After the anschluss of Crimea, the Kremlin went over to second stage of the war on Ukraine. They started a covert operation in the country’s east.
They stick to the same routine as in Crimea. First — deploying professional military and mercenaries on Ukrainian territory. Second — paying local radicals and criminals to pose as “pro-Russian forces”. Third — trying to make it look like a turmoil coming from beneath. But it doesn’t look like that at all. Unlike the December-February Euromaidan in Kiev, it is not a domestic uprising, but a full-blown foreign aggression on Ukraine.
There are valid proofs of “special-ops groups” being deployed on the ground. These are not Ukrainians. These are professional Russian mercenaries waging a war on Ukrainian territory. Some of the faces have been recognised from Crimea. Some of the faces are familiar from Georgia-2008. Saboteurs with Russian citizenship are being apprehended throughout the country. These and other things, including intercepted radio traffic confirm: These are foreigners, invaders.
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has got enough valid proof of the Russian special-ops troops being deployed on Ukrainian territory. Officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU), based currently in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, directly coordinate insurgents, provide them with financial, material and technical support. Militants are also being coordinated via special communications equipment from the territory of the Russian Federation.
For example, Igor Strelkov, identified as GRU staff, directly supervised the militant group on Ukrainian-Russian border on April 12-13, 2014. On April 13, in the vicinity of Slov’yansk, this group conducted a ferocious and unprovoked attack on two vehicles with civilian licence plates, killing one SBU officer and wounding three others. During the Crimea crisis, Strelkov worked as assistant on security issues to Sergey Aksionov, the puppet prime-minister of Crimea. Earlier this month, he was relocated for further special operations to continental Ukraine. On multiple occasions he visited Russia’s Rostov-na-Donu and Moscow for instructions.
On April 13, 2014, a Russian citizen instructed separatists via phone to deploy defectors among local Ukrainian police to control administrative buildings in Luhansk, to set up checkpoints within city line, to prepare for proclaiming a “Luhansk Republic” and forming of a local parliament. Another Russian citizen instructed one of the separatist leaders who occupied the Regional Security Service in Luhansk to prepare for an emergency session of Luhansk Regional and City Councils.
Separatists who occupied administrative buildings in Donetsk region were armed with guns used exclusively by Russian army and special-ops; their ammunition, combat training and tactics are also typical of Russian army and special-ops.
Unfortunately, the position of the Russian side seeks to conceal criminal subversive activities of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the Russian special services in Ukraine, as well as bleaching military and political leadership of Russia, which gave orders to their use in Ukraine.
Ukraine is fighting back. It cannot allow the Russian-equipped, Russian-paid and Russian-deployed special-ops units spread fear on Ukrainian people. The population in Eastern Ukraine is scared of strangers in green uniforms coming and ruining their daily lives. Stopping them, protecting own people is the direct obligation of Ukraine’s government. And in doing so, it is entitled to count on global support.
Russia thinks it found a foolproof way to conduct a war — not calling things by names and flatly denying the truth. But a lie is a lie and aggression is an aggression — no matter how Russia calls it and how much smoke gets blown by the Russian propaganda machine. The world must see it. The evidence is all over the place.
On April 13, Russia called a United Nations Security Council meeting to “express concern” about the situation they, in fact, created themselves. Remarkably, they did not call any Security Council meetings when thousands were killed in Chechnya. But this time around, they claim to be “concerned”. Well, if they are, then there are three simple steps that would solve the problem: (1) Stop doing what Russia has been doing in Ukraine for the last two months, (2) start immediately a settlement process and (3) return to the boundaries of international law.
Yuriy Polurez is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the UAE.
