Polish, Latvian officials barred from entering Russia for Nemtsov funeral

[Bosonic]

Source: AFP

Warsaw (AFP) - Senior Polish and Latvian officials who sought to attend the Moscow funeral of slain Russian opposition activist Boris Nemtsov said Monday they had been denied entry into Russia on the eve of the ceremony.

A Polish foreign ministry spokesman said Senate speaker Bogdan Borusewicz was refused entry by Moscow in retaliation for EU sanctions against Russia's upper house of parliament speaker Valentina Matviyenko.

Latvian MEP Sandra Kalniete told AFP she had been refused entry into Russia at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, but was not given a reasonable explanation for the ban.

"After two hours of waiting they told me I was refused entry into Russia according to their codex paragraph 27, point 1. I asked what exactly does that paragraph say and no one was able to answer," Kalniete said via telephone, speaking from the airport where she said she would have to spend the night.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/poland-senate-leader-says-russia-denies-him-entry-172032895.html

[left-of-center2012]

1. Putin killed him

I saw on one of the news shows this weekend that about 10 opponents of Putin who were pro-democracy leaders have been murdered in the past couple years.
This should be getting headlines all over the world, but no one wants to p*ss off Putin.
It's Hitler all over again.
Peace in our time --B.S.!

[DeSwiss]

8. ....

[MattSh]

13. ....

So you're telling me that Putin felt threatened by a guy with a 1% approval rating? Really?

[Cha]

21. Violent deaths of Putin opponents..

Violent deaths of Putin opponents

April 2003 - Liberal politician Sergey Yushenkov assassinated near his Moscow home

July 2003 - Investigative journalist Yuri Shchekochikhin died after 16-day mysterious illness

July 2004 - Forbes magazine Russian editor Paul Klebnikov shot from moving car on Moscow street, died later in hospital

October 2006 - Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya shot dead outside her Moscow apartment

November 2006 - Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died nearly three weeks after drinking tea laced with polonium in London hotel

March 2013 -Boris Berezovsky, former Kremlin power broker turned Putin critic, found dead in his UK home

(Nemtsov) was gunned down a stone's throw away from the Kremlin, in an area which is always tightly policed, and where security cameras are everywhere you look. He was, it appears, tracked for hours as he travelled around central Moscow.

(Police officers have) trawled through Mr Nemtsov's flat in central Moscow, seizing documents and computer drives.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31673297

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1026679

The putin protectors are turning themselves into pretzels over this.

[SunSeeker]

2. Move along. Nothing to see here.

[Blue_Tires]

3. Funny how Putin's cheerleaders on DU aren't ever around for these stories...

[Demeter]

4. This is a multiple part answer/observation/admonition to the Putin-Bashers

1. Why should anyone in Russia accommodate EU members who sanction the Russian government for a civil war that Russia did not start, and does not participate in? What goes around comes around. You don't even have to be a diplomat to know that.

2. Why would any sane person, in this country or any other, think that Vladimir Putin would so publicly assassinate this political NOBODY in front of the Kremlin? What does Putin get out of this? Nothing. No power, no good press, nothing.

It isn't reasonable. It is the result of a diseased mind, infected with the propaganda that the US State Dept., a hotbed of neocon fascists, has been spewing for years now. They lied us into Yugoslavia, they lied us into Iraq, they lied us into Afghanistan, they tried to lie us into Syria, Yemen, and now, Ukraine.

Stop eating the lies. Think for yourself! When something is so stupid as to be indefensible on any grounds (and isn't done by our Commander in Chief, whose military acumen is even worse than his ability to keep the promises he made) then it is a FALSE FLAG OPERATION.

False flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as if they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and have been used in peace-time; for example, during Italy's strategy of tension.

