Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (Formerly: Democratic Malaise Draws Ukraine Eastwards)

[American Patriot]

China warns of dangerous Russia sanctions 'spiral'

By Noah Barkin and Andreas Rinke
BERLIN Thu Mar 13, 2014 6:35am EDT




(Reuters) - China's top envoy to Germany has warned the West against punishing Russia with sanctions for its intervention in Ukraine, saying such measures could lead to a dangerous chain reaction that would be difficult to control.


In an interview with Reuters days before the European Union is threatening to impose its first sanctions on Russia since the Cold War, ambassador Shi Mingde issued the strongest warning against such measures by any top Chinese official to date.


"We don't see any point in sanctions," Shi said. "Sanctions could lead to retaliatory action, and that would trigger a spiral with unforeseeable consequences. We don't want this."


The interview was conducted on Wednesday, the same day that the EU agreed a framework for sanctions that would slap travel bans and asset freezes on people and companies accused by Brussels of violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine.


German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has taken the lead in trying to mediate in the crisis, has said the measures, which mirror steps announced by the United States, will be imposed on Monday unless Russia accepts the idea of a "contact group" to resolve the crisis diplomatically.


Using her toughest rhetoric since the crisis began, she warned in a speech in parliament on Thursday that Russia risked "massive" political and economic damage if it did not change course in the coming days.


Russia's Deputy Economy Minister Alexei Likhachev responded by promising "symmetrical" sanctions by Moscow.


But Shi urged patience, saying the door for talks should remain open even after a referendum on Sunday in which Ukraine's southern region of Crimea could vote to secede and join Russia. Merkel and other western leaders have denounced the referendum as illegal and demanded that it be canceled.


"We still see a chance to avoid an escalation. The door to talks is still open. We should use this possibility, also after the referendum," Shi said.


Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will visit Berlin and other European capitals later this month, held separate phone calls on the Ukraine crisis with Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this week.


But beyond urging restraint and dialogue, China has shown little public interest in becoming involved diplomatically, a stance that is in keeping with its low-key approach to many international crises.


Still, Ukraine presents Beijing with a dilemma. On the one hand it is a traditional ally of Moscow and has routinely sided with its northern neighbor in major international conflicts. On the other hand, the question of territorial integrity is a tricky issue for the Chinese because of Tibet and Taiwan.


If the West's confrontation with Russia over Ukraine worsens in the coming weeks, Xi's visit, the first by a Chinese president to Germany in eight years, risks being overshadowed by the crisis.


Before coming to Berlin, Xi is due to attend a nuclear security summit in the Netherlands which Obama, Merkel and dozens of other world leaders will attend. He is also due to visit Paris and Brussels.

[American Patriot]

U.S. warns Russia on moves near east, south Ukraine

• BY Matthew Lee, Associated Press March 16, 2014 at 2:50 PM EDT

Riot police stand guard in front of a regional government building as pro-Russian demonstrators take part in a rally in Kharkiv. Credit: Reuters Images.

WASHINGTON — With the Crimea referendum an apparent foregone conclusion and U.S. and European sanctions on Russia imminent, the Obama administration shifted its sites Sunday to stopping Russian military advances near eastern and southern Ukraine that could further inflame the crisis.

Repeating that the United States will not recognize the results of the Crimea vote and will, with the European Union, impose penalties on Russia if it annexes the strategic region, senior U.S. officials warned that any Russia moves on east and south Ukraine would be a grave escalation requiring additional responses.


Secretary of State John Kerry called on Moscow to return its troops in Crimea to their bases, pull back forces from the Ukraine border, halt incitement in eastern Ukraine and support the political reforms in Ukraine that would protect ethnic Russians, Russian speakers and others in the former Soviet Republic that Russia says it is concerned about.

In a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, their second since unsuccessful face-to-face talks on Friday in London, Kerry urged Russia “to support efforts by Ukrainians across the spectrum to address power sharing and decentralization through a constitutional reform process that is broadly inclusive and protects the rights of minorities,” the State Department said.


Kerry expressed “strong concerns” about Russian military activities in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, just north of Crimea where Russian troops appeared on Saturday, and about “continuing provocations” in cities in east Ukraine, the department said.


Kerry “made clear that this crisis can only be resolved politically and that as Ukrainians take the necessary political measures going forward, Russia must reciprocate by pulling forces back to base and addressing the tensions and concerns about military engagement,” the department said.


A senior State Department official said Lavrov’s willingness to discuss Ukraine political reforms was positive, but the official stressed that the Russian military escalation was of “greatest concern” and must be reversed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation.


White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer stressed that Russia faces penalties that will badly hurt its economy and diminish its influence in the world if President Vladimir Putin doesn’t back down. He said the Obama administration’s top priority is supporting the new Ukrainian government “in every way possible.”


“President Putin has a choice about what he’s going to do here. Is he going to continue to further isolate himself, further hurt his economy, further diminish Russian influence in the world, or is he going to do the right thing?” Pfeiffer said.


U.S. and European officials have said they plan to announce sanctions against Russia, including visa bans and potential asset freezes, on Monday if Putin does not shift course. But Putin and other Russians have shown no sign they are willing to back down. They insist they will respect the results of the Crimean referendum in which voters in the largely pro-Moscow peninsula are expected to choose joining Russia by a wide margin.


Members of Congress said they were prepared to enact tough sanctions on various Russian leaders, but $1 billion in loan guarantees to help the Ukrainian economy is on hold while Congress is on a break.


“President Putin has started a game of Russian roulette, and I think the United States and the West have to be very clear in their response because he will calculate about how far he can go,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.


The ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, said the U.S. and Europe were entering a “defining moment” in their relationship with Russia.


“Putin will continue to do this. He did it in Georgia a few years ago. He’s moved into Crimea, and he will move into other places unless we show that long-term resolve.”


Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut returned early Sunday from meetings in Ukraine. He called Sunday’s annexation vote a “sham referendum.” He said that Ukrainians he talked to, both inside and outside the government, said war could occur if Russia attempts to annex more territory. They indicated that “if Russia really does decide to move beyond Crimea, it’s going to be bloody and the fight may be long,” Murphy said.


Pfeiffer spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Menendez and Corker appeared on “Fox News Sunday.” Murphy was on ABC’s “This Week.”

[American Patriot]

The more I watch this, the more it looks like this was a long-time coming.

The Crimean people seem to want to be Russian. The Ukrainian people don't want Russia, and claim that piece of land. The Russians want the entire country - after all, it WAS part of the Russian "Motherland" as USSR.

So - the Russians wanted this piece back as a strategic base. The Ukrainians don't want them to have it as it eliminates the location as a Ukrainian base.

The US wants to lock Russia up into the Black Sea... can't do that now.

I can't see the US sending in troops. Just can't envision that happening. We can move assets around, make threatening moves, but little else. Obama is in this with Russia from the beginning - complete with his "flexibility" with Russia after re-election. Obama saw this coming too.

That leads me to believe Obama won't do anything at all. Make some motions, allow Russia time to do what they need, sending Kerry there is about the easiest thing he could do because Kerry will give away the farm.

So - we get into a bloody mess, Russia launches nukes... we take some hits and DO NOT RESPOND OR RETALIATE! The Obama's are safe because they won't be killed, they are useful idiots. We "surrender" to Russia, the Left gets to stand up on "High Moral Ground" on its terms with "Not ruining the planet with nukes", we completely disarm, the world goes into "peace" because Russia installs it's own puppet government in DC with Obama as "acting regional head".

Americans who revolt will be rounded up and killed. Remember the 1.6 billion plus bullets? Several for every man, woman and child in this country who revolts.


No, DHS has prepared to turn over this country to the Russians.

[American Patriot]

1) Sanctions won't work.
2) Deescalation doesn't work.
3) Drawing red lines doesn't work, it's like feeding the trolls.


A) Shoring up NATO works.
B) Building the US Military back up works.
C) Merkel is about the only one left who can impose sanctions that can hurt Putin, but she probably won't.

[American Patriot]

China urges restraint in Ukraine, ducks comment on Crimea vote

BEIJING Mon Mar 17, 2014 2:55pm IST

(Reuters) - A top Chinese diplomat repeated Beijing's call for calm and restraint in Ukraine on Monday, but avoided commenting on a referendum in Crimea after the region's Moscow-backed leaders declared a 96-percent vote in favour of joining Russia.


Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong, speaking to reporters ahead of a visit to Europe by President Xi Jinping later this month, said that a political settlement was the only way to resolve the Ukraine crisis.


"We are paying very close attention to the situation in Ukraine," Li said, when asked about Crimea.


"We hope all parties can calmly maintain restraint to prevent the situation from further escalating and worsening. Political resolution and dialogue is the only way out."


As state media in Russia carried a reminder of its power to turn the United States to "radioactive ash", President Barack Obama spoke to Vladimir Putin, telling the Russian president that he and his European allies were ready to impose "additional costs" on Moscow for violating Ukraine's territory.


China has said that it does not believe putting sanctions on Moscow - a close diplomatic ally and key economic partner - would be the best way to resolve the situation.


"The Crimea issue ought to be resolved politically within a legal and orderly framework," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a regular press briefing.
"The international community ought to play a constructive role in ameliorating the present situation," Hong said.


China has so far shown little public interest in becoming deeply involved diplomatically in Ukraine, in line with its low-key approach to many international crises.
But China has also said it would like to continue to develop "friendly cooperation" with Ukraine and that it respects Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.


Over the weekend, China abstained on a U.N. Security Council resolution, which Russia vetoed, that declared the Crimea referendum would have no validity.


China, which generally looks askance at the idea of referendums in contested regions lest it set a precedent for places like Tibet, has signaled it understands Russia's position on Ukraine, saying what is happening there "has historical reasons".


Chinese state media has also expressed sympathy for Russia, after protesters ousted pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich last month.


Influential Chinese tabloid the Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, wrote in an editorial on Monday that what was happening in Ukraine was in essence "an anti-Russia colour revolution supported by the West".


"The interference of the West in the Ukraine crisis has messed up the region and Russian was bound to respond," it added.

[American Patriot]

TV anchor: Russia can turn U.S. 'into radioactive dust'

The Oval

David Jackson, USA TODAY 9:57 a.m. EDT March 17, 2014

(Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev, AFP/Getty Images)

You know things are tense when people start talking about nuclear war.


A Russian television anchor has raised global eyebrows by noting in a commentary that Russia is "the only country in the world capable of turning the USA into radioactive dust."


Speaking on the Rossiya 1 news channel, Dmitry Kiselyov — who has supporters in the Kremlin — delivered a diatribe against critics of the Ukraine incursion with a picture of a mushroom cloud behind him.


At one point, Kiselyov attributed President Obama's increasingly gray hair to worries about Russia's nuclear arsenal.


Russian President Vladimir Putin recently appointed Kiselyov to lead an official news agency.


From The Washington Post:


"Kiselyov is no stranger to controversial statements. In the past he has used his show to argue that Russia's anti-gay propaganda laws should go further, and that homosexuals should be banned from giving blood or donating sperm. ...


"He may seem extreme, but Kiselyov apparently has the blessing of the Kremlin: He's been selected to head the new Russian state media conglomerate, Rossiya Segodnya, that is due to replace the well-respected Ria Novosti. He also has a point. Russia is still a major nuclear power, with an estimated 8,500 nuclear warheads, more than the United States."

[American Patriot]

Russia Could Turn U.S. into 'Radioactive Ashes,' State TV Anchor Says

• By Anna Dolgov
• Mar. 17 2014 10:41
• Last edited 10:41

Vadim Vostrov / YoutubeDmitry Kiselyov threatened that Russia could "turn the U.S. into radioactive ashes".



An anchor on state-run television threatened that Russia could "turn the U.S. into radioactive ashes" and showed a simulation of a Russian nuclear strike during his program on the U.S. response to Russia's interference in Ukraine.


Dmitry Kiselyov, who hosts a current affairs talk show on the Rossiya television network and heads a new Kremlin-backed news agency, accused U.S. President Barack Obama of supposedly dithering in talks with President Vladimir Putin, and suggested on his Sunday program that the U.S. leader was intimidated by his Kremlin opponent, who is "not an easy one."


"And Russia is the only country that could really turn the U.S. into radioactive ashes," Kiselyov said, against the backdrop of a mushroom cloud from a nuclear blast appearing on a huge screen behind him.


Kiselyov also suggested that threats of a nuclear strike were coming from the Kremlin.


"I do not know if this is a coincidence or what, but here was Obama calling Putin on Jan. 21 — probably, again trying to pressure somehow — and the very next day, on Jan. 22, the official media outlet of the Russian government ran an article that spelled out in simple terms how our system of nuclear response works," he said.


While Kiselyov's comment suggested that Obama's Jan. 21 call had to do with the Ukrainian crisis, an earlier statement from the White House said the U.S. leader spoke to Putin on that day to wish him a "safe and secure" Olympics in Sochi.


The Kremlin has unleashed a large-scale propaganda war over Moscow's takeover of Crimea and the peninsula's referendum on Sunday, in which more than 90 percent of voters cast supported seceding from Ukraine to Russia, according to preliminary results released by Crimea's pro-Russian administration.


The promotion by state-run television of the Kremlin's views has also helped Putin's approval ratings in the country to soar to 72 percent this month, a recent survey by the Levada pollster showed.


The number of respondents who said they would like to see Putin as Russia's president for a fourth term increased this month to 32 percent, from 26 percent in in April, 2013, while the number of people who said they would like the job to go to a "person who proposes a different solution to Russia's problems" declined from 41 percent to 31 percent over the same period.


The poll, conducted on March 7-10 among 1,603 people around Russia, gave a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

[Ryan Ruck]

Was doing some more looking into UVB-76/The Buzzer and it looks like it has had a bit of voice traffic so far this year, a change from its constant buzz.

http://priyom.org/number-stations/slavic/s28/2014.aspx

Looking at last year, there was really only activity in January and the most recent one was September:

http://priyom.org/number-stations/slavic/s28/2013.aspx

[American Patriot]

Ukraine Crisis: Crimea Changes Currency and Seizes Kiev's Properties ahead of Russia Annex

• By Umberto Bacchi March 17, 2014 13:46 GMT

A Crimean patriot outside the local parliament in the Crimean capital of SimferopolReuters

Crimean authorities were moving quickly to sever all ties with Kiev and realign every aspect of life on the Black Sea peninsula to Moscow standards after an overwhelming referendum result in favour of secession from ukraine.
The Crimean parliament announced that the Russian rouble would be adopted as official currency and circulate alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia until the latter is withdrawn in 2016.
The region's deputy prime minister, Rustam Temirgaliyev, told Interfax news agency that a new central bank was being set up and Russia would send 1bn roubles (£17m) "in the coming days" to help stabilise Crimea's finances.
Local lawmakers also voted to move clocks two hours forward to Moscow time.
In another development parliament declared that all Ukrainian state property on the peninsula would be nationalised and become assets of the Crimean Republic.
The republic itself would then become part of the Russian Federation.
Crimeans, a majority of whom are ethnic Russian, voted massively to secede from Kiev's rule and join Russia in a referendum described as illegal by Ukraine, the US and the EU.
Voters went to the polls a few weeks after thousands of pro-Russian troops took over strategic locations across the peninsula in the wake of the revolution that toppled Ukraine's Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovich.
Barack Obama told Vladimir Putin that the Crimean vote occurred "under duress of Russian military intervention" and would not be recognised.
The British foreign secretary William Hague denounced the referendum as a "mockery of proper democratic practice" and said that Russia had to face "economic and political consequences".
As the referendum's results were made public, a number of Crimean lawmakers said they were flying to Moscow to discuss annexation by Russia.
Putin was expected to address both houses of parliament in Moscow over the issue while the EU was moving to impose sanctions on Moscow.

[American Patriot]

Obama is speaking.

Here we go.

Escalation number... oh, 20 or so.

[American Patriot]

Oh, more sanctions.

Big woop.

[American Patriot]

Obama basically said they are sanctioning a few people's assets. Big deal.

Putin wins. Obama is a fucking idiot.

[American Patriot]

Russian and Ukrainian Shortwave Civilian and Military Frequencies to Monitor During Conflict

by John Galt
March 1, 2014 18:15 ET
This list originated in 2007 via the RadioScanner.ru website and has been translated via Google Translate and set up to provide a starting point for everyone to monitor what is happening. Keep in mind that there have been changes, some frequencies may be inactive however as things heat up, look for more activity in the days ahead.

