The Russian Invasion of Ukraine has Begun. Its on.
- Thread starter ☑︎#VoteDemocrat
- Start date
fukk Putin.
Why are you so fukking anti-west?AND they've started to ramp up their farming
Winter is coming, NATO
Its seriously disgusting.
Pick a fukking side. Pretending to be "enlightened" while people are fukking over your interested just makes you look like a clown
Ask yourself a simple question bruh. Why Ukrainian army can't take a small territory controlled by some fukking rebels for like FOUR MONTHS?
Yes, military vehicles are crossing the border and being delivered to "rebels". Yes, we supply them with armor and equipment and new fresh meat. Yes, spetsnaz is being dropped there from time to time if Ukrainian army is making some progress.
This is news from the front - this is not stopping for at least one year. This permanent hot spot is a way to ensure that no fukking NATO is coming to Ukraine.
If they will, that will be a direct military confrontation with Russia. Nobody wants that fukkery.
That's one explanation. Another is that the east is the industrial heartland of the Ukraine, having access to heavy machinery etc. On top of that most of their arms are stored in that side of the country. They have the will and the weapons so it becomes less of a stretch for the East to fend off Kiev's military operation.
Russian Army Wives Are Protesting For Russia To Come Clean About Where Soldiers Are
AFP
Mothers and wives of Russia paratroopers captured in Ukraine stand near a checkpoint in Kostroma.
Several dozen women gathered outside a military base in central Russia on Thursday to demand that commanders come clean about the whereabouts of their husbands after reports of secret funerals for soldiers covertly sent to Ukraine.
The women — mostly in their 20s, a few with small children — huddled outside a base that houses paratroopers in Kostroma, around 300 kilometres (200 miles) north of Moscow.
Some 350 soldiers from the city were this month sent on military drills to the border with Ukraine and then went incommunicado, said one of the women, 26-year-old Valeria Sokolova.
Commanders from the base have told her several have returned dead, she said, and around 15 wounded soldiers were also flown back this week.
"Cargo-200 arrived yesterday," Sokolova said, citing military officials and using the Russian army term for body bags.
Funerals for those killed are expected to be held in the town on Friday.
The women stood outside the drab base with banners extolling the "beloved troops of the motherland," but military commanders refused to confirm that their loved ones had been sent to Ukraine, Sokolova said. They were told they could not hold a formal demonstration and should go home.
"They would only tell us that they are not in Russia," she said.
Her last communication with her husband was on Saturday when he told her that he and his comrades were being deployed, without saying the destination.
"Some will ride in tanks and I will be in a Kamaz (truck)," her 25-year-old husband told her, adding that he had been told to take winter clothes.
A man who interacted with the women outside the base wore civilian clothes and gave his name as Albert Akhmerov but did not state his role.
He said the soldiers were taking part in military drills.
"Your children will be proud of their fathers," he told the women. "They are honest Russian warriors."
Phone Call From Kiev
AFP
Ludmila Hohlova, Chairman of the Board of Soldiers' Mothers, gestures on August 28, 2014 near a checkpoint in Kostroma.
Olga Garina, the mother of one of several Kostroma paratroopers captured by Ukrainian forces, is one of the lucky few to have gotten some answers.
After days of silence and heartache after he went off the radar, her 20-year-old son Yegor Pochtoyev called her mobile phone suddenly from Kiev, where he is being held by authorities.
She happened to receive the call while sat with a group of journalists including AFP in the office of a local rights group that campaigns against abuses in the armed forces.
"My baby, I love you. I am fighting for you," she cried out.
After the emotional call, Garina covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.
Garina, Sokolova, and several other women said that despite everything they supported Putin's policies.
'Only Fresh Graves'
AFP
Mothers and wives of Russia paratroopers captured in Ukraine stand near a checkpoint in Kostroma.
NATO said on Thursday that "well over a thousand" Russian troops are operating inside Ukraine.
Russian independent media this week reported on secret funerals held for several soldiers in northwestern Russia, citing mourners who said they were killed in Ukraine.
Officials said they are looking into the reports but refused to confirm that troops had been sent to Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin said this week that Russian soldiers captured in Ukraine had crossed the border by accident while on routine patrol.
Critics have drawn parallels with the official denials earlier this year from the Kremlin that paramilitary forces had been sent to Crimea prior to its annexation by Russia. The government later admitted the soldiers had operated in the peninsula and awarded some with medals for their service.
Parallels have also been drawn to the early days of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which was officially denied when it began in 1979. Bodies returning from Afghanistan were buried in secret.
Moscow's opposition media launched an awareness campaign about Russian soldiers in Ukraine this week.
