Are there Russian troops in the Donbass. “Do you see Russian troops in Donbass? Not? And they are here! Reuters: layoffs due to war
Putin's risk at the time of the surrender of Yanukovych was primarily in the reaction of the Ukrainian army. Putin hoped (and not without reason) that the army would not follow the lead of the new (not quite legitimate) government in Kyiv and would not become an instrument of genocide against its own people. The card of a legitimate president, who "de facto" was the commander in chief, was supposed to at least split the army. However, the return of Yanukovych did not work, and this put the entire party for Ukraine at risk. The junta managed to remove unreliable commanders from the army in the bud, suppressing the possibility of a rebellion. This is a great success for the American intelligence services and the Ukrainian SBU, which is now a territorial division of the CIA. The purge in the army was carried out with impressive speed and efficiency. Today, the army is completely subordinate to the junta, and the start of the "anti-terrorist operation" almost forced the Kremlin to send troops to Ukraine. This would be a big geopolitical loss, since the original goal of the United States in their Ukrainian game was precisely to force Russia into military aggression. This would instantly deprive Russia of all current and future allies, plunging Russia into complete economic and political isolation. In conditions when the Russian economy is organized according to the principle of "pipe economy", and finances frankly demonstrate the colonial system, then such a scenario would plunge Russia into economic chaos. And he would become the basis for the "Maidan" already in Moscow. In general, the Americans had good chances not only to seize Ukraine, but also to remove Putin ...
All these chances were canceled by Bolotov and Strelkov, who organized military resistance to the troops of the junta. They even managed to take away several armored vehicles from the Ukrainian paratroopers, creating their own armored fist. And the game continued. Russia withdrew troops from the border, being sure that the uprising would not be nipped in the bud. Are Strelkov and Bolotov agents of Moscow? Perhaps not, but they obviously coordinate their actions with the Kremlin. It was impossible to organize resistance to army units without adequate support from Russia. It is clear that there were volunteers, it is clear that there are donations ... But we need specialists, we need a well-coordinated structure, we need ammunition, finally, for the same captured weapons. Here we come to the main question of the article - to what extent is Russia and its special services involved in the conflict? I note right away that I will not be a provocateur here like Kurginyan. He frankly tried to force the militias to recognize Russia's military assistance. On his trip to the Donbass, he tried not only to split the militia by organizing the persecution of Strelkov for the surrender of Slavyansk. He tried in his scandalous press conference to force the militias to confess to military supplies from Russia. In front of cameras. The political damage from this recognition would be enormous. Neither Russia nor the militias IT IS FORBIDDEN officially recognize the assistance that Russia provides to the militia illegally. This will make Russia a party to the conflict and justify all sanctions against it, which the West is pursuing. I repeat once again, this is a dishonest game and here you have to hide your help to the militia. My reasoning within the framework of the article can in no way be assessed as official statements and a reason for accusing anyone of anything. It's only opinion a private person who does not have access to state secrets and is not a witness to any illegal activities. This is the advantage of a blogger - I am not responsible for the opinion expressed. There is freedom of speech and I use this (it seems that I found some use for liberal freedoms ...).
In other words, we can here discuss a variety of scenarios without fear that the enemies may use these words for some kind of political action to the detriment of Russia and specific people. Therefore, unlike Kurginyan, I will not lay out evidence of Russia's military intervention in the affairs of a sovereign state here. I'm just giving my opinion on this. And I will try to substantiate this opinion. And if this opinion does not coincide with the official picture, what is being drawn Russian media, then this will in no way serve as an accusation for anyone. Russia is forced to act this way, and the media are only fulfilling the order. Any media. People there get paid, unlike a blogger who is at least glad that they read him. And that encourages you to tell the truth. Because everyone wants to know the truth. And I'm not going to prove here that absolutely all the actions of the militia are the result of orders from Moscow, that the entire top command of the DPR and LPR consists of FSB agents. It's just not like that. The episode when Putin asked to postpone the referendum just proves the opposite. It was not in Putin's plans to split Ukraine and provoke a civil war. Geopolitically, it was more beneficial for Russia to have an integral, stable and friendly state among its neighbors. Simply put, another ally in the customs union. Second Belarus. No more. To do this, it was simply necessary to return Yanukovych. The collapse of the country as a result of referendums directly contradicted such goals. These goals were most fully demonstrated by Oleg Tsarev, who always denied separatism and even became a candidate for the presidency of Ukraine, risking almost his life. Here he could be called a representative of Moscow, but not Borodai or Pushilin. Today Tsarev is trying to create new state structures of Novorossia, alternative to those in Kyiv. And the borders of this Novorossiya are by no means necessarily limited to two regions. Maybe it will include all of Ukraine in the end? Changing the name? This work is obviously supervised from Moscow, where he visits almost every week.
