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 12, 2014

Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

Here’s the Summary for May 12, 2014

The bad news:

1. The lads from the terrorist interests club named “Donetsk People’s Republic” [DPR] declared their “independence” and asked to join Russia.

This is understandable: where else would they go to ask, since it was all done by the Kremlin’s request and with its money? And in any case, there are no other terrorist states except for Russia specifically observed in the region.

Putin had the good sense to avoid direct recognition of the results of the pseudo-referendum held yesterday in the doorways by the merry drunks from the “DPR.” Meanwhile, Moscow declared that it “respects” its results. Although, anyone in their right mind will find that respecting such a mockery of common sense is impossible.

Here, Putin is playing a double game again. On the one hand, he stayed out of trouble with the West, which categorically refused to accept the “referendum.” But on the other hand, Moscow can at any moment recognize the “DPR” and enter Russian troops into Ukraine. There is [still] room for maneuvers.

2. Immediately after the “referendum,” one of the Kazachkis [diminuitive for Cossacks] sent over by Russia, immediately proclaimed himself the Commander-in-Chief and declared war on Ukraine. However, his cronies, pardon, his colleagues immediately dissociated themselves from the declaration of war.

This is what interests me. All this riffraff considers the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian patriots the “proteges of Washington and the West.” Well, they shoud have immediately declared war on NATO. It would be funnier.

Bad thing about this is that the “Commander of the DPR,” who by definition is fit to commandeer his wardmates, is not at a psychiatric hospital under the supervision of nurses, but freely hangs out on Ukrainian soil.

It is also interesting that the fugitive [former president Viktor] Yanukovych also began yapping that Kiev should withdraw Ukrainian troops from Ukrainian Regions, and in fact recognized the “DPR.” This woodpecker hasn’t even turned on his brains: if he considers himself the “legitimate President,” then he is also the Commander-in-Chief. Whilst this spot at the “DPR ” is already occupied by a Russian Kazachok [diminutive of Cossack]. Sorry, Vitya [diminutive of Viktor].

The good news:

1. The cities of Donetsk and Luhansk in Dnipropetrovsk Region can hope for further development within a united Ukraine.

I am talking about the alternative referendum regarding the annexation of Luhansk and Donetsk Regions to Dnipropetrovsk region. According to the preliminary official data of the referendum (about 70% support joining Dnipropetrovsk Region), residents of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions actively seek to forget the “DPR” as a terrible nightmare.

Similar results were obtained in a referendum poll in Donbass for a united Ukraine.

We have no reason not to believe the organizers of these two referendums. At least they have normal ballots and commission protocols with seals, and the voting process was properly organized. And not like the “DPR’s” sheets of toilet paper that were proudly called “bulletins,” and counted by ragamuffin gangs in garages.

2. Europe clearly understands now who is who in the Ukrainian crisis.

Today, the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt announced, “President Putin said two things: first, that the so-called referendum should be postponed. That did not happen… The second thing that he would take the Russian troops from the border. That did not happen… We should judge Moscow not by its words but by its deeds.”

Golden words. Every European official and politician–should make an entry in their notebook.

3. Today at a briefing, journalists trolled the leader of the Party of Regions faction, Oleksandr Yefremov (he, by the way, said he didn’t consider the separatist “referendum” a farce). He was extensively and insistently requested to tell how he and Akhmetov financed the pro-Russian terrorists.

Yefremov was very shy and meekly protested [discussing it].

It turned out even more interesting with Akhmetov. The so-called “People’s Governor,” separatist leader Pavlo Gubarev told the Russian media that Akhmetov had financed separatists in Donetsk. The Party of Regions immediately reared up on its hind legs, and began to defend Akhmetov, calling Gubarev a crazy rogue and trickster.

[Rinat] Akhmetov is a separate subject for discussion. In this case, it’s interesting that by protecting separatists, the Party of Regions leader Yefremov in fact protects the crooks and swindlers, as they are called by the Party of Regions. Do these people have any brains left?

Today, Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov stated that the Ukrainian Communist Party might be prohibited by court [decision]–due to their separatist support and holding of pseudo-referendums.

I’ll vote “yes” with both hands for it. We should have gotten rid of all this anti-Ukrainian rot long time ago.

