people very angry, and there are many over there that now believe that a shooting war with the United States is inevitable.

And this week things between the United States and Russia got even more tense.  Barack Obama has already announced that we will be sending “non-lethal” military aid to the Ukrainians, but now the U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a resolution that calls for Obama to send “lethal” military aid to the government in Kiev…

Yesterday, in a vote that largely slid under the radar, the House of Representatives passed a resolution urging Obama to send lethal aid to Ukraine, providing offensive, not just “defensive” weapons to the Ukraine army – the same insolvent, hyperinflating Ukraine which, with a Caa3/CC credit rating, last week started preparations to issue sovereign debt with a US guarantee, in essence making it a part of the United States (something the US previously did as a favor to Egypt before the Muslim Brotherhood puppet regime was swept from power by the local army). 

The resolution passed with broad bipartisan support by a count of 348 to 48.

According to DW,  the measure urges Obama to provide Ukraine with “lethal defensive weapon systems” that would better enable Ukraine to defend its territory from “the unprovoked and continuing aggression of the Russian Federation.”

“Policy like this should not be partisan,” said House Democrat Eliot Engel, the lead sponsor of the resolution. “That is why we are rising today as Democrats and Republicans, really as Americans, to say enough is enough in Ukraine.”

If Obama does decide to send lethal military aid to the Ukrainians, the Russians are going to flip out.

Sadly, neither side seems very interested in peace at this point.
We just continue to take even more steps along the road toward World War III, and it is a war that the United States is completely and utterly unprepared for.

Putin Says Attempts To Tip Nuclear Balance Don't Scare Russia, Moscow Will Uncover "Schemes"

Zero Hedge,

26 March, 2015



Russia is once again ratcheting up the rhetoric, this time to a fever pitch. Just a day after Putin’s Security Council posted a remarkably accurate and amusingly concise assessment of US foreign policy aims on its website, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry as well as President Putin himself are out with strong condemnations of both the NATO presence in Eastern Europe as well as US plans to arm Kiev. 

The comments come on the heels of a House vote which showed overwhelming support for the provision of lethal aid to Kiev and just a day after the first batch of American humvees received a warm welcome from President Petro Poroshenko. As a reminder, here’s what both sides had to say about Congress’s willingness to maybe start an all out proxy war in the Baltics: 

The prepackaged spin is already ready: "sending weapons to the Kiev government would not mean involvement in a new war for America", claimed the abovementioned Eliot Engel who sponsored the document. “The people of Ukraine are not looking for American troops," Engel said. "They are just looking for the weapons.”

So the only question is how Russia will responds to this escalation: according to RT, "Washington's decision to supply Ukraine with ammunition and weapons would “explode the whole situation” in eastern Ukraine and Russia would be forced to respond “appropriately,” Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at the end of February.

While it’s not immediately clear what constitutes an “appropriate” response, and while the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Alexander Lukashevich contends that an outright military confrontation between the West and Russia “isn’t something anyone wants,” that’s where the ambiguity and niceties end. Here’s more via Bloomberg: 

NATO drills in Europe are buildup of U.S. forces.

Russia says NATO members on Russian border planning to deploy planes capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

Airforce drills in Estonia are buildup of U.S. presence; U.S. jets may reach St Petersburg from Estonia w/in mins.

U.S. is heavily deploying weaponry in eastern Europe. 

U.S. arms supplies to Ukraine are threat to Russia, won’t scare Russia.

The Estonia reference refers to the “bilateral training” being conducted by the Estonian air force and 14 F-16s from the US. As The Aviationist notes, “the purpose of the deployment is to enhance interoperability with a NATO ally and with other regional air arms however, the deployment is above all, another step in the U.S. Air Force’s ‘Forward-Ready-Now!’ posture in the European theater where the Pentagon has already strengthened its presence.”

