Written by @GBabeuf
Video by @PLnewstoday (Youtube channel Patrick Lancaster)
Zakharchenko interrupted OSCE’s Hug when the latter claimed Zakharchenko was responsible for implementing Minsk to tell him that his first responsibility was to defend the people of the DPR. Zakharchenko also point blank refused to remove any heavy or light weapons from the front line until Ukraine does so. Plotnitsky, meanwhile, had interrupted Hug to ask him if he had ever had to live his life under constant shelling. All in all, the two have clearly been told they can harden their line in relation both to OSCE & to Ukraine. There have been other signs of a hardening of positions too. In addition to Putin signing the decree on temporary recognition of official documents issued by the DPR and LPR authorities, there has also been the highly publicised appointment of a prominent Russian writer, Zakhar Prilepin, to a position of some military significance in the DPR hierarchy. There have been public rallies staged in Sevastopol in the Crimea in support of formal, official recognition of the Donbass republics, as well as an attempt to organise a petition calling for the same. Further rallies are planned for St. Petersburg, and one for Moscow (although the city authorities actually turned down the application for one in front of the State Duma in Moscow. Organizers have said they will attempt to apply again). Presumably other cities will follow suit. In Rostov-on-Don the city’s Liberation Day was celebrated with large numbers of citizens waving DPR and LPR flags.
If there is anybody who believes this is because of the “total blockade” of the Donbass by Ukrainian “radicals”, then I’ve got some magic beans I’ll happily sell you for £1,000 a piece.
My best guess would be that two things in particular have pushed the harder line. Firstly, a realisation (hopefully) that the Trump administration is not a “friendly” one and is certainly not prepared to relinquish the enormous asset it has inherited in the form of the Ukraine (a realisation in Moscow, I should say). Secondly, the Donbass has been living under a near total blockade for three years now. The only difference at the present time is that coal shipments have been blocked from crossing the front-lines. That represents a direct threat to the interests of the Ukraine’s biggest oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov. Akhmetov has very good (and very powerful) friends in Moscow. It was largely in order to save his (business) skin—and also to save Poroshenko in Kiev—that Moscow prevented the Donbass Army (Novorossiya Armed Forces, NAF) from seizing an empty Mariupol from which the Ukrainian Army and Nazi battalions were in headlong retreat—to the extent that Sweden and the Ukraine’s favourite trash Viking furniture-removals man was openly asking twitter whether it thought he should either run or surrender immediately to “Russian forces” when they arrived.
Another possible factor in the hardening of the line by Zakharchenko, Plotnitsky and (apparently) Moscow, might be the recent progress made by the Ukraine in its relations with the EU. In return for throwing open Ukraine’s timber resources to the plunder by European (and no doubt also to US) capital, Poroshenko was told that the EU would finalise the visa-free regime with the Ukraine at some point in this coming summer.
Whether this new disposition will translate into a less passive military stance by the NAF towards the Ukrainian Army, nothing seems yet to have translated into an altered military posture by DPR or LPR forces. And artillery, mortar and small-arms attacks are continuing on most fronts.
SLAVYANGRAD.org 
Since the very beginning I have said that the OSCE were never to be trusted. For starters they are not impartial…who pays their salaries? Who pays their hotel bills for their five star accommodation in Donetsk? At times when it is absolutely obvious that the UA has broken the agreements the OSCE never place blame…I have yet to see it. There are also times, sadly too many times when immediately after the OSCE has left the particular theatre of conflict that the shelling restarts…..as if by magic from the Ukrainian side. Coincidence? Maybe, if you believe in coincidences…….. but to me there are far far too many incidents to be named coincidence.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Posted by Martin Erikovytch | Feb 20, 2017, 18:39BBC exposed OSCE as not being impartial & Hug is lying his ass off for his US/EU masters & its shaming.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Posted by leruscino | Feb 20, 2017, 20:26Reblogged this on Susanna Panevin.
LikeLike
Posted by susannapanevin | Feb 20, 2017, 21:26Western institutions were created to protect western interests, period. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why DNR/LPR or Russia allows the OSCE ANY role. Why give give them that legitimacy? They were nearly irrelevant until this war and it’s given them a (flimsy) reason to continue existing. Those outside of the western/Zionist/Gulf States axis of evil should create their own monitoring mission if they feel they need that. Like the mainstream media, the OSCE are liars who serve those who pay them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Posted by susano | Feb 20, 2017, 21:33It is very obvious that the OSCE has never done anything to implement Minsk, nor constrain the Kiev Junta. I think that, to all intents and purposes, the OSCE is the deceptive “soft” arm of NATO/Washington.
.
I have thought, perhaps correctly, that Moscow did not overtly endorse DNR/LPR independence (from the Ukraine) and especially did not invade, so as to avoid all-out war with NATO and immense carnage, rather than relatively few deaths. My first impulse and that of many others was, let’s say, “Go crush the Junta.” But it’s a good job that Putin and his Security Council play “chess” and await the implosion in Kiev. And perhaps now is the time to start making the moves to sever the Donbass from the rest of “the borderland”
LikeLike
Posted by gerryhiles | Feb 21, 2017, 16:52@GerryHiles – Good description on OSCE being the soft arm of NATO. They probably serve as spies, too.
As I recall, before the Donbass republics held their referendums for independence/federalization, Putin asked them not to. I’m not sure but the reason for that could also have been Russia knowing they HAD to secure Crimea and be ready for any military reaction that returning it to Russia might provoke. The United States wanted Crimea and the US Navy had already put out a contract for bids on the repair of a school there before Maidan. From the geostrategic and national security perspective, Crimea was far more critical for Russia. Putin asking Donbass to not hold those referendums may have been a simple matter of Russia not being ready and able to defend them if it came to it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Posted by susano | Feb 22, 2017, 01:52Yes I recall the same events and I agree that Russia was not ready to take on more, after all Putin must have been acutely aware that Washington/NATO was looking for ANY pretext to go to war directly with Russia … probably not any more, though, since Russia entered into defence of Syria, especially with the missile launch from the Caspian, which sent the US carrier group scurrying out of the Persian Gulf.
.
Major differences between the Ukraine and Syria are that the latter is distant from Russian borders (but still of strategic importance) and that the Government is friendly. Similar to Crimea are important military bases and a bonus to defending these and aiding Bashar al-Assad was the opportunity to live-test the Russian military and superior weaponry. The Donbass is too close to Russia’s borders to mount a similar campaign I think, also the loss of life would be horrendous and nothing might be left of the region. At least, now, forces are in place to destroy an all-out assault by the Junta, should Porky be that stupid. My thoughts anyway.
LikeLike
Posted by gerryhiles | Feb 22, 2017, 11:16Putin did that because the Russians were preparing to enter into the Syrian conflict in order to prevent the terrorists being unleashed on Russian once Assad was overthrown. That involved carrying out top secret political discussions with several foreign governments to get overflight rights, intelligence gathering, assessment of ISIS capabilities and organisation, running Chechen agents within ISIS to gain inside information, preparation of Russian logistics, etc, etc all without the Anglo-Zionists becoming aware. They also knew they had to be up and running with a substantial presence from day one. That is something that would take many many months to achieve and could not be made public or released beyond a need-to-know basis.
The balance was that mass Islamic terrorism would be an existential threat to Russia whereas Ukraine was a nuisance that could be dealt with a la Georgia if necessary.
LikeLike
Posted by Yonatan | May 12, 2017, 19:17