Computer bots of Kremlin – a brand new army

Computer bots of Kremlin – a brand new army

*Bot – Short for robot, a computer program that runs automatically, sometimes imitating human function.

interview by Danil Turovskij (Translated by Karolis Judelevičius)

According to recent events, the real war is happening in cyberspace by exploiting information rather than on the ground. An executive of a company, employee of the government who wished to remain anonymous, disclosed the following information about bribing of bloggers, ordering DDoS attacks and shaping opinions of the general public.

How did You get into Cyber-warfare?

At the end of 2011, when the protests have started, we suggested trying to get into it. We started with “mucky pups” – bloggers and rare funded orders for journalists to process and render certain news to the public.

A typical example of bot activity on Twitter: any significant information is lost between entries created by bots following certain tags.

Usually we would get a bunch of “mucky pups” and at 9 am in the morning they would receive a brief data with the tasks for the day. Tasks would consist of what to look out for, how to manipulate information, what to emphasize during the course of the day. Their job was constant translation and focus of certain messages.
We used a simple technique finding these bloggers. We would go to “Jan-jak”, the popular chain of french coffee shops in Russia, and we would look for the ones short of cash or the ones with unclear views about opposition.

We would choose one and offer fifteen thousand to write about for example a corrupt member of Bibirevo municipality.
They thought they were doing the right thing and also making money in the process. After the second or the third time we would ask them to write something about Aleksei Navalny. If they didn’t comply you could threaten to let everyone know they took money from us

Obviously we always guaranteed complete anonymity. But after the scandal of hacking into Potupchik’s mailbox, who also had “cyber” employees, everyone got really spooked. (in 2012 after the hacking of “Nashi” Youth movement’s spokesman Potupchik’s mailbox, the correspondence with funded bloggers became public – D.T.).

We were very cautious, some people even created secret email addresses, they imagined they were special agents, they completely fell for it. When we would meet to exchange cash, they would carefully explore the surroundings, checking if they weren’t followed, like during some drug deal.

Who supplied the messages for “mucky pups” to spread?

It would come from above, from the administration of Putin. We are, what you can call, a branch of informational support, consultants for public relations, a department of propaganda. It was already happening when i joined. The 85 rubles for an online comment was already in the past. To be honest i always considered it to be pointless so Youth movements took care of that.

There were loads of cash to be shared around. So they kept inserting pointless comments on “LiveJournal” (most popular blog site in Russia). Tags and hash-tags were being used even before the jubilee of Vladimir Putin in October of 2012. Actual people worked the internet then, only later replaced by bots. Nowadays, when a message from opposition rises to the top, we just drown it with junk.

After the lowest ranking writer enters a message on Twitter, it is then passed on to a trained employee, who then places that same tagged message into a program, for further distribution. Around 85% percent of Twitter messages originate this way. The rest 15% are done by relatively known people to gain reputation. This is the bottom level of cyber-warfare.

How did you create tasks for “mucky pups”?

I’m very surprised when people take posts by “mucky pups” seriously and even start discussing it because they are so easy to spot.

There is always a particular structure in all ordered texts. Because of lack of trust for bloggers and journalists we would issue five essential points for text making. For example: you will most definitely find “historic heritage” and “banderivets”, etc. mentioned in a text regarding Ukraine.

Also there is loads of information on Aleksei Navalny, but suddenly everyone remembered that he is a nationalist, right? So the system of “mucky pups” was deemed ineffective. A new presidential administration also had a lot to do with the change of things.

Before the new administration our budget was unlimited with main targets to buy as many journalists and bloggers as possible with wages of up to 90000 rubles per month. Only so called top level bloggers received higher payments.

Are they like Ilya Varlamov?

Someone like him, yes. The hacking of Potupchik’s mailbox revealed payments of up to 300000 rubles had existed. Even though he was in the “circle” i doubt he was paid that much.

So the numbers of “mucky pups” are in decline?

Yes, mainly because of budget cuts and change in politics. In the beginning of 2013 we submitted reports suggesting to start creating counter-information. Everyone was in favor of this idea. Actually that was the start of “kontr.tv”, but budget cuts terminated its activity. It was dirty but very effective operation.

2013 brought a wave of tabloid closures. A liberal approach was gone. The new way of thinking involved removing the threat altogether rather than toying with it.

Are there any threats left?

I don’t think so. “Vedomosti” is being intimidated by putting pressure on it. Currently it is not a good time to be a journalist in Russia. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has finally clued up to the fact that you can set up instrumental media in Moscow as easily as a European resort in Sochi.

All the recent news are a part of the politics to create a nice and acceptable media. “Russia Today” is one of the examples. Soon it will be actively used to portray elections to Moscow City Duma in the required manner.

