Crisis in Oekra�ne #120 De bevrijding van Oost-Oekraine

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2111015 twitterde op dinsdag 26-08-2014 om 19:49:53 @NatVasilyevaAP reports #Poroshenko #Putin to hold private talks in #Minsk, Unconfirmed rumors fly that they've been cancelled. #Ukraine reageer retweet

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ria_novosti twitterde op dinsdag 26-08-2014 om 20:49:48 Ukrainian President suggests holding another meeting in Minsk in same format - Belarusian Prasident http://t.co/vkPqRD1vQK reageer retweet

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IrinaGalushkoRT twitterde op dinsdag 26-08-2014 om 20:35:36 #Poroshenko 's request to continue talks for 2nd day brought havoc to press-center #MinskMeeting reageer retweet

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Op dinsdag 26 augustus 2014 20:59 schreef Repelsteeltju het volgende:
Ik dacht net het laatste nieuws over Amerikaanse troepen in de Oekra�ne gevonden dan blijkt het informatie van maanden terug te zijn.

Nah dit was wat ik bij elkaar geschraapt had:

http://www.spiegel.de/pol(...)tisten-a-968745.html

Der Spiegel bericht dat Amerikaanse huurlingen van een telg van Blackwater genaamd Academi. In de Oekra�ne actief zijn of waren (mijn Duits is niet zo goed.) Kennelijk hebben zij het weer van de Bild am Sonntag die gelekte documenten van Amerikaanse veiligheidsdiensten heeft.

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ilyamuz twitterde op dinsdag 26-08-2014 om 21:27:56 #LIVE #BELARUS #PEACE #TALKS #BRKG #BREAKING #FLASH #UPD #RUSSIA #UKRAINE #WAR “@NatVasilyevaAP: Lavrov has just popped out for a smoke.” reageer retweet

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(U) SECRETARY CLINTON'S DECEMBER 9, 2009 MEETING WITH UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PETRO POROSHENKO

7. (C) Secretary Clinton reiterated that the United States stood behind the Budapest Memorandum security assurances and that these assurances had not changed with the expiration of the START Treaty. She emphasized that the United States envisioned multiple pathways to NATO membership. The United States, however, had received mixed messages from Ukraine during its presidential campaign, and Ukraine's friends wondered whether Ukrainians really wanted NATO membership. The United States continued to support Ukraine's eventual membership in NATO, but the Secretary reminded Poroshenko that all aspirants must meet NATO standards. She noted that during the December 3 NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting, Allies commended Ukraine on the finalization of its first Annual National Program and urged Ukraine to make further progress through its 2010 program.

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WARSAW — The Croatian Ministry of Defense has announced plans to acquire 20 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the US military, and provide 14 of its Mil Mi-8MTV-1 transport helos to Ukraine’s armed forces to support Kiev’s ongoing military operation against Russia-backed separatists in the country’s eastern part.

The initiative was discussed by Croatian government officials and US congressmen in Zagreb this month, reported local daily Jutarnji List.

The potential acquisition of Black Hawks by Croatia and the related supply of transport helos to Ukraine will be further discussed in September, when Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, is scheduled to visit Croatia to attend a military exercise in Slunj.

Under the plan, in addition to the copters, the US military will provide the Croatian Air Force with logistics support, training for pilots and technicians, as well as spare parts for the aircraft.

Croatia’s armed forces operate a helo fleet consisting of 14 Mi-8MTV-1 helos and 10 Mi-171Sh copters. The aircraft are a design of Russia’s Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant. The copters were built at state-run Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant and the Kazan Helicopters facility, which are part of the Russian Helicopters group.

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Nato plans east European bases to counter Russian threat

Nato is to deploy its forces at new bases in eastern Europe for the first time, in response to the Ukraine crisis and in an attempt to deter Vladimir Putin from causing trouble in the former Soviet Baltic republics, according to its secretary general.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the organisations's summit in Cardiff next week would overcome divisions within the alliance and agree to new deployments on Russia's borders – a move certain to trigger a strong reaction from Moscow.

He also outlined moves to boost Ukraine's security, "modernise" its armed forces and help the country counter the threat from Russia.

Rasmussen said: "We will adopt what we call a readiness action plan with the aim to be able to act swiftly in this completely new security environment in Europe. We have something already called the Nato response force, whose purpose is to be able to be deployed rapidly if needed. Now it's our intention to develop what I would call a spearhead within that response force at very, very high readiness.

"In order to be able to provide such rapid reinforcements you also need some reception facilities in host nations. So it will involve the pre-positioning of supplies, of equipment, preparation of infrastructure, bases, headquarters. The bottom line is you will in the future see a more visible Nato presence in the east."

Poland and the three Baltic states have been alarmed at the perceived threat from Russia and have been clamouring for a stronger Nato presence in the region. They have criticised what they see as tokenism in the alliance's response so far.

