Civil war in Ukraine
- Thread starter pmaitra
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@Rashna and @Mad Indian go take your silly arguments somewhere else.
I have cleaned up the thread and would appreciate that no off topic posts are made here.
I have cleaned up the thread and would appreciate that no off topic posts are made here.
pmaitra
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This news is from BBC, so as expected the thread title would be misleading, and it is.
Putin signed a decree that does not require deaths in peacetime to be secret. The decree required deaths during "special operations" in peace time to be kept secret.
Can anyone tell us the actual toll of mercenaries and bandits from NATO countries? What about the Polish/Belgian/Danish/Lithuanian mercenaries killed in Ukraine?
Apparently, NATO countries are ahead of Russia in keeping such information secret.
Putin signed a decree that does not require deaths in peacetime to be secret. The decree required deaths during "special operations" in peace time to be kept secret.
Can anyone tell us the actual toll of mercenaries and bandits from NATO countries? What about the Polish/Belgian/Danish/Lithuanian mercenaries killed in Ukraine?
Apparently, NATO countries are ahead of Russia in keeping such information secret.
It tells nothing more than what we already know.
Russia never denied that volunteers from Russia are in Ukraine. More than hundreds reported earlier? Reported where? Reported by which news agency? And More than hundreds of what? Russian soldiers? Or volunteers from Russia?
Cadian
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http://www.newsweek.com/ex-georgia-president-lead-ukraines-odessa-region-337523
Oh my God, an odious russophobic American puppet becomes a governor of Odessa. Worst comes to worst.
Cadian
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Good job, you're on the right way!
But don't relax - a forum post without "Glory to Putin!" is like beer without vodka!
The casualties are quite significant in this war, and both sides are hiding their losses.
Anybody who trusts Kiev's numbers is a bigger fool.
This is a real nasty war, far nastier than most people assume.
Cadian
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During special operations in the peacetime to be correct.
BTW, have you ever heard about losses in these units? Oh, you didn't, 'cause it's a secret.
arpakola
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The Battle for Novorossiya - May, 2015
http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.gr/2015/05/the-battle-for-novorossiya-may-2015.html
[QUOTE]
"In the last decades, the basic principles of international cooperation have come to be increasingly ignored. These are the principles that have been hard won by mankind as a result of the ordeal of the war. We saw attempts to establish a unipolar world. We see the strong-arm block thinking gaining momentum. All that undermines sustainable global development. The creation of a system of equal security for all states should become our common task. Such system should be an adequate match to modern threats, and it should rest on a regional and global non-block basis. Only then will we be able to ensure peace and tranquility on the planet"President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin
With sharp words of rebuke against the political West, the great Russian president commenced this year's Victory Day military parade in Moscow. The Russian nation marked the 70th anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat the only way it knows how, in epic fashion. Besides the massive formations of troops and the weaponry that normally get displayed on Victory Day, some new and revolutionary weapons systems were displayed for the very first time as well. The massive military parade, the largest of its kind since the Second World War, was an opportunity for the Russian Bear to publicly flex its muscles - for friends and foes alike. But the most powerful and the most poignant moment in my opinion was when Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made thesign of the cross at the start of the military parade. All in all, it was a very impressive show of force. The following are video links to the day's momentous events. Please make some time to watch them if you haven't done so -
Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, much like the recent centennial commemorations of the Armenian Genocide in Yerevan, was also an opportunity to see who stood with and who stood against the Russian nation. It was therefore not a surprise that Western powers and their minions were not present in Moscow on May 9th.
Five years ago Western powers reluctantly partook in the 65th anniversary of the same parade. After the Western defeat in Georgia in 2008, Washington, led by a new administration that had presented itself as peace-oriented, had embarked on a campaign of rapprochement with Moscow. Washington's reset in relationswas essentially meant to keep a Russia that had grown increasingly defensive due to Western inroads into former Soviet territory engaged with Western powers. The Western effort needless-to-say proved very short-lived essentially because it was not genuine. While Western officials were publicly speaking about cooperation and partnerships, they were privately plotting ways to undermine Russia's growing stature in international politics. Anglo-American-Jewish officials were in fact plotting ways of pulling Ukraine out of Russia's orbit as a last ditch effort to sabotage Moscow's fledgling Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) as well as to permanently sour Russia's increasingly good relations with European nations.
Simply put: Western powers could not sit back and allow Russia to become a major competitor and a global power.
The fear and disdain many European nations feel towards Russia is not new. Let's recall that every time Russian power or influence has been on the rise, European powers - be it the Vatican, Sweden, Poland, Germany, France, Britain, or more recently the United States - have plotted against it. We saw this throughout the middle ages; we saw this during the Napoleonic wars; we saw this during the Crimean war; we saw this during the First World War; we saw this during the Bolshevik revolution in Russia; we saw this during the Second World War; we saw this during the Cold War; and we have been seeing this during post-Soviet years. For the past twenty-five years Western powers have been diligently working on containing, isolating and/or fragmenting the Russian nation with hopes of turning it into yet another failed state or Western dependency. They have pursued their agenda against Russia by: using proxies in the Middle East and Central Asia to support the Islamic insurgency in southern Russia; expanding NATO and EU into eastern Europe and into former Soviet territory; setting-up anti-missile installations around Russia's periphery; using global media levers to disseminate anti-Russian propaganda. More recently, they have begun using economic/financial warfare to bring Russia to its knees.
After Moscow's unexpectedly harsh reaction to the Western sponsored armed coup that took place in Kiev during the winder of 2013/2014, Western powers more-or-less ended their charade: All pretenses were dropped and diplomatic niceties were shelved. As we saw by their despicable coverage of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, it was to be a very ugly and persistent onslaught against the Russian Federation and President Putin. After coming to the conclusion that Russian power and influence around the world is on the rise - and that they will not be able to stop it by conventional means - Western powers have taken on an overtly hostile posture that is multi-pronged and relentless.
Uncle Sam's most recent move against FIFA is basically the continuation of the Western world's effort to subdue - or punish - the Russian nation. The recent move against FIFA is absolutely an act directedspecifically against Russia.
We all know that "corruption" is endemic in all governmental bodies, major corporations and organizations worldwide. In fact, the world's most criminally corrupt entities comfortably reside in places such as Washington, New York and London. Therefore, when it comes to "corruption" FIFA is no exception. Moreover, it should also be pointed out that wrongdoings in FIFA has been well known and it has been known for decades. Which begs the question: Why did Uncle Sam suddenly decide to target FIFA now? The answer: To sabotage the upcoming 2018 World Cup games scheduled to be held in Russia. Therefore, instead of moving against egregious corruption and criminality that regularly takes place in Wall Street and in Washington, the self-appointed policeman of the world is courageously going after FIFA officials - to punish Russia.
There is another aspect to this that not many people are noticing: Ok, I admit that FIFA is corrupt-to-the-core and needs a good shakeup. But by Uncle Sam? Is Washington's move against FIFA a lawful act? Is forcing or blackmailing Swiss authorities to arrest FIFA officials legal from the perspective of international law?
As we can see now, while Moscow was flexing its muscles on May 9th, US officials were busy preparing to flex their muscles on May 27th. Make no mistake about it, the action against FIFA is indeed muscle flexing by Uncle Sam. US officials want the world to know that US power and influence has a very far reach. US officials want the world to know that US officials can bring charges against people and have them arrested, even if those targeted are foreign citizens and reside thousands of miles away. No one is raising an eyebrow at any of this essentially because Washington has for decades been using its power and influence to impose its will on sovereign nations worldwide. Uncle Sam acts like the alpha and the omega of the universe and sheeple are conditioned to simply accept it as the natural order of things. In my opinion, Washington's actions against FIFA is a blatant act of aggression and yet another example of American imperial hubris. The degree of meddling in the domestic affairs of sovereign nations by US officials is unprecedented in human history. The recent ordeal involving FIFA should therefore be a reminder to us all that the US government has become an out-of-control monster that needs to be reigned in.
