Ukraine forces kill up to five rebels, Putin warns of consequences

There are times in this world when how a guy dances on The Ellen Show doesn't mean shit.

The story comes from Times of India.

Ukraine forces kill up to five rebels, Putin warns of consequences


SLAVIANSK (Ukraine)/ST PETERSBURG (Russia): Ukrainian forces killed up to five pro-Moscow separatists in the east of the country, the interior ministry said on Thursday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of "consequences" if Kiev used the army against its own people.

Interior ministry forces backed by the army removed three checkpoints manned by armed groups in the separatist-controlled town of Slaviansk, the ministry said in a statement.

"During the armed clash up to five terrorists were eliminated," it said, adding that one person had been wounded on the side of government forces.

Under an international accord signed in Geneva last week, illegal armed groups, including the rebels occupying about a dozen public buildings in the largely Russian-speaking east, are supposed to disarm and go home.

However, the Kremlin, which has deployed tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine's border, maintains it has the right to protect Russian-speakers if they come under threat, a reason it gave for annexing the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine last month.

In St Petersburg, Putin said that if the authorities in Kiev had used the army in eastern Ukraine, this would be a very serious crime against its own people.

"It is just a punitive operation and it will of course incur consequences for the people making these decisions, including (an effect) on our interstate relations," Putin said in a televised meeting with regional media.

The Geneva agreement, signed by Russia, the United States, Ukraine and the European Union, is already in trouble as Kiev launches its offensive to regain control of the east.

East and West have put the onus on each other to ensure the accord is implemented on the ground. U.S. President Barack Obama said earlier he was poised to impose new sanctions on Moscow if it did not act fast to end the armed stand-off.

Moscow also flexed its economic muscles in its worst stand-off with the West since the Cold War, with the government suggesting foreign firms which pull out of the country may not be able to get back in, and a source at Gazprom saying the gas exporter had slapped an additional $11.4 billion bill on Kiev.

Washington accuses Moscow of fomenting unrest in the east. Russia denies this and counters that Europe and the United States are supporting an illegitimate government in Kiev.

Obama said the Russian leadership was not abiding by the spirit or the letter of the Geneva agreement so far.

"We have prepared for the possibility of applying additional sanctions," he told a news conference on a visit to Japan. "There's always the possibility that Russia, tomorrow, or the next day, reverses its course and takes a different approach."

US troops arrive in Poland

So far, the United States and EU have imposed visa bans and asset freezes on a few Russians in protest at Moscow's annexation last month of Crimea from Ukraine.

In NATO member Poland, the first group of a contingent of around 600 U.S. soldiers arrived on Wednesday. They are part of an effort by Washington to reassure eastern European allies who are worried by the build-up of Russian forces near Ukraine's borders.

Earlier on Thursday, Kiev forces with five light armoured vehicles took control of a checkpoint north of Slaviansk after separatists appeared to abandon the position, Reuters journalists said from the scene.

The government said the city hall in another eastern town, Mariupol, which had been seized by separatists, was now back under central control. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the mayor was back in his office.

"In this instance there were no casualties ... The process of getting the situation back to normal in the city will continue," he said in a post on his Facebook page.

Kiev also reported a shootout overnight in another part of the east when a Ukrainian soldier was wounded, while pro-Russian separatists in Slaviansk were holding three journalists, including U.S. citizen Simon Ostrovsky.

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, slid into unrest late last year when Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich rejected a pact to build closer ties with Europe. Protesters took over central Kiev and he fled in February.

Days later, Russian troops seized control of Crimea. Moscow then annexed the region, saying it was protecting Russian residents, while the West called the action a land grab.

The focus has now shifted to eastern Ukraine, the industrial heartland and home to a large Russian-speaking community.

No way back?

With rhetoric building from the United States about the imposition of a new, tougher round of sanctions, Russia suggested on Thursday that Western firms which pulled out of the country may not be able to get back in.

"It is obvious that they won't return in the near future if they sever investment agreements with us, I mean there are consequences as well," Natural Resources Minister Sergei Donskoy told reporters.