There is no official war with Ukraine, wrote the editor of Dozhd TV, Mikhail Zygar, on his blog. "There are only fresh graves and the bodies of the soldiers who no one recognizes as dead."
Copyright (2014) AFP. All rights reserved.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/russ...about-where-soldiers-are-2014-8#ixzz3BondSDHw
- ANNA SMOLCHENKO, AFP
- AUG. 28, 2014, 4:05 PM
- 20,257
- 8
AFP
Mothers and wives of Russia paratroopers captured in Ukraine stand near a checkpoint in Kostroma.
Several dozen women gathered outside a military base in central Russia on Thursday to demand that commanders come clean about the whereabouts of their husbands after reports of secret funerals for soldiers covertly sent to Ukraine.
The women — mostly in their 20s, a few with small children — huddled outside a base that houses paratroopers in Kostroma, around 300 kilometres (200 miles) north of Moscow.
Some 350 soldiers from the city were this month sent on military drills to the border with Ukraine and then went incommunicado, said one of the women, 26-year-old Valeria Sokolova.
Commanders from the base have told her several have returned dead, she said, and around 15 wounded soldiers were also flown back this week.
"Cargo-200 arrived yesterday," Sokolova said, citing military officials and using the Russian army term for body bags.
Funerals for those killed are expected to be held in the town on Friday.
The women stood outside the drab base with banners extolling the "beloved troops of the motherland," but military commanders refused to confirm that their loved ones had been sent to Ukraine, Sokolova said. They were told they could not hold a formal demonstration and should go home.
"They would only tell us that they are not in Russia," she said.
Her last communication with her husband was on Saturday when he told her that he and his comrades were being deployed, without saying the destination.
"Some will ride in tanks and I will be in a Kamaz (truck)," her 25-year-old husband told her, adding that he had been told to take winter clothes.
A man who interacted with the women outside the base wore civilian clothes and gave his name as Albert Akhmerov but did not state his role.
He said the soldiers were taking part in military drills.
"Your children will be proud of their fathers," he told the women. "They are honest Russian warriors."
Phone Call From Kiev
AFP
Ludmila Hohlova, Chairman of the Board of Soldiers' Mothers, gestures on August 28, 2014 near a checkpoint in Kostroma.
Olga Garina, the mother of one of several Kostroma paratroopers captured by Ukrainian forces, is one of the lucky few to have gotten some answers.
After days of silence and heartache after he went off the radar, her 20-year-old son Yegor Pochtoyev called her mobile phone suddenly from Kiev, where he is being held by authorities.
She happened to receive the call while sat with a group of journalists including AFP in the office of a local rights group that campaigns against abuses in the armed forces.
"My baby, I love you. I am fighting for you," she cried out.
After the emotional call, Garina covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.
Garina, Sokolova, and several other women said that despite everything they supported Putin's policies.
'Only Fresh Graves'
AFP
Mothers and wives of Russia paratroopers captured in Ukraine stand near a checkpoint in Kostroma.
NATO said on Thursday that "well over a thousand" Russian troops are operating inside Ukraine.
Russian independent media this week reported on secret funerals held for several soldiers in northwestern Russia, citing mourners who said they were killed in Ukraine.
Officials said they are looking into the reports but refused to confirm that troops had been sent to Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin said this week that Russian soldiers captured in Ukraine had crossed the border by accident while on routine patrol.
Critics have drawn parallels with the official denials earlier this year from the Kremlin that paramilitary forces had been sent to Crimea prior to its annexation by Russia. The government later admitted the soldiers had operated in the peninsula and awarded some with medals for their service.
Parallels have also been drawn to the early days of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which was officially denied when it began in 1979. Bodies returning from Afghanistan were buried in secret.
Moscow's opposition media launched an awareness campaign about Russian soldiers in Ukraine this week.
There is no official war with Ukraine, wrote the editor of Dozhd TV, Mikhail Zygar, on his blog. "There are only fresh graves and the bodies of the soldiers who no one recognizes as dead."
Copyright (2014) AFP. All rights reserved.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/russ...about-where-soldiers-are-2014-8#ixzz3BondSDHw
Finland Upgrades NATO Ties After Condemning Russian Tactics
By Kati Pohjanpalo Aug 27, 2014 10:09 AM ET
34 Comments Email Print
Save
Photographer: Teemu Kakko/Finnish Defense Forces via Bloomberg
General Jarmo Lindberg, commander of the Finnish Defense Forces, said this month Europe... Read More
Finland will sign an agreement with NATO making it easier for the organization to put its troops on the Nordic country’s soil as the government in Helsinki condemns Russia’s treatment of Ukraine.