As I have alluded to on countless previous occasions: For the past seventy years they have meticulously and systematically set-up the playing field as well as the rules of the game. Regardless of who you are, if you want to play, you have to play on their turf and under their terms. They have you already speaking their language, using their financial institutions, trading in their money, studying in their educational establishments, listening to their news, wearing their clothes, entertaining yourself to their pop culture... They have you conditioned. Once you are operating within their system and living within their paradigm, they control you and you are vulnerable. You are thus forced to play the game obediently, or else. In short: We live in their world. They see the world as their playground and they see us as their possessions.
Never before had any political entity had this much power and influence over human society. The situation at hand is unnatural, very dangerous and thus must be ended. And one of the scariest aspects to Uncle Sam's recent move against FIFA is that the action was made possible by "antiterrorism" legislation Washington has signed with its allies (i.e. subordinates) in recent years. Again, we are seeing the events of September 11, 2001 being exploited for imperial interests of the Anglo-American-Jewish political order. Make no mistake about it: US has become a global threat, an arrogant monster who's tentacles now reach into the far corners of the world. President Putin spoke out about this -
Putin accuses US of meddling into FIFA affairs: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-accuses-us-meddling-fifa-affairs-093647908--spt.html
Humanity has a desperate need for another power - or powers - to rise and have the courage and the foresight to begin setting-up other fields of play with new sets of rules. As I have already mentioned, the move against FIFA is definitely a move against Russia. Anglo-American-Jewish powers are hard at work: They are working day and night trying to stop Russia's rise.
Therefore, it was only natural that the Anglo-American-Jewish political order and its lackeys around the world would stay away from Victory Day celebrations in Moscow. But those that were present in Moscow on May 9th do suggest some fundamental changes in global affairs. The world's two most populous nations, China and India, and the world's largest nation, Russia, have in recent years grown very close. Looking at the spectator's bleachers on Red Square one could therefore see the fledgling face of a newly emerging global order. The East is rising despite the West's best efforts to curtail its rise. Russian, Chinese and Indian troops marching together for the first time on the historic cobblestone pavement of Red Square heralded the dawning of a new political order.
Also seen marching for the first time in Moscow were Serbian troops. It was wonderful seeing the Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic in both Yerevan and Moscow in recent weeks. The great Serbian nation is looking east. The Russian sphere is where the Serbian nation naturally belongs within and it is where Serbia - along with Kosovo - will eventually be returned to. Other notable guests in Moscow on May 9th was Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. In my opinion, the only three nations that were unfortunately not adequately present in Moscow on May 9th were the still occupied nation of Germany, bankrupted Greece and the embattled state of Iran. I really hope to see Germany, Greece and Iran get their act in order and become members of the Eurasian Union one day.
Since we are on the topic of Victory Day celebrations I would like to add that the victory over Nazi Germany was not just a Russian victory but also a victory of Soviet peoples. Armenia, a nation of barely over a million people at the time, lost nearly three hundred thousand of its sons and daughters in the war effort. Over one hundred Armenians were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union", the highest military honor bestowed by the Kremlin. One of the finest Soviet tank divisions of the war, one that was amongst the very first military units to fight their way into Berlin in spring of 1945, was the Armenian 89th Tamanyan tank division. Hovannes Bagramyan was the first non-Slavic officer to be given the title of Marshal as well as being the first non-Slavic officer to be given command of an entire front. Aeronautical engineer Artem Mikoyan first began designing his world famous "Mig" warplanes during the great war. Finally, we must never forget Gevork Vartanian, the legendary Soviet-Armenian agent who single-handedly thwarted the assassinations of Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in 1943. Gevork Vartanyan's exploit in Iran most probably saved the allied war effort from collapsing. Despite its size and obscurity, the Armenian nation contributed greatly to the final Soviet victory. Armenians in fact gave more to the war effort than they could afford to give. This is why May 9th is also a major holiday inside Armenia. May 9th is actually a double holiday for Armenians worldwide for also on that date in 1992 the historic Armenian city of Shushi was finally liberated by Armenian forces. The liberation of Shushi on May 9, 1992 became the turning-point of the war in Artsakh.
Nevertheless, the Victory Day military parade in Moscow showed the world that the Russian Federation will not be subdued. The military parade showed the Anglo-American-Jewish political order that their efforts - be it financial, political or military - have failed to deter Moscow from pursing its interests. The military parade showed the world that Western aggression is pushing Russia and China ever closer. In my opinion, the military parade also sent a clear signal to all that Russia is not afraid of Western powers and that it will continue backing pro-Russian separatists in Novorossiya.
Featured below this commentary is comrade Zoravar's latest blog contribution titled: The Battle for Novorossiya.
The work is essentially composed of two parts: a fascinating narrative about the historic struggle taking place within Novorossiya and an expert's assessment of the military hardware displayed during Moscow's Victory Day military parade on May 9th. I urge all my readers to make time and read Zoravar's work. I also urge you to please read his previous blog contributions listed below as well -
The East-West Balance and the Strategic Importance of Crimea (April, 2014): http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-military-balance-between-russia-and.html
Syrian Conflict: A Brief Military Analysis (June 2013):http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.com/2013/06/syrian-conflict-brief-military-analysis.html
A Call to Arms (November, 2011): http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.com/2011/11/call-to-arms-november-2011.html
Russia Military Update (December, 2010):http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.com/2010/12/military.html
Of all the global hotspots in the world today the war in Ukraine is the most significant one from a geopolitical perspective. If the Russian nation is to reach its potential in the 21th century, it will have to thwart the Anglo-American-Jewish agenda against it. In my opinion, the best place to do this is in Novorossiya. Ukraine has become the battlefield where NATO and the EU can be dealt a major blow. Ukraine is the battlefield where the Anglo-American-Jewish political order can be exposed and defeated. Novorossiya has thus become the gateway to greater Russian power and influence in Europe and Turkey. Greater Russian power and influence in the region gives hope to beleaguered nations like Serbia, Greece, Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Cyprus, Syria, Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. The outcome of the war in Ukraine will shape the future of the entire region. The strategic and historic importance of the war in Novorossiya cannot therefore be overemphasized.
Arevordi
May, 2015
***
The Battle for Novorossiya
Prologue
The moonlight revealed a dozen or so human silhouettes moving frantically around a few trucks parked abreast of each other on a sunflower field caressed by a mild and refreshing mid-summer breeze. In an atmosphere that sounded very tense, the men were moving around haphazardly. Their pace was often quick. Sometimes they paused only to hurry again. Although there was no one for miles, they were speaking to each other in whispers. Clearly they were up to something important and they did not want to be seen or heard.
Momentarily, a better glimpse was obtained when one group member used a flashlight to read from a sheet of paper some numbers that sounded like coordinates …
This was happening in the Donbass region of Ukraine. The field was not an ordinary field, it had rich and fertile (chernozyom) topsoil and coal mines buried deep under. The men were no ordinary farmers or miners, they were rebel militants fighting for a free Novorossiya. The trucks were no ordinary trucks, they were “Grad” multiple rocket launchers of legendary fame. The date was in the summer of 2014, but it was a déjà vu scene; similar scenarios happened in the same place many decades ago during the period of history that the locals refer to as the “Great Patriotic War”.
Suddenly, the readiness reports coming from the vehicles successively pierced the dark night:
- Pervye Gatov (First unit ready)
- Vtaroi Gatov (Second ready)
- Tretye Gatov (Third ready)
Grad Rocket Launcher
It was the moment the battery commander was waiting for. With slow movements of his right hand he crossed himself in the traditional Russian Orthodox manner, took a deep breath and yelled as loud as his lungs could master:
- Battarey … Trista-Tritset-Tree (Battery … Three hundred-Thirty-Three).
The “fire” command was given in the traditional Russian manner, but the last “three” was never heard because the first rockets had already left their launch tubes and were screeching their way towards the unsuspecting Ukrainian troops camped near the village of Zelenopolye…
Disaster in Kiev
By February 2014, with the full support and backing of the political West, a group of Ukrainian Russophobe oligarchs and ultra-nationalists had organized and successfully executed a “Maidan” revolution in Kiev which resulted in the overthrow of the democratically elected but weak and indecisive president Viktor Yanukovich. The authority was now illegally seized by people who hated everything Russian and were clearly stating their sinister aims of joining NATO, disassociating Ukraine from everything Russian and even banning the Russian language from school programs.
