Thread: What Is Happening In Ukraine Is Far More Important Than Most People Realize

Ukraine Military Base Surrounded By Gunmen! Ukraine’s Navy Refused Orders And Switch Side To Support Russia!

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Things are escalating quickly in Ukraine. According to the newly released report, Ukraine Navy has resigned to support their Russian counterparts. Hundreds of gunmen with armored vehicles surrounded Ukrainian military base in Crimea region. Ukraine’s acting president had ordered Ukraine’s armed forces to be at full readiness and stepped-up security at nuclear power plants, airports and other strategic infrastructure.


From RT

Ukrainian Navy flagship takes Russia’s side – report



Ukraine’s Navy flagship, the Hetman Sahaidachny frigate, has reportedly refused to follow orders from Kiev, and come over to Russia’s side and is returning home after taking part in NATO operation in the Gulf of Aden flying the Russian naval flag.
There has been conflicting information on where exactly the vessel is, but a Russian senator has confirmed to Izvestia daily that the frigate defected to the Russian side.
“Ukraine’s Navy flagship the Hetman Sahaidachny has come over to our side today. It has hung out the St Andrew’s flag,” Senator Igor Morozov, a member of the committee on the international affairs, told Izvestia daily.
He said the flagship is on its way back to the Black Sea after drills in the Mediterranean. “The crew has fulfilled the order by the chief commander of Ukraine’s armed forces Viktor Yanukovich,” he added.
The move comes after the Navy command resigned Friday. Self-appointed President Aleksandr Turchinov made Rear Admiral Denis Berezovsky the new Navy Chief, a statement published on the President’s website Saturday said.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Prime Minister of Ukraine had earlier asked his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to let the frigate through the Bosporus strait, according to the Kiev Times. The ship captain and the head of Ukraine’s contingent in the operation, Rear Admiral Andrey Tarasov disobeyed orders from Kiev.
The Hetman Sahaidachny returns to Sevastopol, Crimea after taking part in a joint counter-piracy operation with NATO and the EU off the Horn of Africa, reported UNN on Friday, citing Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. On February 26, after crossing the Suez Canal, the ship entered the Mediterranean Sea and was expected to be in Sevastopol in early March.






Hundreds of gunmen surround Ukraine military base

Hundreds of unidentified gunmen surrounded a Ukrainian infantry base in its Crimea region Sunday, blocking soldiers from entering or leaving it as tensions are rising between the country’s interim leaders and Russia. The convoy surrounding the base in Privolnoye included at least 13 troop vehicles each containing 30 soldiers and four armored vehicles with mounted machine guns. The vehicles have Russian license plates.
The Ukrainian soldiers — with clips in their weapons — responded by positioning a tank at the base’s gate leaving the two sides in a tense standoff. ”We are ready to protect the grounds and our military equipment,” Valery Boiko, a representative of the base commander, told Reuters. “We hope for a compromise to be reached, a decision, and as the commander has said, there will be no war.”
In Kiev, Ukraine’s new prime minister urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to pull back his military, warning that “we are on the brink of disaster.” Arseniy Yatsenyuk spoke a day after Russian forces took over the strategic Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine without firing a shot. ”There was no reason for the Russian Federation to invade Ukraine,” Yatsenyuk said after a closed session of his new parliament in Kiev.
Across Crimea on Sunday, for a second day, pro-Moscow demonstrators raised Russian flags at government buildings and pleaded for Russia to defend them. Ukraine’s government has accused Russia of sending over hundreds of its citizens across the border to stage the protests so it can justify an invasion, Reuters reports.
At a base in Simferopol, a truckload of Russian troops urged Ukrainian forces to lay down their weapons, Ukrainian Navy Col. Igor Mamchev told Channel 5 TV, according to Reuters. “In case of any attempt to enter the military base, we will use all means, up to lethal force,” he added. A group of Ukrainian marines were also holed up at a base in Feodosia, refusing to disarm themselves.
Secretary of State John Kerry has called Russia’s military incursion into Ukraine “an incredible act of aggression” and said Putin has made “a stunning, willful” choice to invade another country. Kerry said Russia should respect the democratic process through which the Ukrainian people ousted their pro-Russian president and assembled a new government.
The U.S. also said it will suspend participation in preparatory meetings for the Group of Eight economic summit planned in June to be held at Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius agreed, saying on Europe 1 radio that planning for the summit should be put on hold. France “condemns the Russian military escalation” in Ukraine, and Moscow must “realize that decisions have costs,” he said Sunday. Kerry is also discussing visa bans, asset freezes, and trade and investment penalties. He said he spoke with foreign ministers for G-8 and other nations on Saturday, and says everyone is prepared “to go to the hilt” to isolate Russia.
So far, the new government in Kiev has been powerless to react to Russian military tactics. Armed men in uniforms without insignia have moved freely about the key peninsula, occupying airports and smashing equipment at an air base. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry was ordered to call up their reserves, but the country will struggle to find extra guns or uniforms to equip them with, according to Reuters.
Russia has its key Black Sea Fleet stationed on the Crimean peninsula — which was formerly part of Russia until 1954 — and nearly 60 percent of Crimea’s residents identify themselves as Russian.
Putin has defied calls from the West to pull back his troops, insisting that Russia has a right to protect its interests and Russian-speakers in Crimea and elsewhere in Ukraine. However, there has been no sign of ethnic Russians facing attacks in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine.
President Barack Obama spoke with Putin by telephone for 90 minutes on Saturday and expressed his “deep concern” about “Russia’s clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the White House said. Obama warned that Russia’s “continued violation of international law will lead to greater political and economic isolation.”
The new Ukrainian government came to power last week following months of pro-democracy protests against a pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, and his decision to turn Ukraine toward Russia instead of the European Union. Yanukovych fled to Russia after more than 80 people died, most of them demonstrators killed by police. He insists he’s still president.
Since then, tensions have risen sharply between the two capitals.
Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, announced late Saturday that he had ordered Ukraine’s armed forces to be at full readiness because of the threat of “potential aggression.” He also said he had ordered stepped-up security at nuclear power plants, airports and other strategic infrastructure.
Ukraine’s population of 46 million has divided loyalties between Russia and Europe, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the EU, while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support.
The Interfax news agency reported the speaker of Crimea’s legislature, Vladimir Konstantinov, as saying the local authorities did not recognize the government in Kiev. He said a planned referendum on March 30 would ask voters about the region’s future status. But the U.S. and other Western governments have few options to counter Russia’s military moves.
NATO’s secretary general said Russia had violated the U.N. charter with its military action in Ukraine, and he urged Moscow to “de-escalate the tensions.” NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke in Brussels as he was about to open a meeting Sunday of the alliance’s political decision-making body to discuss the crisis.
Ukraine is not a NATO member, meaning the U.S. and Europe are not obligated to come to its defense. But Ukraine has taken part in some alliance military exercises and contributed troops to its response force.

Article Source RT, Foxnews

http://www.preppersworldusa.com/2014...upport-russia/

Originally Posted by AirborneSapper7

The Mount Whitney is outfitted with sophisticated intelligence-gathering systems. Its current location means that ongoing Russian military movements across central, southern and western Russia, around its borders with Ukraine and inside the Crimean peninsula, are being monitored and beamed to the White House and the Pentagon.

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That's a comforting thought.

Wouldn't want to be a US ambassador in Kiev right about now?

Ukraine Mobilizes Troops After Putin’s ‘Declaration Of War’ Leaves Obama Dazed And Confused (Video)

Posted on 3 March, 2014 by Dylan



(by Josey Wales, BIN) — The Ukraine is mobilizing for war this Sunday morning, after Putin declared he had the right to invade, creating the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the cold war.

President Barack Obama is a little dazed and confused. It took US President Barack Obama 90 minutes of intense dialogue with the Russian President Vladimir Putin to grasp that Putin is unshakably fixed on the course he has set for Ukraine and has no intention of withdrawing the Russian troops he has positioned in the Crimean peninsula.

