lol "Dutch Intellectuals Apologize to Putin for Lies on MH17, Syria, Ukraine."

The same intellectuals as this? - The Mysterious Professor Haag: Russian Media's Favored 'Expert' Has Dubious Credentials

http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-media-professor-haag-dubious-credentials/26632541.html

Who is guilty of murder civilians in Ukraine



The footage is a factual proof of Russian and pro-Russian terrorists using civilian population as a shield during battles. They purposely shell Ukrainian positions from residential buildings, day care playgrounds and schools in cities and when Ukrainians fire back they complain that Ukrainians shell them back while they're in residential areas. The Kremlin-backed terrorists use the civilians to create propaganda about random shelling of civilians by Ukrainian army. They have been practicing this tactic ever since the war started. Ukrainians don't randomly shell civilians, however they do respond back to terrorists' attacks no matter where they're coming from.

video with english subtitles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcRBnXlDSMY

Russia Deploying Tactical Nuclear Arms in Crimea



Obama backing indirect talks with Moscow aimed at cutting U.S. non-strategic nukes in Europe

BY: Bill Gertz   
October 10, 2014 4:40 pm

Russia is moving tactical nuclear weapons systems into recently-annexed Crimea while the Obama administration is backing informal talks aimed at cutting U.S. tactical nuclear deployments in Europe.

Three senior House Republican leaders wrote to President Obama two weeks ago warning that Moscow will deploy nuclear missiles and bombers armed with long-range air launched cruise missiles into occupied Ukrainian territory.

“Locating nuclear weapons on the sovereign territory of another state without its permission is a devious and cynical action,” states the letter signed by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R., Calif.) and two subcommittee chairmen.

“It further positions Russian nuclear weapons closer to the heart of NATO, and it allows Russia to gain a military benefit from its seizure of Crimea, allowing Russia to profit from its action.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent months “has escalated his use of nuclear threats to a level not seen since the Cold War,” they wrote.

In a related development, the Obama administration is funding non-official arms control talks with Russia through a Washington think-tank that are aimed at curbing U.S. tactical nuclear arms in Europe.

The first round of talks was held in Vienna Monday and Tuesday.

Critics say Obama administration arms control officials at the State Department and Pentagon are using the informal nuclear talks as groundwork for future tactical nuclear arms cuts.

Such cuts are likely to be opposed by NATO allies, especially in Eastern Europe, worried by growing Russian military threats to the continent.

Regarding the nuclear deployments to Crimea, Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member James Inhofe (R., Okla.) first disclosed last month that Putin had announced in August his approval of deploying nuclear-capable Iskander-M short-range missiles along with Tu-22 nuclear-capable bombers in Crimea, located on the Black Sea.

“The stationing of new nuclear forces on the Crimean peninsula, Ukrainian territory Russia annexed in March, is both a new and menacing threat to the security of Europe and also a clear message from Putin that he intends to continue to violate the territorial integrity of his neighbors,” Inhofe stated in a Sept. 8 op-ed in Foreign Policy.

In their Sept. 23 letter to the president, McKeon, Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Ala.), chairman of the subcommittee on strategic forces, and Rep. Michael Turner (R., Ohio), chairman of the subcommittee on tactical air and land forces, noted Russia’s violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty by building a banned cruise missile. The missile has been identified by U.S. officials as the R-500.

The lawmakers said the Russian nuclear deployment in Crimea represents the “clear, and perhaps irrevocable tearing” of the 1997 agreement between NATO and Russia that allowed Russia to maintain a military presence within the alliance.

The Russian nuclear deployment plans and treaty violation should have been discussed during the recent NATO summit in Wales but were not, they said.

As a result, the congressmen urged the president to brief Congress on the threatening Russian nuclear deployments in Crimea. They also called on the president to suspend the NATO-Russia accord and demand the removal of all Russian military personnel from NATO facilities.

Additionally, they asked that the United States and its allies halt all arms control surveillance flights by Russia carried out under the Open Skies Treaty.

Significantly, the three House leaders called on the administration to begin research and development on deployment sites for new U.S. intermediate-range ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles, if Russian refuses to return to compliance with the INF accord.

Putin “must be made to understand that his actions will accomplish nothing more than the alienation [of] Russia from the West, its economy and its security architecture,” the lawmakers said.

“Until we have a strategy that convinces Mr. Putin he cannot achieve his dream of a ‘New Russia’ through illegal annexations, covert invasions, and nuclear saber-rattling, statements and sanctions along cannot be expected to have an effect on his actions,” the letter warns.

“Too much is at stake to continue to allow Russia’s dictator to continue to proceed on his current path toward regional destabilization without serous opposition.”

