Briggite_LT

Lisicansk is fully controlled by persons of Caucasian appearance

Source: inforesist.org

Town Lisicansk in the Luhansk region is fully occupied by terrorists and insurgents, all the administrative building and the police headquarters are seized. This is reported by employees of the Town Hall.

“To this day the town is completely taken over by terrorists. Militants are occupying the town and seized all admin buildings. All entrances to town are blocked. Public transport is not functioning, all petrol stations apart from one are not working. The one, which is working is open for ambulances and militants’ cars. Armed militants are walking around town. Among the terrorists there are persons of Caucasian nationality. According to the police, there are no locals amongst them.

The gunmen announced that town is controlled by them and it is in a “war time” regime.

During seizure of the admin buildings the militants worked professionally, communicated with gestures “as in a movie about special forces”, armed with grenade launchers and mortars. There are many snipers. They brought in a lot of explosives and ammunition into the admin buildings. People are ordered to “sit at home”, – said the employee of the Lisicansk Town Hall.

According to sources of InfoResist, the traffic in town is not paralyzed, there are taxis. The Town Hall and the boat station, which is situated under the bridge on Severodonetsk are seized. There are many armed people of Caucasian nationality.

Oleksandr Turchynov: We ruined our enemies’ plans – elections were held

Source: http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/30440.html.

On the basis of information being received from all regions, villages, cities and townships of our country, we can say for sure that presidential elections were held in all regions of Ukraine. This was announced by Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Acting President of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov.

“Elections were open and transparent, voting was free, without artificial restrictions and administrative pressure,” he said expressing hope that the Central Election Commission “will promptly and objectively provide the count of votes”.

“I want to express gratitude to all citizens of Ukraine for being aware of the importance of the national expression of will,” he noted adding that voters were extremely active “almost all over Ukraine”.

“Also, I would like to express special gratefulness to members of district and precinct commissions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions who have honorably fulfilled their civil duty. We have ruined the plans of our enemies with these elections which, I hope, will be recognized by all civilized countries. This is our mutual victory,” the Acting President concluded.

 

24th of May, Lithuanian media round-up

On 24th of May, Mustafa Dzhemilev, Leader of Crimean Tatars, in an interview to delfi.lt said that in an annexed peninsula Tatars are under huge pressure due to their pro-ukrainian attitude and even face various threats if they refuse to accept the citizenship of Russia.‘ (delfi.lt)

Audrius Butkevičius, signatory the of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, in an interview to the newspaper ‘Republic‘ said that ‘myth about “impossible elections” is a part of Russian propaganda, because they need to negate the legitimacy of elections, but according to operational data there’s only about 1200 terrorists in more than 42 millions citizens having Ukraine. It is a very small amount and even the heads of terrorists are complaining about lack of people, so what can they do.’ (respublika.lt)

On 19th of May Gediminas Kirkilas, Deputy Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament, in National Radio and Television of Lithuania programme ‘The weak’ said that „Not only Lithuania’s but NATO’s entire defense model must be reviewed. And clearly first and foremost in countries like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia which has a border with Russia. It’s also clear that we face a completely new warfare for which NATO is not prepared because there has been a period of peaceful coexistence with Russia. This is a strange kind of warfare where first of all information, known as the “soft power” is used.‘ (National Radio and Television of Lithuania, 15min.lt, balsas.lt). Read more in Lithuania Tribune: http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/68363/kirkilas-be-prepared-for-an-unconventional-warfare-201468363/.

Linas Kojala, analyst of Eastern Europe Studies Center, in an interview to the newspaper ‘Counselor of the farmer’ said that ‘impending decentralization of Ukraine due to aggression of Moscow fits Russia and European Union and even United States. All silently agrees that Ukraine will never be same as before 16th of March referendum of Crimea.’ (Counselor of the farmer, delfi.lt)

Dmitry Tymchuk: Regarding the armed fight involving the Donbas Battalion on May 23 near Karlivka

Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

 

Using different sources and having coordinated the information received with the leadership of the Donbass Battalion, we, the Information Resistance group, have reconstructed the chain of events that received a great public outcry.

[Here’s the chain of events] in general, omitting the details.

10 to 15 minutes after the start of the military engagement, the personnel of the Donbass Battalion realized that it was in a carefully organized ambush. The locations of enemy firing positions were carefully considered, the sniper work indicated their high level of professional training.

The high level of organization of the ambush in an area where the activity of the ATO forces had not been noted before, suggests that the terrorists received information about the movement of the Donbass Battalion in advance.

Shortly after the start of the fight, the terrorist reinforcement arrived. According to our data, a little earlier a motorcade with armed men (judging by appearance–from the Caucasus) left Donetsk and moved towards the scene.

Reinforcements were armed with assault rifles of the AK-100 series (which is in service with the Russian army, while the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other legitimate armed forces of Ukraine do not have such weapons) and PK machine guns, at least one of them has been identified as a NSV-12.7 caliber heavy machine gun “the Rock.” Terrorists also used RGN grenades with a fuse (intermediary detonator) DPU (“shock remote fuse”)–which are used by the Russian army.

Appeals from the Donbass Battalion to the ATO leadership didn’t bring any results. There were promises to send the armored vehicles and rescue aircraft, but ultimately no assistance was given.

Also (this includes our efforts) the commanders of almost all the law enforcement agencies were informed about the events occurring near Karlivka, which participated in the ATO. It likewise, had no effect.

At the same time, we have evidence that one of the units of the Armed Forces in the area of ​​the ATO team received orders to advance towards Karlivka and assist the Donbass Battalion. For unknown reasons, this order wasn’t carried out. Currently, we are carefully checking this information.

Ultimately, the Donbass Battalion fought in a battle that lasted 4.5 hours, alone. The personnel of the Battalion suffered casualties. Battalion fighters have identified that at least 15 terrorists were destroyed.

According to available information, the Battalion left the environs on its own: without any outside help received–either from the ATO forces, or from other forces.

The commander of the battalion “Donbass” spoke about the situation in the battalion

Source: inforesist.org

From Semen Semenchenko via a phone:

Yesterday was a hard day for the battalion “Donbass”. Our brothers were killed and wounded. But the life goes on. The battalion “Donbass” belongs to people, who link their hopes with us, hopes that sooner or later a peaceful life will return and a new Ukraine will be built.

For this reason I will answer the questions briefly.

1. I was not imprisoned, no prisoners were killed.

2. The main question of today is the fate of our wounded, who are really in danger.

3. We must take care of the patriots who gave their life in fight for Ukraine. In the near future I will tell about every one of them (apart from those, whose family may suffer from the disclosed information).

All these people will be buried as soldiers, with military honors, their families will be provided with all the necessary financial support, I ask people to help me with this.

The battalion “Donbaas” is outside politics and does not represent anyone but Ukrainian people, who want to establish the peace as soon as possible and achieve a better life on their land.

We have people from all regions of Ukraine, different nationalities, faiths and political preferences. There are those who do not belong to any party, there are supporters of the BYT, Solidarnost, Udar, there are people who support the “Right Sector”. They all took part in yesterday’s battle, fought bravely, tried to rescue their comrades, one of them was wounded, but to fight against armoured vehicles and professional snipers one needs regular Army units and none of them came to help us.

We are grateful to all patriots of Ukraine, regardless of their political views who jointed our ranks to defend our motherland.

They defend not only the right of people to peace in their country but also their right to freely defend their political views.

P.S. I would like to share the last news. Today two of our comrades, residents of the Donetsk region, who we thought to be dead, came back.

Dmitry Tymchuk’s Military Blog: Summary – May 23, 2014

Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

The bad news:

1. The volunteer “Donbass Battalion” [DB] was ambushed near the village of Karlivka in Donetsk Region.

The terrorists were armed to the teeth, and had an APC at their disposal. The majority of the [DB] fighters managed to break through the ambush, some of them remained surrounded. Later, the insurgent commander Bezler told the Donbass Battalion commander S. Semenchenko that the captured fighters had been killed.

Since the very morning, we’ve been trying to do everything in our power to get help to these guys who spent long hours in fight. We pulled everyone we could. But nothing was achieved. I haven’t heard a single intelligible word explaning why our guys were betrayed.

If this is not betrayal, then I don’t know what a betrayal is.

We realize that our crowd of great military commanders in the rank of generals dislike “Donbass” for its independence. The generals consider it to be uncontrollable.

I agree with the logic of the generals: in a single operation, all forces and means should be subordinate to a single leadership and a unified plan. But this is in those cases where there is a single leadership. In the ATO [anti-terrorist operation], we just don’t see it.