President Sauli Niinistoe and Prime Minister Alexander Stubb decided to sign the pact on Aug. 22, according to a statement today. Closer ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have been under way since last year as part of a collaboration first envisioned in 2002. Finland will be free to decide the extent of its NATO cooperation on a case-by-case basis. Sweden is close to striking a similar accord, Defense Ministry spokesman Henrik Hedberg said today by text message.
Stubb criticized Russia yesterday for actions he said constituted a violation of international justice. “Russia did wrong,” he said in a speech in Helsinki. “We have seen enough of the justice of the strong on this continent.” Niinistoe, speaking at the same event, urged Europe to step up its focus on defense spending as relations with Russia deteriorate.
The northernmost euro member, which has the European Union’s longest border with Russia, fought two wars against the Soviet Union during World War II, ceding about 10 percent of its land mass in the process. Now, its economy is more exposed to Russian demand than any other euro nation, trade figures show.
GDP Fallout
Russia’s slowing growth will reduce Finland’s gross domestic product by 0.5 percent over this year and next, the government said today. Unemployment will reach 8.4 percent by the end of 2015, 0.2 percentage point more than Finland estimated in December.
Niinistoe said yesterday full NATO membership remains an option. Calls to consolidate Finnish defenses have grown as tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalate. General Jarmo Lindberg, commander of the Finnish Defense Forces, said this month Europe needs to be prepared for a sudden deterioration at its eastern frontier.
Russian state aircraft have violated Finnish airspace at least four times this year. Though Stubb characterized the latest incident as “nothing dramatic,” he said the crisis in Ukraine has unified EU nations, in an Aug. 24 interview with broadcaster YLE.
Baltic Ties
Finland has worked with NATO since 1994 as a member of the Partnership for Peace program and its military equipment is NATO-compliant. It shied away from the full membership its Baltic neighbors sought amid voter reluctance to join.
A poll this month by YLE found about 58 percent of Finns don’t want to join NATO, while support for entry rose 2 percentage points to 26 percent. Stubb and Niinistoe’s National Coalition is the only party in the Finnish parliament that backs membership.
“Any agreement on cooperation between a NATO and non-NATO country is good for regional security,” Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said in an interview today.
Host-nation support includes instances where a country accepts external help or resources on its soil, including during disasters or to deal with security threats, as well as military training and cooperation, Finland said.
The agreement doesn’t obligate either party to give or receive aid or troops, nor is it a commitment on Finland’s part to allow external troops access or a right to pass through, the government said. Finland retains the right to decide whether it will undertake actions that would entail host-nation support measures, the government said.
Finland targets implementing the measures in 2016 and has prepared the deal in coordination withSweden, which has a similar timetable and goals, according to the government. The two countries agreed in May to study ways to pool defense resources. Their findings are due in October.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kati Pohjanpalo in Helsinki at kpohjanpalo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brogger attbrogger@bloomberg.net Kasper Viita
By Kati Pohjanpalo Aug 27, 2014 10:09 AM ET
34 Comments Email Print
Save
Photographer: Teemu Kakko/Finnish Defense Forces via Bloomberg
General Jarmo Lindberg, commander of the Finnish Defense Forces, said this month Europe... Read More
Finland will sign an agreement with NATO making it easier for the organization to put its troops on the Nordic country’s soil as the government in Helsinki condemns Russia’s treatment of Ukraine.
President Sauli Niinistoe and Prime Minister Alexander Stubb decided to sign the pact on Aug. 22, according to a statement today. Closer ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have been under way since last year as part of a collaboration first envisioned in 2002. Finland will be free to decide the extent of its NATO cooperation on a case-by-case basis. Sweden is close to striking a similar accord, Defense Ministry spokesman Henrik Hedberg said today by text message.
Stubb criticized Russia yesterday for actions he said constituted a violation of international justice. “Russia did wrong,” he said in a speech in Helsinki. “We have seen enough of the justice of the strong on this continent.” Niinistoe, speaking at the same event, urged Europe to step up its focus on defense spending as relations with Russia deteriorate.
The northernmost euro member, which has the European Union’s longest border with Russia, fought two wars against the Soviet Union during World War II, ceding about 10 percent of its land mass in the process. Now, its economy is more exposed to Russian demand than any other euro nation, trade figures show.
GDP Fallout
Russia’s slowing growth will reduce Finland’s gross domestic product by 0.5 percent over this year and next, the government said today. Unemployment will reach 8.4 percent by the end of 2015, 0.2 percentage point more than Finland estimated in December.
Niinistoe said yesterday full NATO membership remains an option. Calls to consolidate Finnish defenses have grown as tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalate. General Jarmo Lindberg, commander of the Finnish Defense Forces, said this month Europe needs to be prepared for a sudden deterioration at its eastern frontier.