What did you do next?

In the end of summer of 2012 I have decided to do something new and started writing various types of texts for pro-Kremlin publications like “politonline.ru” and “Vzgliad”. After one publication in “Zavtra” I was offered a job in a company of blog production with even its own mini TV channel. Thats when got into some serious propaganda creating our own plots and stories. I invited people to write favorably about Putin’s politics – Aleksandr Dugin and Sergey Kurginyan to mention a few.

That was when I became completely immersed in a clandestine world of cyber-warfare. I became a manager, planning and organizing rather than a just a publisher.

Do You still work there?

Sort of yes. Its a horizontal type of structure, with many branches. There are 8 cyber-warfare departments just in Moscow. The whole propaganda scheme is handled by a General Manager and three Assistant Managers. Every department according to their assignment works with one of the assistant managers.

I’m not jealous of the department looking after the patriotic Prokhanov’s Izborsk Club (neo fascist political group, founded in 2012 – D.T.). All they ever talk about is Stalin, vodka, empire, etc. There are quite a few businessmen around them too, letting them use their private planes to go to assemblies for example. But the old farts haven’t got a clue about internet.

I had a chat with Aleksandr Prokhanov once, and can you imagine – he asked me to make a picture move! I did not know what was he talking about. And he said that there was a moving picture on Misha Leontiev’s website and he wanted to have one on his website too.

Can you give an example of you “working” the news?

Let’s say the last court session of Aleksei Navalny (7th of March, 2014 – D.T.) We received instructions to shed a negative light on the planned rally in front of the courthouse and to positively portray the arrest of Aleksei Navalny.
We would monitor the participants in the rally, the news and pictures from it.
We would find the negative angles and would start flooding our friendly media channels with stuff like: “Look, sodomites are parading” or “Nadezhda Tolokonnikova carrying a chicken”, and enough of these creating a required informational noise.

How many of these friendly media channels exist?

Probably around ten, another twenty or thirty with a little encouragement. With the unlimited budget we had everyone in our pocket.
There is a new generation of journalists calling themselves “independent”, who were at some point all funded by Kremlin. I could easily name all of them.

So You mainly looked for final year students at Faculty of Journalism?

I spent most of my spare time over there, namely “Eat & Talk”. (cafe near Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University – D.T.) I have even found someone from “Rolling Stone” magazine there. People are greedy and Moscow is a very expensive city. I have even paid journalists to write something neutral.

For example, for a “Seliger” description everyone was being bought, we even managed to shove our publications to the media of the opposition. Their excuse was that it was like gang wars to them – taking money from one enemy to harm another.
They received sums of up to 120000 rubles. I personally gave 70000 to a journalist from the “Kommersant”.

The group of paid journalists is dispersed now, they are not prepared to publish to order. Everyone knows about it now, so they write for opposition.
Of course it is very amusing when they refer to sources from AP (Putin’s administration), because 99% of these sources are us.

Once a relatively well known writer from “Krasnyj Oktyabr” (Red October) told me about a confidential piece of information I had created myself. An older man tells me about information from his supposed secret sources and it was all made-up by me.

Didn’t he know what was your job?

My job is not obvious, although people can sense that.

Do You have an office?

I don’t have a schedule or a meeting planner, but i have to sign for our budget. Among other things used to rent an office. I don’t know where the money comes from, we just sign a slip and get it in cash.

We are often blamed that we do nothing at all, that we just get paid for our loyalty. They call us “Putin’s parasites”. But after you spend three nights in a row at the office you start to wonder, you know?

We have eight team members of whom two are from the monitoring service. We don’t have positions or hierarchy, we are all ideologists and share everything equally. While other department is managed with military order by a well known person who doesn’t actually do anything, except maybe his role of middleman between his subordinates and the money.

Do you still write?

Very rarely. We usually have a morning meeting to discuss our plans for the day, decide who’s covering what, who has people where. There is a list of safe journalists, the ones you can meet or have a drink with.

Of course there is a blacklist for journalists too with Ilya Barabanov topping the list. We don’t work with them, as they would definitely rat it out.

Who else is on the list?

Oleg Kashin is not on it. I won’t mention any names, it would not be correct.

Is “Sputnik and pogrom” on the “good media” list?

I don’t know. Can’t talk about it.. It’s going too well for them. I did use their texts about Crimean few times. They were so well written I even thought of hiring them. Of course they were to expensive, even for me.

