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US
boosting ‘anti-propaganda’ budget, mulling ‘increase of
lethality’ for Ukraine support – Nuland
RT,
5
March, 2015
Washington
and its NATO allies have already spent over $110 million on “security
assistance” to Ukraine and are considering increasing the
“lethality” of the aid, a top US diplomat told a Congressional
committee in an accusatory anti-Russia speech.
“We
have, over the last 14 months, provided $118 million in security
assistance” to the authorities in Kiev, Assistant Secretary of
State Victoria Nuland told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on
Wednesday. In addition to training, the aid included high-end
defensive systems such as artillery radars and communications
equipment.
“All
28 NATO allies have provided some form of security assistance to
Ukraine,” said Nuland.
While
visiting Hungary in mid-February, Russian president Vladimir Putin
told reporters that the West had been supplying Kiev with weapons,
but that he was still optimistic about the ceasefire agreed at Minsk
days earlier. At the time, the claim was rejected as “incorrect”
by State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
According
to Nuland, however, the US is “giving a significant amount of
nonlethal security support, defensive weapons, to the Ukrainians. The
issue is whether to increase the lethality, the issue is the kinds of
systems.”
Asked
whether Washington might rather send Ukraine money to buy weapons,
Nuland said the government in Kiev has had “a lot of difficulty”
getting countries to sell it weapons “in the absence of the US
providing” them. She could not, however, say whether or when the
White House may decide to send weapons to Kiev.
Washington
boosts ‘anti-propaganda’ budget
Meanwhile,
the US has been ramping up its information campaign which Nuland says
is aimed at “countering lies with truth.” Washington will spend
over $23 million on Russian-language programming in 2015 – an
increase of 49 percent from last year, and over 100 percent from
2013.
For
propaganda & 'democracy promotion’: State Dept seeks budget to
counter RT
In
addition, the Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia
spoke of her requests for “more than $20 million in foreign
assistance and public diplomacy funds.”
This
would involve “training” for Russian-speaking journalists,
“support” for civil society watchdogs and independent media, and
“exchange programs” for students and entrepreneurs, among other
things, Nuland explained.
At
the same time, Nuland alleged Russia was using “nefarious, dirty
money” to fund “false NGOs” in Europe and financing political
candidates “out of Kremlin coffers.”
Nuland
tried to have it both ways, claiming in her prepared remarks that the
“Kremlin’s pervasive propaganda campaign” was “poisoning
minds… across Europe”, but alleging the existence of a “strong
public backlash” in Europe against Russian media, and in the US
against RT, “because people want truth, not Kremlin fabrication.”
The
US’ truthful information campaign efforts seem to have had some
effect – particularly in the Capitol. Congressman Eliot Engel
(D-NY) recently referenced a recent Radio Free Europe story, and
cited as fact the unsubstantiated claim by US Army General Ben Hodges
that 12,000 Russian troops were allegedly present in Ukraine. And RFE
is just a small part of the international broadcast service of the US
government.
Hate
speech, no proof
The
US assistant secretary did not bother to back her sweeping statements
and strong rhetoric against Russia with much evidence. At one point
she even seemed to have thrown her own piece of propaganda by gluing
together various statements in one very long sentence, apparently
designed to create the feeling that Russia was to blame for
everything happening in Ukraine.
“In
eastern Ukraine, Russia and its separatist puppets have unleashed
unspeakable violence and pillage; hundreds and hundreds of Russian
heavy weapons and troops have poured across the border; a commercial
airliner was shot down this summer; Donetsk airport was obliterated,”
Nuland said.
Nuland’s
testimony included the claim that “hundreds” of Russian tanks and
other weapon systems have entered Ukraine to support the militias in
Donetsk and Lugansk, all as Washington or any of its allies are yet
to prove any of those hot headed statements.
When,
back in December, Americans planned to publish photos allegedly of
Russian vehicles entering Ukraine – they turned out to be 2008
photographs from South Ossetia.
The
only objective international monitoring force, the OSCE, has never
detected any crossings of Russian military or its equipment into
Ukraine.
