US State Dept. fails to recognize ‘individuals’ detained by Kiev as Russian journalists
RT | May 20, 2014
Washington has failed to condemn the detention of Russian journalists working in Ukraine, instead doubting they were journalists at all and accusing them of smuggling weapons based on a “reports and conversations” on the ground.
The US State Department claims that Russian journalists were in possession of press accreditation that was given to them by the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic, which Ukraine and the US do not recognize.
“The Ukrainian Security Services, according to reports, have detained a number of people who were in possession of fake journalist credentials issued by the non-existent Donetsk People’s Republic,” US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a daily press briefing.
Psaki did not specify precisely which journalists she was referring to, but Associated Press reporter Matt Lee at the briefing was asking about the Russian TV crew working for LifeNews who were detained by the Ukrainian Security Forces (SBU) on Sunday.
“Reportedly they were carrying portable aircraft missiles in the trunks of their cars at the time of their detention. So I haven’t looked in your trunk lately but it is unlikely you have those in there. That raises some questions about these individuals and whether they were actually journalists,” Psaki said.
After persistent attempts by Lee to find out whether Psaki had any proof or credible source to back such claims, she acknowledged that these reports were “credible” as considered by a US “team on the ground” which is “in touch with Ukrainian authorities.”
Reports “about these individuals and what they were carrying with them, certainly raises the question as to who they are,” Psaki answered
When again pushed to answer whether the accusations were based on rumors, Psaki hinted that the information comes from Kiev.
“This is from our team on the ground who are certainly in touch with our Ukrainian authorities,” Psaki replied.
When asked about the detention of an RT stringer working on the ground in eastern Ukraine, Graham Phillips, Psaki replied that she was not aware of “specific details” of his arrest yet, but promised to look into that.
Psaki said that the State Department will condemn the move of illegal detention of journalists, however emphasizing that Washington will first of all focus on “continuing to press for the release of the Ukrainian and international journalists who have been detained by Russian separatists.”
On Sunday, two Russian LifeNews journalists, Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, were captured by Ukrainian troops near Kramatorsk in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
Ukrainian authorities claimed on Tuesday that the detained journalists confessed during interrogation to entering the territory of the country without press cards. The crew are now in Kiev but so far have not been charged.
Previously the OSCE urged the Kiev authorities to release the Russian journalists saying that intimidation and obstruction of media is “unacceptable.”
In the meantime, RT has lost contact with the channel’s contributing journalist Graham Phillips who had earlier reported that he had been detained by the National Guard at a check point in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine. The British journalist Phillips may be turned over to the Ukrainian Security Service and sent to Kiev as well, a source told RT
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s commissioner for human rights labeled the harassment of journalists as the obstruction of media that doesn’t support the coup-appointed authorities’ policy.
“This is another step de facto made by Ukrainian authorities to curb the activities of unwanted journalists,” said Konstantin Dolgov. “The journalists who work professionally and show an objective picture, the ugly side of the outrages made by ultra-nationalists, the results of [Kiev’s] punitive operation in the southeast.”
Journalists Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko. Image from http://www.lifenews.ru
In both cases involving the RT stringer and LifeNews crew, it appears the SBU was responsible in detaining and neutralizing reporting. Dolgov added that Phillips’ arrest followed the “unlawful seizure, detention of Russian journalists,” adding that Moscow is continuing to work for their speedy release.
On Monday, pro-Kiev activists again called to “immediately detain and deport” Phillips, who they believe is “cooperating with terrorists,” according to a message posted on EuroMaidan Kharkov’s Facebook page.
The same day, LifeNews said that journalists held captive by Ukraine’s coup-installed government were reportedly arrested after they released footage showing a UN-marked helicopter used by Kiev’s armed forces engaged in an operation against civilians in the east. A few days prior to the journalists’ arrest on Sunday, the authorities in Kiev issued an order to “find and neutralize” the authors of the video, a LifeNews source in SBU told the channel.
Meanwhile, RT Arabic’s news crew who arrived in Kiev to cover the upcoming May 25 Ukrainian presidential election has not been allowed into the country and was sent back to Moscow under the pretext that they were unable to properly explain the purpose of their visit, despite being accredited by the Ukrainian Central Election Commission.
