Ukraine (cont.)

[josie_L]

Nineteen are still being held

May 9 – (One kidnapped) – Valeriy Andruschuk, head of Mariupol police, was kidnapped by the separatist insurgents the same day as the city police headquarters was stormed and burned down. According to the lawmaker and presidential candidate Oleh Lyashko, Andruschuk was abducted as a retiree tried to take him out of the burning building. The information was confirmed by the Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. A retiree, whose name is unknown, was injured with a knife. Andruschuk’s whereabouts are unknown.

May 8 – (One being held) – Oleh Demko, the representative of presidential candidate and Svoboda Part leader Oleh Tiahnybok in Donetsk region’s Makiyivka, was kidnapped by armed men and taken to the premises of Donetsk regional state administration, according to his party colleague Pavlo Derkachenko. Demko had been receiving threats during a whole week before the abduction.

May 7 – (One kidnapped) – Valeriy Harchuk, member of the local city council in Rubizhne, Luhansk Oblast, was kidnapped by four masked men, according to the Luhansk police press office. His whereabouts are unknown.

May 2 – (One held) – Georgian citizen and pro-Ukrainian activist Basile d’Budik was kidnapped by unknown masked and armed men in the eastern Ukrainian city of Horlivka, according to the member of right-wing Svoboda party Maja Karlash. According to the Council to Georgia Irakli Advadze, d’Budik was reached by phone and denied the fact of kidnapping, while his relatives say they do not know activist’s whereabouts. Karlash confirms d’Budik is being held by pro-Russian militants. The head of the territorial defense battalion “Donbas” Semen Senchenko offered separatists’ leaders to exchange nine detained militants for d’Budik and abducted on the same day Mykola Yakubovych.

May 2 (One held) – Mykola Yakubovysch, a Donetsk activist and one of the leaders of the local pro-Ukrainian self-defense, was kidnapped in the center of the city of Donetsk, according to Novosti Donbassa. He is held hostage by pro-Russian militants.

May 2 (One held) – Ihor Otrya, 18-year old student from Krasnyi Lyman, was kidnapped in Sloviansk on his way home from Kyiv, Gazeta.ua reported. According to Otrya’s parents, their son was detained on suspicion of having connection to nationalist Right Sector organization. He is currently being held by pro-Russian insurgents in the seized SBU building.

April 29 – (Two still held) – Four police officers, including head of the criminal investigation department Vitaliy Benko, Head of the department for combating drug trafficking Oleg Zaitsev, two operational servicemen Andriy Redko and Volodymyr Mischenko, were kidnapped in Kramatorsk by pro-Russian militants after they refused to take separatist’s side, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s press office. They were transported to the regional SBU headquarters in Sloviansk. On May 2, two of them, Redko and Mischenko, were released.

April 29 – (Two still held) – Two members of district election commissions were kidnapped in the Donetsk region. Yaroslav Malanchuk, a member of a district election commission Krasnoarmiysk from the right-wing Svoboda party, and Artem Popyk, head of the local Svoboda organization, were kidnapped in Kostiantynivka.

April 26 – (Still being held) – A Lviv journalist and freelance correspondent for the local ZiK TV-channel Yuriy Leliavsky was captured by pro-Russian militants in Sloviansk during a shooting, according to program director of Telekritika website Viktor Galkin. Leliavsky was taken to the building of the local city council.

April 26 – (One held) – Serhiy Shapoval, a journalist for the Volyn Post, has being missing since April 26 when he decided to head to Sloviansk from Kharkiv, where he was reporting on the local protests. A communication with him was lost at 3 p.m. April 26 and at 9 p.m. same day telephone connection was lost, according to the Telekritika website. He is held hostage by pro-Russian militants.

April 25 – (Two still held) – Recognized theatre director Pavlo Yurov and art curator Denys Gryschuk were kidnapped in Sloviansk. According to the LB.ua website, citing the friends of the kidnapped men, they were on their way from Donetsk to Kyiv via Sloviansk when they stopped answering phone calls. A self-proclaimed mayor of Sloviansk Viacheslav Ponomaryov later confirmed holding them hostage.

April 23 – (Still being held) – Sloviansk City Council member Vadym Sukhonos was abducted by Kremlin-backed militants, reports TSN television channel, citing local media in the Donetsk Oblast. Sukhonos apparently was kidnapped for ideological reasons. In February, he quit the Party of Regions, the dominant party in eastern Ukraine, and is now a local independent lawmaker.

kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/donetsk-peoples-republic-separatists-mark-victory-day-weekend-with-new-round-of-killings-abductions-347225.html

 

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April 21 – (Still being held) – Kramatorsk chief of police, Interior Ministry Colonel Vitaliy Kolupai was kidnapped by Kremlin-backed terrorists, the Interior Ministry reported. The masked pro-Russian militants have apparently demanded weapons and arms in exchange for the police colonel’s release. The Interior Ministry accuses Russian military intelligence Colonel Igor Strelkov for commandeering the kidnapping. Ukraine Security Service has identified the Russian colonel as the chief coordinator in the slow-motion Russian invasion of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts by using a combination of Russian special forces and black operatives, a deeply-rooted network of spies and agent saboteurs who are Russians and Ukrainians, and the cooperation of local elements of law enforcement and government officials.

April 20 – (Still being held) – Irma Krat, 29, the editor-in-chief of Hidden Truth TV and the leader of an all-female self-defense unit during the EuroMaidan Revolution that ousted the former government and President Viktor Yanukovych, was captured around 8 p.m. on Easter Sunday, Krat’s lawyer, Oleg Veremiyenko, told the Kyiv Post. Krat was “taken hostage,” Veremiyenko said, on suspicion of torturing and killing a Berkut riot police officer. She is reportedly being held in the Ukrainian State Security Service building in Sloviansk. The day after her capture, the pro-Russian separatist group holding her paraded her to meet the press, during which time she confirmed she was being held but said that she had not been harmed.

April 19 – (Whereabouts unknown) – Local media has reported that Kremlin-backed separatists kidnapped the chief of police in Sloviansk, Lieutenant-Colonel Oleg Prokhorov, but officials are yet to officially confirm the abduction. Prokhorov’s whereabouts are unknown.