We can take texts by Egor Prosvirnin, taking couple paragraphs out about Putin being bad, and will have an excellent material.

You mentioned eight departments in total, do you have general meetings?

Of course we communicate and have general meetings, also once in a while we are gathered for editorial boards by “people from above”.

Are your people responsible for DDos attacks?

They are usually hired ex-members of youth movements, who during the internet investment boom managed to open their own tech-studios. They gather followers and distribute videos via YouTube.
Actually, in 2012 their services of post sharing where bought by Aleksei Navalny. Obviously he was cheated then – his people made a deal with us and paid for “shares” and “likes” and it never really happened.

And anyway it is very easy to make 700 clean re-tweets. The boys have created fishing apps, stuff like “find out how old you really are”, “i read an article..”, “be the first to see..”, etc. for finding careless users so their profiles can be later used for retweet or repost. And not everyone checks their history of posting or tweeting.

How many actual followers Tina Kandelaki or Vladimir Solovyov?

Once someone starts expressing favourable views towards Putin, they are “boosted-up”. That’s their bonus for the “correct” views. Burmatov and other similar pro-Putin bloggers have only about 20% of actual followers.

I did tell Solovyov that not all of his followers are real, but he is adamant they are. Of course he is the most popular between bloggers, has at least thirty thousand followers, surely. Mainly because – if you follow Dmitry Medvedev, you get an automatic suggestion to follow Solovyov as well.

So Medvedev was “boosted” as well?

Yes, there was an interesting story regarding that. Even though it was clear from the start that Medvedev will be very popular, a person responsible turned out more than a million followers. In the process he has done the same for himself as well, so for a while we called him “the king of twitter”.

Using his own team and similar schemes Navalny also paid for every post, although they were less obvious and more carefully executed. During the election for the mayor Navalny paid for his interview for rap.ru and his avatar in MDK (popular video game) cost him 800 000 rubles.

Lets get back to the DDoS attacks. So it is entirely possible for you to receive an order to attack “Echo of Moscow” for example?

Sure. Although not “Echo of Moscow”. We have orders to not touch it. Usually it is the LiveJournal. According to the management blogs are the greatest threat.

Do you already have a solution for mirror-blogs of Navalny?

He is yesterdays news. The threat of Navalny has nearly disappeared now. Blogs are not tied down to a particular person, hundreds of them can express the same views and its impossible to shut them down. So the whole platform has to be attacked, exactly like when Navalny was arrested.

It is very exciting to watch Twitter when something important is happening. The five main pro-putin bloggers start fighting who is going to get the most re-tweets.

Blog work is well paid and departments boost their own bloggers as much as possible to make the end of the month report look better.

How much of a cyber-warfare soldier you are?

In the beginning with ten of my “mucky pups” I have felt highly valuable. But in reality propaganda has to be released in huge loads. Single post is not noticeable, it has to be constant, it has to be everywhere and all the time and in large quantities. Only then it will have substantial effect on people.

One of the biggest oppositionists I’ve ever known from Faculty of journalism, recently started talking to me about Western aggression. Another one – true supporter of Navalny in the past, opened a discussion about how bad is that Navalny is a nationalist.

I can really see how propaganda affects people, how you can “put” ideas in their heads. We let them think they are conscious and thinking. We copied this tactics from a real professional Maxim Kononenko, who always offers to think. He would say: “It is all very well my friends, but lets try and think together”. He makes them feel like they are equal.

Opposition has genuine opportunities to win over the system, but it has to be instant. Mainly because every move of the government has to be approved by at least five signatures and three meetings.

I sometimes think that government offices are like clubs for people who like conferences. If there is an event requiring a fast response, they would agree that there is a need for action, but still decide to have a meeting about it. And if i say, ok, so i’m coming over now, the answer would be: “Well, maybe tomorrow is a better time, our superiors are gone for the day”. And so that job becomes meaningless.

I assess the value of my work whether it reached Putin or not and if has – it’s a successful one.
There is this guy, Vova Tabak, he used to create calendars for Faculty of Journalism. Some say that video “Putin can, Putin can” he has created made Putin cry and he was straight away given few million dollars. Also he enjoyed our “Polite people”

Are You not that busy anymore?

I’ve spent a month and a half in Kyiv doing a real good job. We have taken very good photos, thanks to the fighters of the “Right Sector” for swastikas too. Usually we have to bring strange individuals with silly posters and slogans, but here it was all sorted for us. Just the monument of Lenin fell down, only I can’t say who helped it.

