Ah.... the very cornerstones of the Russian non linear warfare ie weaponization of information and cyber warfare comes back to roost......
Kremlin hit by "very powerful" cyberattack:
http://hill.cm/FvLyCpe pic.twitter.com/3fXVy6NdhK
Well worth reading........................
http://en.delfi.lt/central-eastern-e....d?id=68999386
Karen Dawisha
Signs of rift within Putin's kleptocracy
September 15, 2015
Back when the future president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was still working at the Mayor's Office of Saint Petersburg, shiny new Mercedes cars were not quite as ubiquitous on the streets of the city as they are now. However, there were two parked in the yard of a newly renovated building that was to be converted to South Africa's consulate. Vladimir Putin and Sergey Shoigu © RIA/Scanpix One of them belonged to Anatoly Sobchak, the then Mayor of Saint Petersburg. The other one was Putin's, who was at the time in charge of liaisons with foreign countries. One day, the Mayor's Office received a phone call; the caller, after introducing himself, said he was interested in procuring new cars and asked if someone at the city administration could recommend a good local Mercedes-Benz dealership. In fact, there were no Mercedes-Benz dealerships in Saint Petersburg.
"From the next day, Putin stopped driving his Mercedes. But Sobchak did not," says Karen Dawisha, an American analyst and the author of Putin's Kleptocracy. Who Owns Russia? Related articles: Putin's Russia. The dangerous illusion of independent and western oligarchs (5) Putin’s Russia: What did Nemtsov’s assassination reveal about the current regime? "But he [Putin] did not sell his Mercedes either. It remained in the yard.
This is just to say that from a very early stage they understood that Putin was interested in acquiring wealth, but was going to be very careful in announcing that," she adds.
Dawisha learned this little anecdote from someone in the intelligence community who at the time was working in Saint Petersburg and watching Putin. The analyst says that American and Western European intelligence services had their eye on Putin from a very early stage. Still, they pushed a panic button when, in 1998, he was appointed to head the Federal Security Service (FSB)."But then it was a matter of months until he was prime minister, named by [President Boris] Yeltsin as his heir apparent. And immediately after that were the apartment bombings and the beginning of the war in Chechnya, which was too late [to react]," Dawisha summarizes how P
Putin's meteoric rise to power caught Western intelligence quite unprepared.
Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin © Reuters/Scanpix Finally, on 11 September 2001, the United States was shocked to its core by terrorist attacks in New York and Washington and threw all its resources into war on terror. Putin was left alone to build his kleptocratic regime run by the siloviki, former agents of the Russian security agencies.
The meaning of exposés on preposterous wealthIn her book, Dawisha analyses the development of Russia's current power elite since the collapse of the USSR. The conclusion she draws is that siloviki from the KGB built a regime based on the silovarch class: former KGB agents turned into state-backed oligarchs who use national resources to build their personal wealth and influence.However, the solidity of this class seems to have started cracking after Russia's economy took a hit from targeted Western sanctions, a response to Moscow's aggression against Ukraine, and record-low oil prices which caused the rouble's exchange rate to plummet.
Continued.............
Ah.... the very cornerstones of the Russian non linear warfare ie weaponization of information and cyber warfare comes back to roost......
Kremlin hit by "very powerful" cyberattack:
http://hill.cm/FvLyCpe pic.twitter.com/3fXVy6NdhK
Head of FSB Patrushev: US is to blame for hostility between Russians and Ukrainians
pic.twitter.com/GlcZePykHX http://liveuamap.com/en/2015/15-sept...-for-hostility …
So the US is directly responsible yet Putin wants to talk?????
Dmitry Peskov: Putin is open to dialogue with Barack Obama pic.twitter.com/7RRoqS3Rxg http://liveuamap.com/en/2015/15-sept...-dialogue-with …
Would actually agree with this------
Russia's already lost its own information war NATO says
http://www.unian.info/world/1124550-...nato-says.html … pic.twitter.com/iZMknMimIw
http://www.gmfus.org/blog/2015/09/14....wo6tJZFV.dpuf
Putin Losing in Ukraine, Looks to Syria
September 14, 2015
Ulrich Speck
In Ukraine, the Kremlin’s overarching goal has been to bring that country back under Russian control. But as Ukraine has become a stronger state that is integrating itself with the West, the likelihood for the Kremlin’s success is getting smaller every day. In order to distract from this strategic defeat, Russian President Vladimir Putin has increased his military engagement in Syria. In the Kremlin’s view, Syria is another country where the United States and Russia fight for dominance, and it seems that Putin thinks that Syria presents an opportunity to win. The West should tread carefully, and take Moscow’s initiative as a further sign that a major diplomatic push is way past due in Syria – but not on Putin’s terms.
Russia will not announce defeat in Ukraine. But Ukraine’s resistance against the Russian-led attack in Donbas in combination with support from the West has made it impossible for Moscow to win back control over Ukraine any time soon without a major war. Instead of falling back into Russia’s sphere of domination, Ukraine has started along the long and hard road toward building a liberal-democratic nation state.
The Minsk II ceasefire has given Ukraine needed breathing space, moving the conflict from the military field to the diplomatic field. Russia had hoped that it could achieve its goal with diplomatic means, exerting pressure on Ukraine and its Western backers to accept a wide-ranging autonomy of Donbas and legal opportunities to Moscow’s proxies to block nation-wide policies it did not like.
But neither Ukraine nor the West is ready to accept Russia’s interpretation of Minsk II. Instead of becoming a tool to control Ukraine, the Donbas region is becoming another “frozen conflict,” a Russian-controlled enclave, similar to Transnistria. Under economic stress because of the fall of oil prices and Western sanctions, and without substantial support from other important players (such as China), the Kremlin seems to be ready to give up on the goal of reintegrating Ukraine, at least for the moment.
Increasing Russia’s role in Syria presents an opportunity for Putin to put Moscow back in the center of global politics, distract from the quagmire that the Donbas has become, and to score points abroad and at home.
Russia has always been a staunch supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, delivering weapons and shielding his regime from international condemnation by using its veto at the UN Security Council. But the Russian military build-up in Syria late last week caught the West by surprise.
By signaling to everybody that Russia is fully committed to keep Assad in power, Putin is exploiting Washington’s insecurity about its Syria strategy. While the United States and other Western governments have taken a stance against the Assad regime in the past, they have nevertheless focused their fight on the self-proclaimed Islamic State group (ISIS), not on the Assad regime. Putin wants to demonstrate that he, in contrast, is a bold actor with a strategy and a reliable patron in the region. His other message is that the time of regime change is over and that Russia stands ready to defend autocratic clients (taking a similar role to the one Russia played in the 19th century as the bulwark of monarchic legitimacy against Western liberalism and revolution).
At the same time, Putin is hoping that if he can pull together a strong anti-ISIS campaign under the headline of the “war on terrorism,” the West may again see Russia as a reliable player ready to work for solutions in regional crises.
Like the Ukraine adventure, the Syrian engagement is a risky game. Assad may be just like former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych: a man of the past that Putin tries vainly to keep in power. Assad will certainly not be able to regain control over Syria; at best he will be able to defend the territory he has managed to keep, or parts of it. Russia alone will not be able to substantially change the balance of power. ISIS may even be able to push Assad out, leaving Russia with no cards to play in Syria anymore. This would be an eerie repeat of Russia’s bid for influence in Ukraine.
In any case, Western policymakers should resist the temptation to align themselves with Russia in Syria. They should make clear that they understand that Assad’s terror is the root cause of the violence in Syria and that his bombing campaigns against civilians are the main drivers of the refugee crisis. They should understand that it is time for a major diplomatic initiative to push for a transformation in Syria, in order to set-up a post-Assad government that would be supported by the West in its fight against ISIS. The refugee crisis and Russia’s stepped-up military involvement should serve as a wake-up call: the longer the war in Syria drags on, the more costly it will become, in all regards.
Russian propaganda agency "NewsFront" showed movie "American Provocation. MH17". Blaming Ukraine
(VERY GRAPHIC 21+)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOkw4uzDbNQ …
http://www.interpretermag.com/russia...ight-alliance/
Another form of Russian non linear warfare-----actually indicated in their eight phases.
Anton Shekhovtsov
Russian Politicians Building an International Extreme Right Alliance
September 15, 2015
Explorations of the Global Far Right
21:58 (GMT)
Russia seems to be getting serious about building an international alliance of extreme right parties that would aim at undermining the liberal democratic consensus in the West. In addition to providingfinancial support for parties such as France's Front National and using extreme right activists and politicians as tools of propaganda, Russia is now building what it calls the "World National-Conservative Movement" (WNCM). A number of the internal documents (passed to me by the Moscow-based "Sova Centre") provide an insight into the agenda and structure of the WNCM.
The logo of the World National Conservative Movement
The driving force behind the movement is the St. Petersburg branch of the extreme right Rodina (Motherland) and the Russian Imperial Movement. Rodina was founded in 2003, and one of its co-founders was current Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. While Rogozin is not a member of the party now, he is rumoured to maintain the contacts with the party. The Russian Imperial Movement, whose self-described ideology is "Christian Orthodox imperial nationalism," was founded in 2002.
The chair of the organising committee of the WNCM is a prominent member of Rodina Yuriy Lyubomirskiy. The phrase "national-conservative" in the title of the movement should not confuse the readers. "National-conservatism," while being a legitimate term in political science, is only a misleading self-description of the WNCMto avoid the term "extreme right."
The WNCM describes itself as "an international association of political parties, organizations and private citizens formed on a voluntary and equal basis by representatives of various countries and peoples on the basis of their commitment to achieving the goals" of the movement.
The manifesto of the movement claims that the world is governed by the ideology of "liberalism, multiculturalism and tolerance". This, in the view of the activists, results in "the erosion of nations, massive migration from countries with foreign civilizational bases, falling away from religion, replacement of spirituality by materialism, impoverishment of cultures, destruction of the family and healthy moral values" through "abortion, propaganda of debauchery and acceptance of sexual perversions." Furthermore, the manifesto refers to the "super-national institutions" such as the EU and NATO, and argues that these forces represent "the global cabal" which, in the Russian cultural discourse, is essentially a euphemistic reference to the global Jewish conspiracy. The WNCM aims to counter liberalism and globalisation by staging a "conservative revolution" and bringing far right parties to power in Western societies. The manifesto claims that a "victory of the conservative revolution even in one country [...] will provide an example for other countries." Establishing the WNCMis considered the first step in this direction.
The scope of the Russian project is rather impressive, and the list of parties and groups that the founders of the WNCM have invited to participate in the movement consists of 58 organisations. The majority of them come from Europe and the US, but there are also organisations from Chile, Japan, Mongolia, Syria, and Thailand. The political positions of the majority of these parties leave no doubt that the WNCM is an extreme right, rather than a "national conservative," movement. Here are some of the names from the list: Nordiska Motstndsrrelsen and Nordisk Ungdom (Scandinavia), Danskernes Parti (Denmark), Golden Dawn (Greece), Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Germany), Falanga (Poland), Generace Identity(Slovakia), Renouveau franais (France), Noua Dreaptă (Romania),British Unity (UK). The list, however, also features less extreme - yet still far from the mainstream right - political parties such asPerussuomalaiset (Finland), Jobbik (Hungary), Slovensk nrodn strana (Slovakia), Kongres Nowej Prawicy (Poland), and some others. However, the core of the organisations invited to the WNCM is clearly on the extreme right, verging on neo-Nazism.
The complete list of the invited groups and organisations is found at the bottom of this article.
Some of the organisations invited to participate in the WNCM already took part in the "International Russian Conservative Forum" that took place in St. Petersburg in March this year, and the idea to found theWNCM was most likely conceived at that event. Back then, Rodina's initiative looked insignificant, but today the WNCM goes further than just a framework for conferences, and its programme gives evidence that the movement is focused on action.
In particular, the WNCM is going to create an information network consisting of the web-sites and pages on social networks as a platform for exchanging information and experience, defend "persecuted national-conservatives and activists" by petitioning the governments, provide "humanitarian help" to Serbs in Kosovo, Christians of the Middle East, and "inhabitants of Novorossia" - a region in Eastern Ukraine occupied by Russia-backed separatists. It should be noted that, in April 2014, Rodina and the Russian Imperial Movement formed the All-Russian Social Movement "For Novorossiya" that called for the annexation of not only Crimea but most of Ukraine's territory too.
A more frightening part of the programme is the intention of the WNCM to organise "joint camps for military and athletic instruction" and form volunteer international brigades that would be used in zones of military conflict. It is hardly surprising that one of the organisations invited to take part in the WNCM is "Unit Continentale" that was formed in summer 2014 by French and Serbian ultranationalists who volunteered to go to Eastern Ukraine to support Russia-backed separatists. Moreover, in July-August 2015, the Russian Imperial Movement advertised a week-long military camp called "Partisan" and invited men to learn survival techniques, urban guerrilla tactics, military topography, as well as practicing with Kalashnikovs and other weapons.
It may be too early to sound alarm, but the formation of a Russia-backed far right international movement that will have a military component may become a serious challenge to democratic societies in Europe.
Complete list of invited organisations (Note that some of them do not exist (any more)):
For the list refer to the above link----
US Department of Defense approved $9,049,306 contract to supply RQ-11B Raven UAV for #Ukraine http://lugansk-news.com/us-departmen...v-for-ukraine/ … pic.twitter.com/yGcXr4jcyi
Ukraine wants Western weaponry if #Putin #Minsk deal fails http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0RF20O20150915 … pic.twitter.com/EnLhzNkGPV
Security Service of #Ukraine found big cache of weapon in #Lugansk Region. Video https://youtu.be/O0af1gtFDRQ
They mostly surf the Internet to learn about central banking mechanisms" - great piece on DNR's Central Bank: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...rates-but-atms …
Will post here tomorrow a link to an extremely important article concerning the death of Russian soldiers fighting in the Ukraine.
I had taken a bet on just how long would it take for someone to follow up a so called leak on an article claiming over 2000 Russia dead in the Ukraine that Russia massively tried to convince western MSM was a fake story.
TOOK only 15 days for a western media outlet to run with it-a great journalist wrote it---Michael Weiss who has written a leading book on the ISIS..
BUT absolutely no one else out of the MSM.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...source=twitter
09.16.151:13 AM ET
Finding Putin’s Dead Soldiers in Ukraine
An exclusive excerpt from a new report shows how Russia has covered up its dirty war in Eastern Europe.
On September 17, The Interpreter, a special project of the Institute of Modern Russia, will be presenting “An Invasion by Any Other Name: The Kremlin’s Dirty War in Ukraine,” an in-depth forensic accounting of evidence showing Russian weaponry and Russian soldiers in combat in the occupied regions of east Ukraine. Since Vladimir Putin has to date denied any involvement by his armed forces in the year-and-a-half-long war, one of the more difficult aspects of proving the contrary has been documenting “Cargo 200”—a long-used military euphemism to describe Russian war dead. The following excerpt from “An Invasion,” written by Catherine A. Fitzpatrick, examines one case in particular and nicely ties it in with attempts by Russian civil society to get to the bottom of a “missing” paratrooper company of Russia’s Pskov Airborne Troops Division, said to have been killed in action in Ukraine.
The Curious Case of Leonid Kichatkin
Trying to follow up on clues left on VKontakte, Russia’s answer to Facebook, can be frustrating—and ultimately dangerous to reporters. Anatoly Vorobey, a Russian-language blogger based in Tel Aviv who blogs at avva.livejournal.com, discovered just how unreliable social media can be for investigating such cases.
In late August 2014, he posted a picture of the logbooks from a Russian BMD-2 infantry fighting vehicle. The logbook included a listing for Leonid Kichatkin, age 30, a senior sergeant in the unit. Several days after Vorobey’s discovery, a notice boxed in red was posted to Kichatkin’s VKontakte page that read: “Dear Friends!!!!!!!!!! Lyona [Leonid] was killed funeral Monday at 10:00 wake in Vybuty. Who would like to bid farewell please come we will be glad to see you. If anything call [telephone number] Wife Oksana.”
Vorobey found earlier posts from Oksana on her own page, saying first that she was waiting desperately for news of Leonid, then that “life had stopped,” and finally that she expected her husband’s coffin “within five days.” All of this, plus the condolences of friends, appeared to be unmistakable proof that Kichatkin was among those killed at Lutugino.
By Sunday, August 24, however, Kichatkin’s page on VKontakte had been removed. At about the same time, Oksana (or perhaps someone else who had assumed control over her account) wrote: “My husband is alive and well and we are now marking the baptism of our daughter.”
Ivan Vasyunin, a journalist from Russkaya Planeta, posted a notice on Twitter that he had reached Oksana and also spoken to a man who identified himself as Leonid, and that the couple had asked people not to call.
Secret Funerals for the 76th
Slon.ru’s Aleksei Ponomarev reported on August 25, 2014, that the funerals for the dead paratroopers had been closed to the public. He was told by a local eyewitness that about 100 people were present at the service, conducted at a small cemetery near a 15th century church, not far from the military base of the 76th Division. The funeral was under police guard, and no outsiders were permitted to attend.
Relatives of the alleged slain said they had heard nothing from the men since August 15 or 16; worse, they said, the 76th’s commanders told them to keep quiet and not talk to the press or anyone else.
Military spokesmen denied the stories, even though wreaths from the military were found on the graves. Lieutenant General Vladimir Shamanov, commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, said that “everyone is alive and well in our assault paratroopers division.” Major General Igor Konashenkov of the Russian Defense Ministry also said such information was “a falsehood” when Ukrainian forces said they had seized a Russian BMD with documents of paratroopers killed or captured.
When pictures of the soldiers’ graves began to appear on social media, pro-Kremlin trolls said the images had been Photoshopped, and a debate about the authenticity of the news ensued. Hoping to get to the bottom of the story, on August 25, Novaya Gazeta’s Nina Petlyanova and Irina Tumanova, a reporter from the St. Petersburg newspaper Fontanka, traveled to Pskov Region to find out more.
Initially, when Petlyanova called the Kichatkins, Oksana Kichatkin once again insisted that her husband Leonid was alive, and that his VKontakte page had been hacked. Oksana gave the phone to a man who said he was Leonid, was alive and well, and had not gone anywhere because his wife was “pregnant, plus there are three children.” He also offered to “sing a song for you or dance for the video camera” to prove his status as living.
Baffled, the journalists continued to the graveyard near the 76th Division base, where they found a grave with the name of Leonid Yuryevich Kichatkin and the dates of his life, September 30, 1984–August 19, 2014, as well as wreaths from military units. They found a major standing near the grave who told them that two soldiers had just been buried, Kichatkin and another whose grave read “Aleksandr Sergeyevich Osipov [December 15, 1993–August 20, 2014].” The major turned out to be the father of Aleksandr Osipov. He was mourning that he had sent his own son off to war in Ukraine.
As is customary at Russian gravesides, the major had a little table with bottles of vodka, bread, and tomatoes for the wake. He and the journalists drank to the memory of Aleksandr, and the major said: “He wanted to be a hero... Soldiers have a job to do. Somebody has to pay their debt to the motherland.” He said that Aleksandr’s convoy had been caught between mortar and Grad fire after spending only a week in Ukraine. He didn’t know how many had been killed, but said there were more to bury.
Near Kichatkin’s grave, the journalists also discovered one of Kichatkin’s relatives, who said that the family had held a brief service for Kichatkin, who had “been killed near Lugansk while fulfilling his military duties.” That was all he knew. By now, the telephone number Petlyanova had been calling, on which Kichatkin’s wife and her supposed husband had previously responded to queries, had been disconnected.
The pair returned the next day, August 26, to investigate the other graves with Vladimir Romensky of TV Rain and Ilya Vasyunin of the Russian news site Russkaya Planeta; however, they were pushed back by a group of local thugs whom they believed had been directed by the authorities. They then met up with other reporters from Novaya Gazeta and Fontanka and attempted another visit and were attacked again, but Romensky and Vasyunin managed to film their ordeal.
In one of these videos, which became emblematic for the Russian media community of the thwarted attempts to cover the Cargo 200 issue, the journalists were shown caroming around a graveyard in a car as hooded thugs in tracksuits threw rocks at the vehicle to try to break their windows and wielded large screws to try to puncture their tires. One reporter made a frantic call to police to try to get the authorities to intervene; another reporter tried to get the attackers to back off, saying that he and his colleagues would leave the cemetery. Meanwhile, clearly seen in the background of the video were fresh graves, heaped with flowers under wooden cross-barred Russian Orthodox crosses and wreathes from the Russian Airborne Division. As one YouTube commentator, Dmitry Shchelokov, noted on TV Rain’s video posting:
These aren’t thugs hiding their faces; this is Putin showing his face. This is the essence of Putin’s policy, just as in the attack on Ukraine—hidden faces, obvious intentions and obvious contractors [to carry out the job]. Putin’s FSB sent their thug stand-ins to prevent the journalists from finding the graves of the Pskov paratroopers, killed in Ukraine, a small crime to cover up the tracks of a bigger crime of Putin.
Russian military officials denied any relationship of the incident to the war in Ukraine. But TV Rain also reported that Sergei Kovalchenko, editor-in-chief of the Telegraf wire service, was stopped at the cemetery in Vybuty on August 26 as well. Venera Galeyeva of Fontanka also tweeted about the attack.
On August 30, Petlyanova reported that Kichatkin’s relatives were being threatened with the loss of any death benefits or pensions connected to their loved ones if they spoke to the press. The division commander stonewalled the reporters. Relatives of the alleged slain said they had heard nothing from the men since August 15 or 16; worse, they said, the 76th’s commanders told them to keep quiet and not talk to the press or anyone else.
The Missing Paratrooper Company
Ultimately, an entire company of Pskov paratroopers was reported to have been killed fighting in Ukraine in August, Pskovskaya Guberniya and Slon.ru reported on September 2. After these outlets published the news of the three paratroopers’ funerals, they were contacted by other paratroopers who requested anonymity but gave them a tape of an interview with soldiers in the company. The soldiers on the tape claimed that only 10 men had survived out of 80 and that as many as 140 could have died.
Continued........
Last edited by davidbfpo; 09-16-2015 at 09:30 PM.
Zakharchenko thinks fake elections Oct 18 will mark completion of state construction of DNR:
http://dan-news.info/politics/glava-...oktyabrya.html … pic.twitter.com/Pf4So7EBHh
Zakharchenko vows to push on with local #Donetsk vote despite talk of #Minsk compliance. Illegal election would derail fragile peace efforts
THIS is why Russian urgently wants the Ukraine to drop their blockade and fund the Donbass instead of Russian budget money-----this is not exactly how Putin envisioned his takeover of the Donbass—he wanted to take it BUT have the Ukraine pay for it monthly—not Russians paying for it.
Russia transfers USD 40 mln monthly for pensions in occupied #Donetsk region http://uatoday.tv/news/russia-transf...on-494815.html … pic.twitter.com/uX1E34QkEq
Sep.16, Rus militants and armored vehicles near Sontseve. #Ukraine https://twitter.com/GirkinGirkin/sta...17429170348032 …
Humor------
Russia is a stable nation surrounded by ceasefires. pic.twitter.com/mVmZ7FTin8
MFA of Ukraine ✔ @MFA_Ukraine
.@poroshenko urged 2 prolong&broaden sanctions in reactn 2 irrespnsble decision on holdng illegal elections in Donbas pic.twitter.com/wTBXxe7485
Carl Bildt ✔ @carlbildt
The fake Oct 18 local elections now announced in separatist Donetsk are clearly in violation of the Minsk agreement.http://dan-news.info/politics/glava-...oktyabrya.html …
MO of Ru subversive, deadly landmines are no match for soft skin vNew ehicles, Today https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater … pic.twitter.com/rtTQurotOi
Looks like that means "not Ukrainian law," direct violation of Minsk which they signed https://twitter.com/Interpreter_Mag/...51409361948672 …Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
Institute for Modern Russia and Atlantic Council to Release The Interpreter's Report 'An Invasion by Any Other Name: The Kremlin's Dirty War in Ukraine'
14:55 (GMT)
Tomorrow, September 17, the Institute for Modern Russia and the Atlantic Councli will co-host the presentation of a new report from The Interpreter titled An Invasion by Any Other Name: Russia's Dirty War in Ukraine prepared by the Liveblog Team.
The report summarizes 550 days of reporting on Russia's war on Ukraine using regional news, social media, and sources in the area to provide compelling proof of Russia's troops and armor in the Donbass, still denied by President Vladimir Putin.
The first part of the report provides evidence of Russian armor spotted in combat in Ukraine which could only have been supplied by Russia as the tanks and other hardware are not in Ukraine's arsenal.
The second part of the report chronicles the struggle of the independent media and non-governmental groups in Russia to cover the story of "Cargo 200" -- the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in combat returned to the Motherland. Some 600 Russian contract soldiers and volunteers have been documented as killed in the Donbass.
A livestream of the event can be found here.
Zakharchenko Announces Local Elections In Occupied Territory Will 'Be Held In Accordance With DNR Constitution'
13:22 (GMT)
The pro-separatist Donetsk News Agency (DAN) reports that Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), has signed a decree for local elections to be held on October 18.
The elections will, Zakharchenko said, be conducted in several rounds, due to the budget and security issues.
The first round will include elections for the leadership of several districts, including Amvrosievka, Novoazovsk, Starobeshevo, Telmanovo, Gorlovka, Debaltsevo, Dokuchaevsk, Donetsk, Yenakievo, Zhdanovka, Makeyevka, Snezhnoye, Torez, Khartsyzsk, Shakhtyorsk and Yasinovataya.
Zakharchenko claimed that the electoral process will be complete by mid-2016.
An announcement on the DNR 'government portal,' dnr-online.ru, states that the elections will be held "in accordance with the Minsk agreements and the constitution and laws of the DNR."
Zakharchenko said (translated by The Interpreter):
"We have absolutely nothing to do with the local elections that will be held on Ukrainian territory. We are fulfilling the Minsk agreements, Kiev is on record as not doing so."
However, as Ukrainska Pravda notes, the DNR elections will constitute a violation of the Minsk agreement, according to which local elections must be held in compliance with Ukrainian law and be monitored by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
As OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier told The Interpreter's James Miller last week, the organisation will not be able to conduct election monitoring in separatist-held territory this October due to a lack of cooperation on the part of Russian-backed separatists.
Last edited by davidbfpo; 09-16-2015 at 05:30 PM. Reason: quote in quote marks
Luhansk Governor Heorhiy Tuka said he would seek the dismissal of all the teachers who have supported Russian-backed proxies of the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic”:I will never get tired of fighting with the teachers who were actively involved in pro-Russian protest movements and campaigned in favour of the pseudo-referendum, but continued working at their schools and teaching children. He added that the dismissal of these people was one of his top priorities and that he would carry out this task very meticulously.
Last edited by davidbfpo; 09-16-2015 at 05:31 PM. Reason: quote again
Ukrainian forces make biggest discovery of weapons intended for Russian-backed militants
http://uatoday.tv/crime/ukrainian-fo...ts-494896.html … pic.twitter.com/ZKkt6zZVua
Meanwhile in #Syria. Command vehicle R-149BMRA Kushetka-B of tactical level. As in Luhansk a year ago pic.twitter.com/99JdTrtbXB
LPR base near Krasnyi Luch
43 MLRS BM-21 Grad
16 howitzers Gvozdika
10 towed howitzer Msta-B
http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/182421 … pic.twitter.com/vAT0qIGROX
Smolensk area, #Russia: Another Mi-24 helicopter fell @SobiNewsRussia pic.twitter.com/oQFtVdmO9T
http://maidantranslations.com/2015/0...freesavchenko/
Dmitry Tymchuk: Military update 9.14
Posted on September 16, 2015
Operational data from Information Resistance:
The situation remains rather tense in the ATO zone; the enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups intensified their activities along several sections of the demarcation line simultaneously. Shelling of the ATO forces’ positions was observed from small arms and RPGs. Occasionally, sporadic fire by terrorists from AGS-17 automatic grenade launchers and 82-mm mortars was observed.
In particular, activity by Russian terrorist forces’ sabotage and reconnaissance groups was recorded in the area of Avdiivka, in the direction of Artemivsk, near Stanytsia Luhanska, in the areas between the towns of Popasna and Shchastya, and Volnovakha and Telmanove. The enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups are scouting out the ATO forces’ tactical rear and combat detachments; [they] carry out short-lived attacks on the strongholds and checkpoints of Ukrainian troops, and install landmines in the area – during the last few days, seven landmine and trip wire explosions by ATO servicemen were recorded.
In the area between Luhanske and Myronivske, a group of snipers operated under cover of heavy machine guns.
In the area of Mar’inka, the ATO forces were fired at from small arms and 82 mm mortars.
South of Telmanove, in the vicinity of Mykolayivka, several enemy infantry groups carried out two short fire strikes on the positions of Ukrainian troops.
In addition, the relocation of Russian-occupier troops and the transfer of supplies to the places of their deployment continues. In particular, a convoy of four BMP-2 armored personnel carriers, two MT-LB vehicles, and two KAMAZ [cargo trucks] arrived in Starobesheve from Amvrosiivka. South of Luhansk, in the vicinity of Novosvitlivka, a mechanized infantry unit of militants on board of an APC was observed, accompanied by 4 fuel tankers. Two terrorist tank companies arrived in the area of Yenakijeve, accompanied by a BRM-1K armored reconnaissance vehicle and 6 army [cargo] trucks.
In the area of Makiivka, a battalion defense area is being constructed (up to 5 km [3.1 miles] along the frontline and over 2 km [1.2 miles] deep).
The “LNR” [Luhansk Peoples’ Republic] began to staff the so-called border detachment that would be posted at the Russian-Ukrainian border on the territory controlled by Russian-terrorist forces. As of this time, two units have been formed, up to one combined arms company in size.
Public executions started in Horlivka. A local commander of a checkpoint was shot dead by Russian servicemen for an attempted unauthorized fire from an artillery unit.
Russian command in the Petrovskyi district of Donetsk handed down and carried out an execution of two local terrorists for insubordination.
Russian Moldavia Embassy activities---
Russia's Ambassador to Republic of Moldova visited peacekeeping positions in Transnistria http://goo.gl/qFaCH8 pic.twitter.com/2FauIuXujy
What is a Russian Ambassador in Moldavia doing in Transnistria??
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