Tag: Kramatorsk

What happened to Donbas business? The story of Russian Bezler gang.

Yury Butusov, 29-06-2014. Translated by Arminas Rasickas.

I met a friend in Dnipropetrovsk – he is a businessman from Konstantinovka, he has a retail shop network and trades spare parts for cars. Two weeks ago he fled his town. Reasons for that are explained below.

What happened to Donbas business? The story of Russian Bezler gang.

I had to flee when after ten days of captivity I was ransomed for 300.000 USD from the Russian special forces that are based in Gorlovka, in the building of Ukraine Security Service.

Igor Bezler (in the middle of picture, in green uniform) is an infamous GRU colonel that took over the control of corrupt Police forces in Gorlovka ar the start of events in Donbas

Igor Bezler (in the middle of picture, in green uniform) is an infamous GRU colonel that took over the control of corrupt Police forces in Gorlovka ar the start of events in Donbas

In April many people from our town were welcoming the creation of People’s Republic of Donetsk. Reasons for that are clear – many factories in Donetsk work only for the Russian market and have only Russian orders. I was in agriculture, we also sell the majority of our production to Russia. However I understand that Donbas is integrated into Ukrainian economy and infrastructure and Russia simply has no money to support Crimea and Donbas – if you separate those regions from Ukraine, you would have 9 million people at the time of crisis. I was trying to explain this to other people, but they did not want to hear. They wanted to be in Russia, hoping to secure their workplaces, get better pensions and naively expected that the rest of their lives will not change. Nobody thought that it will not be “polite people”, (“polite people” is a cliché used by Russian propaganda to describe Russian special forces that occupied Crimea) but real bandits that will come from Russia.

Information spread through town that “polite people” with Georgian stripes are collecting money from businessmen for the needs of the Donetsk Republic. I was not into politics and somehow thought this would not affect me, as my company is quite small. But everything happened very simply – when I got out of my car to go to my office, three men with machine guns, bullet-proof vests and “PRD” flashes came up to me and offered to get into their car. They took me to Gorlovka, where they had a base established in the building of Ukrainian Security Service.

They took me to a room, to a person in camouflage uniform. He was calm and kind, gave me a list and told me to find my surname. I looked through and saw that every businessman of our town was  on that list, and each surname was accompanied with a number. What was odd that some numbers were un USD, others in Grivnas. The sums varied from 1 to 15 million Grivnas. The number that was assigned to my surname was 250 thousand dollars. The military man asked:

– Is everything clear? Call your family, tell them to bring the money.
– But I don’t have that kind of money. Who would keep 250 thousand dollars at home, especially during such events?
– Listen, I am here not to persuade you, I have a plan which I have to fulfill. It is your duty to come up with the solution. Sorry lad, nothing personal, just business. Here’s a phone, call, start collecting money, meanwhile you will spend a night in the cell, think about everything. And you will stay there until I get the money. If you like the cell, you can stay there, if not – better get the money. Don’t be a problem to us. The only problem for us is “Right sector”, they would not be a good company for you. Is everything clear? See you in the morning.

I was allowed to make a call, then they took the phone away and I was taken to the cellar of the building. All premises there were turned to cells, each one filled with people. I was put in one, together with 3 other civilians, but we were strictly forbidden to talk.

The next morning I talked to the military men who did not introduce themselves. They were polite, for 10 minutes they calmly persuaded me to change my mind, and then sent me to the cell again. By the way, I have to admit, the food they gave to prisoners was good, and there were no threats. My “supervisor” was behaving like a military man, he was strict, correct, talked like a man who is used to give orders, had an official style. I remembered a scene from “Master and Margarita” by M. Bulgakov, when people in the theater were asked to give their gold and jewelry. Each day I was given a list, and I saw that more and more surnames had pluses added to them, it meant that the businessman had paid and was allowed to leave. I was allowed to talk on the phone. My family collected money from friends and acquaintances in all the district. No connections or good relations would have worked. What was interesting is that the man called the ransom “a donation”.