No-one knows what is going to happen next. It looks like work is going to continue to decrease. Few are leaving for Public Relations, few for Public Chambers, one for mass media. We are not content to get paid for doing nothing, we do enjoy our work.

Until the middle of 2013 we were on the losing side in cyber-warfare, but we learned the more effective ways to work. We had to because professionals would not work for us out of shame. And then in 2013 we won the informational war against opposition , the only glitch being the mayoral election.

We don’t need to talk about luck in 2014. If Putin is going to continue the way he is at the moment, we all going to be out of job altogether.

Source: hvylya.org

In Donetsk region, terrorists began hunting civil activists

Sprotiv.org, 2014.05.11 23:04:

Inner sources of sportiv.org informed that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, lists of politically active people have been made. The purpose is to allow spying their activities and their contacts, and to make their physical destruction possible.

The informant claims that orders to make the lists were received from Russia. The goal is to localize the community leaders with pro-European and pro-Ukrainian opinions. In particular, of great interest are human rights activists, participants of Kyiv’s Euromaidan from Donetsk and Luhansk regions, activists and participants of protests “For United Ukraine” and Eurointegration.

Saboteur groups were given the following targets:

participants of Kyiv’s Euromaidan,
organizers of pro-Ukrainian protests,
mayors, deputies, heads of regional administration, who do not support the Donetsk People’s Republic,
leaders of pro-European political parties and organizations, human rights activists.

The only way to stay safe is by changing residence and job, cancelling social network activities.

It is also forbidden to communicate by phone. Instead, do it over Viber or Skype, because according to checked information, some of the mobile operators provide information to Russian special services.

Sadly, this information is supported by facts. Dozens of activists were kidnapped, tortured or killed.

Source: http://sprotiv.org/47344#.U2_oJZ7vm39

Evgenia Vetsko impressions about referendum in Luhansk

Evgenia Vetsko (Ukrainian journalist) says about referendum in Luhansk.

I took part in so-called referendum in Luhansk. Well… The attendance there will be not even 100%, it will be 150%. And not because everyone desperately wants to join Russia or create Luhansk People Republic (I have to acknowledge, those thoughts occur).

To “vote” I did not even need the passport. Nobody asked for it. I was signed, then I received the bulletin and here we go. Sometimes those who looked trustworthy get several bulletins. So to say, Russia in bulk. And… the voting cabins are not present in every station. Sometimes you have to mark the answers right at the desk of ‘regional voting committee’.

I had to step aside. My fellow countrymen recently started to behave aggressively, still I am not ready to vote for the creation of Luhansk Republic even while working ‘under cover’.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/evetsko/posts/735825856438144 , via Euromaidanpr

Dmitry Tymchuk: Russian propaganda on “peacekeeping operation”

Translated by Andriy Berbets and edited by Alex Howard for Voices of Ukraine

According to Information Resistance data, pro-Russian extremists are conducting an intense propaganda campaign amongst the population in Luhansk and Donetsk Regions. Its purpose is to force citizens to take part in the so-called ‘referendum’ to ensure the split of Ukraine. You can read more of it here: http://inforesist.org/russia-is-preparing-a-peace-keeping-operation-in-ukraine/?lang=en.

The separatists are trying to give the impression that during the ‘referendum’, Russia will be able to deploy ‘peacekeeping forces’ on the territory of Ukraine, in order to help stabilize the situation in the region, as their main argument in their attempt to convince the people.

About the fact that Russia is itself fueling the flames of civil war in Ukraine, and that the actions taken by the separatists themselves are destabilizing the situation in these regions, there is only silence.

At the same time we’d like to note that, throughout last week, the so-called Russian ‘expert community’ (e.g. the ‘Gazprom’ funded Moscow Strategic Culture Foundation, the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, the Center of Strategic Conjuncture etc.) began actively promoting the idea that a Russian ‘peacekeeping operation’ is strongly needed on the territory of Ukraine.

The main premise in this case is that a “peacekeeping operation” should be conducted by Russia without any consent from the UN (United Nations), as the involvement of the UN supposedly allows the West ‘to seize the initiative’ and to move their troops into Ukraine after receiving a UN mandate. But, as you know, Russia’s membership in the UN Security Council is absolutely unjustifiable, because this country is the aggressor, so it does not allow the UN Security Council to make any efforts in the resolution of the crisis in Ukraine, including carrying out peacekeeping operations by third parties.

