Civil war in Ukraine: News & discussion

[Hindustani78]

Russia calls new sanctions on Crimea 'collective punishment'| Reuters
MOSCOW Sat Dec 20, 2014 8:40am EST

(Reuters) - The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday new Western sanctions against Ukraine's Crimea region were a "collective punishment" on residents who voted last March to join Russia, adding it was preparing to retaliate.

Both the European Union and United States adopted tighter restrictions on investments in Crimea this week, targeting individuals, Russian Black Sea oil and gas exploration and tourism.

The March referendum, which Ukraine and Western countries rejected as illegal, resulted in a 97 percent vote in favor of joining Crimea to the Russian Federation. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree the following day to annex the peninsula.

"Introducing new unilateral sanctions against the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sebastopol by the USA and European Union is direct evidence that the West has acknowledged that the decision by the Crimeans to rejoin Russia was unanimous and voluntary," the ministry said in a statement.

"That's why they chose the 'punishment' to be collective," it added. "It is sad that the countries which call themselves democratic resort to such methods in the 21st century."

The West slapped sanctions on Moscow over Crimea and then stepped them up as pro-Russian separatist unrest spread to the eastern Ukraine regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where rebels seeking to split from Kiev are fighting government troops.

President Barack Obama said on Thursday he had signed into law a new Russian sanctions bill passed by Congress, but added that he did not intend to impose further curbs against Moscow for now. However, Canada announced on Friday that it was hitting Russia with a fresh round of restrictions.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the sanctions undermined political efforts to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, adding that Crimea was a "primordial and inseparable" part of Russia.

"We advise Washington and Ottawa to think about the consequences of such actions. Meanwhile, we will work on retaliatory measures," Lukashevich said in comments published on the ministry web site.

Russia retaliated to earlier sanctions by limiting food imports from a range of Western countries.

Kiev and its Western backers accuse Moscow of fanning the violence and arming the rebels. Moscow denies the accusations and says it annexed Crimea only after the local referendum showed most residents wanted it to become part of Russia.

 

[Hindustani78]

Terrorists shell 11 settlements in Donbas - NSDC| Ukrinform
KYIV, December 20 /Ukrinform/. Numerous cases of violations by illegal armed formations of the silence regime in Donbas have been recorded over the past 24 hours. Militants also fired on the strongholds of the Ukrainian anti-terrorist operation forces near the settlements of Pisky, Nikishyne, Debaltseve, Mayorsk, and Chermalyk.

Deputy Head of the Information and Analytical Center of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Volodymyr Polevy said this at a briefing on Saturday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"Near the village of Olkhovatka in Artemivsk district, terrorists shelled the positions of Ukrainian military with Grad multiple rocket launchers," he said.

In Luhansk region, near the village of Chornukhyne in Popasna district, militants fired on a Ukrainian stronghold with mortars and sniper rifles three times.

The National Guard roadblock near the settlement of Krymske came under artillery and mortar fire by terrorists, whereas the positions of the anti-terrorist operation forces in the area of Shchastia, Sokolnyky and Frunze were fired at with mortars and small arms.

Two Ukrainian servicemen have been wounded over the past 24 hours, Polevy said.

 

[vostok]

Tenth humanitarian convoy from Russia arrived in the New Russia. This time it was brought 1.4 thousand tons of various cargoes.

 

[Superboy]

Reuters: Ukraine to spend $5.5 billion on defense in 2015, or 5 percent of GDP

Agenda.ge: The body of Georgian fighter killed in Ukraine returns to Georgia

 

[vostok]

Captured Nazis singing the anthem of the USSR. It turns out that they still remember him well.

 

[Superboy]

Graham Phillips is back

10th convoy arrived from Russia

 

[Superboy]

funeral of Igor Beloshitsky call sign Belaz a well known white supremacist of Azov battalion who got KIA in Donbas

funeral of Georgian volunteer who fought in Aidar battalion

 

[Superboy]

 

[Hindustani78]

Ukrainian Navy complete training on guard and defense of important facilities near Odesa - Міністерство оборони України
Sunday, December 21, ODESA — The Ukrainian Navy completed a range of trainings on strengthening guard and defense of important facilities near Odesa.