Ukrainian MPs call for immediate troop withdrawal from country’s east
RT | May 20, 2014
Ukrainian troops deployed in the country’s east should immediately return to their bases, the country’s parliament said in a memorandum. The freshly-adopted document also urges constitutional reforms based on the decentralization of Kiev’s power.
With 226 votes required to pass the law, the Ukrainian parliament finally adopted the so-called ‘Memorandum of Peace and Consent’, 252 MPs voting in favor. In particular, the document calls “to restore law, order and public safety in the state by stopping bloodshed and bringing to justice those responsible for the killings of civilians during mass protests; to stop the anti-terrorist operation in Ukraine’s southeast and return the soldiers involved in anti-terrorist operations to their places of permanent deployment.”
The document also urges for immediate constitutional reform that will grant more autonomy to regions.
The Verkhovna Rada voted after a debate concerning the wording of the article on the status of the Russian language. An agreement was reached after “constitutional status of the Ukrainian language as the language of state” was confirmed.
The document said that the state “must ensure the rights of minority languages.” The document made a point “to grant the status of the Russian language,” but stopped short from giving it the constitutional status. This resulted in the Communist Party abstaining from the vote.
Communist leader Pyotr Simonenko also blasted the decision to drop the provision granting amnesty to self-defense forces in the east.
MPs from the nationalist Svoboda Party abstained from voting as well, saying they believe the reform will be ineffective.
Further, the reform will provide for the country to drop its non-aligned status, allowing it to join any interstate union through a referendum.
Following the announcement, Russia said that if Ukraine’s authorities plan to implement all the reforms declared in the memorandum then they will finally be responding to Moscow’s calls.
“First, we have to see how it looks on paper. If this is true then it’s the development we have been talking about over the past months,” said Deputy Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Grigory Karasin, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
Kiev liable for crisis in eastern Ukraine: Analyst
Press TV – May 20, 2014
The Kiev government is actually responsible for the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine, a political analyst tells Press TV.
“We can blame the military operation launched by Kiev and this is not just a military operation. It’s not just used military forces of the Ukrainian army; it has also used militias, irregular troops, terrorist units, simple violent hooligans,” Manuel Ochsenreiter, chief editor of news magazine, Zuerst, said in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday.
He held the Kiev government and not Donetsk and Lugansk or even Moscow accountable for the ongoing crisis.
The acting Kiev government has been staging military operations in the eastern and southern regions since mid-April in a bid to root out pro-Moscow demonstrations.
Nearly 130 people have so far been killed during clashes and operations by Ukrainian troops in the east and the south, according to figures from the United Nations.
The commentator further emphasized that the recent referendum in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk is not responsible for the humanitarian situation as it did not take the social services from the country.
He added that an election or referendum has never changed the direct humanitarian situation of the people on the ground in any time of history, noting that Kiev and the West are likely to use it as an excuse.
“It’s a very cynical interpretation of the situation to say, well, you wanted to be independent, now take starve, don’t find a doctor, now don’t get medicine,” the analyst pointed out.
On May 12, Ukraine’s two eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk declared independence following local referendums in which the regions’ residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Kiev.
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Ukrainian Police Find Traces of Chloroform at Site of Odessa Fire
RIA Novosti – 19/05/2014
KIEV – Ukrainian investigators have discovered traces of chloroform in garbage and ashes removed from the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, the site of a fire where dozens of activists died on May 2, acting Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Vitaliy Sakal said Monday.
“There is an expert conclusion that in the garbage and ashes, where there were already around 30 investigations held on the premises; a like substance of chloroform was discovered. It is used during surgeries, but how it ended up in the Professional Union Building is currently being investigated,” Sakal said during a press conference.
He said that inhaling large amounts of the substance leads to respiratory arrest, which is what happened during the fire, in which 32 people died from an unknown substance, not extreme temperatures.
Clashes in Odessa broke out on May 2, between pro-federalization activists on one side and fans of the Odessa and Kharkiv football teams on the other, joined by Euromaidan activists.
