BALTIMORE, Maryland April 8, 2014 - A fist fight broke out in the Ukraine Parliment today. In the Congress of these United States, Secretary of State John Kerry told the legislators that Russian operatives are attempting to stoke unrest and violence in the the Eastern part of Ukraine. There is "clear and unmistakable involvement" of Russian operatives in encouraging the antigovernment protests in Ukraine, Kerry testified, adding that he found these activities "deeply disturbing."
"Quite simply," Kerry continued, "what we see from Russia is an illegal and illegitimate effort to destabilize a sovereign state and create a contrived crisis with paid operatives across an international boundary." On the ground in the Eastern section of Ukraine, Ukrainian military units have regained control of government buildings in two of the three cities where gunmen had seized control of such buildings over this past weekend and yesterday. And a respected journalist reported that there probably isn't a majority of citizens in favor of cessation even in Eastern Ukraine. "It isn't like Crimea," said Greg Palkot, Fox News Senior Foreign Correspondent.
The CIA says that 77.8% of all Ukrainians are ethnic Ukrainians, while 17.3% of all people living in Ukraine are ethnic Russians. Russia says that if Ukraine uses its military to pacify the eastern part of the country, a civil war will break out. NBC and Russia say there are 150 American employees of the security contractor known now as Greystone that are now in Eastern Ukraine working for pro-western interests. Russia says these 150 people are of "particular concern." According to a Russian web page, these Americans are wearing uniforms of a Ukraine police agency called "Sokol." NBC claims one of their reporters actually interviewed a woman in Ukraine who works for Greystone. She admitted Greystone was her employer but she would not provide her name. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow in a prepared statement that representatives of pro-Russian elements in eastern and southern Ukraine should be allowed to participate in multilateral talks with Russia, the U.S. and the European Union and the new government in Kiev aimed at calming tensions. In Stockholm, Sweden, the Wall Street Journal said that Sweden believes the Russian Military is ready and willing to act in the Ukraine and, possibly, elsewhere. In Finland, military spokespeople admitted to being agitated by recent Russian military exercises extremely close to the Finnish border. A Russian military spokesman told the Finnish Web Page Finnbay that the exercises were intended to teach Russian forces how to operate in the event of a nuclear war. It actually says that. The Russians were also conducting air drills directly over the border between the two nations. When asked why the Russian military was firing weapons so near the Finn border, a military spokesman said, "“Firings are done on unfamiliar sites.” See: http://www.finnbay.com/russian-defence-forces-we-fire-on-unfamiliar-sites-near-finland/#prettyPhoto
Kerry told Congress that Russian operatives are in Ukraine trying to destabilize the country, especially the eastern part, and lay the groundwork, if necessary, for Russian military intervention. Fox corroborated the report that paid agitators have, as one objective, the destabilizing of the country and provocation of small scale clashes between pro-Russian demonstrators and Ukrainian military elements, all in the interest of laying the groundwork for a large scale Russian military invasion. Kerry also said that other demonstrators and protestors, including those who occupied Ukraine government buildings, are being paid by Russia.
According to the CIA, the largest cities in Ukraine, according to the latest verifiable census (2009) are Kiev or Kyiv, which is the capital of Ukraine, with 2.779 million people, Kharkiv, with 1.455 million people, Dnipropetrovsk, with 1.013 million people, Odessa with 1.009 million people and Donetsk, with 971,000 people. The Wall Street Journal said in today's on-line edition that Ukraine has launched an organized effort to retake government buildings in the eastern region of the country. In Kharkiv, the second largest Ukrainian City, up to 200 pro-Russian agitators barricaded themselves inside on one building overnight, then used stun grenades and fired pellet guns at police as they moved in. As the operation to dislodge them got underway, the agitators torched one wing of the building. When the fire was brought under control, the Ukrainian Forces moved in and won the building back, arresting some 70 Russians in the process, according to Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
In making the arrests, Minister Avakov said that the Ukrainian Forces had taken possessin of a cache of weapons the Russians had inside with them.
Ukrainian officials have vowed to subdue the secessionists. Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Tuesday morning that an "antiterrorist" operation had been launched in Kharkiv and around 70 separatists who had control of the regional administration building had been arrested.
"The night in Kharkiv was endlessly long," Minister Avakov said. "The boorish, brutal, ordered and generously paid pro-Russian aggression of the 'protesters' was off the charts." But in Russia, a statement released by the Foreign Ministry said such military operations were "fraught with the risk of unleashing civil war." According to the WSJ, Russia has repeatedly said it reserves the right to protect ethnic Russians living in Ukraine, who it claims are under threat from "nationalist forces within the country."
Just for the record, every nation on earth has "nationalists" inside of it.
In Donetsk, the Wall Street Journal reported that protesters declared the founding of the "Donetsk People's Republic" and demanded a referendum on independence from Ukraine. Ukraine's wealthiest man, Rinat Akhmetov, a Donetsk native who had been a member of Mr. Yanukovych's political party, reportedly met with the separatists in Donetsk and urged them to negotiate with the government. But the WSJ said the Donetsk protesters are very disorganized and prone to in-fighting. On Tuesday, protesters still controlled the regional assembly building but it appeared they were wavering in their demands. A meeting of the council of the newly formed republic in a room on the 11th floor of the regional government building quickly descended into a cacophony of shouting, ringing mobile phones and table banging as the deputies clashed over plans.
"Are you going to shut your mouth or will I have to?" yelled one older man holding a Soviet flag. A woman struck a man who was trying to calm her down.
After a woman read out the Declaration of Independence the self-proclaimed republic had pronounced on Monday, the council voted to send an appeal to foreign countries and international organizations to recognize their fledgling nation.
While the scenario appears similar to what preceded Russia's annexation of Crimea last month, Fox and the WSJ said the new protests seem to lack the broad public support seen in that breakaway region, which had been part of Russia until 1954.
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