Donetsk, Kharkov, Lugansk - way to Russia.

[bryant.coleman]

http://www.todayszaman.com/national_ukrainian-couple-in-turkey-found-dead-after-6-year-old-spends-3-days-with-bodies_391063.html

This has become a regular occurrence. Former USSR tourists mysteriously dying in Turkey. I still don't understand why these people prefer Turkey, when they can travel to Greece or Bulgaria at the same cost.

In the post-war period many of the destroyed homes and factories were rebuilt in Kharkov. From the constructivism the city was planned to be rebuilt in the style of Stalinist Classicism. Gas lines were installed for heating in government and later private homes. An airport was built in 1954. Following the war Kharkov was the third largest scientific-industrial centre in the former USSR (after Moscow and Leningrad).

All of that progress will be lost, if the civil war continues for another year or so. The Ukrainian economy has hit the rock bottom. And the three cities of Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkov are the most affected ones.

[Nemo1024]

Kiev Junta Implosion: Ukraine Deputy Defence Minister and Other High-Profile Defections to Lugansk and Donetsk
https://futuristrendcast.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/kiev-junta-implosion-ukraine-deputy-defence-minister-and-other-high-profile-insiders-defect-to-lugansk-and-donetsk/

In the past few days, there was a wave of elite defections from Kiev to Donbass. The highest profile was the defection of General Aлeкcaндp Кoлoмиeц (Alexandr Kolomiyets), ex-deputy defence minister of Ukraine and a number of senior officers. They joined the Donetsk Republic.

Press conference:

Пpeдcтaвившийcя гeнepaл-мaйopoм apмии Укpaины пepeшeл нa cтopoнy ДHP

General Kolomiyets said: as a general of the Army of Ukraine, as someone who dedicated my whole life to the defence of the country, I officially state that it is a crime to use the country’s armed forces against peaceful population. We just commemorated the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when Hitler attacked our country, USSR. The entire population then stood up to defend our Motherland. Officers and generals, don’t participate in the genocide of Donbass, don’t follow in the footsteps of those whom Nuremberg tribunal declared war criminals.

He also said that his family had death threats and he had to secretly move them from Kiev. He also said that many of his former colleagues call him to ask how they could defect as well; however, they are afraid for their families’ lives. His prediction is that soon there will be an exodus from Kiev and many would want to come back to Donbass.

...

Brothers Miroshnichenko, both originally from Lugansk: one was an officer of external intelligence services of Ukraine and another – a diplomat, who worked at the Ukraine embassy in Paris: Press Conference

During their press conference brothers explained that they were preparing for the defection for quite some time, as they had to coordinate their simultaneous escape from Paris and Kiev, as well as get their families out of harms way. They returned to their native Lugansk, where they also have family, because they couldn’t work for the junta that was killing their people. The attitude towards those who are originally from Donbass is very bad in Ukraine and Kiev, they said, and they were treated as second class citizens, despite their positions.

They also said that many colleagues want to follow them, but most are either afraid or hope to stay for another year or two till they get their pensions, and then return (LR: big mistake!). They also predict an upcoming avalanche of defections from the Kiev junta as people get fed up.

...

[galdur]

Spotted at the pirate cove

The Forgotten Soldier - Guy Sajer

This book recounts the horror of World War II on the eastern front, as seen through the eyes of a teenaged German soldier. At first an exciting adventure, young Guy Sajer’s war becomes, as the German invasion falters in the icy vastness of the Ukraine, a simple, desperate struggle for survival against cold, hunger, and above all the terrifying Soviet artillery. As a member of the elite Gross Deutschland Division, he fought in all the great battles from Kursk to Kharkov. His German footsoldier’s perspective makes The Forgotten Soldier a unique war memoir, the book that the Christian Science Monitor said "may well be the book about World War II which has been so long awaited."

[Okurkabinladin]

http://www.todayszaman.com/national_ukrainian-couple-in-turkey-found-dead-after-6-year-old-spends-3-days-with-bodies_391063.html

This has become a regular occurrence. Former USSR tourists mysteriously dying in Turkey. I still don't understand why these people prefer Turkey, when they can travel to Greece or Bulgaria at the same cost.

In the post-war period many of the destroyed homes and factories were rebuilt in Kharkov. From the constructivism the city was planned to be rebuilt in the style of Stalinist Classicism. Gas lines were installed for heating in government and later private homes. An airport was built in 1954. Following the war Kharkov was the third largest scientific-industrial centre in the former USSR (after Moscow and Leningrad).

All of that progress will be lost, if the civil war continues for another year or so. The Ukrainian economy has hit the rock bottom. And the three cities of Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkov are the most affected ones.

Well, neither Bulgaria nor Greece has Istanbul, booming (and still fairly cheap) metropolis connecting Europe and Asia  spend time there, so I understand, that it is rather desirable and geographically close destination to eastern Europeans. I doubt, Russians and Ukrainians are interested in rural eastern Anatolia.

[Nemo1024]

Chief of NATO, Stoltenberg, warns about future renewal of heavy battles in Ukraine:
http://www.vz.ru/news/2015/6/25/752680.html
Sound like what NATO wants, so I almost read it like "NATO decided to promote renewal of heavy battles..."

And Ukraine announces a si(x)th wave of mobilisation, expected to be as successful and welcomed by the grateful cannon fodder, as the previous 5.

Meanwhile, Yats said that Ukraine cannot serve its foreign debt of $5.4 billion:
http://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/2070101

And default is expected on the 24th of July:
http://1prime.ru/News/20150625/813923908.html

Russia will sell gas to Ukraine, using the price as used for Poland.
http://expert.ru/2015/06/25/gaz-dlya-ukrainyi-podorozhaet/

Earlier Poroshenko said that the price that Russia will be selling gas to Ukraine for must be $245 
http://www.vestifinance.ru/articles/54281

[ridery99]

When communist nazi eurousakraine is going to invade russia? how putin is going to stop this? 

[deisik]

Well, neither Bulgaria nor Greece has Istanbul, booming (and still fairly cheap) metropolis connecting Europe and Asia  spend time there, so I understand, that it is rather desirable and geographically close destination to eastern Europeans. I doubt, Russians and Ukrainians are interested in rural eastern Anatolia.

And what conclusion should we draw out of this? Right, Constantinople should be seceded to Russia (since Russia is dynastically a successor to the Byzantine Empire) as well as a part of Anatolia (which had been a part of Russia before 1918)...

Historical justice should be unreservedly restored

[Balthazar]

https://www.nationstates.net/nation=democratic_peoples_republic_of_Donetsk

That would be funny.

[galdur]

Foreign Policy Diary 'The New War of Transnistria'

The Ukrainian crisis is spreading to Transnistria and Moldova thereby contributing to aggravating the US-NATO confrontation with Russia. 

The Kiev regime is blocking the transit of Russian peacekeepers in Transnistria.

It is also related to political developments in Odessa.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqk3NlmvXCw&feature=youtu.be

[bryant.coleman]

The Ukrainian crisis is spreading to Transnistria and Moldova thereby contributing to aggravating the US-NATO confrontation with Russia. 

The Transnistrian situation is complex. Transnistria does not share a land border with Russia. It is sorrounded by Moldova on the West and Ukraine on the East. So there is no option to bring the Russian troops to the republic. In case of an invasion by Moldova (obviously with NATO support) the Transnistrians will not be able to hold on for long.

[galdur]

The Ukrainian crisis is spreading to Transnistria and Moldova thereby contributing to aggravating the US-NATO confrontation with Russia. 

The Transnistrian situation is complex. Transnistria does not share a land border with Russia. It is sorrounded by Moldova on the West and Ukraine on the East. So there is no option to bring the Russian troops to the republic. In case of an invasion by Moldova (obviously with NATO support) the Transnistrians will not be able to hold on for long.

Well, Russia has a 1500-man contingent there as part of the peace accord of 1992 between Moldova and Transnistria (which Ukraine has now violated by this blockade). An attack on that force would undoubtedly be interpreted by Moscow as an attack on Russia itself.