Events in the East did not go entirely in line with the Kremlin's expectations, and the Kremlin has to adjust its plans to the current situation. The referendums that were held in the East directly made it possible to accuse these regions of separatism and organize a military operation against them. Despite the fact that only two of the potentially protest areas were able to hold them. It is precisely the circumstances of these referendums that allow us to say that Moscow had nothing to do with it. This is a purely folk initiative, which was also stimulated by the example of the Crimea. But if Crimea was already an autonomy and had a weak territorial connection with mainland Ukraine, then Donbass is not. The process of obtaining independence for such cases is very complicated and rarely does without armed confrontation. And what armed conflict acquired just such a character - not at all in the interests of Moscow. Russia needs to completely eliminate the Bandera rebellion, and not split off two regions from the Bandera Ukraine. Nevertheless, even such a start of a civil war can serve as a reason for the breakdown of the puppet regime created from across the ocean. There are not many chances for it to survive when entire regions break away, and the economy is in a severe decline. And therefore, it is in Russia's interests to support the rebellious regions. Only because of this, and not because of the mythical plans to join them to Russia. Russia can and would go for it, but only if it does not violate relations with other countries. That is why Russia does not join Transnistria and South Ossetia with Abkhazia, despite the fact that all the inhabitants there dream of becoming Russian citizens. Even referendums were held, but Russia does not recognize them. There are international obligations. You can't break them.
I never had any particular doubts about the success of the tactics that I chose regarding Ukraine. Russian President. It is extremely simple - assistance is organized according to the principle of the minimum necessary intervention. That is, the situation is already developing in line with the Kremlin's plans to cleanse Ukraine from the fascist puppets of the United States, only the minimum necessary assistance is provided at critical moments. It is important to note, however, that this level of intervention is highly dependent on the current situation. Last days allow us to say that Russia was forced to increase this assistance in the face of the threat of an assault on the two rebellious capitals. To what extent? In this regard, it is interesting to look at the reports of the coming out media:
The events date back to August 15-16, when the efforts of the Ukrainian troops were maximally concentrated on an attempt to take both rebellious capitals into the blockade rings. And it was even reported that they had been taken, that there were already fights in the center of Lugansk! And one of two things followed from the message: either Luhansk is not blocked, or this is not Russian equipment. Moreover, I am inclined to the first option - this is the case when Putin carried out the minimum necessary intervention. By mid-August, the situation became critical for both rebellious republics. And the minimum necessary assistance was most likely provided. Therefore, I fully admit that about 1200 fighters arrived from Russia along with equipment. In addition, Zakharchenko himself stated that reinforcements came from Russia from "militiamen passing there military training within 4 months. "The number was called about the same.
In the same place, he indicated the replenishment of reserves with 150 armored vehicles. Maybe due to the defeated Southern Cauldron, or maybe the enemy voices are right, approving the supply of weapons from Russia? However, it is important that the replenishment came and came from Russia. And technology appeared with them at the same time. Whether they were Ukrainian citizens who were only trained in Russia or Russian volunteers, it is hard to say for sure. But ... There is one more thing: the President of Russia quite officially awards the 76th Guards Air Assault Chernigov Red Banner Division with the Order of Suvorov. Order dated August 18 - "For the successful implementation combat tasks. "Zakharchenko announced the replenishment on August 15-16. These days there were the most significant events on the fronts of the DPR - the militias recaptured the cities of Rodakovo and Zymogorye, cut off the southern group of the junta through Stepanovka and Marinovka. one of the most nationalist publications in Ukraine.