Released hostages:

May 9 – (Seven released) – Kremlin-backed militants stormed into the Red Cross office in Donetsk and captured seven people, including one citizen of France and six Ukrainians from Kyiv and Donetsk. All of them were freed after several hours of detention, as was confirmed by the local Red Cross official. According to the spokesman of the separatist “Donetsk People’s Republic”, Red Cross volunteers were detained on suspicion of espionage. Iryna Tsariuk from the Ukrainian Red Cross said one of the released hostages has been severely beaten. It is also reported that insurgents seized medicine, which was delivered to Donetsk Red Cross office for distribution in the region.

May 7 – (One released) – Armed militants kidnapped a man, who took part into the motor rally for the united Ukraine, according to journalist Ekaterina Sergatskova. The abduction took place in Stahaniv, Luhansk Oblast. He was kept in the seized SBU building, tortured and interrogated, and released May 8.

May 4 – (Released) – Pro-Russian militants broke into the house of the member of Novogorodenka (Donetsk Oblast) city council and kidnapped him and five men visiting him, according to the SBU press office. Three of them, a coal miner Oleksandr Vovk, a member of the local city council from the Communist party of Ukraine Oleg Bubich and a member of the local city council from the Party of Regions Valeriy Pavlyk , were released on May 5. Each of them has the signs of torture, according to the press service of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine. Three other, including a coal miner Oleksandr Gurov, a member of the local city council from the Defenders of the Motherland Party Kostyantyn Musiyenko and an unknown man, were released on May 6. While being detained coal miners were constantly beaten and tortured. For instance, militants tried to cut of the words “Glory to Ukraine”, which were tattooed on Gurov’s arm. Gurov claims he was abducted for his strong pro-Ukrainian position.

May 3 – (Released) – Five servicemen of the Armed Forced of Ukraine were kidnapped by masked pro-Russian militants in Melekino village, Donetsk Oblast. They had being detained at the seized Mariupol city council building for several hours and released May 4 at 1 a.m., says SBU press office’s statement.

May 3 – (Released) – Armed men in camouflage kidnapped two persons,Oleksiy Bida and Anna Mokrousova, in Luhansk, kept them in seized regional SBU headquarters for several hours and released afterwards, according to the activists of community Euromaidan SOS.

May 2 (Released) – Three groups of Western journalists from a number of news outlets were briefly detained by pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine, according to Novosti Donbassa. Mike Giglio from American BuzzFeed and his translator Olena Glazunova were taken from a checkpoint en route to Sloviansk by pro-Russian militants, blindfolded, held at seized police building for three hours and released, says Mike Giglio’s on his Twitter. Americans reporters for CBS Clarissa Ward, Erin Lyall, Andy Srevenson, Geoff Mabberley and a team with Britain’s SkyNews Stuart Ramsay, Barnaby Green and their translators Oleg Malko and Oleksandr Pustovit were detained at rebel-held check-points and released after couple hours.

April 29 – (Released) – Five activists were briefly detained by separatists after a pro-Ukrainian rally in Donetsk, reports Novosti Donbassa website citing the organizer of the rally Diana Berg. They were freed later that day, which was confirmed by the local militia’s press office.

kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/donetsk-peoples-republic-separatists-mark-victory-day-weekend-with-new-round-of-killings-abductions-347225.html

 

[josie_L]

April 26 – (Released) – Major Serhiy Potiomsky, Captain Eugeniy Verinsky, Lieutenant Colonel Rostyslav Kyjashko from SBU’s high-ranking Alpha Group were kidnapped in Kramatorsk, while they were on their way to Horlivka. Kremlin-backed militants took hostages to Sloviansk, where they were interviewed by Russian journalists. On the video, immediately published on the Internet, SBU officers were answering questions while seating with their pants off, hands tied, blindfolded and showing signs of having been beaten. According to the SBU’s statement, the group was kidnapped while performing a task to arrest a Russian citizen suspected of killing Horlivka city council member Volodymyr Rybak. Rybak was kidnapped on April 17, five days later his body was found near the river Torets in Sloviansk with signs of torture. All three were released on May 7. According to representatives of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” they were exchanged for the Donetsk region’s “people’s governor” Pavlo Gubarev. SBU press service says it would not be correctly to say that an act exchange had occurred although confirms that all three servicemen were freed.

April 25 – (Released) – Eight members of a military monitoring mission were abducted on April 25 and held hostage in Sloviansk by pro-Russian separatist forces. The group of OSCE monitors, including four Germans, a Swede, a Pole, a Dane, and a Czech, were traveling by bus from Kramatorsk to Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast and were accompanied by five Ukrainian soldiers, includingIhor Turansky, Oleksandr Matvijenko, Valeriy Udod, Oleksij Pluschev andAndriy Kolodka. Pro-Russian militants showed the documents of some of them, including John Christensen (Denmark), Krzysztof Kobelski (Poland), Axel Schneider (Germany). On April 27 a Swede OSCE officer, major Thomas Johannson, who suffers from diabetes, was freed. On May 3 all the other members of the mission and Ukrainians, who were accompanying them, were freed.

April 25 – (Released) – Yevhen Hapych, a journalist from the Ivano Frankivsk Oblast town of Kolomyia in western Ukraine, who on April 22 was kidnapped with his brother Hennadiy in Donetsk Oblast, were released and made it home on April 25. Hapych had received a travel grant from Telekritika, a Kyiv-based media watchdog organization, to report in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. His work was to be published in various media.

April 22 – (Released) – Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the self-proclaimed mayor of Sloviansk in northern Donetsk Oblast confirmed that unidentified people in uniform had captured Vice News journalist Simon Ostrovsky, an American, who was last seen early morning on April 22. Ostrovsky was released three days later.

April 22 – (Released) – Yuriy Zahrebelny, prosecutor of Sloviansk, was reportedly kidnapped in his office at about 5:50 p.m. by a group of three armed and masked men, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on April 23. They brought him by car in an unknown direction and released in some 40 minutes later. Zahrebelny refused to disclose the details of his interrogation, the police said.

April 22 – (Released) – At about 11 a.m. several people in masks came into the office of Sloviansk medical forensics service and captured its head, Mr. Yakymov, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry reported. The ministry did not disclose his first name. Yakymov was taken to the local SBU headquarters now occupied by pro-Russian separatists. At about 2 p.m.Yakymov was released and refused to comment on the details of his captivity. “He is very scared after that,” Stanislav Rechynsky, an Interior Ministry adviser said during a news briefing on April 23. “Apparently it was related to (Volodymyr) Rybak’s murder.