Instead, we see that a handful of “uncontrollable” volunteers operate more efficiently than our famous “strategists,” who have on the generals’ stripes and have troops under their command.

We, the IR group, don’t intend to put a dot over the “i.” Too much blood is being spilled by our children, and too often it “appears” that it’s not anyone’s personal guilt. This is not right.

2. The head of the terrorist organization “People’s Republic of Luhansk” V. Bolotov promised terrorist acts during the [Presidential] elections. In this regard, he urged the people in the region not to go to the polls.

Although, according to Bolotov, the National Guard will be the one organizing the terrorist acts. He said so as to blame it on terrorists later.

This Kremlin’s snitch that arrived recently from Russia after the briefing in the Kremlin, doesn’t have enough brains to explain the simplest fact: why on earth would Kiev undermine the elections with terrorist acts, since getting a legitimate President is its main goal today?

At the same time, Bolotov’s announcement means that he and his accomplices are ready to kill anything and anyone to reach their criminal goals.

3. Today the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces announced that Russian troops deployed at Ukrainian borders are being withdrawn. But this process will be fully completed no earlier than June 8. What prevents them from moving the tanks earlier? Russian agressors don’t offer any explanations.

This morning, we recorded a decrease in the number of Russian troops by 3,000-4,000 people (compared to May 8). This is a drop in the ocean.

This means that the Presidential elections in Ukraine will be held in the same mode, under the threat of Russian invasion. We shouldn’t expect that we would be able to free up our troops from the defense line along the eastern border and reinforce the security forces during elections in Donbass.

The good news:

1. Russia will respect the results of the Presidential elections in Ukraine and will cooperate with government authorities formed after the elections.

Obviously this is all a game. On the other hand, Russian troops are at the borner, on the other hand–[Russia’s] readiness to acknowledge the elections. It looks as if the Kremlin is playing for the West rather than seeking a dialogue with Kiev.

But such glimpses of sound mind from the mouths of those who only yesterday elucidated a great-power nonsense–it’s already something.

2. Today, the last bell holiday [to commemorate the end of school year] at Lesya Ukrayinka gymnasium [high school] #5 took place in Sevastopol. Graduates and their teachers, in protest against the occupation of the [Crimean] peninsula by Russia, came to school wearing vyshyshankys [traditional embroidered shirts].

This is the lesson of courage from children and teachers, which would be useful and instructive for many of our military leaders.

3. The Russian Minister of Transport M. Sokolov announced that the capacity of Crimean ports doesn’t allow for talking about their large-scale application and development.

He has kept mum about the true reasons of course. Namely–about the fact that the Crimean ports were previously geared towards the flow of goods from Turkey, as well as other countries in the area. Since the occupation, Halva is no longer available. Russia is unable to provide the loading ports at the occupied peninsula. As a result, the closure of ports as budget-creating enterprises in the region and thousands of the unemployed.

There’s obviously little good in this process, since regular people suffer in Crimea. But this is one of the hundreds of reasons for Ukraine to start working on getting back the ARC [Autonomous Republic of Crimea]. To work in a way Russia worked for many years–explain, persuade, and eventually hold a brilliant special op.

The difference is that Russia stole someone else’s [territory]. We will have to reclaim ours.

May 23, 2014 Lithuanian media round-up

On 23rd of May Dalia Grybauskaitė, Lithuanian President, talked on the phone with the David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, about issues of Ukraine. Dalia Grybauskaitė stressed that core condition for restoring peace and stability in a country is a democratic elections and that European Union has a duty to help Ukraine in coping with economical challenges (Lithuanian President Press Service). Read more in Lithuania Tribune: http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/68361/lithuanian-president-british-pm-discuss-regional-security-issues-201468361/.

On 22nd of May Linas Linkevičius, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, in an interview to Deutsche Welle said that ‘Russian troops must be withdrawn from Ukrainian border because their presence creates additional tension, which is already high.’ Also he hopes that Ukrainian President elections will not be spoilt by these intruders from the outside – by intervention from a neighboring country. Read more in Ministry of Foreign Affairs website: http://urm.lt/default/en/news/dw-russia-has-violated-all-possible-treaties-1/.

