Thread: Empire Strikes Back, Russia Announces Sanctions On The West

Originally Posted by zygote1

In violation of an earlier tentative agreement, Russia had sent the convoy of roughly 200 trucks to a border crossing under the control of pro-Russia separatists, raising the prospect that it could enter Ukraine without being inspected by Ukraine and the Red Cross. Ukraine vowed to use all means necessary to block the convoy in such a scenario, leading to fears of escalation in the conflict.

"ICRC spokeswoman Anastasia Isyuk said talks between the organization, Ukraine and Russia were continuing but she could not confirm where the Russian convoy was headed. "The plans keep changing, the discussions are going ahead and we will not confirm for sure until we know an agreement has been reached," Isyuk said in Geneva.
Russia's Foreign Ministry says the convoy has 262 vehicles, including about 200 trucks carrying aid."


Who is blocking the aid?

Originally Posted by OhOh

Who is blocking the aid?

What aid? Empty trucks.

Ukraine officially recognizes Russian aid convoy as humanitarian News | National Headlines

It seems the Ukrainian Minister has recognised the "empty trucks" do in fact contain aid. Maybe Bsnub has a dircet line to the prime Minister who is yet to be convinced?


"Ukraine Minister of Social Policy Lyudmila Denisova has signed an order officially recognizing the Russian convoy stuck at the border as humanitarian aid cargo of the International Committee of the Red Cross. “In accordance with Articles 4 and 5 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Humanitarian Aid’ considering the initiative of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on receiving humanitarian aid within the framework of international humanitarian missions under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to recognize the cargo as humanitarian aid, the document reads.
Kiev granted Russian cargo humanitarian aid status after the Red Cross sent a petition to Kiev to allow the Russian humanitarian aid to enter eastern Ukraine, after the Russian cargo was held at the Ukrainian border since August 14."

Nothing on the IRC site confirming this yet.

Sitting behind a desk on the 11th floor of the city’s administration building, flanked by two Cossack gunmen, the newly-appointed deputy prime minister of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic is fresh in from Moscow, where he has spent the last two years in hiding due to multiple international warrants out for his arrest. He is well groomed, articulate, and possesses an extremely unusual but impressive resume.

“I was invited by the government of the DPR to… revive law enforcement,” explains Vladimir Antyufeyev, picking his words carefully. "I think it is my previous experiences that brought me to consideration for this position,” he adds with a wry smile.

From Transnistria to Abkhazia, over the last two decades Antyufeyev has played an instrumental role in the political architecture of nearly every breakaway republic in the post-Soviet space.

In 1991 Antyufeyev, then a senior officer in the Latvia-based branch of the special police unit OMON, cut his teeth in what was to be a long career of political agitation by helping to organize a KGB-led attempt to overthrow the newly independent county’s government. The bid failed, and Antyufeyev and his employees fled Latvia a mere “two hours before they would have arrested us all,” he tells VICE News. But the Soviet idealist was undeterred.

Later the same year he adopted the pseudonym Vladimir Shevtsov, and took the position of Head of the Ministry of State Security in Transnistria — an unrecognized republic on a slither of land sandwiched between the River Dniester in Moldova and Ukraine’s eastern border. He held the post for the next two decades, before being ousted in 2012 after backing the wrong presidential candidate.

"It was unfortunate," he said. "But, anyway, I think that I had accomplished my task over there. I single-handedly created from the ground a security structure, and it was the most effective one in the region."

The rebel republic’s deputy PM, who describes himself as a “political scientist,” says he also worked in Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Crimea. “My employment history is no secret, I was awarded medals by the state in these countries, and I am proud of it,” he tells VICE News.

Siberian-born Antyfeyev is just the latest arrival from Moscow in war-torn eastern Ukraine. The key positions of defense minister and prime minister of the rebel People's Republic — the political and administrative helm of the armed insurgency in the country’s east — are also held by Russian nationals: Igor Girkin and Alexander Borodai.

Girkin, better known by his nom-de-guerre “Strelkov” — meaning “Shooter” in Russian — arrived in the rebel republic in mid-April. A war re-enactment fanatic, with a fondness for playing the role of the White Guard general Mikhail Drozfovsky, who was killed in a battle with Bolsheviks in 1919, Girkin has openly admitted he was a Russian intelligence officer until one year ago.

Self-styled Prime Minister Borodai, a Muscovite like Antyufeyev, also worked in Transnistria and says he knows Strelkov from Crimea, Chechnia, and other “hotspots.” Both have written articles for the Russian nationalist newspaper Zaftra — a publication that has grown hugely in influence during Putin’s third term.

“This is the classic playbook of the Kremlin, to parachute in its own people to guide locals and augment existing resentments,” Brian Whitmore, Senior Eurasia Editor at Radio Free Europe, tells VICE News. “We have seen this strategy deployed many times before, in Transnistria, Abkhazia, and so on, but this time it is dialed up to 11, and these figures [Girkin, Borodai, and Antyufeyev] are the absolute personification of this strategy.”



