Eastern Ukraine insurgents identified on VKontakte

[BestUsernameEver]

Insurgents Identified: The Green Men of VKontakte | Ukrainian Policy

TLDR:

- Only 3 of them are from and/or live in Eastern Ukraine, all others are from Crimea and Russia proper (Krasnodar Krai mainly).

- Several are from the far right.

- Their leader has the same last name as the self proclaimed mayor of Slavyansk.

 

[Hakan]

Private operators stoking Ukrainian unrest as Kiev struggles to respond

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Key Points​

• The Ukrainian government is falling short of being able to deal with pro-Russian paramilitary groups in the country's eastern cities​
• The paramilitary groups in question appear to include members of private security companies linked to the previous pro-Russian regime of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych​

Ukrainian army and security forces appear to be struggling to co-ordinate and launch a coherent response to the uprising led by armed pro-Russian paramilitary groups in eastern Ukraine. Information is also emerging to suggest these groups include members of private security companies with links to the regime of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) troops south of the occupied town of Sloviansk were fired at as they approached a roadblock on 13 April, leaving one SBU officer dead and another five wounded. After the gunmen (who also sustained casualties) fled, local media reporters visited the scene and identified an SUV used by the gunmen as being registered to Ukraine's largest security company, Vayir-2000. A Ukrainian member of parliament subsequently linked the company's owner, Yevgeniy Lykhozhon, to Volodymyr Sivkovych, who was deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) under the former president.

The company's website says Lykhozhon was a member of the Co-ordinating Council at the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs during the former president's time in office.

There have been strong suspicions that private security operatives were also involved in the Russian occupation of Crimea after CCTV footage of the seizing of the Simferopol parliament showed heavily armed men in civilian clothes storming the building on 27 February. US diplomatic sources accused the Russian private security company Vnevedomstvenaya Okhrana of involvement in the Simferopol operation. Russian and Ukrainian private security companies routinely employ former Soviet, Russian, and Ukrainian airborne, intelligence, and special forces/spetsnaz operatives.

Media imagery from across the crisis zone suggests that the paramilitary groups are led and organised by a small number of highly trained and well equipped combat soldiers. Videos of assaults on police stations in both Sloviansk and Kramatorsk showed groups of between 10 and 15 well-armed men wearing military uniforms, operating in a co-ordinated manner, and using close-quarter combat tactics.

Both groups apparently arrived at their objectives in buses painted in military-style colour schemes. The Sloviansk team used their green-painted mini-bus to pull off the metal grill on a window to gain access to the police station. Photographs posted on the website of Russian state news agency ITAR-TASS showed the team that assaulted Kramatorsk dismounting from two green-painted buses before they moved into action.

Social media imagery of one of the Sloviansk attackers appeared to indicate that he was also present in Crimea in March during an operation to arrest Ukrainian soldiers. The image allegedly taken in Sloviansk on 12 April showed the man had the same style of uniform, webbing, and silenced sniper rifle as a man photographed by the AFP agency in Simferopol on 18 March.

Since the armed paramilitaries began seizing police, security, and regional government buildings across the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine on 12 April, large crowds of civilians have been blockading and harassing Ukrainian army convoys. Reports are also emerging of defections of police units and commanders to the pro-Russia groups.

Despite public announcements on 13 April by both Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, and interior minister, Arsen Avakov, of "anti-terrorist operations" against the armed groups, there was no evidence that Ukrainian army and security forces had managed to organise any offensive operations by 0700 (GMT) on 14 April, when a deadline for the paramilitaries to put down their weapons passed.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Army Aviation Mil Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters were filmed overflying the city of Sloviansk during 13 April, while later that day the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the mobilisation of a battalion of the new National Guard to be despatched to the crisis region to bolster the offensive.

Unarmed protestors first began seizing state building across the east of Ukraine on 6 April and declared independence as the People's Republic of Donetsk. This prompted the Ukrainian Army to begin reinforcing its 25th Airborne Brigade, which has been positioned around Donetsk city since mid-March. An artillery battalion equipped with 152 mm D-20 towed howitzers arrived in the vicinity of Donetsk by road on 9 April. That day social media footage was posted showing a column of BMD-2 armoured vehicles of the airborne brigade attempting to drive into Donetsk but being blocked by angry civilians.

These blockades escalated after the armed seizure of Sloviansk, with a convoy of National Guard troops being overwhelmed on 12 April near Artemovsk and at least one lorry looted of a quantity of small arms. Social media footage showed the soldiers voluntarily handing over AK-47s and other weapons to civilians, who then loaded them into cars.

The following day another convoy was blockaded and three lorries seized, including one carrying at least 48 122 mm Grad rockets. Social media imagery showed armed paramilitaries inspecting the vehicles.