In case the Foreign Ministry’s words weren’t clear enough, Putin himself had a few choice words for the US and its allies:

• PUTIN SAYS IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO SCARE RUSSIA: INTERFAX
• PUTIN SEES ATTEMPTS TO BREAK NUCLEAR PARITY: INTERFAX 
  

But even as Putin assures the West that the Kremlin fears no man and even though Moscow thinks that perhaps the US may be trying to undermine the global nuclear balance by making mutually assured destruction not so mutual, the Russian President is willing to talk about these things:

• PUTIN TELLS FSB WE'RE READY FOR DIALOGUE W/ OPPOSITION: IFX
  

Meanwhile, the Kremlin seems to believe that certain intricate plots are in the offing designed not only to destabilize Russia’s highly democratic political processes, but to undermine its thriving financial markets as well. 

Here’s more via Bloomberg:

Western intelligence services are planning operations to discredit, destabilize Russia, including for elections in 2016-18, Interfax reports, citing President Vladimir Putin comments to Federal Security Service meeting.

Putin tells FSB to uncover schemes on securities, currency markets.

*  *  *
So to summarize, Moscow will not be intimidated by NATO because it’s impossible to scare a Russian, Vladimir Putin is open to talking with the opposition but he does not appreciate the implicit attempt to tip the nuclear power balance, nor does the Kremlin approve of the US scrambling F-16s to the Baltics, and “schemes” of any kind will be ferreted out by the FSB. 

But other than that, tensions seem to be abating. 

Chechnya threatens US arm Mexico in the case of the supply of weapons to Ukraine

Moscow Times
26 March, 2015



A Kremlin spokesman reminded Russia's republic of Chechnya that it is illegal for Russian regions to send weapons abroad, after the Chechen parliament threatened to supply arms to Mexico for it to fight the United States.



The Chechen parliament made the statement in response to a U.S. congressional resolution that called for sending lethal military aid to Ukraine.



“Such statements cannot be approved by Moscow because individual Russian regions cannot send such equipment abroad,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency Thursday.



U.S. arms supplies to Ukraine would be interpreted as a signal to send "the most modern weapons to Mexico" for the resumption of discussions on the legal status of "U.S.-annexed territories that now house … California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and a part of Wyoming," Chechnya's parliament speaker, Dukuvakha Abdurakhmanov, said Tuesday in an online statement.



Mexico ceded these territories to the U.S. under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, a peace deal that ended the Mexican-American War. In exchange, the U.S. agreed to pay $15 million to Mexico and to assume another $3.25 million in debt owed by the Mexican government to American citizens.



The remaining parts of present-day New Mexico and Arizona were bought by the U.S. for $10 million under a separate purchase in 1853.



"We reserve the right to conduct conferences in Russia, Mexico and the U.S. to raise the question of breaking away the above mentioned states from the U.S., and [about] supplying weapons to resistance fighters there," said the Chechen statement, which was published on the local legislature's website.



Abdurakhmanov was responding to a resolution overwhelmingly approved by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week that urged President Barack Obama to provide lethal military aid to Ukraine to help it protect its territorial integrity from pro-Russian separatists in the east.



Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is known for his militant statements in support of the federal government and President Vladimir Putin in particular. He has also repeatedly claimed that the West is trying to foment chaos and destabilize Russia




Moscow suspects US of planning to deploy nuclear-capable frontline aviation near Russia
Joint NATO drills in Estonia will start the functioning of a US Air Force training center at Amari air base close to the Russian border

F-16 fighter jet at the opening of a facility for NATO Air Policing mission at Amari Air Force base in Estonia

TASS
26 March, 2015



MOSCOW, March 26 /TASS/. The US and NATO may be planning to deploy frontline aviation capable of carrying nuclear weapons on Estonia’s border with Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.



"We are particularly concerned with the fact that the Estonian Defense Ministry believes that these exercises [Atlantic Resolve] will start the functioning of a US Air Force training center at Amari air base," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.