The action “further undermines Russian credibility in terms of the Budapest Memorandum that the Russian Federation signed in 1994,” the congressmen said.

The memorandum promised Ukraine would have security assurances against threats or use of force in exchange for Kiev giving up its Soviet-era nuclear weapons – at the time the third largest arsenal in the world.

On the Track 2 talks between Russian experts and a group hosted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the program leader was identified as anti-nuclear arms advocate Sharon Squassoni.

Squassoni took part in a study three years ago sponsored by the leftist, anti-nuclear weapons group Ploughshares Fund that called for removing all U.S. tactical nuclear arms from Europe.

Thomas Moore, a former senior professional staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who quit CSIS over concerns about Squassoni’s anti-nuclear slant, said he felt the Track 2 program, which was to cost $215,000 in federal funding, was unwise after Russia’s military takeover of Crimea which began last February.

Moore said in an interview that the administration could be using the CSIS Track 2 talks as a way of conducting direct negotiations to further reduce U.S. nuclear arms in Europe.

“Now is the wrong time to entertain any such ideas with any Russians, whether they are official or unofficial Russians, because they all support Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and violation of the INF treaty,” Moore said, noting that verifying any tactical nuclear arms reductions is nearly impossible.

“My goal was to verify and keep our nukes in Europe,” he said, noting that Squassoni knows little about nuclear arms and has been “a partisan for Obama and his anti-nuclear agenda in Europe.”

CSIS spokesman Andrew Schwartz confirmed that the Track 2 talks involving U.S., Russian and European experts are aimed at “limiting non-strategic nuclear weapons.” He declined to identify the U.S. or foreign members of the project and said a report on the program would be published in summer or fall of next year. He said the notion that the project has not been adjusted to account for the Crimea crisis is wrong.

Squassoni confirmed her participation in the Ploughshares study but said in an email that the recommendations of that project were not discussed during the first Track 2 meeting this week.

“I can assure you that my personal views do not interfere with my ability to facilitate balanced, analytically sound dialogues,” she said.

The CSIS-Russia Track 2 nuclear talks also are being supported by Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security; and Andrew Weber, who recently resigned as assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological defenses amid allegations of insubordination and improper personnel activities.

A Pentagon spokeswoman declined to provide details surrounding Weber’s resignation but said he would be taking a lesser position at the State Department.

A U.S. official close to the Pentagon said Weber ran afoul of his superiors as a result of his anti-nuclear arms positions, and practices related to hiring and the use of personnel within his office.

Alexandra Bell, a spokeswoman for Gottemoeller said: “The administration is supportive of the domestic and international non-governmental community’s right to conduct research, scholarship, advocacy and Track 2 dialogues as they see fit.”

Both the Pentagon and State Department spokeswomen would not address the question of whether holding informal nuclear talks on cutting nuclear weapons in Europe with the Russians will undermine NATO security in the aftermath of the Crimean crisis.

Former Pentagon official Mark Schneider, a strategic nuclear arms specialist, said the Track 2 and any formal arms talks on tactical nuclear arms would fail.

“They can have as many tracks as they want but the Russians will not agree to limits on tactical nuclear weapons,” Schneider said. “Their advantage is too great.”

The United States is believed to have around 200 nuclear weapons in Europe. Russia’s tactical nuclear arsenal is at least 2,000.

“NATO politics will prevent any cuts in U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in Europe,” he said. “This is obviously about the worst possible time to talk about something like this.”

Schneider said nuclear policymakers should focus on deterrence now instead of disarmament.

A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman told state-run Interfax March 26 that a “missile-carrying regiment” of Tu-22 Backfire nuclear bombers will be deployed to the Crimean airbase at Gvardeyskoye within two years.

IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly described the nuclear-capable Tu-22s to be based in Crimea as “the backbone of Soviet naval strike units during the Cold War.”

Rogers, the strategic forces subcommittee chairman, said Sept. 18 that the Russians have discussed “plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Crimea.”

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-deploying-tactical-nuclear-arms-in-crimea/

Five eerie similarities between “pro-ruSSian rebels” in East Ukraine and ISIS



In 2014, the West was faced with several major international crises, the most notable of which are the spread of ISIS in Iraq and Syria and the Moscow-backed insurgency in Eastern Ukraine, which eventually escalated into a full-blown aggression. Yet while the ISIS threat is met with a firm response, both militarily and diplomatically (air strikes and official designations as terrorists), the response to separatists fighting the Ukrainian government has been incomparably milder, going as far as appeals for a peaceful resolution of the conflict issued by world leaders. Even though the exact naming of the armed separatist groups differs significantly in Western media, the tendency is to call gunmen in Ukraine “rebels,” rather than the more negative “militants,” left to ISIS. However, there are facts that suggest that the two groups have a lot more in common than the world would like to believe.

