Ukraine (cont.)

[Ridgerunner]

I’m in awe of how people can still defend Putin and/or Russia.

I’m not. Not really. There are people in the U.S. who are capable of excusing any kind of crime if some totalitarian regime commits it, and are equally capable of attributing “crimes” to the western democracies that they didn’t commit. And for every one of those in the U.S., there are probably ten in Europe because outright communism has played a significant role in the political history of Europe, whereas in America it didn’t.

Look at Michael Moore, for instance, who falsely touted Cuban medicine to the skies but has nothing kind to say about anything in the America that gave him a wealthy and comfortable life. There are even those who praise the murderous North Korean rulers.

It’s hard to know why some people in the west are anti-western. That’s possibly the better question to ask, rather than why some defend the indefensible Putin. There are probably a number of answers to the question.

 

[seekerz]

I’m not. Not really. There are people in the U.S. who are capable of excusing any kind of crime if some totalitarian regime commits it, and are equally capable of attributing “crimes” to the western democracies that they didn’t commit. And for every one of those in the U.S., there are probably ten in Europe because outright communism has played a significant role in the political history of Europe, whereas in America it didn’t.

Look at Michael Moore, for instance, who falsely touted Cuban medicine to the skies but has nothing kind to say about anything in the America that gave him a wealthy and comfortable life. There are even those who praise the murderous North Korean rulers.

It’s hard to know why some people in the west are anti-western. That’s possibly the better question to ask, rather than why some defend the indefensible Putin. There are probably a number of answers to the question.

I’m puzzled as to why you used Moore’s film as an example. What exactly was false about Sicko? Not saying you’re wrong; just confused as to why comparing Cuba’s medical system to the US’ would have anything to do with supporting or condemning a particular form of government? Cuba has been a major contributor of medical professionals/training to Latin American, Africa and the Caribbean - saving and improving countless lives. I STILL do not support Castro or any form of totalitarianism. Plus, I can make both statements without feeling the least bit conflicted.

 

[KyivAndrew]

The Unpopularity of Separatism in Donetsk

Latest polling from Donetsk, Ukraine shows how unpopular the idea of separatism is even in Donetsk, this city which was so subjected to Russification in Tsarist and Communist times and which always leads off Russian newscasts as a place just dying to join Russia and the center of separatism. Latest results:

65.7% of Donetsk residents wish to live in a united single Ukraine.

77% of Donetsk residents are against the recent storming of Ukrainian government buildings by pro-Russian forces and groups. Only 16% of Donetsk’s residents view the occupation of these buildings by pro-Russian forces positively and only 18.2 % wish to join Russia.

70% of Donetsk residents are against the raising of Russian flags on administrative buildings in the city of Donetsk.

65% of Donetsk residents are againstex-President Viktor Yanukovych and his return to Ukraine.

pravda.com.ua/news/2014/04/9/7021883/

And this is just from Donetsk the city. The Donetsk province’s countryside is probably even more pro-Ukrainian, even thought the ethnically Ukrainian countryside in Donetsk was decimated by Stalin’s genocidal terror-famine the Holodomor in the 1930s.

The people of Donetsk are close to the Russian border and many have received their news from Russian TV news stations (which are controlled by Putin and his friends) and on which all sorts of anti-Ukrainian lies and bigotry are continually propagated non-stop by such Russian xenophobes as Dmitry Kiselyov and Aleksandr Dugin all with Putin’s support. Putin’s agitprop non-stop about Ukraine’s interim government coming to harm them explains the support, such as it is, of the small minority (18.2%) of residents in Donetsk favoring Russia. But that’s it. You will find them hovering under statues of Lenin and hammer-and-sickle flags singing Soviet communist songs, but many of these are older people whose life-views were formed by Soviet propaganda. They are accompanied however by titushky ruffians who are the ones causing the trouble.