In fact, behind the diplomatic verbiage, Russian President Putin was clearly on the offensive. He let it be understood that unless the US and Europe rid Kiev of the “fascist gangs,” which had taken over, Moscow would move forces into additional parts of Ukraine to uphold its interests and “protect the Russian citizens and compatriots living there” for as long as the interim regime remained in Kiev.

Vladimir Putin was not impressed at all by Obama’s accusation of being in ”clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Neither was Putin deterred by the US president’s threat of “international political and diplomatic isolation” – or even a Western boycott of the G8 summer summit in Sochi.

After all, Putin did stand alone at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Winter Games – unattended by a single Western leader. After that experience, he is not afraid to stand alone on Ukraine as well, regardless of US and EU efforts to force him to abandon what he views as an imminent strategic threat on Russia’s doorstep.They may be said to share four significant conclusions.

1. President Obama was seen backing off a commitment to US allies for the second time in eight months. They remember his U-turn last August on US military intervention for the removal of Syrian President Bashar Assad for using chemical weapons. They also see Washington shying off from Russia’s use of military force and therefore not a reliable partner for safeguarding their national security.

2. The Middle East governments which opted to range with Vladimir Putin - Damascus, Tehran, Hizballah and, up to an initial point, Egypt, are ending up on the strong side of the regional equation.

The pro-American camp keeps falling back.

3. American weakness on the global front has strengthened the Iranian-Syrian bloc and its ties with Hizballah.

4. Putin standing foursquare behind Iran is an insurmountable obstacle to a negotiated and acceptable comprehensive agreement with Iran – just as the international bid for a political resolution of the Syrian conflict foundered last month.

With the Ukraine crisis looming ever larger, Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s scheduled meeting Monday with President Obama at the White House is unlikely to be more than an exchange of polite platitudes.



http://gopthedailydose.com/2014/03/0...onfused-video/

At the very least, Russia will annex Crimea.

Obama can't lift a finger to stop it.

------------------

Putin’s War


Obama had no good options to stop the invasion. In fact, the only mistake the president made was ever suggesting there would be “consequences.”

Putin may face a bad month or so in the world media—perhaps face some sanctions and other troubles—for moving tanks, planes, and Russia’s own brutal brigade of riot police to quash protesters, overthrow parliament, and restore some version of the old regime. But in his mind, that’s nothing compared with the prospect of losing Ukraine.

Putin, after all, has lamented the breakup of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20^th century. He considers Ukraine to be a Russian “territory,” not an independent nation (and said so to President George W. Bush in 2008. And the Crimean peninsula, which Nikita Khrushchev ceded to Ukraine in 1954, is Ukrainian in name only, and even then just barely. (Khrushchev didn’t quite surrender the land but declared it an autonomous enclave.) The Russian Navy maintains an important fleet there; most of its people speak, and regard themselves as, Russian. In the ongoing crisis, Putin did send troops to seize Crimea—to the complaint of few locals.

Michelle Malkin

Lefties go full meltdown over Time journo’s side-by-side image of Obama and Putin [pic] ==> http://twitchy.com/2014/03/01/leftie...and-putin-pic/

Russian Fleet Gives Ukrainian Crimea Forces Ultimatum To Surrender Or "Face Storm", Ukraine Defense Minister Quoted

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/03/2014 10:02 -0500

Just out from Reuters:

• INTERFAX UKRAINIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY AS SAYING RUSSIAN FLEET HAS GIVEN UKRAINIAN FORCES IN CRIMEA UNTIL 0300 GMT TOSURRENDER OR FACE STORM

It appears Putin is still unaware of the "costs" he is facing.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...e-storm-ukrain

Russia Defends Its "Absolutely Lawful" Invasion Of Crimea

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/03/2014 09:50 -0500

Having earlier blasted John Kerry for his "lack of analysis" of the Ukraine situation and noted that China "understands" the Russian perspective, the Russian foreign ministry has issued a further statement defending its actions in Crimea: "...through the fault of the Bandera-type groups and other ultra-nationalistic forces, the measures we are taking are adequate and absolutely lawful."