April 21 – (Released) – Italian journalists Paul Gogo and Kossimo Attanasio, and Belarusian journalist Dmitry Galko were kidnapped by separatists in Sloviansk while filming events in the city. Later the journalists were released, but their reporting equipment, money and personal documents were confiscated.

kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/donetsk-peoples-republic-separatists-mark-victory-day-weekend-with-new-round-of-killings-abductions-347225.html

 

[josie_L]

April 18 – (Released) – Sloviansk Mayor Nelya Shtepa disappeared after she attempted to meet with separatist leader Vyacheslav Ponomarev. Initially, Shtepa appeared to support separatists before changing course and confirming her support for authorities in Kyiv. On April 22, she appeared on pro-Kremlin TV Life News saying that she is thankful to Russian President Vladimir Putin. She is believed to be held inside one of the buildings occupied by the separatists in Sloviansk. They have said that she is fine and being fed well. On April 30, Shtepa resigned.

April 16 – (Released) – Ukrainian journalist Serhiy Lefter was kidnapped while reporting on events in Sloviansk. He had being held in the basement of the Ukrainian State Security Service building in Sloviansk until May 2, when he was released together with another hostage, Sloviansk resident Artem Deynega. Deynega was abducted by pro-Russian insurgents on April 13 after he was observed filming from the balcony of his family’s apartement. The apartment is across the street from the Ukrainian Security Service building in Sloviansk. Lefter was working with the non-governmental organization Open Dialog Foundation when he was captured. Despite been freed on late night May 2 Lefter arrived in Kyiv only five days later as they were hiding in SLoviansk fearing pursuit. During press-conference on May 8 Lefter said that he was treated not that bad during detention and was occasionally questioned, whether he had any connections to nationalist Right Sector organization.

kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/donetsk-peoples-republic-separatists-mark-victory-day-weekend-with-new-round-of-killings-abductions-347225.html

 

[josie_L]

Here’s a list of journalists that were attacked (in January alone) by Berkut officers (in some instances the conflict arising between the Berkut and the protestors led to some injuries but the majority were inflicted by a deliberate attack on the part of the Berkut, law enforcers, and hired thugs):

1. On January 19, during the confrontations the news photographer of «Novaia Gazeta» (Russia) Yevhen Feldman was injured. Feldman informed that he was injured by the explosion of a flash bang grenade; he has cuts on his face and a bloodied nose.

1. On January 19, a flash bang grenade injured Viacheslav Veremiy, a correspondent of the section ‘Kyiv’ of the newspaper ‘Vesti’. A grenade chip hit his left eye, and his left arm was injured.

1. On January 19, the editor of Nizhyn online media outlet ‘Uezdnye Novosti’ Igor Volosiankin was injured during the events. He was first hit by a flash bang grenade and later injured in the leg.

1. On January 19, on live broadcast police officers intentionally shot at Anatoliy Lazarenko, a Spilno.tv reporter and camera operator with non-lethal weapon and injured his hand.

1. On January 19, during the confrontations Yanek Falkevych, a camera operator, was injured: a chip from a flash bang grenade hit him in the brow and cut it.

1. On January 19, Igor Iskhakov, a journalist of “Radio Liberty”, was injured by an explosion у of a flash bang grenade during the confrontations between protesters and police officers. He sustained numerous bruises and contusions.

1. Dmytro Barkar, a journalist of “Radio Liberty”, was beaten by police officers when he was detained on January 20. They also beat Ihor Iskhakov, who was earlier injured by an explosion of a flash bang grenade.

1. On January 20, titushkis (thugs hired to do the government’s illegal bidding) beat Maks Levin, a LB.ua news photographer, when he was returning in the morning to his car after the events of January 19.

1. On January 19, Galyna Sadomtseva, a coordinator and streamer for Spilno.tv, was injured by grenade chips – in the face and in the legs.

1. On January 19, Oleksander Brams, a news photographer of the magazine “Komentari”, was injured. His shoulder is dislocated and he has several grenade chips in his leg.

1. On January 20, Natalka Pisnia, a journalist of the 1+1 TV channel, was hit in the leg from a non-lethal weapon.

1. On January 19, during the confrontations between protesters and police officers a flash bang grenade injured Volodymyr Tyshchenko, a journalist of the website and newspaper of the All-Ukrainian Association «Svoboda». A grenade chip hit him in the leg. And on January 20, in the morning he was hit with a rubber bullet.

1. On January 20, Volodymyr Karagiaur, a camera operator of the online TV channel «Spilnobachennia», was detained by police and accused of providing gasoline for explosive compounds the rally participants are using.

1. On January 19, Oleksander Klymenko, a news photographer of the newspaper “Golos Ukrainy”, was injured. A grenade exploded under his feet around 9 p.m., as a result, he had a hole in his cheek and a hole in his leg. At the hospital, a doctor pulled a piece of his pants and three plastic grenade frags from the leg would.

1. On January 19, a shot hit the tablet of Bogdan Kutepov, a journalist of Hromadske TV. A tablet with a PRESS sticker did not break but the bullet left a trace. He believes that if it were a lead bullet, not a rubber one, it would have gone directly through the tablet.

1. A bullet hit the camera held by Ivan Nakonechny, a camera operator of Channel 5, when he came up closer to the barricades; the camera stopped working. He admits he was lucky it hit his camera and not his head.

1. On January 19, Berkut fighters were rocking the bus, on which journalists and photographers were standing, and Denys Savchenko, a camera operator of Channel 5, fell down. They caught him, tore his PRESS badge and pulled him to the prison truck. Now he is at home with a broken leg, he cannot walk.

1. On January 19, Oleksander Kovalevskiy, a camera operator of the «24» TV channel, was injured by an explosion of a flash bang grenade. After the grenade explosion, his ear started bleeding. He was examined by doctors, who told him the injury was minor.

1. Anton Berezhnoy, a Spilno.tv camera operator and reporter, sustained a big bruise on his shoulder and two broken fingers.

1. Tymur Ibragimov, a Spilno.tv streamer, sustained two cuts from chips of flash bang grenades.

1. Tymur Bedernychek, a camera operator of Spilno.tv, sustained numerous burns of the legs.

1. Bogdan Babych, one of the founders of the project Spilno.tv, was injured in the leg by a chip of a flash bang grenade.

1. Dmytro Surnin, a Russian journalist and ex-editor-in-chief of the newspaper «Moi Rayon» (Moscow), was hit by a rubber bullet.