Marines and coast guard units moved to the south of Odesa where, in cooperation with units of Ukrainian AF, Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, State Frontier Service of Ukraine, they worked out joint actions on strengthening guard and defense of transport centers, control points, airfields, etc.

The units used experience gained during the anti-terror operation in the Eastern Ukraine.

Frontline Footage: Ukrainian soldiers hold positions against militants near Mariupol - watch on - uatoday.tv

Obama signs Ukraine Freedom Support Act| Ukrinform

KYIV, December 19 /Ukrinform/. Bill H.R.5859 entitled "Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014" has come into force after it was signed on Thursday by U.S. President Barack Obama.

His statement in this regard has been posted on the website of the White House, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"Today, I have signed H.R. 5859, the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014, into law," Obama said.

He also said that "signing this legislation does not signal a change in the Administration's sanctions policy, which we have carefully calibrated in accordance with developments on the ground and coordinated with our allies and partners."

"At this time, the Administration does not intend to impose sanctions under this law, but the Act gives the Administration additional authorities that could be utilized, if circumstances warranted," Obama said.

He said that the United States "will continue to work closely with allies and partners in Europe and internationally to respond to developments in Ukraine and will continue to review and calibrate our sanctions to respond to Russia's actions."

He again called on Russia to end its occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea, cease support to separatists in eastern Ukraine, and implement the obligations it signed up to under the Minsk agreements.

"As I have said many times, our goal is to promote a diplomatic solution that provides a lasting resolution to the conflict and helps to promote growth and stability in Ukraine and regionally, including in Russia," Obama said.

In this context, he called on Russia's leadership to implement the Minsk agreements and to reach a lasting and comprehensive resolution to the conflict which respects Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"We remain prepared to roll back sanctions should Russia take the necessary steps," Obama concluded.

Russia threatens with rebuff after US president signs Ukraine Freedom Support Act - EN.DELFI
Saturday, December 20, 2014

Russia will not leave Washington's actions without response, the United States will be fully to blame for the consequences, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich warned on Friday in connection with the signing by US President Barack Obama of the Ukraine Freedom Support Act.

"We will apparently be getting rid of this heritage for a long time. The American side is fully to blame for the consequences," Lukashevich said.

"We do not leave hostile actions on the part of Washington without response. We will be making decisions on possible response measures depending on how the US will use the new law in practice," he said.

 

[Hindustani78]

Lukashenko: Belarus is always ready to help Ukraine | President | Headlines
21 December 2014 17:25

KIEV, 21 December (BelTA) – Belarus is always ready to help Ukraine. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement as he met with his Ukrainian counterpart Piotr Poroshenko in Kiev on 21 December, BelTA has learned.

“I would like a good state of affairs in Ukraine. Many perceive it as some kind of game and so on. I know that you don't view it like that. You are the president and you feel hurt. I feel hurt, too. And I act with this in mind,” noted the Belarusian leader.

“Therefore, if need be, I've told you earlier: if you want something from Belarus, tell us, we will do whatever you ask of us within 24 hours. I say it publicly that we have always done whatever the president of Ukraine has asked us to do. And we will continue doing so in the future,” stressed the Belarus President.

“It is not a game for us. Not only due to trade considerations but because we are neighbors, we live nearby, we are not strangers,” he added.

“They tell me that Lukashenko is afraid of something. I am not,” stressed the Belarusian head of state. “We could do it out of the public view. We could choose not to tell anyone anything. We could do everything in secret only for the sake of making progress in this direction”.

Alexander Lukashenko asked Piotr Poroshenko not to mention the Belarus president's credit with regard to the Minsk agreements. “You called me for help to organize the meeting, telling me that your people will come and representatives will come. I am an organizer, not a peacemaker and not a mediator,” said the Belarusian leader.

The Belarus President drew attention to the fact that despite the situation in Ukraine the bilateral trade turnover had not dropped but, on the contrary, was on the rise. Besides, Ukraine is now interested in buying a wide choice of Belarusian goods. “Ukraine has no outstanding payments to us. Our contracts with you are fully paid up,” noted Alexander Lukashenko.

