I am playing catchup here so....Read about the EU brokered gas deal yesterday, it was certainly being touted as a win/win/win for all parties- Ukraine, Russia and the EU. And then I see this!?Ukraine backs off from EU-backed gas dealThis had to have had the blessing of the US! How else to explain this chaos & chill inducing decision?
War-torn Ukraine on Saturday distanced itself from an EU-brokered agreement with Russia that would have restored its gas supplies during winter and helped rebuild trust between the neighbouring foes.
The European Union’s energy commissioner emerged from hours of acrimonious negotiations in Berlin on Friday to pronounce the three month dispute on the verge of being resolved. “We have developed a workable design for a winter package,” Mr Guenther Oettinger said. Both he and Russia’s energy minister added that a final agreement could be signed after consultations in Moscow and Kiev next week.
A compromise would not only save the westward leaning nation from adopting drastic energy savings measures in freezing weather but also make sure that Russian gas flowed uninterrupted to European homes.
Clearly some party wants Europe to go without gas!
Yet the meeting came with trust between all sides lacking and any remaining good will between Moscow and Kiev dependent on the fate of a fragile truce in a pro-Russian uprising that has claimed more than 3,200 lives. And Ukraine’s top energy officials vowed on Saturday to keep fighting over both the gas price and Moscow’s claim that Kiev owed it billions of dollars in debt.
“No final decision was adopted. Not a single document was signed period,” Naftogaz state energy firm chief Andriy Kobolev wrote in a Facebook post.
The deal’s interpretations in Moscow and Kiev diverged on almost every point that led to the original freeze of Russian deliveries in June.
Oettinger said the compromise would see Russia ship at least 5.0 billion cubic metres of gas to Ukraine over a six month period in exchange for an early payment of $3.1 billion. The volume roughly covers the amount of gas Ukraine says it needs to make it safely though the winter. That translates into a price rate of $385 per 1,000 cubic metres, 20 per cent less than the figure Russia began charging Ukraine.
Russia gave the Ukraine a price break and the Ukraine still chooses to screw there own people & Europe! Also- U.S. counterinsurgency operatives deployed to Ukraine
The Pentagon has dispatched eight military personnel to Kiev this week to provide tips to Ukrainian security forces on counterinsurgency and military planning tactics.
Military staff will share with the Ukrainians some of the Pentagon’s planning tactics, techniques and procedures while collecting data on the needs of its security forces, according to Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez. Staff arrived in Kiev, the country’s capital, on Thursday and Friday and are beginning to assess the operations of the Ukraine Ministry of Defense, Ms. Lainez told The Washington Times.
The eight military personnel have been split up into two teams, according to Ms. Lainez. One team has been told to assess the security needs of the Ukrainian government and look for ways that the U.S. can supply military equipment to the country, Ms. Lainez said.
“With support from Ukraine and the State Department, the security assessment team will also explore the potential of expanding our current Office of Defense Cooperation in Keiv, to enhance Ukraine’s military capabilities and interoperability,” she said.
“Please understand me, blankets and night vision goggles are also important, but one cannot win the war with blankets,” he told lawmakers.
So, for Kiev, the war is still onDon't Miss!