Russia accuses Ukraine on Georgia

[IndianaGreen]

Source: BBC News

Page last updated at 17:39 GMT, Monday, 24 August 2009 18:39 UK

Russia accuses Ukraine on Georgia

Ukrainian troops fought alongside Georgian forces in the brief conflict last August between Georgia and Russia, Moscow prosecutors say.

Regular soldiers, as well as 200 members of a Ukrainian nationalist group, took part in the fighting, the prosecutor general's office said.

The statement comes amid worsening relations between Moscow and Kiev.

Ukraine denied it helped Georgian attempts to re-assert control over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

It is believed to be the first time a Russian official has made such a direct accusation in a long war of words between Moscow and Kiev about the conflict, says the BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8219171.stm

[Captain Hilts]

1. Uh oh...nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Next thing you know Russia will accuse Poland of starting WWII

http://www.polskieradio.pl/thenews/international/artykul114588_russian_tv_claims_poland_was_ww_ii_aggressor.html

[Posteritatis]

6. That's the official stance in their MoD now, too

I was reading about the, ah, reactions diplomats (and historians) were having when Koralev published the new orthodoxy about that at the Institute for Military History.

I added another shaker to the amount of salt with which I take most Russian government claims about their "near abroad" after that one.

[WriteDown]

3. Many of us knew this was the next shoe to drop. nt

[Alamuti Lotus]

4. Rumour has it there were also Russians fighting in Osetiya....

More interestingly, there will be a more serious backlash in the Caucasus once hostilities begin again. The Georgian state refused the assistance of Amir Umarov last time in fear of alientating his imperialist backers (though some surveillance work on transport columns was carried out), there will be a more tangible series of events in the rear of the aggressors' line when occuring again. The Ukrainians have a dubious governor, but valid concerns over the Black Sea for the same reasons the Georgians have (Osetiya is a spark, but Sevastopal & Sochi are the main issues between these governments at the moment).

[ohio2007]

5. Putin dashes to Chechnya, shows support for Kadyrov (regional tinder box on fire again )

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin visited Russia's restive Chechnya region on Monday, showing support for a local leader accused by rights groups of abuses and demonstrating Moscow's presence in a mainly Muslim region racked by violence.Central Russian channels showed Prime Minister Putin and Kremlin-backed regional chief Ramzan Kadyrov alighting from a military helicopter at Tsentoroi, the Kadyrov clan's home village in the southeastern Chechen foothills.

Putin launched a second war to crush Chechen rebels in 1999 that gained him widespread popularity and propelled him to the highest office. Violence has flared again in the past months, with attacks by militants seeking an Islamist state in the north Caucasus spreading to neighbouring Dagestan and Ingushetia.Surrounded by heavily armed guards in camouflage and with sub-machineguns at the ready, the two men laid a basket of red and white roses at the tombstone of Kadyrov's father, Akhmad, who was killed in a bomb blast in 2004.

.....
In Moscow, some 50 human rights activists held a rally in heavy rain to commemorate Chechen activist Natalia Estemirova, killed 40 days ago. "Kadyrov resign!" they chanted.

"People have become truly afraid to report abuses in Chechnya," Allison Gill, Russia director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), told journalists.


......
Last Monday, a powerful truck bomb exploded at a police headquarters in Ingushetia, killing at least 25 people and dealing a humiliating blow to Moscow's authority in the region.

Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, seriously wounded in a suicide bomb attack on June 22, resumed his duties at the weekend.

Suicide bombers on bicycles launched two separate attacks on Friday, killing at least four policemen, in the Chechen capital Grozny, newly rebuilt after two devastating secessionist wars


....

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/25/worldupdates/2009-08-25T005938Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-419484-2&sec=Worldupdates


Meanwhile, Putin will be playing the "cutting EU oil because of Ukraine" card soon enough

Russian leader says Ukraine endangering gas supply


MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has accused Ukraine of endangering European gas supplies, and threatened to delay sending a new Russian ambassador until relations with its neighbor improve.

In a letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko released Tuesday by the Kremlin, Medvedev also criticizes Yushchenko's push to make Ukraine a NATO member and his support for an Orthodox church outside Moscow's control.

Russia and Ukraine have had troubled relations for years, but the new criticism was unusual for its strong language and its length.

Ukraine is due to hold presidential elections in five months, and Medvedev suggested Russia would not be backing pro-Western Yushchenko for re-election.

.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090811/D9A0S8GG1.html

Russis doesn't want to lose the port in Ukraine that their fleet flounders around in. They do not want the lease to expire and a pro Russian president will likely re up the "Russian occupation" deal. Thats why they are getting loud about their ex break away state.

[amandabeech]

7. Thanks for the explanation.

I thought it was a little early for the annual Russia-cuts-gas-to-Ukraine crisis.

I hope this all amounts to a lot of sword-rattling in the end.

However, I think that the Russians would be wise to find or construct a more secure base for their southern navy on their own territory.

[Alamuti Lotus]

8. Yes, Kafirov the Lesser needs all the support he can get nowadays

Actually, what he really needs is a good stiff boot to the teeth, but like his father he will get what is coming to him soon enough.

After praising the dictator of occupied Chechnya, Putin then celebrated and defended the independence of Abkhazia & South Osetiya on the same trip. I had known that Putin was geniunely a phenominal athlete for a man of his advancing age, but I knew not his immense talents in the field of gymnastics to be able to contort and bend in extreme ways as to make such statements nearly back to back.

A very surprising revelation has surfaced about the Operation in Nazran you cite above, which was known to have been carried out by a unit of the reinstated "Riyadhus Salakhin" battalion. The event against this wretched center of torture and kidnapping was carried out by Sheikh Said Abu Saad al-Buryati himself, a famous Russian (sic) Islamic scholar who had come to the Caucasus Emirate to study their jihaad and report back to Russian Muslims what he had found. It would appear that this man was a real believer in what he taught, and in thus striking a mighty blow against the cruel punitive apparatus of the occupyers, was not afraid to provide a strong and tangible example to others to complement his strong words. This event came after the most recent triumphalist final victory declaration by Kafirov and Putin (I say 'most recent', as there have been no less than 5 such declarations this year, possibly on pace to beat the 9 'total victory' celebrations last year--they're somehow more blindingly optimistic than El Shrubster with his "Mission Accomplished" sort of dippyness).


The Ukrainian election early next year may prove to be much more controversial and noteworthy than any of the farces played out so far this year. Current-President Yushchenko was polling at around 2% given the announced candidates last I saw; not looking good for NATO's fanboy.