“Crimea
and parts of eastern Ukraine suffered a reign of terror,” said the
chief strategist of US foreign policy in Ukraine, simply neglecting
the fact that it was the chaos in Kiev that forced the Crimean
referendum and subsequent ascension of the peninsula into Russia.
The
US diplomat also neglected to mention the thousands of civilian
casualties which have occurred as a result of Kiev’s so-called
anti-terrorist operation in the east, launched after people in the
region refused to recognize the coup in Ukraine. Nuland implied that
it was Moscow’s actions that forced some 1.7 million Ukrainians to
flee their homes – most of whom by coincidence ended up moving to
Russia, the country taking care of the massive inflow of refugees.
“This
is a manufactured conflict – controlled by the Kremlin; fueled by
Russian tanks and heavy weapons; financed at Russian taxpayers’
expense and costing the lives of young Russians whose mothers, wives
and children are told not to investigate their deaths too closely if
they want to receive benefits,” Nuland said failing to take into
the account Washington’s role in the Ukrainian tragedy.
Nuland's
statement seemed to have resonated with equal passion inside the
committee. The committee chair, Representative Ed Royce, said the
Kremlin “has recruited every skinhead and every malcontent in the
Russian-speaking world and tried to bring them into the east” of
Ukraine.
Representative
Eliot Engel accused Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, of
spreading “lies, lies and more lies” and representative Albio
Sires called the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “a KGB thug who
happens to be the head of another state,” as quoted by the
Guardian.
And
while a number of Congressmen insisted that the Minsk ceasefire was
not holding, and Nuland claimed the OSCE had confirmed “about a
hundred” violations – the OSCE itself has just confirmed
ceasefire violations over the past week have been on the decline in
east Ukraine.
Over
4,500 Russian Military Servicemen Begin Drills in Western Siberia
Up
to 4,500 military personnel have begun training in three regions of
the Urals, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
MOSCOW
(Sputnik) – More than 4,500 Russian military personnel have begun
exercises in three regions of the Urals, the Russian Defense Ministry
said Wednesday.
"The
exercises will continue for a month… Artillery units will hold more
than 30 controlled exercises with rocket strikes and firing
artillery," the ministry said in a press release.
The
exercises will be held in the Kemerovo, Chelyabinsk, and Orenburg
regions in western Siberia, half of them to be conducted at night,
the ministry said. The drills will include Grad and Uragan rocket
complexes.
Earlier
on Tuesday, more than 2,500 servicemen began drills in Russia's Far
East, according to the Eastern Military District's press service. The
artillerymen involved in the exercise were expected to complete
long-distance marches and practice coordination between units.
The
large-scale Center 2015 exercises are also expected to be held from
summer through fall 2015 in several Russian regions as well as some
areas abroad, with the participation of tens of thousands of military
personnel, the Russian Defense Ministry said last December.
In
total, Russia has planned at least 4,000 drills for 2015, according
to the deference ministry.
Defense
Ministry’s Western Military Region for the Baltic Fleet’s press
service said that joint Missile Forces from the Baltic Fleet have
begun in Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad.
Russian
Army Liberates Town Using Drones, Mi-28 Night Hunters in Exercise
A
motorized infantry brigade stationed in Chechnya has begun exercises
in which a town captured by illegal armed formations is liberated
with the help of drones and close air support.
A
motorized infantry brigade stationed in the Chechen Republic has
begun counter-terrorism drills using drones Mi-28 Night Hunter
helicopters, the Southern Military District's press service
announced.
"The
demonstrative exercises involve over 700 servicemen and around 100
units of military equipment, including modernized T-72 tanks, 2S1
Gvozdika self-propelled guns, Grad multiple rocket launcher systems,
MT-LB multipurpose transporters, as well as the army aviation's Mi-28
Night Hunter helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),"
according to the press service.
With
close aerial support from helicopters, servicemen will "practice
maneuvering and firing actions to destroy an illegal armed formation"
in a simulated town. Meanwhile, drones will conduct reconnaissance
and monitor the detachments' actions.
The
exercises will take place at the Sernovodsky training grounds in
Russia's Stavropol territory, and will continue until March 6.
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