I was shocked when I found out that he had all the information about my financial state and activities. He justified the amount he was asking with exact data – what my income was, in which bank I was keeping my money, how much money I had in my checking account. I drew a conclusion that the amount of ransom was calculated using some unclear algorithm, but the initial data was taken from the databases of Economical police and Tax inspectorate. I tried to convince that after giving away this amount I would not be able to produce or trade in my shops.

After about a week we got accustomed with the man, he started talking to me for longer. He did not hide that he is not Ukrainian, some names of our towns were very funny to him – for example, Berdyansk. A day before my release when my family collected the necessary amount of money, he raised it to 300.000. He said that my captivity caused a lot of problems to them, there were talks, so I have to compensate for the inconveniences. Although I am sure he kept those 50.000 for himself.

An hour before my release he gave me a cigarette, we started talking, and I asked him a couple of questions:

– Judging from your age you must be a major?
– Good guess.
– Aren’t you afraid?

He laughed.

– Understand, this is my fourth war. It’s my job. Nothing personal. I’ll be here for one more month, then I will be replaced. I’m here for too long already, I was in Crimea only once, did not even swim in the sea, had to come here. And you don’t have a sea here.
– But what am I supposed to do? I can’t stay here with my family, if I get kidnapped again, I won’t be able to collect the ransom.
– I will be here for one more week. If they will take you again, I will release you, but after that… We have order here, we are military men, but from different groups. We have Cossacs, but we don’t control them, they are separate “firm”. We have Chechens, they are controlled by Ramzan. You don’t want to get caught by them. I would have never thought that one day I would have to bring order together with the chechens…
– So how am I supposed to work here? My company is ruined. I will leave, nobody will make contracts with me, the business will stop, I won’t have money to pay taxes.
– That’s temporary. Understand, that it is either us or the “Right sector” that will take away your money. When it will be Russia here, things will get better. As for the taxes, you don’t have to pay them to Ukraine, we exempt you. We don’t want your money financing Kiev, so they could by weapons and kill us. So consider that you made a donation and got a tax exemption and also attributed to our victory.
– Will Russia be here? Will they help?
– Definitely. As soon as the Ukraine is gone. We are here for it.

When they released me, I got home and we fled at once. My parents did not want to go. I found out that all our businessmen from Gorlovka, Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka, Makeyevka, Artyomovsk are paying to Igor Bezler. The insurgents do not limit themselves to money, they take payments in gemstones, jewelry.

All businessmen, including grannies in the marketplaces are paying to PRD. Everybody is paying and nobody is resisting. The cops tell you the amount, and you have to pay it, or close your shop. Almost everybody went bankrupt. There are constant robberies, so it is not possible to trade valuable goods, only something that is cheap. Today you won’t find a businessman who would support PRD. Everybody understands that the war will destroy Donbas, and PRD are not the government, they are just troopers who imitate government but don’t solve any problems.

As far as I know, only one man from our district refused to pay, he is a very rich man, lives in Artyomovsk. I was once in his place – he has a big house, a garage with racecars, motorcycles. He was visited right after my release. He owns the biggest agriculture company and has security. There was a real battle, troopers came from Gorlovka, but they were fired at, three were killed. Then Igor Bezler sent a whole squad with armored vehicle, they bombarded the businessman’s house from grenade launchers and big caliber machineguns. The battle was fierce. Businessman, his family and security men managed to escape, although some of them died. Now he joined the “Artyomovsk” battalion of MIA (Ministry of internal affairs), he wants to return home with a gun in his hands. It seems that there is no other way to save Donbas. None of the residents will come out to block the Ukrainian troops, on the contrary – everybody wants the army to come as soon as possible, so that the looting would stop. If we don’t do that, we will lose agriculture, there will be a lot of fugitives and it will take years to rebuild.

Addition from Yury Butusov: if you have doubts regarding the authenticity of this story, talk to any fugitive from Donbas or its residents that are still there. Then talk to the members of Donbas, Shaktyorsk and Artyomovsk battalion. They are locals. And when you will be in Dnipropetrovsk, I will introduce you (off the record) to some fugitives, including this businessman.

