The Kremlin says the security situation will drastically change four areas of Russian-held Ukraine after a vote on joining Russia is completed next week. Moscow appears ready to annex several regions of Ukraine and defend it as it would the rest of Russia.
On Friday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to reporters that the new areas will be treated as Russian territory. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would defend its territory "with all available means." Later in the week, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that any "encroachment on Russian territory is a crime."
Russia organized referendums in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and the Donbas republics, Donetsk and Luhansk. All four regions are expected to vote in favor of joining Russia. The elections will run through September 27.
The statements from Peskov and Medvedev suggest Moscow will welcome adding the Ukrainian territory. In 2014, the Donbas republics attempted to join Russia but were rebuffed by the Kremlin.
Western states have denounced the elections as a sham and stated they will not recognize the results. On Friday, NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said the alliance would respond to the referendums with more aid to Kiev. “Our answer, NATO’s answer, is to step up support,” Stoltenberg told CNN.
He continued, “The best way to end this war is to strengthen the Ukrainians on the battlefield further so they can, at some stage, sit down and reach a solution which is acceptable for Ukraine and that preserves Ukraine as a sovereign, independent nation in Europe.”
Meanwhile, Medvedev believes Russia absorbing the territory will be a transformative event. The Donbas joining Russia would make the "geopolitical transformation of the world will become irreversible," he said.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
Are we steadily moving towards world war?
Only if STUPID Western Nations continue to PROVOKE The RUSSIAN bear. Did they like Russia putting nukes in Cuba?
That is what NATO wants in Ukraine.
Isnt Russia’s annexation of Ukraine a provocation?
Why is it that you only call out provocations from West but not from Russia.
No. Russia made it clear that they would not allow NATO weapons on their doorstep. The West ignored Russia’s concerns. That was the provocation. What else could they do but try to protect their country by extending their borders?
They don’t want NATO weapons on their doorstep … and the solution is to extend their doorstep closer to those weapons?
Which they probably knew would happen. So maybe they figured it was now or never. If they don’t invade NATO expands. If they do invade, NATO expands. The only sure thing all along was that there would be no diplomacy.
If they don’t vote to become part of Russia and defended, they’d all be marched to death camps by the Ukrainian nazis.
If alive, Justin Raimondo would probably write about a “bizarro world” where Knapp agrees with the likes of Don Julio.
Yes, creating a buffer area inside Russia … which is pretty poor sport for these new to-be Russian territories, no?
You are using Goebbels propaganda tricks. The chronology was different. First Russian army moved away from East Germany and other East European countries. Then American military moved in. Next step: American military moved into Ukraine (including military bio-labs) and started the militarization of Kiev far-right regime. Next step: the escalation of artillery and terrorist attacks against Donbass republics. Only then Russia interfered militarily.
Will see the results of elections to see if Russian controlled areas want to be front yards and/or porches for Russia. What’s their choice? That or genocide by the nazis in Ukraine?
The nuclear exchange between the big powers is possible only as the result of some miscalculation.
On the other hand, the big worldwide confrontation is unavoidable. It is the confrontation between the adepts of American Global Empire and those who would never except the unipolar world.
I hope not but it kind of looks that way…
Of course the USA would NEVER encroach on any other territory, and ONLY supports good old democracies like the EU nations run by Fuhrer Ursula.
Ah, humor? Dark humor…
Of course they would be treated as Russia when they are part of Russia. I understand the neocons and the military industry oligarchs. They need the confrontation anyway. What is strange, some Antiwar activists are also supporting Ukrainian neonazis and categorically oppose the reunification of divided Russian nation, as if the human rights should be applicable to everyone except Russians.
Not that simple though, is it? Peaceful secession and self determination are of course agreeable to nearly all, but when it gets to be a question of killing and war, you have to balance the crime of war against this justice.
In this case, there was little option as the Donbas area citizens were just getting abused … but just putting it as reunification is not adequate justification for war.