But the issue of permanent Nato bases in east Europe is divisive. The French, Italians and Spanish are opposed while the Americans and British are supportive of the eastern European demands. The Germans, said a Nato official, were sitting on the fence, wary of provoking Russia.

The Cardiff summit is likely to come up with a formula, alliance sources said, which would avoid the term "permanent" for the new bases. But the impact will be to have constantly manned Nato facilities east of what used to be the iron curtain.

"It can be on a rotation basis, with a very high frequency. The point is that any potential aggressor should know that if they were to even think of an attack against a Nato ally they will meet not only soldiers from that specific country but they will meet Nato troops. This is what is important," said Rasmussen.

The only Nato headquarters east of the old cold war frontier is at Szczecin, on Poland's Baltic coast. Sources said this was likely to be the hub for the new deployments. Air and naval plans had been completed, but the issue of international land forces in the east was proving trickier to agree upon.

Asked whether there would be permanent international deployments under a Nato flag in east Europe, Rasmussen said: "The brief answer is yes. To prevent misunderstanding I use the phrase 'for as long as necessary'. Our eastern allies will be satisfied when they see what is actually in the readiness action plan."

Rasmussen said the forces could be deployed within hours.

Nato has clearly been caught napping by the Russian president's well prepared advances in Ukraine since February and is scrambling to come up with strategies for a new era in which Russia has gone from being a "strategic partner" of the alliance to a hostile actor perfecting what the alliance terms "hybrid warfare".

Rasmussen, whose term as Nato chief is coming to an end, said: "We have to face the reality that Russia does not consider Nato a partner. Russia is a nation that unfortunately for the first time since the second world war has grabbed land by force. Obviously we have to adapt to that." In an interview with the Guardian and five other European newspapers, he said: "It is safe to say that nobody had expected Russia to grab land by force. We also saw a remarkable change in the Russian military approach and capability since, for instance, the Georgian war in 2008.

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A source in the Russian Defense Ministry told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti that the servicemen were patrolling the Russian-Ukrainian border area "and most likely crossed (the border) by accident at an unequipped and unmarked zone, and as far as I know they didn't resist the armed forces of Ukraine."

The unnamed source added that Ukrainian soldiers have also crossed into Russia several times "but the Russian side did not make fuss about it and allowed them to return to Ukraine."

In Kiev, Ukraine rejected any claims that the Russian soldiers crossed the border by accident, calling the move part of a "special mission."

"If the elite troops of the Russian Armed Forces are not competent with topography and cannot find their way on the ground, then I have nothing to say about other troops and especially generals who send people to the east of Ukraine," Lysenko said, according to the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.com.

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Op dinsdag 26 augustus 2014 23:51 schreef TweeGrolsch het volgende:
http://nieuwsuur.nl/video(...)ck-onder-poetin.html

Alles proberen ze onder het kleed te vegen. In Japan zie je dezelfde ontwikkeling momenteel, maar dan mbt tot wo2.

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Tsigalko refused to comment on the results of the meeting. But said that no talks tomorrow: "We're leaving"

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Poroshenko went into the meeting hoping to get Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to back his peace plan for eastern Ukraine. However, Putin said in Minsk that the Ukraine crisis could be resolved only in a format that involved representatives of eastern Ukraine who were not invited to the summit.

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Poroshenko to seek ceasefire plan after "very tough" talks with Putin

MINSK (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised after late-night talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin to work on an urgent ceasefire plan to defuse the separatist conflict in the east of his former Soviet republic.

The first negotiations between the two leaders since June were described by Putin as positive, but he said it was not for Russia to get into the details of truce terms between the Kiev government and two rebel eastern regions.

"We didn't substantively discuss that, and we, Russia, can't substantively discuss conditions of a ceasefire, of agreements between Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk. That's not our business, it's up to Ukraine itself," he told reporters early on Wednesday.

"We can only contribute to create a situation of trust for a possible, and in my view, extremely necessary, negotiation process."

Poroshenko, after two hours of one-to-one talks which he described as "very tough and complex", told reporters: "A roadmap will be prepared in order to achieve as soon as possible a ceasefire regime which absolutely must be bilateral in character."

Despite the positive tone, it remained unclear how the rebels would respond to the idea of a ceasefire, how soon it could be agreed and how long it might stick.

And with Putin insisting the details were an internal matter for Kiev, there was no sign of progress on a fundamental point of disagreement: Ukraine's charges that Moscow is sending arms and fighters to help the rebels, and Russia's adamant denials.

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Op woensdag 27 augustus 2014 01:50 schreef TweeGrolsch het volgende:

[..]

http://www.amnesty.nl/nie(...)-law-choking-freedom

Mja dat zal allemaal wel propaganda zijn. Poetin neemt deze maatregelen om de transparantie te vergroten natuurlijk.