Pro-Kiev radicals joined by Right Sector militia blocked the anti-government protesters in the House of Trade Unions and set the building on fire by hurling Molotov cocktails inside. Those trapped inside had little chance of extinguishing the blaze, as fire hoses in the building were out of order.
Six died of bullet wounds, 32 suffocated, and 10 fell to their death by jumping through the windows of the burning building. Another 214 were injured. According to some information, another 48 are reported to be missing.
No plausible explanation has been offered for the fact that many of those who died did not try to take refuge on upper floors or the roof, prompting rumors that they were poisoned by an unknown chemical.
Kiev army shells Kramatorsk, city ‘left without water’ – self-defense coordinator
RT | May 18, 2014
The Ukrainian army shelled the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Sunday as fierce clashes erupted between Kiev’s military and self-defense forces who stopped the APC convoy from entering the city, local activists said.
A military convoy comprised of six APCs approached the city from the northwest and began shelling it, a member of the self-defense forces told RIA Novosti.
“About 10 fighters wearing black uniforms with no markings, as well as several people in camouflage, were sitting on top of each combat vehicle” as the convoy tried to enter the city, another member of the self-defense forces told Itar-Tass. He believes National Guard and Right Sector militants were among them.
Powerful explosions and intense shooting, including shots from large-caliber guns, could be heard even from the city center, according to witnesses. Residents also said that a civil defense siren was heard in the city.
Several self-defense checkpoints have been reportedly attacked by Kiev’s army, and a factory in the suburbs was set on fire.
One resident was injured at a bus stop as the Kiev military shelled the city. Self-defense members helped her emerge from the debris.
“The public transport stop is 40 meters from a nine-story apartment building. If the shell would have hit it, the consequences would be much more tragic,” the self-defense member said, as quoted by Itar-Tass.
A resident of Kramatorsk posted a video on YouTube showing that his ninth floor apartment had been shot at. The footage shows a bullet hole in his window and another one in a wall.
Water and gas lines have also been shelled, and all of the residents of Kramatorsk have been left without water, self-defense coordinator Maksim Vlasov told RIA Novosti. Some are now also without gas, local media reported, citing Karmatorsk deputy Mayor Andrey Bessonny.
A resident told RT that he believes the Kiev military used “grad multiple launch rockets or howitzers” to shell the city.
“I served in the army and during my service I have never heard such shots. They are getting louder and louder. A checkpoint is behind the house and one or two workshops of the factory are burning. Fifteen people are staying under my window, all with rifles and grenade launchers, ” Kramatorsk resident Evgeny added.
Meanwhile, loud blasts and repeated heavy gunfire have been heard in the eastern city of Slavyansk, not far from Kramatorsk, according to freelance journalist Graham Phillips, reporting for RT.
The fighting comes after the Thursday ultimatum made by Donetsk self-defense forces, warning Kiev that if Kiev’s troops did not withdraw from checkpoints in the Donetsk region within 24 hours, they would be taken by force.
Ukrainian ultranationalist leader calls for guerilla war against pro-federalists
RT | May 18, 2014
Television debates with three nationalist presidential candidates ended up in calls to pursue a guerilla war against federalist Ukrainian citizens and conduct targeted assassinations of their leaders.
The leader of the radical Right Sector movement, Dmitry Yarosh, and his no less nationalist opponents, former chief of foreign intelligence service, Nikolay Malomuzh, and chairman of People’s Rukh nationalist party, Vasily Skubiyda, presented their vision of Ukraine on Saturday after the presidential election set for May 25.
Because their positions are really close, they represent the far-right body of electors. The extremist views of Dmitry Yarosh stood out against a background of total antagonism towards everything non-Ukrainian, in the first place the Russian-speaking citizens of the country’s southeast who are demanding federalization.
The leader of the militants, who now make up the backbone of the newly created National Guards, currently conducting military operations against federalization activists in eastern Ukraine, has called for “extensive guerilla war” against the protesting federalist forces in Donetsk and Lugansk.