We are not aiming to prove the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics and the Islamic state are the same thing. There is obviously a difference in the scale of atrocities, yet the similarities suggest that a change of Western attitude may be in order.

Execution and torture videos

Probably the most shocking development in the ISIS crisis was the beheading of as many as five people, proudly videotaped and posted on the Internet. Those videos have sparked international outrage. An attempt to emulate such medieval atrocity was undertaken in the east Ukrainian town of Horlivka. The local “rebel” commander and suspected Russian intelligence operative Igor Bezler posted a video of alleged execution of two Ukrainian POWs with a threat to execute more each hour, unless Kyiv released captured separatist militants. This attempt at propaganda was later debunked by multiple sources. However, later Bezler at least once threatened to execute a British journalist attempting to interview him. Photos and videos with evidence of torture have appeared during the 6-month conflict.

However, the video channels of the militants feature videos of tortured Ukrainian POWs quite often, one of the particularly gruesome being an interrogation of a dying Aidar fighter (warning, 18+).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=p6mKwFFBm28

Humiliating prisoners on video is also widespread, as seen in the recent video published by The “Republic of Novorossiya” channel – a presumed Ukrainian volunteer fighter being tied to a lamp post in the East Ukrainian town of Zuhres.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vrru9QWTSP4

Human rights abuse

While the “rebels” in Ukraine don’t have a habit of taping the worst of their atrocities, that doesn’t mean they do not happen. Human Rights Watch has documented widespread detainment and torture of civilians and members of the press by separatists. Evidence of executions has also surfaced with the discovery of a mass grave in the town of Sloviansk weeks after Ukrainian government reestablished control over the area. This widespread persecution of dissenting voices and journalists echoes ISIS activities in the captured regions of Iraq, if lacking in scale. Various evidence also suggests the separatists use human shields by establishing firing positions in residential buildings and shell residential areas to shift the blame on Ukrainian forces.

Recently, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) began the process of identifying locations of concentration camps and mass graves created by the militants in Donbas and even placing them on a map. The advisor to the SBU drew a parallel with the events of twenty years ago in mass concentration camps in Srebrenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina), where violent and inhumane treatment was also performed, noting that the judiciary system has been replaced by retaliatory troikas that imprison people without charge or trial, torture them in basement cellars, and execute prisoners by shooting. Former POWs tell gruesome stories of their imprisonment, and militants themselves tell of terror, racketeering, rapes during interrogations.

Religious fundamentalism

ISIS, like many other terrorist organizations, is motivated by a radical religious doctrine, attracting followers from all over the world. While ISIS’s particular brand of Islam has been condemned by Muslim clerics all over the world, they consider their religion the only true one and will not hesitate to brutally persecute followers of others. Again, we find striking similarities in the insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where one unit is actually called Russian Orthodox Army, bearing disturbing ties with ultra-orthodox nationalists in Russia-proper and being obsessed with “reconquering” of Ukraine. This fundamentalism, condemned by the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, goes beyond rhetoric, with widespread evictions, kidnappings, murders and denial of worship against Protestants, Catholics and Ukrainian Orthodox worshippers independent from Moscow. According to New York Times, the rebels view “Orthodox Christianity as a force to unite these now divided Slavic lands and also their own fractured movement”.



Redrawing national borders

One of the striking things about ISIS is their blatant disregard of nation’s borders agreed by international law, their immediate aim being to unite Sunni-inhabited lands across Iraq and Syria. Even more outrageous are ISIS claims of the whole Muslim world evidenced by their propaganda. Likewise, the separatists in East Ukraine stretch their claims to the entirety of the historical regions of Novorossiya, currently the South-eastern regions of Ukraine, despite the population of the area being cold to the idea at best. This dismemberment of Ukraine is a part of a broader vision of a “Russian World from Vladivostok to Brest,” implying violating the territorial integrity of many post-Soviet states (including Belarus, the Baltics, and Kazakhstan) to unite all the Russian-speaking territories under one banner.

Reign of terror

The few reports that emerge from ISIS-occupied territories bring stories of strict Sharia law and lack of basic services like electricity and running water, the locals scared into submission. Likewise, the large swaths of eastern Ukraine under “rebel” control see an emerging police state turning life into a nightmare for the few remaining pro-Ukrainians there. Recently, Luhansk separatist authorities reportedly criminalized homosexuality in defense of “Christian values.” Life for separatist supporters isn’t easy either – shortages of running water, power, and even food are widespread. The humanitarian aid may not be much help, with sources reporting it being stolen and then sold in local stores.