And Putin has tens of thousands of Russian soldiers and tanks and guns and supply lines set up on and towards Ukraine’s border ready to invade at anytime. 77% of Donetsk residents are against the occupation of their Ukrainian government buildings by pro-Russian forces who are supported by Russia’s secret services and Russian political ‘tourists’. You might only find about a thousand or so pro-Russian supporters in front of the regional administration building in Donetsk in support of the pro-Russian occupiers. The support Putin expected just isn’t there. But he is threatening the Ukrainian government not to retake its government building in Donetsk, even though the majority of people in Donetsk want these pro-Russian occupiers to leave. By what authority does Czar Putin have the right to order the Ukrainian government and security services not to fullfull the wishes of the majority of people in Donetsk and of Ukraine for that matter for these seized buildings to be returned to the authorities. Why doesn’t Putin worry about his own population for a change and their welfare; nothing better to do for him than to play wargames and destabilize democratic elections in a neigbouring country?

So what does Putin plan to do with his army? Force the two-thirds of Donetsk residents who are against separatism and are for one united Ukraine, to submit to his will at the point of his Russian army’s guns? Only 18.2 % of Donetsk residents, the most Russified city in today’s Ukraine, wish to join Russia. Only 18.2%. One could only imagine how much lower this figure is in all the other of Ukraine’s cities.

Putin KGBman is fighting for the autocratic Russian empire now to extend into Ukraine, not for some imaginary majority in Ukaine’s east which would wish to join Russia and which clearly doesn’t exist.

Putin is rushing now and creating all sorts of problems in a foreign state, Ukraine, because he is afraid of the democratic Presidential Election scheduled for Ukraine on May 25. He doesn’t want Ukrainians to elect their own leader but wishes to decide himself what should happen to Ukraine. The majority of citizens in Ukraine clearly are against this, even in cities like Donetsk which the Russian media touts as wishing for Putin to come in. Not so. So Putin will attempt to sabotage Ukraine holding true elections on May 25. Ukrainians in the full majority have no wish for Putin’s autocratic Russian imperial state running their country or regions.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m puzzled as to why you used Moore’s film as an example. What exactly was false about Sicko? Not saying you’re wrong; just confused as to why comparing Cuba’s medical system to the US’ would have anything to do with supporting or condemning a particular form of government? Cuba has been a major contributor of medical professionals/training to Latin American, Africa and the Caribbean - saving and improving countless lives. I STILL do not support Castro or any form of totalitarianism. Plus, I can make both statements without feeling the least bit conflicted.

Everything was false about Moore’s presentation of the Cuban medical system, except that part relating to healthcare for the elites. Why would he present a false picture, if not to make it a critique of healthcare in the U.S.? That’s exactly why he took some Americans there for treatment. Elites in every totalitarian state get the best. Pretending that its’ somehow typical is nothing but disinformation.

And it is true that Cuba exports a lot of its medical professionals…for a fee. And that is another reason why, for most Cubans there really is no healthcare worthy of the name.
nationalcenter.org/NPA557_Cuban_Health_Care.html

 

[AnastasiaRomano]

The Unpopularity of Separatism in Donetsk

Latest polling from Donetsk, Ukraine shows how unpopular the idea of separatism is even in Donetsk, this city which was so subjected to Russification in Tsarist and Communist times and which always leads off Russian newscasts as a place just dying to join Russia and the center of separatism. Latest results:

65.7% of Donetsk residents wish to live in a united single Ukraine.

77% of Donetsk residents are against the recent storming of Ukrainian government buildings by pro-Russian forces and groups. Only 16% of Donetsk’s residents view the occupation of these buildings by pro-Russian forces positively and only 18.2 % wish to join Russia.

70% of Donetsk residents are against the raising of Russian flags on administrative buildings in the city of Donetsk.

65% of Donetsk residents are againstex-President Viktor Yanukovych and his return to Ukraine.

pravda.com.ua/news/2014/04/9/7021883/

Andrew, thanks for these latest statistics from the city of Donetsk. Very interesting, and telling.

Putin is rushing now and creating all sorts of problems in a foreign state, Ukraine, because he is afraid of the democratic Presidential Election scheduled for Ukraine on May 25. He doesn’t want Ukrainians to elect their own leader but wishes to decide himself what should happen to Ukraine. The majority of citizens in Ukraine clearly are against this, even in cities like Donetsk which the Russian media touts as wishing for Putin to come in. Not so. So Putin will attempt to sabotage Ukraine holding true elections on May 25. Ukrainians in the full majority have no wish for Putin’s autocratic Russian imperial state running their country or regions.