“reunification is not adequate justification for war” – it was other way around: American strategists started cultivate Russo-phobia as soon as USSR disintegrated (before that, there was mostly anti-communist rhetoric). First, they wanted to create around Russia the belt of hostile countries. Second, by cultivate aggressive anti-Russian nationalism among ethnic minorities inside Russia, they tried to weaken Russia and, eventually, using the anti-Russian feelings, to break up Russian Federation in several independent (subordinate to USA) countries. It is all about geopolitics. The point is: you can’t cultivate far-right radical ideology and at the same time remain the democracy.
The west (great Britain, etc) was in competition with Russia before communism was a thing.
There is the competition between great powers anyway.
Russia and Britain were friends before WW1 and was on friendly terms with France ,how ever mistrust was ever present one of the reasons WW1 happened .
You may want to wiki the Crimean War, then, Russian role in the Franco-Prussian war. When I state “competition” among states, I mean bloody war.
I think you underestimate just how many fake accounts there are. Coming up on elections, MILLION$ of tax dollars are being laundered through large Public Relations firms right now make it appear as if the liars have more support than they actually do. They are using sophisticated software that enable one user to control hundreds of accounts….lol….they are easy to spot.
Probably you are right. Particular it looks true when one reads comments somewhere like DW.
Most D.M posters are mushrooms , kept in the dark and fed on B.S , a case in point Iraq and Blair`s WMD lies , Saddam got rid of all his WMDs in 1992 the intel was there for those`s of us who cared to look , except for D.M posters who where all gungho until the truth came out .
Sure bud. There couldn’t genuinely be people who disagree with you. That would be crazy!
So basically, Russia will be under attack.
Putin should get his nukes ready and prepare to die and be remembered as another Hitler.
Take note, as Andrei Martyanov says, that one of the reasons for the 300,000 mobilization is that once these four regions are part of Russia, Russia will need to create a new Military District for the region. And that will result in a new echelon of military resources for the military operation in Ukraine as Russian military bases are built there.
Another point is that under Russian law, conscripts can not operate outside of Russian borders. Once these regions are part of Russia, Russia can send conscripts into them to function in the Military District as a rear echelon. This frees up some or all the Russian contract soldiers currently in the rear to be redeployed to the front line. In addition, some percentage of these 300,000 will likely go the immediate area of the front line to fill in any holes the Russian have had to deal with. So one way or the other Ukraine will be facing another X scores of thousands of Russian troops, anything up to another 100-300,000.
Given that Russia with only 150-200,000 allied forces (and most of those were Donbass militias and Russian National Guard rather than contract troops) has managed to destroy at least half of the Ukraine military, imagine what will happen with double that number.
If NATO and Ukraine refuses to recognize the new borders of Russia, Ukraine is going to be trashed even faster than it has up to now. And since Shoigu has mentioned the NATO surveillance aircraft and satellites as well as a NATO base inside Ukraine where NATO advisers are running the war, there is no guarantee Russia won’t take the war to those assets.
Funny how the democracy virtue signalers don’t care how people in eastern Ukraine vote.
Funny how some of the people who point out that western “democracy” is largely fake suddenly want to pretend that a “referendum” under military occupation is free, fair, open, and will produce results accurately representing the sentiments of the voters rather than of the occupiers.
Thomas I’m asking you an honest question, because I truly don’t know.
When Alaska and Hawaii became states, how was it accomplished? By popular referendum among the inhabitants?
Or did the US annex the territories?
Same for any other state that eventually joined the nation.
question of the day right there
Thanks, PN; still waiting to hear back….
I haven’t done a great deal of reading on that. Beyond knowing that Hawaii was taken in a coup and then annexed as a territory decades before statehood, and that Alaska was purchased from Russia decades before statehood, it’s never interested me that much.
If I was into defending hostile invasions/annexations/occupations by the US, I suppose it would behoove me to know those things.
Since I’m not, they don’t particularly matter to me. I’m no more a fan of US regimes than I am of Russian or Ukrainian regimes.