Theoretically, Putin has two options to conduct a ‘peacekeeping operation’: to carry it out under the auspices of the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization] or the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization].

Currently the first option is not possible, because China, as a member of the SCO, would clearly not agree to this kind of global adventure.

What about Moscow’s pocket union, otherwise known as the CSTO? As it’s well known, Putin is currently applying increased pressure on the presidents of the satellite countries. It’s worthwhile remembering the recent military exercises of the Russian Armed Forces, where the question of the use of nuclear weapons was discussed under the personal leadership of Putin, with the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan in attendance.

The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who has not previously supported Russian aggression against Ukraine, has suddenly and inexplicably changed his rhetoric. This change of position miraculously coincided with the message that Russia is ready to give Belarus a $2 billion loan in order to replenish its foreign exchange reserves.

However, the CSTO has no legal grounds for ‘peacekeeping’ in Ukraine, as Ukraine is not a member of the organization. Article 3 of the Agreement on the CSTO peacekeeping operations provides that the organization can perform such activities based on their own decisions only on the territory of the CSTO member states. In the case of non-member countries of the CSTO, approval from the UN Security Council must be obtained first.

This means that any attempt by Russia to move its troops into Ukraine under any pretext, whether alone or in an “alliance” with its satellites, will mean direct military aggression against sovereign Ukraine, or rather the second stage of aggression after Crimea.

Terrorists on TV tower in Slovyansk

translation:Kastytis Rimkevicius

According to recent data from “Information Resistance” group, tonight and in the morning there were attacks made by terrorists on TV tower in Slovyansk (object at this time is protected by Ukrainian law enforcers).

Attacks allegedly made by mortars.

Two security men were injured – one wounded, the second got shrapnel wounds.

“IR” http://sprotyv.info/news/235-v-slavyanske-obstrelyali-televyshku

May 10, 2014 Lithuanian media round-up

Masha Gessen the author of the book ‘The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin‘ thinks that ‘Eastern Ukraine can become similar to Transnistria, which is formally a part of Moldova but is ruled by a separatist pro-Moscow government, or South Ossetia, which unilaterally seceded from Georgia with Moscow’s aid in 2008, or Crimea, which was simply taken‘ (15min.lt) Read more in The Washington post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/after-carving-up-ukraine-where-will-putin-turn-next/2014/05/09/17b86398-d623-11e3-95d3-3bcd77cd4e11_story.html.

Leaders of France and German threaten Russia with a new international sanctions if the elections of Ukrainian President on May 25 would be interupted. (15min.lt)

Dmitry Rogozin threatens EU with strategic bombers

Russia threatens EU with bomber aircrafts: we’ll teach you a lesson soon. 10.05.2014 19:55

A brawler Russian vice-premier Dmitry Rogozin has threatened Romania with strategic bomber aircraft.

Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded Russia’s explanation for statements about Bukarest made by Russian vice-premier Dmitry Rogozin. This is noted in an official press release by Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concerns about the Twitter message posted by Rogozin on May 10th. It states: “Following the demand by the USA, Romania refused to allow my plane to use its airspace. Ukraine also refuses. Next time I will fly with a Tu-160 (a strategic bomber aircraft, suitable for nuclear war – editor’s note)”.

After Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published its press release, Rogozin stated in his Twitter: “Yes, dear Romanians, soon we will explain you, who you are and what we think about you.”

We remind you that earlier it was announced that Romania and Ukraine did not allow Rogozin’s plane to leave Moldova (Rogozin was in Transnistria). Later Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied Rogozin’s claim that Ukraine closed its airspace for him. “The story with Rogozin is like a joke about the “uncatchable Joe”. Why “uncatchable”? Because nobody needs him. Thus, he can only brag and boast”,- notes Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Referendum for Donetsk and Luhansk republics will be held in Moscow

As announced by the Moscow-based “Fund of Slavic Literature and Culture” and some other outlets in Russian media, Moscow residents will be able to vote for the secession of the so called republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

There is no information regarding, whether it is only the citizens of Ukraine will be allowed to vote. There is no information either regarding the observers, nor regarding the political and judicial status of such referendum. It is said that “residents of Donbas”, who are in Russia, will have the right to vote.

The announcement stresses that during voting, which begins at noon, a conference of representatives of republics of Luhansk and Donetsk, will be held at the voting point.

The announcement: http://www.slavfond.ru/index.php?l=en&l=en&l=ru&p=news&id=1985

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