SBU: Russian colonel, alias “Strelkov” ordered capture of OSCE inspectors

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has determined the real name of the officer of Russia’s Central Intelligence Agency who operated in Ukraine under the name Igor Strelkov, according to the SBU spokesperson Marina Ostapenko.

Ostapenko said that the real name of Igor Strelkov is Igor Vsevolod Girkin. He is a citizen of the Russian Federation, and a colonel, born on December 17, 1970.  His  Russian Federation passport: № 4506460961, was registered in Moscow under the address of Shenkursky Ave. 8B, Apt. 136.

Advertisement

Butusov: Attempt on Kernes’s life is linked to shift in his political position

FB Post by Yury Butusov

April 28, 2014

No matter how you view [Kharkiv mayor, Hennadiy] Kernes, the attempt on his life is directly linked with the shift in his political position. For me, Kernes epitomized the criminal lawlessness that took place during the revolution, and for this he should by no means be absolved of responsibility. It is shameful that he was appointed in Kharkiv.

However, in the wake of the Russian invasion threat, his position changed drastically. Indeed, it was Kernes who, following negotiations with [governor of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ihor] Kolomoisky, disbanded the congress of the “First Ukrainian Front,” which was geared at legitimizing the Kremlin-orchestrated split in Ukraine. He and his friend [former governor of Kharkiv Oblast, Mykhailo] Dobkin were among the key figures in the Kremlin’s strategy, and the withdrawal of Kernes from the scheme significantly undermined Russian influence. Kernes should have become a notable player in the pro-Ukrainian movement of authoritative representatives from the south-east region of Ukraine, spanning Kharkiv to Odessa.

The reasons for the assassination attempt on Kernes were as follows:

How to turn an ordinary person into a Banderivets*

April 24, 2014

Boris Bitner, Live Journal

Take a tolerant Russian-speaking Ukrainian and subject him to the following manipulations:

Break agreements signed with his country and support a criminal regime; give refuge to the leader of this regime who is guilty of embezzlement; turn TV channels that are being watched by half of Ukraine into a platform for slander, hate speech and deception; call Ukraine a quasi-state and its government a junta; spread lies that Russian-speaking Ukrainians are being abused because of their language; seize a piece of Ukraine’s territory; embark on a dirty propaganda war against his country; support the separatists who wish to split the state; unleash a gang of lying Internet trolls and propagandists; snub the international community and collective security…

Thus, the negative connotation of the notion ‘banderivets’ which used to mean a thug, a killer and an enemy of the Soviet regime, the connotation that was systematically inculcated throughout the postwar period, now easily transforms into a positive one – a partisan, a fighter for independence, a freedom-loving person struggling against the Soviet authorities. Interestingly, the concept of the ‘Soviet power’ has undergone no change. It has not gone down the drain, it is still etched in minds of the people.

Dear Comrade Putin! Dear Soviet citizens of Russia who turned out to be a great many!

Thank you for inducing me and others like me to learn the [Ukrainian] anthem, to install the flag on my car, to start respecting the language, to reevaluate certain historical facts! There is no greater motivation to love our Motherland than the external threat, the disrespect for the people of the country of 46 million and the uncontrollable megalomania of the inadequate neighbor.

Thank you for helping us make up our minds about the direction of our country’s development and understand who is our friend and who is our enemy.

Better late than never.

Do not worry, we are going to be fine. The only thing that matters is that you do not go saving anybody here or, God forbid, come to defend us.

We wish you well. We promise not to interfere in your affairs, not to claim back Krasnodar and Stavropol regions.)))

We will live peacefully and happily, but let us do it separately from each other.

We will move towards the EU and USA, we will cooperate with NATO, all in all, we are going to integrate into a society that overcame fascism and tolerates gays. And you will ravel in your own spiritual convulsions, intolerance and nazi-saluting homophobes.

You have managed the impossible: until now we were a population, now we grew to be a nation.

Thank you for your help.

Source: http://bither.livejournal.com/347700.html

*Designation ‘Banderivets’ refers to a follower or sympathizer of Stepan Bandera, the leader of WWII anti-Soviet nationalistic insurgency in Western Ukraine (ed.)

Translation by Tatiana Kononenko, edited by Mariana Budjeryn

Slovyansk under siege. A few hours in the besieged city

This article was written by blogger Denis Kazanskiy for “Ostrov” a few days before the shootings in Slovyansk.

A boring provincial town of Slovyansk where nothing ever happens suddenly made it to every newscast around the world. The reason for this is not its shabby resorts or any scientific breakthroughs. Slovyansk made headlines due to its seizure by the terrorists and the ensuing mass disorders.

The map with the burning red point can be seen on every TV screen in every corner of the globe. Foreign journalists have finally managed to pronounce “Slovyansk” which was a tall order just a few days before. The most experienced of them, those who covered warfare elsewhere, say it looks like Chechnya, that’s how things started there.

Denis Kazanskyi: Everyday life in the Donetsk Republic

Supporters of the Donetsk Republic (DNR) have been building their dream state for two weeks now. Here is the list of their impressive achievements.

