Russia has right to send nuclear arms to Crimea: Official

A senior Russian official says his country reserves the right to deploy nuclear arms in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which joined the Russian Federation last year.

“I don’t know if there are any nuclear weapons there at the moment and I am not aware of such plans, but in principle Russia can do this,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted the head of Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Weapons Control, Mikhail Ulyanov, as saying on Wednesday.

Moscow is naturally entitled to put nuclear weapons “in any region on its territory if it deems it necessary,” he stressed.

In January, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia Valery Gerasimov announced Moscow’s plan to reinforce its military presence on the Crimean Peninsula in 2015.

“In 2015, the Defense Ministry’s main efforts will focus on an increase of combat capabilities of the armed forces and increasing the military staff in accordance with military construction plans. Much attention will be given to the groupings in Crimea, Kaliningrad and the Arctic,” he said.

NATO military expansion

The comments came as NATO plans to expand its military presence in Eastern Europe amid the crisis in Ukraine.

The Western military alliance has held numerous war games over the past year. In 2014, NATO forces held some 200 military exercises, with the alliance’s General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg having promised that such drills would continue.

NATO launched a multinational naval drill in the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula on Tuesday. The war games involved NATO naval rapid reaction forces and saw the participation of the USS Vicksburg, a US guided missile cruiser, as well as vessels from six other participating states – Canada, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned NATO’s exercises and military buildup toward its borders.

The Moscow-West relations sharply cooled after the Crimea joined Russia following a referendum in March 2014. Relations were strained further after Ukraine launched military operations in mid-April 2014 to silence pro-Russia protests in the country’s mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine.

Legal Process of Crimean Reunification to Finish This Week

MOSCOW, March 20 – The legal process of reunifying Crimea as part of Russia will be completed by the end of the week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.

Legal Process of Crimean Reunification to Finish This Week

“At the moment, practical steps are ongoing to implement the agreement signed between the leaders of the Russian Federation, Crimea and the city of Sevastopol,” Lavrov said to a gathering of Russian diplomatic officials.

“The legal process will be completed this week,” he added.

Sergei Lavrov

Residents of Crimea overwhelmingly voted in a referendum Sunday to seek reunification with Russia after 60 years as part of Ukraine.

A treaty providing for the Black Sea peninsula’s accession was signed by Crimean leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in the Kremlin.

(RIA Novosti)

Russia Sends 6 Fighter Jets to Belarus

MINSK, March 13 – Six Russian Su-27 fighter jets and three military transport planes with ground support personnel arrived Thursday at an airbase in Belarus to boost the airspace defenses of the two countries' Union State, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The ministry said the aircraft from the Western military district have been deployed to the Babruysk airbase in line with a bilateral agreement on the joint protection of the Union State's airspace. 

Su-27 Flanker

The planes will reinforce the four Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter jets already at the nearby Baranovichi airbase.

The Su-27 Flanker is a highly-maneuverable, all-weather fighter jet that could be used in a variety of combat missions, including reconnaissance and the interception of enemy aircraft.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had said earlier that Belarus would ask Russia to deploy up to 15 combat aircraft on its territory in response to increased NATO military activity along the country’s borders.

NATO has begun military exercises in Poland near the borders with Belarus and Ukraine amid the current political standoff between Russia and the West over the fate of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

The US Air Force has dispatched at least 12 F-16 falcon fighter jets from its airbase in Italy to take part in the exercises, while two NATO AWACS command and control planes have started reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania in order to help monitor the crisis in Ukraine.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said earlier on Thursday that further expansion of foreign military activity close to Belarusian borders would “prompt an adequate response.”

In addition to its ally Russia, Belarus borders crisis-hit Ukraine and NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

(RIA Novosti)

NSA fails to get iron grip on Crimea, surveillance agencies shamed

The so-called 'surveillance superpower' has overlooked the Crimea. The US government has a hold over major political figures in the world thanks to the NSA surveillance programs, yet still it failed to understand that Vladimir Putin will do everything in his power not to let the peninsula slip out of his hands. What was the ultimate mistake of the American intelligence? - the Western experts and media are trying to guess. Russian political scientists and intelligence experts try to explain the reasons why Washington was so inattentive in an interview to the Voice of Russia.

The Supreme Council of Crimea adopted Tuesday the Declaration of Independence and expressed the intention to join Russia. Now all we have to do is to wait for the referendum on March 16. If the majority of the Crimea citizens will vote for this decision, the necessary documents will go straight from Simferopol to Moscow. The officials promise to do their job without any delay.

The reaction of the new self-proclaimed Kiev authorities is predictable and thus not subject to further discussion, it is the US reaction that may be of concern here. The US President Barack Obama issues statements that can be summarized as ‘won’t let, won’t forgive, sanctions are imminent’ on a daily basis. Even some of their younger European partners disagree with such fierce statements. Especially since many of them have a valid question - where were you before, Mr. President, with your all-powerful NSA? “The United States, the country with the most advanced tracking and surveillance system, is unaware of what is happening in the rest of the world,” Michele Zurleni of the Italian newspaper Panorama says.