According to him, that could signal that separate NATO countries had plans to permanently deploy frontline aviation capable of carrying nuclear weapons on the border with Russia.




"The gradual buildup of US combat potential on Russian frontiers as part of NATO plans to increase its military presence and develop infrastructure on the so-called eastern flank, in the wake of decisions adopted at the NATO summit in Wales, are not only provoking tensions in a region, which has been the most stable region in Europe for decades, but is fraught with long-term negative consequences," Lukashevich stressed.


America in the last line
Америка у последней черты


SWEEP,
25 March, 2015



BY SAMSON



Via Yandex Translate

The State Duma has warned Russia than the US response to the supply of weapons to Ukraine


The State Duma of the Russian Federation must return to President Vladimir Putin the right to send troops to Ukraine if Washington starts real arms supplies to Kiev. This was on Tuesday, March 24, said the first deputy chairman of the faction "Fair Russia" Mikhail Emelyanov. Thus, Moscow made ​​it clear what would be the response to the escalation of the conflict in the South East.


A little before the House of Representatives of the US Congress adopted a resolution recommending to the President US approval of arms sales to Ukraine.


The resolution calls for Barack Obama, "given to him by Congress to apply the authority to give Ukraine lethal lethal defensive weapons." According to the authors of the document, such a move would "increase the chances of the Ukrainian people to protect sovereignty." Furthermore, the resolution rests solely with the Russian responsibility for those killed in the conflict in the Donbass.


"For" the document voted 348 congressmen, "against" - only 48.


"We believe that our Parliament should not pass by this statement," - said Emelyanov. According to him, the Russian Federation can not be created from Ukraine "international blockbuster, sharpened against Russia, armed to the teeth, with the anti-Russian Russophobian power."


The decision of US congressmen on arms Mikhail Emelyanov considers provocative.


"This shows that the United States are not interested in de-escalation of the conflict in the Ukraine ... The United States is trying at all costs to equip Ukraine, because in their geopolitical plans Ukraine is the deterrent towards Russia State that need the US to prevent Russia develop a new superpower ", - said the deputy.


Recall: March 1, 2014, on the eve of the referendum in the Crimea, the Russian president asked the Federation Council authorize the use of military forces in Ukraine "in connection with an extraordinary situation" prevailing in the country, as well as "a threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation", including soldiers of the Black Sea Fleet. On the same day the request was granted. It was assumed that the permit will be valid until the normalization of the political situation in Ukraine, but in June last year, the Federation Council canceled the permission to send troops.


How the situation will develop in the Donbas and around Russia, if the United States still pass the "red line"?


- The US Congress, in adopting resolution, expects to frighten us with the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, - says a leading expert of the Center for Military-Political Studies, MGIMO, Doctor of Political Sciences Mikhail Alexandro. 

- And we need to understand that if we vacillate and to make concessions to the Americans, we will succeed not achieve.


Meanwhile, the statement "Socialist" enough to respond adequately to the United States. In fact, this response - and weak - an attempt to scare States. After all, mind you, Putin none of our legislators did not take away the right to send troops to Ukraine - Russian President he gave it up, and then the State Duma withdrew the decision.


In my opinion, the Kremlin now need to review its policy towards South-East. It is time to understand that only tough and decisive action in Ukraine will make the United States to shut up.


If we, for example, will provide massive aid Novorossia, bringing militias take Kiev, then all the resolution of the US Congress will be worth very little. Moreover, the resolution will be funny - because American arms supply to Ukraine will be no one left. So you need to act, and not to engage in virtual altercation with US lawmakers.


- The United States will take into account the statement of the Russian "Socialist"?


- American deputies more serious guys - compared to our parliamentarians. The House of Representatives, as we see, adopted a resolution unanimously. And why not take our Duma resolution response - say, to condemn the US policy towards Ukraine? Why not prevent that, in response, we also begin the supply of weapons to the Donets Basin and that our Parliament legally oblige the President of the Russian Federation to provide military assistance to South-East?


