Sooo....no talk on Kiev's gradual descent into Mad Max beyond Thunderdome status??

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Ukraine 'on full combat alert' against possible Russia invasion
Pro-Russian separatists seize control of state buildings in the town of Horlivka, tightening their grip on swathes of Ukraine's east almost unopposed by police

Armed pro-Russian militians have taken over the regional police building of the eastern Ukraine city of Lugansk Photo: AFP/Getty Images

AP

10:46AM BST 30 Apr 2014


Ukraine's military is "on full combat alert" against a possible invasion by Russian troops massed on the border, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said in a ministerial meeting in Kiev on Wednesday.

"Our armed forces are on full combat alert," he said. "The threat of Russia starting a war against mainland Ukraine is real."

Pro-Russian gunmen have seized more administrative buildings in eastern Ukraine, further raising tensions in Ukraine's Russian-leaning regions shaken by separatist unrest.

Insurgents wielding automatic weapons took control and hoisted a separatist flag on top of the city council building on Wednesday morning in the city of Horlivka in the Donetsk region which borders Russia. They also took control of a police station in the city, adding to another police building which they had controlled for several weeks.

A small group of men were seen standing guard outside the building and checking the documents of those entering. One of the men said that foreign reporters will not be allowed in and threatened to arrest those do not obey orders. Similar guards were also seen outside the police station in the city.

A pro-Russian masked supporter stands behind a barricade placed around the local government building in Horlivka (EPA)

The insurgents now control buildings in about a dozen cities in eastern Ukraine, including Lugansk, demanding broader regional rights as well as greater ties or outright annexation by Russia. The militiamen are holding some activists and journalists hostage, including a group of observers from a European security organisation.

Eastern Ukraine, which has a large Russian-speaking population, was the heartland of support for Viktor Yanukovych, the ousted president who fled to Russia in February. The government that replaced him in Kiev has resisted the insurgents' demands, fearing they could lead to a breakup of the country or mean that more regions could join Russia, as Crimea did.

Kiev and Western governments accuse Moscow of orchestrating the protests in eastern Ukraine. The United States and the European Union rolled out a fresh set of economic sanctions against Russia this week, but Moscow has remained unbowed, denying its role in the unrest and saying the actions were Kiev's fault.

 

[BasedPrime]

 

[King Sun]

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Whoa the Trilateral Commission. It is really about to hit the fan. The powers that be and happy with Russia.

Dudes ain't paying attention here.

This shyt is SERIOUS.

 

[Sinnerman]

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

Elite German special forces unit ready to storm Slavyansk to release OSCE observers - News - World - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video


30 April 2014, 11:03

Elite German special forces unit ready to storm Slavyansk to release OSCE observers

Photo: East News/ASSOCIATED PRESS/FOTOLINK

Florian Hahn, German Bundestag deputy from the CDU party, suggested sending German Special Forces to free German citizens (three military observers and an interpreter) – members of the German-led OSCE team of inspectors detained by the self-defense forces in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk. He urged the authorities to consider this option in case and only in case there is a sudden threat to their lives, German newspaper Bild reports.

According to the publication Kommando Spezialkrafte (Special Forces Command, or KSK), that comprises about 1,100 well-trained and highly-skilled soldiers handpicked from the army and police, is the best German Special Forces have to offer. The elite military unit has reportedly been put on alert.

KSK soldiers are experts in hostage release and had previously conducted operations in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and most recently in Afghanistan. Decorated by the NATO, the USA and its affiliates KSK special forces have been in great demand in counter-terrorism operations, notably in the Balkans and Middle East. It will take KSK a couple of hours to get to eastern Ukraine.

Bild notes that Ukrainian Special Forces are not up to the task of releasing the OSCE military observers. High-ranking Ukrainian official told the newspaper on condition of anonymity: "A lot of our soldiers are not ready to fire at people. Special op can only be conducted with foreign assistance."

The decision on whether to carry out such an operation can be made by the emergency response center, that includes German Ministry of Defense, the Federal Foreign Office, the German Chancellery.

An international team of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe comprising eight military observers was detained in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk by the self-defence forces last week on Friday, April 25. On Sunday they were displayed during a press-conference, all unhurt and in good health.