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Russian troops are already stationed in Belarus and Russian federation is going to put more fighter planes and air defenses in Belarus . So is President of Belarus came to Ukraine as mediator ?

17.12.2014
Belsat TV

“Plans have been made to increase the amount of hardware on duty up to 12 combat aircraft and two trainer aircraft. The first wing of four military helicopters Mi-8 will be deployed to bolster the on-duty forces in the Belarusian airspace. The Belarusian army will also get four air defense missile systems S-300,” said Alexander Surikov.

The first four Russian planes appeared in Baranavichy airfield in December, 2013. Russia decided earlier this year to send 24 Su-27SM3 fighter jets to its airbase in Belarus’s Baranavichy in order to ‘provide inviolability of the airspace of the Union State of Russia and Belarus’.

In addition, in 2016 Russia is due to establish an airbase in the Belarusian town of Babruysk and deploy 24 Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets there. Russian aircraft will be stationed at a military airfield, which is to be reconstructed.

Baranavichy airfield

 

[Superboy]

Lukashenko: Belarus is always ready to help Ukraine | President | Headlines
21 December 2014 17:25

KIEV, 21 December (BelTA) – Belarus is always ready to help Ukraine. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement as he met with his Ukrainian counterpart Piotr Poroshenko in Kiev on 21 December, BelTA has learned.

“I would like a good state of affairs in Ukraine. Many perceive it as some kind of game and so on. I know that you don't view it like that. You are the president and you feel hurt. I feel hurt, too. And I act with this in mind,” noted the Belarusian leader.

“Therefore, if need be, I've told you earlier: if you want something from Belarus, tell us, we will do whatever you ask of us within 24 hours. I say it publicly that we have always done whatever the president of Ukraine has asked us to do. And we will continue doing so in the future,” stressed the Belarus President.

“It is not a game for us. Not only due to trade considerations but because we are neighbors, we live nearby, we are not strangers,” he added.

“They tell me that Lukashenko is afraid of something. I am not,” stressed the Belarusian head of state. “We could do it out of the public view. We could choose not to tell anyone anything. We could do everything in secret only for the sake of making progress in this direction”.

Alexander Lukashenko asked Piotr Poroshenko not to mention the Belarus president's credit with regard to the Minsk agreements. “You called me for help to organize the meeting, telling me that your people will come and representatives will come. I am an organizer, not a peacemaker and not a mediator,” said the Belarusian leader.

The Belarus President drew attention to the fact that despite the situation in Ukraine the bilateral trade turnover had not dropped but, on the contrary, was on the rise. Besides, Ukraine is now interested in buying a wide choice of Belarusian goods. “Ukraine has no outstanding payments to us. Our contracts with you are fully paid up,” noted Alexander Lukashenko.

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Russian troops are already stationed in Belarus and Russian federation is going to put more fighter planes and air defenses in Belarus . So is President of Belarus came to Ukraine as mediator ?



Baranavichy airfield

Belarus presidential election in 2015. Lukashenko Europe's last dictator will be toppled, no?

 

[Hindustani78]

Belarus presidential election in 2015. Lukashenko Europe's last dictator will be toppled, no?

In such things what matters is the establishment. Russian Federation soldiers are already stationed in Belarus, Armenia, Abkhazia, [URL='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Ossetia']South Ossetia, [URL='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajikistan']Tajikistan, [URL='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria']Transnistria, [URL='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan']Uzbekistan, [URL='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan']Kazakhstan, [URL='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrgyzstan']Kyrgyzstan [/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL] [/URL]

 

[Hasbara Buster]

Foreign Bankers Rape Ukraine

By William Engdahl

December 19, 2014 "ICH" - "NEO" - If it were not for the fact that the lives of some 45 million people are at stake, Ukrainian national politics could be laughed off as a very sick joke. Any pretenses that the October national elections would bring a semblance of genuine democracy of the sort thousands of ordinary Ukrainians demonstrated for on Maidan Square just one year ago vanished with the announcement by Victoria Nuland’s darling Prime Minister, “Yat” Yatsenyuk, of his new cabinet.