Maidan Clashes
The eastern and southern regions of Ukraine that are traditionally pro-Russian were in such a state of shock that neither the people nor the politicians knew how to act. The true colors of Yanukovich’s own Party of Regions started showing off when many of its members were just easily “bought” by the other side…Suddenly, there was no political party or entity that could fight back the “Maidan” revolution.
Dawn of the “Russian Spring”
With no political party and no leadership to look to, the millions of Russian speaking Ukrainians had a tough time trying to figure out what to do. They are known to be the real workers and producers in Ukraine, while their Western compatriots are more known for being lazy, unproductive, jobless and poor. What were the Pro-Russians supposed to do? Leave their jobs, families, responsibilities and fight back? Or just let it be?
Someone had to take the lead… Crimeans decided to act, and they acted very effectively. Prompt and massive demonstrations started a rapid chain of events that started in electing much needed leadership and culminated by the return of the whole peninsula to Mother Russia. These events were covered on this blog in the past.
The population of the South East did not stay idle. Energized by the success of their compatriots in Crimea, they took to the streets in Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkov, Odessa and in every other major city in those regions. Their mass demonstrations dwarfed the pro-Ukraine or pro-West gatherings in those areas and gathered momentum every passing week. However, these self-organized demonstrations lacked proper leadership and had diverging aims: some were asking for reunification with Russia, others were demanding federalization, yet others were just content on asking just for freedom of Russian language. The whole thing was a recipe for failure…
Anti-Maidan demonstrations
Dilemma in the Kremlin
The Maidan freak show happened at a time when the Russian leadership was busy making sure that the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi end up being a tremendous success that would have enormous positive effect on the average Ivan’s and Natasha’s national pride, feelings and psychology. Despite the successes of the Russian sportsmen and women, the Kremlin was keeping a worried eye on the developments in Kiev and was of course appalled by the brutality of the fascist and Nazi rioters, the swiftness of the events and the ineffectiveness of the Ukrainian President. Although they understood the gravity of the situation that was arising, the turn of the events in Kiev caught the Kremlin leaders off balance. Certainly, Vladimir Putin and his close associates in the government contemplated their options which can be summarized as follows:
-Staying in friendly terms with the new regime in Kiev by doing nothing on the ground: But Moscow knew too well the Maidan coup initiators who were coming to power. Nothing good would come out by trying to deal with these Russophobes in a friendly and respectful manner.
-Military intervention and restoration of President Yanukovich into power: That would not only lead to a full-fledged cold war with the West, but it could also get Russia involved in a protracted and very costly Iraq-style insurgency war that it could ill afford. Furthermore, it would mean that Russia would have to support and sustain the “bottomless barrel” called Ukrainian economy. That would set Russia decades behind.
-Disrupting Kiev’s (and the West’s) plans and maintaining leverage: Russia is ruled by consensus, not by an iron fist (as the West likes to portray it). There are various factions in the Kremlin ranging from the siloviki to the liberals and from the nationalists to the business-minded. Putin is like a father/patriarch figure who listens to all the opinions and has to find the right consensus. It was this third option that the Russian leadership opted for as it was flexible enough to lead to maximum gains while minimizing costs and losses. It could potentially deny Kiev the liberty to do as it pleased by maintaining as much as possible leverage that Russia has in cultural, financial and trade terms. In other words, Moscow decided to accept the defeat it sustained in Kiev, but positioned itself in such a way to extract a few victories out of the monster’s jaws.
The first two immediate decisions were to send an airborne team to rescue the beleaguered president Yanukovich and to do whatever was necessary to ensure that the Crimean peninsula returns to Russia. As we know, both of these aims were successfully executed to the dismay of Kiev regime and the West. With these immediate objectives achieved, the Kiev regime was dealt a couple of heavy punches. It was time to let diplomacy, the business ties, the declining economy and the general discontent in the south-east to do the rest: make sure that Ukraine does not join NATO and/or the EU…at least, that was the idea. That plan was pushed forward by the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on the diplomatic front as “federalization of Ukraine”.
Washington (and the political West) would have none of that. Watching their easy victory in Kiev not only come to nothing but also to cost the West dearly in financial support of the “free and democratic” Ukraine, the West’s leaders decided not to let “Putin” have his way. At that point, they started to aggressively push their plans to integrate Ukraine into NATO and the EU.
The Strelkovtsev
On the 3rd of March 2014, Dmitry Zhukov disembarked from a crowded bus in Simferopol (Crimea). His friends knew him by the call sign “Kedr”. As an anti-Maidan activist from Kiev, he had worked hard to fight back the coup in his native city. By the end of February, he realized that the battle was lost and that it was not safe to stay in the capital. He decided to move to Crimea and continue the struggle from there. The passengers on the bus were activists like him and also a few “Berkut” riot police officers fleeing Kiev. The Crimean greeted the new comers with applauses and chants of “Berkut – Berkut” and “Spa-si-ba, Spa-si-ba”. In that crowded and noisy square, Kedr barely heard someone calling his name. He turned to his right and instantly identified a middle aged tall man with a thin mustache dressed in a suit and tie. That man was a contact he was given, it was Igor Strelkov.
The Strelkovtsev
Little is known about Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin (Strelkov). It is believed that he worked for the Russian FSB for a number of years. He had participated in a number of wars were Russia’s geopolitical interests were involved: Transdniestra, Bosnia and the two conflicts in Chechnya. For the last couple of years he was living a more “civilian” life dedicating himself to re-enacting famous historic battles. During the early stages of the turmoil in Ukraine, he relocated to the Crimean peninsula were he took part in the events that happened there. It is said that he was managing the personal security of some key Crimean leaders.
Strelkov predicted that the peaceful anti-Kiev demonstration would lead to nowhere. The events that happened in the next few weeks proved he was right. Several thousand neo-Nazi Right Sector and ultra-nationalist Svoboda party thugs sent by Kiev crushed the Odessa movement and burned dozens of unarmed demonstrators in the Trade Union building. Soon after, the same thugs were sent to Kharkov to beat the protesters there. The unarmed and peaceful anti-Kiev movements were fizzling out. Only Donetsk and Lugansk were still active where the local populations had captured some local administration buildings and thus far had managed to beat back the Kiev Junta’s thugs. But it was doubtful they could hold their stand for much longer.
The conversation between Strelkov and Kedr was brief and to the point. It was all about defending the “Russian World” to which Kedr volunteered. They knew that the peaceful anti-Kiev demonstrations all over the South-East were doomed to fail. The new rulers in Kiev and their backers in the West were not interested in public opinion and fairness. They wanted to encroach further into the Russian zone of influence. They wanted a Ukraine that was anti-Russia. They wanted brother Slavic people to be at each other’s throats.
Capture of Kramatorsk Police Station
A few weeks later, a group of 52 men led by Strelkov crossed the border in a number of civilian vehicles and proceeded to the now famous city of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. A few of them were Russian citizens (like Strelkov himself). There were also a number of Crimeans, but the majority were Ukrainians including a few from Kiev (like Kedr) and other western regions of the country. They all had served in the military, some had battle experience. Slavyansk was chosen for a variety of reasons:
-They had many contacts in Slavyansk who could join them there immediately.
-Strelkov wanted a medium sized city (population 100,000) that was sympathetic to the Russian cause and deeply anti-Kiev. A city, were rule of the people could be easily and quickly established.
-Slavyansk is located on the western side of the Donetsk region and thus, is ideal because it would be barrier that would shield the Donetsk capital until it organized itself for the confrontation with Kiev.
Strelkov and his men were armed with light weapons, they had personal radios for communication and were wearing fresh uniforms. They looked very professional. Upon their covert arrival in Slavyansk, the Strelkovtsev were met by their contacts who boosted their ranks and soon went into action. On the 12th of April, they captured the local police station and the Ukrainian security building. The overjoyed civilian population helped in erecting barricades at the city entrances. A new mayor was designated and almost overnight Slavyansk became the focus of the clash against the Kiev junta. Fresh local volunteers were armed with the weapons confiscated from the police building and Strelkov was now in command of a force that had quadrupled in numbers. A few days later, he sent a group of 28 Terek and Don Cossacks to capture the neighboring city of Kramatorsk to the great delight of the local population there. One very charismatic and photogenic Cossack warrior by the call sign “Babai” became so popular that many people lined up to be photographed with him.