Russian HF Communications

This is a list from 2007 via:
http://www.radioscanner.ru/freqs/file/list08.html

Вы для большого списка, 73 de Ларры


Language:
=========
Rezim-A In Clear Voice
Rezim-B Green Using Yakta
Vpiriom Over to you


Q-Codes:
========
QBE Closing
QCM Broken
QCM QYT6 MS5 Link is Broken Please Fix it.
QRD Where are you going to/I am going to
QRP Decrease Power
QRR SOS MAYDAY (?)
QRX xxxxx Link xxxxx ???
QSA? Whats your Strength of Signal 2?
QSA2 Strength Of Signal is 2
QWH
QYT6 QBE Closes MS5 Link
QYT6 MS5 Link


FAPSI Stations:
===============
4007 Link Crowd-36
5831 Link Baudot
6496 Link Crowd-36
6905 Link Crowd-36 (Related to XPH 6890 ?)
6949.5 Link Crowd-36
8049.5 Link Crowd-36
8081 Link Baudot
8077 Link 00191 Crowd-36
8139.5 Link Crowd-36
8143 Link Baudot
8167 Link 00063 Baudot
9057.5 Link Crowd-36
9100.5 Link Crowd-36
9137 Link 00063 Baudot
9163 Link 00007 Crowd-36
10519.5 Link Crowd-36
10549 Link Crowd-36
10766.9 Link 70004 Baudot
10767 Link 70004 Baudot
10888.5 Link Crowd-36
10908 Link 80038 Baudot
11032 Link Crowd-36
11054 Link Crowd-36
11072 Link Baudot
11086.5 Link Crowd-36
11087 Link Crowd-36 + PSK
11110.5 Link Crowd-36
11139.5 Link Crowd-36
11460 Link 60047 Baudot
12083 Link 80061 Baudot C/S WQL
12125 Link Baudot
12130 Link Crowd-36
12136 Link 00098 Baudot
12152.5 Link Crowd-36
12171.5 Link Crowd-36
12175 Link 00052 Baudot
12176 Link Baudot
12193 Link 60047 Baudot C/S URO Tripolis ?
12204.5 Link Crowd-36
12211 Link 40034 Baudot C/S UXW London ?
12218.5 Link Crowd-36
12225 Link Crowd-36
12239 Link 70004 Baudot
12947.6 Link Crowd-36
12947.7 Link Crowd-36
13455.5 Link Crowd-36
14395.5 Link Crowd-36
13412 Link Baudot
13435 Link Crowd-36
13470 Link 80061 Baudot
13548 Link Crowd-36
14424.5 Link Crowd-36
14472 Link Baudot
14536 Link Crowd-36
14807 Link 01438 Baudot
14815.5 Link Crowd-36
14817 Link Crowd-36
14817.5 Link Crowd-36
14863.5 Link Crowd-36
14881 Link Crowd-36
14882 Link Crowd-36 Variant
14888.5 Link Crowd-36
14944.5 Link Crowd-36
14946.5 Link Crowd-36
15821.7 Link Crowd-36
16056.7 Link Crowd-36
16060.4 Link Crowd-36
16064.5 Link Crowd-36
16066 Link 10020 Crowd-36
16143.5 Link Crowd-36
16149.4 Link Crowd-36
16153 Link Baudot
16165 Link Crowd-36
16193.5 Link Crowd-36
16218 Link Baudot
16223 Link 40034 Baudot
16227 Link 40034 Baudot
16236 Link 00052 Baudot
16237 Link Baudot
16257.1 Link 00051 Baudot
17421 Link 50035 Baudot
17430 Link 30044 Baudot
17450.4 Link Crowd-36
17452 Link Crowd-36
17463.4 Link Crowd-36
17473 Link 10163 Baudot
17489 Link Crowd-36
18050 Link Crowd-36
18050.4 Link Crowd-36
18216.4 Link Crowd-36
18257.5 Link Crowd-36
18332 Link Baudot
18523 Link 30044 Baudot
18624.5 Link Crowd-36
18656.5 Link Crowd-36
18658 Link 10020 Crowd-36
18771.5 Link Crowd-36
20064.5 Link Crowd-36
20605 Link 10163 Baudot C/S UDZ27
20632 Link Crowd-36
20815.5 Link Crowd-36
22887 Link 10163 Baudot C/S UDZ27


XPH Stations:
=============
6890.0 8130.0 10155.0 11483.0 11542.0 12105.0 12176.0 12207.0 13364.0 14831.0 14846.0


BEE-Stations (Russian Navy) T-600:
==================================
18.1 4984.0 6801.5 7416.0 7683.0 8002.0 8004.5 8124.0 8130.0 8136.0 9182.0 10452.0 10475.0 10512.0 10535.0 10643.5 10659.0 10712.0 10838.0 11468.0 12590.0 12631.0 13422.0 14008.0 14411.0 14448.0 14581.0 16049.0 16112.0 16174.0 16200.0 16207.0 16316.0 17460.0 17480.0 19210.0 19936.0 20096.0 20268.0


81-81 Stations:
===============
2728.0 3234.0 3350.0 3399.0 3818.0 3837.0 4013.1 4043.0 4045.0 4520.0 4571.0 4640.0 4825.0 4878.0 5082.0 5118.0 5141.0 Russian Army Lipeck (ANEE) 5190.0 5234.0 5276.0 5279.9 5317.0 5454.0 5520.9 5850.0 5860.0 6324.0 6766.0 6791.0 6811.0 6814.0 6850.5 6855.0 6864.0 6870.0 6878.0 6924.5 6943.7 6952.0 6956.5 6977.0 6995.0 7002.9 7334.0 7425.0 7474.0 7480.0 7481.0 7526.0 7570.0 7577.0 7605.0 7700.0 7770.0 7782.0 7784.0 7790.0 7801.0 7837.0 7900.0 7915.9 7934.0 7944.0 7944.5 7947.0 8002.0 8003.0 8015.0 8020.0 8070.1 8108.0 8115.0 8128.0 8131.0 8140.0 8175.9 8177.0 8180.0 8314.0 8410.0 8501.0 8512.0 With Opchat 8847.0 8993.0 9010.0 9012.0 9042.0 9047.0 9051.7 9060.0 9075.0 9079.9 9088.0 9100.0 9130.0 9135.7 9182.3 9188.0 9192.0 9199.0 9212.0 9216.7 9248.0 9271.9 9288.0 9291.9 9315.0 9328.0 9346.0 9360.0 9396.0 9910.0 9988.0 10144.0 10164.0 10194.0 10201.0 10243.0 10248.0 10310.0 10315.0 10316.4 10366.0 10388.0 10400.0 10414.9 10435.8 10455.8 10492.0 10512.0 10530.0 10584.0 10600.0 10754.0 10775.0 10808.0 10816.0 10856.0 10863.7 10894.0 10927.0 10944.0 11081.9 11430.0 11460.0 11483.5 12178.0 12183.6 12184.0 12250.0 12290.0 12764.0 13456.0 13490.0 13944.0 13985.0 14564.0 14613.2 14787.0 14830.0 15824.0 15961.0 16023.0 16180.0 16240.0 17475.0 17487.0 18214.0 18245.5 18273.0 18526.0 18531.0 18664.0 18760.0 18780.0 19056.0 20138.0 20240.0


RUS-75 Stations:
================
3104.8 4595.1 4881.0 5171.0 5258.0 5763.0 6406.0 6484.0 6994.0 7833.0 7919.9 7958.0 8002.0 8646.0 9088.0 9134.0 9819.0 9826.0 9991.0 10154.0 10160.0 10193.0 10302.0 10374.0 10436.0 10512.0 10530.0 10707.0 10710.9 10932.0 11210.0 14050.0 25380.0


CIS-144 Stations:
=================
8063.5 8076.5 8077.5 8078.5 9131.5 9132.5 9133.5 9330.5 9331.5 9332.5


Russian Airforce 200/500 Stations:
==================================
2599.0 2908.0 3140.0 3142.7 3809.1 3826.0 4028.0 4055.0 4162.0 4397.0 4516.0 4630.0 4871.0 5160.0 5251.0 5279.9 5339.9 5457.5 5842.0 6738.0 6781.4 6782.5 6830.0 6885.1 7688.3 7836.0 7986.0 7990.0 8054.0 8133.0 8184.5 8352.0 8695.0 8885.0 8885.2 10169.0
10350.0 10351.0 13480.0 13808.0 16352.0


MS5 Stations:
=============
3815.0 5118.0 5140.0 5380.0 5418.0 6881.0 7676.0 7728.5 7784.0 7849.0 7925.0 8008.0 8120.0 8178.0 9153.0 10512.0 10658.0 10726.0 10736.0 10836.0 10873.0 10894.0 10925.5 10932.0 10975.0 11004.0 11146.0 11447.0 12124.0 12211.0 12668.0 12948.0 13138.0 13400.0 13404.0 13540.0 14375.0 14494.0 14532.0 14541.0 14577.0 14651.0 14787.0 14862.0 14868.0 15874.0 15961.0 16167.0 16254.0 16281.0 16854.0 17111.0 17415.0 17460.0 18062.0 18232.0 18372.0 19572.0 20083.0 20232.0 20311.0 20321.0 20382.0


Russian Military CW Stations:
=============================
3633.0 J830,CEJX
4799.0 W97M
5144.0 L36G
5479.5 CY6V,CJGL
5479.6 OMOZ
6290.0 RJP98
6872.0 REO de RMP Navy HQ Kaliningrad
7559.5 REA4 Airforce HQ Moscow
7615.0 RMMA Warship,RIT Navy North Fleet HQ Severomorsk
7940.0 REA4 Airforce HQ Moscow
8778.0 JIDC
9145.0 RJP98
9151.0 REA4 Airforce HQ Moscow
9287.0 SYWR de CU3Y
9288.0 QHZE
9913.0 NG7H,JIDC
10438.0 RIW Navy HQ Moscow
10986.0 LMOC WP32
11072.0 REA4 Airforce HQ Moscow
11155.0 RMHW Warship,RIT Navy North Fleet HQ Severomorsk
11436.0 KXPL,3YM4
12173.0 REA4 Airforce HQ Moscow
12524.0 RJP98
12744.0 G9AT
12838.0 RIS96,RIW
13872.0 TPYH
14526.0 1NCD
14556.0 RMMA Warship,RIT Navy North Fleet HQ Severomorsk
17468.0 RIW,RKZ
17488.0 RIW,RKZ,RIS96,RMRV
18562.0 CMU67,RCV Navy HQ Sevastopol


Callsigns CW Stations:
======================
RCV Navy HQ Sevastopol
REA4 Airforce HQ Moscow
RIT Navy HQ Severomorsk North Fleet
RIW Navy HQ Moscow
RMP Navy HQ Kaliningrad
RMxx Warship


Russian Air Defence Plotter CW Stations M-21:
=============================================
4015.0 4091.5 4096.0 4560.0 4868.0 5872.9 5873.0 6330.0 8104.0 9222.0
…………………………………………………………..


Russian MX CW Beacon Clusters:
==============================
3334.9 L-Marker St.Petersburg
3593.9 S-Marker Arkhangelsk
3594.0 C-Marker Moscow
3658.0 V-Marker Khiva-Abad Turkmenistan
4042.0 P-Marker Kaliningrad
4325.8 R-Marker Izhevsk/Ustinov
5153.8 P-Marker Kaliningrad
5153.9 S-Marker Arkhangelsk
5154.0 C-Marker Moscow
7038.8 P-Marker Kaliningrad
7038.9 S-Marker Arkhangelsk
7039.0 C-Marker Moscow
8494.8 P-Marker Kaliningrad
8495.0 C-Marker Moscow
10307.2 10528.0
10871.8 P-Marker Kaliningrad
10871.9 S-Marker Arkhangelsk
10872.0 C-Marker Moscow
13527.8 P-Marker Kaliningrad
13527.9 S-Marker Arkhangelsk
13528.0 C-Marker Moscow
13528.2 F-Marker Vladivostok
16331.8 P-Marker Kaliningrad
16331.9 S-Marker Arkhangelsk
16332.0 C-Marker Moscow
20047.9 S-Marker Arkhangelsk
20048.0 C-Marker Moscow


Localisator:
============
C Moscow
F Vladivostok
L St.Petersburg
P Kaliningrad
R Ustinov
S Arkhangelsk
V Tashkent


Other Localisators:
===================
D Unknown or Obsolete
K Unknown or Obsolete
O Unknown or Obsolete
T Unknown or Obsolete
Y Unknown or Obsolete


Other Message Stations:
========================
3464.4 XX Station (The Beep) Located near Rostov-Volgograd
3757 XX Station (The Beep) Located near Rostov-Volgograd
5448 XX Station (The Beep) Located near Rostov-Volgograd


Information about Navy Markers and Other Message Stations from Rimantas Pleikys
Below are presented three known standard voice message formats of the
Russian military HF channel marker stations (Enigma XX – The Pip, XB – The
Buzzer, “R”) – all live, non-computerized, mostly male voices, repeated
twice, in Russian language, real examples:


XX (The Pip), 3757//5448 kHz, Rostov-Volgograd area (?), at different times:
In Russian: English translation;

“Dlia 854 032 471 331 629 008 ” For 854 032 471 331 629 008
Kak slyshno? Priyom.” How can you read me? Reception.”


“R”, Izhevsk, Navy, 3194//3321//4325 kHz, usually on the hour, regular
schedules:

“Rotor-35, ya – Plavets-41. “Rotor-35, I am Plavets-41.

Reskript: 22 80 39 90 Rescript: 22 80 39 90

Moskovskoye vremia 0 chasov, 2 minuty. Moscow time 0 hours, 2 minutes.
Priyom.” Reception.”


XB (The Buzzer), 4625 kHz, Moscow area, extremely rare:
“Ya – UVB-76. “I am UVB-76.

18008 18008

Bromal: Boris, Roman, Olga (…) Bromal: Boris, Roman, Olga (…)
742 799 14″ 742 799 14″


The purpose of the control messages is to check a readiness of operators at the receiving (network) stations. The received message content, or a special answering message, must be repeated back on the return link – HF, terrestrial MWL, telephone line and/or satellite link. In the cases of XX (The Pip) and “R”, the final message word “Priyom” (“Reception”) means that the station is waiting for the quick answer.


…………………………………………………………..
Russian CIV Aero and RDARA Stations:
====================================
2635.0 RDARA
2682.0 CIV Aero
2770.0 CIV Aero Night
2868.0 RDARA
2884.0 RDARA
2902.0 RDARA
2920.0
2926.0 RDARA
2986.0 RDARA
3016.0 RDARA
3046.0 RDARA C
3102.0 RDARA FE
3245.0 CIV Aero Night
3255.0 CIV Aero Night
3401.0 RDARA FE
3407.0 RDARA FE
3413.0 RDARA FE
3422.0 RDARA NW
3425.0 RDADA CE
3440.0 RDARA C
3443.0 RDARA FE
3461.0 RDARA FE
3520.0 CIV Aero Night
3595.0 CIV Aero Night
3658.0 CIV Aero Night
3695.0 CIV Aero Night
3765.0 CIV Aero Night
3815.0 CIV Aero Night
3906.0 RDARA FE
4045.0 CIV Aero Night
4095.0 Dushanbe ACC
4405.0 CIV Aero Night
4465.0 RDARA FE: Ekimchan ACC, Vladivostok ACC, Khabarovsk ACC, Chulman ACC,
Blagoveschensk (Ignatyevo) ACC
4663.0 Aktyubinsk ACC, Almaty ACC, Kyzylorda ACC, Tashkent ACC, Uralsk ACC, Aralsk ACC, Ashkabad ACC, Atyrau (Guryev) ACC, Aktay ACC, Zhezkazgan ACC
4672.0 RDARA NW: Murmansk ACC, Arkhangelsk ACC, St.Petersburg ACC, Petrozavodsk ACC
Vologda ACC, Velikiye Luki ACC
4686.0 Bishkek ACC, Osh ACC
4696.0 RDARA FE: Kostanay (Narimanovka) ACC, Karaganda ACC, Magadan ACC
4696.0 CIV Aero
4705.0 CIV Aero
4712.0 RDARA C
4720.0 RDARA Nsib
4728.0 RDARA SC
4755.0 CIV Aero Night
4765.0 CIV Aero
5025.0 CIV Aero Night
5085.0 CIV Aero Night
5487.0 RDARA SW
5493.0 RDARA FE
5505.0 CIV Aero
5550.0 RDARA FE
5557.0 RDARA FE
5568.0 RDARA FE
6405.0 CIV Aero Daytime
6820.0 CIV Aero Daytime
6895.0 CIV Aero Daytime
6945.0 CIV Aero Daytime
7545.0 CIV Aero Daytime
7870.0 CIV Aero Daytime
8095.0 CIV Aero Daytime
8976.0 RDARA
9024.0 RDARA NW
10048.0 RDARA
10089.0 RDARA C
11285.0 RDARA FE
11327.0 RDARA FE
11333.0 RDARA C
-RDARA is used for Inbound Russian Traffic
-CIV Aero is also used for Inbound Russian Traffic but Callsigns are Coded.


