Russians occupy Crimea

[Topol-M]

With all the logs online (such as on here), they don't need to be in or near Cyprus to see that U2s are airborne

And I'm sure they already have something in place for that kind of thing anyway

[TankBuster]

Just watched the confrontation on the news between the Ukranians wanting to return to work at their airbase & the Russian troops not letting them do so. I reckon that many of the Russian soldiers must wonder what is going on as they certainly looked to be unhappy at having to fire off warning shots. I don't think it will take much for this situation to deteriorate as it seems to be getting very tense.

TankBuster

[RichC]

Those were Pro-Russian militia who actually are Ukrainian. They took over the airbase last week and ousted the Ukrainian Air Force and Soldiers guarding it.
There is talk of Russia actually using the pro-Russian militia to do their dirty work as it doesn't come onto Russia then but Ukrainians who support Russia who live on Crimea and the East of the country.
Same kind of militia have been storming Government buildings and taking them over and then waving the Russian flag over them

[Ronald Reagan]

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin revealed at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday a March 1 letter from Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich to Russian President

http://youtu.be/l03kD5h8EOk

[RichC]

A President which ordered snipers to kill nearly 100 civilians in Kiev. If you have watched the video, it's quite harrowing, filmed by a French AFP News cameraman who nearly got shot himself. It's no wonder the President fled in the middle of the night by helicopter (AW149). At the end of the day, what do you do if your President is a hard lined Russian supporter and 75% of the population want to go the opposite way and into Europe? And if they protest against the Presidents views, he orders the Special Police to kill them. If a President 'flees' his/her country then an interim President is processed. They are not due for elections until May atleast and so the interim President is "legit" no matter what the Russians say.

Therefore, since last week, Viktor Yanukovich is only recognised by Russia and those who fully support his actions and views. The rest of the world and those in Europe no longer recognise him as the President of Ukraine.

[Ronald Reagan]

The Chinese back the Russian position on this as do Iran, so the Russian's are not alone. Having China onside is most important. That alliance can achieve many good things in the future.

The 75% figure is open to debate, its likely more around 50% but is open to debate.
At the end of the day one could simply waited just over one year until the Presidential election and voted him out of office! Or with the agreed deal that had been reached, wait until the end of the year for the election that had been agreed and vote him out then. Resorting to mob rule makes much of what has happen appear like the coup that this is. I wonder what would happen in the US or UK if people kept trying to storm Downing Street, Buckingham palace, the White House, Congress etc. I would image in the US they would gun you down in a second if a large number of protestors stormed into the White House.

Yanukovich to be honest played both sides but to actually sign the EU deal would have likely been economic suicide for all of Ukraine, especially for the east of Ukraine which is his powerbase. The loss of the Russian market would be crippling combined with the ever increasing draconian EU rules and regulations which would likely cause massive harm to the often outdated Ukrainian industries.

The west is good (to be fair as are the Russians) at recognising who or what it is in their own special interests to recognise.
Its open to debate if the parliament itself is operating in a legitimate manner and therefore if its appointments of an acting Prime Minister and President are legitimate.

The whole thing has likely been a western back coup planned to coincide and to peak during the Russian Olympics while they were distracted. I would imagine the protestors have been getting directions from certain western organisations on what to do and how to be most effective. It certainly would not be the first time the west has engaged in such things.
As for the snipers they could be anyone! It could have even been a far right group who did it to simply to provoke the whole situation and to create the final push to remove Yanukovich from power.

I do think Russia is certainly in its rights to do what it has so far. The hypocrisy of the west, especially Washington and London is simply sickening after all of our mostly failed and blood spilled interventions often based on totally fake evidence such as the invasion of Iraq and the disaster that was Libya. Luckily Russian and Chinese efforts managed to prevent (so far) another insane intervention into Syria.

[RichC]

Yanukovich was being played by the Russians to sign that deal to not go to the EU by bribing him al sorts of monetary and industrial values to keep him under the influence of Russia. It was working and he would have signed with the Russians hence the protest in the first place.
I'm not backing anyone in this incident, I have nothing against the Russian military but I do have problems with the way the Russian Government try to achieve things, as I do with our own Government.

You can clearly see with some of those soldiers (Russian) they do not want any of this taking place and the only people firing shots and being more aggressive at the moment are those pro-Russian militia which in fairness could cause havoc at this delicate moment. You can see a vast difference in professionalism between the Russian military and the militia and rightly so.

[turbosix]

From BBC News Stream.

19:12: Reports say Russia has successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile from the southern Astrakhan region near the Caspian Sea.

19:22: The dummy warhead of a ballistic missile fired by Russia on Tuesday evening has hit its target in Kazakhstan, the Russian defence ministry is quoted as saying.

19:32:


Missile in Moscow (28 February 2014)
This photo taken in Moscow on 28 February shows the same type of missile which Russia purportedly fired

19:34: The launch site, Kapustin Yar, is near the Volga River about 450km (280 miles) east of the Ukrainian border.

