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Russia Claims American Mercenaries Are in Eastern Ukraine

MildSteel

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This is a very disturbing development. I hope the US is not paying people like Blackwater to assist in eastern Ukraine. It is known that the very radical ultra right wing group Right Sector is influential very influential in Ukraine right now. If they start staging attacks inside Russia aimed at destabilizing the Russian government, this situation could get very ugly, very fast. I hope this is not true.

Russia Claims American Mercenaries Are in Eastern Ukraine - NBC News

Russia Claims American Mercenaries Are in Eastern Ukraine

Russia claimed Tuesday that 150 specialists from an American private military group are in eastern Ukraine, the region where pro-Russia protesters are clashing with government forces.

A woman who identified herself as an employee of the group, the security contracting company Greystone, declined comment. She also declined to provide her name.

Greystone, on its website, identifies itself as a “provider of aviation and protective support services and training” formerly part of Xe Services, the security contracting company once known as Blackwater.

A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Americans were wearing the uniforms of Sokol, a Ukrainian police force, and were “of particular concern.”

A State Department official referred questions to the company and said: “As for the United States, we do not have any U.S. military units in Ukraine.”

Russia also said that militants from Right Sector, a hard-line Ukrainian nationalist organization, were trying to use force to stop protesters opposed to the new Ukrainian government in Kiev.

Pro-Russian activists have holed up in Ukrainian government buildings this week in the country’s east and have called for a referendum on breaking from Ukraine, similar to a vote last month in which the Crimean peninsula voters to leave Ukraine and join Russia.

Russia has said it has no designs on invading eastern Ukraine. The White House on Monday warned Russia against moving “overtly or covertly” into that region and said there was evidence that the pro-Russian demonstrators are being paid.

Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that Russian agents are to blame for unrest this week in Ukraine, and he warned that Russia may be laying the groundwork for a military intervention, just as it did before seizing the Crimean peninsula.
 
This is a very disturbing development. I hope the US is not paying people like Blackwater to assist in eastern Ukraine. It is known that the very radical ultra right wing group Right Sector is influential very influential in Ukraine right now. If they start staging attacks inside Russia aimed at destabilizing the Russian government, this situation could get very ugly, very fast. I hope this is not true.

Russia Claims American Mercenaries Are in Eastern Ukraine - NBC News

They aren't and this isn't true. It doesn't even make sense. What is possible is that the Ukrainian government has paid for contractors to help with training and infrastructure security. Scores of countries do it. It's the same thing that happened in Georgia where the Russians tried to say that security contractors were evidence of an insidious American mercenary advance guard. They even made similar claims a few weeks ago. It's nonsense.
 
They aren't and this isn't true. It doesn't even make sense. What is possible is that the Ukrainian government has paid for contractors to help with training and infrastructure security. Scores of countries do it. It's the same thing that happened in Georgia where the Russians tried to say that security contractors were evidence of an insidious American mercenary advance guard. They even made similar claims a few weeks ago. It's nonsense.

Do you realize that your statement completely contradicts itself. Contractors can be hired by gov'ts or Oligarchs. The garbled sounds emanating from the North end of Jose's South facing donkey make better sense. By the way, the donkey is done working when he stops farting.
 
Ironic. Russia practicing Alinsky tactics against our Alinksy-worshipping administration.

Accuse your opponent of doing exactly what you're doing so they have to defend themselves while you skirt by unblemished.
 
Do you realize that your statement completely contradicts itself. Contractors can be hired by gov'ts or Oligarchs. The garbled sounds emanating from the North end of Jose's South facing donkey make better sense. By the way, the donkey is done working when he stops farting.

No, not really.
 
Are you privy to classified information on the Ukrainian-Russia conflict?

You need as much classified information to debunk this as the claim that Portuguese Marines are in Donetsk.
 
You need as much classified information to debunk this as the claim that Portuguese Marines are in Donetsk.

How do you know it's not true though? Just because you don't think it is?
 
