10 April 2015

Ukraine’s armed forces have started massive battle-tank shelling of Donetsk, Gorlovka and Dokuchaevsk. The positions of Donetsk People’s Republic militia along the whole frontline are under shelling. Furthermore, serious clashes are ongoing in the settlement of Shirokino near Mariupol. One fighter from DPR forces has been killed. The crew of REN TV channel also came under fire.

NATO and Czech Republic soldiers took part in a drill called “Noble Jump” at the airport in Pardubice, Czech Republic on Thursday. This is an initial exercise and first test of its new rapid response force that NATO says is designed to “face new challenges from Russia”. Some experts believe the drill is offensive rather than defensive, and is actually preparation for a first-strike against Russia. But the most important point is that “Noble Jump” started in the Czech Republic while the US-backed Kiev government began massive shelling in the Donbass region.

Ukraine’s prosecutors reactivated an investigation launched against oligarch Igor Kolomoisky 10 years ago, the country’s Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin said in an interview with LB.ua news portal on Friday. The 2005 criminal case accused Kolomoisky of masterminding an attack on lawyer Sergey Karpenko amid a conflict over the Dneprospetsstal plant in the city of Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine, one of the leading producers of special steels and alloys in Europe. Lawyer Karpenko was stabbed three times, but survived the attack and was later forced to leave the country. Shokin, who was deputy Prosecutor-General at that time, oversaw the investigation. The war between Poroshenko and Kolomoisky, the two most powerful oligarchs of Ukraine, is continuing with renewed vigor.

Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov has stated that Kiev has ability of creating a “dirty” atomic bomb. “We will use all available resources, even for creating a successful weapon,” he said. He stressed that the most important thing is that the weapon was successful. “What is there: dirty or clean, is a scientific and technical issue”. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin’s reaction on this was short. Moron.

A Syrian government delegation has agreed to proposals set forth by Russian mediators during the second round of talks held in Moscow this week to resolve the Syrian civil war, a source familiar with ongoing negotiations told ITAR-TASS on Wednesday. According to the source, the agenda proposed by the Russian side and approved by Syria includes: assessing the current situation, uniting national forces to confront challenges including terrorism, and building trust between the opposition and civil society. In addition, the source said Moscow’s plan outlines the establishment of a political process as well as phased steps in the framework of a national reconciliation program.

9 April 2015

Kiev battalions “Donbass” and “Azov” blatantly violated the ceasefire yesterday with an attack against Shirokino, near Mariupol. Pro-Kiev militants used targeted artillery shelling to destroy billeting housing fighters of the Donetsk People’s Republic. This was reported by the Ukrainian news agency 0629.com.ua which cited the press-service of the “Donbass” battalion. However, proud Kiev gunmen and journalists haven’t provided any photographic evidence of this fact. Thus, we are really of two minds: Either this is a clear example of Kiev forces violating the ceasefire regime or it’s just one more example of the Ukraine media’s Goebbels approach.

The Security Service of Ukraine has detained a group of activists who founded a public association calling itself the Popular Rada of Bessarabia in the southern Odessa region. A total of twenty people have been detained and are providing evidence, the Dumskaya news portal reported, quoting sources at the regional branch of the security service. Popular Rada of Bessarabia earlier issued a statement describing persecution of its activists by Ukrainian authorities. “Ukraine’s security services have unleashed real terror against our activists,” the document said. “Chairman of the organization’s presidium, Dmitry Zatuliveter, has disappeared and the attempts to make contact with him have proved futile so far.” Ethnic minorities residing in the Odessa region have united behind the Popular Rada of Bessarabia to defend their rights. More than a hundred representatives of seven ethnic communities, including Bulgarians, Gagauzians, Russians, Armenians, Romani, Moldovans, and Poles took part in the founding conference.

Armenia’s accession to the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union opens up new opportunities for cooperation between Yerevan and Moscow, the leader of Russia’s parliamentary lower house said on Wednesday. The new political and economic bloc Russia formed together with Kazakhstan and Belarus expanded to four nations on January 2 when Armenia formally joined it, a day after the union came into operation. “We will be happy to take new steps to expand, deepen and develop our relations,” said Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is expected to join forthcoming World War Two commemorations in Moscow.

Hackers affiliated with the Islamic State took down the website and hijacked social media accounts of TV5Monde, a Paris-based television network broadcasting in more than 200 countries. TV5Monde’s website was not accessible by 5:30 am GMT but the network managed to assume control over its social media accounts and partially resumed broadcasting. TV5Monde chief Yves Bigot called the attack unprecedented, adding that the network was severely damaged. The group, known as Cyber Caliphate, claims it carried out the attack in retaliation for France’s involvement in the international coalition set on destroying the brutal Sunni group, controlling large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria.