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Kiev sends soldiers to the eastern region to confront separatists, as Russia declares Ukraine on the brink of civil war.
Last updated: 15 Apr 2014 09:28
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Armed pro-Russia separatists still remain outside government buildings despite calls for them to leave [Reuters]
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| Kiev has said an "anti-terrorist operation" against pro-Moscow separatists is underway, as Russia declared Ukraine on the brink of a civil war. The Kiev crackdown appeared to get off to a slow start, if at all, however. Twenty-four hours after the Ukrainian ultimatum expired for the separatists to lay down their arms, witnesses on Tuesday reported no signs yet that Kiev forces were ready to storm state buildings, in the Russian-speaking east that the rebels had occupied. Oleksander Turchinov, Ukraine's interim president, insisted the operation had started in the eastern Donetsk region, although he said it would happen in stages and "in a considered way". Amid the deepest crisis between Russia and western countries since the Cold War, the leaders of Russia and the United States called on each other to do all in their power to avoid further bloodshed. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev gave a gloomy assessment after at least two people died on Sunday when Kiev unsuccessfully tried to regain control in Slovyansk, one of about 10 towns and cities where the separatists have seized buildings. "Blood has once again been spilt in Ukraine. The country is on the brink of civil war," he said in a statement posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday. Ukraine has accused Russia of stirring up the separatists following its annexation of Crimea, while Moscow says Kiev has provoked the crisis by ignoring the interests of its citizens who use Russian as their first language. Pro-Russian politicians assaulted Elsewhere in Kiev, two pro-Russian politicians have been attacked by pro-Ukrainian activists, the Associated Press news agency reported. Oleh Tsaryov, a pro-Russian politician and a candidate in the May 25 presidential elections, was beaten by dozens of enraged activists in the early hours on Tuesday as he was leaving a television studio. The activists pelted him with eggs, shouted insults and then assaulted him. Tsaryov's press service said in a statement that he was "brutally beaten". Another Russian-leaning politician and presidential hopeful, Mikhaylo Dobkin, was sprayed with a green disinfectant and had flour thrown at him late on Monday. |
Mixed Signals from US on Plans to Arm Ukraine
White House Says No, But Aides Say Its Still Being Considered
by Jason Ditz, April 14, 2014
President Obama plans to call Russian President Vladimir Putin, and White House officials say it will include a pledge that the US will not provide “lethal aid” for Ukraine in its ongoing crackdown against secessionists in the east.
The White House statement gave the impression this is a done deal, but other officials, including top State Department aide Thomas Shannon, say that the prospect of sending arms to Ukraine is “obviously” still being considered.
Protesters seeking increased autonomy, and potentially outright secession, have taken over multiple eastern provinces in the Ukraine, and as the pro-US interim government moves to send the military against those provinces, they have been courting Western nations, including the US, for increased military aid.
Not only is the region on Russia’s border, but many of the secessionists are ethnic Russians, and this has Russian officials warning they won’t accept a bloody crackdown on their frontier. US involvement would risk seeing Russia arming the protesters, and potentially intervene directly.
Ukraine Asks UN for Troops to Crush Eastern Protests
Envisions Joint Ukraine-UN 'Anti-Terrorist' Operation
by Jason Ditz, April 14, 2014
Ukraine’s military isn’t exactly combat ready, which is likely part of the reason the nation is balking at following through on threats of a crackdown on secessionist demonstrators in the east. Interim President Oleksandr Turchinov has an idea though: let the UN do it.
Turchinov phoned UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urging him to provide UN ground troops for a joint UN-Ukraine “anti-terrorist” operation against the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
The Ukraine interim government has rebranded the Ukraine protesters several times, dubbing them renegades, militants, and finally is now settled on calling them “terrorists” in hope of recruiting international support for attacking the region.
Ukraine’s ability to carry out the attack, however, is in serious doubt, as it was revealed that the military is so broke that they had to get billionaire Dnipropetrovsk governor Ihor Kolomoysky to give them $5 million to pay for gasoline and new car batteries just to get all their vehicles started to withdraw from Crimea last month.
The Interior Ministry was able to overrun a smaller protest in Kharkiv, but since then protesters have dug in and fortified their possessions in Donetsk and Luhansk, readying for protracted battles.