At this stage, I invite all the esteemed readers of this article to watch the following clip about Babai and his colleagues in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Us Armenians, we call this kind of brave people “Fedayees”. The song in the clip is the famous Cossack song “Kagda My Bili Na Vayne” (“When We Were at War”).
Cossack “Babai”:
The popular seizure of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk energized the Donbass masses who seized virtually every administration in every city and town in the two Oblasts of Donetsk and Lugansk. They were no longer afraid, they had seen the successful events in Crimea, they now had weapons they had seized from various police stations and Ukrainian state security offices and most of all they had the Strelkovtsev. The reaction to the violent Maidan coup in Kiev had begun. Anti-Maidan was brought into the geopolitical and military equation. Anti-Maidan can be seen as an anti-poison that stops the spreading od the venom through Ukraine’s body. But, let’s go back and analyze this whole Strelkov expedition for a moment. Who was backing and financing them? According to Strelkov himself, the Kremlin neither sent them nor supported them. They had to buy their arms and equipment themselves. Could that be true? Let’s contemplate all the possibilities:
- One distinct possibility is that the Kremlin directly (or through intermediaries) provided Strelkov with his orders, finances and weapons. The Kiev Junta and the West accuses Russia of doing exactly that. Naturally, Russia denies the accusations. If it is indeed true that the Kremlin is managing Strelkov, then this is one of the most audacious large-scale covert operation conducted in recent times; something that modern Russia has never done since the break-up of the Soviet Union.
-Another possibility is that it was some hawkish circles within the Kremlin who sent Strelkov there without the approval of Putin or the government. It would be absurd to think that the FSB or the government did not know about it. They just turned a blind eye or looked the other way. If the operation succeeded, it would be a “win” for Russia. If it failed, they had plausible deniability and could even blame some scapegoat. Remember the saying: “Victory has a hundred fathers, defeat is an orphan”.
-The third possibility is that an opposition party (such as Zhirinovsky’s LDP or the Communists) or a nationalistic party supported Strelkov with or without the knowledge of the Kremlin. Again, a successful mission would be a “win”. If it failed, it was somebody else’s enterprise.
-Finally, the most unlikely but still plausible scenario is that Strelkov and his men acted on their own. Strelkov is a devout Monarchist; a movement that is lately on the rise in Russia. Monarchists are very patriotic, nationalistic and believe that a Tsar should rule Russia. In all his interviews, Strelkov never lauded the Kremlin or President Putin. On the contrary, he often delivered veiled criticism aimed at the Russian leadership for not helping him and the Donbass fight the Kiev Junta.
Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer to which of the above possibilities is the correct one. Is Strelkov a 100% FSB agent or is he a ready to die “fedayee” who believed that his ideology was sufficient in leading Donbass to victory. I hope one day the truth will be made public and I certainly hope that I will live long enough to see that day.
First Battles for Novorossiya
Russian media revealed that on the 12th of April CIA chief john Brennan secretly visited Kiev to meet the then active president and parliament speaker Viktor Turchinov as well as Petro Poroshenko who had not been elected president yet. The Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) was launched soon after his visit.
Defending Slavyansk
Continuously, the USA supplied the Kiev Junta with lumps of cash under the allegation that it was helping a “democracy and freedom loving brave country”. Each lump sum consisted of several dozen millions of Dollars that were not intended to support the Ukrainian economy or the population; rather they were to be used to prep up the armed forces that Kiev needed to subdue the rebelling Donbass region.
During the Maidan square coup, the underfunded and neglected Ukrainian Army did not take sides. The already low morale in the armed forces was dealt a severe blow when the majority of their contingents based in the Crimea sided with Russia; among them was the top Admiral of the Navy. By the end of the Crimea events, Russian military experts estimated that the Ukrainian Army had about only six thousand combat ready soldiers. The large sums that the USA was granting the Kiev junta were badly needed. Kiev started at the very top. The money was used to make sure that the top generals were on their side. Promotions, bribes and the rest made sure that loyalty trickled down to the lower ranking officers who had to prepare the army for the upcoming conflict i.e. the ATO mission in the Donbass. But that needed some time. Meanwhile the Strelkovtsev were getting entrenched in Slavyansk and the Donetsk and Lugansk regions were getting out of Kiev’s control. The Kiev junta had to send in whatever was available aginst Slavyansk and Kramatorsk.
Capture of Ukrainian Vehicles
At that time the junta’s military headquarters managed to get the 25th air mobile brigade move into Kramatorsk. That brigade, considered to be the elite of the Ukrainian Army, has its base in Dnepropetrovsk (a region of Russian speakers) and a large proportion of soldiers from that region. Their mission was to enter Kramatorsk and chase the Russian “terrorists”. The first column of BMD armored vehicles entered Kramatorsk and reached the city center. The weaponry of the Strelkovtsev consisted of only AK-74 assault rifles and other hand held light weapons. They had no chance against this force. Yet, that day was meant to be a day were miracles happen. The civilian population descended on the streets, surrounded the BMDs, talked to the soldiers, argued, yelled, pestered, badgered and eventually convinced them to give up the mission. Furthermore, six of BMDs defected and joined the rebellious population; the rest just left the city. The Russian speaking soldiers from Dnepropetrovsk had realized that it was their own kin, their own brothers and sisters that they were sent to fight and crush. It was a bloodless victory for the Strelkovtsev whose ranks swelled further and now had at its disposal some armored vehicles, heavy machine guns, anti-tank weapons and most of all their first artillery piece in the form of a BMD based NONA self-propelled gun-mortar.
First blood was drawn soon after when a group of ultra-nationalistic fanatics in four SUV vehicles approached a road block at one of the entrances of Slavyansk and opened fire killing 3 people. The defenders retaliated and burned two of the vehicles. Things got uglier with time. The junta’s attacks got stronger and more fearce. Attacks were mounted with armored personnel carriers, later on with tanks and eventually with artillery and aviation.
The Warlords of Novorossiya
The Russian Spring period witnessed the emergence of a number of self-defense units. Strelkov and his group got the most publicity, but they were not the only one. In Donetsk region, another Russian national by the name of Igor Bezler (Bez) created a unit in the city of Gorlovka. The Vostok battalion was assembled in the city of Donetsk itself and was led by Khodakovsky (a Ukrainian). The Oplot unit was led by Alexander Zakharchenko who later became the head of the DNR (Popular Republic of Donetsk). In the Lugansk region, the Cossacks established themselves in Pervomaysk and Alchevsk while Alexander Mozgovoy’s “Prizrak” battalion took up the defense of northern Lugansk. There were other self-organized groups as well, but the ones I mentioned are the most noteworthy. The number of fighters in these rebel groups varied from a few dozen to several hundred. Of course, the largest anti-Kiev fighting force was Strelkov’s group garrisoned in Slavyansk. At its peak, Strelkov commanded a group whose ranks were in excess of 2000 soldiers.