That is how we should respond. But while we are talking about individual statements of some Russian deputies. Americans seriously do not perceive such demarches ...


- Your forecast: what will happen in the Donbass?


- After another reconciliation, sure starts escalation of hostilities. This can only be one thing: if Ukraine will clinch Poroshenko and Igor Kolomoisky.


Let me remind you that the Ukrainian president and Dnepropetrovsk oligarch not divided largest oil and gas company of the country - "Ukrnafta". Businessman went broke and turned the office into a fortress, saying that the new director will not let into the chair, and the amendments adopted by Parliament in company law, will be challenged in court. Poroshenko gave in response to the challenge Kolomoisky armed guards day. And also said that in the near future will deprive all the governors of the so-called "pocket battalions."


If it comes to fighting in Dnepropetrovsk, this is a time Kiev distract from the conflict in the Donbass. If Poroshenko be able to quickly defeat the Kolomoiskiy, he very likely immediately resume military operation in the South East - on the wave of success to improve its image in the eyes of the radical wing of the Ukrainian society.


- Russia can play on the conflict-Poroshenko Kolomoysky?


- Of Course. In principle, now Kolomoisky interested in seeing that the militias of the LC and the DNI struck a "corridor" to Dnepropetrovsk. This would give the Ukrainian oligarch tool for further bargaining with Kiev. For us it is - a good option.


Generally, our goal is to internal conflicts in the Ukraine has always supported the weak side. Then the parties will be constantly sort things out, and they had no strength left to fight the Donbass ...


- Resolution of the US Congress is advisory in nature - like a military expert, director of the Center for Strategic conditions Ivan Konovalov. - That's why Barack Obama has repeatedly proven to be careful - with all the love of martial tirades - think a hundred times before following the resolution.


If there was evidence that Obama is willing to give "good" for the supply of weapons Ukrainians is activated Europe. So was the case in February, when the US was close to having to start the supply of arms Kiev. Then German Chancellor Angela Merkel managed to convince Obama to abandon their plans. Now this situation could happen again.


Finally, there is an additional constraint. Even in the United States realize that weapons supplied to Ukraine, can raspolztis worldwide. Part of it, no doubt, grab militias, some will be sold corrupt structures of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. As a result, before the actual confrontation line in the Donbass may not reach almost nothing.


Therefore, in my opinion, the resolution of the congress - a symbolic gesture, which, however, demonstrates the depth of anti-Russian American Parliament. I think our legislative branch responds to gesture Americans accordingly.



One answer - really back to President Putin the right to send troops to Ukraine. In general, the actions of the United States would only exacerbate the confrontation in the Donbass, and delayed the time of settlement in the Donbass.


- The United States is likely to decide on the supply of weapons, - said military expert, retired colonel Semyon Bagdasarov. - What we need in response to announce the opening of the supply of arms to militias of New Russia, including modern. For example, anti-tank missile complexes "Cornet".


In addition, the State Duma deputies should attend to the enactment of the Russian military private companies. This will dramatically increase the number of professionally trained volunteers traveling to the South-East, and create from them a capable army.


- Do you think the Russian forces in Ukraine, you need not?


- This is not necessary. There are other, more effective - and not so loud - response on the part of Russia, two of which I have already announced. We need to move in this direction ...


The Americans, meanwhile, replaced Psaki:

Америка у последней черты

Госдума предупредила, чем Россия ответит США на поставки оружия на Украину



Госдума РФ должна вернуть президенту Владимиру Путину право вводить войска на Украину, если Вашингтон начнет реальные поставки оружия Киеву. Об этом во вторник, 24 марта, заявил первый зампред фракции «Справедливая Россия» Михаил Емельянов. Таким образом, Москва дала понять, каким может быть ответ на эскалацию конфликта на Юго-Востоке.