Here are the events as presented by the author. February 27, a few hours after the creation of the interim government in Kiev, Vladimir Putin announces a ‘sudden operability test’. Some 150.000 people are engaged in the exercise near the western Russian border. On the same day in Washington, Republican Mike Rogers, Chairman of the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, receives a report from the NSA Director’s Office. Its essence in a nutshell is as follows – Putin is bluffing. The next day, a new pro-Russian government is formed in the Crimea, paramilitary forces control airports and surround Ukrainian military bases. Putin makes the first move, while the White House has no choice but to hobble, trying to catch up with the swift actions of the Kremlin leader, the author says.

Five days later, the United States began to wonder why the government was caught by surprise. Officials were talking about sluggish Obama's policy towards Putin, blame the whole US intelligence community, agencies leadership, bureaucrats and experts. Few remember that this is not the first time the all-powerful intelligence services were embarrassed, the Head of the Center for Public Policy Research Vladimir Evseev says.

"Apparently, they considered it a bluff. The fact that Russia is not perceived as an equal partner undermines the efforts of the US intelligence community. Exaggerating their capabilities and reconnaissance assets, the US naturally fell into this trap. There was a clear underestimation of the resources that Moscow had, the whole situation was miscalculated. Russian special forces proved they can work in the information war setting and under global surveillance carried out by the United States."

Recent technological breakthroughs and the up to the minute equipment had a side effect. It appears that the US analysts have forgotten the basics of intelligence work, relying solely on gadgets, Head of the Inforus consortium Andrey Masalovich says.

"For many years the intelligence practice had been facing a major stumbling block, the lack of means to get access to the raw data, such as wiretapping conversations, interception of electronic communications, access to databases, covert surveillance. When finally people invented technical devices that could help them in solving these problems, the intelligence agents were overwhelmed with exultation. A huge reservoir of data emerged out of the blue, and most intelligent services started to forget that there was one more vital part of the work – the analysis of large databases. The agent’s task is not just to tell who said what, but to provide an overview of what is happening, what are the expectations, and how can our actions be affected by the opposing side. Nowadays few draw their attention to this kind of analytical work."

Vladimir Putin does not speak about his strategy on a cell phone, nor he uses Facebook or Twitter, says a former CIA agent and author of books and articles on Langley, Robert Baer. An old CIA would try to gain an informant tried in Kremlin’s military apparatus. But those were different times. It is quite obvious that the digital surveillance programs were useless in this case, Baer says. Having started its Ukraine operation, the West suddenly discovered that Putin has a counter plan. A pity they had no idea what this plan was about. The analytical wing is fully responsible for this: the US intelligence services have unlimited access to information, and yet they have repeatedly failed to become omnipotent.

US trying to punish Putin for what is happening in Crimea - former CIA analyst

The US is now trying to punish Putin for what is happening in Crimea, says Melvin Goodman, former CIA analyst and a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington DC and Adjunct Professor of International Security and Government at Johns Hopkins University. However, the situation is irreversible and Washington needs to change its approach to finding a solution to the crisis in the country to avoid its expansion. In his interview to the Voice of Russia Goodman said that there is a room for maneuver, although each side will need certain guarantees.

 

Photo: RIA Novosti

 

Goodman stressed that the US will have ultimately recognize Russia’s interests near its border.

He noted that the US has to emphasize that the current government is interim and there should be legitimate elections held.

Goodman also spoke about historical side of the Ukranian crisis, ways to solve it and its impact on the US-Russia relations pointing that the American-Russian relations have fallen to the lowest level since the end of the cold War and there will be a harsh set back.

Source: Voice of Russia

NATO aircraft to monitor Ukraine crisis

Alliance to deploy reconnaissance aircraft over Poland and Romania to monitor situation in neighbouring country. 

NATO aircraft to monitor Ukraine crisis

NATO has said it will start reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in neighbouring Ukraine where Russian forces have taken control of Crimea.

The AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) flights will take place solely over NATO territory, the alliance said on Monday.

Ukraine is not a NATO member but Russia's intervention in Crimea has alarmed neighbouring countries, including alliance members that used to be dominated by the Soviet Union.

The announcement comes as the United States is sending a dozen F-16 fighter jets and 300 service personnel to Poland as part of a training exercise.

The US and Russia are bitterly divided over how to ease the crisis, with each challenging the other to show they are really interested in a peaceful outcome.

Russia denounced alleged lawlessness by far-right activists in eastern Ukraine on Monday, in a statement likely to trigger fear in Ukraine over possible Russian intervention.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was outraged by lawlessness in the country’s east, blaming the group Right Sector for "conniving" with the new government in Kiev.

Right Sector is a grouping of several far-right and nationalist factions who were actively involved in the uprising against Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich.

The movement uses swastika signs, is blamed for various attacks, and according to its leader Dmitro Yarosh, has “enough weapons to defend all of Ukraine”. 

 
Its activists were among the most radical and confrontational of the demonstrators in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and organised “self-defence” brigades for the protest camp.

Witnesses in eastern Ukraine told Reuters news agency that tensions had been fuelled by pro-Russian activists to provide Russian President Vladimir Putin with a justification for invading Ukraine to protect Russians. 

NATO Force

Pro-Russia sentiment is at a high and there are fears Russia could seek to incorporate that area as well.

Violence against Russians

A referendum has been called in Crimea for March 16 on whether the region should split off and seek to become part of Russia.

Russia has criticised the West for being silent over violence and detentions taking place against Russians, highlighting the attack on a pro-Moscow demonstrators in the eastern city of Kharkiv on March 8 and the detention of Russian journalists.

"The shamefaced silence of our Western partners, human rights organisations and foreign media is surprising. It raises the question, where is the notorious objectivity and commitment to democracy?" it said.

Ukraine's government and Western leaders have accused Russian officials and media of distorting the facts to portray the protesters who Yanukovich's rule as violent extremists.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will be received in Washington by President Barack Obama.

Obama has warned that the March 16 vote in Crimea would violate international law. But on Sunday, Putin made it clear that he supports the referendum, in phone calls with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Minister David Cameron.

“The steps taken by the legitimate leadership of Crimea are based on the norms of international law and aim to ensure the legal interests of the population of the peninsula,” said Putin, according to the Kremlin.

Putin has refused to have any dealings with the new Ukrainian leaders who replaced fugitive pro-Kremlin Yanukovich.

Russia Conducts Live Fire Exercises in Baltic: Tension Rises Worldwide

(RIA Novosti) – Russian naval warships and coastal troops conducted live fire exercises Monday in the country’s western Kaliningrad and Leningrad Regions, a Ministry of Defense spokesperson said. 

 

Russia Conducts Live Fire Exercises in Baltic

The exercises, part of a combat readiness test ordered by President Vladimir Putin last week, come amid a growing international crisis as evidence mounts that Russian troops have been deployed across Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

Putin visited the Kirillovsky training ground near St. Petersburg Monday afternoon to personally oversee the final stage of the snap check involving an airdrop mission by paratroopers. But the mission had to be cancelled because of a blizzard. 

 

Sergei Shoigu, Vladimir Putin

A spokesman for the Western Military District, which borders Ukraine, said that a broad range of weapons systems, including ground troops, tanks, and naval artillery and air defense missiles, took part in the Baltic Fleet exercises.

The Baltic Fleet units engaged dummy air, sea and land targets simulating enemy forces, including tanks, aircraft and submarines.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier said the snap inspections of more than 150,000 troops of western and northern military units were not connected with events in Ukraine. The drills were scheduled to end Monday.

Amid Escalation Fears, Russia Says Kiev Sent Fighters to Crimea

MOSCOW, March 1 – Armed men dispatched from Kiev to the southern Ukrainian region of Crimea attempted an overnight storm of the local Interior Ministry, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday. 

 

Situation in Crimea

“As a result of this perfidious provocation several people were injured,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“This confirms that certain well-known political circles in Kiev are striving for the destabilization of the situation… we call on all those giving such orders from Kiev to show restraint.”

The allegation comes as international media report large scale Russian military movements in Crimea that have included tanks, helicopters and troops. In recent days heavily armed soldiers in unmarked uniforms have occupied the region’s parliament, airports and other strategic points across the peninsula. Reports from the regional capital of Simferopol on Saturday suggested that the military presence had been strengthened with the appearance of several manned machine gun positions around the parliament, which is flying the Russian flag after it was seized by unidentified gunmen earlier this week.

Ukrainian authorities have accused Russia of seeking to provoke a conflict. World leaders, including US President Barack Obama, have expressed their deep concern about the apparent Russian incursion into Crimea. Interim Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said Saturday that Russia should immediately recall all its troops to the bases where they are normally located.

“If not, the responsibility for any armed confrontation provoked by the radicals being de facto supported by the Russian military will lie with the Russian leadership,” Yatsenyuk said.

Russia maintains that any military movements in Crimea are within the framework of a 1997 agreement regulating its use of Black Sea naval bases on the peninsula that it leases from Ukraine. Self-defense squads, which maintain that they will resist orders from Kiev, have been forming in the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine since the opposition swept to power in Kiev last weekend The Foreign Ministry said that the alleged assault on the Interior Ministry in Crimea on Saturday was fought off by some of these pro-Russian self defense squads. It did not specify which side suffered the casualties.