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Op woensdag 27 augustus 2014 02:17 schreef TweeGrolsch het volgende:

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Het is wel wat meer dan een label.

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Op woensdag 27 augustus 2014 02:33 schreef TweeGrolsch het volgende:

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Je hebt wel door dat het een regime is in Rusland

Maar nee laat de rest maar zitten joh.

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(Reuters) - Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine are guilty of a wide array of human rights abuses, including murder, abductions and torture, and are receiving a "steady supply" of sophisticated weapons and ammunition, according to a U.N. report obtained by Reuters.

The report by the 34-member U.N. monitoring mission, prepared by the U.N. human rights office in Geneva, also cited reports of human rights violations by Ukraine's military forces and special battalions run by the country's Interior Ministry.

The report said the death toll has risen to at least 2,200 since the fighting began in mid-April, with an average of at least 36 people killed daily. That is up from at least 2,086 on Aug. 10 and 1,129 on July 26.

"Armed groups continue to commit killings, abductions, physical and psychological torture, ill treatment, executions, murder and other serious human rights abuses," the report said, adding that violations were "disproportionately targeting civilians."

At least 468 people are believed to be held captive by rebels, according to the report, which covers the period from July 16 to Aug. 17.

"The Ukraine military has reported shelling from (Russian) territory ... and of the illegal use of landmines in Ukraine territory," the monitors said.

On the topic of the July 17 crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, the report said sporadic fighting has made it impossible for international investigators to assess the site.

The reported abuses by the Ukrainian military and special Interior Ministry battalions include "arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and torture," the report said.

The U.N. missions of Russia and Ukraine did not have an immediate reaction to the report.

The conflict in Ukraine also shows no signs of abating.

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged his Ukrainian counterpart on Tuesday not to escalate an offensive against the rebels while Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko replied by demanding a halt to arms shipments from Russia to the separatists.

The U.N. monitors said the humanitarian situation has worsened as the Ukrainian military has tightened its blockade of rebel strongholds in Luhansk, Donetsk and Horlivka.

They said "government forces are obliged to ensure the unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief and goods essential to the survival of the population."

The rebels "are now professionally equipped and appear to benefit from a steady supply of sophisticated weapons and ammunition, enabling them to shoot down Ukrainian military aircraft such as helicopters, fighter jets and transport planes."

Russia denies Kiev's allegations that it is sending troops and armour to Ukraine. The U.N. report did not say who was sending arms to the rebels.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine broke out in April, a month after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in response to the toppling of a pro-Moscow president in Kiev.

The monitors said that in Crimea, "harassment and discrimination continued against Ukrainian nationals, Crimean Tatar and other minorities."

"No serious attempts have been made to investigate allegations of human rights abuses committed by the so-called Crimean self-defence forces following the March 'referendum,'" it said.

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Infuriated by Foley's grisly death, Obama is considering all options that might protect Americans from a threat that could reach the United States and other Western nations, a top advisor said, insisting that the president wouldn't be "restricted by borders."

"If you come after Americans, we're going to come after you wherever you are," said Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor. "And that's what's going to guide our planning in the days to come."

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Op woensdag 27 augustus 2014 15:37 schreef DeJori het volgende:

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Dat precedent heeft Rusland niet nidig, want dat is al jaren beleid.

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"The brutal execution of Jim Foley represented an affront," he said. "We see that as an attack on our country when one of our own is killed like that."

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Yatsenyuk: Russia plans to cut gas to Europe this winter

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said today (27 August) Kyiv knew of Russian plans to halt gas flows this winter to Europe.

"The situation in [Ukraine's] energy sector is difficult. We know of Russia's plans to block [gas] transit even to European Union countries this winter, and that's why their [EU's] companies were given an order to pump gas into storage in Europe as fully as possible," he told a government meeting, without disclosing how he knew about the Russian plans.

The warning came less than 24 hours after a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko as well as Europe's main energy diplomat G�nther Oettinger, which included talks to secure Russian gas flows during the peak demand winter.

Although Russian officials and state-controlled gas company Gazprom were not immediately available for comment, a Russian source said it would be more likely that Ukraine would start taking gas intended for the EU to meet its own demand than for Russia to cut off supplies to Europe.

"It's unlikely that Russia would cut gas supplies. Ukraine will start siphon off it itself, as it has been the case in the past," a senior source at the Russian Energy Ministry said.

"We have a Plan B for the worst-case scenario. But we don't expect to need it," European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said in Ungheni, Moldova on Wednesday.
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Russian gas flows to Ukraine have now been halted three times in the past decade, in 2006, 2009 and 2014, due to price disputes between Moscow and Kyiv, and flows to the EU were disrupted in 2006 and 2009 after Ukraine took some of the gas intended for the EU to meet its own winter demand.