On 23rd of May in European’s week discussion professor Benediktas Juodka, Chairman of Lithuanian Parliament Committee of Foreign Affairs, said that he has no doubts, that Associations agreement will be signed with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and then ratification process will start. (Lithuanian Parliament Press Office, BNS)

On 22-23 of May Šarūnas Adomavičius, Director of Transatlantic Cooperation and Security Policy Department In Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, participated in the informal European Union Security Policy Directors (SPD) meeting. He emphasized in the meeting that European Union has to react unitedly to situation in Ukraine and Russian politics related with that (Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs information)

On 22nd of May The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved three new projects for Ukraine amounting to US$1.48 billion. This new financing will be reinforced by technical assistance and policy dialogue to help drive forward the essential structural and macroeconomic reforms (delfi.lt, 15min.lt). Read more in World Bank website: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/05/22/world-bank-boosts-support-for-recovery-in-ukraine.

Ukrainian Ultras: A Global Ceasefire

Source: Euromaidanpr

Translated from: http://life.pravda.com.ua/society/2014/05/19/168875/

The football fans, which had been viewed earlier as radicals provoking mayhem by many, are now setting up grand shows akin to yesterday’s fire-show on the Pedestrian Bridge in Kiev in support of united Ukraine, protecting the activists from attacks and performing the “Putin – huilo” cheer in unison.


“Ukrainska Pravda. Zhittya” talked to several activists of the ultras movement and found out what now united the football fans who had feuded before.

Before it has been as follows: “Dynamo-Kiev” is fighting with “Chornomorets Odessa,” and Kharkiv “Metalist” – with “Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk” Clashes happened frequently between the fans of these teams. Now, however, “Metalist” ultras are walking shoulder-to-shoulder with “Dnipro” ultras in one march for united Ukraine, and “Chornomorets” fans are coming to Kiev to support “Dynamo.”

The unification of football fans started after “Berkut” had forcefully dispersed the students on Maidan. Back then, the ultras from enemy camps gathered for the first time on Mikhailovskaya Square. Later the leaders of the ultras movement addressed all the fans of Ukrainian football clubs with the proposal to sign a “gentlemen’s agreement” regarding a ceasefire.

“Everything lead up to it. When Maidan began, people from various regions came to Kiev, and already then everything spurred into action, the ultras started getting acquainted with each other,” tells ultras of the Simferopol football club “Tavriya” Oleg.“We are patriots of Ukraine, we understand who is to blame for everything in the country. We were greatly dissatisfied when the students were beaten. What is more, the ultras themselves have been subject to police repressions numerous times.”

“Three years ago the relations with many ultras were, to put it mildly, not very good,” says former organizer of the movement, and now simply a fan of Kharkiv “Metalist” Maksym “Cowboy.” “Now we have agreed on a global ceasefire. This happened for the first time in the Ukrainian fan movement, and in many other countries this had never happened! When a threat exists, like now, when the issue of the country’s integrity is relevant, there is something more than animosity between the clubs.”

The cheer “Putin – huilo” was invented by Kharkiv ultras. But there is no response as to who the author is. People’s masterpiece.

“About Putin – this is an old cheer of the Kharkiv “Metalist” during the times of feuding between Surkis (president of FC “Dynamo”)  and Yaroslavsky (former owner of “Metallist”),” explains Maksym. “Only instead of Putin, there was Surkis, Yaroslavskiy did not like him. The replacement of the enemy in light of the situation occurred easily. Therefore the current cheer became much more popular than the old one.”

The ultras movement proved to be a serious social force, probably, during the joint march of “Metallist” and “Dnipro” fans in Kharkiv on 27th of April. It was then when they were attacked by the representatives of the separatist movement. According to the ultras, the fans did not attack first during any of the latest clashes.

“We did not touch anyone and we wanted to avoid any conflicts,” tells Kharkiv ultras activist Igor. “The first victims appeared among our fans. After the instance in Kharkiv, both sides prepared for possible future conflicts: many acquired chains, bats, I saw traumatic rifles with some of the separatists. Meanwhile the police was completely idle back then and on 2nd of May in Odessa. Blood was spilt, and in such moments all sanity disappears. A necessity to protect oneself arises. And when the police doesn’t work, the people have a right to protect themselves.”

Ultras are not some mythical radical group. They are a sort of interest club, small communities of 10-30 people which communicate with one another. In each of these communities, as a rule, there are activists which go to fan pool assemblies, invent actions to support their teams – flashmobs, fire shows, performances.

The football clubs do not sponsor ultras activities – besides, maybe, global actions. The fans have a “universal bank,” to which they make monthly payments. The ultras are represented by a great variety of people.