I imagine that if Petro Poroshenko (who’s currently leading in polls) is elected president on May 25 and that if Praviy Sektor et al. get as few votes as the polls currently reflect, it would be quite difficult to continue to spin the Ukrainian government as fascist… which probably explains a lot of the rush.

 

[seekerz]

Everything was false about Moore’s presentation of the Cuban medical system, except that part relating to healthcare for the elites. Why would he present a false picture, if not to make it a critique of healthcare in the U.S.? That’s exactly why he took some Americans there for treatment. Elites in every totalitarian state get the best. Pretending that its’ somehow typical is nothing but disinformation.

And it is true that Cuba exports a lot of its medical professionals…for a fee. And that is another reason why, for most Cubans there really is no healthcare worthy of the name.
nationalcenter.org/NPA557_Cuban_Health_Care.html

I have friends who lived in Cuba who would counter that. Cuba’s health stats also counter this idea of health only for the elite .Also, the fee (a part of their regular salary) only applies to Cuban nationals; many who are trained for free are from all over the world. But we can agree to disagree lest I derail the thread.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have friends who lived in Cuba who would counter that. Cuba’s health stats also counter this idea of health only for the elite .Also, the fee (a part of their regular salary) only applies to Cuban nationals; many who are trained for free are from all over the world. But we can agree to disagree lest I derail the thread.

What I was referring to by saying “fee” was the exchange Cuba gets for exporting its doctors to other countries…some 14,000 of them. Many have been “hired out” to Venezuela in exchange for oil.

Yes, we can agree to disagree, but for those who have any interest in the subject, I suggest doing some research. The Cuban health system is abysmal for all but the government and party elites and those who have hard currency to spend.

 

[KyivAndrew]

Satellite images reveal Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border

Nato has released satellite images of the Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s eastern border: a powerful concentration of fighter planes, helicopters, artillery, infantry and special forces which officials say could be ready to move with just 12 hours notice.

The images appear to undermine official suggestions from Moscow that there is nothing unusual about the troop movements, nor any reason to be alarmed.

The pictures show rows of hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles apparently waiting for orders in fields and other temporary locations around 30 miles (50km) from the frontier. The images, taken in the past two weeks, show some of what Nato said was around 100 staging areas that were almost entirely unoccupied in February.

…between 35,000 and 40,000 Russian troops were “at a state of advanced readiness”, and could deploy “within 12 hours from a decision taken at the highest level”. With many of the troops and tanks currently based within about 30 miles from the border, that could mean crossing into Ukrainian territory within an hour of moving.

According to Nato the images reveal telltale signs of an invading force, and not merely troops on “exercise” as Moscow has claimed.

Moscow has denied it is preparing an invading force. The Russian foreign ministry insisted on Wednesday that troops near Ukraine’s border posed no threat and the movements were nothing more than the “everyday activity of Russian troops on its territory”. But the Nato secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, dismissed these claims. “As I speak, some 40,000 Russian troops are massed along Ukraine’s borders,” Rasmussen said in Prague on Thursday. “Not training, but ready for combat. We have seen the satellite images, day after day.”

theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/10/satellite-images-russian-military-ukraine-border

Of course Moscow would say there is nothing unusual about these troop movements and that they are nothing more than everyday activity. Orwellian Doublespeak. As if the truth has ever been an obstacle for Putin or the Kremlin.

 

[AnastasiaRomano]

Crimea-happy Russians want Gorbachev to pay for loss of Soviet empire

washingtonpost.com/world/europe/crimea-happy-russians-want-gorbachev-to-pay-for-loss-of-soviet-empire/2014/04/10/ffa0f545-8923-4acd-a016-4a25a937b32a_story.html

Still radiant over their annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, some members of Russia’s parliament are more nostalgic than ever for the Soviet Union — and on the prowl for someone to blame for its loss. Why not 83-year-old Mikhail Gorbachev?

