Exclusive: Photographs Expose Russian-Trained Killers in Kiev

The Daily Beast ^ | March 30, 2014 | Jamie Dettmer

[jjsheridan5]

Right now Putin is backpedaling (US and Russia ministers end Paris talks), so clearly the intended invasion of East Ukraine was a miscalculation on his part. He may still regroup and invade, but he already lost the momentum.

Nonsense. It is ridiculous how much people fall for. Putin never wanted to get bogged down in occupying territory. Everything he has said indicates he learned the mistakes made by the Soviet Union, one of which is that territory won in the short run is very costly in the long run. He always wanted a divided Ukraine, too internally divided to veer to the West, and fully dependent on the East. The rest was just for show, and to scare the easily rattled. He now has the chessboard how he wants it, so that he can "back down" and get everything he wanted in the first place.

I don't see how your link supports the notion that he is "backpedaling" (it doesn't). But even if he appears to be backpedaling, it is because he is in a position to negotiate a truce that grants him what he has wanted all along -- the Crimea, land access, and a politically divided Ukraine.

This has been obvious from the beginning.

[soycd]

They are sharper dressed than the bin laden types we trained in Afghanistan. Times they are a changing.

[chiefqc]

Where are the pictures of the red line that mac, the pu***, daddy has drawn?

[nuconvert]

Thanks

[DaveA37]

Pictures of Russians are no different that the photos of U.S. cops. Yes they are all in their “turnout” gear and carry weapons, that’s what they do.

[No One Special]

Actually, anything that would appear as a backdown to an unbiased observer is strength because it is just preparation for the later sneak attack.

[Girlene]

$40,000 a day? If this is true, why has there not been further confirmation? How trustworthy is this source?

[annalex]

both you and your sources are lying

You mean there are no photographs of Alfa troops scooped by the Daily Beast? And you know that because you can google "maidan false flag"? I gave you a link to the Ashton-Paet conversation in the trailer of the post. It is clear now what Paet's source said and what it does and does not prove. The sovs lie and they lose. As always.

[annalex]

Leave the Soviet troll alone, please.

[annalex]

the Russian DNA has a unique "t" cell, the THUG cell

The Soviet DNA, yes. There are Russians who are not Soviets. I am one of them. There are others. And what did the Russian Czar did to you?

[annalex]

shooting pro-Russian protesters

Somebody shot a pro-Russian protester? Where? When?

Changing stories

Bogomolets did not change her story. She witnessed shots coming from "both" sides. That means, there was Berkut firing and Alfa firing and naturally, firing from two different locations.

The Soviet press picked it up and made it sound that "sides" meant "political sides". But a nurse during the battles thinks of shot directions, not political sides. That is what she meant then and confirms now. The whole idea that somehow the revolutionaries would shoot themselves and get paid for it is a product of sick Soviet minds, and it is not borne out by facts.

[annalex]

If you think that Putin backed down because of anything that Obama/Kerry said

Putin backed down. That is a fact because he lost the momentum to invade. Why he backed down I don't know. Probably because KGB are all cowards. But I think he did not anticipate the NATO response that he got, and he did not realize that Obama team does not want a political fiasco that would happen if Obama plays soft.

you are a team player

Eh, what team? And what does my person have to do with anything at all?

[annalex]

Kremlin-based Borscht Brigade

Now that's funny.

[annalex]

the city with thousands of Berkut, SBU and other security formations’ officers all around the place

...Who had every incentive to expose them if they did exist. You are right, it is just a Kremlin disinfo through and through.

[annalex]

Putin never wanted to get bogged down in occupying territory

Then why is he occupying Crimea?

I don't see how your link supports the notion that he is "backpedaling"

Mr Lavrov has categorically denied any plans for an invasion.

what he has wanted all along -- the Crimea, land access, and a politically divided Ukraine.

Unless he invades continental Ukraine he gets no land access to Crimea. I agree that his best game now is leaving Crimea and negotiating a federal Ukraine, but troops massed up at the border indicate that the plan was to invade and something did not work out for him. He probably expected to foment more pro-Soviet unrest, and did not get enough.

[annalex]

I am sure Kremlin would attack at first opportunity, but this immediate opportunity, evidently, has been denied them.

[annalex]

why has there not been further confirmation?

Censor.net only says "media reported"; they did separate that information from the Golomsha statements.

So far as I know indeed it was not confirmed.

[No One Special]

My point was that I do not see Putin as strong. Dangerous? Yes, but not strong.

[Rashputin]

"The whole idea that somehow the revolutionaries would shoot themselves and get paid for it is a product of sick Soviet minds, and it is not borne out by facts."

What?

I can see various faction within pro-Russian and anti-Russian groups shooting one another. I can see pro-Russian protesters shooting anti-Russian protesters as well as the opposite happening. I can also see someone who wants Russia out of the picture paying for the most radical pro-Russians to get violent and the opposite as well.

I don't know that I understand what you're saying is "a product of sick Soviet minds", but in Egypt there were documented cases of pro-IzLame protesters being shot by pro-IzLame operatives in order to blame the shootings on the Egyptian police and military. That's SOP in this sort of melee whenever they occur.

Sick minds, yes, but limited to Soviet minds? If you think that you're a tad closer to living in a bubble than you should be.

[jjsheridan5]

Putin never wanted to get bogged down in occupying territory

Then why is he occupying Crimea?

Occupying the overwhelmingly Russian Crimea is very different than occupying even eastern and southern Ukraine, let alone the rest of Ukraine. It is one of the few areas where he can be certain that Russia will not get bogged down.

I don't see how your link supports the notion that he is "backpedaling"

Mr Lavrov has categorically denied any plans for an invasion.

You assume that they planned an invasion. They may have been preparing for all eventualities, but it wasn't likely to be their first choice. This is like pretending to be insisting on selling a car for no less than 10k, when it is actually worth 5k, and then "backpedaling" to 7k. There is no "backpedaling", because the threat was just an integral part of negotiation.

what he has wanted all along -- the Crimea, land access, and a politically divided Ukraine.

Unless he invades continental Ukraine he gets no land access to Crimea ...

Eastern Ukraine doesn't have to become part of Russia in order for him to be guaranteed land access to the Crimea. All he needs is for the relevant areas to have pro-Russian governments, and for the constitution to greatly limit the power of Kiev over those regions.

I agree that his best game now is leaving Crimea and negotiating a federal Ukraine, but troops massed up at the border indicate that the plan was to invade and something did not work out for him. He probably expected to foment more pro-Soviet unrest, and did not get enough.

Given that this was the most likely outcome from the beginning (absorb Crimea, credibly threaten invasion, and "negotiate" a changed Ukrainian constitution to favor Russian interests), I don't see any reason to believe that he was actually intending to invade Ukraine, and therefore no reason to believe that he changed his mind. Why in the world would he actually invade Ukraine proper? It would have been an expensive mess (both politically and economically), and could have been a long term disaster. Furthermore, any gains could have just as easily been accrued by following a strategy more like what he is doing, with very little long term costs.

Given how counterproductive an invasion would have been, and how easy it has been for him to be in a position where he can get everything he wanted at little cost, it would take a lot more evidence than just massed troops on the border, to be a convincing argument that he actually was planning an invasion. He may be, and may have his eyes on areas beyond Ukraine, but the most obvious explanation is that we have been outplayed.