1. Oleksiy Simakov, a STB journalist, was injured in the leg by a chip from a flash bang grenade.

1. On January 19, during the confrontations between protesters and police officers Roman Pilipey, a freelance photographer, was injured — he was hit in the back of the head with a brick thrown by rally participants.

1. On January 19, Danylo Yevtukhov, the senior editor of the website of the ‘Krytyka’ magazine was injured by an explosion of a flash bang grenade. His eyelid was cut. At the same time, he was hit by a rubber bullet in the arm.

imi.org.ua/en/news/42836-list-of-journalists-injured-during-confrontations-in-january-in-kyiv-updated.html

 

[josie_L]

1. Ivan Liubysh-Kirdey, a camera operator of the “1+1” TV channel and freelance photographer for the newspaper “Day” was affected by a gas grenade, which went off under his feet tearing his pants, shoes and cutting his legs superficially and had a lungful of gas.

1. On January 19, a rubber bullet hit in the eye Volodymyr Zinchenko, a ICTV camera operator, who was covering the confrontations between protesters and police officers.

1. Vitaliy Tereshchenko, a news photographer, fell down a bus and was injured, when Berkut sharply moved the bus with journalists and camera operators standing on top.

1. On January 20, during the confrontations between protesters and police officers Roman Malk, a journalist of the magazine “Ukrainsky Tyzhden”, was hit in the eye with an unidentified object, probably a rubber bullet.

1. On January 20, when covering the confrontations between protesters and police officers Yulia Kruk, a journalist of «Nadzvychaini Novyny» of the ICTV TV channel, was affected by tear gas.

1. On January 19, Pavlo Ivanov, a journalist of Ukrainian Youth Informational Agency, was injured. He was hit by four bullets. Three stuck in his helmet, and one more is still in his head.

1. On January 19, Vlad Bovtruk, a camera operator of Hromadske TV, was injured when covering the confrontations. Rubber bullets hit him in the leg and the stomach.

1. On January 20, Yuriy Usyk, a camera operator of Channel 5, filmed how a Berkut fighter shot him directly in the camera lens.

1. Stanislav Grigoriev, a correspondent of the Russian TV channel REN TV, was injured by an explosion of a flash bang grenade. Now, he is in hospital with an open fracture of a leg.

1. On January 21, Berkut fighters shot Oleg Veremiyenko, a camera operator of the online TV station «Prykhovana Pravda», in the head with a rubber bullet.

1. Dmytro Dvoichenkov, a camera operator for the online TV station “Espreso-TV”, who was broadcasting live from Hrushevskoho Street, was captured by Berkut fighters and taken to the police truck.

1. Oleksander Sybirtsev, a special correspondent from Odesa for the newspaper “Vesti”, was injured by a flash bang grenade.

1. Vasyl Fedosenko, a Bilorussian news photographer for Reuters Agency stationed in Kyiv, was injured by a rubber bullet.

1. On January 21, Berkut shot in the direction of the “Espreso-TV” filming crew — operator Oleksiy Novitsky and journalist Illia Berezenko, who were covering the events on Hrushevskoho Street, the bullet missed.

1. On January 22, police snipers were shooting in the head of the journalist of The Associated Press Yefrem Lukatsky.

1. On January 22, police snipers shot the journalist of The Associated Press Dmytro Vlasov in the groin three times.

1. On January 23, Berkut fighters beat and detained the editor of the project Lenta.doc Andriy Kiseliov, who was covering the confrontations in the capital as a part of the assignment from the editorial office of Lenta.ru. Kiseliov made a call from the police truck and informed about his detainment.

1. On January 22, on Hrushevskoho Street in Kyiv a freelance photographer Maksym Dondiuk was injured by an explosion of a flash bang grenade. It went off right under his feet, and its chips injured his left leg and left bruises all over his body.

1. On January 22, on Hrushevskoho Street the camera operator of the documentary pproject BABYLON’13 Yuri Gruzynov sustained three gun wounds.

1. On the eve of January 22, during the filming on Hrushevskoho Street Mstyslav Chernov, a photographer of the online media outlet ‘Mediaport’, was injured. Berkut fighters intentionally threw at him a flash bang grenade although he was wearing a luminescent PRESS vest.

1. On January 23, Berkut fighters were throwing stones and a flash bang grenade at journalists who were following the UDAR leader Vitaliy Klitschko on Hrushevskoho Street.

1. On the eve of January 23, Oleg Ogilko, the chief and film operator of Cherkasy local website 0472.ua, was covering the events near Cherkasy Oblast State Administration when unidentified men in civvies detained and savagely beat him. He sustained a contusion of both kidneys, a a swelled head, bruising and traces of beating all over his body.

 

[josie_L]

1. On Hrushevskoho Street, a foreign journalist was wounded in the leg with a rubber bullet. Doctors diagnosed him with a muscle tissue contusion.

1. on January 24, soldiers of internal troops beat Myroslav Mysa, a journalist of the radio station «Holos Svobody», took away his phone and threatened to beat any other journalist or photographer who would come close to make photos or videos of them.

1. On January 26, in Zaporizhzhia Dmytro Smolienko, a journalist of the website «Vsia Vlast», was beaten during the police crackdown on the local Maidan protest rally. He was beaten by both titushkos and Berkut fighters. He was diagnosed with a head trauma and contusion of muscle tissue on his arms, and his equipment was smashed.

1. On January 26, in Dnipropetrovsk during the confrontation between the rally participants and «titushkos», the filming crew of the ICTV TV channel was targeted by those throwing stones. The camera operator was injured with a stone in the neck, the camera was smashed.

1. On January 26, in Dnipropetrovsk, when filming the protest rally near the building of the oblast state administration, where the protesters clashed with police, the journalists of the TV channel 34 were injured. The camera operator Sergiy Kochet got hit in the head with a stone. He was spared from injury by a helmet he was wearing. He was also injured in the back from a non-lethal weapon.

1. On January 26, in Dnipropetrovsk when filming the protest rally near the building of the oblast state administration, where the protesters clashed with police, the journalists of the TV channel 34 were injured. The camera operator Danylo Peterimov was beaten with truncheons (his arm is probably fractured).

1. On January 26, in Dnipropetrovsk when filming the protest rally near the building of the oblast state administration, where the protesters clashed with police, the journalists of the TV channel 34 were injured. The journalist Natalia Svetlova was hit with truncheons.

1. On January 25, in Kharkiv young thugs in tracksuits attacked the column of EuroMaidan rally participants. During the incident one journalist got a head injury.

1. On January 26, in Zaporizhzhia during the police crackdown on EuroMaidan the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Mria” Yuriy Gudymenko was injured. Unidentified men hit the journalist with a truncheon on his hand and broke a finger.

1. On the eve of January 27, in Cherkasy the staff correspondent of the Inter TV channel Stanislav Kukharchuk was injured during the police crackdown on the protesters, who were trying to take over the building of the oblast state administration. The journalist showed his ID to the Berkut fighter, but the fighter threw him on the ground with a hit of his truncheon and then several Berkut fighters threw several more hits with their truncheons at Kukharchuk already on the ground.

1. On January 26, in Cherkasy during the police crackdown on EuroMaidan protesters the journalist of Polish Public TV channel “Belsat” Sergiy Marchuk was injured by Berkut fighters.

1. On January, 26 in Cherkasy during the police crackdown on EuroMaidan protesters the journalist of Polish Public TV channel “Belsat” Yuriy Vysotskiy was injured, he was detained by police.

1. On January 26, in Kirovograd police officers used truncheons to hit Volodymyr Hryshko, a member of the National Journalist Union of Ukraine, on the back and the kidneys to push him out of the building of Kirovograd oblast state administration.

1. On January 25, in Kharkiv a thug in a tracksuit smashed the photo camera of the 1+1 TV channel photographer Sergiy Alekseyev. Alekseyev himself sustained no injuries.

1. On January 22, in Donetsk during the rallies of both supporters and opponents of EuroMaidan unidentified thugs stroke several blows in the head and in the body of Ihor Monastyriov, the camera operator of the ‘Donbas’ TV channel, and tried to take away his camera.

1. On January 22, a rubber bullet hit the photo camera of the journalist of the online media outlet 20minut.ua from Ternopil, Vitaly Derekh, who was covering the events on Hrushevskoho Street in Kyiv.

1. On January 26, Sergiy Yefimov, a camera operator of the TV and Radio company “Vikka,” was assaulted by Berkut fighters during the crackdown of Cherkasy EuroMaidan. He was helping the journalist from the Inter TV channel Stanislav Kukharchuk, who was being beaten by Berkut fighters, and they smashed Yefimov’s camera and threatened to beat him, too.

1. On January 26, in Dnipropetrovsk during the confrontations near the Oblast State Administration right in front of the police thugs in tracksuits smashed the laptop of Yaroslav Markin, a journalist of the newspaper “Vesti.”

1. On January 26, in Dnipropetrovsk in the building of the Oblast State Administration titushkis were threatening Natalia Belovytska, a journalist of the newspaper “Uriadovy Kurier”, they tore her bag and took away her thumb drive.

1. On January 28, in Simferopol in front of the police titushkis assaulted Sergiy Mokrushyn, a journalist of the Center of Journalist Investigations, and smashed his photo camera.

1. On January 28, in Dniprodzerzhynsk in the -10 C freezing cold an employee of the Ministry of Emergencies poured water on the editor-in-chief of the local newspaper “Sobytie” Mykhailo Baltaksu, who was filming, how the authorities were getting ready for the charge on Dniprodzerzhynsk city executive committee.

1. On January 29, in Kyiv in Mariyinsky park participants of the rally in support of the Party of Regions took away from Bohdan Kutiepov, a journalist of the online TV station Hromadske.tv, his Parliament accreditation badge and his tablet, from which he was live streaming.

 

[josie_L]

1. On January 19, during the conformations on Hrushevskoho Street in Kyiv the news photographer of the newspaper “Antykoruptsiyne Biuro Ukrainy” Oleksander Senko was injured by a gas grenade thrown by police.

1. On January 26, during the crackdown on the rally in Zaporizhzhia titushkis assaulted Yevhen Udovychenko, a journalist of Zaporizhzhia Oblast State TV and Radio Station, and took away his camera and documents. After that he was beaten by police and detained. On January 28, the court sentenced him to two months of home arrest.

1. On January 25, in Mykolayiv participants of the rally in support of the Party of Regions were not letting Yevhen Homoniuk, the correspondent of the online media outlet «NikLife», to the building of the Oblast State Administration, he was surrounded by several persons, who started to push him away, insult him, and threaten with physical violence.

1. On January 25, in Cherkasy one of Berkut fighters snatched the photo camera from the hands of Marianna Nemchenko, a news photographer of the online media outlet “Pro Vse,” when she was making photos of the operation of detention of a group of young people, and forced her to delete all photos and videos she made under the threat of smashing her camera.

1. On January 26, in Dnipropetrovsk during the confrontation between the protest rally participants and titushkis several stones were thrown in the camera crew of the ICTV TV channel. Denys Synegin, the TV channel’s camera operator, was injured in the neck and in the head, his camera was destroyed.

1. On January 30, in Dnipropetrovsk on the “anti-Maidan” a hired thug smashed the camera of the Novy Kanal TV channel camera operator Yuri Khrystian.

1. On the eve of February 1, law enforcer in civilian clothing kidnapped Nikita Perfiliev, a Russian journalist, and his colleague – camera operator Anton Zakharov, kept them in an underground compound and beat them. They kicked the journalist’s teeth in.

imi.org.ua/en/news/42836-list-of-journalists-injured-during-confrontations-in-january-in-kyiv-updated.html

 

[josie_L]

As per CAF’s stance on RT:

NOTICE

Please don’t post google search links and digg.com search links because they tend to be dynamic and would require repeated moderation over extended periods of time. Instead link directly to a valid news source.

Please do not start a thread using rt.com as a source. It is a tabloid and not a reliable news source.

Thank you for your cooperation

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=508814 (post # 8)

 

[josie_L]

Just wanted to share this Youtube video, it is quite amazing (Maidan aerial shots by night and much more):

youtube.com/watch?v=Ya2elsR5s5s

I wish I had been there.

 

[josie_L]

No answers over Nov 30 brutal dispersing of peaceful EuroMaidan

29.12.13 | Halya Coynash

Exactly one month after Berkut riot police savagely dispersed hundreds of entirely peaceful pro-EU protesters on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, EuroMaidan activists will be holding a candle-lit gathering in the same place to demand answers. Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka is still claiming that his people have not ascertained who ordered the action and which officers were involved. Most importantly, aside from the largely symbolic dismissal of three public officials, there is little sign of real will to hold those responsible to account.