"Since the offensive of the Ukrainian troops cut through the remnants of the "DPR" and "LPR" and the fighting began in Donetsk and Lugansk, the agony of terrorists was a matter of the coming weeks. And Putin chose open war. Therefore, on August 10, Russia began the transfer of armored and artillery units of "volunteers." New units - up to 250 units of armored vehicles, up to 100 units of guns and mortars.And MLRS.The most significant factors were the deployment by the Russian troops of the air defense system - the Strela-10, Osa, Buk air defense systems, which makes it impossible to use Ukrainian aviation in the border areas.As well as the massive use of Russian artillery against Ukrainian troops in the border areas within a radius of up to 40 kilometers, which causes the main losses.We all understand perfectly well that to train hundreds of crews of armored vehicles, artillery crews, air defense system crews, organize reconnaissance, command, communications, repairs, supplies, no "militias" could - these are Russian military personnel. Taking into account the Russian troops, which they don’t shoot Ukrainian troops from the territory of the Russian Federation, a large concentration of electronic and artillery reconnaissance equipment, air defense troops, security, communications, supplies, it will not be an exaggeration to evaluate the Russian group that is fighting against Ukraine, acting both with ours and with Russian territory at least 20,000 troops. Moreover, Russian units numbering at least 3,000 servicemen are constantly operating on Ukrainian territory. Bezler's grouping stated that it had received heavy artillery from the Russian Federation - the Uragan MLRS and the Tyulpan 240-millimeter self-propelled mortar.
2. Russian invasion strategy. Russian armored groups and artillery units solve five tasks a) Defeat the Ukrainian grouping in the area of Novosvetlovka, which provides coverage of Lugansk from the Russian border - this will allow to release Lugansk and disrupt the capture of the city ..b) Defeating the Ukrainian grouping, which commits the coverage of Donetsk from north in the area of Yasinovataya, Nizhnyaya Krynka. c) Defense of the Ilovaisk-Mospino region and pinning down of the Ukrainian group, which is enveloping from the south of Donetsk. d) Defeat the Ukrainian grouping in the area of Saur-Mohyla, Shakhtersk, in order to capture a strategically significant area and cover the Shakhtersk-Snezhnoye-Torez node, which is key for the enemy. e) Rolling up the front along the border to the south towards Mariupol under the cover of Russian artillery - the fighting is going on for Uspenka, and it will not be possible to hold out there for a long time - Russian artillery shoots our positions, as in a shooting range.
3. Tactics. Russian troops tactically solve the problem of destroying the combat potential of our mobile and mechanized units, artillery units. The enemy cements the defense with strong armored groups, with tanks. During operational pauses, the enemy tries to subject our troops to constant harassing fire from mortars and MLRS. Radio-technical reconnaissance, drones and undercover reconnaissance determine the places of concentration of our troops, and artillery strikes are delivered at these coordinates, which are very effective against troops that are deployed in open areas without serious fortifications.
What to do?
1. Stop saying that everything is fine with us, the terrorists are running away. Yes, Ukrainian accomplices of terrorists, Russian idealistic mercenaries (there are also quite a few of them, who have succumbed to brainwashing by Kremlin propaganda), who have seen with their own eyes what a real cruel war is, desert and run away, or simply engage in banditry and robbery. The regular Russian units, which have now become the basis of resistance and shock units, are fresh units, and despite the effective opposition of the Ukrainian troops, they fight hard, and Russia has never spared cannon fodder. Propaganda allows the enemy to fight without paying attention to losses.