Russian state aircraft have violated Finnish airspace at least four times this year. Though Stubb characterized the latest incident as “nothing dramatic,” he said the crisis in Ukraine has unified EU nations, in an Aug. 24 interview with broadcaster YLE.
Baltic Ties
Finland has worked with NATO since 1994 as a member of the Partnership for Peace program and its military equipment is NATO-compliant. It shied away from the full membership its Baltic neighbors sought amid voter reluctance to join.
A poll this month by YLE found about 58 percent of Finns don’t want to join NATO, while support for entry rose 2 percentage points to 26 percent. Stubb and Niinistoe’s National Coalition is the only party in the Finnish parliament that backs membership.
“Any agreement on cooperation between a NATO and non-NATO country is good for regional security,” Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said in an interview today.
Host-nation support includes instances where a country accepts external help or resources on its soil, including during disasters or to deal with security threats, as well as military training and cooperation, Finland said.
The agreement doesn’t obligate either party to give or receive aid or troops, nor is it a commitment on Finland’s part to allow external troops access or a right to pass through, the government said. Finland retains the right to decide whether it will undertake actions that would entail host-nation support measures, the government said.
Finland targets implementing the measures in 2016 and has prepared the deal in coordination withSweden, which has a similar timetable and goals, according to the government. The two countries agreed in May to study ways to pool defense resources. Their findings are due in October.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kati Pohjanpalo in Helsinki at kpohjanpalo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brogger attbrogger@bloomberg.net Kasper Viita
Marvel
Psalm 149:5-9
Putin is lettin boys know that they are in a NO FLEX ZONE. Control of Crimea for Russia has a lot to do with lessening NATO's military presence in their region, especially along the Black Sea. Giving up on Crimea is not going to happen.
Ukraine crisis: Britain wants Russia stripped of right to host World Cup 2018
Diplomats reveal David Cameron wants threat of new sanctions to persuade Russia to pull back from Ukraine
Sepp Blatter meets the0ppresident of the Russian Football Union Sergei Fursenko at the host country appointment ceremony Photo: Alamy
By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels
8:07PM BST 29 Aug 2014
Britain is pushing for Russia to be stripped of the right to host the 2018 World Cup under tough new political sanctions to be suggested by David Cameron at a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.
The Prime Minister, with growing support across the EU, wants Russia to be ostracised from high-status international events, such as the football tournament, to teach Vladimir Putin that he will become a pariah unless he pulls troops out of Ukraine.
"The idea of taking the World Cup away from Russia has come up in talks between European leaders. Britain especially has pushed it as a way of taking broader and more imaginative measures against Russia," said a senior European diplomat.
European diplomats who are currently working on the EU's response to Russia are drawing up a list of "symbolic" political sanctions aimed at President Putin's highly developed sense of prestige, robbing him of the high-profile sporting events and barring him from participating in international summits.
"The existing sanctions have not yet changed Russian behaviour and we need to be more imaginative," said another senior EU official involved with coordinating the European response to Russia.
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Mr Cameron and other EU leaders are aware that the Russian leader fears losing popular support if he cannot hold the 2018 World Cup which is already complicated by Russia's intention to play matches in Crimea, illegally invaded and annexed by Mr Putin in March.
Speaking yesterday (FRI), Mr Putin expressed his "hope" that Russia would not lose the right to hold the football tournament as pressure grows on Fifa, the sport's governing body, to punish Russia for invading Ukraine.
"Fifa has already said soccer and sport are outside politics and I think that is the right approach," said the Russian President.
In July Fifa insisted that it remained committed to the 2018 World Cup in Russia and claimed that "boycotting sport events or a policy of isolation or confrontation are not the most effective ways to solve problems".
EU leaders are also expected to give the green light to new economic sanctions against Russia including measures to paralyse its banking system and to hit the country's immense mineral wealth.
Mr Cameron will call on the EU to bring its sanctions into line with US measures that target many Russian oligarchs close to Mr Putin and companies with links to the Russian state.
Britain is also pressing for Russia to be blocked from accessing the Swift banking transaction system which is one of its main connections to the international financial system.
Additionally, the EU is discussing bans on the import of Russian luxury goods, such as caviar and vodka, including Russia's economically vital diamond monopoly Alrosa in sanctions for the first time.
The EU last year bought non-industrial diamonds worth as much as much as EUR2.5billion last year, with 97 per cent of the trade controlled by Alrosa, which is run by Yury Trutnev, Russia's deputy prime minister and is 44 per cent state owned.
humble forever
All Star
I wonder how hard we can fukk russia with sanctions. If the eu turns up and we do too im guessing life will get shytty overt here. People say russia can just turn to china but its not like that
Russia still has europe by the balls energy wise. Biggest mistake of their lives