CIV Aero Callsigns:
===================
Arbad Moscow
Avrora Unknown
Radan St.Petersburg
Skora Unknown
Truas Unknown
Yarok Kiev


…………………………………………………………..
Russian LDOC and MWARA Stations:
================================
2851 MWARA NCA2
2896 LDOC Moscow
3004 MWARA NCA3
3019 MWARA NCA1
3479 MWARA EUR
4678 MWARA NCA2
5529 LDOC Moscow
5646 MWARA NCA1
5664 MWARA NCA3
6592 MWARA NCA2
6745 LDOC Moscow
6865 MWARA NCA3
8942 MWARA EA2
8951 MWARA MID3
10018 MWARA MID2
10039 MWARA NCA3
10084 MWARA EUR
10096 MWARA NCA2
11193 LDOC Moscow
11312 LDOC Moscow
11348 LDOC Moscow
11390 LDOC Moscow
11396 MWARA EA2
13205 LDOC Moscow
13220 LDOC Moscow
13288 MWARA EUR
13303 MWARA NCA3
13309 MWARA EA2
13315 MWARA NCA1
13320 LDOC Moscow
13345 LDOC Moscow
15024 LDOC Moscow
17907 MWARA EA2
17958 MWARA EA1
21958 LDOC Moscow


Other CIS RDARA Stations:
=========================
2893 Ukraine RDARA
2902 Belorussia RDARA
11165 Ukraine RDARA


Russian AF:
===========
3931.5 4885.0 9024.0
11306.5 C/S Priboy
11307.0 Gradusow
11308.0 Ramenskoye/Moscow
11354.0 C/S Priboy,Navater,Vormet,Krakjet


Coast Radio Stations:
=====================
4357 Ryga Radio
8293 Radio
8294 Ryga Radio
8297 Klaipeda Radio
8770 Radio
8773 Kaliningrad Radio
13086 Ryga Radio
13197 Odessa Radio


Volmet Stations:
================
2869.0 2941.0 3116.0 3407.0
4645.0 Tallinn
4663.0 Khabarovsk 05h,35h
Tashkent 10h,40h
Novosibirsk 20h,50h
Moscow 25h,55h
5691.0
6617.0
6693.0
6730.0
8819.0
8939.0
10090.0
11279.0
11297.0
11318.0
13267.0
13279.0


Meteo Stations:
===============
3690.0 Tashkent Meteo FAX
4318.0 Moscow Meteo FAX
4560.0 Irkutsk Meteo Baudot RKR74
5108.0 Moscow Meteo FAX
9348.0 Tashkent Meteo FAX RCH72
14983.0 Tashkent Meteo FAX RBV76


Russian Air Defence Network Voice:
==================================
4800.5 LSB 5190.0 LSB 5190.0 USB 5293.0 LSB 5680.0 USB 5696.0 LSB 5899.0 USB
6195.0 LSB 6268.0 LSB 6593.0 LSB 6864.0 LSB 6864.0 USB 7211.0 USB


Russian Railway Stations Voice:
===============================
2131.0 Kiev Glavnie

And from the UDXF newsgroup:
2130.0 Russian Railway 1st channel USB
2150.0 Russian Railway 2nd channel USB
2444.0 Moscow Metro Underground 1st channel USB
2464.0 Moscow Metro Underground 2nd channel USB


Unknown Voice Stations:
=======================
5674.0 Unid
5696.0 Unid
5700.0 Unid
5740.0 Unid
5801.5 Unid
5802.5 Unid PP
6522.0 Unid PP
6533.0 Unid PP
6590.0 Unid
6593.0 Unid
6626.0 Unid
6672.0 Unid
6720.0 Unid
6728.0 Unid
6730.0 Unid
6760.0 Unid Datagram
6803.0 Unid PP
6823.0 Unid PP
6829.0 Unid
6843.5 Unid
6845.5 Unid
6869.0 Unid Testcount
6980.0 Unid
6980.0 Unid Testcount (E06)
7710.0 Unid Russian Mil Navy ?
7786.0 Unid Datagram
7804.0 Unid YL Airforce Radar Data ?
8010.0 Unid OM Puls Tone H/L L L, Mil ? AF?
8135.0 Unid
8293.0 Unid
8578.0 Unid
8770.0 Unid PP
8831.0 Unid PP
8890.0 Unid
8898.0 Unid Mil ?
8900.0 Unid
8918.0 Unid
8920.0 Unid
8985.0 Unid
8989.0 Unid LDOC ?
8992.0 Unid LDOC ?
11226.0 Unid PP
11172.0 Unid
11360.0 Unid LDOC
11362.0 Unid
13280.0 Unid LDOC ?
14402.0 Unid
14440.0 Codan Modem HF Phone Gateway
14500.0 Codan Modem HF Phone Gateway
14664.0 Codan Modem HF Phone Gateway
18995.0 Unid


Yakta Stations:
===============
2980.0 3851.0 4354.0 4355.0 4520.0 4885.0 4936.0 5418.0
5490.0 Yaktadata No Vocoder
6697.0 6700.0
6769.5 Borej96,Zavod24
6908.0 6939.0
11375 Yaktadata No Vocoder


Unknown Data Stations:
======================
10318.0 Air Defense Data ? Baudot-45


What is REVS/50 ?
=================
7559.0 REVS/50 REA4 Russian Airforce HQ Moscow
8646.0 REVS/73.2 RUS-75


Ukrainan Communication Systems:
===============================
CIS-14 Stations:
================
7610.0 7635.0 7650.0 7674.7 7734.0 7740.0 7925.0 8660.0 9065.0 9140.0 9160.0 9230.0
9270.2 10140.0 10380.0 10595.0 10705.2 10856.2 11500.0 11520.0 12170.0 13880.5
14535.0 14549.5 14575.0


Twinplex 2×100 System:
======================
8010.0 RAW2,RHP27 16020.0 16175.0


Baudot Systems:
===============
8060.0 10701.0 10707.0 10189.0 11023.0 14835.0 KFOR


…………………………………………………………..
Callsign Lists:
===============
ADJEK-06 Unknown
ARBAD Moscow CIV Aero
ARBAD-63 Unknown
AVRORA Unknown CIV Aero
BOREJ-96
C Moscow Navy Marker
CENTRE Unknown
COSMO Unknown
D Unknown/Obsolete
DAIHATJ-59 Unknown
F Vladivostok Navy Marker
GOY-2 Unknown
K Unknown/Obsolete
KRAKJET Unknown Airforce Operator
KRASJETJ-79 Unknown
L St.Petersburg Navy Marker
NAVATER Unknown Airforce Operator
O Unknown/Obsolete
P Kaliningrad Navy Marker
PAROS-XX Unknown
PIWON-24 Unknown
PLAVETS-41 Unknown Navy Operator
POBED-01 Unknown
PRAWA-82 Unknown Right ?
PRIBOY Unknown Airforce Operator
R Izhevsk/Ustinov Navy Marker
RADAN St.Petersburg CIV Aero
RAW-2
RBV-76 Tashkent Meteo
RCH-72 Tashkent Meteo
RCV Navy HQ Sevastopol
REA-4 Airforce HQ Moscow
REO Unknown
RHP-27
RIT Navy North Fleet HQ Severomorsk
RIW Navy HQ Moscow
RKR-74 Irkutsk Meteo
RMHW Warship Unknown
RMMA Warship Unknown
RMP Navy HQ Kaliningrad
ROMAN-XX Unknown
ROTOR-35 Unknown Navy Operator
S Arkhangelsk Navy Marker
SKORA Unknown CIV Aero
T Unknown/Obsolete
TRUAS Unknown CIV Aero
UDZ-27
URO Diplostation Tripolis?
UXW Diplostation London?
UVB-76
V Khiva-Abad Navy Marker
VORMET Unknown Airforce Operator
WQL Diplostation Unknown
Y Unknown/Obsolete
YAROK Kiev CIV Aero
ZAPAT-_9 Unk

[vector7]

Why Russia calls a limited nuclear strike "de-escalation"


Nikolai N. Sokov

In 1999, at a time when renewed war in Chechnya seemed imminent, Moscow watched with great concern as NATO waged a high-precision military campaign in Yugoslavia. The conventional capabilities that the United States and its allies demonstrated seemed far beyond Russia’s own capacities. And because the issues underlying the Kosovo conflict seemed almost identical to those underlying the Chechen conflict, Moscow became deeply worried that the United States would interfere within its borders.