Dmitry Tymchuk: ‘The Generals of ATO are pathetic’

Source: http://sprotyv.info

We are speaking with Dmitry Tymchuk, the leader of ‘Information Resistance’ (IR) group and the head of ‘Military and Political center’, about anti-terrorist operation in general and problems of Ukrainian armed forces that relates to the execution of ATO.

-Everyone has questions why ATO is so sluggish and ineffective. What is your opinion why the operation has failed?

 I wouldn’t say that ATO has failed. Under all given circumstances ATO has reached some results and that is very good. We need to consider that there were plenty of factors influencing the success of ATO in order to understand the amount of problems that ATO soldiers had to overcome. There are several reasons for inefficiency: political, military, psychological, economic (speaking about material and technical supplies)

 -I prefer to start from the cornerstone – politics.

Starting from events in Crimea it has become very common to personally blame either O. Turchynov or A. Yatsenyuk. And Yatsenyuk is involved only to not leave Turchynov alone in the blacklist. And, of course, generals of armed forces are there to be blamed as well. Our ‘Information Resistance’ group is not an exception – we also have blamed our government on many occasions.

And it is pretty logical: a fish rots from the head down. On the other hand, after Crimea we had many opportunities to evaluate the situation from the common point of view. And the more we learned the more questions arose regarding every level of governance. Moreover, it turned out that most of questions aimed at Turchynov had to answered by someone else.

Talking about political situation. Yes, after events in Crimea we had no clear position from our highest ranking officers. But in last two months many things have changed. According to our data, Ukrainian government mustered the required political courage to finally start dealing with problems in Donbass.

Unfortunately there’s starts other problems. Firstly, international pressure. Yes, the West supports us – applying sanctions for Russia and encouraging us. But the West has a clear stance – only negotiations and no blood.

This is nonsense. Negotiations are possible only with those who solve problems in a diplomatic way. But if those invited to “round-table discussions” reply with terrorism, they must be punished.

Second problem is Russia. A lot was said about not provoking Russia that I can’t go into that again.

-What about famous ‘Tymoshenko trace’? We often hear that Yulia Volodymyrivna doesn’t need presidential elections in which she has no chances to win. Therefore, Turchynov and Yatsenyuk, who are controlled by Tymoshenko, are failing ATO on purpose to prevent the election.

I have to admit that we also had such suspicions. But now I can claim that yes, current government can’t find competent people to manage ATO. This is the problem and responsibility of our government. ATO is blocked by many internal problems, but we can’t see ‘Tymoshenko’s hand’ there. Whether you believe it or not, this is the way it is.

Personally I’m convinced that current government already has enough real shortages and there is no need to invent new ones. It would be better to realize the situation and fix those issues that currently are ‘in the shadows’.

-Responsibility of 13th of May, 2014 tragedy when soldiers of 95th brigade died, in social networks was assigned to Turchynov and Avakov…

This is nonsense. In case of Avakov – what is the relation between him and 95th brigade or military actions during ATO? These questions should be given to Koval  (Minister of Defense) and Mykhailo Kutsyn ( Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine). But for unknown reasons none of the critics have even mentioned them.

In case of Turchynov is the same situation. Is Turchynov assigning tasks for every brigade? Is he giving direct orders? Is he responsible for supplies? Is he personally responsible for actions that according to the military alphabet should be responsible head of a squad? If commanders starting from lieutenant doesn’t know statute then how president is involved into this?

We need to get rid of our habit to blame government for every single reason. It is very convenient to do so but with this way we will never solve our main problems and no significant victories will be achieved.

But I’m wrong – President is related. Turchynov‘s problem as the Supreme Commander is that in ATO headquarters sits incompetent bunch of high ranking officers, which competency and adequacy for that positions are questionable. And the all other problems goes down ike a domino to the lowest rank soldiers.  

By the way, the generals of military in ATO headquarters are causing most of the doubts. These gentlemen embody the poorness of our military. Pathological tendency to lie and pretend, panic fear to take responsibility for decision making, total lack of professionalism. This is an ugly picture and in today’s situation is unacceptable.