From top left: Mozgovoy, Bezler and Khodakovsky (bottom)
With most of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions now under the control of these various groups, the leaders of the two regions organized referendums on the 11th of May 2014 in which the population overwhelmingly supported self-determination for the two regions. Just like the population, the various rebel groups did not exactly share the same political views and had diverging plans. Also, cooperation with each other on the battlefield was lacking. The only thing that united them was the fascist regime in Kiev that was trying to subjugate them. Thus emerged two tendencies in the Donbass:
The first one consisted of the hardliners who wanted to take the battle all the way to Kiev and wanted to establish a new Republic (Novorossiya) that encompassed the entire Eastern and Southern parts of Ukraine. Strelkov and Mozgovoy were among them. The other rebel groups’ ambitions were less grandiose; they were more interested in establishing self-rule for their regions. They certainly rejected the Kiev Junta and considered themselves as a counter-revolution; they preferred to find a political solution rather than march onto Kiev. Zakharchenko was among those. [/QUOTE]
http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.gr/2015/05/the-battle-for-novorossiya-may-2015.html
[QUOTE]
"In the last decades, the basic principles of international cooperation have come to be increasingly ignored. These are the principles that have been hard won by mankind as a result of the ordeal of the war. We saw attempts to establish a unipolar world. We see the strong-arm block thinking gaining momentum. All that undermines sustainable global development. The creation of a system of equal security for all states should become our common task. Such system should be an adequate match to modern threats, and it should rest on a regional and global non-block basis. Only then will we be able to ensure peace and tranquility on the planet"President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin
With sharp words of rebuke against the political West, the great Russian president commenced this year's Victory Day military parade in Moscow. The Russian nation marked the 70th anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat the only way it knows how, in epic fashion. Besides the massive formations of troops and the weaponry that normally get displayed on Victory Day, some new and revolutionary weapons systems were displayed for the very first time as well. The massive military parade, the largest of its kind since the Second World War, was an opportunity for the Russian Bear to publicly flex its muscles - for friends and foes alike. But the most powerful and the most poignant moment in my opinion was when Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made thesign of the cross at the start of the military parade. All in all, it was a very impressive show of force. The following are video links to the day's momentous events. Please make some time to watch them if you haven't done so -
Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, much like the recent centennial commemorations of the Armenian Genocide in Yerevan, was also an opportunity to see who stood with and who stood against the Russian nation. It was therefore not a surprise that Western powers and their minions were not present in Moscow on May 9th.
Five years ago Western powers reluctantly partook in the 65th anniversary of the same parade. After the Western defeat in Georgia in 2008, Washington, led by a new administration that had presented itself as peace-oriented, had embarked on a campaign of rapprochement with Moscow. Washington's reset in relationswas essentially meant to keep a Russia that had grown increasingly defensive due to Western inroads into former Soviet territory engaged with Western powers. The Western effort needless-to-say proved very short-lived essentially because it was not genuine. While Western officials were publicly speaking about cooperation and partnerships, they were privately plotting ways to undermine Russia's growing stature in international politics. Anglo-American-Jewish officials were in fact plotting ways of pulling Ukraine out of Russia's orbit as a last ditch effort to sabotage Moscow's fledgling Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) as well as to permanently sour Russia's increasingly good relations with European nations.
Simply put: Western powers could not sit back and allow Russia to become a major competitor and a global power.
The fear and disdain many European nations feel towards Russia is not new. Let's recall that every time Russian power or influence has been on the rise, European powers - be it the Vatican, Sweden, Poland, Germany, France, Britain, or more recently the United States - have plotted against it. We saw this throughout the middle ages; we saw this during the Napoleonic wars; we saw this during the Crimean war; we saw this during the First World War; we saw this during the Bolshevik revolution in Russia; we saw this during the Second World War; we saw this during the Cold War; and we have been seeing this during post-Soviet years. For the past twenty-five years Western powers have been diligently working on containing, isolating and/or fragmenting the Russian nation with hopes of turning it into yet another failed state or Western dependency. They have pursued their agenda against Russia by: using proxies in the Middle East and Central Asia to support the Islamic insurgency in southern Russia; expanding NATO and EU into eastern Europe and into former Soviet territory; setting-up anti-missile installations around Russia's periphery; using global media levers to disseminate anti-Russian propaganda. More recently, they have begun using economic/financial warfare to bring Russia to its knees.
After Moscow's unexpectedly harsh reaction to the Western sponsored armed coup that took place in Kiev during the winder of 2013/2014, Western powers more-or-less ended their charade: All pretenses were dropped and diplomatic niceties were shelved. As we saw by their despicable coverage of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, it was to be a very ugly and persistent onslaught against the Russian Federation and President Putin. After coming to the conclusion that Russian power and influence around the world is on the rise - and that they will not be able to stop it by conventional means - Western powers have taken on an overtly hostile posture that is multi-pronged and relentless.
Uncle Sam's most recent move against FIFA is basically the continuation of the Western world's effort to subdue - or punish - the Russian nation. The recent move against FIFA is absolutely an act directedspecifically against Russia.
We all know that "corruption" is endemic in all governmental bodies, major corporations and organizations worldwide. In fact, the world's most criminally corrupt entities comfortably reside in places such as Washington, New York and London. Therefore, when it comes to "corruption" FIFA is no exception. Moreover, it should also be pointed out that wrongdoings in FIFA has been well known and it has been known for decades. Which begs the question: Why did Uncle Sam suddenly decide to target FIFA now? The answer: To sabotage the upcoming 2018 World Cup games scheduled to be held in Russia. Therefore, instead of moving against egregious corruption and criminality that regularly takes place in Wall Street and in Washington, the self-appointed policeman of the world is courageously going after FIFA officials - to punish Russia.
There is another aspect to this that not many people are noticing: Ok, I admit that FIFA is corrupt-to-the-core and needs a good shakeup. But by Uncle Sam? Is Washington's move against FIFA a lawful act? Is forcing or blackmailing Swiss authorities to arrest FIFA officials legal from the perspective of international law?
As we can see now, while Moscow was flexing its muscles on May 9th, US officials were busy preparing to flex their muscles on May 27th. Make no mistake about it, the action against FIFA is indeed muscle flexing by Uncle Sam. US officials want the world to know that US power and influence has a very far reach. US officials want the world to know that US officials can bring charges against people and have them arrested, even if those targeted are foreign citizens and reside thousands of miles away. No one is raising an eyebrow at any of this essentially because Washington has for decades been using its power and influence to impose its will on sovereign nations worldwide. Uncle Sam acts like the alpha and the omega of the universe and sheeple are conditioned to simply accept it as the natural order of things. In my opinion, Washington's actions against FIFA is a blatant act of aggression and yet another example of American imperial hubris. The degree of meddling in the domestic affairs of sovereign nations by US officials is unprecedented in human history. The recent ordeal involving FIFA should therefore be a reminder to us all that the US government has become an out-of-control monster that needs to be reigned in.
As I have alluded to on countless previous occasions: For the past seventy years they have meticulously and systematically set-up the playing field as well as the rules of the game. Regardless of who you are, if you want to play, you have to play on their turf and under their terms. They have you already speaking their language, using their financial institutions, trading in their money, studying in their educational establishments, listening to their news, wearing their clothes, entertaining yourself to their pop culture... They have you conditioned. Once you are operating within their system and living within their paradigm, they control you and you are vulnerable. You are thus forced to play the game obediently, or else. In short: We live in their world. They see the world as their playground and they see us as their possessions.
Never before had any political entity had this much power and influence over human society. The situation at hand is unnatural, very dangerous and thus must be ended. And one of the scariest aspects to Uncle Sam's recent move against FIFA is that the action was made possible by "antiterrorism" legislation Washington has signed with its allies (i.e. subordinates) in recent years. Again, we are seeing the events of September 11, 2001 being exploited for imperial interests of the Anglo-American-Jewish political order. Make no mistake about it: US has become a global threat, an arrogant monster who's tentacles now reach into the far corners of the world. President Putin spoke out about this -
Putin accuses US of meddling into FIFA affairs: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-accuses-us-meddling-fifa-affairs-093647908--spt.html
Humanity has a desperate need for another power - or powers - to rise and have the courage and the foresight to begin setting-up other fields of play with new sets of rules. As I have already mentioned, the move against FIFA is definitely a move against Russia. Anglo-American-Jewish powers are hard at work: They are working day and night trying to stop Russia's rise.
Therefore, it was only natural that the Anglo-American-Jewish political order and its lackeys around the world would stay away from Victory Day celebrations in Moscow. But those that were present in Moscow on May 9th do suggest some fundamental changes in global affairs. The world's two most populous nations, China and India, and the world's largest nation, Russia, have in recent years grown very close. Looking at the spectator's bleachers on Red Square one could therefore see the fledgling face of a newly emerging global order. The East is rising despite the West's best efforts to curtail its rise. Russian, Chinese and Indian troops marching together for the first time on the historic cobblestone pavement of Red Square heralded the dawning of a new political order.