1. In Slovyansk, a town controlled by the separatists, Gypsy pogroms are underway.

2. Anti-Semitic leaflets appeared in Donetsk. DNR leaders claimed this a provocation, however we all know the truth. It suffices to talk to the people in pro-Russian demonstrations in order to understand how popular the anti-Semitism ideas are among them.

3. Journalist Sergiy Lefter and Maidan activist Irma Krat have been taken hostage in Slovyansk. The gentlemen wrapped a plastic bag around the woman’s head.

4. All banks and jewelry stores in Slovyansk have been closed. Marauders periodically rob the grocery stores. Three cases of robbery have already been recorded. Here is the Mayor’s comment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtxch7g-g5A

5. In Horlivka, where the militants went on the rampage in the local department of internal affairs and paralyzed the work of the police, masked people started paying visits to entrepreneurs and wheedling peoples savings through torture. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7wmMUSKXLo

6. On the streets of Donetsk, Horlivka, Slovyansk and Torez, bypassers are beaten up. There are so many cases of this that nobody records them, and the victims do not go to the police since it is not working anyway. Only yesterday two people I know were beaten up and robbed in Torez and Donetsk.

7. In Torez an office of local independent newspaper “Pro gorod” [About city] was set on fire. The separatists applauded this news during their demonstration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=resFMUvtAmk

To be continued. Welcome to Somalia.

Source:http://maidanua.org/2014/04/denys-kazanskyj-budny-donetskoj-respublyky/

Translated by Katherina Smirnova, edited by Mariana Budjeryn.

Number of Russian Saboteurs in Donbass Region Increases

The number of Russian military in Donetsk region is growing, according to the head of Anti-terrorist Center of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Krutov, reports Interfax Ukraine.

Well armed Russian militants occupy government buildings in Eastern Ukraine

“The day before yesterday [Sunday, ed.], there were 150 of the so-called “green men,” but yesterday another 300 arrived. I am not saying how many was there before. How many there will be tomorrow remains to be seen… For those professional militants to cross Ukraine’s border is as easy as for a kid to take a trip to the cinema,” he told journalists at a military airfield on late Tuesday night. Krutov admitted that the Ukrainian military will have to deal with “highly trained and professional opponents.”

Kyiv’s Arsenal factory continues to arm Russian aggressors

 

Some Ukrainian military companies continue to deliver military exports to Russia. Previously, Ukroboronprom State Company announced that such deliveries have been cancelled. However, according to Informational Resistance, an independent military expert group, several contracts with Russia are fulfilled though different state structures and Ukroboronprom cannot control those.

For example, Kyiv Arsenal factory continues to produce warheads for P-73 air-to-air missiles for Russian customers. The Mayak warhead was designed at the Arsenal. P-73 is a missile which is widely used to arm fighter jets in the Russian Air Force (MiG-29, MiG-31, Su-24, Su-27), as well as for the modern MiG-35, Su-35C and experimental aircraft.

Source: http://antikor.com.ua/articles/4654-nesmotrja_na_agressiju_kievskij_zavod_arsenal_ukrepljaet_voennuju_moshchj_putinskih_okkupantov

Translated by Oleg Naumenko, edited by Mariana Budjeryn

Putin’s Propaganda Machine and Ukraine’s Informational Weakness

Glib Kanevsky, expert at the Center of Political Studies and Analysis

April 1, 2014

Crimean referendum billboard. Photo frankensstein.livejournal.com

The international diplomatic establishment suddenly awakened to the blood-thirsty bear with the revanchist mindset. But this animal is not brutal or dumb. In that, it resembles Hitler’s Germany. In the past, the world gazed surprised as capable German people chose to support a bloody dictator. Here is one answer to the puzzle: the gigantic propaganda machine that is working the minds of the Russians.

“When Crimea suddenly found itself a part of another country, Russia felt not just mugged but robbed clean,” stressed Vladimir Putin and annexed Crimea. The planned bacchanalia at the Kremlin’s St. George Hall may not have happened if the residents of the peninsula boycotted the illegal referendum. It may not have happened if the residents of the peninsula had no desire to join Russia. But they did.

Does Taking Russian TV off the Air in Ukraine Qualify as Censorship?

By Iryna Chulivska (Institute for Mass Information) for Ukrainska Pravda, March 24, 2014

Photo caption: Dmitry Kiselev: “Veterans are burned alive during the Liberation Day in Kherson.”

Working for a journalist human rights organization, I frequently have to face the facts of censorship. We collect data on instances of censorship and talk with journalists who fell victim to it, so we decided, instead of keeping quiet, to track this phenomenon by monitoring mass media. Thus, my familiarity with censorship extends beyond reading Wikipedia.

When talks emerged about the possibility of taking Russian TV channels off the air on the territory of Ukraine, some Western politicians took this as censorship. If one does not look any further, it may indeed appear, at first glance, that such a step amounts to encroachment on the freedom of speech.

But there is one “but.”

85% of Ukrainians: Crimea is part of Ukraine

Only 6% of Ukrainians believe that Crimea should be separated from Ukraine and 85% are in favor of preserving Crimea within Ukraine. The vast majority of Ukrainians support preservation of current borders, according to the results of the Razumkov Centre survey that were presented today at a press conference and reported by the UNIAN.