Free Republic

Extremists getting ready to beat veterans on May 9 detained in Odesa The Security Service of Ukraine detected and suppressed a criminal activity of an extremist and terrorist group, so-called Operative response brigade (ORB), operating since April 2014 in Odesa region. An ORB leader, 35-year old Odesa resident, who had leaved long in Crimea, developed and published online a guidebook Take-over of Power Plan with specific recommendations concerning armed resistance to acting authorities. The SSU revealed that in fact members of the extremist group activities were ordered by a Russian TV channel. They received reward for each action – creation...

‘I Had It Pretty Easy, Because I Was Let Go’: Simon Ostrovsky On His Detention in Sloviansk By Simon Ostrovsky April 25, 2014 | 5:00 am On Thursday, armed gunmen who held me prisoner for three nights and three days released me into the streets of Sloviansk, in eastern Ukraine. My release was as unexplained as my capture.On Monday night I was pulled out of a car at a checkpoint, then blindfolded, beaten, and tied up with tape. After spending hours alone on the floor of a damp cell with my hands tied behind my back and a hat pulled...

Lithuanian MFA: Terrorists use AK-100 assault riffles Militants in eastern Ukraine are armed with Russia's newest assault rifles AK-100, which Ukraine doesn't have in service. Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevicius says Moscow's role in unrests in eastern Ukraine is proved by evidence by detained people and weapons that the activists used to seize administrative buildings, UNN reports on April 14.“The detainees, who took part in organising disorders, confessed they are citizens of Russia. The found weapons, such as AK-100 rifles, are used in Russia. There are no such rifles in Ukraine. Other evidence includes the fact that the groups are...

Dr. Kazimierz Nowaczyk discusses "The Smolensk Plane Crash: Four Years Later"April 10, 2014 | KOSCIUSZKO CHAIR On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the Smolensk Plane Crash-which occurred on April 10, 2010 -- physicist Dr. Kazimierz Nowaczyk delivered a lecture (part of the Intermarium series) on the current state of our knowledge about this aerial disaster.  The lecture took place at The Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C.  The crash killed the Polish presidential couple and almost a hundred members of that pro-American nation's political and military elite as they flew to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the genocidal...

The unique photographs and 90 gigabytes of video material shared with The Daily Beast provide strong evidence that the massacre in the Maidan was in fact a vicious and clinical assault ordered by the pro-Russian Yanukovych regime and executed by its arch loyalists. Exclusive: Photographs Expose Russian-Trained Killers in Kiev WORLD NEWS 03.30.14 Jamie Dettmer The slaughter of 53 protesters in the Maidan on February 20 changed history. Now, exclusive photographs show what really happened. KIEV, Ukraine—The first crack of a sniper’s round in Kiev’s Independence Square came shortly after nine o’clock on the morning of February 20 and the...

Putin's Western Allies: Why Europe's Far Right Is on the Kremlin's Side Gabor Vona, president of the Hungarian radical right-wing party "Jobbik," delivers a speech at a rally in Budapest, March 15, 2014.(Bernadett Szabo / Courtesy Reuters) Given that one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stated reasons for invading Crimea was to prevent “Nazis” from coming to power in Ukraine, it is perhaps surprising that his regime is growing closer by the month to extreme right-wing parties across Europe. But, in both cases, Putin’s motives are not primarily ideological. In Ukraine, he simply wants to grab territory that he believes...

Dmytro Yarosh: We want Ukraine, Poland, Hungary and Romania to have very close relations Autonomous Nationalists from Romania reaffirms once again its intention to strengthen the good relationship which has with Right Sector and continue discussions about the situation of the Romanian community in Ukraine. Romanians ethnics from Ukraine need to be like Ukrainians ethnics in Romania, with the same rights, who are necessary to preserve national identity and ethno-cultural development. 1. First thing, we have to congratulate you for the courage and determination wherewith you fight in Maidan. Even those who are not sympathize with your cause must be...

Stepan Bandera From the Inexhaustible Source Written on the occasion of Christmas, January 7, 1957 The struggle with the Moscow version of the Communist doctrine is struggle to the death. It is so not only for those who knowingly chose to oppose it, but also for the entire people that got caught in its merciless vise. That is because the ruthless extermination of individuality, self-reliance, of any expression of love for freedom, the cold and methodical extermination of human beings, -- that is the essence of Moscow’s “national policy”. Every enslaved nation, all its strata and every individual man constantly...

Legality of the Crimean Referendum: Legal Analysis Venice, 21 March 2014 Opinion no. 762 / 2014 EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY THROUGH LAW (VENICE COMMISSION) OPINION ON “WHETHER THE DECISION TAKEN BY THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE AUTONOMOUS REPUBLIC OF CRIMEA IN UKRAINE TO ORGANISE A REFERENDUM ON BECOMING A CONSTITUENT TERRITORY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION OR RESTORING CRIMEA’S 1992 CONSTITUTION IS COMPATIBLE WITH CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES” adopted by the Venice Commission at its 98th Plenary Session (Venice, 21-22 March 2014) on the basis of comments by Mr Peter PACZOLAY (Honorary President, Hungary) Ms Hanna SUCHOCKA (Member, Poland) Mr Evgeni TANCHEV...