By the next year, Russia had issued a new military doctrine whose main innovation was the concept of “de-escalation”—the idea that, if Russia were faced with a large-scale conventional attack that exceeded its capacity for defense, it might respond with a limited nuclear strike. To date, Russia has never publicly invoked the possibility of de-escalation in relation to any specific conflict. But Russia’s policy probably limited the West’s options for responding to the 2008 war in Georgia. And it is probably in the back of Western leaders’ minds today, dictating restraint as they formulate their responses to events in Ukraine.

Game-changer.

Russia’s de-escalation policy represented a reemergence of nuclear weapons’ importance in defense strategy after a period when these weapons’ salience had decreased. When the Cold War ended, Russia and the United States suddenly had less reason to fear that the other side would launch a surprise, large-scale nuclear attack. Nuclear weapons therefore began to play primarily a political role in the two countries’ security relationship. They became status symbols, or insurance against unforeseen developments. They were an ultimate security guarantee, but were always in the background—something never needed.

Then a very different security challenge began to loom large in the thinking of Russia’s political leaders, military officers, and security experts. That challenge was US conventional military power. This power was first displayed in its modern incarnation during the Gulf War of 1990 and 1991—but the game-changer was the Kosovo conflict. In Yugoslavia the United States utilized modern, high-precision conventional weapons to produce highly tangible results with only limited collateral damage. These conventional weapons systems, unlike their nuclear counterparts, were highly usable.

The Russian response, begun even before the conflict over Kosovo had ended, was to develop a new military doctrine. This effort was supervised by Vladimir Putin, then-secretary of Russia’s Security Council, a body similar to the National Security Council in the United States. By the time the doctrine was adopted in the spring of 2000, it was Putin who signed it in his new capacity as president.

The doctrine introduced the notion of de-escalation—a strategy envisioning the threat of a limited nuclear strike that would force an opponent to accept a return to the status quo ante. Such a threat is envisioned as deterring the United States and its allies from involvement in conflicts in which Russia has an important stake, and in thissense is essentially defensive. Yet, to be effective, such a threat also must be credible. To that end, all large-scale military exercises that Russia conducted beginning in 2000 featured simulations of limited nuclear strikes.

De-escalation rests on a revised notion of the scale of nuclear use. During the Cold War, deterrence involved the threat of inflicting unacceptable damage on an enemy.

Russia’s de-escalation strategy provides instead for infliction of “tailored damage,” defined as “damage [that is] subjectively unacceptable to the opponent [and] exceeds the benefits the aggressor expects to gain as a result of the use of military force.” The efficacy of threatening tailored damage assumes an asymmetry in a conflict’s stakes.

Moscow reasoned when it adopted the policy that, for the United States, intervening on behalf of Chechen rebels (for example) might seem a desirable course of action for a variety of reasons. But it would not be worth the risk of a nuclear exchange. Russia, however, would perceive the stakes as much higher and would find the risk of a nuclear exchange more acceptable. Indeed, in the early 2000s, Russian military experts wrote that US interference in the war in Chechnya could have resulted in a threat to use nuclear weapons.

The new strategy did not come out of the blue. Its conceptual underpinnings follow from Thomas Schelling’s seminal books The Strategy of Conflict and Arms and Influence. At the operational level, the strategy borrows from 1960s-era US policy, which contemplated the limited use of nuclear weapons to oppose “creeping” Soviet aggression (as expressed, for example, in a 1963 document produced by the National Security Council, “The Management and Termination of War with the Soviet Union”).

How and where?

Common sense might suggest that any limited use of nuclear weapons for de-escalation purposes would involve non-strategic (shorter-range) weapons. But this does not appear to be the thinking. In 2003, the Ministry of Defense issued a white paper that dotted the new doctrine’s i’s and crossed its t’s. The white paper emphasized, among other things, that because the United States could use its precision-guided conventional assets over significant distances, Russia needed the ability to deter the use of those assets with its own long-range capabilities.

Accordingly, simulations of the limited use of nuclear weapons have featured long-range nuclear-capable systems (long-range air-launched cruise missiles above all, but medium-range bombers as well). To the extent that one can determine the targets that have featured in these exercises, they seem to be located over muchof the world—Europe, the Pacific, Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean,and even the continental United States. Targets appear to include command and control centers as well as airbases and aircraft carriers from which US aircraft could fly missions against Russia. In other words, for limited-use options, Russia appears to target military assets rather than the population or economic centers that were typical targets under Cold War strategies.

It is important to note amid all this that Russia’s nuclear weapons are assigned only toconflicts in which Russia is opposed by another nuclear weapon state. When Russia was preparing the 2010 edition of its military doctrine, some proposed that the possibility of using nuclear weapons be expanded to more limited conflicts, such as the 2008 war with Georgia—but this proposal was rejected. Ultimately the 2010 doctrine tightened conditions under which nuclear weapons could be used. Whereas the 2000 document allowed for their use “in situations critical to the national security”of Russia, the 2010 edition limited them to situations in which “the very existence of the state is under threat.” (Otherwise, the nuclear component of military doctrine remained fundamentally unchanged from 2000.)

Lessons acknowledged?

Nuclear weapons command attention and generate fear. But their utility is limited. Outside the most extreme circumstances, the damage they can inflict is simply too great and horrible for the threat of using them to be sufficiently credible. Furthermore, nuclear deterrence is fundamentally a defensive strategy—capable of deterring attack but incapable of supporting a proactive foreign policy. The United States, because of its conventional military power, is able to pursuea proactive foreign policy, and this has long been the envy of Russia’s politicians and military leaders.

The 2000 version of Russia’s military doctrine characterized the limited use of nuclear weapons as a stopgap measure to be relied on only until Russia could develop a more modern conventional strike capability, similar to that which the United States possessed. Russia’s efforts to develop such a capability have been under way for more than a decade. Progress was slow at first due to chronic underfunding and the poor state of the Russian defense industry. The substandard performance of Russia’s conventional forces during the 2008 war in Georgia led many to dismiss the idea that Russia would ever match the United States in conventional capabilities. But Moscow learned lessons from its Georgian experience, and modernization efforts have intensified in the last five years.

Today, Russia can boast of a new generation of long-range air- and sea-launched cruise missiles, as well as modern short-range ballistic and cruise missiles and precision-guided gravity bombs. Theoretically, the cruise missiles could carry nuclear warheads, but their envisioned role is primarily conventional. Additionally, Russia’s GLONASS satellite constellation now enables precision targeting and communications across the globe. Russia has also begun developing a global strike capability, analogous to the US Prompt Global Strike initiative, in the form of a new intercontinental ballistic missile that the military has said is primarily intended to carry conventional warheads.

Military maneuvers conducted last year, known as West 2013, were apparently the first large-scale Russian exercises since 2000 that did not feature the simulated use of nuclear weapons. This hints that Moscow has gained more confidence in its conventional capabilities. As these capabilities continue to improve, Russia is likely to rely less on its nuclear weapons. But this shift will significantly alter the Eurasian security landscape.

If Russia becomes able to project military force in the same way that the United States has projected force in Kosovo, Iraq, and Libya, Moscow will likely become more assertive in its foreign policy. This will affect NATO policy in turn. The alliance, owing in large measure to US dominance in conventional military power, has been able in recent years to reduce (though not eliminate) its reliance on nuclear weapons. But if Russia begins to close the conventional weapons gap with the United States, some NATO countries might argue that nuclear deterrence should regain some of its former prominence.