The term comes from the old days of wooden ships, when one ship would hang the flag of its enemy before attacking another ship in its own navy. Because the enemy's flag was hung instead of the flag of the real country of the attacking ship, it was called a "false flag" attack.

http://www.wanttoknow.info/falseflag

Every person who tries to explain this basic tactic to the unwashed masses and the trolls on DU gets pounded by people who are either appallingly ignorant, or well-paid.

So, pound away!

[NuclearDem]

5. If you're going to sit there and claim Russia has no responsibility for the separatist rebellion

then maybe it's not the "Putin bashers" (like that's all of a sudden a bad thing to hate a homophobic warmongering fascist) that are appallingly ignorant or well-paid, in your words.

[Demeter]

6. Are you claiming that RUSSIA threw out

the duly elected President of Ukraine?
That RUSSIA shot the people in Maidan?
That RUSSIA shot down the airplane?
That RUSSIA shot this insignificant political hack, with support of 1% of the population?

Open your eyes and ears. It isn't what your M$M says it is.

[NuclearDem]

7. Russia invaded Crimea.

Russia has been shelling Ukraine from across the border.

Russia has been providing material aid to the separatists, who shot down MH-17.

Russian media has been engaged in a propaganda war about Ukraine the likes of which would make Judith Miller blush.

Denying any of this makes you as ignorant a shill as they come.

[7962]

10. Dont forget, Russian troops are also fighting in Ukraine & have been all along

[MattSh]

15. You might want to tell the Ukrainian general staff that...

Ukraine Chief of Staff Admits No Russian Troops in Donetsk

Ukraine’s military Chief of Staff Viktor Muzhenko admitted Russian troops have not been taking part in combat operations in the country’s east during news briefing in Kiev, Ukraine Channel 5 television reports.

MOSCOW, January 29 (Sputnik) — The chief of Ukraine’s General Military Staff Viktor Muzhenko acknowledged that Russian regular army units were not involved in combat action in the troubled Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

“Right now the Ukrainian army is not engaged in combat operations against Russian regular units,” he underscored.

Muzhenko added, however, that he had information about Russian civilian and military individuals fighting alongside independence supporters in the country’s east.

He also said the Ukrainian army had everything it needed to rout what he described as illegal armed units in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150129/1017514425.html

So far, there has been participation, on both sides, of volunteers from more than 20 different countries, plus paid US mercenaries from Blackwater/Xe/Academi. But of course you wouldn't know any of this because you blindly choose to ingest and regurgitate "news" only from sources that have an interest in following and repeating US propaganda.

Come on, pull your head out...





[7962]

24. Your OWN story says Russians are fighting in Ukraine! Want more proof? Here:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/26/russia-admits-soldiers-in-ukraine
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/24/us-ukraine-crisis-kerry-idUSKBN0LS1SE20150224
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/19/russia-official-silence-for-families-troops-killed-in-ukraine

You can believe all the Putin propaganda you want, you cant ignore hundreds of Russian funerals. Unless you really believe Russian troops are allowed to "vacation" with their tanks and weapons.

[MattSh]

30. Crikey man...

There's a BIG difference between individual Russians and Russian troops.

The word Russian TROOPS indicate they are part of the Russian ARMY.

That's what YOU said here...

7962 (3,861 posts)
10. Dont forget, Russian troops are also fighting in Ukraine & have been all along

[7962]

33. They ARE. They've been captured & killed. Did you bother to read the links at all?

Or are you dense enough to actually believe that all those uniformed Russians are on "vacation" or "volunteering"?? Really?
Are all the families of the dead Russian soldiers lying too?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

37. ........

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/ukraine-pro-russian-gunmen-seize-crimea-parliament-live-updates?view=desktop#block-530efb46e4b0ddf5cbe7ba63

Maxim, a pro-Russian activist who refused to give his last name, told the Associated Press that he and other activists had been camping out overnight outside the local parliament in Crimea’s regional capital, Simferopol, when heavily armed men wearing flak jackets, and holding rocket-propelled grenade launchers and sniper rifles took over the building. He said:


"Our activists were sitting there all night calmly, building the barricades. At 5 o’clock unknown men turned up and went to the building. They got into the courtyard and put everyone on the ground.