The Right Sector, which last month formed a special detachment, Donbass-1, for waging war against the federalists in eastern Ukraine, is now busy forming the Donbass-2 unit and plans to recruit militants for a third one, said Yarosh.
The ultranationalist leader categorically denied that the autonomous republic of Crimea had the right to disengage with Ukraine through a popular referendum and reunite with Russia. Crimea “has always been, and remains” a Ukrainian territory, stated Yarosh and called to start a guerilla war in the peninsula get the region back.
The Right Sector leader also shared new tactics to be used against federalists in the East, saying that there should be no more attempts to storm the rebel cities, but rather “knock out” the activist leaders. It means that they should be physically eliminated, he specified.
The federalization of Ukraine should never be allowed as it would destroy the Ukrainian state, stressed Yarosh, and promised in case of victory in the presidential race to form future authorities out of Maidan activists who have proven their loyalty.
There is no secret that several Ukrainian oligarchs, who were appointed governors of several eastern regions of the country by the new Kiev authorities, are financing paramilitary units that actually make up private armies of their own.
As for and the Right Sector, its leader Dmitry Yarosh stated that he is “against oligarchs.” The new politician claimed that once he becomes president, he would “redirect Ukrainian economy and tax system from supporting monopolies owned by oligarchs to support small and medium business.”
However, the Right Sector leader never explained what happened to the valuables that were reported missing after Right Sector members occupied certain premises, such as the recreational center ‘Bear oak grove’, or the lavish residence of the former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich soon after the ousted president fled the country.
During the debates, all three candidates agreed that there should be only one official language in Ukraine to maintain the integrity of the country. The presidential candidates expressed a readiness to ensure the rights of the ‘national minorities,’ but offered no solution to the historically Russian-speaking majority of the 20 million-strong population of the South and East of Ukraine, who do not speak Ukrainian.
Towards the end of the debates, Dmitry Yarosh made a controversial statement, addressing the electorate.
“I would like to assure all citizens in the East and South of Ukraine that neither me as a person, nor the Right Sector, bear any ill will to peaceful Ukrainian citizens. Yes, we’re ready to carry out our constitutional duty to protect territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine, and we’re already doing so. We will protect our country with arms if necessary,” said Yarosh.
In fact, Ukrainian citizens of the protesting regions have every right to fear Yarosh and his Right Sector union as they are acting as the spearhead of punitive actions against the protesters in the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkov and Odessa regions.
So far there have been 23 registered presidential candidates in Ukraine, but five of them have called off their candidacies for various reasons.
Developments over the last several months have revealed that the coup-imposed government in Kiev has little, if any authority over the Right Sector’s actions.
After a notorious Right Sector radical militant, Aleksandr Muzychko, was shot dead in a police raid in late March, Dmitry Yarosh demanded the immediate resignation of the Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and punishment for those law enforcement officers who took part in the operation. Right Sector militants besieged the Ukrainian parliament headquarters, forcing the coup-imposed government to consider banning the radical organization, but it never dared to do so.
In Russia Dmitry Yarosh has been put on the wanted list for taking part in killing Russian soldiers in Chechnya in 1994-1995. Moscow also requested Interpol to put the ultranationalist on the international wanted list.
NATO Aims To Repeat Its Libya ‘Success’ In Ukraine
By Daniel McAdams | Ron Paul Institute | May 17, 2014
As NATO and its US masters edge the US and EU closer to war with Russia over Ukraine, it might be appropriate to have a look at NATO’s last “success” story.
Yesterday in Libya, where NATO bombs fell just over three years ago to “liberate” the people from Gaddafi, Islamist militias in Benghazi were under helicopter and warplane attack by a paramilitary force headed by former general Khalifa Haftar. The former general first emerged in Libya back in 2011, having left his long-time home base in the US state of Virginia where his ties to the CIA were an open secret.
Yesterday’s attack by Haftar’s paramilitary group was said to have been joined by some of the Libyan armed forces. At the same time, Libya’s acting prime minister, Abdullah al-Thinni, condemned the attacks as “a coup against the revolution.” The acting prime minister continued, “Air force units that bombed targets in Benghazi today did so illegally, without any orders from us.”
