19 Mar, 2022 14:27

HomeRussia & FSU

Zelensky aide blames conflict with Russia on ex-president

Their using Bidans excuse for all the failures, blame it on the past president

Ingraining NATO aspirations in the country’s constitution is among the causes of the conflict, a presidential aide has claimed

An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Alexey Arestovich, said on Saturday that former president Petro Poroshenko is partly responsible for the ongoing conflict with Russia. The official pointed the finger at Poroshenko’s decision to write NATO aspirations into the country’s constitution.

The clause, outlining Kiev’s pathway to becoming a full-fledged member of the EU and US-led NATO alliance, was added into Ukraine's constitution in February 2019 and shortly before presidential elections. While the move was a pure PR stunt for the former president, it turned out to have long-lasting consequences, Arestovich told local media.

“When Poroshenko introduced this, it was his personal pre-election PR technology. He knew beforehand that NATO would never accept us. Not the least share of the blame for what is happening now in Ukraine lies with those who adopted and promoted this constitutional provision,” he said, implying that those Ukrainian MPs who supported the clause share the blame for it as well. The constitutional change received overwhelming support back then with 334 out of 450 MPs voting for it.

Under Poroshenko, the desire to join NATO was also incorporated into the country’s military doctrine in 2015. That document also formally established Russia as a “military adversary” of Kiev.

Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, however, actually date well before the February 2019 constitutional reform. The country was cozying up to the US-led bloc since the late 1990s, sending a “peacekeeping unit” to Iraq in 2002, adopting legislation allowing military access of NATO forces onto its soil in 2004, and so on.

The bloc itself formally recognized Ukraine’s aspirations in 2008, when the alliance announced in the Bucharest Summit Declaration that it welcomed “Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO.” The summit participants agreed that eventually these countries would “become members of NATO.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/552297-poroshenko-nato-ukraine-conflict/

19 Mar, 2022 15:10

March in honor of Nazi veterans returns to EU capital

The event commemorating Latvians who fought in the Waffen SS during WWII was suspended for the past two years due to Covid-19

Hundreds of people marched in the Latvian capital Riga on Wednesday to honor their compatriots who fought alongside the Nazis during World War II.

Around 200 demonstrators carried the national flags of Latvia and Ukraine, as well as flowers that were laid at the foot of the Freedom Monument in the city center.

The event, which was accompanied by a large police presence, was “peaceful,” according to the local media.

There were some counter protesters, but they didn’t interfere and instead silently observed the procession.

Among them was a woman who became famous on social media in recent days for carrying a bag with a huge letter “Z,” a symbol of the ongoing Russian military operation in Ukraine.

This time, she had her jacket decorated with a Russian tricolor and made a victory sign with her fingers. The woman was eventually approached by officers and driven away in a service car, with police saying it was the only arrest at the event.

On March 16, the Latvian Anti-Nazi Committee usually holds counter-events as well. Law enforcement authorities believe the potential meeting of people who hold opposing views creates a risk of provocation and tension. This year, Riga City Council did not approve the application of the Latvian Anti-Nazi Committee to hold a demonstration. Taking into account the situation in the world, in order not to aggravate conflicts, the organization decided against appealing the decision of the city council, said Andrey Pagor, a representative of the committee. Instead of holding a full-scale demonstration, committee members laid flowers at the monument to the victims of the Nazis.

The controversial march honoring Latvian members of Waffen SS units had been suspended for the last two years as public gatherings were banned in the Baltic state as part of anti-coronavirus measures.

The Latvian authorities had urged the organizers to refrain from staging it this year too. The chairman of the parliament’s National Security Committee Maris Kucinskis argued that the march should be called off to avoid provocations amid the tensions caused by the conflict in Ukraine.

Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires is the day when the soldiers of the Latvian legion, which was a part of Waffen SS, are commemorated. It has been held in the EU country annually since the 1990s, facing condemnation from Moscow, but being largely overlooked by Brussels.

Latvian authorities argue that while the legion did, in fact, technically fight on Hitler’s side, most of its members understood their role as fighting to regain independence for Latvia. Being part of the German military forces was the only way of preventing the return of Soviet occupation, Latvia says.

https://www.rt.com/russia/552299-latvia-nazi-march-ukraine/

19 Mar, 2022 09:05

HomeRussia & FSU

Russia fires hypersonic missiles in Ukraine

Moscow has deployed Kinzhal missiles for the first time since the start of its military operation

The Russian military has said it used its state-of-the-art Kinzhal hypersonic missiles to destroy an arms depot near the city of Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine.

The strike with the air-launched missile system took place on Friday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said during a briefing.

It targeted “a large underground depot of missiles and aerial munitions of the Ukrainian forces” in the village of Deliatyn, he added.

Kinzhal, which means ‘dagger’ in English, was used by the Russian military for the first time since the start of the Ukrainian conflict on February 24.

Those munitions are said to be able to penetrate any existing air defenses by traveling at a whoppingspeed of up to Mach 10and constantly maneuvering during their flight.

Kinzhal missiles are carried by MiG-31K supersonic interceptor aircraft, which NATO calls ‘Foxhound’.

The hardware is one of several hypersonic systems prepared for the country’s military in recent years, together with the Avangard glider, which is fitted on silo-based ICBMs, and Zircon (Tsirkon) missiles, developed for the navy.

Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine last month following a seven-year standoff over Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the breakaway Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols had been designed to regularize the status of those regions within the Ukrainian state.

https://www.rt.com/russia/552284-kinzhal-hypersonic-missile-ukraine/

19 Mar, 2022 16:38

Ukrainian naval mines adrift in Black Sea, Moscow warns

The explosives have detached from their cables and may ultimately get into the Bosphorus and the Mediterranean, the FSB has said

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) issued a formal maritime warning on Saturday about a dangerous situation that is developing in the Black Sea. In response to Russia’s offensive, Ukraine had placed anchor mines along its coastline, but a number have since detached from their cables and are adrift at sea, it said.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine have once again demonstrated a complete disregard for international law and for human lives, including those of citizens of the European Union,” the FSB said in a statement.

According to the agency, after Russia launched a large-scale military operation against the country in late February, the Ukrainian Navy created a minefield outside each of the Black Sea ports of Odessa, Ochakov, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny. The FSB claims the mines deployed are for naval or river use and were produced by the Soviet Union in the first part of the 20th century.

“With the onset of stormy conditions, the cables connecting the mines with their bottom anchors began to break. The mines are now drifting freely in the western part of the Black Sea,” it said.

The situation is likely to get even more hazardous, given the southward trajectory of the surface currents in the area, the FSB has warned. “It is not possible to rule out that the detached mines will drift into the Bosphorus and further into the Mediterranean Sea,” it added.

Moscow attacked its neighbor following a seven-year standoff over Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk ceasefire agreements, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. German- and French-brokered protocols had been designed to regularize the status of the breakaway regions within the Ukrainian state.

https://www.rt.com/russia/552304-ukrainian-naval-mines-alert/

>>15898387

I knew satellites were going to be a problem

>>15898443

Damn they are good

>>15898473

Air launched, like from a plane?

>>15898469

So how did Russia know they were adrift? Did they monitor them putting them in? Did they intentionally cut the cable? Or are they currently monitoring them?

Seems like Ukraine military is not very good at clandestine activities