-There were many great talks about General Vasily Krutov, the Head of ATO, but as the time went on these talks were getting more and more negative…

Before ATO I talked with V. Krutov only once, therefore I can’t say that I know him well. I can only agree with the opinion of those who know him for a long time and are working with him now. The work in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has negatively affected him.

-Why is he not substituted with someone else?

To whom? Tell me the name. We (ed. Information Resistance group) will talk about the candidate and in case of him being trustworthy we start lobbying him. I personally don’t know any good candidates. On the other hand, I’m not an expert of anti-terrorism.

 -So, everything can be fixed by changing the government?

We (ed. Information Resistance group) group thinks that government issues are the main problem. Solving this problem will catalyze solutions for the rest of the problems.

First of all, behavior of the soldier depends from his commander. I know this from the times of my own military service when I was a deputy company commander.

From the very beginning of ATO campaign the biggest issue was and still is that our forces – firstly military (more precisely commanders of all levels)- are not psychologically prepared for a battle. It is a paradox, but it is a fact. There are plenty of examples starting from Crimea when officers of middle and juniors ranks and privates simply refused to execute commands or even sabotaged them.

Our army was never fighting seriously. Experience in peacemaking operations is very limited – only Iraq can be mentioned. In other campaigns our soldiers were mainly in guarding roles. All this leads to a catastrophic condition of military training and total degradation of the military education system.

And much the same is within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Our officers were very brave when confronted with unarmed protesters of Maidan. But when they faced well armed criminals we immediately fell into trouble.

But now we see that SBU together with the National Guard of Ukraine are successfully executing their tasks. In general, experience has a high price, but it can be gained and this is the most important thing. Also I am sure if we would have more adequate generals coordinating operations we would have much more victories and much less blood.

 -Speaking about the provision of ATO or more exactly the already legendary lack of it?

At the very beginning of operation it turned out that army had no resources. Army warehouses were empty – most of the things were stolen ages ago. By the way most of the thieves are working in the Ministry of Defense and General Headquarters now and continue to do the dirty jobs. For now I’ll say no names, but I promise, we are going to reveal them.

Resource allocation system (which was implemented even before Yanukovych and his team) turned out to be a very efficient way to steal governmental money, but was poorly suited to supply outside the permanent dislocation place located military units combat actions.

In the Ministry of Internal Affairs – the same problem. Suddenly it was noticed that there are no basic tools for police operations, for example stun grenades. It seems that everything was consumed for Maidan protests during reign of Yanukovych.

All these problems are being solved now. But urgency causes other troubles. The Ministry of Defense public purchasing system (which is declared as “clear”, which in fact is strongly corrupted) allows to receive goods only after 120 days from the day of the public offer is made even when finances are available. Recently a special law for ATO was passed but we can’t say that it was implemented successfully.

Another problem is that we simply can’t buy all the equipment we need from local manufacturers. Nevertheless the West promised their support, but until now not much of it had reached us. We can’t buy equipment from Europe because while “supporting” us, Europe has prohibited selling military equipment to Ukraine. On one hand, it makes sense because EU and UN has regulations preventing sale of weapons to conflict zones. But on the other hand, no one needs such “West support”. It is just a hypocrisy. As of now we can only rely on ourselves and partly on Americans.

But we must remember, that every problem with supplies of equipment is directly related with health and lives of our soldiers. Also every military officer that is responsible for solving these problems must be named and we should demand personal responsibility from him. Otherwise ATO will remain a waste without any significant results.

Interviewer: Ana Shumakova

 

Information Resistance, DELTA Section: If Putin talks about peace, we must prepare for war.

Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

On May 7, Vladimir Putin called for armed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions to abandon the idea of holding a referendum planned for May 11. Of course, one could have rejoiced at such a statement, and dreamed that “The Great Poo” was hanging the separatists out to dry—especially in the context of a communication intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence between the Donetsk separatist [leader of the unregistered organization “Orthodox Donbass”] D. Boytsov and his “spiritual advisor” A. Barkashov from Moscow. In the communication were threatening statements from the U.S. concerning their readiness to introduce new industry sanctions against Moscow.

But there it was. As we remember, Hitler once promised Stalin that he wouldn’t attack the Soviet Union. Before the occupation of Crimea, Russian politicians, pundits and media simultaneously shuddered over the failure of Muscovy’s [Ed. –author uses historic name here out for irony] policy in Ukraine, saying “they lost the Khokhols.” The Geneva meeting was promising in and of itself, but history shows that you can’t believe a single statement from the mouths of Russian politicians, just as you can’t rely on agreements signed with them.

Against this backdrop, a special operation by Russian special forces to destroy pro-Russian citizens of Ukraine at the Trades Union House [in Odessa] calls for serious concern. Now the theme of an “Odessa Khatyn,” allegedly hosted by Ukrainian authorities and the “Right Sector,” is being actively used by Russian media (with the help of foreign experts loyal to Muscovy and the mass media) to drum into the minds of Russian residents a thesis of the genocide of “Russian compatriots” in Ukraine, which must be urgently protected. It even reaches the point of absurdity–the Russian “experts” claim that during the fire at the Trades Union House, the most trained “Pravoseki” [“Right Sector” members] managed to rape females among the pro-Russian activists. Even without going into the details of the Odessa tragedy, it’s enough to ask, “who benefited from it?”

In recent days, the Russian media began to exaggerate the necessity of introducing “peacekeeping” troops from Muscovy to eastern Ukraine, while simultaneously denying the Kremlin’s interest in such a forceful development of events in our country. For Putin, the most favorable [development] is the introduction of “peacekeepers” under the pretext of protecting “compatriots,” since direct military aggression against Ukraine will turn Russia into North Korea, and the kids of Russian politicians and businessmen will quickly be shipped out of Europe and the United States back to Muscovy. Therefore, there is the remaining option of devising an excuse, with assistance from Russian mercenaries and separatists, for the introduction of “peacekeepers” in Ukraine.

Also noteworthy is the sudden upsurge in Russian media outreach activities aimed at spreading mistrust towards Ukrainian and Western media which allegedly discredit the events in Ukraine. Such facts were not observed during the operation of the annexation of Crimea. We can assume that the Russians are [currently] being prepared for a powerful disinformation [campaign], wherein their consciousness is programmed to block out alternative sources of information.

In addition, the Russian media are actively promoting “misinformation” about the shooting of local civilians by Ukrainian security forces during the ATO [anti-terrorist operation] (including women and children) and the bombardment of residential neighborhoods in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk from artillery and military aircraft. At the same time, the following labels are used to characterize the Ukrainian government and special forces: “punishers,” “terrorists,” “killers of civilians,” “neo-Nazis,” “Fascists.”

And suddenly, against this backdrop the “Chief Bear” crawls out from its lair–it had until recently nursed its paw after another round of lies to its people–and begins to roar at the separatists in both Luhansk and Donetsk. Although in fact this wasn’t the main point of Putin’s statement, it’s important that in his statement, he:

–did not recognize the legitimacy of current Ukrainian authorities;

–exhibited an interest in putting Ukrainian authorities at the negotiating table with separatist criminals;

–pretended to be concerned with the ATO initiated by Kiev;

–accused Ukrainian authorities of conducting “punitive operations;”

–confirmed his lack of interest in the Presidential elections in Ukraine.

Thus, in view of the presence of Russian troops along Ukrainian borders, and the occupiers’ military maneuvers in Crimea on the occasion of May 9th [Victory Day], Putin’s peaceful statements are worthless. The strengthening of anti-Ukrainian hysteria by the Russian media merely reinforces that the separatists and Russian intelligence services are stepping up their subversive activities in order to create an environment for the introduction of the Muscovan “peacekeeping” contingent in the East, followed by the transformation of that part of our country into a second Transnistria. Putin and the handful of criminals that he paid off can’t hold a referendum in eastern Ukraine and also provide minimal evidence of its legitimacy–this is not Crimea. Therefore, he will use the bought cannon fodder to the maximum extent in order to demonstrate the picture of the insidiousness of “Nazis” from the “Right Sector,” who leave Yarosh business cards “on the corpses of women and children,” to the West and to his own zombified citizens.

Dmitry Tymchuk’s Military Blog: Summary for May 13, 2014

Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

The bad news:

1. 13th of May is a black day in the history of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the entire country. Janury 9, 2005 is another tragic day, when eight of our guys died in Essaouira.

Today near Kramatorsk, six Ukrainian servicemen died from the division of the 95th Separate Airmobile Brigade that was ambushed. Later, one more critically wounded airborne trooper passed away.

Our guys didn’t die in open battle–the pro-Russian dogs are too cowardly for that. Moscow-managed terrorists are only able to act on the sly–from behind, in an ambush or from behind a human shield of civilians. Despicable and vile only. This is their essence.

And huge questions remain to the command on the field. Why aren’t elementary measures taken for combat troop support in the area of the ATO? Where did reconnaissance and combat security go to? These are the questions for which we don’t yet have an answer.

Meanwhile, how much more Ukrainian blood will be shed before peace comes to Ukraine–no one can say. But I truly believe and know that our guys did not die in vain. With their lives are the freedom and unity of our country paid. May they rest in peace…

2. Today’s tragedy near Kramatorsk showed that any negotiations with terrorists, about which some politicians and “experts” broadcast on about, are out of the question.

Donbas can and should engage in dialogue with those who want peace. With the same butchers and criminals who soak Ukrainian land in the blood of Ukrainians, there is only one conversation. And in this conversation, the exit wound is considerably larger than the entrance.

Air support after pro-Russian terrorist ambush.
Air support after pro-Russian terrorist ambush near Kramatorsk.

The good news:

1. The Prosecutor General’s Office will consider the question of recognizing the so-called “People’s Republic of Donetsk” and the “People’s Republic of Luhansk” terrorist organizations.

In fact, it’s long overdue. These bandit structures have little in common with Sunday schools and relief funds for homeless chipmunks. This became clear–not today, and not even yesterday. Why it took prosecutors so long to birth their current bright idea–it’s hard to say. But they finally delivered it, and glory to God.

2. The OCG [organized crime group] “Donetsk People’s Republic” announced sanctions against the United States and the European Union, to ban entry into its territory to a number of politicians.

My God, what grief, what inhumanity. Now Barack Obama will not be able to admire the waste heaps of Donbass until November of this year, while acting against him are “sanctions.” How will he survive this tragedy–it’s hard to say. We ask the State Department to vigilantly follow the U.S. president–to check, if out of desperation he might not kill himself.

Angela Merkel is much more fortunate. “Sanctions” against her act only until September. After that, she will finally be able to visit her favorite Yenakievo and enrich her spiritual world by communicating with those who at one time stole the hats of passersby with Yanukovych. The Chancellor got lucky, what can I say.

In fact, the more the separatists show their inadequacy and stupidity, exposing themselves in an anecdotal light, the better. Maybe the Donbass residents will finally understand with what degenerates they are dealing.

3. Internal “disputes” amongst the separatists went ahead at full speed. Leaders of different groups are trying to determine which one of them is the next emperor of another Donbass hamlet. It’s an African Republic with them–the constant coups d’etat.

In the rush, the self-proclaimed “people’s Governor” of Luhansk, Valeriy Bolotov, almost got wiped out (although these updates by “truthful” Russian media remind one more of a propagandist show-off).

Whatever it was, let them bite. Spiders in a jar is a great representation of these gentlemen.

Sergey Pashynsky: Antiterrorist Operation in the Eastern Ukraine is in the final stage

Source: Ukraine Crisis Media Center

Sergey Pashynsky, Acting Head of Presidential Administration of Ukraine, during a press briefing at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center said that the anti-terrorist operation in the region of Krasny Liman – Kramatorsk – Slavyansk is in the active phase. During the operation bases of separatists – terrorists had been destroyed in response to attempts by terrorists to move into action the night before. Commenting on the situation in Mariupol city Mr. Pashynsky added: “In Mariupol situation is very tense, and we do everything in order to reduce the degree of conflict in society, and to find a compromise; in any case we are not going to kill civilians, we are fighting and will fight only with the terrorists.”