Five deputies of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, have asked the nation’s prosecutor general to investigate Gorbachev, who was the president of the Soviet Union when it collapsed in 1991, and bring him to account, Russian news media reported Thursday.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Looks like Russia is turning the screws on Western Europe as well as Ukraine, holding Europe hostage to payment of Putin’s version of what ukraine owes Russia for gas. Putin really played this well. He seizes Crimea which, he says, excuses Russia from paying the rent for the Russian port at Sevastopol by way of a gas discount. So now Ukraine not only owes for past bills, but it incurs penalties for failing (being unable ) to pay for gas not even delivered.

And that threatens the gas supply to western Europe, which goes through Ukraine. Putin is basically saying western Europe has to come up with a lot more money to “bail out” Ukraine from its “obligations” to Russia. Pretty neat way to get others to pay for his imminent war on Ukraine. Sort of reminds one of how Prussia seized Alsace and Lorraine in 1870 and made France pay for it.

It’s going to take a lot more courage and statesmanship on the part of the west to save Ukraine from a total Russian takeover. But I doubt it’s there.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Interesting. Russia has announced that it’s going to charge Ukraine even more than it charges western nations for gas. That on top of it charging Ukraine for failure to be able to buy it. Russia is urging Europe to make it good. This is reminiscent of the old Soviet Union. It was always a robber regime. Stole from the wealthy Russians. Stole from foreign investors. Stole from the conquered countries. Toward the end, it forced its satellites to borrow money from the west. The money went to the Soviet Union, but its satellites had the debts. Eventually the whole scheme collapsed, of course, when westerners refused to loan any more money to the satellite nations.

Same deal, different tactic.

This is truly going to test western mettle, particularly because even if they pay Putin, he might seize Ukraine anyway and increase prices to western Europe besides.

money.cnn.com/2014/04/11/news/economy/russia-ukraine-gas-europe/index.html

 

[AnastasiaRomano]

Armed pro-Russian extremists seize Donetsk Oblast’s Interior Ministry as well as police station, SBU headquarters in Sloviansk:

kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/armed-pro-russian-extremists-seize-police-stations-in-donetsks-slavyansk-shaktarysk-fail-to-take-donetsk-prosecutors-office-343195.html

SLOVIANSK, Ukraine – In what looks like a special Russian military operation that resembles the Kremlin’s Crimean invasion, masked men in army fatigues and bulletproof vests, armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, seized the police station and district Security Service of Ukraine headquarters in Sloviansk, a Donetsk Oblast city of 125,000 people. Later in the day, the Interior Ministry in Donetsk was also seized by gunmen.

Gunmen set up two checkpoints outside Sloviansk, on the roads leading to Artemivsk and Konstantinovka. The gunmen piled sand and tires in the median with a Russian flag on top; at one of the checkpoints, the Kyiv Post saw four armed men dressed similarly to Russian soldiers. They stopped trucks and mini-buses and appeared to be searching for weapons that could be brought in to Sloviansk, perhaps by the government.

…]

The well-organized, well-armed takeovers resembled the early stages of the Russian military intervention in Crimea on Feb. 27, when masked gunmen took over strategic locations on the peninsula after the Kremlin installed its own prime minister.

An… interesting development, considering the public opinion statistics in Donetska Oblast that KyivAndrew linked to above.

 

[AnastasiaRomano]

Interesting. Russia has announced that it’s going to charge Ukraine even more than it charges western nations for gas. That on top of it charging Ukraine for failure to be able to buy it. Russia is urging Europe to make it good. This is reminiscent of the old Soviet Union. It was always a robber regime. Stole from the wealthy Russians. Stole from foreign investors. Stole from the conquered countries. Toward the end, it forced its satellites to borrow money from the west. The money went to the Soviet Union, but its satellites had the debts. Eventually the whole scheme collapsed, of course, when westerners refused to loan any more money to the satellite nations.

Same deal, different tactic.