They were asking who we were. When we said we stand for the Russian language and Russia, they said: ‘Don’t be afraid, we’re with you.’ Then they began to storm the building bringing down the doors.

They didn’t look like volunteers or amateurs, they were professionals. This was clearly a well-organised operation. They did not allow anyone to come near. They seized the building, drove out the police, there were about six police officers inside.

Who are they? Nobody knows. It’s about 50-60 people, fully armed."

[happyslug]

12. The suppose shelling from inside Russia is questionable at best

I was looking over the PDF report, and I notice it was based on several presumptions, first is that artillery blast holes are the product of the blast and the ground has no affect on the size of the blast. This is pure poppycock. When a shell hit the ground (assuming it is using point detonator fuse) it tends to blow up a nice even hole UNLESS the ground itself is uneven and then that will cause the hole to be different. i.e. if their are stones in the impact area, the stones will direct the blast away from the stones and to areas of lose dirt. Thus using the SHAPE of the hole to determine direction is bad science to begin with.

This study had another presumption, that a shell will blow up as it moves. Shells are design to blast almost instantly, the blast will NOT represent the direction the shell came from, it represents the nature of the ground the shell hit. I was in the Artillery for 9 years and I never saw a shell HOLE that reflected the direction the shell came from.

This does mean that the Rockets were NOT fired from the Russian side of the border, but that the impacts of those shells can NOT be used to calculate where the rounds came from.

As to the positions of the Rocket launchers themselves, they are is a six launcher unit with six potential discharge points all in a line. From such a position I would expect to see a LINE OF IMPACT Craters not impact craters all over the place. The wheels ruts points out as the firing positions, may be firing positions but may also be training positions. Armies do train, and like the train in areas they may be fighting in, thus I would not be surprised if such training was occurring and we are seeing the wheel ruts from such training NOT an actual firing. Could these ruts be the result of an Artillery unit that fired on Ukrainian? Yes, but they may also NOT be. I need more date then is in the PDF report, mostly artillery and mortar radar detectors, they have only existed since the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

Here is the actual PDF report:

https://www.bellingcat.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bellingcat_-_origin_of_artillery_attacks_02-12-15_final1.pdf

As to the location of the Videos being in Russia lets look at one comment that makes that claim:

Video004 shows the firing position on the southwest side of Kovalevsky pond. The
identifying landscape features in this video are the solitary tree on the right side of the
camera’s perspective, the big bush in roughly the middle of the perspective, and the utility
poles on the far left side of the perspective

A solitary tree and utility poles? Are there no trees or utility poles in the Ukraine? Thus from that tree and those utility poles, the author located where the firing in the video occurred. This on the flat steppes of Southern Russia and the Ukraine. I just can NOT make that much of a stretch, I suspect they are trees and Utility poles on both sides of the border.

Just a comment that the report of Rocket fire from Russia has several potential holes in it. It may have occurred but nothing in that report shows anything that is based on the science of Artillery.

As to MH-17, that appears to be a goof. Someone had shoot down an Ukrainian transport the day before and that person or another person wanted to do it again, unfortunately it was a Malaysian Plane NOT a Ukrainian plane. If that BUK anti-aircraft system actually been connected to the Russian AA system, they would have known before they fired that missile that it was NOT Ukrainian, but given they shot it down shows that the BAK unit was NOT connected with the Russian Federation Air Defence System. The BUK radar is NOT that sophisticated, it is designed to be operated alone but also as part of a network. Alone the system has limited capacity to detect what is coming its way. as part of a system such detection can be done. Thus the fact that the BUK did fired on MH-17 shows they did NOT have connection with the Russia Federation Air Defense system and if that was the case the only way the Rebels had managed to get a BAK is they either took it or someone gave it to them from the Regular Ukrainian Army. As something captured the BUK would NOT be tied in with the Russian. Thus the fact the BUK was NOT tied in with the Russian Federation Air Defence System (Which does not require that much work, most exchanging of codes) implies the BUK that shot down MH-17 was NOT something the Russians gave the Separatists (and the report that the BUK was transferred to Russia right after the shooting implies Russia did NOT want the Rebels to have such weapons).