Via Interfax,

The measures Russia is taking to defend the population of the Crimea are adequate and lawful, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

It said a legitimate government should be formed in Ukraine.

"We want the situation in Ukraine to get back to normal as soon as possible on the basis of the February 21 agreement, and a legitimate national unity government to be formed that would take the interests of all political forces and regions into account," it said in a statement on Monday.

"In the current extraordinary situation, which has taken shape through no fault of our own, when the lives and security of residents of the Crimea and the southeastern regions have come under threat through the fault of the Bandera-type groups and other ultra-nationalistic forces, the measures we are taking are adequate and absolutely lawful," the Foreign Ministry said.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...nvasion-crimea

Russia Warns Kerry's "Threats Are Unacceptable" As Europe Weighs Sanctions

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/03/2014 08:49 -0500

Russia has lashed out following comments from US Secretary of State John Kerry:

• *RUSSIA SAYS KERRY THREATS ARE `UNACCEPTABLE'
• *RUSSIA SAYS KERRY ISN'T ANALYSING SITUATION IN UKRAINE
• *KERRY IS USING COLD WAR SLOGANS, RUSSIA FOREIGN MINISTRY SAYS

​

In comments on the Russian foreign ministry website, Lavrov added:

• *RUSSIAN MEASURES IN UKRAINE ARE `REASONABLE,' `LEGAL': FOR.MIN.
• *U.S., ALLIES IGNORED VIOLENCE, RUSSOPHOBIA IN UKRAINE PROTESTS
• *G-8 HALT OF PREPARATIONS FOR SUMMIT IS UNCONSTRUCTIVE: RUSSIA

In addition, EU ministers debate freezing the assets of Ukrainians responsible for corruption and "targeted measures" against Russia if no change of course is undertaken.

• *EU Ministers Debate Freezing Assets of Ukrainians Responsible for Corruption – Draft Text
• *EU Debates Calling Russian Crimea Actions “Invasion” – Draft Text
• *EU Commends Ukraine’s Response to Russia Actions – Draft
• *EU Will Suspend Visa Negotiations with Russia – Draft Text
• *EU Debating Placing Arms Embargo on Russia If No Change of Course
• *EU Could Prepare Future “Targeted Measures” vs Russia If No Change in Course – Draft

Perhaps most notable though this morning was the following headline:

• *RUSSIA DEP FORMIN KARASIN SPOKE ON UKRAINE W/ CHINA COUNTERPART
• *RUSSIA: CHINA EXPRESSED UNDERSTANDING OF ITS UKRAINE ANALYSIS
• *RUSSIA, CHINA DISCUSSED UKRAINE'S INTERNAL POLITICAL CRISIS

In other words, China was well aware of the plan and appears comfortable taking sides.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...ighs-sanctions

Ukraine's Prime Minister Speaks

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/03/2014 08:05 -0500

Ukraine's acting PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk speaks. Highlights below:

• UKRAINE TO FULFILL ALL IMF REQUIREMENTS, PREMIER SAYS - like Greece?
• UKRAINE PM SAYS BELIEVES RUSSIAN TROOPS WON'T INVADE E. UKRAINE - because they are there already?
• UKRAINE PM SEEKS TO INCREASE RESERVES TO EASE FX FLUCTUATIONS - "Whatever it takes", even printing dollars
• UKRAINE PM SAYS NAFTOGAZ SHOULD BE PRIVATIZED - Ukraine oligarchs delighted by this development
• UKRAINE PM SAYS NEW GOVERNMENT HAS NO INTENTION OF NATIONALISING PRIVATE COMPANIES" - Ukraine oligarchs even more delighted by this development

And finally, why all the above was irrelevant:

• UKRAINE PM SAYS RUSSIA REFUSES TO HOLD BILATERAL UKRAINE TALKS

Oh well, as long as it fools those USDJPY ramp algos if only for a few minutes.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...inister-speaks