This is truly going to test western mettle, particularly because even if they pay Putin, he might seize Ukraine anyway and increase prices to western Europe besides.

money.cnn.com/2014/04/11/news/economy/russia-ukraine-gas-europe/index.html

Ukraine, for its part, is balking at paying any of the debt because of Russia’s tactics…

“Ukraine refuses to pay gas debt to Russia if price rises”
kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukraine-refuses-to-pay-gas-debt-to-russia-if-price-rises-343215.html

 

[AnastasiaRomano]

“Shootout in Donetsk Oblast’s Kramatorsk as armed men take over police department”

kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/shootout-in-kramatorsk-next-on-wave-of-russian-assault-on-donetsk-oblast-343255.html

In addition to Slovyansk, the district police station of Kramatorsk, a city 96 kilometers north of Donetsk with a population of 200,000, has late night on April 12 been the scene of more pro-Russian separatist activity.
…]

In Chervoniy Lyman, a district center of 20,000 people on the northern edge of Donetsk Oblast, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said an attack on the local police station “by Russian forces” was repelled three hours ago.

The alleged Russians were armed with Russian-made AK 100 submachine guns that are only used by Russian military forces, said Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

 

[AnastasiaRomano]

Op-ed on Russian TV channels’ coverage of Ukraine:

“Russian TV Caught Red-handed: Same Guy Three Different People (Spy, Bystander, Heroic Surgeon)”

forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/04/12/russian-tv-caught-red-handed-same-guy-same-demonstration-but-three-different-people-spy-bystander-heroic-surgeon/

 

[Seamus_L]

One source reporting 2 dead and 9 wounded in gun battles naharnet.com/stories/en/126402-2-dead-9-hurt-as-ukraine-special-forces-clash-with-pro-russia-militias

 

[josie_L]

Op-ed on Russian TV channels’ coverage of Ukraine:

“Russian TV Caught Red-handed: Same Guy Three Different People (Spy, Bystander, Heroic Surgeon)”

forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/04/12/russian-tv-caught-red-handed-same-guy-same-demonstration-but-three-different-people-spy-bystander-heroic-surgeon/

I just wanted to post some of that article here:

**Internet viewers of Rossia 1 news and NTV report posted on YouTube caught the Petkov fabrications and expressed their outrage. The viewers of the Crimean news fairly tale were given no chance to comment.

The Petkov fabrications would make for a good laugh were the situation not so serious. Readers should not think that Petkov affair is an isolated incident. It is the norm rather than the exception. Viewers of Russian television are fed a daily diet of fabrications that show non-existent gun battles, savage beatings of innocent civilians, sinister forces proudly displaying Nazi regalia, and tearful residents of east and south Ukraine longing for annexation into Russia. Readers must understand that the Crimean Anschluss, accepted by many in the West, as a joyous, celebratory reunion was a cynical spectacle organized by Russian special forces, protest tourists, and local mafia thugs.

The Petkov Blunder shows that Russian propaganda has no regard for the truth and is willing to resort to the crudest of disinformation to form public opinion at home, in Ukraine, and abroad. Who knows how many Western tthe hospitalelevision stations have carried such lies? They definitely accepted the Russian version – joyful people, band music and dancing, and Soviet-style 97 percent votes. After the Petkov Blunder how can we believe anything that Russian propaganda says?**

That many Russian viewers have bought into Putin’s Big Lie tells us something about their psychological makeup. The fabricated scenes of mass violence, grenade explosions, and constant automatic weapon fire should raise a number of questions for viewers. Where is the film of solemn funerals of those killed in the mayhem? Russian camera crews, unlike other Russians denied admission, were in the hospital to which the seriously wounded were carried. Why did the camera crews not film the crowded wards full of the victims of Ukrainian violence? Why did the ubiquitous Mr. Petkov not show his leg pierced by a bullet? It seems strange that his nose with the direct hit of a revolver bullet would be treated with a single bandage?

Apparently Russian viewers want to believe these fairy tales. They want to think their country is in the right. They want to be proud of their country. Accordingly, they make ideal subjects for Big Lie propaganda. I do not know how they will feel when they eventually learn the truth.

I have a more immediate question for the Putin trolls, who earn a living disputing almost every word I write on Putin’s actions in Ukraine. How are you going to explain this one? My guess is that the Putin trolls will remain silent. Let’s see.