Also seen marching for the first time in Moscow were Serbian troops. It was wonderful seeing the Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic in both Yerevan and Moscow in recent weeks. The great Serbian nation is looking east. The Russian sphere is where the Serbian nation naturally belongs within and it is where Serbia - along with Kosovo - will eventually be returned to. Other notable guests in Moscow on May 9th was Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. In my opinion, the only three nations that were unfortunately not adequately present in Moscow on May 9th were the still occupied nation of Germany, bankrupted Greece and the embattled state of Iran. I really hope to see Germany, Greece and Iran get their act in order and become members of the Eurasian Union one day.
Since we are on the topic of Victory Day celebrations I would like to add that the victory over Nazi Germany was not just a Russian victory but also a victory of Soviet peoples. Armenia, a nation of barely over a million people at the time, lost nearly three hundred thousand of its sons and daughters in the war effort. Over one hundred Armenians were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union", the highest military honor bestowed by the Kremlin. One of the finest Soviet tank divisions of the war, one that was amongst the very first military units to fight their way into Berlin in spring of 1945, was the Armenian 89th Tamanyan tank division. Hovannes Bagramyan was the first non-Slavic officer to be given the title of Marshal as well as being the first non-Slavic officer to be given command of an entire front. Aeronautical engineer Artem Mikoyan first began designing his world famous "Mig" warplanes during the great war. Finally, we must never forget Gevork Vartanian, the legendary Soviet-Armenian agent who single-handedly thwarted the assassinations of Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in 1943. Gevork Vartanyan's exploit in Iran most probably saved the allied war effort from collapsing. Despite its size and obscurity, the Armenian nation contributed greatly to the final Soviet victory. Armenians in fact gave more to the war effort than they could afford to give. This is why May 9th is also a major holiday inside Armenia. May 9th is actually a double holiday for Armenians worldwide for also on that date in 1992 the historic Armenian city of Shushi was finally liberated by Armenian forces. The liberation of Shushi on May 9, 1992 became the turning-point of the war in Artsakh.
Nevertheless, the Victory Day military parade in Moscow showed the world that the Russian Federation will not be subdued. The military parade showed the Anglo-American-Jewish political order that their efforts - be it financial, political or military - have failed to deter Moscow from pursing its interests. The military parade showed the world that Western aggression is pushing Russia and China ever closer. In my opinion, the military parade also sent a clear signal to all that Russia is not afraid of Western powers and that it will continue backing pro-Russian separatists in Novorossiya.
Featured below this commentary is comrade Zoravar's latest blog contribution titled: The Battle for Novorossiya.
The work is essentially composed of two parts: a fascinating narrative about the historic struggle taking place within Novorossiya and an expert's assessment of the military hardware displayed during Moscow's Victory Day military parade on May 9th. I urge all my readers to make time and read Zoravar's work. I also urge you to please read his previous blog contributions listed below as well -
The East-West Balance and the Strategic Importance of Crimea (April, 2014): http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-military-balance-between-russia-and.html
Syrian Conflict: A Brief Military Analysis (June 2013):http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.com/2013/06/syrian-conflict-brief-military-analysis.html
A Call to Arms (November, 2011): http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.com/2011/11/call-to-arms-november-2011.html
Russia Military Update (December, 2010):http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.com/2010/12/military.html
Of all the global hotspots in the world today the war in Ukraine is the most significant one from a geopolitical perspective. If the Russian nation is to reach its potential in the 21th century, it will have to thwart the Anglo-American-Jewish agenda against it. In my opinion, the best place to do this is in Novorossiya. Ukraine has become the battlefield where NATO and the EU can be dealt a major blow. Ukraine is the battlefield where the Anglo-American-Jewish political order can be exposed and defeated. Novorossiya has thus become the gateway to greater Russian power and influence in Europe and Turkey. Greater Russian power and influence in the region gives hope to beleaguered nations like Serbia, Greece, Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Cyprus, Syria, Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. The outcome of the war in Ukraine will shape the future of the entire region. The strategic and historic importance of the war in Novorossiya cannot therefore be overemphasized.
Arevordi
May, 2015
***
The Battle for Novorossiya
Prologue
The moonlight revealed a dozen or so human silhouettes moving frantically around a few trucks parked abreast of each other on a sunflower field caressed by a mild and refreshing mid-summer breeze. In an atmosphere that sounded very tense, the men were moving around haphazardly. Their pace was often quick. Sometimes they paused only to hurry again. Although there was no one for miles, they were speaking to each other in whispers. Clearly they were up to something important and they did not want to be seen or heard.
Momentarily, a better glimpse was obtained when one group member used a flashlight to read from a sheet of paper some numbers that sounded like coordinates …
This was happening in the Donbass region of Ukraine. The field was not an ordinary field, it had rich and fertile (chernozyom) topsoil and coal mines buried deep under. The men were no ordinary farmers or miners, they were rebel militants fighting for a free Novorossiya. The trucks were no ordinary trucks, they were “Grad” multiple rocket launchers of legendary fame. The date was in the summer of 2014, but it was a déjà vu scene; similar scenarios happened in the same place many decades ago during the period of history that the locals refer to as the “Great Patriotic War”.
Suddenly, the readiness reports coming from the vehicles successively pierced the dark night:
- Pervye Gatov (First unit ready)
- Vtaroi Gatov (Second ready)
- Tretye Gatov (Third ready)
Grad Rocket Launcher
It was the moment the battery commander was waiting for. With slow movements of his right hand he crossed himself in the traditional Russian Orthodox manner, took a deep breath and yelled as loud as his lungs could master:
- Battarey … Trista-Tritset-Tree (Battery … Three hundred-Thirty-Three).
The “fire” command was given in the traditional Russian manner, but the last “three” was never heard because the first rockets had already left their launch tubes and were screeching their way towards the unsuspecting Ukrainian troops camped near the village of Zelenopolye…
Disaster in Kiev
By February 2014, with the full support and backing of the political West, a group of Ukrainian Russophobe oligarchs and ultra-nationalists had organized and successfully executed a “Maidan” revolution in Kiev which resulted in the overthrow of the democratically elected but weak and indecisive president Viktor Yanukovich. The authority was now illegally seized by people who hated everything Russian and were clearly stating their sinister aims of joining NATO, disassociating Ukraine from everything Russian and even banning the Russian language from school programs.
Maidan Clashes
The eastern and southern regions of Ukraine that are traditionally pro-Russian were in such a state of shock that neither the people nor the politicians knew how to act. The true colors of Yanukovich’s own Party of Regions started showing off when many of its members were just easily “bought” by the other side…Suddenly, there was no political party or entity that could fight back the “Maidan” revolution.
Dawn of the “Russian Spring”
With no political party and no leadership to look to, the millions of Russian speaking Ukrainians had a tough time trying to figure out what to do. They are known to be the real workers and producers in Ukraine, while their Western compatriots are more known for being lazy, unproductive, jobless and poor. What were the Pro-Russians supposed to do? Leave their jobs, families, responsibilities and fight back? Or just let it be?
Someone had to take the lead… Crimeans decided to act, and they acted very effectively. Prompt and massive demonstrations started a rapid chain of events that started in electing much needed leadership and culminated by the return of the whole peninsula to Mother Russia. These events were covered on this blog in the past.
The population of the South East did not stay idle. Energized by the success of their compatriots in Crimea, they took to the streets in Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkov, Odessa and in every other major city in those regions. Their mass demonstrations dwarfed the pro-Ukraine or pro-West gatherings in those areas and gathered momentum every passing week. However, these self-organized demonstrations lacked proper leadership and had diverging aims: some were asking for reunification with Russia, others were demanding federalization, yet others were just content on asking just for freedom of Russian language. The whole thing was a recipe for failure…
Anti-Maidan demonstrations
Dilemma in the Kremlin
The Maidan freak show happened at a time when the Russian leadership was busy making sure that the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi end up being a tremendous success that would have enormous positive effect on the average Ivan’s and Natasha’s national pride, feelings and psychology. Despite the successes of the Russian sportsmen and women, the Kremlin was keeping a worried eye on the developments in Kiev and was of course appalled by the brutality of the fascist and Nazi rioters, the swiftness of the events and the ineffectiveness of the Ukrainian President. Although they understood the gravity of the situation that was arising, the turn of the events in Kiev caught the Kremlin leaders off balance. Certainly, Vladimir Putin and his close associates in the government contemplated their options which can be summarized as follows:
-Staying in friendly terms with the new regime in Kiev by doing nothing on the ground: But Moscow knew too well the Maidan coup initiators who were coming to power. Nothing good would come out by trying to deal with these Russophobes in a friendly and respectful manner.