Ukraine Accuses Russian Fighter Jets Of Violating Its Airspace

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/03/2014 07:28 -0500

Infantry, navy, and now air force. At least according to the Ukraine, which reported that Russian fighter jets twice violated Ukraine's air space over the Black Sea during the night, Interfax news agency quoted the Defence Ministry as saying on Monday. It said Ukraine's air force had scrambled a Sukhoi SU-27 interceptor aircraft and prevented any "provocative actions" but gave no further details. That was just the cherry on top to what has already been an exhausting day for risk in Russia and the Ukraine, both of which saw their currencies tumble to all time lows.
In the meantime, Russian fortifications in the region continue. Reuters summarizes:
A Ukrainian border guard spokesman said on Monday that Russian ships had been moving in and around the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet has a base, and that Russian forces had blocked mobile telephone services in some parts of Crimea.
He said Moscow was building up its armor near a ferry port on Russia's side of the 4.5 km (three mile) wide Kerch straight, which separates Crimea from Russia.
"There are armoured vehicles on the other side of the strait. We can't predict whether or not they will put any vehicles on the ferry," the spokesman said by telephone.
There was no immediate comment from the Russian Defence Ministry.
Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea - an isolated Black Sea peninsula with an ethnic Russian majority, where Moscow has a naval base.
On Sunday they surrounded several small Ukrainian military outposts there and demanded the Ukrainian troops disarm. Some refused, leading to stand-offs, although no shots were fired.
All eyes are now on whether Russia makes a military move in predominantly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow demonstrators have marched and raised Russian flags over public buildings in several cities in the last two days.
Russia has staged war games with 150,000 troops along the land border, but so far they have not crossed. Kiev says Moscow is orchestrating the protests to justify a wider invasion.
Ukraine's security council ordered the general staff to immediately put all armed forces on highest alert. However, Kiev's small and underequipped military is seen as no match for Russia's superpower might.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Russia for what he called an "incredible act of aggression" and threatened "very serious repercussions".
G8 countries and other nations were prepared to "to go to the hilt to isolate Russia" if Moscow made the wrong choices in Ukraine, Kerry told CBS program Face the Nation.
"They are prepared to isolate Russia economically. The rouble is already going down. Russia has major economic challenges," he said. He mentioned visa bans, asset freezes and trade isolation as possible steps.
While the EU and NATO stepped up verbal pressure on Moscow, a German spokesman said Merkel believed it was not too late to resolve the Ukrainian crisis by political means despite differences of opinion between Putin and the West.
The German leader, who speaks fluent Russian, has had several long telephone calls with the German-speaking Putin since the crisis erupted with mass protests in Kiev.
"There is no doubt President Putin has a completely different view on the situation and events in Crimea from the German government and our Western partners," spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters. But he added: "It is still not too late to resolve this crisis peacefully by political means."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he would ask Russia's foreign minister at a meeting in Geneva to refrain from acts or rhetoric that would further escalate the crisis. He was sending his deputy to convey the same message to the Ukrainian authorities in Kiev, he said.
So far, the Western response has been largely symbolic. Obama and others suspended preparations for a G8 summit in Sochi, where Putin has just finished staging his $50 billion winter Olympic games. Some countries recalled ambassadors. Britain said its ministers would stay away from the Paralympics due next in Sochi.
With the confrontation in Crimea having remained bloodless for days, a mood of imminent catastrophe has begun to ebb in Kiev, but many people are still on edge.
On Kiev's Independence Square, known as the Maidan, where protesters manned barricades for three months to bring down Yanukovich, the morning crowds were smaller than in the past few days as people returned to work.
"Crimea, we are with you!" read one placard. "Putin - Hitler of the 21st century," read another.
Sergei Lavreynenko, 44, a librarian from Kiev, said Ukrainians were ready to take up arms to defend the country, and were frustrated at mixed messages from the authorities.
"Of course we are all ready to go," he said next to a display of homemade mortar tubes and molotov cocktails used in the uprising against Yanukovich. "We have all served in the military. We have military specialisms. If we can build our own mortar tube like that, we can do even better.... But it needs to be organized. You can't just get a bunch of guys, grab sticks and clubs and race off to Crimea."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...g-its-airspace