AS to a "Long Propaganda war", I have generally stayed out of debates when it comes to the Ukraine, for everyone is lying they heads off. Putin, the Ukrainians and the CIA and the US are all spinning the headlines to make their point. I only entered her is you mentioned that Study about Artillery being fired from Russia, to point out that has NOT be proven to any degree of what I call Science. Such fire could have come from Russia, but the report is based on to may "Ifs" and "Lets assume" for me to satisfy that the report is based on hard science thus my objections to that finding of "Fact" that Russia fired Rockets from Russia and that turned the tide in the battle for the Eastern Ukraine.

[MattSh]

14. So this should count for nothing I guess...

German sociologists on Crimea’s choice

A few days ago an interesting study, “The Socio-Political Sentiments in Crimea,” was released by the Ukrainian branch of GfK, the well-known German social research organization, as part of the Free Crimea initiative. Intriguingly, the primary objectives of this project, launched with the support of the governmental Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, were to “debunk aggressive Russian propaganda” and to “reintegrate Crimea into Ukraine.” Thus the researchers can hardly be suspected of being Russian sympathizers. So let’s take a look at the results.

The attitudes of Crimeans were studied in January 2015. This representative sample included 800 respondents living on the peninsula, from all age and social categories. The poll had an error margin of 3.5%.

In answer to the most important question: “Do you endorse Russia’s annexation of Crimea?” 82% of the respondents answered “yes, definitely,” and another 11% – “yes, for the most part.” Only 2% gave an unambiguously negative response, and another 2% offered a relatively negative assessment. Three percent did not specify their position.

We feel that this study fully validates the results of the referendum on reunification with Russia that was held on March 16, 2014. At that time 83% of Crimeans went to the polling stations and almost 97% expressed support for reunification.

Ukrainians continue to question whether this was a credible outcome, but it is now backed up by the data obtained by the Germans. The 82% of the respondents who expressed their full confidence in the results of the Russian election make up the core of the electorate who turned up at the ballot boxes on March 16, 2014.

Complete story at - http://orientalreview.org/2015/02/10/german-sociologists-on-crimeas-choice/

[7962]

27. Bet you'd get the same "poll" results in E Europe 30-40 yrs ago. such nonsense.

[Demeter]

18. The Crimean People Seceded from Ukraine

The Russians were already there, under a treaty, doing their treaty business. They paid Ukraine good money to rent that port!

The Crimeans, knowing they needed protection from the anti-Russina Nazis in Kiev, turned to Russia.

There was no invasion. Not a shot fired, either.

[NuclearDem]

29. The Russians were relegated to their bases.

Your suggestion that Russian armed forces were allowed to wander Crimea proper is utterly ridiculous. If US forces left Guantanamo and started seizing territory and buildings across Cuba, you wouldn't call that an invasion either, by your own logic.

Given that Russia clearly saw the fall of the Yanukovich government coming and had planned for an aggressive push to annex parts of Ukraine, the meme that this was Crimean Russians calling out for help and Russia responding is ridiculous.

[7962]

34. Thank you for a perfect response.

[7962]

9. The first 2 are no excuse for invading Ukraine

#3, rebels supported & assisted by Russia shot down the plane
#4, of course it was a hit. A city snow sweeper appears just in time to stop & block the shooting. No snow on the street either. Stays put until the shooter is safely away

How do you explain all the OTHER murders, both in Russia and abroad, by shootings, poisonings & even radioactive poisoning?

Ooooh ALL that must be the CIA too, right? YOU need to come back to the real world

[MattSh]

16. Wow, you'd think if the US government had proof...

they'd actually would have supplied it by now.