Essentially, 2014 saw the rise of two religious fundamentalist groups aiming to redraw national borders and impose a regime of fear and persecution against minorities, characteristic with violent propaganda and threats towards the integrity of multiple countries. However, while ISIS faces a broad military coalition of European and Middle Eastern states, Ukraine is denied as much as defensive weapons to counter the threat and is expected to conduct a peace process with the very “rebels” that have been abusing and killing Ukrainians for half a year. Changing this strikingly different attitude requires more than one article, but at least the readers would be doing Ukraine a favor if they at least stop calling the terrorists “rebels.”

http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/10/11/5-eerie-similarities-between-pro-russian-rebels-in-east-ukraine-and-isis/

Russians will be unable to use their iPhones starting January 1

The ‘January 1’ law also affects all Apple users who will be unable to use their iPhones and iPads.

According to Russian Internet rights spokesman Dmitry Marinichev, neither Apple nor any other company will have enough time to transfer their content to Russian territory by the beginning of 2015, Ridus writes.

“At the moment they are demanding the impossible. The tip of the icebergs of tasks is to buy servers, build or rent data centers and locate everything here. But besides this, the companies also have to replace their software, in order not to transfer personal data outside the country, which means practically all available software. It is absolutely unclear who will control all this and how. So it is impossible to do this starting January 1.”

Earlier the law was supposed to come into effect in September 2016, however State Duma members passed the amendments that stated the law would become effective on January 1, 2015.

According to the law, the ban will touch on all usual Internet services: starting with social media and ending with online shopping, as all of them send user data to servers outside of the country.

“You have a phone made by Apple, and an account with iCloud. These are your personal data which are stored in the Apple data center. According to the new law, you cannot use your iPhone starting January 1, because Apple cannot provide its services on Russian territory, as they store their personal Russian data in California,” the activist warned.

Only in case everything that has to do with cloud services is removed from the law, iOS users will be able to use their gadgets, noted Marinichev.

http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/10/10/russians-will-be-unable-to-use-their-iphones-starting-january-1/

Two belated reports of Russian warship interference with Finnish research vessel at sea

Russian warships disrupted the work of the Finnish marine research ship Aranda on two occasions in August and September, trying to prohibit the ship from accessing international waters east of the Swedish island of Gotland. The Finnish Environment Institute reported the incidents well after the fact on Saturday, adding that the ship’s crew felt threatened on both occasions.



The Russian Navy has twice interfered in the movements of the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) marine research vessel Aranda in international waters. According to SYKE, the two incidents occurred in August and September, when Aranda was conducting research for the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute off the coast of Sweden. In both incidents, the Russian warship attempted to prohibit the research vessel from accessing a sampling location in international waters east of the Swedish island of Gotland.

In the first incident on August 2, the Russian warship made radio contact with Aranda and urged it twice to change course. The Aranda initially obeyed the request, but at the second warning, the ship’s crew replied that it would not deter and intended to stop at the research point as planned. At this time, the crew of the Aranda observed a submarine moving along the surface of the water.

The second incident on September 2 saw a Russian helicopter approach Aranda several times. After this, a nearby Russian warship took a course directly towards the ship’s stern, passing the boat in very close proximity. The Aranda maintained its course and speed throughout the incident.

At the time of the incidents, the vessel was manned by a Finnish crew and researchers from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, all of whom felt the situation was highly ominous.
Incidents coincide with airspace violations

The incidents at sea coincide with Russian airspace incursions into Finland, which took place in the same time period. Russian aircraft violated Finnish airspace on August 23, 25 and 28. A fourth suspected airspace incursion in late September was not confirmed by the Finnish Defence Forces, despite Twitter confirmation of Russian planes over the Baltic Sea from the Latvian Defence Forces.

SYKE informed the media about the incidents only this week, after having first confirmed the chain of events with several sources. SYKE also said that all of the necessary authorities were duly informed, but Pertti Savolainen, deputy chair of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Saturday that news of the events came as a surprise to him and that his committee was not told.

http://yle.fi/uutiset/two_belated_reports_of_russian_warship_interference_with_finnish_research_vessel_at_sea/7523596

 

Missing Crimean Tatar Edem Asanov found dead



5-year-old Crimean Tatar, Edem Asanov, has been found dead in an abandoned sanatorium in Yevpatoria, a week after he disappeared on Sept 29.  Edem Asanov was not politically active, and according to his sister was a peaceful person who was not inclined to conflict.

Refat Chubarov, head of the Mejlis or representative-executive body of the Crimean Tatar People says that Edem was hanged.  He believes that the authorities are trying to establish a mood of terror and fear  in Crimean society.  Edem Asanov’s funeral will take place on Tuesday.