Немногим ранее палата представителей американского конгресса приняла резолюцию с рекомендацией к президенту США одобрить поставки вооружений на Украину.



В резолюции содержится призыв к Бараку Обаме «применить предоставленные ему Конгрессом полномочия для предоставления Украине летальных смертоносных оборонительных вооружений». По мнению авторов документа, такой шаг позволит «увеличить возможности украинского народа для защиты суверенитета». Кроме того, резолюция возлагает исключительно на Россию ответственность за погибших в ходе конфликта в Донбассе.



«За» документ проголосовали 348 конгрессменов, «против» – лишь 48.



«Мы считаем, что наш парламент не должен проходить мимо этого заявления», – отметил Емельянов. По его мнению, РФ не может позволить создать из Украины «международного боевика, заточенного против России, до зубов вооруженного, с антироссийской русофобской властью».



Решение конгрессменов США о поставках оружия Михаил Емельянов считает провокационными.



«Это свидетельствует о том, что США совершенно не заинтересованы в деэскалации конфликта на Украине… Соединенные Штаты пытаются любой ценой вооружить Украину, потому что в их геополитических планах Украина является тем сдерживающим по отношению к России государством, которое нужно США, чтобы не дать России развиться в новую супердержаву», – подчеркнул депутат.



Напомним: 1 марта 2014 года, накануне референдума в Крыму, президент РФ попросил Совет Федерации разрешить использование вооруженных сил на Украине «в связи с экстраординарной ситуацией», сложившейся в этой стране, а также «угрозой жизни граждан РФ», в том числе военнослужащих Черноморского флота. В тот же день просьба была удовлетворена. Предполагалось, что разрешение будет действовать до нормализации общественно-политической обстановки на Украине, но в июне прошлого года Совфед отменил разрешение на ввод войск.



Как будет развиваться ситуация в Донбассе и вокруг России, если США все же перейдут «красную линию»?



– Американский конгресс, принимая резолюцию, рассчитывает запугать нас эскалацией конфликта на Украине, –считает ведущий эксперт Центра военно-политических исследований МГИМО, доктор политических наук Михаил Александров. – И надо понимать: если мы будем проявлять нерешительность и идти на уступки американцам, успеха мы не добьемся.



Между тем, заявления «эсеров» недостаточно, чтобы адекватно ответить США. По сути, это ответная – и слабая – попытка попугать Штаты. Ведь, заметьте, у Путина никто из наших законодателей не отбирал права вводить войска на Украину – российский президент сам от него отказался, и только потом Госдума отозвала это решение.



На мой взгляд, сейчас Кремлю необходимо пересмотреть свою политику в отношении Юго-Востока. Пора понять, что только жесткие и решительные действия на Украине заставят США заткнуться.



Если мы сейчас, к примеру, окажем массированную помощь Новороссии, в результате чего ополченцы возьмут Киев, то все резолюции конгресса США будут стоить очень немногого. Более того, эти резолюции будут смешны – потому что поставлять американское оружие на Украину будет уже некому. Так что нужно действовать, а не заниматься виртуальным препирательством с американскими законодателями.



– США примут во внимание заявление российского «эсера»?



– Американские депутаты более серьезные ребята – по сравнению с нашими парламентариями. Палата представителей, как мы видим, дружно приняла резолюцию. А почему бы нашей Госдуме не принять ответную резолюцию – скажем, с осуждением политики США в отношении Украины? Почему не предупредить, что в ответ мы тоже начнем поставки оружия в Донбасс и что наш парламент законодательно обяжет президента РФ оказывать военную помощь Юго-Востоку?



Именно так нам следует отвечать. Но пока речь идет об отдельных заявлениях отдельных российских депутатов. Американцы всерьез такие демарши не воспринимают…



– Ваш прогноз: как будет развиваться ситуация в Донбассе?