Unlike prior conflicts in the post-Soviet space, however, the Ukraine crisis has attracted the world’s attention, shining an unwelcome spotlight on the Kremlin’s meddling. “The difference this time is that the strategy has not stayed below the radar. This time, the international community is looking at what’s happening and there is no longer a plausible deniability, such as a pretense of sending peacekeeping troops,” explains Whitmore.

A further complicating factor for the Kremlin — and in stark contrast to previous proxy wars fought by Russia within the borders of its domineered neighbors — the Ukrainian government, which was brought to power on the back of revolution, has refused to back-down to the bullying.

Since taking the reigns of power in May, the country’s new president, Petro Poroshenko, has intensified the anti-terrorism operation in the country’s east. “These terrorists and bandits will be punished and destroyed," vowed Poroshenko, who has overseen the introduction of conscription and a military tax aimed at raising a further $1 billion in funding for the army.

The result has been a fierce and escalating war that has displaced at least 230,000 people from the region, and killed more than 1,000, according to the latest figures released by the UN.

It is in this context, with its escalating violence on the ground, including the downing of the MH17 flight to Malaysia, that Moscow is now desperately struggling to regain control over the situation without losing face.

“It’s clear that Russia didn’t have a clear and comprehensive blueprint for east Ukraine and the situation has quickly spiraled,” Mark Galeotti, a professor at New York University and expert in security in the post-Soviet world, tells VICE News. “The loose idea appears to have been a short-term operation. To stir up chaos and bring Kiev to the negotiating table. But when that didn’t happen and insurrection gained a momentum of its own, Russia has had to think about how to re-exert its influence and limit the damage.”

Part of the solution has been to increase the flow and sophistication of the weaponry flowing to the rebels across Ukraine’s eastern border. The pro-Russia fighters operating in the region, once only equipped with a pilfered ragtag of arms looted from granddad’s attic and seized from SBU stock rooms, now have a vast array of weaponry including tanks, armored personnel carriers, surface-to-air missiles, mortars, and multi-rocket launch systems.

But more sophisticated arms have created a need for greater control of those using them. Moscow cannot risk the international outrage of a repeat of the MH17 disaster, which according to Washington was most likely shot down by inexperienced rebel fighters who mistook the passenger aircraft for a military target.

Indeed, as evidenced by a series of Russian soldiers’ "selfies" posted to Instagram, those entering into eastern Ukraine's conflict zone from Russia are increasingly no longer just Cossack adventurers, but trained military technicians able to operate complex equipment. They are state funded, and a lot more controllable from Moscow.

“The likes of Antyufeyev are the other side of this same coin — the political technicians,” says Galeotti. “They are the instruments of the Kremlin, the enactors of policy that comes from the very top. They are here under Moscow’s direction, with the goal of trying to bring order to the chaos. People like Antyufeyev are clearly not stupid — he has an amazing instinct for self-preservation and substantial experience in this kind of task."

The exact orders and directions of the Kremlin are not yet clear, however.

According to NATO, Russian troops have been re-massing on Ukraine’s eastern border for the last month, and now number more than 15,000. Military intervention would be politically and economically costly for Putin, but not as much as failure, which is “not an option,” warns Galleotti.

“It's not the preferred option, but unfortunately [a Russian invasion] is certainly not yet off-the-cards either,” he adds.

Back on the 11th floor, Antyufeyev is coming to the end of an impassioned rant about how Ukraine is an "artificially constructed country" existing only at the benevolence of Russia's guarantee of its territorial integrity.

“Let me finish by telling you a story," he says, launching into a lengthy rendition of one of Pushkin’s famous fairytales — this one about a greedy fisherman’s wife and a magic goldfish that granted her desires, until she wanted so much that everything she had wished for was taken back.

“Her house was once again a cracked-through rickety hut. And I suppose this is what will happen with Kiev now, the mother of all Russian cities,” finishes Antyufeyev, with an ominous smile. “At the end of this story, all returns to as it once was.”

Link

Originally Posted by bsnub

And I suppose this is what will happen with Kiev now, the mother of all Russian cities

Strange thing for him to say- Kiev was the first capital of Russia, before St Petersburg & Moscow.

Originally Posted by sabang

Originally Posted by bsnub

And I suppose this is what will happen with Kiev now, the mother of all Russian cities

Strange thing for him to say- Kiev was the first capital of Russia, before St Petersburg & Moscow.

Indeed but the Russian/Slav loves to suffer. It is ingrained.

^^^Yes it is strange that some countries introduce expatriates to help run their countries industry or administrations. Never seen it before.

Originally Posted by sabang

My opinion- good on you Vladimir, it was pretty obvious the game the neo-Nazi's were playing, and the humanitarian relief mission was, and is, urgent.

