Kyiv, May 10, 2014. Officials of the Russian Federation continue to attempt to convince the West of the absence of Russian military involvement in Eastern Ukraine. In the meantime, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) continue to uncover additional evidence of Russian engagement in fueling the violent confrontations on Ukraine’s eastern border.<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n
On April 12, 2014 people wearing green uniforms – with no insignia to identify them – carrying firearms and military ammunition simultaneously poured into the streets of eastern Ukrainian cities and occupied a number of administrative and governmental buildings. Using widely accessible photographs and video footage, international politicians, military experts and the media began to analyze the obvious facts, which confirm Russia\u2019s military involvement in the upheaval in the east of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
According to a statement by the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius, the insurgents had identical assault rifles – AK-100 – which are manufactured for the Russian military and are not available for purchase in Ukraine. \u00a0Additionally, the shoe type worn by all insurgents was manufactured by Russia’s enterprise Butex, which has been supplying Russia’s military in recent years, as reported by the journalist Roman Nedzelskyi.<\/p>\n
When analyzing photographs and video footage shot in Sloviansk, a journalist recognized a representative of Russian raiding forces who had previously been involved in military operations in Georgia in 2008.<\/p>\n
Armed insurgents maintained control of two cities in Eastern Ukraine – Kramatorsk and Sloviansk – until Ukraine\u2019s government launched an Anti Terrorism Operation (ATO) in the region. On May 5, 2014 during the ATO in Sloviansk, Ukraine\u2019s troops exposed an ambush set up by military forces which consisted of approximately 800 professionally trained men who were fully armed and had heavy metal and mortar launchers. As a result of the operation, the Ukrainian military lost eight men but successfully freed Sloviansk from most of the insurgents.<\/p>\n
Citizens of the Russian Federation were also engaged in violent clashes in Odessa on May 2, 2014, reported Serhiy Chobotar, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. \u00a0As a result of the standoff between pro-Ukrainian activists and pro-Russian separatists, 42 people died and nearly 125 sustained injuries, reported the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Currently, the ministry in cooperation with local police arrested more than 130 people and opened more than 10 criminal cases against extremists.<\/p>\n
In early May the Ukrainian military lost two helicopters near Sloviansk. Interestingly, they were shot by man-portable air-defense systems (MPADS) which are produced in Russia, reported acting Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov. \u201cThe shots were not random, they were fired using doublet (a special technique) \u2013with the range of 5 seconds delay so that the first missile falls into a thermal trap of the helicopter and the second one makes a deadly hit on the target. Such maneuver can only be executed by a well-trained special operations soldier”, reported the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior Affairs Arsen Avakov. In response to Russia\u2019s statement that these were actions of unguided \u201cself-defense\u201d militias, the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt commented in his Twitter account: \u201cSome elderly ladies bought some RPG\u2019s or missiles at the local grocery store, I assume.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moreover, on May 2, 2014 SBU released an intercepted phone conversation between Russia\u2019s GRU officer Igor Strelkov (Girkin), who was in Sloviansk at the time and an official representative of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Lukin. Throughout the phone call, Girkin and Lukin discussed how the assault of Sloviansk should be temporarily halted for the period of OSCE officials\u2019 presence in the city.<\/p>\n
Reportedly, later the pro-Russian separatists captured the OSCE mission of eight persons from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Sweden. The Security Service of Ukraine has held this phone conversation up as proof that the Russian Federation is involved in the coordination of the armed insurgents and has direct influence on the decisions they make.<\/p>\n
On May 3, 2014, SBU captured one of the partners of a saboteur with a call sign \u201cAbver\u201d (\u201cAdler\u201d), who was a member of Russia\u2019s Intelligence Raiding Unit. \u201cAbver\u201d is a member of a raiding group headed by a Russian GRU officer with a call sign \u201cStrelok,\u201d reads an SBU report. On April 13, 2014 this raiding unit attacked SBU operatives; one person was shot dead and three were heavily injured. Reportedly, \u201cAbver\u201d and \u201cStrelok\u201d were also involved in the abduction of OSCE officials who arrived in Sloviansk with a monitoring mission.<\/p>\n
Russia continues to provoke military confrontation in the southeast of Ukraine. \u201cOne of the block-posts near Slaviansk and the military unit at the border of Donetsk and Lugansk regions were attacked on that night [May 8, 2014 \u2013 UCMC]. In other words, despite claims of the President of the Russian Federation, the terrorists in Slaviansk, sabotage groups on the border between Ukraine and Russia continue to attack the Ukrainian military and law enforcement\u201d, commented the Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine<\/a> Andriy Parubiy.<\/p>\n Since March 2014, Russia has been deploying troops to the Eastern border of Ukraine in order to allegedly conduct interior military trainings. Ukrainian and Western leaders have been calling for Russia\u2019s President Vladimir Putin to withdraw all troops from Ukraine-Russia Eastern border in order to de-escalate the tension and prevent future bloodshed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"