Gas Subtexts of Crimea Crisis

We noted in our analysis “Bloody Stream to Europe” on 24 January 2014 that events in Ukraine have not only internal motivations, but also external stimulation, including a serious gas motive in Russian foreign energy policy. The war in Kyiv, as it is called, should help advance the Kremlin’s South Stream in Brussels. Russian plan envisioned that, against the background of increasing destabilization in Ukraine, the EU had to meet Russia’s move in the question of excluding the South Stream project from the Third Energy Package. However, this did not happen, though a definite movement of European Commission towards Gazprom was observed.

Now against the background of a gradual evolution towards stabilization in Kyiv and in Ukraine as a whole, it becomes important for Russia to launch an additional round of destabilization in order to continue arguing with Brussels for the need to support South Stream and the early adoption of the relevant decision to exclude it from the Third Energy Package. 

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EYE WITNESS REPORT FROM SIMFEROPOL AIRPORT

By Askold Krushelnycky

I am at Simferopol airport where green uniformed professional soldiers with no insignia took over during the night and are being backed up by local volunteers.

The Ukrainian government says these are not Ukrainian soldiers and they are definitely not local people wearing uniform. The Ukrainian government is calling this an invasion. An ex-British paratrooper working with one of the TV crews says they are professional, carrying their guns the way they should be, with safety catches on.

I have tried to talk to them but they are not saying anything. I have tried to ask for a commander or spokesman but nobody will talk to the Press. The airport is operating normally.

Yanukovych now owns a cottage in Moscow Region for $52,000,000

Victor Yanukovych, the former President of Ukraine, has bought a house in Barvikha village. Oleg Mitvol, head of the Central Council of the Green and Social Democrat Alliance reports this by Twitter.

The Russians of Ukraine asked Putin not to bring in troops

Signatures on a petition addressed to Volodymyr Putin on behalf of the Russians and the Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine are being collected on the Internet. People are calling to not bring troops into Crimea.

“We, the ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine, do not need any protection by other states. We thank you for your support, however, we want to inform you that we have never been prejudiced in any way by anyone in the territory of Ukraine. We have always lived freely and happily, speaking our usual language. We have also studied the state languge of Ukraine in schools and are able to speak it well enough to feel comfortable in a Ukrainophonic environment.

That is why, with all due respect to your worries, we ask you to not raise internal questions of our country that are by no means critical at the national level of the Russian Federation. And moreover, we ask you not to bring in troops to regulate a conflict that you apparently see, but we fail to notice. Thank you for your understanding. RESPECTFULLY, THE RUSSIAN AND RUSSIAN-SPEAKING CITIZENS OF UKRAINE,” says the petition.

Where is the punishment for the sadists?

Ihor Lutsenko

This is the first question for the government. The only other comparable issue is the threat to territorial integrity. Questions of staffing should be of a distant secondary nature.

As of now, there are still 290 members of the Berkut riot police who remain free, despite having beaten [peaceful protesters] on November 20, and thousands of their colleagues who later shot, tortured and killed.

Also free are the judges, who knowingly sought to conceal the repression through their unlawful decisions.

Heroes of Maidan: Olha Halushko, wounded, released from hospital in Cherkasy

Voices of Ukraine

February 27, 2014 4:30 pm
Translated by Olia Knight
View source

Olha Halushko wounded during the storming of the Cherkasy regional state administration on January 23, 2014. According to the Deputy Chief of Surgery Volodymyr Ududenko, she was released from Cherkasy oblast hospital on February 24, 2014, reports “Dzvin” newspaper. 

– She is stable, conscious, and is feeling okay. She talks and works on the computer. She was released with a recommendation to come back in three months for cranial vault reconstruction, said Ududenko.

According to Olha’s mother, Natalia, the young woman is now recuperating at home, in the Sumy area.

– We are preparing for the surgery: Olha needs a plate to replace a quarter of her skull. She is at home, many concerned people call wishing her quick recovery, – says Natalia. – My daughter is doing fine after the surgeries and the treatment, but she…

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Maidan, the heart of Europe

Konstantin Sigov, 16 February 2014

Greetings to you from Kyiv, where I find myself at the moment.

For several months, I have been waking up thinking of the people who spend their nights on Independence Square, called Maidan, in Kyiv. Their bodies must withstand cold; their spirits, fear. During the day they welcome us with smiles and earnest handshakes, determined above all not to give up. These men and women of very different professional backgrounds and of varying worldviews embody the civic society of our country in all its great diversity. Volunteers of all ages do all they can in genuine solidarity. The golden rule of Maidan: absence of self-interest and selfishness. Each of these people says “no” to lies and repression. In the heart of Europe, here and now, these people stand opposed to inhumanity. They have accepted Pascal’s wager, the wager of our faith, without which we would have no future.

Ukrainians in Crimea appeal to new government to stop separatism

A group of Ukrainian citizens, residing in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (ARC), have asked officials Kyiv and the international community to help stabilize the situation on the peninsula.

Ukrainians in Crimea have requested the new central authorities to take actions to control the crisis, and have appealed to the EU to influence Russia’s position on separatist attitudes on the peninsula. In their appeal to the world community and Ukrainian nation, it is stated that by no means must the latter permit initiation of a civil war, and that avoiding civil war requires them to provide stability, peace and safety for all residents of Crimea.

The Right Sector is blocking the cargo of Yanukovych’s associates in the harbor of Kherson

The organization Right Sector claims that resources worth millions of USD are located in the harbor of Kherson, and that associates of President Viktor Yanukovych, ousted by the Rada, are trying to take them out of the country.

This was stated by Andriy Tarasenko, one of the organization’s leaders, reports еizvestia.com.

“Right Sector representatives were made aware that Yanukovych’s associates and their mafia had gathered resources worth millions of USD that were stolen from the Ukrainian people. After receiving this information, Right Sector fighters entered the port area and surrounded the cargo containers and bookkeeping, preventing it from leaving Ukraine in an unknown direction,” reported Tarasenko.

Andriy Portnov, lawyer for the regime, has blood on his hands

Society today is yearning to see harsh punishment for officials who have abused the nation these past few years. What people crave most is justice for those responsible for the deaths of innocent Ukrainians, whose blood is on the hands of Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko, Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka and, of course, President Viktor Yanukovych.

For some reason, however, Andriy Portnov, first deputy head of the Presidential Administration [under Yanukovych], does not figure prominently on the list of “key pillars” of the regime. This is unfortunate.  He is, after all, the one responsible for the raider-like attacks on the Constitution and for transforming the courts into a tool of repression for the regime.