Originally Posted by sabang

And our 'allies' in this conflict are little but brutal Nazi thugs, Ukrainian ultra-Nationalists.

News from The Associated Press

"Russian aid trucks begin to leave Ukraine
DONETSK, Russia (AP) - Hundreds of trucks from a bitterly disputed Russian aid convoy to rebel-held eastern Ukraine rolled back across the border into Russia on Saturday. An Associated Press reporter counted 225 of the white tarp-covered trucks as they drove from Ukraine into a Russian border town called Donetsk, which bears the same name as the largest rebel-held city in Ukraine. A second AP reporter on the Ukrainian side of the border was able to look inside about 40 of the tractor-trailers side and confirmed they were empty."




Thank goodness no reported problems, so far.

Things may look bad at the moment, but when the Russian winter really does set in, December time, these civilians in the Ukrainian war zone are going to starve.
Things will turn nasty for the EU this coming winter.
European Brussells politicians blunder into another EU cock up.

looks like Putin has an ooopsie moment

Evidence of direct Moscow military involvement in Ukraine grows
Moscow has repeatedly denied claims by Kiev and western capitals that it has funnelled arms and soldiers across the border to support pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Andriy Lysenko, a Ukrainian army spokesman, said since the Russian troops were captured more than 20km inside Ukraine, their presence could not have been accidental.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ac363240-2...#axzz3BY9arj00


I can't wait for the Russian apologists to explain this away.

Nothing to explain. No biggie.

Originally Posted by zygote1

Andriy Lysenko, a Ukrainian army spokesman, said since the Russian troops were captured more than 20km inside Ukraine, their presence could not have been accidental.

They were going to their new holiday homes in Crimea.

As it's the first time they took a wrong turning, crossed the non existant border and were happily going along singing "We're all going on our summer holiday, we're all going for a week or two.......". Then bang, bang, bang which they ignored as they were in the Uncle's Lada. A few more bangs and they decided to stop. You should have seen their faces when a platoon of armed men popped up out of the grass.

If you think the men look unhappy you should have seen the wife's pictures.

This is going to turn out to be a bitter winter.
For the EUROPEAN Union.
When they return to parliament after the summer holidays, they have to decide whether to arm the Kiev crowd, against the Russians.
Only a few hours to go.
Time for Great Britain to get out of the EU

Originally Posted by wasabi

This is going to turn out to be a bitter winter.
For the EUROPEAN Union.
When they return to parliament after the summer holidays, they have to decide whether to arm the Kiev crowd, against the Russians.
Only a few hours to go.
Time for Great Britain to get out of the EU

Hmm...

Wonder where China stands in this sticky situation.
I can almost imagine whom they might sympathize with - a little....

The enemy of my enemy.

Now that Russia has invaded the Ukraine with its tanks APCs and grad missile system vehicles, and the Russian proxy army of Ukrainian Russians has stated repeatedly that several thousand Russians have "volunteered", it seems our Russian apologists are going to have to come up with more imaginative explanations for there being "no" Russian military personnel in the Ukraine. I anticipate that the tangents offered up will be even more ludicrous than before.

At this point in time, this apologist sees absolutely nothing for Russia to apologise for. Succesfully avoiding a bloodbath in the Crimea is hardly holocaust material, the aid convoy cannot exactly be compared to the bombing of Dresden, and the neo-nazi paramilitaries performing their atrocities, are not working for Putin. But stay tuned, things may well warm up.

Originally Posted by sabang

At this point in time, this apologist sees absolutely nothing for Russia to apologise for. Succesfully avoiding a bloodbath in the Crimea is hardly holocaust material, the aid convoy cannot exactly be compared to the bombing of Dresden, and the neo-nazi paramilitaries performing their atrocities, are not working for Putin. But stay tuned, things may well warm up.

LOL. When did tanks, apcs and 1000+ troops get termed an aid convoy? It's a military invasion that is a breach of international law and a non aggression treaty.

Looks like things are indeed warming up-
Kiev and the West have accused Russian troops of being behind a lightning counter-offensive that has seen the rebels seize swathes of territory from Ukrainian government forces, dramatically turning the tide in the four-month conflict.

The new rebel advance has raised fears that the Kremlin could be seeking to create a land corridor between Russia and Crimea, the strategic Black Sea peninsula.
The sharp escalation came just days after Putin held talks with Ukraine's President Petro Porokshenko but failed to make any significant breakthrough.
NATO on Thursday said Russia had sent at least 1,000 troops to fight alongside the rebels, along with air defence systems, artillery, tanks and armoured vehicles, and had massed 20,000 troops near the border.
NATO tells Russia to halt 'illegal' actions in Ukraine | Bangkok Post: news


Can only speculate, but it looks like Vlad is all set to seize a slice of eastern Ukraine back if The Ukrainian government pursues Nato membership. Anyway, the reports a couple of weeks ago that the speratists were on the verge of defeat, was obviously wishful thinking.