There was one positive move forward on Dec 23 when the District Administrative Court allowed a civil suit and ordered the Interior Ministry to provide orders and other documentation regarding the use of the Berkut officers. On a more negative note it rejected equally legitimate demands for information from others including the Prosecutor General, the ambulance service and hospital. There has been enormous secrecy about injured protesters, and pressure on medical staff to conceal the real details about the patients they treated, so such information is clearly needed.

During his address to parliament on Dec 21, Pshonka produced carefully edited video footage showing activists attacking police officers. When asked angrily why he was refusing to let opposition MPs show the videos demonstrating Berkut violence against peaceful demonstrators showing no resistance on Nov 30, Pshonka claimed that “everybody had seen those videos”, and he wanted to show the others “for balance”.

Everybody has indeed seen them. They give the lie to almost every word spoken by the country’s chief law enforcer.

Pshonka claimed that the police had repeatedly issued clear warnings calling on people to vacate the square, and that they had also created a corridor for protesters to leave safely. This is not borne out by the video footage, testimony of protesters and of witnesses. Protesters were forced to seek refuge in St Michael’s Monastery with Berkut officers actively pursuing them. Medical workers who endeavoured to treat injured protesters were themselves beaten.

According to a report complied by the Association of Ukrainian Human Rights Monitors on Law Enforcement [UMDPL], there was clear breach of the Police Act and other legislation with the Berkut officers’ use of force and special means coinciding with the warning. UMDPL says that this meant that some people had not even woken up. The report condemns the “indiscriminate, wide-scale, brutal and cynical manner in which the Berkut officers kicked and beat protesters with rubber truncheons and their fists without considering their age, gender or physical condition”.

Outrage in Ukraine and international condemnation forced Ukraine’s leaders to produce statements of concern, and promise that those who had used “excessive force” would be punished.

Even if there were any grounds for believing the promise, it would still be pitifully inadequate. Certainly the Berkut officers behaved in a savage fashion, however their very deployment was in grave breach of the law. The use of this special force is regulated by an Interior Ministry order which states explicitly that Berkut officers are brought in for dealing with difficult situations where force is required. The people on Maidan were talking quietly or asleep, and Berkut should not have been there in the first place.

Pshonka produced questionable chronology and altogether too many words to try to justify the deployment of men trained for conflict situations on the grounds that municipal workers supposedly needed to erect the New Year tree and an ice skating rink. It was, he alleged, “all directed at protecting public order”,

One of the lines which Pshonka pushed strongly was the involvement of “members of radical gangs who pretend to be civic organizations, including sports groups.” These individuals, he alleged, caused confrontations with the police.

On Nov 29, there were indeed a large number of “titushki” or athletic-looking thugs in Kyiv, most of them gathered in Mariyinsky Park. They certainly behaved aggressively, but not towards the police. During the day there were at least two attacks on journalists from media providing coverage of the EuroMaidan protests. It was widely reported that they had been brought in to Kyiv for the pro-government demonstration planned for Sunday.

Pshonka’s repeated assertions are especially interesting given well-founded grounds for suspecting that the trouble on Bankova St on Dec 1 caused by a crowd of young masked louts was deliberately organized. It was largely during those events that interior ministry conscripts, and possibly police officers, were injured

The actions by Berkut on Bankova St are also criticized by UMDPL in their report, however the situation was somewhat different with the deployment of a special force unit in principle legitimate.

This was demonstrably not the case on Nov 30 and attempts to merge the two situations must be withstood. The brutal actions on Nov 30 gave new vigour to the EuroMaidan protests and prompted widespread demands for the government’s dismissal, the president’s impeachment, and for sanctions against those now in power.

khpg.org/index.php?id=1388347943

 

[Ridgerunner]

To kill their own people. Russian troops are on their borders to protect theirs.

P.S - I think you could have used at least five more emoticons in that sentence.

You actually believe Russia has 40,000 troops on the Ukrainian border to protect Russia from Ukraine? Amazing the lengths people will go to defend an imperialist state. (No, I’m saving my emoticons for the even more bizarre defense of aggression by Russia, which is bound to come.)

 

[josie_L]

This is a story about Russian provocateurs running amok in the Ukraine:

Mika Ronkainen is 25 years old and just made one hell of a movie.

In three YouTube videos and the Insta-ready photo above, he depicts a crowd of Russian Ukrainians overpowering guards in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s public offices, before climbing to the roof and raising the Russian flag. The photo captures Mika in a heroic pose, resting his boot over the downed Ukrainian pennant with the main square in the background. He added the following post to his personal blog later in the day.

“I am proud that I was able to participate in the confrontation with the militants, who came ‘to peacefully protest’ with knives in Kharkiv, and hoist the Russian flag on the building administration liberated!” [Google Translate sic]

According to Russia’s state propaganda machine, pro-Russian protests like the one Mika attended are commonplace in eastern Ukraine. Having moved military units into Crimea over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin is contemplating whether to instigate a more aggressive push into eastern Ukraine, where many citizens are of Russian descent. His stated reason for the occupation is to “protect ethnic Russians,” from a new “extremist” government in Kiev.

But there are reasons for suspicion. Mika’s flag photo has gained traction on several social media websites, but the figures in the crowd below him are too far small to determine what flags they carry and too far to hear which languages they speak. But the overall impression given is that eastern Ukrainians want Putin to invade.

**Are Mika’s photo and film ******? Do these protests truly represent eastern Ukrainians’ views? Or were the pro-Russia protests engineered?

If the protests are indeed a Russian tactic, it’s important to note that Putin has already been more blatantly stoking unrest. For instance, the man photographed below is a friend of the Russian president: Alexander Zaldostanov, nicknamed “The Surgeon,” travelled to Crimea on Friday and organized a large pro-Russia protest with his gang of nationalist biker friends.

The Kharkiv Regional State Administration, whose building Mika cheekily mounted and hung the Russian flag from, says that Mika and his friends were “Russian tourists” as well:

"About 70 people with Russian flags were constantly shouting down speakers at the rally," a spokesperson told PolicyMic. "When a minute of silence was announced for the victims in Kiev – the men started shouting. When the priest was giving a speech…the men shouted again.”

In Mika’s video, a group of about 70 men do appear quite suddenly as the peaceful protesters look on (see below, the first part of his three-part YouTube epic).

The mood goes from moderately peaceful to aggressively heated in less than a minute. At one point, men capture a police officer and give him a light beating. Others can be seen goading the more peaceful protesters to get involved, and many oblige. At one point, two masked men bash through a window, while another member of the crowd appears to hurl a traffic cone at a pro-Russian attacker.

