Russian-led rebels dig in for Ukraine attack

[dipsydoodle]

Donetsk, Ukraine - Russian-led paramilitaries are fortifying Donetsk’s provincial government building after kicking out separatist administrators, signalling a shift in power as rebels prepare for an expected assault by Ukrainian troops.

The Russian-dominated Vostok Battalion was securing the building on Friday, a day after it removed local separatist fighters and accused them of looting shops while they engaged Ukrainian forces at the city’s international airport earlier this week.

Vostok soldiers set up defences outside of the building, including an anti-aircraft gun, and bulldozed barricades to create a "free-fire zone" to prepare for an expected attack by Ukrainian soldiers.

The preparations are being made as civilians begin to leave the city, with the rail station packed as rumours circulate of an impending Ukrainian attack on separatist positions.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/05/russian-led-rebels-dig-ukraine-attack-20145308225663111.html

Quoting Old Testament, new pro-Russia militia group lines up in Ukraine

(Reuters) - They are tired after more than three days with almost no sleep but their eyes shine with battle fervor as they man the rebels' frontline barricade in Donetsk, the eastern Ukrainian city where dozens were killed in a battle over the airport this week.

"We are Russians, and we will take revenge for everything the Ukrainians have done to us. We will be here until the very end," said a 29-year-old native of the Sea of Azov port city of Mariupol, who only identified himself by the nickname Chrome.

Chrome and his 24 comrades on the barricade are part of a new pro-Moscow unit formed three months ago. Calling itself the "Russian Orthodox Army", it has been engaged in the heaviest fighting against Ukraine's army in the Donetsk region this month.

It is just one of several armed rebel groups fighting in Ukraine's tumultuous east, with blurred command and coordination lines - and varying motivations and allegiances.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/30/us-ukraine-crisis-east-group-idUSKBN0EA0XY20140530

[freshwest]

1. Why does it say 'Russian-led paramilitaries' when they are supposed to be Ukrainian separatists?

[dipsydoodle]

2. Guidance and organisation maybe.

Reminds me of the US and Israel providing "guidance" to Saakashvili in Georgia prior to the South Ossetia debacle and electoral issues prior to that in the case of the US.

Whether or not "Russian-led paramilitaries" are literally Russian I don't think any of us have any real means of knowing. Soon as the media start using buzz words / expressions they tend to stick.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. The Vostok battalion is mostly Russians - Chechens

But widespread reports — including several videos — have documented the presence of the Vostok Battalion, a unit of Russia's military intelligence (GRU) based in Chechnya, in Donetsk, where they reportedly participated in a deadly battle at the city's airport on May 26, which left at least 50 separatists dead.

"I doubt Kadyrov sent them directly, not least because the original Vostok Battalion was controlled by the Yamadaevs, his bitter rivals, and it was disbanded precisely because Kadyrov didn't want to see them with their own unit," Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian security affairs, told VICE News. "But he presumably must have OKed at least the temporary detachment of those of the unit who had taken jobs in the Chechen security apparatus."

"They may be there as adventurers and mercenaries, although clearly with the encouragement if not actual mobilization by the Russians — probably the GRU, military intelligence," he added.
...
"Vostok has not existed for a few years now. Moreover, it’s associated with Kadyrov’s long-time foes," Ekaterina Sokirianskaia, North Caucasus project director at the International Crisis Group, told VICE News. "Reviving Vostok as a brand could be another trick to divert attention from the incumbent Chechen authorities."

https://news.vice.com/article/yes-there-are-chechen-fighters-in-ukraine-and-nobody-knows-who-sent-them-there

Plus the 'Prime Minister' and head of the armed groups are residents of Moscow: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025024627

[pampango]

3. "The Russian-dominated Vostok Battalion ... a day after it removed local separatist fighters ..

The Ukrainian authorities said the helicopter was shot down by a sophisticated surface-to-are missile supplied by Russia.

The actions of the Vostok Battalion, under the command of Alexander Khodkovsky, the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic’s security service, appeared to have been part of an internal "coup" under the pretence of restoring order.

The takeover also allows the Vostok Battalion to secure important sites, manning them with seasoned, well-armed and trained men to prepare for any attack by the Ukrainian army.

Sounds like the "seasoned, well-armed and trained men" are taking over. Lucky for the separatists that the "Russia-led" "seasoned, well-armed and trained men" were available at just the right moment when the "local" (Ukrainian?) separatists need military help.

The rebels in Syria have been trying to get their hands on "surface-to-air" missiles for 3 years. Sure did not take their Ukrainian 'brothers' that long. One hopes that the jihadis from Chechnya who have come to support the separatists do not get their hands on these missiles. Who knows where they will end up if that happens.

[geek tragedy]

6. let's call them what they are: Russian paramilitaries occupying

Ukrainian territory.

What Russia's government is doing is a war crime, pure and simple.

It's aggressive war with the goal of conquest, just in slow motion.