Needless to say, Russia is certain to veto any UN resolution on attacking the protesters, and has similarly warned Ukraine against trying to do anything to them.
http://rt.com/news/kiev-clashes-rioters-police-571/
Tuesday, April 15
10:08 GMT:
At least 200 anti-government protesters have attempted to enter the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, to demand the resignation of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
09:04 GMT:
The eastern Ukrainian city of Gorlovka will take part in the referendum on the independence of the Donetsk Region, people’s mayor Aleksandr Sapunov told RIA Novosti.
The referendum will take place not later than May 11.
06:55 GMT:
Nationalists from the Ukrainian Right Sector group have stormed the HQ of Ukraine’s Communist Party in the northeastern city of Sumy, reported the local TSN TV channel. The activists have beaten the secretary of Sumy regional committee Valery Siryachenko.
Earlier, Right Sector members stormed the Communist Party HQ in the western city of Rovno.
06:49 GMT:
The decision by the coup-appointed Kiev government to use force on Ukrainian citizens in the country’s south-east is unacceptable, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said during press conference in Beijing, China.
Kiev’s decision to conduct a joint operation with UN peacekeeping forces is unacceptable, he said, adding that Russia will wait objective information from the OSCE mission in south-eastern Ukraine.
According to the minister, constitutional reform that takes into consideration all Ukrainian regions is the key to controlling the situation in the crisis-torn country.
06:29 GMT:
The anti-Kiev activists continue to control the buildings of the local city council and police department in Gorlovka, reports RIA Novosti.
The protesters have erected a barricade made of tires in front of the entrance of police department. Russian flags and flags of People’s Republic of Donetsk are flying above the building.
06:28 GMT:
Ukrainian citizens should take part in shaping their country, based on the equality of nations and languages, Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Facebook page.
According to Medvedev, the Ukrainian people became the ‘hostages’ of politicians whom they didn’t choose and radicals who illegitimately became the police and army.
06:12 GMT:
Unconfirmed reports from the anti-government protesters in the Ukrainian eastern city of Slavyansk say clashes are occurring on the outskirts of the city, according to Interfax.
“Blasts and gunshots can be heard. Armored infantry vehicles are moving towards the city,” said an anti-government activist who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
05:26 GMT:
Footage called 'People versus Tank’ has emerged on YouTube. In the video, local people in the outskirts of the eastern town of Rodinskoye have stopped a tank allegedly on its way from Kiev to take part in the crackdown against south-eastern Ukrainian cities.
“Who are you going to shoot at?” shouted people at the military personnel in the tank.
4:29: GMT : Unidentified people have reportedly set fire to the local administration building in the village of Andreevka, in the suburbs of the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk, a representative from Slavyansk City Council told RIA Novosti .
02:14 GMT:
The UN outlined the risks of Ukraine’s nationalistic rhetoric in a new report written by the Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic. It warns that ethnic, racial and religious hatred adopted by some of the political factions in Ukraine may have a heavy impact on the situation in the country.
The report calls on Ukrainian authorities to stop the division of the country by ensuring that all citizens, including minorities, have equal participation in politics, especially when it comes to developing language rights legislation, Itar-Tass reported.
01:59 GMT:
The aide to the acting mayor of the eastern Ukrainian town of Slavyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomarev, and a representative of the self-defence units denied earlier media reports of fighting on the outskirts of the city, RIA Novosti quoted her as saying. “According to our information everything is calm in the vicinity of Slavyansk,” she said.
01:20 GMT:
Ukrainian presidential candidate Oleg Tsarev was brutally beaten by radicals and is now in critical condition, after being trapped inside the ICTV building after appearing on the Ukrainian talk show ‘Svoboda Slova’, Tsarev’s press office reported. Earlier, there were reports of the entire building being surrounded by unidentified gunmen.
01:16 GMT:
A self-defence faction of the Ukrainian eastern city of Slavyansk is reporting fighting on the outskirts of the town, according to Interfax. There are reports of a building burning and shots being fired in the nearby village of Andrrevka.
Kiev launches military operation in eastern Ukraine
Ukraine’s coup-appointed acting President Aleksandr Turchinov has announced a crackdown on anti-government protesters in the north of the Donetsk Region, eastern Ukraine.
“The anti-terrorist operation started overnight Monday,” said Turchinov. “The aim of these actions is to protect the citizens of Ukraine.”
According to Turchinov, this ‘anti-terrorist operation’ also aims to prevent “attempts to break Ukraine apart.”
The anti-government protesters in south-eastern Ukraine have recently been protesting against coup-appointed Kiev authorities. They demand constitutional reform that would take into consideration the interests of all Ukrainian regions. They also propose the federalization of the country and to make Russian the second official language in the regions.
Earlier, a clip posted to YouTube showed local people in the town of Rodinskoye, Donetsk Region, who stopped a tank allegedly on its way from Kiev to take part in the crackdown against south-eastern Ukrainian cities.
Andrey Parubiy, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, announced the first battalion of a National Guard “comprised of volunteers from Maidan self-defense troops", has left Kiev for the south-east.
According to Parubiy, the “battalion is comprised of volunteers from the Maidan self-defense troops".
On Monday, Turchinov signed a decree to officially begin a “special anti-terrorist operation” in the east of the country.
He ordered "that the National Security and Defense Council's decision of April 13, 2014, 'On urgent measures to overcome the territorial threat and to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine' be put into effect."
Russia has warned that if Kiev uses force against anti-Maidan protests in eastern Ukraine, this would undermine the effort to convene a four-party conference on resolving the crisis in the country, which would include the US, the EU, Russia and Ukraine.
Turchinov also proposed conducting a joint operation with UN peacekeeping forces, a decision that was strongly condemned by Russian FM Sergey Lavrov at a Beijing press conference on Tuesday as “totally unacceptable.”
The Kiev authorities have already tried to launch a so-called “anti-terrorist operation” in the eastern city of Slavyansk, Donetsk Region, after anti-government protesters seized several buildings in the city.
Gunfire broke out on Sunday, after troops in black uniforms supported by armored vehicles and several helicopters approached the roadblock set up by the locals. One person was killed and two others injured during the crackdown.
There were rumors that among the troops were the members of the radical ultranationalist Right Sector movement, who were mobilized to take decisive steps to “defend Ukraine’s sovereignty.”
Info Wars.....
Washington Drives The World To War
Paul Craig Roberts
Infowars.com
April 15, 2014
Infowars.com
April 15, 2014
The CIA director was sent to Kiev to launch a military suppression of the Russian separatists in the eastern and southern portions of Ukraine, former Russian territories for the most part that were foolishly attached to the Ukraine in the early years of Soviet rule.
Washington’s plan to grab Ukraine overlooked that the Russian and Russian-speaking parts of Ukraine were not likely to go along with their insertion into the EU and NATO while submitting to the persecution of Russian speaking peoples. Washington has lost Crimea, from which Washington intended to eject Russia from its Black Sea naval base. Instead of admitting that its plan for grabbing Ukraine has gone amiss, Washington is unable to admit a mistake and, therefore, is pushing the crisis to more dangerous levels.
If Ukraine dissolves into secession with the former Russian territories reverting to Russia, Washington will be embarrassed that the result of its coup in Kiev was to restore the Russian provinces of Ukraine to Russia. To avoid this embarrassment, Washington is pushing the crisis toward war.
The CIA director instructed Washington’s hand-picked stooge government in Kiev to apply to the United Nations for help in repelling “terrorists” who with alleged Russian help are allegedly attacking Ukraine. In Washington’s vocabulary, self-determination is a sign of Russian interference. As the UN is essentially a Washington-financed organization, Washington will get what it wants.
The Russian government has already made it completely clear some weeks ago that the use of violence against protesters in eastern and southern Ukraine would compel the Russian government to send in the Russian army to protect Russians, just as Russia had to do in South Ossetia when Washington instructed its Georgian puppet ruler to attack Russian peacekeeping troops and Russian residents of South Ossetia.
Washington knows that the Russian government cannot stand aside while one of Washington’s puppet states attacks Russians. Yet, Washington is pushing the crisis to war.
The danger for Russia is that the Russian government will rely on diplomacy, international organizations, international cooperation, and on the common sense and self-interest of German politicians and politicians in other of Washington’s European puppet states.
For Russia this could be a fatal mistake. There is no good will in Washington, only mendacity. Russian delay provides Washington with time to build up forces on Russia’s borders and in the Black Sea and to demonize Russia with propaganda and whip up the US population into a war frenzy. The latter is already occurring.
Kerry has made it clear to Lavrov that Washington is not listening to Russia. As Washington pays well, Washington’s European puppets are also not listening to Russia. Money is more important to European politicians than humanity’s survival.
In my opinion, Washington does not want the Ukraine matters settled in a diplomatic and reasonable way. It might be the case that Russia’s best move is immediately to occupy the Russian territories of Ukraine and re-absorb the territories into Russia from whence they came. This should be done before the US and its NATO puppets are prepared for war. It is more difficult for Washington to start a war when the objects of the war have already been lost. Russia will be demonized with endless propaganda from Washington whether or not Russia re-absorbs its traditional territories. If Russia allows these territories to be suppressed by Washington, the prestige and authority of the Russian government will collapse. Perhaps that is what Washington is counting on.
If Putin’s government stands aside while Russian Ukraine is suppressed, Putin’s prestige will plummet, and Washington will finish off the Russian government by putting into action its many hundreds of Washington-financed NGOs that the Russian government has so foolishly tolerated. Russia is riven with Washington’s Fifth columns.
In my opinion, the Russian and Chinese governments have made serious strategic mistakes by remaining within the US dollar-based international payments system. The BRICS and any others with a brain should instantly desert the dollar system, which is a mechanism for US imperialism. The countries of the BRICS should immediately create their own separate payments system and their own exclusive communications/Internet system.
Russia and China have stupidly made these strategic mistakes, because reeling from communist failures and oppressions, they naively assumed that Washington was pure, that Washington was committed to its propagandistic self-description as the upholder of law, justice, mercy,and human rights.
In fact, Washington, the “exceptional, indispensable country,” is committed to its hegemony over the world. Russia, China, and Iran are in the way of Washington’s hegemony and are targeted for attack.
The attack on Russia is mounting.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 1:10 AM
Ukraine Hikes Discount Rate from 6.5% to 9.5%, Overnight Rate to 14.5% to Halt Crash of Hryvnia
The Ukrainian Hryvnia has plunged six consecutive weeks to new record lows.
Since the beginning of the year, the Hryvnia has fallen from 8.26 to the US dollar, to 13.16 to the US dollar, a decline of 37.2%
On Monday, the Ukraine central bank pulled out the bazooka with a massive set of rate hikes.
Since the beginning of the year, the Hryvnia has fallen from 8.26 to the US dollar, to 13.16 to the US dollar, a decline of 37.2%
On Monday, the Ukraine central bank pulled out the bazooka with a massive set of rate hikes.
Kiev’s central bank raised the benchmark discount rate from 6.5 per cent to 9.5 per cent and the overnight loan rate from 7.5 per cent to 14.5 per cent on Monday night.Ukraine has 2 months of reserves left. Escalating sanctions will make the situation worse. IMF looting is sure to follow.
“The central bank considers it necessary to take the step to increase the value of the national currency, to restrain inflation and to stabilise the situation on the money market,” the central bank said in a statement.
Foreign exchange reserves have fallen to barely two months’ import cover, and the finance ministry warned in March that it expected the economy to contract by at least 3 per cent this year.
The International Monetary Fund offered an $18bn package in late March to help Kiev face its economic crisis while it faces mounting external pressure from Russia, which has warned that it will halt gas exports to Ukraine unless it covers its unpaid bills.
David Cameron on Monday agreed to accelerate work on further possible sanctions against Russia after discussing the crisis with Angela Merkel, German chancellor, and François Hollande, French president.
But Britain remains cautious about imposing sanctions that could have an impact on the City of London’s reputation as an open global financial centre and on companies, notably BP, which have big investments in Russia.
British officials confirmed BP has warned ministers of possible repercussions if relations with Moscow deteriorate: the company has a 20 per cent stake in Rosneft, the Kremlin-controlled oil company.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
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