There have been four abductions or disappearances since Sept 27, and at least three other Crimean Tatar families will almost certainly be going through hell, together with the Asanov family.

In the early evening of Sept 27, two young Crimean Tatars were abducted from Sary-Su near Belogorsk in the Crimea.  19-year-old Islam Dzhepparov and his 23-year-old cousin Dzhevdet Islamov were forced into a dark blue Volkswagen Transporter and taken away in the direction of Feodosiya.

The claims from the police and FSB [Russian security service] that they know nothing about the abduction have been met with scepticism, which is exacerbated by their failure to find the young men despite having all details, including the minivan’s registration number.

Hundreds of Crimean Tatars gathered the next day outside Islam Dzhepparov’s home.  Islam’s father had a meeting with the head of the occupation government Sergei Aksyonov on Oct. 1.   Abdureshit Dzhepaparov  says that everything was done to provoke Crimean Tatars to make measures in retaliations. “On the roofs around the building where the meeting took place there were a lot of snipers, people saw jeeps with men carrying machine guns, and around the city there were a lot of soldiers.”

Two days later, on Monday Sept 29, Edem Asanov set off for work at the Prymorye sanatorium in Yevpatoriya.  We now know why he did not arrive.

23-year-old Crimean Tatar Apselymov Eskender has not been seen since Oct 3 when he left his flat in Simferopol and headed for work.  He did not arrive, and there is no answer from his telephone.  Shevket Namatullayev, a Crimean journalist, has passed on details about how the young man was dressed and a request from his parents to phone if people have any information

It is increasingly difficult to believe in any chance with these abductions or disappearances.  They coincide with a major offensive against the Mejlis, or representative-executive body of the Crimean Tatar people and Muslims in the Crimea.  Veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemiliev has spoken of 18 disappearances of Crimean Tatars since Russian invaded and annexed the Crimea in March this year.

Refat Chubarov recalls chillingly relevant words written by Memorial about the Northern Caucuses.  “Abductions are carried out by staff both of the local, and the federal enforcement bodies. A number of the abductions take place according to the classic, “Chechen” scenario, when armed men in masks burst into a home and take the person they want away. However many abductions are carried out very ‘professionally’: a person leaves his home and doesn’t return, or later he’s found murdered.”

The almost certain murder of Edem Asanov, the abduction of two young Crimean Tatars and disappearance of a fourth young man of similar age, against the background of all other repressive measures, can only heighten the suspicion that the Crimean puppet regime and those pulling its strings in Moscow want to intimidate the Crimean Tatars and force them to leave their homeland.

http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1412597376

Russian activist arrested for posts on social networks



Pavel Shekhtman, a well-known civic activist and critic of the current Russian regime has been detained in Moscow.  Kasparov.ru reports that via the lawyer whom the police appointed, Shekhtman explained that the investigators’ interest in him is over publications in social networks.

The website Grani.ru which has published Shekhtman’s articles tried to contact the temporary police centre where Shekhtman is being held, but the officers there refused to give any comment.

The 47-year-old activist was recently in the public eye after being beaten up by members of ‘Other Russia’  - the party founded by National Bolshevik Party leader Edward Limonov.

The attack on him the Other Russia thugs explained  was over a post on Shekhtman’s facebook page where the latter criticized Limonov’s negative attitude to EuroMaidan.   Limonov has also since been totally in support of Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, and a number of his supporters are believed to be fighting with the Kremlin-backed militants in Donbas.

http://khpg.org/index.php?id=1412773428

ruSSian spring

Luhansk, Ukraine: City of Ghosts



http://mashable.com/2014/10/08/luhansk-ghost-town/

Terrorist DNR CELL in CRIMEA massive leak. Russian ministry of Economy hack.



https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/blog/?p=20444

Russian defense Ministry on deaths of Russian soldiers in Ukraine: ordered to lie
by Tatiana Voltskaya



Russia’s Ministry of Defense refuses to answer inquiries from the Soldiers’ Mothers organization about the deaths of Russian servicemen during the battles in the East of Ukraine.

Saint Petersburg human rights activists are fully committed to obtaining answers from the Russian Ministry of Defense to two questions: is it true that Russian servicemen are involved in military operations in Ukraine, and is it true that Russian soldiers are dying in the war.

The Soldiers’ Mothers of Saint Petersburg have backed up their formal inquiry into the participation of Russian soldiers in the war in Ukraine with materials received from specific military units such as these:

“It was announced to the servicemen in the military unit 71211 (331st Guards Airborne Regiment of Kostroma), who are currently located in Rostov Oblast, that they were no longer servicemen. Their contracts for active duty were being terminated, and at the moment they hold the status of “militiamen.” Moreover, it was announced to them that in the next few days they would be ordered to move in the direction of Mariupol (Ukraine).”

