Topic: This is bad: Russia 'abducts' Estonian officer after Obama says US will defend.. (Read 4595 times)

Made-up love story and forged passport used to back Lavrov's allegations against Lithuania


After Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov made allegations that Polish and Lithuanian mercenaries were fighting in Ukraine, the Russian media took upon itself to find proof for the minister's claims.

Rubaltic.ru has unearthed a story from one month ago about Yakaterina Semyonova from Kharkiv, Ukraine, who was allegedly looking for her missing lover, Lithuanian captain Remigijus Šinkūnas. It was reported that Šinkūnas had come to Ukraine to teach in a Kharkiv military school; he allegedly met Yakaterina there but, twelve days later, told her he was being sent off to Dnipropetrovsk and had not been heard from since.

According to the story, officers of the Kharkiv police came to Yakaterina and showed her Šimkūnas' passport: it was allegedly found at a military rocket launch site, proving the Lithuanian was involved with the Ukrainian military.

However, the photo in the passport that was claimed to belong to Šimkūnas later revealed the document was forged. A passport with that number belongs to another Lithuanian citizen.

"This is just one more information attack against Lithuania. The passport is forged, a document with that number has been issued to a different person. What we see is a propaganda and misinformation campaign conducted with the help of made-up stories and forged documents," says Rasa Jakilaitienė, spokeswoman to the Lithuanian minister of foreign affairs.

On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov told Bloomberg that Lithuanian and Polish nationals were fighting in Ukraine, in "battalions formed and funded by oligarchs".

The interview, which was posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry, was not the first time that Poland and Lithuania had been accused of sending troops to Ukraine. In his notorious speech in Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin made similar claims right after Russia annexed the peninsula.

According to political observers, Russian leaders are thus trying to back their more abstract claims that Western countries are interfering into what they say is Ukraine's domestic conflict. Moreover, Moscow keeps denying its own involvement in the crisis, even though NATO has reported about the presence of Russian regular troops on the Ukrainian soil.

http://en.delfi.lt/central-eastern-europe/made-up-love-story-and-forged-passport-used-to-back-lavrovs-allegations-against-lithuania.d?id=66023300#ixzz3F7hdxwmg

Russia detains Lithuanian fishing vessel

http://en.delfi.lt/lithuania/economy/russia-detains-lithuanian-fishing-vessel.d?id=65894796


Lithuanian PM calls vessel detention by Russia demonstration of anger and power
 
http://en.delfi.lt/lithuania/foreign-affairs/lithuanian-pm-calls-vessel-detention-by-russia-demonstration-of-anger-and-power.d?id=65899588#ixzz3DoJKMpbW


Lithuanian Foreign Ministry summons Russian Ambassador over detained Lithuanian fishing vessel

http://en.delfi.lt/lithuania/foreign-affairs/lithuanian-foreign-ministry-summons-russian-ambassador-over-detained-lithuanian-fishing-vessel.d?id=65899734#ixzz3DoJyHQop

Russia Sees Need to Protect Russian Speakers in NATO Baltic States

Russia's Foreign Ministry says there are "whole segments of the Russian world" that may require Moscow's protection, and has singled out Baltic states by saying that Russia will not tolerate an "offensive" against its language there.

If this sounds reminiscent of the rhetoric that accompanied Moscow's annexation of Crimea, the Foreign Ministry made no secret of the intended parallel. The ministry's chief monitor of human rights overseas, Konstantin Dolgov, cited the policies of Ukraine's government in Kiev as an example of a rise of "xenophobia" in Europe, according to a transcript of a speech published by the ministry Monday.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-sees-need-to-protect-russian-speakers-in-nato-baltic-states/507188.html

We aren't the one saying that. You are the ones who said "HALF of our media is private, so they're impartial."

Estonian MFA ‏: The UN @UNGeneva expressed concern for Estonian Internal Security Service officer Eston Kohver and called for his release.

Latvia: Guns found in searches of pro-Russia volunteers from Ludza

The criminal investigation initiated last week by the Security Police (DP) into three men claiming to be from the town of Ludza who appeared in video posts from Donbass, armed to fight with pro-Russian forces, has uncovered a cache of guns and ammunition, information agency LETA reported Thursday.