“These are teenagers, and people whose children will get their passports soon. And students, businessmen, plumbers, governors,” says Igor. “Of course, a major part of the ultras are students, the youth, as they have a lot of lively energy and free time.”

After the beginning of Maidan the Simferopol ultras, like everyone else, supported the protest movement and became, essentially, the self-defense for pro-Ukrainian activists. Every meeting with blue-and-yellow flags was guarded by young men in sports wear. However, as soon as the Crimea became occupied territory, the ultras started receiving calls with the petition to appear in the security service – “just to talk.” The fans started receiving strange summons.

“The pressure on ultras started back in the autumn, long before the green men appeared,”says “Tavriya” fan Oleg. “The fans that supported the protest movement were being photographed, and their photos were handed out at Antimaidan meetings.”

According to one of the Simferopol ultras Olexiy, back in the end of November the current head of the Republic of the Crimea Sergey Aksionov tried to “buy” the ultras to participate in Antimaidan – he proposed that they become “titushky” for significant daily payments. The fans refused.

Now, after the Crimea ended up occupied, all the ultras who might have been hunted by the local “self-defense” left the peninsula. Younger men have “retreated into the shadows.”

“We refused to support “Tavriya” because we are really in danger,” says Oleg. “De facto the club has been left without fans and the majority of supporters. Now the stadium attendance is catastrophic: less than a thousand people come, and the games are, for some reason, being secured by representatives of the “self-defence,” however, in contrast, people have to be protected from them.

The situation with the club is very difficult. On one hand, it seems to me that the Russian sponsor will not take “Tavriya,” as the Crimea is occupied territory and it is unknown what will happen next. What is the Crimea is to return to Ukraine tomorrow? Besides, banks, establishments, the airport are not working. Who would want to invest money in this situation? What is more, we know that the Russian economy itself is not living out its best times now. On the other hand, Ukrainian sponsors will not invest money either. However, the leadership of the club is still waiting for mythical Russian funds.

The only way out is for the team to leave occupied territory and play in the neighbouring region “Tavriya” is a Ukrainian champion, laureate of the cup, and on the wave of patriotism it could be accepted as a club from the Crimea which did not want to remain in occupation and left to retain the history of the team.

If the scenario of the Crimean capture turned out to be possible – then why is this option not possible either?”

Now the ultras are thinking what will happen next to the fan movement.

If the fans that had been feuding for years managed to unite – further they could become a big moving force in Ukraine, and this force will surpass the framework of football.

“I would want for us never to return to the point when there was animosity between the ultras,” shares Maksym. “Of course, they are all young hot-headed men, and they need to play with enemies besides supporting their team. It is important for them to match their power, without any weapons or knives. This is a fist-fight tactic.

But, I think, there will be no more animosity between the ultras. Because henceforth we are all standing on one side of the barricades and want peace and unity.”

Dmitry Tymchuk’s Military Blog: Summary – May 22, 2014

Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

The bad news:

1. Today is another black day for Ukraine. In a difficult battle with terrorists, many of our soldiers and officers died near Volnovakha [town in Donetsk Region]. Many have been wounded.

There are more questions than answers in this tragedy. The Prosecutor General’s Office has already opened criminal proceedings on two counts–Art. 258 (“Act of terrorism that resulted in deaths of people”) and Art. 425 (“Neglect of duty in military service”) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

I won’t make any comments regarding this tragedy. There are moral and ethical reasons not to do that. I will clench my teeth and keep quiet. Only, it’s infinitely sad that our Homeland keeps losing its sons.

May they rest in piece.

More than anything in the world, I want not to have any more occasions to repeat this phrase ever again.

2.Around 50,000 cubic meters of natural gas are stolen daily in Crimea by Russian occupation authorities from the deposit in Kherson Region. Simply put, after stealing Crimea, Putin keeps stealing gas from Ukraine without any remorse. Cunningly enterprising guy, what else can I say?

In particular, Russian servicemen set up block posts near the Arabat Spit on the territory of Kherson Region, and therefore cover up the site of the gas extraction, where they also steal from. Kiev doesn’t react to this in any way–even in words. And this is very strange.

3. We have a great sorrow. Law enforcement professionals “exposed” the editorial office of the “Vesti” newspaper. The tax service of Ukraine, during a search in the office of the chief editor Ihor Guzhva, discovered 1.5 million Hryvnias [USD $125,470]. Not bad for an editor.