To her inquiry signed by a member of the Presidential Council on Human Rights, the chairwoman of the “Soldiers’ Mothers of Saint Petersburg” organization, Ella Poliakova, has received an answer which contained the following (the spelling and punctuation of the original has been preserved):

“Dear Ella Mikhailovna! Your inquiry, addressed to the head of the department of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation of Social Services, has been examined in the (Russian) Airborne Troops Command. The information stated in your inquiry is incorrect. Your conjectures are based on information propagated in pro-Western media channels hostile to the Russian Federation. Keep calm and respect the defenders of our homeland. Your sincerely, deputy commander of the airborne troops on work with the personnel, Colonel V. Kupchishin.”

This answer did not satisfy the human rights activists. They saw elements of moralising in it, but did not see any concrete information on the specified military units. There was also no answer to the question whether the servicemen who had suffered gunshot and mine explosion injuries were undergoing medical treatment in the Military Medical Academy of Saint Petersburg. Furthermore, no answer at all followed the question about the death of servicemen in Ukraine, says Ella Poliakova:

“In our inquiry we asked for an explanation concerning the deaths of specific servicemen, in particular [those from] from the 18th army. I have copies of the set of documents on the death of Anton Tumanov. The place of death is not mentioned either in his [death certificate] or in the death certificate of other deceased, there is a dash [in its place]. We want to know why this is happening, where and how these servicemen died and why criminal investigations into their deaths have not yet been opened. Our list started with nine people, then two more were added, then those who Lev Schlossberg wrote about were added. At least Gudkov [a Russian politician and former Duma deputy] has received a formal reply to his inquiry from the Russian Ministry of Defense, [which stated] that they cannot disclose personal data and that all of this is fairy-tales of the foreign media, whereas we did not get any reply at all. But they are lawfully bound to reply.”

According to Ella Poliakova, the human rights activists are sending a second inquiry about the deceased, and if they do not obtain a reply this time either, they will then appeal to the court on behalf of the Presidential Council on Human Rights:

“The stance of the authorities is firm; they refuse to accept that Russian servicemen are fighting and dying in Ukraine, hence there is nothing new in the fact that the Soldiers’ Mothers committee did not receive an answer to their inquiry, supposes political scientist Sergei Shelin. “Besides, the concealment of military operations is widespread. They [the military operations] are not acknowledged by the Russian diplomacy in all of the contacts with its foreign partners. On no account will they be acknowledged either by the servicemen or by the investigative agencies. The whole authoritative machine is working synchronously. Regardless of the facts, they are not ready to admit what is deemed as obvious by the outside world, that Russia is sending its armed forces to take part in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

“Apparently, the consequences being drawn up in their minds following the acknowledgement of this fact do not suit our authorities at all, and they are ready to deny even those incidents which are seemingly impossible to refute. Whereas society is trying not to think about this war. I think that people aren’t being very sincere when replying to various surveys on this matter. Moreover, the majority believe that this war will not affect them in any way: neither their relatives, nor their children, nor their husbands would die there.”

The deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg from the “Yabloko” faction, Boris Vishnevskiy, agrees with the fact that the Russian authorities will do all they can to continue concealing the involvement of Russian troops in the Ukrainian conflict:

“A big mass lie is at hand, the same as in the days of all the undeclared wars that Soviet servicemen took part in. After all, even back then it wasn’t acknowledged that we were fighting in North Korea, Yemen, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia and other countries. This was all only acknowledged in 1995, with those who survived having been recognized as [war] veterans and given appropriate benefits. I think that the truth about the war in Ukraine will come to light as well: it is impossible to hide the deaths of people, even after having pressured their mothers, widows and other relatives. Even by intimidating someone, or bribing someone, complete silence will not be achieved. But I think that an order to lie while denying any facts is issued from the very top: hence they will be lying till the end. Although, admittedly, it would be impossible to keep doing this for a long time.”

The press secretary of the Soldiers’ Mothers of Saint Petersburg, Alexander Peredruk, is also certain that it will be impossible to conceal the truth about the Russian soldiers that are fighting in Ukraine for a long time, and he has even set specific target dates for when this truth will start to emerge:

“Now we have made an acquaintance with a lawyer, whose name we are deliberately not revealing. He told us about his client who has been held criminally liable for desertion for refusing to carry out [military] service. According to him, he was a contract soldier first sent to Rostov, and then he had to cross the border with Ukraine. We still have to check this information thoroughly, including that [information] on the initiation of criminal proceedings against this individual. This is why we are not disclosing his name either. But right now it is known for certain that a few servicemen were transferred from Rostov back to the Murmansk Oblast, to Pechenga.