Well, thanks anyways Thomas…😐
I remember Basic Training at Ft Ord CA in 1973. I was in a platoon with a majority of native Hawaiians. They used to call me a fucking Holly (not sure of spelling) so often I though my first name was actually “fucking”. They hated white people for some strange reason. I can only imagine why.
Poor Wars!
But yes, I can understand why they felt that way 😐
They used to be called plebiscites and they’re better than civil war, if you have a better idea you should email the UN. Your point about voting under military occupation, even a grey one, is valid, but your point about fake western democracy got me thinking that America’s big democracy problem is only getting to vote for two flavors of prepackaged sausage. At least with a plebiscite you’re voting on a question rather than a person or a party, and it’s a genuine and vital question. And I’ve been thinking the Russians should hold referenda (my new word) moving westward until they lose and then take a step back and draw the line. They would get PR points all over the world, except in the US of course, and besides which they don’t want to get into the hearts and minds business with a bunch of pissed off Ukrainians.
Why did not the west -nurtured Uro Nazi hold onewhen it was under their thumbs for last 8 years? Uro nazi could have even proved that way that Crimean assent was manufactured had they scored the results the nazi s
wanted.
How does Russia prove the election is fair and square ? Is there any organization?
UN is compromised.
Our experinces with shitty dirty international organizations like OPCW and IAEA and Syria Tribunal on Harari assassination tell me —screw the handwringing and pontificating of the west .
It doesnt deserve any quater .
Ukraine hasn’t had control of Crimea and Donbass since 2014 so it couldn’t have held referenda there. I agree nobody with much sense would buy a used car from most of the international acronyms. Not much credibility out there to hang a vote on. Maybe the Vatican or perhaps Consumer Reports could set something up. Just brainstorming.
There is no military occupation of the DPR and LPR.
And the Earth is flat too.
GTFOH with that Russian BS.
The Ukrainian Civil War is a tragic result of Kiev/NATO refusing to implement UNSC 2202.
Prior to February 24, there were two military occupations of the DPR and LPR.
Now there’s one.
You are correct – the Kiev/NATO military continues to illegally occupy parts of the LPR and DPR. Fortunately 87% of the world supports the legitimate self determination of these people. So, one can expect the 8 year long Ukrainian Civil War to end sooner rather than later.
As Micheal X said DEMOCRACY , HYPOCRSIY
All the elections in Germany and Japan since 1945 were never free, fair, open then.
Why would a simple yes/no vote produce a fake? In Germany they never have referendums because there is the danger that people may actually express what they want.
It doesn’t matter what party we vote for, Nato always wins. And those who don’t toe the Nato line are killed like Olof Palme or sidelined like Jeremy Corbyn.
I don’t understand US politics, but I think the same applies to the US. No matter who you vote for, the Blob always wins.
It is definitely an accurate vote when official show up with arms soldiers at your home and “encourage” you to vote.
Are you talking about what the UkNazi’s did in 2014?
Maybe you should read some more about some of the Russian separatists in Donbass and their neo-Nazi ties.
…..so now it’s the Russians who are in bed with the Nazis……OMFG, just tell the lie often enough and I’m sure some will believe it.
Here you go …. Compiled from my other posts here, which oddly, nobody ever seems to respond to or have any argument against
* Head of the Russian space agency (at least until June) Dmitry Rogozin gives a literal Nazi salute here.
And in another photo, he’s holding a speech under a poster that says “Jewish fascism is the most dangerous thing.”
* Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin recently awarded the St. George’s Cross to Lt. Roman Vorobyov of the Somalia Battalion, who wore Totenkopf and Valknut symbols. (Pushilin removed the video from his website, but you can still see it here.)
* Alexei Milchakov, a leader of the ultranationalist paramilitary group leader Rusich (part of the Wagner Group), who says “straight up, I am a Nazi.” (In another interview, he boasts about cutting of ears of Ukrainian soldiers in 2014.) They were headed for Kharkiv back in April.