Although the staff of the newspaper insists that this is a struggle against freedom of speech and the Ukrainian authorities are destroying the luminaries of Ukrainian journalism at its root.

From myself, I’d like to say that I don’t communicate with journalists from “Vesti” on principle. Although not because of Mr. Guzgva’s habit of stashing millions. Here’s what I explain to “Vesti” journalists: I have nothing to say to those who play Putin’s fifer on the pages of their media. While I could have turned a blind eye to this during peaceful times, I can’t do it when Russia invaded my country.

I support freedom of speech and the press with every fiber of my being. Let “Vesti” print their little pro-Russian articles and manipulate facts in conjunction with the Kremlin–no problem. But it seems to me, it would be more appropriate if they did it in a neighboring country. The one located to the Northeast of Ukraine.

I put the commentary to this incident under bad news only so that I don’t end up under the hot pencil of “Reporters Without Borders.” What a hypocrite I am.

The good news:

1. The events in Volnovakha, despite their inconceivable tragedy, rocked the world of Ukrainian special forces.

The announcement by the General Staff Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that the “Rubicon has been crossed,” and that the army will retaliate for this bloody terrorist massacre–is only a small detail. According to our data, the response that’s being planned is truly large-scale. And this [time it] won’t be a false start.

I sincerely believe that every one of our fallen Heroes will be avenged. To do otherwise is not possible.

2. The RNBO [National Security and Defense Council] of Ukraine has initiated the creation of a broad anti-Putin coalition with NATO and the EU, RNBO Secretary Andriy Parubiy announced.

The [starting] point is correct: without stopping Putin now, it’s unclear where Russian tanks and the unyielding little hands of Vladimir Vladimirovich will end up.

Parubiy reported that he discussed this issue in Brussels with the representatives of NATO and the European Union. Although it’s not clear how ready the West is in supporting this idea. Obviously, in words one can hear many things being said. But usually in these circumstances the problems and reflections begin when it comes down to business.

Let’s hope for the adequacy of Western leaders.

3. The commander of the “Donbass” Batallion of the territorial defense in Donetsk Region, S. Semenchenko reported today: Volodars’kyi Raion of Donetsk Region was taken back from terrorists.

The Batallion plans to take the regional center–city of Donetsk–under control.

On this day covered with the blood of our servicemen in Volnovakha, we’d like to wish “Donbass” the most important thing–take care of yourselves, guys. Ukraine needs all of you.

May 22, Lithuanian media round-up

On 21st of May ambassador Raimonda Murmokaitė, Lithuania’s Permanent Representative to the UN, at the United Nations Security Council meeting expressed a grave concern over an increasing number of human rights violations in the east and south of Ukraine, including abductions, taking of hostages, arbitrary detentions, beatings and torture of civilians, attacks on journalists, as well as arbitrary executions carried out by pro-Russian separatists. She also stressed an increasing number of violations and harassment against Crimean Tatars, noting a growing number of displacements among Tatar population and restrictions of their political, social and economic rights. (Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs information)

On 22nd of May Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, in an exclusive interview to Kseniya Sobchak in TV station ‘Dozd’ said that ‘he would fight with anyone who invades to Belarus event if it would be Putin.’ (delfi.lt, kaunodiena.lt)

On 21st of May Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian activist of opposition in an interview to the BBC told that ‘Ukraine had entered a “slow-burn civil war” but he did not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning to actually invade eastern Ukraine.’ (delfi.lt, 15min.lt). Read and watch more on BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27513321.

On 20th of May Edward Lucas, British journalist, in his article about Prince Charles private remark that Vladimir Putin was behaving like Adolf Hitler analyzed the similarities and differences between Hitler and Putin and situation before the World War II and current one in Ukraine (Lithuania Tribune, 15min.lt). Read more in Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2635617/Hitler-Putin-Charles-right.html.

On 22nd of May Yaroslav Melnyk, Ukrainian contemporary writer, in an ‘Open dialogue’ radio programme said that ‘Russia used the tactics of Goebbels and was able to indoctrinate to the subconsciousness of Russians that Russia is a great state and that it must rule if not the world then at least our region.’ Yaroslav also added that Russians including Russians of Ukraine are recovering from that propaganda and starting to judge actions of Putin in Ukraine less favourably.’ (The News Radio)