“Right now these soldiers are within the [military] units. There are conscripts amongst them, and roughly in a month or two they will be demobilized, and then, I think, they will be able to tell a lot. One of them is an old acquaintance of mine, a friend, so we have personal connections there. It was indeed he who told me a while ago on the phone that his unit is being sent to Rostov-on-Don. Now we have to wait till those conscripts that have taken part in some [military] operations in Ukraine will be demobilized, and in half a year at the latest we will know many details. As for the official answer to our inquiries, we are not hoping for a more concrete answer than the one that was given to Gudkov. And indeed we are not even ruling out [the option of] taking legal action, so that further inquiries would then be sent on behalf of the court.”

The recently published results of a survey by the Levada Center suggest that more than half of Russians are not very interested in the death of Russian soldiers in Ukraine, while part of the people regard this data as being purely fabricated by the enemy. At the same time a sociologist, Mariya Mackevich, repeats that according to the surveys, the majority of the population has been opposing the war since the very beginning of the conflict, and were not expecting the deployment of Russian troops to Ukraine:

“The way the question is phrased is very important: if you ask people “are you for or against the war”, they of course will reply “against”. By the way, the surveys have shown, and this has surprised many commentators, that a large portion of people sympathized with the March for Peace in Moscow. However, people were barely aware of the purpose of this rally, while the words “March for Peace” for them clearly carried positive undertones. In other words, people don’t want war. The question about preparedness for casualties is a whole other matter. But the authorities know that people don’t want war, and thus they are saying that there is no war. And people are supporting them. Whereas when we are talking about the death of a specific serviceman, the reaction varies: some blame the state that sent their son to the war; others say yes he died, but he was carrying out orders.

“And one has to understand that by criticizing the war, we have no right to take away from the parents the awareness that their son has died while performing [his] duty. And this is quite compatible: yes we don’t want a war, but if a state sends a man somewhere where military operations are ongoing, the condemnation of the state for the death of the said man is by no means shared by all. The reason behind the lies is also clear: the authorities are fully aware that the majority of the population does not support war, hence the reason why all the means of propaganda assert that there is no war. So it’s as though the lie is created towards meeting the wishes of the citizens. This is also what it did during the war in Afghanistan – this is exactly the same line of behavior. If the war is undeclared, it is difficult to expect that the Russian Ministry of Defense will behave as though military operations are being officially conducted. This is why, just like during the war with Afghanistan, the relatives are being told that the man has died, and writing where and how he died on the tombstones is prohibited.”

copyright and source:
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
translation by EuromaidanPress - Dasha Darchuk
http://www.svoboda.org/content/article/26617173.html
http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/10/05/ordered-to-lie/

 

Vladimir Putin depicted as Hercules in Moscow art exhibition



Vladimir Putin may not be a god, but he is a superhero. That was the message at an exhibition of paintings depicting the Russian president as Hercules, held at a small Moscow gallery space on Monday.

Opened for one night only in honour of Putin’s 62nd birthday on Tuesday, the exhibit reimagined his achievements as the 12 Labours of Hercules, beginning with the slaying of the Nemean lion – in this case, Putin strangling a bearded suicide bomber representing terrorism – and ending with the capture of the three-headed dog Cerberus, which symbolised the struggle with the United States and its “unipolar world”.

The most impressive painting, created in the gold-on-black style of ancient Greek pottery decorations, showed a muscular Putin lifting his shield against the poisonous breath of the Lernaean Hydra – or western sanctions against Russia. The US head of the hydra had been lopped off, reflecting the ban on food imports from the US, EU, Norway, Canada and Australia that Russia adopted in August, said the exhibit organiser, Mikhail Antonov.

“We’re forming a different image of Putin because the western media constantly criticises him, and our media occasionally attacks him as well,” Antonov said. “But here we see him completing these heroic deeds. We see that the interpretation of these events is not so categorical.”

Antonov, a political science graduate student at a Moscow University, heads a Putin fan group on Facebook that has received more than 266,000 likes. He said the Herculean portraits, which he hoped to be able to give to the president as a birthday gift, were painted by an anonymous “collective of artists” who followed the group.

The paintings focused mostly on current events such as a recent gas contract with China, the planned purchase of Mistral warships from France, and the eastern Ukraine ceasefire negotiated in Minsk. Antonov praised Putin’s government for standing up to the “junta” in Kiev, and in the paintings Russia’s annexation of Crimea is portrayed as the Herculean Putin capturing the Cretan bull.