The author serves on the International Academic Advisory Board of the Kiev School of Economics. The views are those of the author and not the school.

forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/04/12/russian-tv-caught-red-handed-same-guy-same-demonstration-but-three-different-people-spy-bystander-heroic-surgeon/

 

[AnastasiaRomano]

“Ukraine says it can prove that Russia coordinated weekend attacks”
kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukraine-says-it-can-prove-that-russia-coordinated-weekend-attacks-343316.html

“We have all concrete proof of Russia’s secret agency involvement in the separatist insurgency and takeovers of government buildings in eastern Ukraine. The evidence and witness testimonies will be presented to the international community on April 17 in Geneva,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on April 13.

Also in this article is this allegation:

The geography of attacks in Donetsk Oblast is not accidental for two reasons. Many of the cities that were attacked are located close to the Svyatohorsk Assumption Lavra, or monastery, of the Moscow Patriarchate, which Ukrainian security officials believe serves as a military base for the insurgents. The towns such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast, where separatist actions have been particularly fierce, are easily accessible from that location.

 

[Phalanx]

Less than one hour untill the deadline…

 

[KyivAndrew]

Op-ed on Russian TV channels’ coverage of Ukraine:

“Russian TV Caught Red-handed: Same Guy Three Different People (Spy, Bystander, Heroic Surgeon)”

forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/04/12/russian-tv-caught-red-handed-same-guy-same-demonstration-but-three-different-people-spy-bystander-heroic-surgeon/

Good find, Anastasia.

So three separate Russian TV stations interview one Andrei Petkov, lying wounded in a hospital ostensibly in Mykolaiv in Ukraine.

On Rosiya 1, Petkov says he is just an ordinary citizen who was beaten up by Ukrainian radical nationalists, suffered a concussion and will be incapacitated for 6 months.

Next, NTV Russian news holds an interview with the same Petkov lying in the bed where he now explains he is a German spy for a secret European organization and was shot in a melee by, you guessed it, a Ukrainian nationalist.

Crimean Russian TV then holds an interview with the same Petkov where he claims he was a physician who was carrying ‘wounded’ to a tent while he was shot by, cue, you guessed it, Ukrainian radical nationalists, but he will continue working.

That in a nutshell is how Russian state propaganda works for Putin. Lies, lies, and more damned lies. I mean the Same Guy giving different stories for Russian propaganda. Goebbels couldn’t have been more proud. Indeed, one of the main Ukrainian news shows is Shuster Today. Shuster is actually a Russian, a Russian Jew to be more precise, and his show is the most watched in Ukraine. He has denounced Putin and has put up a clip of speeches given by Hitler and Putin and the similar arguments they used to annex neighboring countries.

The Russian television stations are full of lies about Ukraine as is their affiliated RT News in English. Rosiya 1, NTV, RT are all under the control of Putin’s thought police and friends. Repeat the lie over and over again on Russian TV: Ukrainian fascists are coming to get you. Repeat, over, and over, and over until you scare the daylights out of some Eastern Ukrainians and have your own Russian population swallowing the propaganda whole. Since this all started some months back, despite all this Russian propaganda, there has not been an instance of some massive Ukrainian radical nationalist force coming to Eastern Ukraine to beat up ethnic Russians or Russian speakers simply for being Russians. This is the BIG LIE Putin propagates. Ethnic Russians have not been under threat since the Maidan. No massive wave of extremists coming from Kyiv to beat up Russians. Period.

Ukraine has restrained itself more than other countries would have in the face of Russian aggression and lies. The Ukrainians didn’t fight back in Crimea to avoid provoking Russia. For the past weeks, they have let pro-Russian protests managed by Russian secret services which have turned violent to fester in Eastern Ukraine so as not to provoke Russia. Now, Putin has gone too far. His forces have killed in Crimea, and now they have killed a Ukrainian to start off in Eastern Ukraine. I’ll show in another post why Ukraine’s President Turchynov had to move now or risk losing parts of the country.

The experience of the Soviet Union showed propaganda can work. Putin has now created such an alternate reality through his bombastic xenophobic propaganda that an invasion of Ukraine would seem positive to many of his citizens. Perhaps Putin now has begun to believe in his own propaganda, and don’t be surprised, tyrants like Stalin succumbed to this too.

It is Putin and his amoral propaganda machine of lies who is causing the instability in Ukraine, along with Russian GRU and FSB men in Ukraine coordinating these actions of taking over Ukrainian government buildings.