Sergey Pashynsky also commented on holding a pseudo-referendum on the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk regions: “In fact, no referendum is not carried out, is nothing more than an information campaign started by terrorists to conceal their crimes using the opinion of residents of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. There is no “referendum” at two-thirds of the regions in general, and in some major cities, which are under the control of terrorists, are mini demonstrations, which are fixed on the printer printed bulletins.”

Dmitry Tymchuk: ATO successfully continues

Source: Dmitry Tymchuk Facebook

According to operational data from ‘Inforesist’ the tactics at the current stage of the ATO is very successful.

Nine terrorist checkpoints were eliminated in Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and Krasnyi Lyman. SBU optimized the layout of their checkpoints in order to prevent mutineers’ movement in the region. Also the base of the terrorists was destroyed near Krasnyi Lyman.

SBU also reports about high efficiency of the latest Ukrainian armored transporters BTR-4E, which were recently assigned to the needs of ATO.

ATO  continues.

You were warned

Arkadij Babchenko – Russian publicist, war reporter, writer and veteran of Chechnya war.

I can tell only this on Odessa events.

Armed people wishing massacre and dead bodies came covering themselves by the cops?
Armed people got massacre and dead bodies.
They thought this would be not their own dead bodies?
No. It would be their dead bodies as well.
For all Russian “patriots” now shouting about fascist and how “to level chochly under asphalt” – do you think that there would not be dead bodies of yours?
No. There would be dead bodies of yours. If it would start serious – it could not go without dead bodies of yours. Never ever. Believe me.
You thought it would be otherwise?
You thought that it is enough to spit hysterically on monitor and zhydobanderovcy will level themselves and annihilate? You thought that it is possible to kidnap, kill, beat, throw grenade on blocking post, and they just will turn another cheek?
No. They will fight.
If you will start killing people – they will kill in response.
Who may ever consider that, right?
“No one will throw flowers under the tracks. There will be total partisan war” – you were warned?
You were warned, right?
You are going to reap just what you sow.
It can’t be the other way.
It will be that way.

Regarding the progress of the anti-terrorist operation, May 4, 2014

By Dmitry Tymchuk, translated by Voices of Ukraine

According to Information Resistance data, after a short period of activation of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO), from May 4 onward an unacceptable downturn in security forces activity begins to take place.

According to our information, the absence of operational command in the area of the ATO, the lack of cooperation between the participating units of law enforcement agencies, and the absence of military orders and goal setting for the use of energy and resources–once again becomes a huge problem.

For example, during the battle near Kostyantynivka on the night of May 3–4, a unit of Ukrainian security forces, which was assaulted by terrorists armed with machine guns and rocket launchers, couldn’t get reinforcements in armored vehicles for over 3 hours. As a result, seven special ops team members of the SBU were wounded.

On the evening of May 4, special forces left Kramatorsk instead of completing their operation for its release from terrorists, or at least blocking terrorist locations.

In such circumstances, the ATO is once again turning into a farce. Which is particularly unacceptable in view of the predicted activation of pro-Russian terrorists on the eve of May 9, 2014.

Activation of the ATO on May 1 miraculously coincided with the arrival of the leaders of the Interior Ministry, Ministry of Defence, and the Presidential Administration into the zone of operations. Soon after, however, the operation began to slip again. Taking into account these “coincidences,” there are more questions for the leadership of the ATO, which for some reason is once again absent beyond the zone of operations.

P.S. On May 16, the ATO commander (a.k.a., the Head of the ATO) will turn 65, after which, according to Ukrainian legislation he can no longer be a public official. Maybe Ukrainian leadership should not wait for this happy moment and instead appoint a man who is able to spare more attention towards the management of operations as Head of the ATO? The clock is ticking.

Events of April 28th

dmitry_tymchukTranslated by Voices of Ukraine

Brothers and sisters,
Here’s the Summary for April 28, 2014

The bad news:

1. The Anti-terrorist operation (ATO) has turned into a farce.

However regrettable it is to admit this, we are in the same boat as our enemy–the Russians, during the recent conflicts initiated by Russia in the Caucasus. While senior leadership “double-crosses” everyone they can, mid-level commanders bear the responsibility for confrontation on their shoulders.