The majority of the attendees at the exhibit were journalists, but a group of students said they had come at Antonov’s invitation. Anna Mkutekyan, who studies finance, said she didn’t “know enough about politics to criticise our president”, but said she and her friends agreed with his actions and were “proud of our country”.

Her favourite painting, she said, was one showing Putin holding up the heavens, as Hercules is said to have done for Atlas. “The sky that could fall on the earth is the war in once-thriving Ukraine. And it’s only with the help of Putin, who achieved the Minsk peace agreement, that it hasn’t fallen yet,” read the description beneath the painting.

“It expresses today’s reality because Putin unifies countries that are close to each other … those who support us, who understand the situation in the world as it really is,” Mkutekyan said.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/06/vladimir-putin-hercules-art-exhibition

Germany sends more than 100 trucks to Ukraine



German Minister for Development Müller will assist Kyiv with an aid convoy valued at ten million euros (more than twelve million US Dollars), destined primarily for the war-ravaged territories of eastern Ukraine.

Given the approaching onset of winter in Ukraine, the federal government has formed an aid convoy of more than 100 trucks, destined primarily for the east of the country.

The Development Ministry announced on Saturday that the convoy is expected to arrive by mid-October in the troubled region.

Included in the shipment are mobile housing units and kitchens, heaters, generators, water and diesel tanks, winter clothing, blankets and cots.

The inventory was “closely coordinated with the Ukrainian government” and essentially intended for Eastern Ukrainian cities such as Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Sloviansk.


“Millions of refugees in the country”

“We want to send a message of solidarity,” said German Development Minister Gerd Müller (CSU). It is estimated that one million people in Ukraine had fled because of the violent clashes. Müller wants to hand over a part of the shipment in person on October 14 in Kharkov.

According to insiders, the Federal Government is considering a Bundeswehr mission to monitor the mediated ceasefire by the OSCE between rebels and the army in eastern Ukraine. If political decisions are made for an OSCE mission with the participation of German soldiers, the Bundeswehr would be willing to participate with personnel and equipment, it was reported in government circles on Saturday.

However, the possible number of troops is undecided. There is still no clear-cut concept of operations, since this depends both on the particular security situation in Ukraine as well as the conditions of the OSCE.

German-French talks

The Foreign Office announced that the federal government is currently engaged in talks with the French Government regarding support for the OSCE as it assumes its duties in Ukraine. “These are currently only exploratory discussions,” said a spokesman of the Foreign Office.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has discussed the topic on Friday in Paris with the French government. “Nothing is decided yet. Prior to any possible decisions, difficult legal and policy issues need to be clarified,” the spokesman said.

copyright and source:
Die Welt
translation by EuromaidanPress - Rafael Szlom
http://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article132915621/Deutschland-schickt-mehr-als-100-Lkw-in-die-Ukraine.html

Disappearances on the Rise in Occupied Crimea, Reflecting Growing Illegality There

by Paul Goble

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. He has served as director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn, and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia.

Since the Anschluss, 18 Crimean Tatars have “disappeared,” three of them in the last week alone, Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Cemilev told a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe yesterday, a reflection of increasing oppression and growing illegality by the Russian occupiers.

Two youths, Isyam Dzhepparov and Dzhevdet Islyamov disappeared on September 27 fromteh village of Sary-Su in the Belgorod district, and a third Edem Asanov disappeared on his way to work in Yevpatoriya (qha.com.ua/za-6-mesyatsev-v-krimu-bez-vesti-propalo-18-krimskih-tatar-djemilev-140295.html).

This wave of disappearances, only one of which has been solved by the discovery of a body, is only part of the oppression that the occupation authorities are inflicting on the Crimean Tatars, Cemilev said. Also in the course of the last week, Russian siloviki conducted 40 searches in Crimean Tatar homes and institutions.

In some but not all cases, the Russian police have opened criminal cases and gone through the motions at least of conducting a search, but their lack of progress has provoked suspicions that the authorities themselves are involved in the disappearances of the Crimean Tatars.

Those suspicions have grown so strong that Sergey Aksyonov, who is the acting head of the Russian occupation, announced that he was creating a special “contact group” attached to the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea to deal with “the affairs of missing Crimean Tatars” (qha.com.ua/po-faktu-propaji-edema-asanova-zaveli-ugolovnoe-delo-140305.html).

But that announcement only underscores the extent of the problem and the failure of the authorities to respond to it in any meaningful way. And it will certainly increase the number of Crimean Tatars who accept Cemilev’s earlier argument that Russia wants a Crimea without Crimean Tatars.

copyright and source:
http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.it/2014/10/window-on-eurasia-disappearances-on.html