"Russia is one of the most promising countries in terms of hydrocarbons production. If some contracts are severed here, then, colleagues, you lose a serious lump of your future pie," the minister added.

However, Western oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell were sticking with their projects in Russia, he noted.

Supplies of Russian gas to Europe are also, potentially, at risk from the crisis over Ukraine. Moscow has threatened to cut Kiev off unless it pays off its debts, and drastically raised this bill this week.

State-controlled Gazprom sent Ukrainian energy firm Naftogaz an additional bill on Wednesday of $11.4 billion, more than five times its previous claim, a source at the company said. This was in addition to the $2.2 billion that Naftogaz already owes for supplies in 2013 and 2014 so far.

Moscow nearly doubled the gas price for Ukraine from April but Kiev, which is in financial trouble, is refusing to pay.

If Moscow cuts off the flow to Kiev, this would have a knock-on effect on European customers further West, because many of the pipelines that deliver their gas run through Ukraine.

European and Ukrainian officials were to meet in Slovakia, which borders Ukraine, on Thursday to try to work out ways to mitigate the impact if Ukraine is cut off.

The options include reversing the usual east-west flow of the pipelines to Europe to pump gas back into Ukraine, but the volumes that could be supplied this way would be only a small fraction of the amount that Ukraine needs.

Unarmed mediators from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are in eastern Ukraine trying to persuade pro-Russian gunmen to go home, in line with the Geneva accord.

Reuters reporters have not been able to establish that any Russian troops or special forces members are in the region, though Kiev and Western powers say they have growing evidence that Moscow has a covert presence.

Putin has described as "nonsense" allegations that Moscow has its forces in eastern Ukraine. It says the unrest is a spontaneous protest by local people who fear persecution from the government in Kiev which it says is illegitimate and has far-right links.

Jews ordered to register in east Ukraine

Dark days from the past are making their presence felt again in the Ukraine today. Pro-Russian government there is requesting all Jews to register. This news comes from the US Today Now. 

Leaflet passed out in Donetsk

Jews in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk where pro-Russian militants have taken over government buildings were told they have to "register" with the Ukrainians who are trying to make the city become part of Russia, according to Israeli media.

Jews emerging from a synagogue say they were handed leaflets that ordered the city's Jews to provide a list of property they own and pay a registration fee "or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated," reported Ynet News, Israel's largest news website.

To read the rest of the article go here. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/17/jews-ordered-to-register-in-east-ukraine/7816951/

Will There Be Two Ukraines?

The story comes from Family Security Matters.

Will There Be Two Ukraines?


Ukraine is the largest country in Europe (if we exclude the giant, Russia, most of which is in Asia). The Ukraine is just one more country in the world facing what Robert Kaplan calls "the revenge of geography." The location of a country can tell us if they are protected by two oceans (the US and Japan), mountain strongholds (Switzerland), or wide open to invaders from all sides (Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany).

Another geographic issue is fault-lines: countries divided by the differing cultures and religions of their invaders. Yugoslavia, for example, was divided among the cultures of Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Islam. Once its Marxist dictatorship fell, Yugoslavia could not hold together under a democracy; it had no history of religious and ethnic tolerance. It is now four smaller countries.

Ukraine falls across more than one fault line: the lines between Europe and Russia; Catholicism, Russian Orthodoxy, and Islam; and Ukrainian and Russian languages. These are issues can go unaddressed as long as a firm dictatorship keeps the lid on. However, as we have seen elsewhere, when the dictatorship falls, an illiberal sort of democracy, or worse than that, anarchy, emerges.

During the Middle Ages, Ukraine was an independent duchy, but because of its chaotic geography and warfare on all sides, it sought the protection of Russia. That protection became permanent under Catherine the Great. The rest of Ukraine's history is a dizzying run of wars, temporary independence, retaking by the Russian Empire, brief freedom at the end of World War I, and absorption by the USSR. Its new independence was the result of an agreement among the dissolved Soviet Union, The UK, and the US, in which Ukraine surrendered all of its nuclear facilities and was guaranteed its independence.

