Military-clad English-speakers caught on camera in Mariupol shelling aftermath | 25 Jan 2015 | Armed people in uniform speaking fluent English with no accent have been spotted in Mariupol in the aftermath of the rocket hit, fuelling allegations that foreign mercenaries are serving among Ukrainian troops. The port city in eastern Ukraine, under Kiev’s control, saw a surge of violence on Saturday, when several rockets hit a residential area in the east of the city, reportedly killing 30 civilians. Numerous videos from the scene showed destruction in the aftermath of the attack, for which local militia and Ukrainian troops blamed each other. But among footage shot in Mariupol, there are some videos showing armed men in military uniform, who speak English fluently.
Putin: Ukraine army is NATO legion aimed at restraining Russia | 26 Jan 2015 | The Ukrainian army is essentially a ‘NATO legion’ which doesn’t pursue the national interests of Ukraine, but persists to restrict Russia, President Vladimir Putin says. “We often say: Ukrainian Army, Ukrainian Army. But who is really fighting there? There are, indeed, partially official units of armed forces, but largely there are the so-called ‘volunteer nationalist battalions’,” said Putin. He added that the intention of Ukrainian troops is connected with “achieving the geopolitical goals of restraining Russia.” Putin was addressing students in the city of St. Petersburg.
Ukraine: The Rise of the Right –‘To become an Azov fighter you have to be a proper white man’. –Azov Battalion fighter | 20 Jan 2015 | Ukraine’s bloody conflict against pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country has led to thousands of deaths – but it faces a new fight against the rapid rise of far right groups. BAFTA-winning filmmaker Ross Kemp saw first-hand how militias, made up of football hooligans and current and former soldiers, are now fighting on the front line…Senior members of the Azov Battalion have now been given influential positions within Petro Poroshenko’s government. Its commander, Andriy Biletsky, is believed to be in charge of two neo-Nazi political groups, and has been elected to serve in Ukraine’s parliament while the battalion itself has been integrated into the country’s National Guard. Differences between Ukraine’s far right groups have been put aside as the fighting continues, though one fighter — a teacher and psychologist — told Kemp that to become an Azov fighter you had to be “a proper white man. You can be nationalist, you can be fascist or national socialist. It’s not the main thing. Our future is a war – a war with Russia.”
FBI: 3 Russians charged with spying, 1 arrested in New York | 27 Jan 2015 | Federal prosecutors in the United States have announced charges against three Russian men who allegedly operated an international spy ring based out of New York City. US attorneys said Monday that Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev, and Victor Podobnyy have been charged “in connection with Buryakov’s service as a covert intelligence agent on behalf of the Russian Federation.” Buryakov unlawfully acted as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, the federal complaint alleges, and his co-defendants are charged with conspiracy thereof.