[T_J]

Ukrainian Frigate returning from anti-piracy operations is now back in the Black Sea. She was flying a Ukrainian Flag as she passed through the Turkish Straits. Russia media had previously claimed that she had changed flags (Russian).

Images at following link

http://turkishnavy.net/

[nigelblake]

History keeps repeating itself!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor

[Rainbow 6]

There some good points on here, regarding this, and again some silly ones.

I really dont see what Europe is going to do about has happened, at the end of the day, 30% of the EU gas comes from Russia some via Ukraine and some via a new pipe line that has been built that goes to Germany.

It has been stated that we do not buy gas from Russia, this may be strictly true, however we do import gas via Holland, Belgium and Germany via pipe lines, therefore we are a secondary importer of Russian gas. The West cant afford to upset the Russians to much as they can always put the price of gas up, or just turn it off.

The other problem is just what are we going to do about really impose sanctions against Russia, force them out of the city, and cost our selves billions, or stand up to them with our armed forces? face it took us almost a day to get a boat up to Scotland to intercept the Russian ship that was there. The armed forces of the west just are what they used to be, and with the US shift to Asia then the Americans arent to bothered about Europe any more.

I dont think there is a lot we can do about apart from say some harsh words...... and oh yeah время, чтобы узнать русский .....

[Lowrider]

Real Ukrainian heroes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIbGpSvtuGY

[the concerned]

just wondering with the spat between Russia and the west will this have an effect on supplies coming home from Afghanistan.

[POL]

I doubt it

[Ronald Reagan]

Kiev snipers not hired by Yanukovich - leaked EU's Ashton phone tape

http://rt.com/news/ashton-maidan-snipers-estonia-946/

Most interesting

Listen to the tape!

Its also interesting to hear the Estonian Minister refer to some journalists with him seeing an MP being beaten up outside the parliament! Likely to ensure they are voting the 'right' way!

[T_J]

Becoming a bit of a farce in relation to the 'mystery soldiers'. That guy in the surplus store must be doing a roaring trade! He must have a large stock of Lynx and Tiger? Even the Russian Defence Minister doesn't know how these 'mystery soldiers' got hold of them?

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday denied that Russian forces are currently deployed in Ukraine's Crimea region and said that video footage showing Russian license plates on the military vehicles was "complete nonsense."

Shoigu responded to journalists' questions Wednesday by saying that he did not know how the unidentified forces came to possess the Lynx and Tiger armored cars that are used by the Russian military.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/arti ... 95675.html

Photos of Russian hardware in Crimea nothing but provocation – Russia's Defense Minister

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has dismissed as nothing but a provocation the alleged photos and videos in mass media of Russian military hardware in Crimea. "Of course, it’s a provocation," Shoigu told reporters on Wednesday. "Pure rubbish," he said, commenting on the allegations.

Shoigu also noted that there was no information that people blocking Ukrainian military facilities in Crimea had received modern weaponry, including Tigr and Rys personnel armored carriers. "I do not have any idea about this," the minister said.

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_0 ... ster-6693/

One of the mystery soldiers caught out! The hazards of social media! Kit name tag links to GRU unit.

I also just read that some Ukrainian internet useres noticed in one of the photos one of the soldiers forgot to take off his name tag. Searching for him on vkontakte (the Russian facebook) they found him, with information on his page about his Russian military unit (GRU, military intelligence).

http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic. ... &start=680

[Ronald Reagan]

'Behind snipers not Yanukovich but somebody from new coalition' - Ashton's leaked phone tape

http://youtu.be/vEJFp0lUIQg

Estonia confirms authenticity of Paet-Ashton conversation on Kiev snipers
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_0 ... pers-0339/

[21zebra]

Real Ukrainian heroes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIbGpSvtuGY

I think Russia could have smoothed things over, by making sure the Ukrainian military units get wages,
during this standoff, a Russian officer going into the Ukrainian barracks handing out some, what could
be called compensation money, would keep things calm.

[T_J]

'Behind snipers not Yanukovich but somebody from new coalition' - Ashton's leaked phone tape

http://youtu.be/vEJFp0lUIQg

Estonia confirms authenticity of Paet-Ashton conversation on Kiev snipers
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_0 ... pers-0339/

It is a non-story based on hype. Paet is discussing rumours that he heard. Paet was simply discussing a conspiracy theory.

Ukraine crisis: bugged call reveals conspiracy theory about Kiev snipers

The Estonian foreign ministry confirmed the leaked conversation was accurate. It said: "Foreign minister Paet was giving an overview of what he had heard in Kiev and expressed concern over the situation on the ground. We reject the claim that Paet was giving an assessment of the opposition's involvement in the violence."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/m ... urmas-paet

From BBC coverage.

(BBC) 16:15:

A doctor at the centre of claims that snipers shot people on both sides of the protests in Ukraine last month denies telling Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet that policemen and protesters had been killed in the same manner (See 15:28).​

[Ronald Reagan]

Or its 100% true and accurate! You can hardly expect the west to agree with it, it would harm the image of their little darlings in Kiev!