All of which begs the larger question: Were Mika and his “pro-Russian” friends agents provocateurs?

The facts provide unsettling answers. The use of agents provocateurs to impede political activism goes back a long time. FBI agents have used such tactics to disrupt the Black Panthers, the Ku Klux Klan and the American Indian Movement. The Metropolitan Police in London utilized agents provocateurs in 2009 during the G20 protests, while Imperial Russia used them to ensnare early Bolsheviks.

In the case of Mika Ronkainen, the Kharkiv Regional State Adminstration was definitely right about one thing – he isn’t Ukrainian. Mika is from Moscow, and his social media profile presents him as a handsome and politically active young man. In short, he’s the perfect posterboy for a pro-Russia riot.

Putin’s use of agents provocateurs may stretch back to the headier days of Euromaidan. In early December, three Ukrainian journalists wrote a lengthy feature for an international news website, outlining several credible scenarios where Russian-speaking agents interefered in the Euromaidan protests. In one episode, “a man wearing a purple anorak at first appears to attack the anti-riot police. A few minutes later, the same man mingles with the police without attacking them, before casually reemerging from the police ranks to rejoin the protesters, as if nothing had happened.” These stories were backed up by Ukrainian TV coverage and several amateur videos available online, and appear to be credible.

policymic.com/articles/84085/was-this-handsome-pro-russian-protester-planted-by-putin

 

[Seamus_L]

Well yesterday’s election proved at least one thing. For the side that allegedly represents not much more than 20 pct of the people in the area, and has no planes, helicopters, tanks, and very few rocket launchers and who is facing heavily armed opposition, the separatists did a pretty good job yesterday of declaring independence in the face of formidable odds.

 

[pepipop]

Well yesterday’s election proved at least one thing. For the side that allegedly represents not much more than 20 pct of the people in the area, and has no planes, helicopters, tanks, and very few rocket launchers and who is facing heavily armed opposition, the separatists did a pretty good job yesterday of declaring independence in the face of formidable odds.

With a higher turnout no doubt fueled by the deaths of 48 pro-Russian Ukrainians in Odessa over a week ago, and more recent deaths of civilians in Mariupol a few days ago.

 

[josie_L]

Ukraine crisis: Eastern rebels claim ‘self-rule’ poll victory

Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region have claimed a resounding victory in a “self-rule” referendum, saying 89% voted in favour.

Results from a similar vote in the region of Luhansk are due shortly and are expected to show a similar outcome.

BBC reporters at polling stations on Sunday witnessed few checks on identity and multiple voting in places.

Ukraine’s interim President Olexandr Turchynov has called the vote a “farce” with no legal consequences for Kiev.

The EU and US also said the polls were illegal.

Separatists claimed two people were killed by armed men loyal to Kiev in the city of Krasnoarmiisk.

But otherwise the voting passed off peacefully, the BBC’s Richard Galpin in Donetsk reports.

A number of towns in the two regions refused to hold the poll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Results in the Luhansk region are expected later on Monday.

**Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin told one Russian news agency that once the results were confirmed, all Ukrainian military troops in the region would be considered “occupying forces”. **

The Ukrainian foreign ministry condemned the polls, saying they were “inspired, organised and funded by the Kremlin”.

In a statement, it said: “The Ukrainian people does not recognise any terrorist referendums in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and also in Crimea,” in a reference to Russia’s annexation of the southern peninsula in March.

In other developments:

**BBC reporters said only a handful of polling stations served Mariupol, a city of half a million

The BBC filmed a woman casting two ballots

One pro-Ukraine teacher said she received death threats after refusing to let rebels use her school as a polling station**

The ballot papers in Ukrainian and Russian ask one question: “Do you support the Act of State Self-Rule of the Donetsk People’s Republic/Luhansk People’s Republic?”

A second round of voting is planned in a week’s time, asking whether people support joining Russia. Organisers also say they will boycott Ukraine’s presidential elections on 25 May.

New sanctions warning

Mr Turchynov has admitted many in the east supported pro-Russian militants, but warned the referendums were “a step towards the abyss”.

The EU and US have also condemned the referendums, amid fears Ukraine could be sliding to civil war.

**A Pew Research Centre survey suggested a majority even in eastern Ukraine - 70% - wanted to remain in a united country, despite concerns about governance. **

Russia annexed Ukraine’s southern autonomous republic of Crimea after a March referendum.

Russia is estimated to have some 40,000 troops near the border and says they have been pulled back, but Nato says it has seen no sign of this.

EU leaders have warned Russia it faces further sanctions if Ukraine’s presidential election fails to go ahead. EU foreign ministers are due to meet in Brussels to discuss the issue.

bbc.com/news/world-europe-27369500

 

[josie_L]

Government & Ruling Party of Regions (Yanukovych’s party) Attacks on Protesters & Journalists

• List of journalists injured during confrontations in January in Kyiv (NEW update - 47) Institute of Mass Information, (English Language), [2014-01-22]

• Journalists assaulted amid protests in Ukraine Committee to Protect Journalists, (English Language), [2014-01-24]

• No answers over Nov 30 brutal dispersing of peaceful EuroMaidan Halya Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, (English Language), [2013-12-30]

• Car of Kharkiv EuroMaidan organizer burnt, fifth incident there in month Mark Rachkeyych, Kyiv Post, (English Language), [2013-12-29]

• Third car of EuroMaidan activists burnt in Kharkiv Ukrainska Pravda, (Ukrainian Language), (English Language Translation can be found here by Date) [2013-12-27]

• Activist’s door set on fire in Mykolayiv Ukrainska Pravda, (Ukrainian Language), (English Language Translation can be found here by Date) [2013-12-27]

• MIA might blame the opposition for the Chornovol assault case Ukrainska Pravda, (Ukrainian Language), (English Language Translation can be found here by Date), [2013-12-27]

• Doubts rising over investigation into Chornovol attack Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, (English Language), [2013-12-27]

• In Donetsk, Journalists pushing for the facts over the beating of colleagues Radio Svoboda, (Ukrainian Language), [2013-12-25]

• SBU admits some foreigners banned from Ukraine, but refuses to confirm, deny names Mariia Shamota, Kyiv Post, (English Language), [2013-12-25]

• Disturbing Dashboard Video of Relentless attempt to run Tatyana Chornovol off the road YouTube, (Ukrainian Language), [2013-12-25]