Vyacheslav Ponomarev, the people’s mayor of Slavyansk, said four Germans, one Pole, one Czech, one Swede and one Dane were detained because they failed to provide the true purpose for their visit. He also said that inspectors were not our hostages but guests.

The German government condemned the Slavyansk self-defense for taking the observers hostage and showing them at a press-conference and has also called for their immediate release. German authorities urged Russia to intervene and assist with setting the OSCE inspectors free.

An observer from Sweden has been released on Sunday on medical grounds.
Read more: Elite German special forces unit ready to storm Slavyansk to release OSCE observers - News - World - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video

I'm sure the Germans remember the last time they were in the East.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

This dude Putin is about to claim half of the largest fukking European country

 

[Sinnerman]

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

One Third Of 'New Russia' Is Now Controlled By 'Green Men'

MICHAEL KELLEY


APR. 30, 2014, 11:09 AM 2,336 18

• FACEBOOK
• LINKEDIN
• TWITTER
• GOOGLE+
• EMAIL

Reuters/Skitch





Vladimir Putin has repeatedly referred to southeast Ukraine as "Novorussia," or "New Russia," and has asserted the right to intervene on the behalf of ethnic Russians living there.

Novorussia is a historical term referring to territory conquered by the Russian Empire in the 1700s and made part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union, in 1922.Russia already annexed one of those regions, Crimea, and now masked pro-Russian gunmen — some of whom are heavily armed and wearing military uniforms without insignia — are in control of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Separatists in both regions are callingfor referendums over sovereignty on May 11th.

Great @AFP infographic on towns seized, buildings occupied by pro-Russia militia in #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/S9xUvuQ3zC

— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) April 30, 2014
Kiev is "helpless" to restore order in the east, and acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said that the top priority is to protect the Kharkiv and Odessa regions from the spreading insurgency.

That will be a tall task. Masked gunman shot the mayor of Kharkiv, who supported ousted pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych before supporting a united Ukraine, in the back while he was jogging.

Last week, seven people were injured in Odessa when a bomb exploded at a pro-Ukraine checkpoint in the strategic Black Sea port city.

To Odessa's west, about 1,200 Russian soldiers are based in the pro-Russian region of Transnistria, Moldova.

Basically, recent events have played to Putin's desire to keep "Novorussia" regions in the Kremlin's orbit after a popular revolution toppled Yanukovych and a West-leaning government was formed.

To that end, it appears that those conspicuous "green men" are making Putin's New Russia a reality.

REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Pro-Russian armed men stand guard at a checkpoint after pro-Russian activists set tires on fire when Ukrainian soldiers arrived on armoured personnel carriers, on the outskirts of Slaviansk, eastern Ukraine April 30, 2014.



Read more: 'New Russia' And The 'Little Green Men' - Business Insider

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Yooo... Putin just said fukk ukraine





Vladimir Putin demands Ukraine withdraw troops from troubled eastern regions


By Michael Birnbaum and Simon Denyer, Updated: Thursday, May 1, 10:51 AM E-mail the writers

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded Thursday that the Ukrainian government withdraw its troops from the troubled eastern part of the country, where pro-Russian separatists have been gaining ground.

Putin made the demand in a conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who called the Russian leader Thursday about the deteriorating security situation in eastern Ukraine. She reached out to Putin a day after Ukraine’s acting president said he had lost control of that portion of his country.


massed in front of Donetsk’s police station Thursday, demanding that all pro-Russian activists be freed across eastern Ukraine. They waved Russian flags — and at least one banner depicting World War II-era Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and the Communist hammer and sickle symbol — and played Soviet patriotic songs. Then they turned their attention to the nearby the state prosecutor’s office, where dozens of black-clad riot police with metal shields stood in front of the entrance.

A confrontation quickly ensued, as the riot police attempted to push the crowd away from the entrance with tear gas. The protesters, chanting “fascists,” threw rocks, breaking windows in the office building and demanding that the prosecutor come out. Men in black balaclavas quickly pushed the riot police away from the entrance and forced them to surrender, less than an hour after the pro-Russian protesters had arrived.