It is better to read the whole article, it is remarkable for its frankness. Even the comments on that article are interesting to see the inner world of the Bandera people... Still, you need to know who we are dealing with. And therefore, there is no reason to trust a completely propaganda newspaper. But as an analyst, I am used to finding connections between events through synchronicity in time. And such connections are obtained ... Let's add here the story of one of the fighters of the Ukrainian army about how the 30th brigade of the Kyiv junta died:
The spelling of the source is retained in the citation. I am not giving the whole story. Maybe he was invented, and the T-60 with dynamic protection is easy to confuse with the T-90, but ... What would be the motivation for such inventions? Justify your failures with Moscow's interference? May be. Accuse Moscow of military intervention? Of course. But as long as there are no photographs, as long as there are no direct witnesses (and this story is anonymous!), All this is in vain. Russia can calmly ignore such accusations, especially since in response one can cite accusations of using phosphorus bombs and multiple launch rocket systems against civilians. Even tactical ballistic missiles. And there will be more evidence. And, nevertheless, the logic of events shows that Russia could well, and circumstances contributed to this, use its troops. Perhaps not in such terrible quantities, but a special forces company and a battalion of tanks are quite. Even the humanitarian convoy, which is now making its way to Donetsk, can be considered the logistic support of the Novorossiya troops. When the stakes are so high (and we can talk about the alignment of forces before the Third World War), then Russia cannot stand aside. Russia fundamentally cannot allow the revolt of the East to be crushed. Because it's about her future. The only question is what price Russia will have to pay for the elimination of Bandera in Ukraine. Putin is trying to minimize losses and is acting as efficiently as possible for this, turning the Donbass into a meat grinder for Bandera. And ordinary Ukrainians urgently need to get smarter. You can't hope to win a war against the Russians in the Ukraine with the whole of Russia behind them. This is complete madness. You have already been offered a compromise with federalization. And now the ground is being prepared for a new one - there will be negotiations in Minsk. But don't expect things to get better. Hurry, the conditions for a peaceful solution are getting worse for you. It may end with a reservation in the amount of the Lviv region. Russia today is learning from the Americans how to solve national issues. Civilized approach, what do you want?
Recently, we, the Russians, and the entire civilized world, learned the news, long-awaited for the current authorities of the former Ukraine. Namely, "reinforced concrete" evidence of the presence of regular Russian troops in the Donbass!
But this evidence neither the authorities of the former Ukraine, nor their Western curators could show the world almost 4 years!?When, it seems, even "Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine Viktor Muzhenko admitted that there are no regular units of the Russian army on the territory of Ukraine."
And, it seems, "in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons Tuka admitted that there are no Russian troops"
And also, earlier, no Kyiv courts, as it were, could recognize this, at the periodic requests of individual deputies Verkhovna Rada, nor the UN court .."
... As is known, against all this, U.S. State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker said: - You need to clearly understand that there are Russian troops in the Donbass .(2)..
That is, once again - despite the lack of all kinds of evidence, the fact that for almost 4 years the intelligence of neither the former Ukraine, nor Western countries, nor numerous journalists, nor American satellites and drones could confirm this ...
Volker said, period!
And really - such an important person, the whole "Special Representative of the US State Department for Ukraine", and not to believe?! It's just "moveton"!
But ... after all, if you think about it - he is absolutely right! Volker is an enemy, but he is saying a completely objective thing!
because even if these troops consist of yesterday's militias, even if their tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery and other weapons are seized from the Armed Forces of Ukraine - on the territory of the former Ukraine they protect the Russians, the Russian world, and, therefore, Russia.
Means - These are our Russian troops! And it doesn't matter how many there are. We do know - even one person in our army can withstand a bunch of enemy soldiers!
"This Machine Gun Fighter... is called Bato Dashidorzhiev, he is Buryat, during the war with Georgia he served in the reconnaissance company of the 71st motorized rifle regiment.
His photo in 2008 bypassed all the world's media, he alone went against the Georgian military column and won!
After the defeat of the Georgian army near Tskhinvali, its units retreated to Gori, but stumbled upon a Russian checkpoint.
The photo shows how a soldier of the Russian Armed Forces, a stocky and tanned Asian, alone, at the ready with a light machine gun, confronts the motorized infantry of the Georgian Armed Forces.
The officers of the column threatened the machine gunner to get out of the way and let them through, to which he sent them: "Go to x ..., b ... b."
Then foreign media journalists who were moving with the column tried to talk to the machine gunner, and received the same answer.
As a result, the column of Georgian special forces turned around and moved back to where it came from".
And recently, when 16 special forces from the Russian Federation confronted 300 Syrian militants for a day"? (4)
So - again, if suddenly someone does not understand ...