As a new democracy, lacking experience with liberal democracy, it has not done well. The new Russia was never reconciled to the loss of its empire. President Putin once told President George W. Bush that the Ukraine was not a real country; it had always been a province of Russia. The Russian fleet is housed in the Crimea, the southernmost part of Ukraine, and this is Russia's only warm water port.


The Ukrainians have not enjoyed good governance since their independence. Kleptocracy, Russian bullying, and a succession of leaders not strong enough---or good enough----to behave like modern state leaders, has left them destitute. And when the Ukrainians voted to deepen their ties to the European Union, their president, the Russian puppet Vikor Yanukovich, vetoed the vote. The outraged public demonstrated, and while the Russians were distracted by their Olympic Games, the Ukrainian parliament deposed their theiving president, who fled to Russia.

So far, the Russians have not resorted to overt violence, as they would have done in the past. But they are intimidating, threatening Ukraine economically, and are conducting a clandestine operation to reabsorb the Crimean peninsula into Russia by staging a "referendum." Russia's short term gain in seizing the Crimea could result in long term trouble for them. This illegal assault could influence other areas within Russia today to demand a referendum too.

Even in the Crimea, there are fault lines: Russians, speaking only Russian; Ukrainians speaking both Russian and Ukrainian; and Tatars (Muslims), with valid resentment against Russia, who want to remain Ukrainian. Crimea will not be a happy place.

It is going to take much more skill and wisdom than the Ukrainians have demonstrated as yet If their revolution is to stand. They will need to assure the Russian speakers that they too are Ukrainians and will not suffer state-sponsored persecution. Russian language must be an accepted second tongue in the country, and the Russians must be assured that the Ukrainians will not be their enemy.

Without resorting to force, the EU and the US can help the Ukrainians by providing a financial bailout and governmental training. They need to defuse Russian fears while simultaneously supporting a liberal democracy, not a strong suit of the Ukrainians in their history.

Geography just dictates the framework; but societies still have choices.

Ukraine On the Brink of War

Remember the line...."elections have consequences?"  Well, that very much could apply to the last Presidential elections in the Ukraine and now as we all sit and wait for what could be one of the most pivotal points in World History, Americans will also understand that "elections have consequences" as a community organizer will finally be outted for what he really is under pressure.

The story comes from The Telegraph.

Ukraine live: Britain pulls out of pre-G8 talks in Sochi as Ukraine 'on the brink'

Britain has pulled out of G8 planning talks, due to be held in Sochi, as the interim prime minister of Ukraine says his country is "on the brink of war" after Russia approved the use of force. All the latest news from Ukraine here


13.33 Ukraine's acting foreign minister has apparently told the BBC he's been trying for three days to speak to Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart - but hasn't been able to.

Incredible if true.

13.18 Britain has pulled out of preparatory talks due to be held in the coming days for the G8 summit in Sochi over Russia's decision to take military action in Ukraine, Foreign Office officials have said.

13.15 Ukraine's defence ministry has confirmed the story that Roland Oliphant brought you at 11.35 - the surrounding of the base.

"One thousand armed fighters and around 20 trucks are blocking the perimetre of the 36th brigade of border guards... in Perevalne," the ministry said in a statement.

13.11 Pope Francis has been giving his usual Sunday address to thousands of people in St. Peter's Square.

He urged all segments of Ukrainian society to work together to overcome their misunderstandings and build a future together.

13.00 It's now 8am in New York: America is waking up and digesting the news from the past 12 hours.

Here is a good US-focused round up of the events, from the LA Times.

In the days ahead, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the majority leader, said "Congress will be looking for ways to help bolster the Ukrainian government's efforts to stabilize the economy, restore their sovereignty, and promote political reconciliation."

12.43 In other news... A bagpiper is playing in Kiev's Independence Square. Not sure why.

12.33 Lithuania has recalled its ambassador from Russia for consultations.

In a brief statement, the Baltic nation's foreign ministry said the move was in reaction to "illegal Russian actions against Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Canada last night recalled its ambassador to Moscow, too.