There are two differences: Russia waged aggressive wars (in Chechnya and Georgia), and its commanders did not have their hands tied. We wage a holy war–a defensive war. But, despite this, our commanders’ hands are firmly tied. Every move and almost every shot is strictly controlled “from above.” The result is abysmal.

We, the Information Resistance group, have tried to avoid criticism of senior commanders to the end. But we can no longer continue to do so. Our soldiers and officers have become hostages in power games. But this is only one aspect. In essence, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state are the principal hostage in this game.

2. Today brought a lot of blood.

Two people who were injured this morning in Kramatorsk are representatives of the SBU and the Interior Ministry. They were wounded in a gunfight with terrorists, it’s pretty obvious. We can only wish these guys a speedy recovery.

The situation around the death of one, and injury of another, contract soldier of the Armed Forces [of Ukraine] is more complicated. We will not disclose the details (hopefully the MOD will though, because their current explanation can hardly be called intelligible). But the very fact that the security forces keep getting killed in similar circumstances, outside of armed contfrontations, is deeply abnormal.

3. Some insane show is happening in Sloviansk.

Terrorists have instituted “journalist accreditation” there, mostly Russian journalists at that. I find it absolutely incomprehensible how journalists can freely roam around in the area of the ATO (moreover, foreign journalists, and especially–Russian journalists) in the first place, without the accreditation of our law enforcement agencies. How can this be happening by definition?

I cannot imagine that in a civilized country, a journalist could freely enter through the cordon of security forces and approach an aircraft hijacked by terrorists with the following words, “I need to interview their ringleader.” What type of nonsense is that? Especially when we know how the Russian media present the information.

Oleh Tsaryov in Sloviansk

The delivery of “humanitarian aid” to Sloviansk, intended for separatists and distributed at checkpoints by Ukrainian Presidential candidate Oleh Tsaryov looks even wilder. What type of savagery is this? How can this scarecrow, God forgive me, this terrorist accomplice, be an official Presidential candidate? It is beyond my comprehension.

4. Today, an assassination attempt on the Kharkiv mayor Hennadiy Kernes took place.

I will not remind you about certain pages from this gentleman’s biography, I like them no more than you do. The fact of the matter is, that for whatever reason, he is on our side now.

And this assassination attempt – is an attempt to turn Kharkiv, with its very shaky stability, into another separatist snake nest, with another “people’s mayor” and another “people’s republic” under the Russian flag. There is nothing good in this.

The good news:

1. The EU expanded sanctions against Russia today–it increased the number of Kremlin representatives affected by it. The European Union also said that they are actively researching sanctions not only against individuals, but against entire sectors of the Russian economy.

The bad thing is that the Europeans have been threatening this third stage of sanctions for a month and a half now, and to no avail. In fact, they only continually expand the format of the second stage of sanctions. But then, any support is important and necessary.

2. The SBU detained the deputy to the breakaway mayor of Sloviansk. An Igor Perepechayenko.

This person was the “snitch” to one of the subversive and reconnaissance groups of the GRU of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces. A local polizei–and a sellout. Traitors like him were hung on the nearest lamppost in front of all honest people during the Great Patriotic War. Now is the time of humanism, no one will deprive this manure of life. All the same–unfortunately.

Overall, the Interior Ministry complains that there are hardly any vacancies left at the Detention facilities–in some regions, they are crammed to their eyeballs with Russian subversives and their local henchmen. The more these gentlemen busy themselves with intellectual games near the prison “bucket,” the less likely will they be to shit on the loose.

3. Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Ukrainian Prime Minister, has announced that Ukraine and Slovakia signed a memorandum on gas delivery by reversing the direction of gas from the West to Ukraine. Simultaneously, Kyiv is preparing a lawsuit against Gazprom in connection with elevated gas prices.

I don’t know how the current standoff with Russia will end. But if Kyiv doesn’t have the brains and the will to properly carry out the ATO, at least it tries to show resistance on the “energy front.” If only these initiatives were seen through to the end.