Even if it will be only a few people, even if they have never served in the regular army, but with weapons in their hands, risking their lives, they protect the Russians - these are our, Russian troops!
Valery Asapov, General of the Russian Armed Forces, who died in Syria, actually commanded militant units in the Russian-occupied Donbas before his business trip. These are the results of a Reuters investigation. This is not new information about the "exploits" of the Russian career general in eastern Ukraine. Earlier, Ukrainian intelligence reported that it was Asapov who commanded the 1st Army Corps of militants in Donetsk. Although one of the representatives of ORDLO, Eduard Basurin, assured Reuters that "Asapov was not in the Donbas."
Guests of the program "Your Freedom", a veteran of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a military journalist; , war correspondent for the Russian Novaya Gazeta; , a representative of the international community of investigators InformNapalm.
‒ Mr. Seleznev, how significant is the presence of regular Russian officers and privates in the Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia - in ORDLO? Why doesn’t Ukraine more widely present this super-proof that the Russians were initially involved in the occupation - so little is shown of the Russian military captured?
All senior positions, from the level of a company commander and above, are held by Russian professional military personnel
Seleznev: The presence of Russian troops on the territory of the occupied Donbas is an “open secret”. The entire world community knows that all senior positions, from the level of a company commander and above, are held by Russian professional servicemen. "They are there."
And they've been there since the beginning of the aggression Russian Federation against our country.
Today in the occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions there are about 32 thousand occupying troops. The number of Russian officers is more than 3 thousand.
According to the procedure that was established in the areas of the ATO by the ATO headquarters, all militants captured by the Armed Forces of Ukraine are immediately handed over to the SBU. Both the GRU officers who were detained, and Ageev, and a soldier with the rank of major, who represented the logistics service of the “LPR”, all became world famous only because at the first stage the detentions became public. There are many more such arrests.
This is baggage for the study by the special services of Ukraine, obtaining relevant intelligence information and a fund for the exchange of our military personnel who were captured. The special services of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and other special forces that have the appropriate level of training of specialists are also working on the territory of the occupied Donbass.
The specifics of fulfilling the tasks of units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is aimed at strengthening the offensive component of units and subunits. The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces is forming a powerful fist precisely on the border with Ukraine. These are tens of thousands of Russian soldiers.
‒ Mr. Makaruk, do you have any information today on how widespread is the presence of Russian professional officers, privates in the occupied territory of Donbass?
An additional 11 new types of weapons have been identified in addition to the 44 already identified, which are produced only in Russia and are used Russian army
Makaruk: At the moment, our team has presented 330 new guaranteed evidence of the presence of Russian troops and military personnel in the Donbas. In addition to the 44 already identified, 11 new types of weapons were identified, which are produced only in Russia and are used by the Russian army, and are not supplied anywhere else.
They also found 8 out of 83 representatives of the regular military units of the Russian Federation with the most diverse geography - from the Arctic Ocean to the troops stationed in Tajikistan, from the troops stationed in the occupied Transnistria, Crimea and Abkhazia, to the Far East.
We can point to the all-round aggression being carried out not within certain military districts of Russia, namely, that it is being carried out centrally.
Everything is supervised by regular Russian officers. They teach Ukrainian youth to kill Ukrainians
They also found 110 military men awarded with Russian awards for aggression in Crimea, Donbass and Syria. The main military force is Russian mercenaries, who arrived in the form of "cannon fodder". All this is supervised by regular Russian officers. They represent all special forces and the most technical positions. They teach Ukrainian youth how to kill Ukrainians, form propaganda and give goals.
No matter how much we catch these bastards on the territory of our state, we are obliged to exchange them for our guys, who are now in captivity.
Based on exclusive materials that were transferred by the Ukrainian Cyber Alliance, we investigated the private company of Wagner. There, the salary is from 2 thousand dollars a month. And for those who come, there are a variety of types of salaries that depend on one simple factor - qualifications and how lucky this or that person is. Cases were repeatedly recorded when they worked for food.
‒ Mr. Kanygin, according to your observations, how significant is the role of the military from Russia in the military groups of the "LPR" and "DPR"? And on the losses of regular Russian military personnel in the Donbass - is there more or less reliable data?