-Military intervention and restoration of President Yanukovich into power: That would not only lead to a full-fledged cold war with the West, but it could also get Russia involved in a protracted and very costly Iraq-style insurgency war that it could ill afford. Furthermore, it would mean that Russia would have to support and sustain the “bottomless barrel” called Ukrainian economy. That would set Russia decades behind.
-Disrupting Kiev’s (and the West’s) plans and maintaining leverage: Russia is ruled by consensus, not by an iron fist (as the West likes to portray it). There are various factions in the Kremlin ranging from the siloviki to the liberals and from the nationalists to the business-minded. Putin is like a father/patriarch figure who listens to all the opinions and has to find the right consensus. It was this third option that the Russian leadership opted for as it was flexible enough to lead to maximum gains while minimizing costs and losses. It could potentially deny Kiev the liberty to do as it pleased by maintaining as much as possible leverage that Russia has in cultural, financial and trade terms. In other words, Moscow decided to accept the defeat it sustained in Kiev, but positioned itself in such a way to extract a few victories out of the monster’s jaws.
The first two immediate decisions were to send an airborne team to rescue the beleaguered president Yanukovich and to do whatever was necessary to ensure that the Crimean peninsula returns to Russia. As we know, both of these aims were successfully executed to the dismay of Kiev regime and the West. With these immediate objectives achieved, the Kiev regime was dealt a couple of heavy punches. It was time to let diplomacy, the business ties, the declining economy and the general discontent in the south-east to do the rest: make sure that Ukraine does not join NATO and/or the EU…at least, that was the idea. That plan was pushed forward by the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on the diplomatic front as “federalization of Ukraine”.
Washington (and the political West) would have none of that. Watching their easy victory in Kiev not only come to nothing but also to cost the West dearly in financial support of the “free and democratic” Ukraine, the West’s leaders decided not to let “Putin” have his way. At that point, they started to aggressively push their plans to integrate Ukraine into NATO and the EU.
The Strelkovtsev
On the 3rd of March 2014, Dmitry Zhukov disembarked from a crowded bus in Simferopol (Crimea). His friends knew him by the call sign “Kedr”. As an anti-Maidan activist from Kiev, he had worked hard to fight back the coup in his native city. By the end of February, he realized that the battle was lost and that it was not safe to stay in the capital. He decided to move to Crimea and continue the struggle from there. The passengers on the bus were activists like him and also a few “Berkut” riot police officers fleeing Kiev. The Crimean greeted the new comers with applauses and chants of “Berkut – Berkut” and “Spa-si-ba, Spa-si-ba”. In that crowded and noisy square, Kedr barely heard someone calling his name. He turned to his right and instantly identified a middle aged tall man with a thin mustache dressed in a suit and tie. That man was a contact he was given, it was Igor Strelkov.
The Strelkovtsev
Little is known about Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin (Strelkov). It is believed that he worked for the Russian FSB for a number of years. He had participated in a number of wars were Russia’s geopolitical interests were involved: Transdniestra, Bosnia and the two conflicts in Chechnya. For the last couple of years he was living a more “civilian” life dedicating himself to re-enacting famous historic battles. During the early stages of the turmoil in Ukraine, he relocated to the Crimean peninsula were he took part in the events that happened there. It is said that he was managing the personal security of some key Crimean leaders.
Strelkov predicted that the peaceful anti-Kiev demonstration would lead to nowhere. The events that happened in the next few weeks proved he was right. Several thousand neo-Nazi Right Sector and ultra-nationalist Svoboda party thugs sent by Kiev crushed the Odessa movement and burned dozens of unarmed demonstrators in the Trade Union building. Soon after, the same thugs were sent to Kharkov to beat the protesters there. The unarmed and peaceful anti-Kiev movements were fizzling out. Only Donetsk and Lugansk were still active where the local populations had captured some local administration buildings and thus far had managed to beat back the Kiev Junta’s thugs. But it was doubtful they could hold their stand for much longer.
The conversation between Strelkov and Kedr was brief and to the point. It was all about defending the “Russian World” to which Kedr volunteered. They knew that the peaceful anti-Kiev demonstrations all over the South-East were doomed to fail. The new rulers in Kiev and their backers in the West were not interested in public opinion and fairness. They wanted to encroach further into the Russian zone of influence. They wanted a Ukraine that was anti-Russia. They wanted brother Slavic people to be at each other’s throats.
Capture of Kramatorsk Police Station
A few weeks later, a group of 52 men led by Strelkov crossed the border in a number of civilian vehicles and proceeded to the now famous city of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. A few of them were Russian citizens (like Strelkov himself). There were also a number of Crimeans, but the majority were Ukrainians including a few from Kiev (like Kedr) and other western regions of the country. They all had served in the military, some had battle experience. Slavyansk was chosen for a variety of reasons:
-They had many contacts in Slavyansk who could join them there immediately.
-Strelkov wanted a medium sized city (population 100,000) that was sympathetic to the Russian cause and deeply anti-Kiev. A city, were rule of the people could be easily and quickly established.
-Slavyansk is located on the western side of the Donetsk region and thus, is ideal because it would be barrier that would shield the Donetsk capital until it organized itself for the confrontation with Kiev.
Strelkov and his men were armed with light weapons, they had personal radios for communication and were wearing fresh uniforms. They looked very professional. Upon their covert arrival in Slavyansk, the Strelkovtsev were met by their contacts who boosted their ranks and soon went into action. On the 12th of April, they captured the local police station and the Ukrainian security building. The overjoyed civilian population helped in erecting barricades at the city entrances. A new mayor was designated and almost overnight Slavyansk became the focus of the clash against the Kiev junta. Fresh local volunteers were armed with the weapons confiscated from the police building and Strelkov was now in command of a force that had quadrupled in numbers. A few days later, he sent a group of 28 Terek and Don Cossacks to capture the neighboring city of Kramatorsk to the great delight of the local population there. One very charismatic and photogenic Cossack warrior by the call sign “Babai” became so popular that many people lined up to be photographed with him.
At this stage, I invite all the esteemed readers of this article to watch the following clip about Babai and his colleagues in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Us Armenians, we call this kind of brave people “Fedayees”. The song in the clip is the famous Cossack song “Kagda My Bili Na Vayne” (“When We Were at War”).
Cossack “Babai”:
The popular seizure of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk energized the Donbass masses who seized virtually every administration in every city and town in the two Oblasts of Donetsk and Lugansk. They were no longer afraid, they had seen the successful events in Crimea, they now had weapons they had seized from various police stations and Ukrainian state security offices and most of all they had the Strelkovtsev. The reaction to the violent Maidan coup in Kiev had begun. Anti-Maidan was brought into the geopolitical and military equation. Anti-Maidan can be seen as an anti-poison that stops the spreading od the venom through Ukraine’s body. But, let’s go back and analyze this whole Strelkov expedition for a moment. Who was backing and financing them? According to Strelkov himself, the Kremlin neither sent them nor supported them. They had to buy their arms and equipment themselves. Could that be true? Let’s contemplate all the possibilities:
- One distinct possibility is that the Kremlin directly (or through intermediaries) provided Strelkov with his orders, finances and weapons. The Kiev Junta and the West accuses Russia of doing exactly that. Naturally, Russia denies the accusations. If it is indeed true that the Kremlin is managing Strelkov, then this is one of the most audacious large-scale covert operation conducted in recent times; something that modern Russia has never done since the break-up of the Soviet Union.
-Another possibility is that it was some hawkish circles within the Kremlin who sent Strelkov there without the approval of Putin or the government. It would be absurd to think that the FSB or the government did not know about it. They just turned a blind eye or looked the other way. If the operation succeeded, it would be a “win” for Russia. If it failed, they had plausible deniability and could even blame some scapegoat. Remember the saying: “Victory has a hundred fathers, defeat is an orphan”.