You need as much classified information to debunk this as the claim that Portuguese Marines are in Donetsk.

Mercenaries are loyal to whomever's check does not bounce and instantly available for service.. Oligarchs are in charge in Ukraine and it goes without saying that they could afford their own Army of mercs. Mercs are for hire.. Job opportunity. Loyalty for sale. Two weeks ago 350 mercs were alleged to be flown into Ukraine. Oh, no ,no ,no, much too complicated. I mean you'd have to hire them by phone and pay them by cash. Boy , now that'd be difficult. Not.
 
Ironic. Russia practicing Alinsky tactics against our Alinksy-worshipping administration.

Accuse your opponent of doing exactly what you're doing so they have to defend themselves while you skirt by unblemished.

Just had to get your daily dose of shouting "Alinsky" in?

I'm not sure if you'd be in favor of American agents or not...or only if a Republican sent them?
 
Mercenaries are loyal to whomever's check does not bounce and instantly available for service.. Oligarchs are in charge in Ukraine and it goes without saying that they could afford their own Army of mercs. Mercs are for hire.. Job opportunity. Loyalty for sale. Two weeks ago 350 mercs were alleged to be flown into Ukraine. Oh, no ,no ,no, much too complicated. I mean you'd have to hire them by phone and pay them by cash. Boy , now that'd be difficult. Not.

Yawn. Contrary to the narrative that some have spun the world of real mercenaries mostly died in the 1990's with Sandline. The vast, vast, vast majority of security contractors are exactly what they sound like---contractors. They are technical experts, security guards, instructors, etc.

Are there Greystone contractors in Ukraine? I'm not sure, quite possibly there are. Are there mercenaries ready to fight at the behest of the Ukrainian government? No. If you believe that there are I have a Congolese Airborne Regiment that I'm alleging is gearing up to fight the Russians outside Kharkov.
 
This doesn't surprise me. Russia also reported that the American Paratroopers were in Crimea before the election.
 
Yawn. Contrary to the narrative that some have spun the world of real mercenaries mostly died in the 1990's with Sandline. The vast, vast, vast majority of security contractors are exactly what they sound like---contractors. They are technical experts, security guards, instructors, etc.

Are there Greystone contractors in Ukraine? I'm not sure, quite possibly there are. Are there mercenaries ready to fight at the behest of the Ukrainian government? No. If you believe that there are I have a Congolese Airborne Regiment that I'm alleging is gearing up to fight the Russians outside Kharkov.

I got it. It is just your own, unqualified opinion that there are no mercs in Ukraine. I'll flush that.
 
You misunderstood.

Somebody did.
It's Not Russia That Is Destabilising Ukraine
"
It's Not Russia That Is Destabilising Ukraine

The west has been needlessly whipping up tension – if we don't co-operate soon, chaos may take hold

By Sergei Lavrov

April 08, 2014 "ICH" - "The Guardian" - The profound and pervasive crisis in Ukraine is a matter of grave concern for Russia. We understand perfectly well the position of a country which became independent just over 20 years ago and still faces complex tasks in constructing a sovereign state. Among them is the search for a balance of interests among its various regions, the peoples of which have different historical and cultural roots, speak different languages and have different perspectives on their past and present, and their country's future place in the world.
Given these circumstances, the role of external forces should have been to help Ukrainians protect the foundations of civil peace and sustainable development, which are still fragile. Russia has done more than any other country to support the independent Ukrainian state, including for many years subsidising its economy through low energy prices. Last November, at the outset of the current crisis, we supported Kiev's wish for urgent consultations between Ukraine, Russia and the EU to discuss harmonising the integration process. Brussels flatly rejected it. This stand reflected the unproductive and dangerous line the EU and US have been taking for a long time. They have been trying to compel Ukraine to make a painful choice between east and west, further aggravating internal differences.

