Ukraine Warns of Russia Troop Buildup as Premier Meets Obama

[Purveyor]

By Kateryna Choursina, Volodymyr Verbyany and Helena Bedwell Mar 12, 2014 12:16 PM ET

Ukraine warned Russia is amassing troops near its border as Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk visits Washington to step up the search for financial aid.

Russian forces, who’ve already seized control of the Crimean peninsula, continue to deploy along Ukraine’s eastern frontier and are “constantly increasing their presence,” First Deputy Premier Vitaliy Yarema told the government in Kiev. Yatsenyuk, whose cash-strapped nation needs as much as $15 billion in loans, will meet President Barack Obama today.

Russia’s takeover of Crimea, home to its Black Sea Fleet, has sparked the worst crisis with the West since the Cold War as the European Union and the U.S. try to use sanctions to force President Vladimir Putin to retreat. Russia’s incursions may spread to Ukraine’s east, according to Amanda Paul, an analyst and program executive at the European Policy Centre.

“With Crimea apparently well under Russia’s control, it can now play around with the east,” she said by e-mail from Brussels. “Ukraine seems to be doing its best not to be provoked by Russian aggression. But it’s like having your house robbed and having to stand and watch without doing anything.”

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today declined to comment on the Ukrainian claims of a military buildup.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-12/ukraine-warns-of-russian-troop-buildup-as-premier-to-meet-obama.html

[jakeXT]

1. I thought they allowed them surveillance flights

Moscow permits Ukraine to make a surveillance flight over Russia

MOSCOW, March 12. /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow has given permission to Ukraine to make a surveillance flight in order to get convinced that any threat of military operations on the part of the Russian Armed Forces is absent, the Deputy Minister of Defense, Anatoly Antonov, told reporters Wednesday.
He said that the Ukrainian side had issued an appeal to the Russian Defense Ministry March 11 to organize a so-called emergency surveillance flight over the Russian territory in the framework of the Treaty on Open Skies.
"It is the first time a mission of this kind has been requested in the format of the Treaty on Open Skies since the moment of its signing in 1992," Antonov said. "Although we do not have any obligations on hosting the Ukrainian jet, we took a decision to permit a group of observers to effectuate this flight."
"We hope our neighbors will see the Russian Armed Forces are not conducting any activity on Ukraine's border that might jeopardize its security," he said.

http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/723202

[Cali_Democrat]

2. So maybe they flew surveillance flights and saw the troops massing on their borders

LOL

[jakeXT]

3. Like the US sees weddings as terrorist meetings? /nt

[Cali_Democrat]

4. ??

[jakeXT]

5. The good old drones

In December last year, a U.S. drone strike mistakenly hit a wedding party in Yemen's southeastern province of al-Bayda, killing 11 Yemeni civilians and wounding another 21.

http://en.apa.az/news/208513

[Cali_Democrat]

6. Oh...duh....I was confused about what you meant

I've voiced my opposition to that kind of targeting in the past. It's a war crime:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002280748

But I'm not sure what that has to do with Ukraine saying Russian troops or massing on their borders...

[jakeXT]

7. The Russians allowed it, because the numbers were according to them exaggerated

It would surprise me if they indeed have a build up and allow flights

Antonov vehemently denied a statement Tuesday by Igor Tenyukh, defense minister for the Kiev coup-appointed government, that Russia had amassed more than 220,000 troops, 1,800 tanks and over 400 helicopters in regions adjacent to eastern Ukraine.

“Ukrainian military officials know full well that the entire (Russian) Southern and Western Military Districts put together don’t have that much equipment. The only way you could arrive at that number of soldiers would be if you counted their families,” Antonov said.

http://rt.com/news/russia-allows-flight-ukraine-374/

[jakeXT]

8. Zerohedge has video of a couple dozen tanks and trucks on a train

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-12/after-annexing-crimea-russian-troops-are-piling-east-ukraine-border

[rdharma]

10. I didn't see any tanks in that video.

[FrodosPet]

12. What were those things on flatbeads with the long gun barrels?

Perhaps a new type of grain harvester?

Maybe the problem is in definitions. What exactly would you define as a tank? Maybe those are armored personnel carriers instead of tanks? They look rather tank-like, but are not strictly "tanks".

In any case, there are armored somethings commonly used in battle on those flatbed cars.

[okaawhatever]

9. K & R nt

[rdharma]

11. Still no tanks in that video. nt

[FrodosPet]

13. Is this sarcasm?

What do you see in the video?

[rdharma]

14. What do I see in the video? NO tanks!

Did I stutter?

[FrodosPet]

15. Wow! I would check your net connection then

Because I saw several tanks, along with supporting vehicles. So what did you see? What are those things that look like tracked vehicles?

But go ahead with your insistence that there are no tanks in that video. I hear RT has a job open.

[rdharma]

16. Those aren't tanks.

You've never been in the military, eh?