Kanygin: This role is decisive, if we talk about the participation of officers in training events, management related to the rear, with support, with the leadership of units from a company and above. The Russian authorities always emphasize: these are people who “voluntarily” went to the Donbass, have nothing to do with the official Ministry of Defense, “took a vacation” and can do whatever they want.
This is the so-called hybrid logic - we perfectly understand that an officer cannot take a vacation for a month or three, no one will ever let him go, especially knowing that he is going to war in a neighboring state, falls under the article of the Russian Criminal Code on mercenaries, but at the same time, as if not to complain. It is the matter of time. In the future, maybe even soon, we will find out that everything could have been different.
As long as the current government remains in Russia, nothing can be said for sure with the documents. As soon as we started to get close, first of all Schlosberg (Deputy of the Pskov Assembly, published data on the anonymous burial places of the dead in the Donbas - ed.) To such evidence, the state issued a special law on the classification of data on military losses in peacetime.
Nobody has exact numbers. There are approximate - several hundred dead for all time. But in 2014 and 2015, the funeral of the military took place almost every week in different regions of Russia, who died “during exercises in Rostov region' or simply 'on exercises'. This is when the “hybrid army” was not yet involved, which is “on vacation”, half from local residents, half from someone else.
On the losses of Putin's troops in the first months of the war in the Donbass
The Information Resistance group recently published data on the losses of the Russian military in the Donbas in the summer of 2014. The military observer and Chief Editor site "IS" Yuri Karin.
Russian military aggression has never been disguised as a "civil war in Ukraine", "Novorossia" or "self-determination of peoples in the Donbas". The creativity of illiterate Russian propaganda can be thrown into the trash. There is more than enough evidence of direct military aggression of the Russian Federation against the state of Ukraine.
The Information Resistance group consistently debunks the myths of the occupiers and reveals the Kremlin's plans - from the ideas of conducting hybrid operations to the forces and means involved in them. One of the latest examples of our activity is the publication of the lists of dead and wounded servicemen of the RF Armed Forces in the summer of 2014. In fact, in August 2014, as a result of clashes with units of the Ukrainian army and volunteer battalions, the losses of the Russian armed forces amounted to about 500 servicemen killed and wounded. To be precise, 103 invaders were liquidated, another 378 were sanitary losses. And that's not counting the thousands of "utilized" Russian "holiday workers", mercenaries and local collaborators.
Before the start of the invasion in the summer of 2014, in a 200-kilometer zone near the Russian-Ukrainian border, we recorded an accumulation of battalion tactical groups from the formations of the RF Armed Forces, numbering up to 60,000 people. The Russian autocrat on a white eye promised the West several times to withdraw troops from the border, but did not.
As hybrid forces in the Donbass, Russian citizens from among the army "vacationers", as well as mercenaries recruited by the military registration and enlistment offices and public organizations from the Russian Federation, sponsored by the Kremlin, have already fought. In addition to them, groups of army special forces and special operations forces were already operating in the conflict zone - their losses were also recorded in the list published by the IS group.
The successful offensive of the Ukrainian army forced Putin to use the regular units of the RF Armed Forces. At first, their use was limited to artillery shelling of temporary deployment points of our units deployed to block the border from the territory of the Russian Federation. Air defense systems and aviation also worked on Ukrainian aircraft from the territory of the aggressor. The illegal armed formations of the so-called LPR and DPR then suffered heavy losses and were already actually divided.
The bloody adventure called "Novorossiya" was under threat. Putin was left with no choice but to invade Ukraine with a regular army. Thus, having violated Russian law, the State Duma has already withdrawn permission to use troops outside the Russian Federation.
The retired FSB lieutenant colonel had to lie. Lie sincerely and selflessly. Lie to your own electorate and foreign colleagues. Putin's most cynical statements instantly became Internet memes - "they got lost" and "they won't." There was an evil joke about Russian military failures that the aircraft that crashed during the exercises was “dismissed from the army last year” and has nothing to do with the RF Armed Forces. At some point, a parallel reality was formed from the lies of the Russian leader and Kremlin propaganda. And, worst of all, it seemed that he believed in her. But that's for the uninformed...