Ukraine's realities notwithstanding, massive support was provided to political movements promoting western influence, and it was done in direct breach of the Ukrainian constitution. This is what happened in 2004, when President Viktor Yushchenko won an unconstitutional third round of elections introduced under EU pressure. This time round, power in Kiev was seized undemocratically, through violent street protests conducted with the direct participation of ministers and other officials from the US and EU countries.

Assertions that Russia has undermined efforts to strengthen partnerships on the European continent do not correspond to the facts. On the contrary, our country has steadily promoted a system of equal and indivisible security in the Euro-Atlantic area. We proposed signing a treaty to that effect, and advocated the creation of a common economic and human space from the Atlantic to the Pacific which would also be open to post-Soviet countries.

In the meantime, western states, despite their repeated assurances to the contrary, have carried out successive waves of Nato enlargement, moved the alliance's military infrastructure eastward and begun to implement antimissile defence plans. The EU's Eastern Partnership programme is designed to bind the so-called focus states tightly to itself, shutting down the possibility of co-operation with Russia. Attempts by those who staged the secession of Kosovo from Serbia and of Mayotte from the Comoros to question the free will of Crimeans cannot be viewed as anything but a flagrant display of double standards. No less troubling is the pretence of not noticing that the main danger for the future of Ukraine is the spread of chaos by extremists and neo-Nazis.

Russia is doing all it can to promote early stabilisation in Ukraine. We are firmly convinced that this can be achieved through, among other steps: real constitutional reform, which would ensure the legitimate rights of all Ukrainian regions and respond to demands from its south-eastern region to make Russian the state's second official language; firm guarantees on Ukraine's non-aligned status enshrined in its laws, thus ensuring its role as a connecting link in an indivisible European security architecture; and urgent measures to halt activity by illegal armed formations of the Right Sector and other ultra-nationalist groups.

We are not imposing anything on anyone, we just see that if it is not done, Ukraine will continue to spiral into crisis with unpredictable consequences. We stand ready to join international efforts aimed at achieving these goals. We support the appeal by foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland to implement the 21 February agreement. Their proposal – to hold Russia-EU talks with the participation of Ukraine and other Eastern Partnership states about the consequences of EU association agreements – corresponds to our position.

The world of today is not a junior school where teachers assign punishments at will. Belligerent statements such as those heard at the Nato foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on 1 April do not match demands for a de-escalation. De-escalation should begin with rhetoric. It is time to stop the groundless whipping-up of tension, and to return to serious common work.

• This article was amended on 8 April 2014. The sixth paragraph originally referred to "firm guarantees on Ukraine's non-aligned status to be enshrined in its laws". This was changed to "firm guarantees on Ukraine's non-aligned status enshrined in its laws" as its status is already enshrined in law."
 
Who would read that?

It doesn't count as a retort.
 
Yawn. Contrary to the narrative that some have spun the world of real mercenaries mostly died in the 1990's with Sandline. The vast, vast, vast majority of security contractors are exactly what they sound like---contractors. They are technical experts, security guards, instructors, etc.

Contractors that carry weapons and kill people. Ranks are filled with ex-military including special forces. Carrying weapons, killing people, not representing a country and getting paid for their efforts is the definition of 'mercenary'. Private Contractor is just a euphemism.
 
Contractors that carry weapons and kill people. Ranks are filled with ex-military including special forces. Carrying weapons, killing people, not representing a country and getting paid for their efforts is the definition of 'mercenary'. Private Contractor is just a euphemism.

According to Foreign Policy magazine a few years ago, modern private military contractors are not in fact mercenaries.
 
According to Foreign Policy magazine a few years ago, modern private military contractors are not in fact mercenaries.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, get a magazine to say it isn't a duck.
 
Ironic. Russia practicing Alinsky tactics against our Alinksy-worshipping administration.

Alinsky! Everybody drink!

Accuse your opponent of doing exactly what you're doing[/B] so they have to defend themselves while you skirt by unblemished.

You mean how conservatives endlessly bitch about "Alinsky tactics" while constantly using them themselves?
 
According to Foreign Policy magazine a few years ago, modern private military contractors are not in fact mercenaries.

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