• Journalist Assaulted In Ukraine RFE/RL, (English Language), [2013-12-25]

• Prominent journalist, civic activist Chornovol beaten near Kyiv (UPDATED) Christopher J. Miller, Kyiv Post, (English Language), [2013-12-25]

• Unknown assailants beat and stab Kharkiv EuroMaidan organizer (VIDEO) (UPDATED) Kyiv Post, (English Language), [2013-12-25]

• Fourth Assault on #Euromaidan in #Kharkiv Maidan Monitoring Information Centre, (English Language), [2013-12-24]

• EuroMaidan protester allegedly beaten by Berkut dies Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, (English Language), [2013-12-24]

• Widow says police “sick of Maidan” broke husband’s skull Ukrainska Pravda, (Ukrainian Language), (English Language Translation can be found here by Date) [2013-12-24]

• Witch hunt over pro-EU protests Halya Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, (English Language), [2013-12-23]

• Ukraine: Investigate police violations despite demonstrator pardon Amnesty International, (English Language), [2013-12-23]

• Ukraine: “EuroMaydan”: Human rights violations during protests in Ukraine Amnesty International, (English Language), [2013-12-23]

• Protester beaten on Nov 30 found alive Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, (English Language), [2013-12-22]

• Latest attack on police watchdog seen as attempt to exterminate group Mark Rachkeyych, Kyiv Post, (English Language), [2013-12-22]

• Threatened lawmakers dream of leaving President’s party Ukrainska Pravda, (Ukrainian Language), (English Language Translation can be found here by Date) [2013-12-21]

• Youths attack EuroMaidan office in Kharkiv Ukrainska Pravda, (Ukrainian Language), (English Language Translation can be found here by Date) [2013-12-20]

• Foreign governments asked to maintain their distance Ukrainska Pravda, (Ukrainian Language), (English Language Translation can be found here by Date) [2013-12-20]

• Analysis of Berkut treatment of peaceful protesters on Nov 30 and Dec 1 Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, (English Language), [2013-12-20]

• Yanukovych tells West to keep out of Ukraine crisis BBC World News, (English Language), [2013-12-19]

• Vicious attack on Road Control journalist Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, (English Language), [2013-12-19]

• Baloha confirms storming Maidan was planned since Day One Ukrainska Pravda, (Ukrainian Language), (English Language Translation can be found here by Date) [2013-12-13]

• In Kyiv, unknown persons (Ministry of Internal Affairs) took over three editorial offices on Turivska Street Institute of Mass Information, (English Language), [2013-12-11]

• Georgian reporters are expelled for reporting on EuroMaidan Ukrainska Pravda, (Ukrainian Language), (English Language Translation can be found here by Date) [2013-12-10]

• Police raid of Batkivshchyna office caught on security cameras (VIDEO) Katya Gorchinskaya, Kyiv Post, (English Language), [2013-12-10]

• Ukraine police move on protesters and opposition party BBC World News, (English Language), [2013-12-09]

• Several dozens journalists injured when working on EuroMaidan protest rallies Institute of Mass Information, (English Language), [2013-12-02]

• Polish journalist injured at Bankova street Institute of Mass Information, (English Language), [2013-12-01]

• Berkut Fighters attacked journalists, tore away journalist ID stickers, and crushed cameras Institute of Mass Information, (English Language), [2013-12-01]

• ‘Outrage’ at Ukraine protest violence BBC World News, (English Language), [2013-12-01]

• In pictures: Ukraine protests dispersed BBC World News, (English Language), [2013-11-30]

• Ukraine police disperse EU-deal protesters BBC World News, (English Language), [2013-11-30]

• Police attack on Kyiv’s EuroMaidan demonstrators draws international outrage (UPDATES) Christopher J. Miller, Kyiv Post, (English Language), [2013-11-30]

• Police say protesters provoked violence (VIDEO) Katya Gorchinskaya & Mariia Shamota, Kyiv Post, (English Language), [2013-11-30]

• Road Control investigative journalists brutally beaten Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, (English Language), [2013-11-27]

infoukes.com/euromaidan/

 

[Ridgerunner]

Well yesterday’s election proved at least one thing. For the side that allegedly represents not much more than 20 pct of the people in the area, and has no planes, helicopters, tanks, and very few rocket launchers and who is facing heavily armed opposition, the separatists did a pretty good job yesterday of declaring independence in the face of formidable odds.

It proved only what everybody knew all along; that it would be a fraud. Any kind of neutral international observers were kept away; something one needs in order to perpetrate voter fraud.

The truly “heavily armed opposition” Ukraine has is the Russian army, both outside and inside Ukraine.

The big question now is whether Putin will simply annext the areas in which the fraudulent vote was held, or hold it hostage to force all of Ukraine to become a satellite state. It strikes me as questionable that Putin will conquer all of Ukraine. But he will certainly not allow Ukraine to remain whole and independent. Not a chance. He proved that in Crimea.

Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine. Who’s next, the world wonders? It’s certainly possible that Putin will encroach on some of the NATO states, NATO being in complete disarray as it is. That, of course, would be the end of NATO, and I’m sure Putin knows it. But likely he will digest whatever part of Ukraine he wants first.

 

[Seamus_L]

Right now the Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine are armed with little more than some automatic weapons, and that is hardly proof that Russian special forces are directing things. Police stations and government buildings have been captured and some members of the security forces have defected, so the fact that a number of separatists are now armed with automatic weapons is hardly evidence that these are Spetsnaz.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Right now the Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine are armed with little more than some automatic weapons, and that is hardly proof that Russian special forces are directing things. Police stations and government buildings have been captured and some members of the security forces have defected, so the fact that a number of separatists are now armed with automatic weapons is hardly evidence that these are Spetsnaz.

Everybody knows what’s going on. This is silly. There are Russian military in eastern Ukraine, or is anyone seriously suggesting the “little green men” are Ukrainian military who are too shy to wear their insignia? You can hardly look at any photographs from the region without seeing some of them. And they didn’t shoot down those Ukrainian helicopters with AK47s, that’s for sure.

google.com/images?q=ukraine+little+green+men&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ADFA_enUS486&hl=en&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ei=yC5xU8PqG4KlyASwy4DgDw&ved=0CBsQsAQ

And Putin has admitted that he has military in Eastern Ukraine, as he admitted he had them in Crimea. opendemocracy.net/od-russia/valery-kalnysh/little-green-men-slovyansk-donetsk