* Russian National Unity founder Alexander Barkashov, who said, “I consider [Hitler] a great hero of the German nation and of all white races. He succeeded in inspiring the entire nation to fight against degradation and the washing away of national values.”
That’s because we all know your a neocon troll with a fake account. I’m just the only one letting you know….that we all know, Have a great day 🙂
And im just the only one letting you know that we all know you are a Russia troll with a fake account.
We actually have socials outside this blog and talk about your BS.
Have a great day.
Get lost neocon libterd, go back to DW where you belong.
That’s because we all know your a neocon troll with a fake account. I’m just the only one letting you know….that we all know, Have a great day 🙂
Hahahah. I love it when folks block you because you prove them wrong.
For anyone inclined to think I’m a “neocon troll,” I’m not even a tiny bit conservative, and if you’ve seen my posting history, you’d have to think I’m REALLY dedicated to trolling to make up some of this crap.
RINOs were spawned by the historical liberal interventionist warmongers. Unfortunately the nauseating wave of sticking our military noses into every part of the world has engulfed both political parties.
Ignore the main topic and introduce a BS one. Way to cover the exposed hypocrisy.
Kremlin Foreign Policy 101:
When accused of anything apply the 4 Ds.
Deny, Deflect, Distract, Discredit (DDDD).
And the father of all of your D’s is the F for Forgetaboutism. The topic can be whatever any individual poster wants it to be and my comment was pertinent and on-the-mark. Is it time for your hike? In any case, take one!
Cool, I’ll remember that when i answer to you crap.
You returned from your hike?
Can you hear that?………………………….
It is the World’s smallest violin and it is playing just for you………………………………………………………………………….
Were you under the impression I was distraught? I think it’s hilarious — shows how weak the argument is.
I have noticed that.
The usual folks pushing the BS Kremlin propaganda here, tend to conveniently ignore sources that expose their own hypocrisy.
The ORCS also like to kill Dogs. That’s a new one. Little animals that harm no-one. How sick. That’s why they are paying a high price for this war.
According to you anything that doesn’t parrot the West’s propaganda is labeled propaganda.
Yes, And You must be the other side of the spectrum.
Yes – but you continually bring up the subject of propaganda in your posts.
That’s 100% their MO. The source is credible whenever it supports their POV, and ”fake news” if it doesn’t. (I’ve seen numerous Washington Post articles cited here, but if I were to post one, everyone would dismiss it as “Israeli-controlled MSM.”)
And if it IS a source that was previously deemed credible by them, but now publishes something that doesn’t support the pro-Russia viewpoint, they conveniently ignore it.
Also, everyone is very pro-Palestinian (which I am as well, being a 1/4 Palestinian myself), but nobody ever talks about the arms deals between Russia and Israel.
You sound just like the Bidenites with their now being “for the police”, ‘the border is secure” is twisting logic and facts.
“Maybe you should read some more about some of the Russian separatists in Donbass and their neo-Nazi ties.”
Slim chance of that. Eyes wide shut.
I hear that Russian Nazis like the Wotan Jugend have moved to Ukraine because they find an environment in Ukraine that’s more favorable to their development.
Incidentally, did you know that Navalny is a Nazi-sympathizer and hardcore Islamophobe. Perhaps that’s why the West supports him?
Oh, like this WaPo editorial talking about Navalny’s issues? Does this seem like support?
Of course you guys don’t read the mainstream media, so you don’t know what they report, do you?
I used to read Western media until I realized that it’s pure poison.
As to Navalny, there is doubt about the fact that he is supported by the West. Even his videos about Putin’s alleged corruption are manufactured and payed for by the West.
Like in Afghanistan and Iraq? At least the soldiers won’t need translators.
International Law protects the weak from the strong. The Rules Based Order (RBO) protects the strong from the weak.
We are run by psychopaths, criminally insane psychopaths.
“The best way to end this war is to strengthen the Ukrainians on the
battlefield further so they can, at some stage, sit down and reach a
solution which is acceptable for Ukraine and that preserves Ukraine as a
sovereign, independent nation in Europe.”