If Ukraine’s interim government carries out military operations in the eastern part of the country, it “could lead to disastrous consequences,” the Russian Foreign Ministry warned Thursday.

“We are calling on Kiev, as well as the U.S. and the E.U. indulging it . . . not to commit criminal mistakes and to soberly assess the gravity of possible consequences of using force against the Ukrainian people,” the ministry said in a statement.

In an acknowledgment of his weakness, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov on Wednesday said the Ukrainian government’s goal now was to prevent the agitation from spreading to other areas, and he called for the creation of special regional police forces so that a presidential election could take place May 25 as scheduled.

Merkel’s trip to Washington will focus in large part on the security situation in eastern Ukraine in particular and in Eastern Europe more generally. NATO has sent troops and fighter jets to patrol the borders of Poland and the Baltic states. And the United States and Europe have made coordinated announcements of sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s autonomous Crimea region in March and the continuing violence in eastern Ukraine.

Pro-Russian gunmen extended their control over that part of the country Wednesday without encountering resistance.

Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, admitted that police and security forces were either “helpless” to prevent the unrest or were actively colluding with separatist rebels.

But he warned that the threat of a Russian invasion was real and said his country’s armed forces have been placed on full alert.

Turchynov spoke Wednesday in the capital, Kiev, as the insurgency consolidated its control of the Donetsk region and extended its influence into the neighboring region of Luhansk. Both regions border Russia.

Insurgents armed with automatic weapons took control Wednesday of the city council buildings in the cities of Horlivka in Donetsk and Alchevsk in Luhansk; the previous day, another mob seized control of the regional government headquarters in the city of Luhansk, smashing windows as they forced their way in.

The neighboring regions, collectively known as Donbass, are Ukraine’s industrial heartland, home to steel smelters, heavy industry and coal mines. An armed uprising by Russian-speaking separatists began there in April, and the insurgents plan to hold a referendum on secession in the area on May 11, two weeks before the national presidential election.

Many of the insurgents apparently hope to follow Crimea’s break from Ukraine in March and subsequent annexation by Russia, although popular support for such a path is thought to be considerably lower in eastern Ukraine than it was in Crimea.

In Horlivka, Anatoly Starostin, the commander of separatist forces, said they took control of a police station Tuesday evening without any problems, and he described the city’s police as “corrupt, weak and unprofessional.”

The separatists then took over city hall Wednesday with the agreement of the local mayor, who said he supported their cause and would remain in his post. A flag of the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic flew over the building Wednesday.

“All I want is to be a citizen of Russia, and for this part of Ukraine to be part of Russia,” Starostin, 42, said in an interview in the lobby of city hall.

Starostin said he came from the city of Slovyansk, which has been under separatist control for about two weeks, with orders to take control of the city and recruit a “self-defense force” from among the people of Horlivka.

The militiamen controlling city hall wore masks and carried automatic rifles; Starostin wore a new camouflage uniform without any insignia, and no mask.

“Russian soldiers do not go to war with masks on their faces,” he said, suggesting that although he is not a Russian soldier now, he aspires to be one eventually.

Many residents of the run-down town appeared to welcome the takeover, which came as no surprise.

“We have become enemies” with the rest of Ukraine, tailor and dressmaker Pavel Kravchenko said. “Kiev and Western regions hate the Russian residents of Ukraine. They call us Moskali” — a derogatory word for Muscovites — “and, judging by how little resistance we see by authorities, they will let us go to Russia soon.”

In Kiev, Turchnyov, the acting president, told a meeting of regional governors that local security forces were unable to protect citizens.

“I will be frank: Today, security forces are unable to quickly take the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions under control,” Turchynov said, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news service, calling them “helpless” and in some cases “cooperating with terrorist organizations.”

Turchynov instructed the governors to try to prevent the threat from spreading to other regions in the central and southern parts of the country.

“Our task is to stop the spread of the terrorist threat first of all in the Kharkiv and Odessa regions,” Turchynov was quoted as saying.

The mayor of Kharkiv, who had been credited with keeping Ukraine’s second-largest city calm, was shot in the back this week.