The US-picked Ukraine President, billionaire oligarch Petro Poroshenko called “snap” elections at the end of August for October 26. He did so to make sure genuine opposition to his regime of murderers, gangsters and in some cases outright Nazis would be able to push an unprepared genuine opposition out of the Verkhovna Rada or Parliament. Because the parliament had significant opposition parties to the US-engineered February 22 coup d’etat, they had blocked many key pieces of legislation that the Western vultures were demanding, from changing key land ownership laws to privatization of precious state assets.

By law, the old parliament would have sat until its five year term ended in October, 2017. That was clearly too long for State Department neo-con Ukraine puppet-mistress Victoria Nuland and her backers in Washington. Now, with a new parliament that is controlled by the Petro Poroshenko bloc as largest party and the boyish-looking former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who is also new Prime Minister as head of the second largest party, the way was clear to get on with the rape of Ukraine. What shocked some is the blatant foreign takeover that followed, like a Wall Street vulture fund raid on a distressed debtor country of the Third World.

The ridiculous charade

Yatsenyuk, former finance minister in a previous criminal regime, and a suspected senior member of the US-intelligence-friendly “Church of Scientology,” has named three complete foreigners as cabinet ministers in key economic posts. And in an extraordinary act, the three have been made instant Ukrainian citizens by Poroshenko in a ridiculous ceremony. Ukraine is looking more and more like the US-occupied Philippines after the Spanish-American War of 1898 when General Arthur MacArthur, father of the mentally-dis-ordered Douglas, was Washington’s dictator on the spot.

The new Ukrainian Finance Minister, the one who will control the money and decides where it goes, is one Natalia A. Jaresko. She speaks fluent Ukrainian. Only problem—she is an American citizen, a US State Department veteran who is also a US investment banker. Now, the Ukrainian Constitution, prudently enough, stipulates that government ministers be Ukrainian. How then does our sweet Natalia come in?

The President of Ukraine, another Victoria Nuland favorite, the “Chocolate King” corrupt oligarch billionaire, Petro Poroshenko, made her a Ukrainian citizen in a bizarre ceremony the same day just hours before the parliament declared her Finance Minister.

In justifying his astonishing move, Poroshenko declared, “There are absolutely extraordinary challenges facing Ukraine…All this requires innovative solutions in the government…These decisions mean searching for candidates for the new government not only in Ukraine but also abroad.”

Forget your earlier silly schoolbook notions about how a democracy and a nation function. This is the age of no nation state, of private capital taking over the world for sake of profit. Looting über alles is the motto. The nation of Ukraine is being put on the auction bloc to be privatized anyway, so it makes sense that the auctioneers at the US State Department head-hunt the ones to do the inside job of preparing that auction wherever they find the willing executioners. And because what the privatizers have planned, it is easier to believe a non-Ukrainian would let the country be raped easier than a native Ukrainian, even corrupt natives.

In her acceptance speech Jaresko declared, “The new team aims to change the country, to improve its transparency and to eliminate corruption. The members of the team are ready to deal with the challenges Ukraine faces today. This is a government of professionals and technocrats, and we intend to work. I’ve been living in Ukraine for 22 years and until this day I was the head of a large company that controlled three investment funds.,” she told Ukrainian television news service TSN.

What Jaresko did not say was that she had been sent to Ukraine 22 years before as a member of the US State Department.

Jaresko’s qualifications for the job fit the requirements of a vulture fund rapist banker. She was founder and CEO of Horizon Capital Associates, LLC. Her Horizon Capital is “a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in early stage, buyouts, growth capital, and expansion opportunities. It prefers to invest in financial services, fast moving consumer goods, retail, and industrial goods sectors. It typically invests in mid-cap companies based in Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova,” according to Business Week. They were founded in 1995 and have offices in Kiev. Jaresko is also at the same time CEO of a private equity fund WNISEF.

