Russia - Putin

ABC News
May 31, 2015

A new independent report finds that Russia doctored photos to implicate the Ukrainian military in the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner MH17 last July, casting doubt on Russian claims that neither separatists armed by Russia nor its own military were to blame for the disaster.

After 30 pages of analysis, Bellingcat says "unequivocally" that these images have been digitally altered so as to falsely appear that they were taken in the days around the crash. The photos were actually taken in the first half of June, the report says. Besides the altered dates, Bellingcat says the photos exhibit many signs of being Photoshopped, apparently to conceal objects that would betray they were taken a month before -- adding cloud cover for example. The group says it is clear proof that Russia's government has lied in connection with the crash.

"These claims, representing the majority of information publicly presented by the Russian government since the downing of Flight MH17, are a clear attempt by the Russian government to deceive the public, global community, and the families of the Flight MH17 victims," Bellingcat said in a statement released with the report.

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Simpleχity;1064667613 said:

Which now leads to this...

Vladimir Putin declares all Russian military deaths state secrets


Putin declares Russian troop deaths in peacetime a secret


Putin Classifying Troop Losses Proves They're in Ukraine – Analysts

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Russian journalists say they have been attacked while investigating reports that soldiers were secretly buried after being killed in Ukraine.
The paratroopers were buried in a village near the western city of Pskov, where they were based.

~snip~

two other journalists who claim that while attempting to visit the cemetery earlier in the day they had been forced into a van and taken to a forest.
Their abductors erased memory cards from their cameras and threatened to kill them should they make the incident public, says one of the reporters, Nina Petlyanova.
Sergei Kovalchenko from Telegraf news agency is another journalist who says he was threatened. He said his memory card was erased by plain-clothed men while visiting the cemetery. Link.

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The Czech and Slovak governments have accused Russia of rewriting history after Russian state TV broadcast a documentary about the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek summoned Russia's Prague ambassador Sergei Kiselyev to complain about the broadcast as well the inclusion of several Czechs on a list of 89 EU politicians and diplomats banned from entering Russia. The Slovak foreign ministry described the programme as a "false and truth-distorting work" that used "misrepresentations and old ideological cliches", pointing out that Russia had in the past officially apologised for the invasion and subsequent occupation.

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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — A former "Kremlin troll" says she is suing her old employer to shut down what she describes as a "factory" churning out Internet propaganda defending Russian President Vladimir Putin. In an interview in April, Savchuk told the AP how she and hundreds of colleagues in St. Petersburg managed several social media accounts, flooding the Internet with pro-Putin commentary and doctored images that landed on Russian and Western news websites. Her descriptions of the work coincide with those of other former trolls who have spoken publicly, although Savchuk is one of the few willing to have her full name published. She quit after two months, deciding she couldn't stand being part of a propaganda machine. "It ought to be closed," Savchuk said.

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I meet an old friend for coffee on the terrace of what was once the empty Soviet department store GUM. Yet as we sit over coffee, reminiscing about the Moscow of old, I'm suddenly reminded of the past as my friend looks around to make sure that nobody can hear. "I've sent my family to live abroad," he tells me. "It's better that way. I've sold everything, and now I commute. The health service here is crumbling, and so are schools. Sanctions have started to bite, but it's not that - it's the political atmosphere. It's stifling and it's getting worse. Nobody knows what will happen next, but it doesn't feel like a good place for the liberals."

For this highly educated man to send his family abroad was not a step taken lightly. Later, I meet Olya in a park, and we sit on a bench dappled by the early summer sunshine. "All I want is to find a place on earth where everyone knows the law and abides by it, and where there isn't corruption. I'm so sick of it. And I'm tired of arguing about Ukraine. What's happening there is insane, and it's terrifying that it could lead to a full-scale war. All I want is a small patch of land where there's peace and quiet."

I ask another friend, Tanya, what she makes of it all. "That bellicose form of patriotism is everywhere in Russia today," she says, speaking softly as she drags deeply on her cigarette. "You hear it all the time on the news. Everything is interpreted as being aimed against Russia. It's absurd. Americans don't spend their lives scheming against us, but the authorities here think and talk as though they do. And many believe it. The rhetoric today is like something from another era - the Soviet era. I feel as though we're asked every day to make a choice between being true patriots or leaving Russia.

Tanya and her husband are putting money aside for their daughters so in a few years time the girls can travel and perhaps study abroad. "If our borders are still open then," adds Tanya, with a sigh. "I remember the Soviet Union - we were trapped and we couldn't escape. That's how I grew up. I just hope it doesn't happen again."

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08.06.15

Sergei Krivenko from the Russian Human Rights Council has just made public a report on his visit to the two Russian spetsnaz officers captured in Ukraine on May 16. The two men – sergeant Alexander Alexandrov and captain Yefgeny Yerofeyev deny Russia’s claim that they were no longer in military service and ask for help in contacting their families as all phone numbers that they have are either blocked or don’t answer. Krivenko notes that the conditions the men are held in are good, with both men having separate rooms, which are clean and bright. Neither men had any complaints about the conditions and they categorically denied any form of torture or physical pressure on them since their arrest, as claimed by Russian television. Neither seemed depressed, and they “held themselves with dignity”. Their main worry, as mentioned, is that they are being prevented from contacting their families, and have asked Krivenko and the Human Rights Council to help.

Russia denies only what it has denied with ever diminishing credibility since August last year when the first reports came of Russian soldiers being killed fighting Russia’s undeclared war in Ukraine. The denial in this case has demonstrated to two Russian soldiers and should show others that the Kremlin is not only willing to send men to fight, kill and often die for its dubious ends, but will also leave the men to their fate and even put pressure on their families to abandon them.

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JUN. 9, 2015

The pro-Russia separatist regions of Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) just named Crimea as a part of Ukraine in the draft amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine. That doesn't jibe with claims made by their backers in Moscow. From the document (translated into English):

Article 133.
The administrative-territorial system of Ukraine contains : Autonomous Republic of Crimea, some regions with special status in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, provinces, districts, cities, districts in cities, towns and villages.

Ukraine is composed of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, some regions with special status — the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, Vinnytsa, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Transcarpathian, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Luhansk, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Poltava , Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv regions, cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol.

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Simpleχity;1064704838 said:

The pro-Russia separatist regions just named Crimea as a part of Ukraine

The rebels are correct. Crimea is indeed a part of Ukraine.

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June 11, 2015

An examination by the New York Times of the groups' websites, social media postings and other records found more than a dozen groups in Russia that are raising money for the separatists, aiding a conflict that has killed more than 6.400 people and plunged Russia's relations with the West to depths not seen since the Cold War.

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The Kremlin announced a prison amnesty on the 70th anniversary of the World War II Allied victory. But weeks later most remain locked up. Human rights activists call the amnesty a farce. Mareike Aden reports from Moscow...

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Washington (CNN)A Russian fighter jet, flying at high speed, came within 10 feet of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Black Sea late last month, several U.S. officials told CNN Thursday.

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MAY 29, 2015

MOSCOW - Russian military aircraft were scrambled to head off a U.S. warship that was acting "aggressively" in the Black Sea, state news agency RIA reported on Saturday, citing an anonymous source in Russia's armed forces in Crimea. The source was quoted as saying that the U.S. destroyer Ross was moving along the edge of Russia's territorial waters and heading in their direction. "The crew of the ship acted provocatively and aggressively, which concerned the operators of monitoring stations and ships of the Black Sea Fleet," RIA quoted the source as saying. "Su-24 attack aircraft demonstrated to the American crew our readiness to harshly prevent a violation of the frontier and to defend the interests of the country."

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