The loyalty of police units in eastern Ukraine is also being tested by the uprising, with the chief of police in Donetsk resigning and handing over his police station to a crowd of protestors on 12 April. Later that day international media visited the town of Izjum and found many police officers sporting St George ribbons, which have been worn by pro-Russian paramilitaries in the Donetsk and Crimean regions.​

Private operators stoking Ukrainian unrest as Kiev struggles to respond - IHS Jane's 360

 

[Hakan]

Ukraine's government has handed photographs to allies in Europe and the U.S. to bolster its case that Russian special forces are operating in the eastern parts of the country amid Ukraine's escalating crisis-- something Russian President VladimirPutin has flatly denied.

A photo distributed by Ukraine's government to the OSCE purportedly shows Russian special forces deployed in eastern Ukraine
In an April 16 letter to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from Ukraine's ambassador, the new administration in Kiev compiled several photos showing men identified as Russian special forces soldiers taken in the cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk.

Both the U.S. and Russia are members of the OSCE.

All the men are pictured wearing the now-familiar green fatigues and military tactical gear which has become familiar in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian insurgents have seized local government buildings in as many as 10 different towns in recent weeks.

During a live televised question-and-answer session Thursday, President Putin flatly rejected reports that Russian special forces were taking part in the unrest in the east alongside pro-Russian Ukrainians.

"It's all nonsense, there are no special units, special forces or instructors there," Putin said.

Putin did, however, admit for the first time on Thursday that soldiers in the unmarked green uniforms who swept through Ukraine's Black Sea region of Crimea, laying the ground for its annexation by Moscow last month, were Russian troops.

Putin, who previously said the troops were local self-defense forces, said the Russian soldiers' presence was necessary to protect the local population and ensure holding a referendum, in which an overwhelming majority of its residents voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.

A photo distributed by the Ukrainian government to the OSCE purportedly shows a member of the Russian special forces in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk this April, and also in Georgia in a photo from 2008.

One of the photo-sets offered in the letter to the OSCE shows a bearded Russian soldier wearing the insignia of the Russian special forces during Russia's 2008 invasion of Georgia, and then two other photos purportedly showing the same man in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk.

Another composite set of photos shows two alleged Russian special forces soldiers at various locations in the two eastern Ukrainian cities, along with a pair of "family photos" said to be of the Russian special forces' "sabotage and reconnaissance" group in which the same two men can purportedly be seen.

A set of photos distributed by Ukraine's government to the OSCE purports to show Russian special forces deployed in eastern Ukraine, and also identified in an alleged "family photo" of the special forces "sabotage-reconnaissance group".

It was unclear how the Ukrainian government obtained the photos, and CBS News could not independently verify their authenticity, or confirm they showed the same men.

The U.S. government does believe they are authentic, and prove what U.S. officials have said all along; that Russia is fomenting the unrest in eastern Ukraine.

"There has been broad unity in the international community about the connection between Russia and some of the armed militants in eastern Ukraine, and the photos presented by the Ukrainians last week only further confirm this, which is why U.S. officials have continued to make that case," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Sunday, according to the New York Times.

The photos also sought to highlight the fact -- well-documented already by CBS News' own video shot in eastern Ukraine -- that many of the unidentified, well-armed men patrolling the streets in the region, wear the same green camouflage and carry much of the same tactical gear as the Russian troops who Putin eventually admitted to having deployed to Crimea.

The United States and its allies in Europe have warned Putin against stoking the dissidents in the regions north of Crimea, threatening further sanctions if his government does not comply.

A hard-won diplomatic deal hammered out late last week between Russia, the U.S., Ukraine and European Union saw both sides agree to de-escalate the crisis by having militant groups disarm and abandon occupied buildings.

That has not happened; militants in the eastern cities of Donetsk and Slavyansk appeared entrenched on Monday and there was no indication that either side was about to back down.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov blamed the government in Kiev on Monday for "crudely" violating the truce deal after a shooting at a checkpointmanned by pro-Russian militants near Slavyansk left three of the men dead.

Kiev, in turn, suggested the shooting was staged by Russia or pro-Russian forces.

Ukraine claims photos prove Russian special forces in eastern Ukraine - CBS News

 

[ptldM3]

A little slow on the news? Many of those pictures have proven to be fake, many of the pictures were "alleged" to be taken in Russia but that was a lie, they were taken in Ukraine and even the State Department was forced to admit it after it used someones instegram account without permission.

Other pics such as the bearded man or men was again proven to be fake.

 

[Tshering22]

A little slow on the news? Many of those pictures have proven to be fake, many of the pictures were "alleged" to be taken in Russia but that was a lie, they were taken in Ukraine and even the State Department was forced to admit it after it used someones instegram account without permission.

Other pics such as the bearded man or men was again proven to be fake.

Kakoy tsvet uniformy vovse GRU ili Alfa nosit?