– После очередного замирения, уверен, начнется эскалация военных действий. Этому может помешать только одно: если на Украине войдут в клинч Петр Порошенко и Игорь Коломойский.



Напомню, что украинский президент и днепропетровский олигарх не поделили крупнейшее нефтегазовое предприятие страны – «Укрнафта». Бизнесмен пошел ва-банк и превратил офис в неприступную крепость: мол, нового директора в кресло не пущу, а поправки, принятые Радой в закон об акционерных обществах, буду оспаривать в суде. Порошенко в ответ дал Коломойскому на отвод вооруженной охраны сутки. А еще заявил, что в ближайшее время лишит всех губернаторов так называемых «карманных батальонов».



Если дело дойдет до вооруженных столкновений в Днепропетровске, это на какое-то время отвлечет Киев от конфликта в Донбассе. Если же Порошенко удастся быстро разгромить Коломойского, он с высокой вероятностью тут же возобновит силовую операцию на Юго-Востоке – чтобы на волне успеха улучшить свой имидж в глазах радикального крыла украинского общества.



– Россия может сыграть на конфликте Порошенко-Коломойский?



– Конечно. В принципе, сейчас Коломойский заинтересован в том, чтобы ополченцы из ЛНР и ДНР пробили «коридор» к Днепропетровску. Это дало бы украинскому олигарху инструмент для дальнейшего торга с Киевом. Для нас это – неплохой вариант.



Вообще, наша задача состоит в том, чтобы во внутренних конфликтах на Украине всегда поддерживать слабую сторону. Тогда эти стороны будут постоянно выяснять отношения, и у них не останется сил, чтобы атаковать Донбасс…



– Резолюция конгресса США носит рекомендательный характер, – напоминает военный эксперт, директор Центра стратегической конъюнктуры Иван Коновалов. – Именно поэтому Барак Обама, не раз доказавший свою осторожность – при всей любви к воинственным тирадам – сто раз подумает, прежде чем следовать этой резолюции.



Если же появятся доказательства, что Обама готов дать «добро» на поставку оружия украинцам, то активизируется Европа. Так уже было в феврале, когда США были близки к тому, чтобы начать поставки вооружений Киеву. Тогда канцлеру ФРГ Ангеле Меркель удалось убедить Обаму отказаться от своих планов. Сейчас эта ситуация может повториться.



Наконец, есть дополнительный сдерживающий фактор. Даже в США осознают, что оружие, поставленное на Украину, может расползтись по всему миру. Часть его, без сомнений, захватят ополченцы, часть будет продана коррупционными структурами министерства обороны Украины. В итоге, до реальной линии противостояния в Донбассе, возможно, не дойдет почти ничего.



Поэтому, на мой взгляд, резолюция конгресса – лишь символический жест, который, однако, демонстрирует всю глубину антироссийского настроя американского парламента. Думаю, наша законодательная ветвь власти отреагирует на жест американцев соответствующим образом.



Один из вариантов ответа – действительно вернуть президенту Путину права на ввод войск на Украину. В целом, действия США лишь усугубят противостояние в Донбассе, и отдалят момент урегулирования в Донбассе.



– США, скорее всего, примут решение о поставках оружия, – уверен военный эксперт, полковник запаса Семен Багдасаров. – Нам же в ответ нужно объявить об открытых поставках вооружения для ополчения Новороссии, в том числе современного. Например, противотанковых ракетных комплексов «Корнет».



Кроме того, депутатам Госдумы следовало бы озаботиться принятием законопроекта о российских военных частных компаниях. Это позволит резко увеличить количество профессионально подготовленных добровольцев, отправляющихся на Юго-Восток, и создать из них дееспособную армию.



– Вы считаете, российские войска на Украину вводить не нужно?



– В этом нет необходимости. Есть другие, более эффективные – и не столь громкие – ответные меры со стороны России, две из которых я уже озвучил. Нам нужно двигаться именно в этом направлении…




А американцы тем временем заменили Псаки: