Dmitry Tymchuk’s Military Blog: Summary – August 6, 2014

March 27 – Polish prosecutors charged two Russian flight operations officers with involvement in the crash of Tu-154 near Smolensk on April 10th, 2010 (the plane was carrying President Lech Kaczynski), reports Wprost. According to military prosecutor Ireneusz Shelonk, they are accused of creating a situation which resulted in immediate danger as well as inadvertently causing disaster within airspace. Warsaw plans to summon these flight operations officers for questioning as suspects. The airplane, which was carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and another 96 people, crashed, while landing in heavy fog and low visibility at an airfield Smolensk-North. All passengers and crew members died.

March 27 – During the night the militants fired at ATO positions 8 times as well as used heavy artillery – ATO's press center.

March 27 – First Deputy Speaker of Ukrainian Parliament Andriy Parubiy has said that Russia could try to carry out a large-scale invasion in the nearest future in order to have it over and dome with by May 9th, as planned by Putin. "Large number of troops is located close to the border of Ukraine with Russia. Many reports state, and this is no secret, that in the next week there is a high risk of large-scale military operation", – said Parubiy. "The operation must be carried out brilliantly before May 9th, believes Putin, and thus demonstrate the power of the Russian army. Therefore, we need lethal weapons not "when they invade Mariupol" but urgently".

March 27 – Every eight soldier joined the army on his own initiative, voluntarily. The plan of mobilization from January 20th to April 20th of 52,000 army obligated recruits into the Armed Forces of Ukraine has, as of today, been 76% fulfilled, informed at a briefing the Press Secretary of the General Staff, Vladislav Selezniov. According to him, every eight one of this number is a volunteer. Selezniov added that more than half of the plan of mobilizing of transport vehicles – the transfer of automobiles for the uses of the arm – has been fulfilled. Overall, in 2015, it is planned to call up into the army 104,000 individuals within the two mobilization stages. The first phase started on January 20th and will last for 90 days.

March 27 – Premier Arseniy Yatseniuk commissioned to involve European and American investigators in the battle against corruption in Ukraine. "Right now we have a form of the so-called international investigation commission, but I am asking that the Ministry of Internal Affairs to introduce a change in the law, so that we, according to the decision of the investigator, could involve into the carrying out of the investigative actions, professional representatives from the USA and separate EU countries, so that they could help us in the investigation of criminal cases, assist us in tracing the foreign assets and officials, and other people, suspected of corruption," he noted.

Putin's favourite biker gang in eastern Ukraine

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Taras Kuzio: far more Europeans join separatists in Donbas than Isis in Syria:

Taras Kuzio: far more Europeans join separatists in Donbas than Isis in Syria

This week, St Petersburg hosted a bizarre gathering organized by the Rodina (Motherland) party of 150 European fascist and nationalist-populist political parties united in their opposition to the EU and US and in support of Russia's annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine. Rodina is the loyal nationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party and consequently plays a similar role to the Radical Party's alliance with the Serbian Socialist party.

Russia's alignment with European fascist and nationalist-populist parties would seem to contradict official rhetoric that has incessantly attacked the Ukrainian Euromaidan leaders as a fascist junta brought to power by western intelligence agencies. It also, as Timothy Snyder of Yale University has pointed, out recalls uncanny memories of the 1939-1941 Soviet-Nazi Pact that also had the goal of dividing European powers.

One sinister outgrowth of Russia's cultivation of extreme right and extreme left parties and movements in Europe is the large mobilisation of people travelling to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to fight for pro-Russian separatists.

There has been understandable outcry over the three young British girls who travelled to Istanbul on February 17 on their way to join Isis, the brutal terrorist organization based in Syria and Iraq. But what has gone unnoticed is the hundreds – far more Europeans than have travelled to join Isis – who have joined Russian-backed terrorists fighting Ukraine's legitimately elected leaders. The BBC reported that the influx of foreign fighters into eastern Ukraine "mirrors that of young Muslims from Britain and other parts of Europe travelling to the Middle East to fight in its wars".

Russian-backed separatists have attracted an eclectic mix of extreme left and extreme right followers, nostalgic in the former case for the USSR and the Spanish civil war and in the latter drawn by a common anti-EU and anti-US platform with Putin and the Donbas separatists. Greeks, traditionally the most pro-Russian nationals in the EU, the Hungarian Legion of St Isztvan, Serbs, French, Germans, Spaniards and volunteers from former Soviet republics such as Kyrgyzstan are fighting alongside separatists widely condemned by the UN and international human rights groups for crimes against humanity.

The eclectic group has included 20 Frenchmen from the fascist organisation Continental Unity formed in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Serbian war crimes suspect Vojislav Seselj. France's far right National Front party has strongly supported Russia's annexation of the Crimea and invasion of Eastern Ukraine and has received a $10 million loan from Russia.

Not surprisingly, there are reportedly over 100 extreme right Serbs fighting for what they see as a common Orthodox religious faith and historic ally. Russian nationalist Igor Girkin "Strelkov" ("Shooter") who commanded Russian special forces in western Donbas until summer of 2014 had fought for the Bosnian Serbs in the 1990s.

One hundred extreme right Germans are fighting alongside the terrorists according to Die Welt. Stephan Mayer, a member of the ruling Christian Democrats, told Die Welt that Germans who participate in civil wars should be taken to court, although presently the German criminal code only punishes those who fight alongside Isis.

The Spanish Republican Guard detained a group of extreme left-wing Spaniards on their return from eastern Ukraine. Angel Davilla-Rivas, one of the Spaniards, has two big tattoos of Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin and explained his decision to go to Eastern Ukraine as "gratitude" for Stalin's support for the Spanish Republicans in the 1930s.

British volunteers have not reportedly gone to fight for the Donbas separatists, although the National Front (NF) and UKIP have given their support to Putin, and the NF attended this weeks St Petersburg conference. The Conservative Friends of Russia, renamed the Westminster Russia Forum after a critical in-depthinvestigation by The Guardian, has been functioning as a pro-Kremlin lobby group with extensive support from Sergey Nalobin at the Russian Embassy in London.

British journalist Graham Phillips, who moved from the Conservatives to UKIP, has sent numerous pro-separatist reports for Russian media outlets and was detained on March 4 at Heathrow and questioned for four hours by Border Police under Schedule 7 of the 2000 Terrorism Act about his activities in the Donbas before being released without charge. The British Foreign Office is allegedly pressuring Phillips to halt his reporting from the Donbas.

Phillips does not hide his political sympathies for pro-Russian separatists and does not attempt to be impartial in a conflict zone, posting photos of him wearing lapel badges of Novorossiya (New Russia, the Tsarist term used by Putin and separatists to describe Eastern and Southern Ukraine) and cheering after separatists captured the strategic railway hub of Debaltseve.

Phillips' notoriety came into the public domain late last year when he interviewed Ukrainian prisoners and a wounded Ukrainian soldier. In the interviews, herepeatedly demands the prisoners explain why they have come to "murder civilians" and asks are they "ready to go home now and accept that it is Novorossiya here and not Ukraine". In the second interview Phillips aggressively interviews a severely burnt Ukrainian soldier prisoner.

European law enforcement have been understandably concerned at their citizens travelling to join Isis, yet they have largely ignored the many more far right and far left extremists that are fighting for pro-Russian groups in Ukraine. Recent detentions in Spain and the UK were hesitant, because law enforcement officers still lack political direction as to how to respond to Russia's support for the separatists.

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Maidan Community Sector, Lviv: Dear friends!

Malaysia Airlines FLIGHT MH17 – SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH

January 11 – 1 Ukrainian military was killed near the village of Ozeryanivka, 8 were wounded by the Russian terrorists as a result of hostilities in the last 24 hours in the ATO area, – informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

January 11 – 6 wounded Ukrainian military were evacuated from Donetsk airport; ammunition and food was delivered – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

January 11 – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko was invited to participate in the Munich Security Conference, – said the Chairman of the event Wolfgang Ischinger. Two themes will dominate the discussions: Ukrainian crisis and the rise of Islamic extremism. Entire second day of the event will be dedicated to Ukrainian.

January 11 – 175 Ukrainians of Polish origin have been evacuated from the ATO area, – informed Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin. They will spend the following months in Poland.

January 11 – French President Francois Hollande, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a brief meeting in Paris before the March of Unity. According to the press service of the French President, politicians discussed current situation in Ukraine.

January 11 – "Today in France, the March of Unity has united all civilized world countries. Ukraine, as no other country understands the pain of France" – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. He participated in the March of Unity in Paris.

January 11 – 62 times Russian terrorists fired at the positions of Ukrainian troops, – informs ATO press center. For several days in a row, the terrorists have been firing from heavy weapons – tanks, artillery, including "Grad" multiple rocket launchers. Donetsk Airport remains the epicenter of fighting.

January 11 – All who attempt to use money which was stolen by fighters inoccuppied Donbas from the banks which have been captured, will be apprehended as commiters of robbery – stated RNBO Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov. According to him, bank institutions which could not manage to move out of the occuppied territory the full amount of cash held there, ruined them by a special paint which cannot be cleaned off. "Regardless of this, the terrorists started to use the stolen tinted money for their own purposes as well as to settle their accounts with the residents. Stealing and using the stolen as one's own property is a typical method of acting among the Russian terrorist groups, added Turchynov. "We warn the inhabitants, that no Ukrainian bank institution will accept tinted stolen money. All who will try to use this money, stolen by the terrorists, will be apprehended and detained as participants of the crime of robbery,"stated RNBO Secretary.

NEIL MacFARQUHAR

Seizing Assets in Crimea, From Shipyard to Film Studio

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January 18 – 4 Ukrainian military were killed and 32 wounded by the Russian terrorists in the ATO are in the last 24 hours, -informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

January 18 – 138 ceasefire violations were recorded in the ATO area in the last 24 hours according to a report by OSCE observer mission.

January 18 – Ukrainians have held mass peace rallies "Je suis Volnovakha" in cities of Ukraine and abroad. The rally is similar to recent rally agains terrorism held in Paris.

January 18 – Terrorists have shelled the city of Vuhlehirsk, which is under protection of Ukrainian army. Terrorists have used "Grad" multiple rocket launcher and fired from Yenakieve direction. Two children, brothers aged 7 and 16 were killed by a direct hit in their family home. A girl aged 8, their sister, was also injured and is being treated at the hospital, – informed the Head of Oblast Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vyacheslav Abroskin.

January 18 – Militants have decided to carry out forced mobilization of the "office workers", – informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko – "The leaders of the armed group "People's Republic of Donetsk" have decided to forcibly enlist employees of businesses that operate in the temporarily occupied territories and choose not to fund terrorists, in the ranks of illegal armed groups".

January 18 – Terrorists continue to shell residential buildings in Donetsk oblast, there are victims among civilians, including children, – informed the Head of Oblast Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vyacheslav Abroskin.

January 18 – On Sunday in Kyiv a Peace March commemorating the memory of the casualties of the bus which was struck by the shots of separatists near Volnovakha. The march began at the Taras Sevchenko monument and continued to Independence Square where at 3:00 PM a memorial service was prayed. Some 10,000 people participated in the Commemorative March.

President Petro Poroshenko who took part in the Peace March in Kyiv, expressed his certainty that Ukraine will regain complete control of Donbas: "We will not give up even an inch of Ukrainian land. We will return Donbas, we will regenerate Ukrainianism in Donbas, we will demonstrate that one of the extremely important elements of our victory is our unity with you," said Poroshenko, in his remarks on the Maidan after the funeral prayers for those who perished near Volnovakha.

January 18 – The idea espoused by Russia about ceasing the transit of gas through Ukraine and crossing over to a "Turkey route" by 2020 is a fantasy and it is not meant to be realized – Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to the Turkish Republic, Serhiy Korsunskyj.

The Russian proposal involves the following. The underground part of the pipe from the compression point of Russkaya station will be redirected instead of to the Bulgarian harbor Burgas, to the European part of Turkey to the west of Stambul. Of 63 million cubic meters of the stated capacity of the pipe, approximately 14 million are directed towards the inner consumption of Turkey. The rest, almost 50 million, are delivered to the Turkish-Greek border and reach EU.

"Gasprom plans to build the "Turkish Stream" in circumstances when in Europe very soon there will enter into usage three new terminals which receive a diluted gas of the general strength up to 10 million cubic meters. Besides this, Turkey and Azerbaidjan have already begun the construction of the gas route TANAP, in which 10 million cubic meters will reach Germany and then Italy through the gas route TAP," notes the Ambassador. He also reminds all that on the basis of the continuous decrease of the level of consumption of natural gas in Europe (in 2011: by 10%; in 2012: by 2%; in 2013: by 1.4%), it is expected that on the European market the excess of the flowing gas will appear on the European market.

According to Konsunskyi, "the fairy tale" about the Turkish Stream isneeded by Putin in order to show on the inner market that: "Look, Russia remains the key player and there is no isolation -

China, India, and Turkey are with us."

Zakharchenko, ex-Minister of Interior of Ukraine working with Putin's close associate

Bishop Gudziak and seminarists carol in Paris metro

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