By Dmitry Tymchuk
March 4, 2014 FB Status
Source: https://www.facebook.com/dmitry.tymchuk/posts/464503260345001?stream_ref=5

In place of a foreword:
“…the Germans are not going to do any harm to anyone in the world, but it was necessary to stop the suffering which the whole world had been inflicting on the Germans for 20 years… Germany left the Memel Germans to the mercy of fate when the country accepted the shame and disgrace… Today the Memel Germans again are becoming the citizens of the mighty Reich which decidedly intends to take its fate in hand, even if half of the world does not like it” – Adold Hitler, 1939.

The situation in Ukraine remains very disturbing. Despite the fact that the international community’s attention is focused mainly on the Crimean peninsula now, it is very restless near the eastern borders of Ukraine. According to the latest information, the units of the 4th Tank Division (Naro-Fominsk, Moscow region), the 20th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade (Volgograd) and the 2nd Separate Special Purpose Brigade (Cherekha, Pskov region) are drawn up there. But the Russian troops, that had been alerted earlier, had to return to their usual positions on March 3.

Are they waiting for anything at the gates of Ukraine? Anything like it was near the border of Georgia in 2008? Now Russian invaders are awaiting Putin’s orders to start an armed aggression against Ukraine. On March 1, the former Ukrainian President Yanukovych asked Putin to use Russia’s armed forces to “restore the legality of peace, law and order, stability, and protection of the population of Ukraine”. The corresponding letter was demonstrated by Russia’s representative to the UN Security Council, Vitaly Churkin, on March 3. So, Russia should attack Ukraine and then protect it from invaders – that is, from themselves.

The Russian law “On Defense” adopted in 1996 provides such a case. And the Russian spy and traitor Yanukovych, who plundered the country and the Ukrainian armed forces and then fled the country ignominiously, is still considered in Russia the legitimate Ukrainian authority. But there is a caveat here. The law states that “…the units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation can be used operationally outside of the Russian Federation territory in accordance with the generally recognized principles and norms of international law … for the following tasks: …repelling or prevention of an armed attack on another state that has made a proper request to the Russian Federation.”

The caveat is that Russia will need to first attack Ukraine and then to protect the country against its own occupation troops to activate this specific point of the law. Putin who “has lost touch with reality” will not go so far. Compatriots must be protected. The same law, however, provides yet other conditions for use of armed forces abroad. In particular, Russia can use its armed forces in order to “protect the citizens of the Russian Federation outside the territory of the Russian Federation in case of an armed attack.” As the Ukrainian military in the Crimea did not succumb to provocations of the Russian invaders, there was no reason to start warfare against Ukraine. So the Russians exert moral pressure.

Interestingly enough, the Federation Council, adopting the resolution “On the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine” on March 1, pointed out that Russia proceeds from “the interests of safety of life of the Russian Federation citizens, our compatriots and the personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” That is, a loophole was left in the form of “compatriots” to provide at least some justification for the military intervention in Ukraine on the basis of the generally recognized principles and norms of international law. However, as we have already seen from the excerpts of the law “On defense,” there is no mention of any compatriots there. Dr. Goebbels is alive, indeed. To add more reasons for the Russian invaders’ illegal action in the territory of Ukraine, Putin’s propaganda machine has begun to create for Ukraine an image of a country that faces a highly volatile situation. Why, then, according to the law “On defense,” Russian armed forces can also be used abroad “to repel armed attacks on the units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops or authorities stationed outside the territory of the Russian Federation” (i.e., in the Crimea where the Black Sea Fleet is located), “to protect citizens of the Russian Federation outside the territory of the Russian Federation from armed attacks.” As evidence of a highly volatile situation in Ukraine, Russian state-run media and politicians have begun to spread outright misinformation.

First, they declare that “huge flows” of Ukrainian refugees flee to Russia. “The influx of refugees has increased significantly today. They are not only the residents of the south-eastern regions, there are people from the center, from the central part, and from the western part of Ukraine,” said Rostov Region Governor Vasily Golubev on March 1. Russia officially declares that over 670 thousand citizens of Ukraine have arrived in Russia since the beginning of the year.

The First TV Channel of Russia even showed a video about the “huge flows” of refugees from Ukraine, though not to Russia but to Poland. And, in fact, not refugees at all. At the 15th second of this First Channel video (http://www.1tv.ru/news/social/253245) a checkpoint can be seen with a sign “Sheginі” which is a village on the border with Poland in Mostyska district, Lviv region (propaganda-putina1.jpg). The newscaster, however, is speaking of “a mass influx of Ukrainian refugees to the southern regions of Russia.” As the “Moskovsky Komsomolets” correspondent aptly noted, ” … a lonely “noble breed” dog wandering in my direction only reinforces the impression of an influx of refugees” at the Veselo-Voznesensky checkpoint near the Russian-Ukrainian border. Second, the next step of Russian misinformation was spreading news about the existence of real threats to the lives of ordinary citizens in the Crimea. So, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council Igor Morozov stated on March 3 that “the threats are so serious and real for the local Crimean population that it’s nothing to discuss. We arrived on February 26 and there were some very serious street conflicts on that day that resulted in death of three people. Some of those who defended the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea were killed.” “The Verkhovna Rada of the Crimea did everything possible on February 27; it was necessary to use the Crimean self-defense forces in order to take a historic decision on the referendum, and the atmosphere became less tense at once,” he said. The situation is comical and tragic at the same time, since by the time Igor Morozov made his speech, bloggers had already denounced the attempts of “Bandera followers” and “Ukrainian nationalists” to capture the Verkhovna Rada of the Crimea as staged blatantly by the Russian secret services (http://www.vesti.ru/only_video.html?vid=581456). The senator also did not explain how the Ukrainian nationalists got modern Russian-made weapons (GM-94 grenade launcher), why they came to the Crimea by a bus with the Crimean registration numbers (propaganda-putina1.jpg) and why the bodies of three killed people were moving (troop1.jpg). The Crimean self-defense forces referred to by the Senator were in fact Russian special forces armed with rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers. Morozov did not tell how the self-defense forces had got all this ammunition since he was playing a role written in advance and being out of touch with reality. Third, denying the facts of illegal staying and actions of the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine. On March 1, the same Senator Morozov denied that the persons (wearing Russian military uniform, helmets and bulletproof vests and with Russian weapons in hands) who seized the Verkhovna Rada and the Council of Ministers of Crimea, were servicemen of the Russian armed forces. Moreover, on March 3, when the invaders were openly moving around Crimea and trying to capture the Ukrainian military units, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin made it clear that no Russian armed forces units were staying illegally in Ukraine. According to him, “there is no need to bring Russian troops to the territory of Ukraine at the moment.” As for the real plans of Russia concerning Ukraine, we have quite eloquent words said by the same Morozov. When asked by The Kommersant reporter whether the armed forces of the Russian Federation could be used only in Crimea or in the whole country, he said: “The whole Ukraine is at issue. All Ukrainians who are willing to observe the Constitution and laws of Ukraine are being persecuted.” Thus, we have an answer to the question why Russian troops are being drawn up to the eastern borders of Ukraine. Now Ukraine is waiting for just one thing, a provocation by the Russian invaders, the more so as they have seized quite enough weapons from the Ukrainian Navy units to shoot a few of their own countrymen. It may be a kind of Gleiwitz incident, which once became the reason for Germany’s attack on Poland. Even tomorrow we can hear from the main Russian “Dr. Goebbels” Dmitry Kiselev a statement that the Ukrainian army has launched an unprovoked attack against the Third Reich, Vladimir Putin and his dearly beloved countrymen.