WNISEF or Western NIS Enterprise Fund is a $150 million private equity fund, active in Ukraine and Moldova investing in small and medium-sized companies. Since its inception, “WNISEF has invested approximately $168 million in 118 companies in the region in a range of industries with a concentration on fast moving consumer goods, construction materials, packaging, retail, and financial services. WNISEF is managed by Horizon Capital Associates, LLC. WNISEF was established by the US Congress and funded by the US government via US Agency for International Development (USAID).”

Before she founded Horizon and WNISEF, the Harvard-trained Jaresko worked for the US State Department in the IMF-steered looting of the country that began just after the US-inspired collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. From 1992-1995 she was Chief of the Economic Section of the US Embassy in Kiev. When US-backed Viktor Yushchenko was installed via Washington’s “Orange Revolution” as President in 2004, Jaresko served on his Foreign Investors Advisory Council.

US State Department deputy spokeswoman, former CIA spokeswoman Marie Harf has already denied Washington had any hand in her appointment. Of course she would never lie.

Another foreign banker as Economy Minister

Apparently not satisfied that only one investment banker as Finance Minister would suffice, Nuland’s Washington friends have installed Aivaras Abromavicius, a Lithuanian investment banker, to be Economy Minister. According to the official US Government propaganda site, Radio Free Europe—the old CIA Cold War propaganda news service still exists, with its old name as kind of a sick joke—Abromavicius, born in Vilnius, Lithuania, has worked in Kyiv since 2008 as partner and fund manager at the East Capital asset management group. East Capital reportedly has invested almost $100 million in 2012 in Ukrainian projects. It would be interesting to know whose money. Abromavicius describes himself as a Ukrainian patriot (sic!), and has pledged “radical measures.”

East Capital is a Sweden-based “frontier markets” fund active in 25 emerging market countries. The founder of Abromavicius’ East Capital is Peter Elam Håkansson according to their website. Before that Håkansson held leading positions with the Swedish Wallenberg family’s Enskilda Securities.

And a Georgian Health Minister

Rounding out the bizarre new Cabinet of Yatsenyuk is Alexander Kvitashvili, a Georgian. Kvitashvili was health minister in Georgia between 2008 and 2010, under then-President Mikheil Saakashvili, like Yushchenko, another US-installed corrupt puppet President from the US-financed Rose Revolution of 2003. Kvitashvili studied and worked in the United States before becoming Georgia’s health minister.

According to Radio Free Europe, “Yatsenyuk has tasked Kvitashvili with introducing sweeping reforms to tackle rampant corruption among health authorities.” However, the designated corruption-fighter has one handicap: he does not speak the Ukrainian language. That doesn’t matter apparently, as he has stated that he has a “deep respect for Ukraine and its people.” More than that, a corruption-fighting health minister in Ukraine these days apparently doesn’t need.

Rape of an entire country, just as rape of a small child, is murder. It is a form of murder of the soul and ultimately of the child. Forty five million Ukrainians do not deserve such treatment any more than an innocent four-year-old child does.

 Foreign Bankers Rape Ukraine   : Information Clearing House - ICH

 

[Superboy]

Coming winter is a weapon of war in east Ukraine

Good strategy. But they forgot 1 factor, namely the world's biggest country Russia. 1,400 tons of humanitarian aid just arrived today and more to come in a short while.

 

[Hindustani78]

Belarus presidential election in 2015. Lukashenko Europe's last dictator will be toppled, no?

TASS: World - Belarus to consider aggression against any CSTO member as military threat — Belarus DefMin

MINSK, December 19 /TASS/. Belarus will consider aggression against any member state of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as a military threat to its own security under the country’s “On Martial Law” which parliament amended on Friday.

The document defines an act of an armed aggression against any CSTO member state as an attack on Belarus, Belarusian Defense Minister Andrey Ravkov said presenting the amendments “On Martial Law” to parliament.

For the first time ever, the law provides for a possibility of introducing a martial law if a threat of encroaching on the country’s constitutional order appears.

The Belarusian defense minister said the amendments also allowed for imposing a ban on creation of political parties and other unions and associations and suspended the operation of some media outlets except for those mentioned in the Ministry of Information list, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said.