Britain has not recalled its ambassador - but last night summoned the Russian ambassador in London to the Foreign Office.

The Czech Republic this morning did the same in Prague.

Russia's upper house also demanded the recall of Russia's ambassador to the US - something it has not yet done.

12.21 Amid the rising diplomatic temperature, it's worth re-reading Roland Oliphant's soothing dispatch from Crimea yesterday.

12.17 GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS ESCALATION OF TENSIONS IN UKRAINE IS "EXTREMELY DANGEROUS"

12.13 Last night Russian warships were spotted off the coast of Crimea, in violation with Russia's agreement with Ukraine over the Sebastapol base.

Russia has controlled that base, remember, for 230 years.

They are allowed to keep their Black Sea fleet there but cannot just do as they wish - they agreed with Ukraine to keep Kiev informed.

Russian forces also took control of the Coast Guard offices in Balaklava - again violating the agreement.

12.10 Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato secretary general, has convened a meeting of Nato.

He's just given this statement, ahead of the meeting, which accuses Russia of violating the principles of the UN Charter:

Quote I have convened the North Atlantic Council today because of Russia’s military action in Ukraine. And because of President Putin’s threats against this sovereign nation.

What Russia is doing now in Ukraine violates the principles of the United Nations Charter. It threatens peace and security in Europe. Russia must stop its military activities and its threats.

Today we will discuss their implications, for European peace and security, and for NATOs’ relationship with Russia.

Afterwards, we will meet in the NATO-Ukraine Commission.

We support Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. We support the right of the people of Ukraine to determine their own future without outside interference. And we emphasise the need for Ukraine to continue to uphold the democratic rights of all people and ensure that minority rights are protected.

Ukraine is our neighbour, and Ukraine is a valued partner for NATO.

We urge all parties to urgently continue all efforts to move away from this dangerous situation. In particular, I call on Russia to de-escalate tensions.

11.57 In Crimea, Roland Oliphant has managed to get a few words with the Ukrainian commander of the base which is being surrounded by Russians (see 11.35).

Ukraine accuses Russia of 'armed invasion' in Crimea

 Armed men patrol at the airport in Simferopol, Crimea, Feb 28, 2014. — Photo by Reuters


Is this how World War III starts?

The story comes from DAWN.

Ukraine accuses Russia of 'armed invasion' in Crimea


SIMFEROPOL: Ukraine accused Russia of staging an “armed invasion” of Crimea on Friday and appealed to the West to guarantee its territorial integrity after pro-Moscow gunmen took control of the peninsula's main airport.

Amid the spiralling tensions in the ex-Soviet state, the country's ousted president Viktor Yanukovych prepared to emerge defiant from five days of hiding after winning protection from the Kremlin.

Unidentified armed men were patrolling outside of Crimea's main airport early Friday while gunmen were also reported to have seized another airfield on the southwest of the peninsula where ethnic Russians are a majority and where pro-Moscow sentiment runs high.

Ukraine's parliament on Friday appealed to the United States and Britain to uphold a 1994 pact signed with Russia that guaranteed the country's sovereignty in return for it giving up its Soviet nuclear arsenal.

Interim president Oleksandr Turchynov also told agitated lawmakers that he was convening the country's security and defence chiefs for an emergency meeting over the unfolding crisis.

Western governments have been watching with increasing worry as Kiev's new pro-EU rulers grapple with dual threats of economic collapse and secession from Russified southern and eastern regions that had backed fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych.

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week stoked concerns that Moscow might use its military might to sway the outcome of Ukraine's three-month standoff by ordering snap combat drills near its border involving 150,000 troops and nearly 900 tanks.

Interim president Turchynov responded on Thursday by declaring that any movement of Russian troops out of their Black Sea bases in Crimea “will be considered as military aggression”.