The Ukrainian government and the United States accuse Russia of fomenting the unrest.

“I think it’s very clear that what is happening would not be happening without Russian involvement,” Daniel Baer, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told reporters in Vienna. The OSCE has 120 monitors in the region.

Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops near its border with Ukraine, although it says it has no plans to invade. But Turchynov told the regional governors that those assurances could not be trusted.

“I once again return to the real danger of the Russian Federation beginning a land war against Ukraine,” Turchynov said. “Our armed forces have been put on full military readiness.”

The insurgents now control buildings in about a dozen cities in eastern Ukraine and are holding some activists and journalists hostage, including a group of observers from the OSCE.

The Donbass region was the heartland of support for Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s previous president, who was ousted in February amid street protests and fled to Russia. But support for Russian annexation of the region is far from universal, even among the Russian speakers who make up the majority of the population there.

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s richest man and the region’s most powerful oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov, said in a statement that he remained committed to Donbass remaining part of Ukraine.

Akhmetov was seen as close to Yanukovych, and his companies were seen as particularly favored by the previous government.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Moscow revives Red Square May Day parade ...

May Day marches in Kiev and Moscow focus on the bitter conflict between the two governments. Video provided by Reuters Newslook

Anna Arutunyan, Special for USA TODAY11:45 a.m. EDT May 1, 2014

96TWEET 40COMMENTEMAILMORE

MOSCOW — Tens of thousands of Russians marched through Red Square on Thursday as part of May Day celebrations in the first such display of Soviet-era-like ceremony since 1991 — the year the communist Soviet Union dissolved.

"For the first time, stages will be filled, and 5,000 (labor) veterans will stand on the tribunes of Red Square," Sergei Chernov, chairman of the Moscow Labor Union Federation, was quoted by ITAR-Tass as saying, ahead of the march, which is being seen as part of President Vladimir Putin's efforts to stoke patriotic feelings following Russia's annexation of Crimea.

As many as 2 million people were expected to be on hand for the event organized by Russian labor unions, which are mostly loyal to the Kremlin. In the end, about 100,000 people participated in the celebration, some holding signs saying: "Let's go to Crimea for vacation" and "Putin is right." Russian flags fluttered through the crowd.

MAY DAY: Demonstrations across the globe

Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, whose City Hall approved the measure, led the procession.

Earlier, he assured people it would not be a return to Soviet times.

"I can say that there won't be famous statesmen standing on the Mausoleum (like in the Soviet Union)," ITAR-Tass quoted him as saying.

May Day was celebrated with massive rallies on Red Square during the days of the Soviet Union as a commemoration of labor. Red posters glorifying the working man were carried aloft past members of the Soviet Politburo, the unelected leaders of the state, who stood atop the mausoleum housing the body of the Russian revolutionary and the first Soviet leader, Vladimir Lenin.

A Naval rocket is exhibited in Moscow's Red Square in front of a banner of Vladimir Lenin, Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx during the May 1, 1963, May Day parade.(Photo: AP)


The Red Army marched past in lockstep, and trucks laden with ICBMs were paraded past the crowds in a show of might to the world.

But after the collapse of communism here 23 years ago the annual parade gave way to less political festivities. The Communist Party and smaller leftist groups still held rallies, but they never regained the stature of the old days.

Many Muscovites customarily used to leave the city ahead of May 1 since it is a holiday. Road blocks and traffic disruptions are common.

More pompous in recent years has been the Victory Day on May 9, commemorating the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

This year's May Day parade comes against a backdrop of patriotism mixed with repression in the wake of Russia's annexation of Ukraine's breakaway republic of Crimea last month.

While Moscow's City Hall authorized several political marches on May 1, including a march by ultra-nationalists, it refused to grant permission to the liberal opposition to Putin to hold a protest rally on May 6, citing preparations for the Victory Day Parade.

Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that a Defense Ministry source says Putin may celebrate the day in the Ukraine province of Crimea, which was taken over by the Russian military in what the West calls an illegal invasion.

 

[Sinnerman]

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Ukraine 1991 - 2014

 

[Sinnerman]

 

[Digga38]