Altogether seven searches have been conducted so far, revealing a number of confiscated objects, among them three firing weapons and ammunition, as well as a pneumatic gun. One of the weapons was being kept without a permit.

While declining to specify the locations of the searches, or whether the discovered arms could belong to any of the three men, the DP said its investigations would continue until a further decision is taken in the process.

The DP also declined to comment whether any of its officers have traveled to Ukraine to resolve issues in close cooperation with their local counterparts having to do with Latvians possibly taking part in armed separatist groups.

The DP confirmed last week that the identities of the men are known, two being citizens, one being a non-citizen. All of them had been noted by the DP for their ties to the National Bolshevik political movement in Latvia.

All three are now under criminal investigation for public exhortations to terrorism, as well as obtaining, possessing and carrying weapons. These are the first-ever criminal cases launched against someone accused of supporting terrorism. The punishment if convicted could reach up to an eight-year prison term.

http://www.lsm.lv/en/article/societ/society/guns-found-in-searches-of-pro-russia-volunteers-from-ludza.a98039/

I don't care. You guys are pretending to say that private ownership is a guarantee of impartiality, so let it be.

But what about the privately owned media in the west? Guess how many federal TV channels and newspapers in USA are privately owned?

AGREED. They are a bunch of ignorant monsters, who VICTIMIZE their OWN

people FIRST, then their neighbors. FUCK THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT.

There are more journalists murdered in Russia than in any other developed country:

http://cpj.org/reports/2014/04/impunity-index-getting-away-with-murder.php

http://en.rsf.org/russia.html

It makes no difference who owns TV channels or newspapers, they all have to register with the government, even a single blogger at his home!

http://www.mediadefence.org/stories/focus-press-and-net-freedom-russia

That's not how a free country should be.

Next Stop Baltics? "Russia Warns Of “Unfortunate Consequences” Over Ethnic Tension In Baltic by @maxseddon

A Russian official has warned that alleged discrimination against Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic states “may have far-reaching, unfortunate consequences,” fueling jitters that Moscow may seek to stoke tensions there as the Ukrainian crisis continues to fester.

Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian foreign ministry’s human rights ombudsman, told a conference in the Latvian capital of Riga on Saturday that “entire segments of the Russian World” were struggling to uphold their human rights, according to a transcript published on the ministry’s website on Monday. “One of the obvious and, perhaps, key reasons for this state of affairs is the ceaseless growth of xenophobic and neo-Nazi sentiments in the world [and] their subsequent deep penetration into the consciousness of the political establishment in a whole array of foreign governments,” Dolgov said.

The timing and tone of his speech suggest Russia’s growing willingness to use ethnic groups abroad as a political wedge. President Vladimir Putin has spoken frequently of his vision of a broader Russian-speaking federation in recent years and reserved the right to protect Russian speakers with military force after Russian troops annexed Crimea in March.

Despite their protection under NATO’s collective security pact, leaders in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, former Soviet countries that joined the alliance in 2004, have frequently worried that they will be next and urged their larger Western allies to do more. Since U.S. President Barack Obama visited Estonia earlier this month to underscore the West’s commitment to defend them, all three countries have seen provocative incidents apparently designed in response. Russia arrested an Estonian security officer in what Tallinn said was a cross-border abduction; Russian authorities resurrected desertion charges against a Lithuanian who refused to serve in the Soviet army 24 years ago; and in Latvia, local television reported that the Russian embassy there was working to send Russian-speakers, including ex-convicts, to fight alongside Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Dolgov’s comments reflect long-held complaints that Baltic countries treat their Russian-speaking minorities as second-class citizens. Moscow claims that the states, particularly Estonia and Latvia, make it difficult for Russian speakers to attain citizenship and insult them by holding ceremonies honoring Balts who fought in Nazi SS divisions against the Soviet Union during World War II. Dolgov — whose office was essentially created to deflect criticism of Russia’s own human rights record by pointing out abuses in the West, an old Soviet rhetorical trick known as “whataboutism” — accused European Union officials of “preferring to disseminate tired-out, frequently unfounded criticism of foreign governments instead of seriously dealing with the snowballing heap of human rights problems in their own houses.”