US Secretary of State John Kerry attempted to relieve diplomatic pressure that has increasingly assumed Cold War overtones by announcing that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had assured him that Moscow “will respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

Putin also appeared to take a more conciliatory approach late on Thursday by vowing to work on improving trade ties with Ukraine and promising to support international efforts to provide Kiev with funds that could keep it from declaring a debt default as early as next week.

Yet tensions continued to soar by the hour in the Russian-speaking Crimea — a scenic Black Sea peninsula that has housed Kremlin navies for nearly 250 years and was handed to Ukraine as a symbolic gift by a Soviet leader in 1954.

'Armed invasion'

Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov accused the Russian armed forces of being directly involved in armed dawn raids on an airport in Crimea's main city of Simferopol as well as an airfield on the southwestern coast.

AFP reporters saw dozens of men armed with Kalashnikovs encircle the Simferopol airport on Friday morning after reports suggested that they had briefly seized control of its runway.

An administrator told AFP the “airport was operating normally” on Friday morning despite the presence of the armed men in battle fatigues.

Unconfirmed reports by Ukrainian media said armed men had also seized the Belbek airfield near the city of Sevastopol, which is home to Russia's Black Sea fleet.

Avakov accused the Russian armed forces of being behind both incidents.

He said gunmen at the Simferopol airport “are not even hiding the fact that they belong to the armed forces of the Russian Federation”.

The interior minister added that the Belbek airfield was “blockaded by military units of the Russian navy”.

“I consider what is happening to be an armed invasion and an occupation,” Avakov said in a statement posted on his Facebook account.

But Russia's Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying that the Belbek air field was under the control of local pro-Russian self-defence units who had no links to the Black Sea fleet.

The peninsula of nearly two million people has been in crisis since dozens of pro-Kremlin gunmen seized and raised the Russian flag over Crimea's parliament and government buildings on Wednesday.

Crimean lawmakers appointed Russian Unity party member Sergiy Aksyonov as regional premier in place of Kiev-allied Anatoliy Mohilyov in a vote held late on Thursday under the watchful eye of the pro-Kremlin militia.

Aksyonov said on Friday that he still recognised Yanukovych as Ukraine's legitimate head of state.

Yanukovych emerges in Russia

The fugitive leader had not been seen since making a brief taped television appearance last Saturday that was aired only hours before parliament stripped him of power for a week of carnage in Kiev that claimed nearly 100 lives.

Ukraine's bloodiest crisis since its 1991 independence erupted in November when Yanukovych made the shock decision to ditch an EU trade pact in favour of closer ties with old master Russia.

The 63-year-old fugitive issued a statement to Russian news agencies from an undisclosed location on Thursday announcing that he was "compelled to ask the Russian Federation to ensure (his) personal security".

A source later told the same agencies that Yanukovych's request for protection "was satisfied on Russian territory".

The ousted leader is now expected to appear before the media at 1300 GMT in Rostov-on-Don — a Russian city less than two hours' drive from the Ukrainian border.

Yet his personal problems do not appear to be over even if Yanukovych pronounces himself to be the head of a Ukrainian government in exile.

Swiss bank accounts

Switzerland said on Thursday said it was prepared to freeze any funds the Yanukovych family might have in the Alpine country's banks.

It is unclear whether Yanukovych himself has funds in Switzerland. But his 40-year-old son Olexandr opened a branch of his Management Assets Company (MAKO) in Geneva in late 2011.

The Swiss weekly L'Hebdo estimates that Olexandr had amassed a personal fortune of around half a billion dollars (365 million euros) in the past three years alone.

Ukraine's new leaders meanwhile are suffering from Moscow's decision to freeze a $15-billion bailout package Putin promised to Yanukovych.

The leadership in Kiev won some reprieve when Kerry promised quick delivery of $1 billion in loan guarantees "with some other pieces" to follow.

Kerry said the EU was looking at loan guarantees worth some $1.5 billion for the nation of 46 million people.

Ukraine's new rulers have appealed for $35 billion for the teetering economy.