Thus, though Russia’s reliance on nuclear weapons, including their “limited” use, is not good for international security, the likely alternative will hardly enhance security either. To avoid a new arms race—one centered around conventional weapons, which are less terrifying but more usable than nuclear weapons—it makes sense to begin work now on arms control options that would cover modern conventional strike and defense assets. Unfortunately, the majority of the US Congress refuses to consider arms control arrangements for classes of weapons in which the United States currently enjoys an advantage. But as history has demonstrated, no technological advantage lasts forever. One hopes that those capable of averting a new arms race acknowledge history’s lessons before it’s too late.

[American Patriot]

Obama imposes sanctions on 7 Russians after Crimea vote

Aamer Madhani, USATODAY 11:06 a.m. EDT March 17, 2014

(Photo: Alex Wong Getty Images)

WASHINGTON— President Obama announced Monday that he is leveling new sanctions against seven Russian officials who his administration says have contributed to the crisis in Ukraine, one day after the Crimean region of Ukraine voted overwhelming to join Russia.


In comments at the White House, Obama said he believes there is still a diplomatic solution to end the crisis. At the same time, he warned that if Russia continues to interfere with Ukraine's sovereignty he stands ready to push for even tougher sanctions.


"We are imposing sanctions on specific individuals for undermining the sovereignty, territorial integrity and government of Ukraine," Obama said."We are making it clear that there are consequences for their actions."


The high-level government officials named by the White House are: Vladislav Surkov, Sergey Glazyev, Leonid Slutsky, Andrei Klishas, Valentina Matviyenko, Dmitry Rogozin, and Yelena Mizulina.


Surkov and Glazyev are presidential advisers to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The five other hold various positions in the Russian parliament and Russian government.


One senior administration official described the officials being targeted as the "key ideologists" and "architects" of the Russian military incursion into Crimea.


"These are by far the most comprehensive sanctions applied to Russia since the end of the Cold War--far and away so," said the official, who asked not to be identified so as not to preempt Obama's statement.


The sanctions focus on the individual personal assets, but not companies that the officials may manage on behalf of the Russian state. Any assets that the individuals have in U.S. jurisdiction have been frozen and Americans are prohibited from doing business with them.


"The United States also will seek to hold accountable individuals who use their resources or influence to support or act on behalf of senior Russian government officials," the White House said in a statement. "We recognize that the Russian leadership derives significant support from, and takes action through, individuals who do not themselves serve in any official capacity. "


Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and join Russia during Sunday's hastily arranged referendum.


Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to speak on the Crimea situation in a special address to the Russian parliament on Tuesday.


Obama spoke by phone on Sunday with Putin, and reiterated that the United States would not accept the results of the referendum. He again called on Putin to support a diplomatic solution to the crisis, while underscoring that one cannot be reached if Russian troops continue to be deployed in Crimea.


The Treasury Department also announced it is imposing sanctions against former President Viktor Yanukovych, former Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Viktor Medvedchuk as well as Crimea-based separatist leaders Sergey Aksyonov and Vladimir Konstantinov.


The White House announcement came after the European Union announced on Monday travel bans and asset freezes on 21 people for their involvement in the Ukraine crisis.

The EU is not expected to announce the individuals who are being cited until Tuesday, but Obama administration officials believe there is some overlap in the the U.S. and EU lists.


Vice President Biden will visit Poland and Lithuania next week, where he is to huddle with leaders in the region on the Ukraine crisis. Obama will travel to the Netherlands next week to take part in the biennial Nuclear Security Summit, but the situation in Ukraine will be the main focus on the sidelines of the summit.
"If Russia continues to interfere in Ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions," Obama said.

[American Patriot]

Military action might be needed against Russia, MP Rob Anders says

Calgary MP says Putin needs to be sent a very strong message over his actions in Ukraine

CBC News Posted: Mar 17, 2014 8:30 AM MT Last Updated: Mar 17, 2014 8:41 AM MT
Calgary MP Rob Anders told a rally at City Hall that the international community should not take military action off the table as it considers what to do about Russian aggression in Ukraine. (CBC)




Calgary Conservative MP Rob Anders says the world needs to consider using force to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine.


Anders was among about 60 people who gathered outside Calgary City Hall on Sunday to denounce the results of a so-called referendum in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in which residents voted overwhelmingly to break away from Ukraine to join Russia.

In the wake of that vote, on Monday Crimea's regional parliament declared the region an independent state on Monday.


Anders said Putin needs to be sent a very strong message.


“And I also agree with the idea that military action should not be ruled out because I think for somebody who is a thug like Putin, it's what he understands," Anders said.


“And I think that message is not just words. I would very much like to see the U.S. Fifth Fleet move into the Black Sea and the George W. Bush aircraft carrier move into the eastern Mediterranean,” he said.


Another Calgary MP who attended the rally backed away from Anders’ comment.


“Our government's position as well as the position of the G7 is we want to see a peaceful resolution to this situation,” Michelle Rempel said.



Prime Minister Stephen Harper denounced vote in Crimea.


"The so-called referendum held today was conducted with Crimea under illegal military occupation. Its results are a reflection of nothing more than Russian military control," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement, adding that Canada is working with other countries on the possibility of further sanctions.


"Any solution to this crisis must respect the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine as well as the constitution of Ukraine. Mr. Putin's reckless and unilateral actions will lead only to Russia's further economic and political isolation from the international community."

[American Patriot]

Russian military and NATO both increase presence close to Ukraine

13/03 14:35 CET

The Russian military has been carrying out exercises close to the border with Ukraine.


Russia’s defence ministry confirmed 8,500 troops were taking part in drills in several regions along the border.


In Rostov-on-Don where the ousted Ukranian president Yanukovych has been staying, riffles, machine guns and rocket propelled grenades were used.


It comes as Moscow warned it would reciprocate with sanctions against the EU and US if they imposed them first.


“I would like to stress that Russia was not the initiator of the circumstances that we are talking about…” Russian President Vladimir Putin said.


Meanwhile, in a show of strength, NATO is making its presence felt on the other side of Ukraine, beginning surveillance flights over Poland and Romania.


The US has also sent fighter jets to take part in the exercise.

[American Patriot]

Obama: 'US Is Mobilizing to Isolate Russia'

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President Barack Obama speaks about Ukraine, Monday, March 17, 2014, in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington



VOA News
March 17, 2014

Announcing that the U.S. and its allies are mobilizing to isolate Russia, President Barack Obama has imposed sanctions on key individuals Washington deems responsible for the current crisis in Ukraine following a Moscow-backed referendum in Crimea on the peninsula's secession from the country.

Speaking at the White House, Obama announced that he ordered sanctions against 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials, including two top advisers to Russia's President Vladimir Putin, in addition to ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. All will be subject to asset freezes.

In an executive order issues earlier, Obama said that the policies and actions of the Russian Federation have been found to “undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation of its assets, and thereby constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

Reacting to the measures, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is on U.S. sanctions list, said they won't affect those without assets abroad.

At the same time European Union officials agreed on a list of 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials to be subject to travel bans and asset freezes.

EU measures

Separately, European Union foreign ministers have agreed to impose sanctions including travel bans and asset freezes on 21 officals from Russia and Ukraine, Lithuania's foreign minister said on Monday.

After a meeting lasting around three hours, the EU's 28 foreign ministers quickly reached agreement on the list of those to be sanctioned for their part in Russia's seizure of Crimea and Sunday's referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council just agreed on sanctions – travel restrictions & assets freezes against 21 officials from Ukraine & Russia, Linan Linkevicius wrote in a message on Twitter.

#FAC just agreed on sanctions -travel restr & assets freeze against 21 official from Ukraine & Russia. More EC measures in few days...
— Linas Linkevicius (@LinkeviciusL) March 17, 2014

He added that more measures would follow in a few days, when EU leaders meet for a summit in Brussels. They are expected to expand the list to include more senior figures closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In addition to responses from the U.S. and the EU, NATO released a statement Monday calling the Crimea referendum "illegal and illegitimate." It said the vote violates the Ukrainian constitution and international law, and added that the circumstances under which the referendum was held were "deeply flawed and therefore unacceptable."

Despite objections from the international community, a delegation of Crimean lawmakers is traveling to Moscow Monday to discuss additional procedures required to become part of the Russian Federation. There is broad speculation that President Putin will deliver a formal speech Tuesday on Crimea's annexation to Russia, Reuters quoted a U.S. official as saying.