Ironically, the Islamist militias under attack in Benghazi — presumably at the behest of the Obama administration — were not long ago instrumental to the US and NATO when they started the uprising against Gaddafi.
So who runs the government in Libya when some armed forces units attack “the revolution” in Benghazi at the command of a CIA-affiliated former general?
As the Interventions Watch blog points out, claims that Gaddafi was bombing Benghazi from the air provided the main trigger for the NATO attack on Libya. So what will western cheerleaders for that attack say when now a CIA-affiliated militia and parts of the country’s armed forces are actually bombing Benghazi from the air?
If the 2011 NATO attack on Libya was such a success, why is chaos the only thing that reigns in Libya? And why are US military assets being moved from Spain to Sicily over fears of increasing unrest in Libya?
With this great “success” under its belt, we can hardly wait for NATO’s next act: a war with Russia over Ukraine.
Ukraine National Guard soldiers accused of ‘treachery’
The Voice of Russia | May 17, 2014
Ukraine’s National Guard said on Saturday that a group of its soldiers had gone over to the side of the Donetsk People’s Republic on Friday, and that this was one of the reasons for a decision to redeploy the local unit of the Guard.
“As a result of the treachery of a group of contract soldiers who had taken an oath of loyalty to the Donetsk People’s Republic, and in order to prevent bloodshed among conscript soldiers, the command of the Eastern Territorial Operational Unit of the Ukrainian National Guard decided to redeploy the personnel with their armaments to Military Compound No. 2 of military unit 3037,” the National Guard command said.
“Currently competent authorities are investigating the incident,” it said. Prosecutors were investigating “the soldiers’ treachery,” Interfax reports.
Kiev legalizes Maidan far-right fighters creating National Guard
The so-called council of Kiev Maidan activists has approved an order whereby volunteers will be operating within National Guard battalions, territorial army battalions and other units designed to provide law and order and territorial integrity in Ukraine, according to a document posted on Facebook on Tuesday by the Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council and former Maidan commandant Andriy Parubiy.
Maidan fighters will join the Interior Ministry’s national guard, special public order units, army territorial battalions and other armed groups operating and created by the authorities in order to “defend Ukraine”.
The core duties of the self-defense forces will be “to form various government security units within the shortest period of time and fill them with patriots who will mount an armed defense of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence,” and “maintain public order in non-combat areas, form the reserve and provide material and technical aid to regular battalions,” according to the document, Interfax reports.
Kiev proclaims post-referendum Donetsk, Lugansk regions ‘terrorist organizations’
RT | May 16, 2014
New authorities in post-coup Kiev have listed the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as terrorist organizations. The two regions proclaimed themselves sovereign states after the controversial May 11 referendums.
“The two so-called ‘people’s republics’ in Donetsk and Lugansk regions are terrorist organizations, which have a clear hierarchy, financing, and channels of weapons supplies,” Ukraine’s deputy prosecutor general, Nikolay Golomsha, said.
The statement confirmed a similar statement made by Ukraine’s minister of justice, Pavel Petrenko. The minister said the two “were created for assaulting people, intimidation, sabotage, terrorist attacks, beatings, and murder of our citizens.”
Criminal cases have been launched to investigate the “formation of the terrorist organizations.”
On Friday, Golomsha stressed that the General Prosecutor’s Office has managed to reveal channels through which weapons are being supplied to Donetsk and Lugansk.
On May 11, the Ukrainian regions held referendums and voted for self-rule. Kiev and Western countries condemned the ballots, calling them illegal.
Kiev has intensified its military crackdown in the region, deploying tanks, APCs and helicopters. It formed paramilitary forces which are now on the ground in Donetsk and Lugansk regions as part of an “anti-military operation.”
The self-proclaimed republics are demanding the withdrawal of Kiev fighters which continue to clash with local self-defense units.
The deadline for an ultimatum issued by the Donetsk People’s Republic, which demanded that Kiev pull out its troops, passed on Friday.