Illarionov: "Putin's aim is Kiev and all the Ukraine" Andrei Illarionov / Image: (c) Michaela Seidler Andrei Illarionov has launched in 2002 when Vladimir Putin's economic adviser Russia in the G8. In the "Press" interview, he explains why sanctions come too late now.The Press: Had in 2002 meant the accession of Russia to the G8 that it would come to the brink of war with Ukraine within a few years?Andrei Illarionov: Certainly not.How could this happen? This is the result of the transformation of Russia from semi-free country it was in 2002, in the full autocracy of today. The political...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a man who has been one of the most powerful men in Iran in the last couple of years and gave the West headaches through his fiery rhetoric about Israel and the development of the Iran’s nuclear program, has returned to his original profession, teaching. After the expiry of his second term he decided to withdraw from political life and start working again as a professor and teach at the University of Science and Technology. A situation where the highest state official and a man who wielded enormous power subsequently returns to his humble position as a university...

Who Will Stop Putin's Aggression I recently posted this article: Why Russia No Longer Fears the West. The author, one Ben Judah, made the point that the West lately projects an image of weakness, and Putin has been emboldened by it. I'd say that the author correctly identified one aspect of Putin's mentality: a thug's respect for another thug, the corollary of which is a thug's dismissal of civilized behavior as weakness. It is from that mental vantage point that Putin developed his recent moxie. The reality is that the West is responding calmly but also firmly. I think that...

Why Russia No Longer Fears the WestBy BEN JUDAH March 02, 2014 Western leaders are stunned because they haven’t realized Russia’s owners no longer respect Europeans the way they once did after the Cold War. Russia thinks the West is no longer a crusading alliance. Russia thinks the West is now all about the money.Putin’s henchmen know this personally. Russia’s rulers have been buying up Europe for years. They have mansions and luxury flats from London’s West End to France’s Cote d’Azure. Their children are safe at British boarding and Swiss finishing schools. And their money is squirrelled away in...

NATO warns Russia to cease and desist in Ukraine The chorus of international voices urging caution in Ukraine, and above all urging Russia to refrain from military action, have been reinforced by NATO’s secretary general. “Russia must stop its military activities and its threats. We support Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. We support the rights of the people of Ukraine to determine their own future without outside interference and we emphasise the need for Ukraine to continue to uphold the democratic rights of all people and ensure that minority rights are protected,” said Anders Fogh Rasmussen. An overnight phone call...

A Jewel in Two Crowns Russia’s paradise lost belongs to Ukraine—and that’s where the trouble begins. By Cathy Newman The past is never past in Sevastopol. It waves from flagpoles and drapes the parade stand on patriotic holidays. It finds sanctuary in war monuments and is posted on signs: Lenin Square, Heroes of Stalingrad Street, Cinema Moscow. It even simmers in a pot of borscht. Take Galina Onischenko's version of the eastern European staple. "This is Russian borscht," she said, setting down a porcelain bowl of "green" or summer borscht with its dill-flecked mosaic of beets, carrots, and potatoes. "No...

(Vatican Radio) The Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has made a heartfelt appeal to European Nations for solidarity and support for the people of Ukraine. Speaking at a press conference held on Tuesday at Vatican Radio, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk denounced the fact that the cry of the Maidan protesters went largely unheard and ignored until the explosion of violence last week that left some 100 people dead, and thousands more injured. listen... He said that Ukraine is now living through a dark time because nobody knows how the situation is going to evolve… But he also...

Following a crescendo of terrifying violence, the Ukrainian uprising has had a surprisingly positive outcome. Contrary to all rational expectations, a group of citizens armed with not much more than sticks and shields made of cardboard boxes and metal garbage-can lids overwhelmed a police force firing live ammunition. There were many casualties, but the citizens prevailed. This was one of those historic moments that leave a lasting imprint on a society's collective memory. [...] I established the Renaissance Foundation in Ukraine in 1990 – before the country achieved independence. The foundation did not participate in the recent uprising, but it...

San Cristobal on Tuesday night Dear International Editor:Listen and understand. The game changed in Venezuela last night. What had been a slow-motion unravelling that had stretched out over many years went kinetic all of a sudden.What we have this morning is no longer the Venezuela story you thought you understood.Throughout last night, panicked people told their stories of state-sponsored paramilitaries on motorcycles roaming middle class neighborhoods, shooting at people and storming into apartment buildings, shooting at anyone who seemed like he might be protesting.People continue to be arrested merely for protesting, and a long established local Human Rights NGO...

Vladimir Bukovsky: “The more protests there are, the more likely political prisoners will be released.” Olga Khvostunova 20 February 2014 The Institute of Modern Russia continues its series of articles dedicated to Russia’s political prisoners.* Prominent writer, dissident, and former political prisoner Vladimir Bukovsky spoke with IMR Advisor Olga Khvostunova on the differences between the political prisoners of Soviet times and those of today’s Russia, and shared his insights on the methods of struggling against political repressions. Olga Khvostunova: What is the key difference between the Soviet political prisoners and the current ones?Vladimir Bukovsky: First of all, it’s important...

The Election of Tsar Michael I of All Russia Note sent from Moscow Assembly of the Land To All Russian Cities In Order to Bring By It All Status and Title of People To the Oath of Loyalty To the Elected On the Throne of All Russia Monarch Michael Theodorovich 1613 in February I kiss this Holy and Life-Giving Cross of our Lord in oath to my monarch the Tsar and the Great Prince Michael Theodorovich of all Russia, and his Tsarina and Great Princess and their Royal children which God may give them, on that: I am to serve...