Russia has been perfectly happy to work with the European far-right when it suits it. Several far-right lawmakers who gave glowing marks to the Crimean secession referendum in March despite glaring irregularities were invited to repeat their role as observers at local Russian elections on Sunday, the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/russia-warns-of-unfortunate-consequences-over-ethnic-tension#3x340dp

Exactly.

You're joking, right? In case if you don't know, CКCMP is NGO. This NGO is supported by the US-based "National Endowment for Democracy" and other foundations.

Yeah sure, that's the reason why a half of federal TV channels and newspapers is privately owned. #CognitiveDISSONANCE

I'm sorry but it appears that you're trying to make judgements using legacy information from the beginning of 20th or even 19th century. Seriously, you don't have a clue what's happening here.

The CКCMP is not an organization which is under Kremlin control. In many instances they have taken a stand which is against the official Kremlin position. And don't tell me that BBC is a source which can be relied on. Ever since the start of the Dombass conflict, the BBC has been acting like an official propaganda channel of the Right Sector movement. Only retards will trust a source such as BBC.

This is official Russian information, and you can't trust it. All the media are under government's control in Russia. That's not the case in the West, and the BBC tells the exact opposite:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28968526

The war against Chechnya was more official than the one in Ukraine, I'll agree with you on that point. Incidentally, I remember talking with Ukrainian guys about what was happening in Chechnya during the war. I was in Paris back then, in 1995, they had nothing good to say about anything Russian.

Huh? So Russian mothers write letters, make blog posts, and record videos demanding to know where their sons are, why their sons are in Ukraine, why their sons are dying in Ukraine, and why they aren't even allowed to properly bury their sons after they died in Ukraine, and Russia makes an "official" website where mothers are perfectly fine and proud of their sons, whatever they are doing? Why am I not surprised?!

And remember at the time on Chechen wars, it turned out that Russian soldiers did actually die.

Here is the official website of the Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia (Coюз Кoмитeтoв Coлдaтcкиx Maтepeй Poccии):

http://www.ucsmr.ru/

There are no complaints here about their sons fighting in Ukraine. Remember that at the time of the Chechen wars, the CКCMP was very active in publishing the plight of the soldiers.

If you believe that, then you have to believe that they are all there illegally, and without telling their friends and family, because you have to ask permission from military office to go do that during vacation and the person running that office said she never received any such requests, and I'm sure you have heard about all the Russian mothers complaining about not knowing where their sons were, and only finding out they were in Ukraine after they died. Plus you would have to believe that Russian soldiers who go on vacation can take tanks, trucks, buks, and howitzers with them.



If they were fighting against 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers, sure, but they may be fighting against thousands more. And also, taking Donbass may not even be their goal. Just keeping the fighting going is enough to keep Ukraine destabilized and not able to join NATO. Plus you can also win the war by draining Ukrainian army of its resources by slowly harassing them. Just like Iraq insurgency did to the much bigger USA army. Just need enough troops to keep everyone safe and from getting overrun.

Russian soldier death toll? So far not a single Russian soldier on active duty has died in Ukraine. There were some volunteer deaths, but they were mostly from the Ossetians and the Don Cossacks.

If there were 1,000 Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, then the Kiev forces would have lost the entire Donbass region in a matter of days. You can't compare the Russian army with the Ukrainian one. The difference is vast.

No, I mean the ones he admitted were fighting alongside the separatists around the end of August.


First of all, it's probably closer to 1,000 or more, considering the Russian soldier death toll so far. Plus all the trucks, tanks, howitzers, and other military hardware.
And second, it depends on what Putin wants. He may want all of Ukraine, which would require him to invade with a much bigger force. Or he might just want the Ukrainian gas fields in Eastern Ukraine, fearing that if Ukraine starts mining them and selling that gas to Europe, Russia will become insignificant and its economy would crumble. He doesn't need many troops for that, just enough to help the separatists control that small amount of territory. Or he may just want to destabilize Ukraine to prevent it from being able to join EU and NATO, and to punish it for kicking out his own corrupt puppet, or to spread enough fear about Ukraine among his own people so that Russians don't kick out their own extremely corrupt rullers just like Ukraine did. That requires even less troops - just enough to sabotage things and kill a few people here and there to keep the anger and fighting up.