But all you get are State Dept. statements. No proof whatsoever.

[7962]

25. Sure, its easy for ANYONE to obtain radioactive material to poison people!

Odd how its usually only Putin's opponents who are murdered. And not just in Russia, all over. They could at least fake a robbery, but they dont care because no one has stood up to Pootie so far, why should they expect anything different

[7962]

11. Hope those rubles are worth more than tail wipe in another year

[Cha]

22. The putin protectors have rendered themselves into pretzels more so than ever over the assassination

of Boris Nemtnov.

[7962]

26. Apparently not, Cha, look at the responses to my posts above!!

[Cha]

28. Mahalo for being here setting them straight, 7962!

[LanternWaste]

31. I imagine it comforts one's sense of self-validation to conflate bashing and criticism.

I imagine it comforts one's sense of self-validation to conflate bashing and criticism. And when the premise is faulty, why waste time with the false allegations which follow?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

35. Of course Russia bears no responsibility to the current crisis in Ukraine.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/ukraine-pro-russian-gunmen-seize-crimea-parliament-live-updates?view=desktop#block-530efb46e4b0ddf5cbe7ba63

Maxim, a pro-Russian activist who refused to give his last name, told the Associated Press that he and other activists had been camping out overnight outside the local parliament in Crimea’s regional capital, Simferopol, when heavily armed men wearing flak jackets, and holding rocket-propelled grenade launchers and sniper rifles took over the building. He said:


"Our activists were sitting there all night calmly, building the barricades. At 5 o’clock unknown men turned up and went to the building. They got into the courtyard and put everyone on the ground.

They were asking who we were. When we said we stand for the Russian language and Russia, they said: ‘Don’t be afraid, we’re with you.’ Then they began to storm the building bringing down the doors.

They didn’t look like volunteers or amateurs, they were professionals. This was clearly a well-organised operation. They did not allow anyone to come near. They seized the building, drove out the police, there were about six police officers inside.

Who are they? Nobody knows. It’s about 50-60 people, fully armed."

[MattSh]

17. Poor poor Poland.

They refuse to invite any Russian officials to the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, even though it was the Soviet Red Army that liberated it, then they expect Russian officials to roll out the red carpet for them any time they want them to?

Stupid is as stupid does, I guess.

[Demeter]

19. The smart Polacks emigrated a long time ago

Like my folks...

[Tommy_Carcetti]

36. Well, ethnic slurs appear to be okay in a DU jury's mind.

The smart Polacks emigrated a long time ago
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1027942

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

YOUR COMMENTS

"Polack" is an ethnic slur, even if the poster claims to be of Polish persuasion him/herself. As someone of Polish ancestry myself, I don't find it particularly funny.

JURY RESULTS

A randomly-selected Jury of DU members completed their review of this alert at Tue Mar 3, 2015, 03:03 PM, and voted 1-6 to LEAVE IT ALONE.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: My initial response was to hide, but upon reflection-- I don't think self-deprecation in this particular manner needs to be hidden.
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I don't find it funny, but I am also of Polish descent, and I am not offended. This is tame.
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given

[LanternWaste]

32. Poland officially invited no one representative from no one country. Your creative biases are showin

Poland officially invited no one representative from no one country. It was open to all. Your creative biases are showing.

"Stupid is as stupid does, I guess..." Yes. Yes it is...

[tavernier]

20. Putin has been playing cat and mouse games

with the Baltic nations for years. It was just for practice in the beginning, but as my Latvian relatives who live there predicted long ago, "his nails are growing and one day the games will end".

I saw several examples of his influence and pot stirring when I visited Latvia several years back. I took it as just macho political oneupmanship. But now it appears that the cat has indeed grown, and he is hungry.

[Cha]

23. "..his nails are growing and one day the games will end". :( Hoping the best for everyone

concerned over Putin's insatiable "hunger".