Taliban In Pakistan Murder 9 Foreign Tourist Mountain Climbers - 5 Ukrainians and 4 Chinese Dead

 A traffic warden guides ambulances carrying the bodies of foreign tourists killed by unidentified gunmen near the Nanga Parbat peak, after they are brought to a military base in Rawalpindi June 23, 2013. — Photo by Reuters


At this point in time, I'm not sure the Taliban in Pakistan really wanted five Ukrainian and four Chinese civilians killed by their guys - neither the Ukrainian or the Chinese government take too kindly to Muslim terrorists killing their people.  It appears that the Taliban jihadis dressed up at Pakistani security forces in order to gain access to the mountain climbers and carry out the assassination plot.

The story comes from DAWN.

Gunmen kill nine foreign tourists and their guide in Nanga Parbat


ISLAMABAD: Gunmen dressed as paramilitary police killed nine foreign tourists in an unprecedented attack in the Himalayas of Nanga Parbat on Sunday, in a security failure bound to embarrass the new government just weeks after it took office.

The bodies of the victims were shifted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in Islamabad for post portem and other legal formalities.

Moreover the National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution condemning the Gilgit incident, whereas Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan declared that the attack on foreigners was an attack on Pakistan.

Spokesperson for the proscribed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Ehsanullah Ehsan, talking to Dawn.com from an undisclosed location claimed that the Janud-e-Hafsa faction of the militant organisation had carried out the attack.

Ehsan said that the attack was carried out to "avenge the killing of their front-rank leader, Waliur Rehman, and to express anger at the international community for its continued support to drone strikes."

Earlier Reuters had reported that another banned militant group Jundullah as claiming responsibility for the attack and had quoted the group's spokesman, Ahmed Marwat, as saying "These foreigners are our enemies and we proudly claim responsibility for killing them and will continue such attacks in the future as well.”

The gunmen stormed into a base camp, killing Chinese and Ukrainian climbers in an area of the far-flung north not previously associated with violence or Islamist militancy.

Officials said five Ukrainians and a number of Chinese were killed. One Pakistani also died and one Chinese survivor has been recovered, the government said.

The climbers were staying at a first camp, around 4,200 feet, for Nanga Parbat, one of the highest mountains in the world, in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan.

“There were nine foreigners and one Pakistani. The incident took place around 10:00 pm (1700 GMT Saturday). They were mountaineers,” Diamer police official Mohammed Naveed told AFP.

“Gunmen came and opened fire on them. It is confirmed that they have been killed,” he said. Five Ukrainians were among the dead, Ukraine's ambassador to Pakistan Vladimir Lakomov told AFP.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar told parliament that one Chinese survivor had been rescued.

The Himalayas in northern Pakistan offer some of the most spectacular climbing in the world. Its peaks are a magnet for experienced mountaineers, often from Europe.

While Gilgit-Baltistan has seen deadly sectarian violence targeting Pakistan's Shia Muslim minority, foreigners have never before been targeted in such a remote part of the region, which officials said was inaccessible by road.

Helicopters were dispatched to recover the bodies, and that police and paramilitary had been ordered into the area, officials said.

Nisar told parliament that the attackers were dressed as Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary police unit, and accessed the camp with the help of two guides whom they kidnapped.

“They abducted two guides and through them reached the area. One guide was killed in the shoot-out. One is alive. He is now detained and being questioned,” he said.

The interior minister conceded there was no police or security escort for foreigners up in that area of the mountains.

The top bureaucrat and top police official in Gilgit-Baltistan were on Sunday suspended, state TV said.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has condemned these inhuman and cruel acts, ordered to conduct thorough investigation, and apprehend the culprits to bring them to justice,” the government said.

Nawaz extended his sympathies to the bereaved families, saying that “the people and government of Pakistan stand by you in this hour of huge distress”.

Officials also spoke to the Chinese and Ukrainian ambassadors on Sunday to express their condolences, the foreign ministry added.

“Those who have committed this heinous crime seem to be attempting to disrupt the growing relations of Pakistan with China and other friendly countries,” it said.