A deputy commander of the pro-autonomy militia of Donbass, Sergey Zdrilyuk, said on May 15 that all Ukrainian armed forces had 24 hours to withdraw their armored vehicles and checkpoints from around “Donetsk, Mariupol, and other cities.”
He threatened to “destroy and burn down all of this” if the demand was not met. However, Kiev’s forces still remain in the region. According to the Donetsk People’s Republic, the troops were enlarged following the ultimatum.
UN Ukraine report shows double standards in attempt to whitewash Kiev’s actions – Russia
RT | May 16, 2014
Moscow has accused a UN report on violence in Ukraine’s Odessa of being purposefully blind to hard facts and simply “carrying out a political order to whitewash” the actions of the coup-appointed government in Kiev.
The Russian foreign ministry believes that the report presented by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is marked by a systematic and routine ignorance of any Kiev involvement in sparking the Odessa carnage, while placing all the blame unequivocally with the pro-Russian self-defense forces. The ministry statement remarks that not a single word was said about neo-Nazi elements who engaged in setting buildings on fire with people inside, shooting dead anyone who opposed them and finishing of the wounded in plain sight.
This especially concerns the events taking place in the House of the Trade Unions on May 2.
The foreign ministry believes that such “double standards” are a clear indicator of the international organization’s mission to pander to a select side in the conflict without any regard for hard evidence.
The United Nations spoke on Friday of the “alarming deterioration” of the human rights situation in eastern Ukraine. The report by the organization’s head for human rights, Navi Pillay, focuses also on the problems the Tatar minority currently faces in Crimea.
However Moscow said Pillay’s monthly report failed to mention crucial facts, starting with the burnings and the coordinated murders; the inaction by Ukraine’s law enforcement as well as the multiple arrests of individuals rallying for federalization; the multiple kidnappings and instances of torture, as well as lack of any credible evidence to back up those actions. In this interpretation, “the entire story is basically being delivered as Kiev’s official line would have been.”
The foreign ministry found it peculiar that “in some 30 pages of text, there is not one mention of any manifestation of aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine.”
Russia criticized the authors of the report for violating the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, which clearly dictates that political neutrality must be exhibited whatever the situation. “When UN High Commissioner for Human Rights announced Crimea referendum ‘illegal’ following the suit of Kiev and its Western patrons, it seconded that it accepts a nation’s right to self-determination established by international human rights laws only when it is politically favorable,” said the statement.
The icing on the cake, in Moscow’s view, could be seen in the venue where the UN findings were presented – and by whom: in Kiev, by the UN secretary-general’s assistant, Ivan Shimonovich, who has a “reputation for a lack of objectivity, making sweeping judgments” and “unsubstantiated claims”.
Shimonovich’s role in the presentation is seen as “an unambiguous indication” of the OHCHR’s bias and lack of independence and objectivity.
Donetsk self-defense forces give Kiev troops 24 hours to withdraw
RT | May 15, 2014
Donetsk self-defense forces set an ultimatum for the Kiev military, warning that if troops do not withdraw from block posts in the Donetsk region within 24 hours, they will be taken by force, RIA Novosti reported.
The pro-autonomy militia of Donbass region in eastern Ukraine made the statement on Wednesday.
“If the armored vehicles are not pulled back, the roadblocks of the so-called legitimate authorities are not removed, I will have enough power and means – the commander supported me today – to destroy and burn everything. Reconnaissance and sabotage groups are ready to move and some are steady,” deputy commander of the pro-autonomy militia of Donbass, Sergey Zdrilyuk, told RIA Novosti.
“I give 24 hours for them to withdraw all troops, all forces,” he added.
The statement follows referendums in Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which showed that the majority of voters support self-rule amid an intensified military operation by Kiev.
Almost 90 percent of voters in Donetsk region have endorsed political independence from Kiev, the head of the Central Election Commission of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Roman Lyagin, previously announced.
In Lugansk region, 96.2 percent of voters supported the region’s self-rule, according to final figures announced by the local election commission.
After the referendum, the Donetsk People’s Republic proclaimed itself a sovereign state and asked Moscow to consider its accession into Russia.