[galdur]

Transnistria shapes up as next Ukraine-Russia flashpoint

Neil Buckley   
 | Jun 03 12:55 |

Keep an eye on Transnistria, the pro-Russian breakaway state in Moldova. On Monday, Dmitri Trenin, one of Russia’s best-known foreign policy analysts and a man with good Kremlin antennae, tweeted: “Growing concern in Moscow that Ukraine and Moldova will seek to squeeze Transnistria hard, provoking conflict with Russia.” On Tuesday, a columnist in the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper warned that Russia “seriously faces the prospect of a repeat of the [2008] situation” – when it went to war with Georgia – “this time around Transnistria”.

What sparked the tensions was a May 21 vote in Ukraine’s parliament to suspend military co-operation with Russia. That included a 1995 agreement giving Russia military transit rights across Ukraine to reach Transnistria, which borders Ukraine’s Odessa region.

Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in the unrecognised statelet since its brief war for independence from ex-Soviet Moldova in 1992, and Russia has a base there with about 1,350 soldiers and heavy weapons. Losing access via Ukraine means Russia must resupply its base by air through Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, and across Moldovan territory.

But Moscow complains Moldova has recently detained and deported several Russian soldiers. Mr Trenin alleged to the FT, moreover, that Ukraine had deployed S-300 air defence systems near the border.

Cue claims by Russian and Transnistrian officials that Ukraine and Moldova are imposing an economic blockade; civic leaders in Transnistria last week appealed to Russian president Vladimir Putin to protect them “in case of emergency”. On Monday, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s hard-line deputy premier, assured Transnistria’s leadership that “Russia will always be there” to ensure regional security.

A senior Ukrainian foreign ministry official insists there is no Transnistria blockade, only a “political decision to suspend military-technical-co-operation with Russia because of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. This is a matter of principle for us.”

It is for Moscow, he adds, to ensure in talks with Chisinau that its soldiers have access. He calls any suggestion that Ukraine might try to shoot down Russian planes resupplying its Transnistria base “absurd”.

There have been false alarms around Transnistria before since the Ukraine crisis broke out. Its leaders appealed to Moscow to join the Russian Federation days after Russia annexed Crimea, but nothing came of it. About one-third of the region’s 500,000 inhabitants are Russians and almost another third are Ukrainians. Some 97 per cent voted in a 2006 referendum to join Russia, which Moscow has never recognised.

But Russian and Transnistrian officials are making more of the issue this time. Transnistria’s foreign minister Nina Shtanski alleged on Monday that Ukraine had placed troops along the border – which Kiev denies. And Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko’s unorthodox appointment at the weekend of ex-Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili – a bête noire for Moscow – as governor of the Odessa region has added an element of psycho-drama.

At least two Russian newspapers speculated on Tuesday that Mr Saakashvili’s task was to maintain the “blockade” of neighbouring Transnistria, and even act as “provocateur” to start a new war. The Izvestia columnist suggested that “the fate of all the issues that exist between Russia and the west is being decided today in the Kiev-Donetsk-Odessa triangle”.

“This is not only the state TV narrative. Serious people are concerned about the implications of Ukraine’s moves,” Mr Trenin says. “Misha is best remembered here for launching an attack on South Ossetia.”

In fact, Mr Saakashvili allowed himself to be lured into a trap after weeks of provocations in South Ossetia by launching an ill-advised assault on the Georgian breakaway region, which provided the pretext for Russia’s 2008 invasion. Russian media’s evocation of his role then may be just another way of Moscow registering chagrin over his Odessa appointment.

But Ukraine’s ending of Russian military access to Transnistria – however understandable – does pose a logistical problem for Moscow. And it is a reminder, in the new climate of east-west antagonism, of just how many potential flashpoints lurk in the zone between the two.

http://blogs.ft.com/the-world/2015/06/transnistria-shapes-up-as-next-ukraine-russia-flashpoint/

[bryant.coleman]

Well, Russia has a 1500-man contingent there as part of the peace accord of 1992 between Moldova and Transnistria (which Ukraine has now violated by this blockade). An attack on that force would undoubtedly be interpreted by Moscow as an attack on Russia itself.

The same happened with South Ossetia, right? Georgia made a surprise attack, which killed a large number of the Russian peacekeepers. Russia responded by launching a war against Georgia. The same kind of provocations will be repeated in this case. But the difference this time is that Russia doesn't share a border with either Transnistria or Moldova.

[Balthazar]

Well, Russia has a 1500-man contingent there as part of the peace accord of 1992 between Moldova and Transnistria (which Ukraine has now violated by this blockade). An attack on that force would undoubtedly be interpreted by Moscow as an attack on Russia itself.

The same happened with South Ossetia, right? Georgia made a surprise attack, which killed a large number of the Russian peacekeepers. Russia responded by launching a war against Georgia. The same kind of provocations will be repeated in this case. But the difference this time is that Russia doesn't share a border with either Transnistria or Moldova.

Not a problem at all. Deployment of additional troops may be performed using air forces, because distance is very small. It explains why Saakashvili lapdogs are deploying some of their ancient SAM systems in the Odessa region.

P.S. Another option is a declaration of Bessarabia People's Republic, which would provide land access to transnistrian border.

[bryant.coleman]

Not a problem at all. Deployment of additional troops may be performed using air forces, because distance is very small.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that both the Kiev junta and Moldova has refused to permit flights carrying Russian peacekeepers to use their respective airspaces.

P.S. Another option is a declaration of Bessarabia People's Republic, which would provide land access to transnistrian border.

Do you mean the Southern half of the Odessa oblast? That would be a good idea, as the region is multi-ethnic, and mostly opposed to the Kiev junta.

[Balthazar]

Not a problem at all. Deployment of additional troops may be performed using air forces, because distance is very small.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that both the Kiev junta and Moldova has refused to permit flights carrying Russian peacekeepers to use their respective airspaces.

Their permission is worthless. According to peace agreements, they have no right to dictate anything. Of course they can try to declare such flight as an act of aggression but this would be ridiculous because surprise attack is act of aggression itself. Nobody would ask aggressor for permission, it's just like asking Hitler's permission for Berlin bombings in 1945.

Of course they will scream all over the prostitute media but that won't change real situation. They can try use these SAM systems in Odessa but it's unlikely to happen due to coward nature of junta. They're only capable to fight with unarmed civillians.

[Snail2]

Attacking in Transnistria would result in the recurrence of war in the Don bass. Not to mention that attacking the Russian troops there could mean retaliation from Russia. But even if Russia don't retaliate, funding and manning a two front war would bring Ukraine to it's knees pretty soon. They can't be that stupid.

[deisik]

Attacking in Transnistria would result in the recurrence of war in the Don bass. Not to mention that attacking the Russian troops there could mean retaliation from Russia. But even if Russia don't retaliate, funding and manning a two front war would bring Ukraine to it's knees pretty soon. They can't be that stupid.

They are not stupid (that would be stupid to think so, in the first place), but don't forget that the Ukrainian junta are not "sui juris", in a sense. So they will be doing not what suits them best (or the country they allegedly serve to), but they will stubbornly pursue their puppet-master's interests before anything else...

Indeed, the puppet-master may look sincerely interested in his puppets well-being, but only as long as this meets his long-term goals and ends

[bryant.coleman]

Attacking in Transnistria would result in the recurrence of war in the Don bass. Not to mention that attacking the Russian troops there could mean retaliation from Russia. But even if Russia don't retaliate, funding and manning a two front war would bring Ukraine to it's knees pretty soon. They can't be that stupid.

The NATO is not that stupid. The Ukrainians will stay (nominally) neutral, while the Moldovan army will invade Transdniestria with the help of Western European mercenaries. If Russia wants to attack Moldova in retaliation, they will have to transport their troops via Ukraine. And the Kiev junta will never permit that.

[Snail2]

The NATO is not that stupid. The Ukrainians will stay (nominally) neutral, while the Moldovan army will invade Transdniestria with the help of Western European mercenaries. If Russia wants to attack Moldova in retaliation, they will have to transport their troops via Ukraine. And the Kiev junta will never permit that.

The Moldavian what? The Moldovan Ground Forces consists of a less than 6000 soldiers, mostly equipped with some cold war era gear. The transnistrian forces and the local paramilitary groups alone have something like 5-7000 soldiers. I don't believe that the Moldavian forces would be able accomplish now what they were unable to accomplish in 1992 when they had much more resources and manpower.