-The third possibility is that an opposition party (such as Zhirinovsky’s LDP or the Communists) or a nationalistic party supported Strelkov with or without the knowledge of the Kremlin. Again, a successful mission would be a “win”. If it failed, it was somebody else’s enterprise.
-Finally, the most unlikely but still plausible scenario is that Strelkov and his men acted on their own. Strelkov is a devout Monarchist; a movement that is lately on the rise in Russia. Monarchists are very patriotic, nationalistic and believe that a Tsar should rule Russia. In all his interviews, Strelkov never lauded the Kremlin or President Putin. On the contrary, he often delivered veiled criticism aimed at the Russian leadership for not helping him and the Donbass fight the Kiev Junta.
Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer to which of the above possibilities is the correct one. Is Strelkov a 100% FSB agent or is he a ready to die “fedayee” who believed that his ideology was sufficient in leading Donbass to victory. I hope one day the truth will be made public and I certainly hope that I will live long enough to see that day.
First Battles for Novorossiya
Russian media revealed that on the 12th of April CIA chief john Brennan secretly visited Kiev to meet the then active president and parliament speaker Viktor Turchinov as well as Petro Poroshenko who had not been elected president yet. The Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) was launched soon after his visit.
Defending Slavyansk
Continuously, the USA supplied the Kiev Junta with lumps of cash under the allegation that it was helping a “democracy and freedom loving brave country”. Each lump sum consisted of several dozen millions of Dollars that were not intended to support the Ukrainian economy or the population; rather they were to be used to prep up the armed forces that Kiev needed to subdue the rebelling Donbass region.
During the Maidan square coup, the underfunded and neglected Ukrainian Army did not take sides. The already low morale in the armed forces was dealt a severe blow when the majority of their contingents based in the Crimea sided with Russia; among them was the top Admiral of the Navy. By the end of the Crimea events, Russian military experts estimated that the Ukrainian Army had about only six thousand combat ready soldiers. The large sums that the USA was granting the Kiev junta were badly needed. Kiev started at the very top. The money was used to make sure that the top generals were on their side. Promotions, bribes and the rest made sure that loyalty trickled down to the lower ranking officers who had to prepare the army for the upcoming conflict i.e. the ATO mission in the Donbass. But that needed some time. Meanwhile the Strelkovtsev were getting entrenched in Slavyansk and the Donetsk and Lugansk regions were getting out of Kiev’s control. The Kiev junta had to send in whatever was available aginst Slavyansk and Kramatorsk.
Capture of Ukrainian Vehicles
At that time the junta’s military headquarters managed to get the 25th air mobile brigade move into Kramatorsk. That brigade, considered to be the elite of the Ukrainian Army, has its base in Dnepropetrovsk (a region of Russian speakers) and a large proportion of soldiers from that region. Their mission was to enter Kramatorsk and chase the Russian “terrorists”. The first column of BMD armored vehicles entered Kramatorsk and reached the city center. The weaponry of the Strelkovtsev consisted of only AK-74 assault rifles and other hand held light weapons. They had no chance against this force. Yet, that day was meant to be a day were miracles happen. The civilian population descended on the streets, surrounded the BMDs, talked to the soldiers, argued, yelled, pestered, badgered and eventually convinced them to give up the mission. Furthermore, six of BMDs defected and joined the rebellious population; the rest just left the city. The Russian speaking soldiers from Dnepropetrovsk had realized that it was their own kin, their own brothers and sisters that they were sent to fight and crush. It was a bloodless victory for the Strelkovtsev whose ranks swelled further and now had at its disposal some armored vehicles, heavy machine guns, anti-tank weapons and most of all their first artillery piece in the form of a BMD based NONA self-propelled gun-mortar.
First blood was drawn soon after when a group of ultra-nationalistic fanatics in four SUV vehicles approached a road block at one of the entrances of Slavyansk and opened fire killing 3 people. The defenders retaliated and burned two of the vehicles. Things got uglier with time. The junta’s attacks got stronger and more fearce. Attacks were mounted with armored personnel carriers, later on with tanks and eventually with artillery and aviation.
The Warlords of Novorossiya
The Russian Spring period witnessed the emergence of a number of self-defense units. Strelkov and his group got the most publicity, but they were not the only one. In Donetsk region, another Russian national by the name of Igor Bezler (Bez) created a unit in the city of Gorlovka. The Vostok battalion was assembled in the city of Donetsk itself and was led by Khodakovsky (a Ukrainian). The Oplot unit was led by Alexander Zakharchenko who later became the head of the DNR (Popular Republic of Donetsk). In the Lugansk region, the Cossacks established themselves in Pervomaysk and Alchevsk while Alexander Mozgovoy’s “Prizrak” battalion took up the defense of northern Lugansk. There were other self-organized groups as well, but the ones I mentioned are the most noteworthy. The number of fighters in these rebel groups varied from a few dozen to several hundred. Of course, the largest anti-Kiev fighting force was Strelkov’s group garrisoned in Slavyansk. At its peak, Strelkov commanded a group whose ranks were in excess of 2000 soldiers.
From top left: Mozgovoy, Bezler and Khodakovsky (bottom)
With most of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions now under the control of these various groups, the leaders of the two regions organized referendums on the 11th of May 2014 in which the population overwhelmingly supported self-determination for the two regions. Just like the population, the various rebel groups did not exactly share the same political views and had diverging plans. Also, cooperation with each other on the battlefield was lacking. The only thing that united them was the fascist regime in Kiev that was trying to subjugate them. Thus emerged two tendencies in the Donbass:
The first one consisted of the hardliners who wanted to take the battle all the way to Kiev and wanted to establish a new Republic (Novorossiya) that encompassed the entire Eastern and Southern parts of Ukraine. Strelkov and Mozgovoy were among them. The other rebel groups’ ambitions were less grandiose; they were more interested in establishing self-rule for their regions. They certainly rejected the Kiev Junta and considered themselves as a counter-revolution; they preferred to find a political solution rather than march onto Kiev. Zakharchenko was among those. [/QUOTE]
arpakola
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The Georgian Who Would Govern Ukrainians: Saakashvili in Odessa 
http://russia-insider.com/en/georgian-who-would-be-governor-saakashvili-odessa/ri7632
http://russia-insider.com/en/georgian-who-would-be-governor-saakashvili-odessa/ri7632
arpakola
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arpakola
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http://russia-insider.com/en/hacked-emails-expose-george-soros-ukraine-puppet-master/ri7631
Hacked Emails Expose Infamous George Soros as True Puppet-Master in Ukraine
The Western backers want Kiev to “restore the fighting capacity of Ukraine without violating the Minsk agreement,” Soros wrote
Hacked Emails Expose Infamous George Soros as True Puppet-Master in Ukraine
The Western backers want Kiev to “restore the fighting capacity of Ukraine without violating the Minsk agreement,” Soros wrote
Putin almost confirmed us that your soldiers are being slaughtered in Ukraine.During special operations in the peacetime to be correct.
BTW, have you ever heard about losses in these units? Oh, you didn't, 'cause it's a secret.
I remember a pskov (laywer if i remember),he was beaten while investigating the death of Russian paratroopers of the region in Ukraine.
You can say whatever you want,but Cargo 200 are still arriving
Cadian
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Have you heard about any conformation of Russian losses in Ukraine before this law was approved? So what has changed? Ah, useless to say anything...Putin almost confirmed us that your soldiers are being slaughtered in Ukraine.
I remember a pskov (laywer if i remember),he was beaten while investigating the death of Russian paratroopers of the region in Ukraine.
You can say whatever you want,but Cargo 200 are still arriving
Still the coffins are coming to motherland.
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Nope ... They now have mobile crematoriums
http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/threads/civil-war-in-ukraine.61895/page-703#post-1041999
Cadian
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You still don't realize, that Russian nation has faced such a serious challenge, so people do accept and understand these losses?
Genius. The Russians always amaze me.
The whole world know that they send their poor conscripts/soldiers to fight in Ukraine,but it is getting funnier,because they still hide it.
Tell me,you are fighting for what ? who ? Against who ? The 'not-nice' Nazis,Azov ? Let me laugh.
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