It is clear that the Kremlin will continue to disown Russian citizens in order to hide its own crimes. "Ihtamnets" from among mercenaries or vacationers are very convenient. Their involvement in bloody politics can be easily justified by ideological considerations and the broad scope of the Russian soul. They will always be on the cutting edge, cannon fodder. Passports and military IDs will naturally be confiscated from them. And mother or wife, in which case, it is not at all necessary to inform. Friends "coffin" will bring ...
Another thing is the regular military, without whom there is simply nowhere. These are advisers, and instructors, and commanders of hybrid formations. Which the “hybrid” themselves do not like very much for their high salary and stupid bestiality. The Kremlin will continue to blur their participation with “exercises” and “explosions of warehouses” so as not to expose their own crimes.
The war in Donbass has been going on for almost a year and a half.
But in Russia - and this is for me one of the strangest facts of this not quite ordinary war - in Russia to this day they are sure that Russia is not participating in this war.
At the same time, all the facts are in plain sight in order to draw the necessary and absolutely obvious conclusion. Moreover, after all, everyone remembers how, before wheezing and screeching, they proved that Russian troops did not participate in the annexation of Crimea, it was all done by the people's militia. And only after Putin's direct statement did the Russians suddenly see the light - yes, well, our troops were there. But they only helped the people's will! - and somehow fell out of my head. that the troops came first, and the will happened - then. Yes, and the will was completely falsified - but at least the fact of the presence of troops was recognized. And then the whole world saw them - and only Russia did not notice.
How it all began
Today, the decisive role of Russia in organizing the war in the Donbas cannot be doubted.
And the main signs here are not only the active participation of Russian citizens, but also a clear synchronization and identical nature of actions in Kharkov, Donetsk, Luhansk. This clearly indicates the presence of a single leading center. Which was not found on the territory of Ukraine, but everything pointed to its presence in Russia.
However, the seizure of administrations and the rise Russian flag over the Regional State Administration in Donetsk and Lugansk did not mean the beginning of the war at all. The rallies ended in essentially nothing, there were no dead or seriously maimed (with one exception - in Donetsk, a Svoboda activist was killed by sharpening in the back). And both sides, both the "old masters" (represented by Akhmetov and Efremov), and " new government"(represented by Turchinov, Avakov and Yatsenyuk) staged demonstrations of force, but at the same time they clearly wanted to reach an agreement.
The problem was only in the distribution of equity participation - participation in power, both local and central, and in access to cash flow. And the demonstrations were arranged precisely for the purpose of obtaining preferences in bargaining. Nobody resolutely thought about the war, and even more so about the separation of the SE or Donbass from the rest of Ukraine. Each of the parties, and in particular the "old masters", were convinced that they were in absolute control of the situation; this was confirmed as the data referenced Island /cm. last two paragraphs, and March - Donetsk was not going to fight, nor to separate. For joining Russia in the Donetsk region spoke in March 14th 33.2% respondents, in Luhansk - 24.1% . And according to the Island in the city of Donetsk in April 66% wanted to remain part of Ukraine. Those. the Protestants in the building of the Regional State Administration and the screamers "Russia! Russia!" really represented an obvious minority of the population, which means that there could be no question of any civil war or secession.
To the above, I can only add that now the number of those eager to join Russia on both sides of the front line has generally fallen to 10% in the DPR and to 5% in the liberated part of the Luhansk region, but this is so, by the way.
But both sides, who staged demonstrations for the sake of bargaining, greatly miscalculated in one
They greatly underestimated the power and determination of Russia. Both in terms of training local separatists in organizations such as "OPLOT" - relatively few in number, but ready for military actions, and in terms of training special groups of "little green men", as well as another very important factor: the influence of Yanukovych, who fled to Russia. As it turned out, he still paid large sums to employees of the local police and local departments of the SBU, respectively, and retained control of these structures, which, instead of opposing Russian saboteurs, actively joined in and began to help arrange a massacre in their own homeland.