Secession vote

Earlier Monday, Crimea's regional assembly declared independence from Ukraine and applied to become part of Russia, a day after a controversial referendum in Crimea overwhelmingly supported joining the Russian Federation.

A delegation of Crimean lawmakers is set to travel to Moscow Monday to discuss additional procedures required to become part of the Federation.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's parliament endorsed on Monday a plan to mobilise 40,000 reservists to counter Russia's "blatant aggression" in Crimea. Some 20,000 of the country's national gaurds have also been mobilized.

EU foreign ministers talk to each other prior to the start of the EU foreign ministers council at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, March 17, 2014.


​President Barack Obama told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Sunday that Washington and its "European partners are prepared to impose additional costs" on Moscow for backing the secession referendum in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

A White House statement called Sunday's referendum illegal and said it violates Ukraine's constitution. It also said the vote will "never be recognized by the United States and the international community."

Crimea's election chief announced Monday that nearly 97 percent of voters cast ballots supporting secession and a move to join Russia.

Crimea Referendum Results


In Kyiv, Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk - speaking at an emergency cabinet meeting - called the Moscow-backed Crimea vote "a circus spectacle" directed at gunpoint by Russia.

An earlier White House statement said no decision should be made about the future of Ukraine without the Ukrainian national government.

It also said the presidential elections planned for May 25 will provide a legitimate opportunity for all Ukrainians to make their voices heard on the future of their country.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday agreed to push for Ukrainian constitutional reforms for power sharing and decentralization as a solution to the crisis.

Russian Duma set to act

Meanwhile, Russia's lower house of parliament will pass legislation allowing Ukraine's Crimea region to join Russia “in the very near future”, Interfax news agency quoted the chamber's deputy speaker as saying on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will respect the will of the people in Crimea, ignoring Western leaders who say the referendum was illegal because Russian forces have seized the southern region.

“The results of the referendum in Crimea clearly showed that residents of Crimea see their future only as part of Russia,” the deputy speaker of the State Duma, Sergei Neverov, was quoted as saying.

Duma officials claim the Black Sea peninsula can become a member of the Russian Federation under current legislation, specifically under a law “On the procedure for the adoption into the Russian Federation and education of new subjects of the Russian Federation” that was passed in 2001, Interfax said.

Russia rejects UN report

Russia rejected as biased on Monday an assessment by a United Nations official who questioned accusations that Ukraine's Russian-speaking population faced systematic human rights abuses.

The Russian Foreign Ministry statement criticized U.N. Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic who said last week there had been violations against ethnic Russians in Ukraine but said there was no evidence they were “widespread or systematic.”

The biased, prejudiced and unobjective assessment of I. Simonovic on the human rights situation in the country calls forth surprise and confusion,” said the ministry in a statement.

Russia has effectively seized control of Ukraine's broadly Russian-speaking Crimea region. There are also large Russian-speaking populations in the east of the country.

The statement also criticized Simonovic for a statement of concern over the state of human rights for ethnic Tatars in Crimea.

Russia has been justifying its incursion into Crimea as necessary to protect the rights of ethnic Russians living on the peninsula.

Reactions in Kyiv

Thousands of Ukrainians gathered in central Kyiv Sunday to voice opposition to the referendum and what the perceive as Moscow's moves to divide the Ukraine.

But the mood was somber as many Ukrainians feel helpless against Russia's might and military superiority, many fearing a further escalation of tensions.

Irina, a restaurant manager who only gave her first name, said Crimea's fate likely was already decided in Moscow.

She said none of this was right. This could have been done in a nice way, in an honest way, she said. This could have been done in a constitutionally correct way. And it seems to me, she said, everyone would have agreed to that.

Moscow claims it is protecting ethnic Russians from persecution by Ukrainian “extremists” who it says illegitimately came to power after months of anti-government protests.

Another Kyiv resident, Ira, who also only gave her first name, said she had nothing against Russians.

She said she loves and respects the Russian people as much as Ukrainians, but not their government. She expressed hope that everything ends well, everyone becomes united, and that Crimea remains with Ukraine.

[American Patriot]

US, EU Declare Sanctions on Russian Officials

March 17, 2014



U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged "unwavering" U.S. support for Ukraine, following Crimea's declaration of independence and moves toward joining the Russian Federation.

Mr. Obama spoke Monday at the White House, describing a set of sanctions on Ukrainian and Russian officials announced only hours earlier by his administration. He said Washington stands ready to impose further sanctions if necessary, if Russia chooses to escalate the situation.

Mr. Obama said Vice President Joe Biden leaves for Europe later Monday to discuss the situation with NATO leaders. The president himself is slated to to go Europe next week.

The White House declared a freeze on assets of 11 Russian officials linked to the political push for Crimea's independence from Ukraine and possible annexation by Russia.

The announcement followed a similar move by the European Union, which earlier Monday designated 21 officials from Russia and Ukraine for travel bans and trade sanctions.

The moves came in response to Crimea's declaration of independence from Ukraine Monday and its plans to apply to become part of Russia. Crimea's regional assembly declared independence for the region after a referendum on Sunday indicated voters' overwhelming support for joining the Russian Federation.

In addition to responses from the U.S. and the European Union, NATO released a statement Monday calling the vote "illegal and illegitimate." It said the vote violates the Ukrainian constitution and international law, and added that the circumstances under which the referendum was held were "deeply flawed and therefore unacceptable."

Despite objections from the international community, a delegation of Crimean lawmakers is traveling to Moscow Monday to discuss additional procedures required to become part of the Russian Federation.

Ukraine's parliament has approved a partial mobilization of reservists in response to the crisis.



Crimea's election chief announced Monday that nearly 97 percent of the voters cast ballots supporting secession and a move to join Russia. However, those opposed to the move had been advised to boycott the referendum.

Crimea's pro-Moscow leader, Sergei Aksyonov, announced that his government will formally apply on Monday to join the Russian Federation.

In Kyiv, Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk called the Moscow-backed Crimea vote "a circus spectacle" directed at gunpoint by Russia.

An earlier White House statement said no decision should be made about the future of Ukraine without the Ukrainian national government.

It also said the presidential election planned for May 25 will provide a legitimate opportunity for all Ukrainians to make their voices heard on the future of their country.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday agreed to push for Ukrainian constitutional reforms for power sharing and decentralization as a solution to the crisis.

In Kyiv, Ukraine's acting defense minister told reporters that Ukraine and Russia have agreed on a truce in Crimea until March 21.

Sunday's vote came a day after Russian forces seized a natural gas facility just outside Crimean territory. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called the move "a military invasion by Russia."

Ukraine provides the peninsula with all of its water and energy needs, and some analysts say the seizure may be aimed at ensuring the peninsula's energy requirements are met in the event Kyiv were to cut off supplies.

[American Patriot]

Legal decisions on Crimea’s accession to Russia will be ready promptly — official

Russia

March 17, 9:41 UTC+4

With 75% of the ballots processed, 95.7% of voters supported Crimea’s accession to the Russian Federation



Deputy Speaker of the Russian State Duma Sergei Neverov

ITAR-TASS/Valery Sharifulin


Putin: referendum in Crimea fully complied with international law norms





MOSCOW, March 17. /ITAR-TASS/. All legal decisions necessary for Crimea’s accession to the Russian Federation will be adopted promptly, Deputy Speaker of the Russian State Duma Sergei Neverov told reporters on Monday.


“All necessary legal decisions following the referendum [in Crimea] will be adopted the most promptly,” he said.


“Results of the referendum in Crimea have demonstrated clearly that Crimea’s people see their future only with the republic being a part of the Russian Federation; the people have voted for the reunification of the people who have always lived in one country," Neverov added.


“The number of people who chose to come to the voting stations to support Crimea’s accession to Russia speaks for itself. This is a response to those who have been trying to interfere with the people’s choice of their future, the future of their children,” Neverov said. “We share the future - in this country, where laws are observed, where rights and freedoms are guaranteed, where the leader is strong, and whose principal position made it possible to restore the historic justice,” he continued.


With 75% of the ballots processed, 95.7% of voters supported Crimea’s accession to the Russian Federation. The turnout was almost 82%, head of Crimea’s Commission on Referendum Organization Mikhail Malyshev told reporters on Monday.