Since I assume these people lie at the drop of a hat, let’s go with that assumption. They don’t want to preserve Ukraine, the armpit of Europe and instead would prefer a partition. Poland ends up with half of Ukraine, thus pushing NATO closer to Moscow. Putin is happy enough to take what he can get out of this.
The big question is still Odessa, will they continue to push towards that goal or is this it? I kind of doubt that Putin wants to stop short of Odessa, that would leave Transnistria a landlocked target and it would give Poland access to the Black Sea and it’s resources.
By the way, this stupid spell check didn’t know the word Transnistria and insists I’m spelling it wrong. LOL How does a spell checker not include the names of all the countries in the world?
How has that strategy worked out for Ukraine so far?
When has any nation stuck in the middle of our proxy wars fared well? Stuck between an anvil and a hammer is no place to be.
As a result of the Nazi coup Russia stripped Ukraine of its most valuable assets Crimea, Donbass and saddled Brussels and Washington with Kiev’s debt in the process.
Vladimir Putin continues to eat up the West’s geopolitical lunch and leave it with the tab.
Nicely phrased.
Thanks. Amazing how the yellow and blue flag people apparently missed this point isn’t it?
What’s the point of teaching history, if one ounce of propaganda counts for more than a pound of knowledge? Talk about double-think, on the one hand Americans know that proxy wars suck for those stuck in the middle, on the other hand these same people still believe that sending weapons is somehow going to help.
How do they reconcile the two without their heads exploding? Or maybe their heads are exploding and that’s why they all seem to have gone nuts?
I believe the phrase you’re looking for is “cognitive dissonance”, which is the proper psychological term for stupid. A favorite CD of mine is supporting the troops by supporting the useless wars grinding them up, literally a fair bit like supporting cows by supporting McDonald’s.
And then the Poles, being crazed Russiaphobic Poles, make a move to acquire nukes and maybe we can finally get around to WW III. Proxy wars are like politician crack but even they ought to see there comes a time to put down the pipe.
The infrastructure for the US Aegis ABN missile systems stationed in Romania and Poland can accommodate nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. Apparently, the conversion can be achieve overnight. Polish wet dreams about hosting US nukes may be closer to realization than we imagine.
Poland has begun a program of distributing iodine tablets to emergency workers and first responders, starting with regional fire departments – who can in turn hand them out to the general population – in the event of a possible radioactive disaster at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
The Polish elites are complete psychopaths. Criminally insane psychopaths.
All of this seems so weird.
NATO is trying to justify treating Ukraine as if it is a member of NATO. Russia is trying to justify treating the Republics as if they are part of Russia. All of this is happening to pretend that each side has met the legal requirements to do what everyone knows they were going to do anyway.
Biden keeps pretending that the Euromaidan coup installed a legitimate government, even though it didn’t even resemble the government installed by a fair election less than 2 years earlier. He also pretends that Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk didn’t secede of their own accord, even though it’s obvious that they did.
Italy had a rude awakening yesterday. But other European leaders are still pretending that they represent the will of their voters.
And nobody is talking about the real reason for this conflict. (which is control over Ukraine’s most profitable natural gas, oil, manufacturing, and agricultural resources.)
Ukraine’s resources are insignificant in comparison to Russia’s resources. Thus, the aim is to remove Putin from power by strangling the Russian economy and by using the political turmoil that will follow to split Russia into 34 independent entities. The resources of these entities can then be exploited by corporate America according to neoliberal doctrine.
If it backfires and Europe is sent into economic destitution, that doesn’t matter because the political upheaval will allow fascism to once again take hold of the continent. The ukrainization of Western Europe will allow big capital to control the continent with the help of Nazi stormtroopers.
As the sage says, “may you live in interesting times”. This action should make things a lot more interesting and could definitely do away with any pretense that we are not already in a wider global conflict.
“may you live in interesting times” is a Chinese curse and not something a sage would wish on anybody.