A cardinal turning point occurred at the moment when two groups of "little green men" appeared under the command of Russian senior officers Strelkov (Girkin) and Bezler, as well as the well-known Moscow political strategist Borodai; all these people, from leaders to the rank and file, have already gained experience in seizing power in Crimea. But in the Donbass, things did not go from the very beginning as in the Crimea, because the green "little men" here began not with a demonstration of politeness, but with murders.
Look at this entry, these are the first murders in the Donbass. Before that, contrary to the cries of Russian propaganda, the Ukrainians did not kill a single person, and in general they did not send any armed forces to the Donbass, not to mention the “punishers”, whose cries choked Russian television. Strelkov (Girkin) began to kill, who shot a column of two Mercedes and a jeep.
But not only this is important.
Listen to the demands that the fighters have to put forward, this is between the 3rd and 4th minute of the tape.
Girkin is interested in the question he repeats in a fever: “Who have we crushed?”. In response, Boroday gives the directive: “Let your deputy (the one with a Ukrainian accent) voice your demands to Lifenews journalists: federalization, amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine, so that DECISIONS ON EXTERNAL BORROWINGS are made by at least two-thirds of the representatives of the regions.”
Think about it: in a conversation, the DRG, which has left the battle in the Donbass steppe, is on the other side of Moscow, which sets the task of ... EXTERNAL BORROWINGS OF UKRAINE! “This is important, this is extremely important,” repeats the voice from Moscow.
Autonomy within Ukraine, changes to the Constitution, economic responsibility for the maintenance of new autonomies - these are the points of the plan with which Putin came to Minsk. These are also paragraphs 4 and 11 allegedly signed by the contact group in the Minsk agreements.
So, from the first day of the war in the Donbass, from the day of the first blood in the Donbass, and until the Minsk agreements, Russia's goal has not changed. This is "Kremlin-style federalization" - that is, the right of the regions to block the vital decisions of the Ukrainian government, and at the same time the impossibility of the central government to influence the decisions of the regions. Those. Putin's full control over the decisions of the Ukrainian central government. At the same time, Ukraine must also support these "Trojan horses" - having completely lost its real sovereignty.
Those. there is no talk of any "civil war", "protection of the Russian-speaking population" and other nonsense. From the very beginning, the task is to get the Kremlin to control the Ukrainian authorities.
BUT the first murder was followed by new ones.
Here is a conversation in which the GRU officer Bezler (call sign Bes) instructs to capture the Gorlovka deputy Rybak, and another Russian officer Strelkov instructs the "people's mayor" Ponomarev (by the way, who remembers him now? Or Gubarev?) "to resolve the issue with a squint ", to which Ponomarev replies:" With a corpse? .. Right now I'll go and decide the issue with the burial of this rooster.
And on April 19, the bodies of Rybak and another man with signs of torture, with an open stomach and numerous cuts, were found in the Slavyansk region.
Those. the appearance of Russian DRGs immediately led to murders, abductions, torture, the seizure of an arms depot in Lugansk - and the mechanism of war was launched. In this willingly and repeatedly Girkin himself: « Donetsk did not fight at all and was not going to
, and the Ukrainian side, before our exit from Slavyansk, was not going to storm Donetsk, it expected that it would return to them without a fight.
I still pressed the trigger of the war. If our detachment had not crossed the border, in the end everything would have ended, as in Kharkov, as in Odessa. There would have been several dozen killed, burned, arrested. And that would be the end of it. And practically the flywheel of the war, which is still going on, launched our detachment. We have mixed all the cards on the table. All! And from the very beginning we started fighting in earnest." I note - this is before any use of force by Ukraine and until the very birth of "militia".
The fact of the need for the direct participation of Russian forces for the successful conduct of anti-Ukrainian operations is also confirmed, which, regarding the reasons for the liquidation of the project " Novorossiya" remarks: "there was no "Crimean" support of the population and analogues of the Black Sea Navy. Everything went wrong without them».
Thus, Girkin’s direct testimony, and indirect data on synchronization, the existence of a common plan, the involvement of assault groups with Crimean experience and experienced political strategists also with Crimean experience, as well as the failure of the operation where the groups Russian special forces did not come - all this allows us to confidently conclude: The war was planned, organized and started by Russia
Continuation of consideration -