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Bastrykin’s Repression Manifesto

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It appears Russia is about to become much more repressive and oppressive, quashing all opposition and not allowing any personal expression.  This is not just a return to the Soviet State, this has the potential of being much worse.

Here is the original article in Kommersant Vlast, in Russian.

</end editorial>


The Daily Vertical: Bastrykin’s Repression Manifesto (Transcript)

By Brian Whitmore

Aleksandr Bastrykin doesn’t think Russia’s criminal justice system is tough enough.

The head of the Investigative Committee doesn’t think Russian law enforcement is arbitrary enough.

Vladimir Putin’s top cop doesn’t think surveillance and censorship have gone far enough.

And the man who has spearheaded the Kremlin’s crackdown on the opposition for the past four years doesn’t think the suppression of dissent has been extensive enough.

No, in a widely discussed article in Kommersant Vlast yesterday, Bastrykin argued that it is time for the Kremlin to stop pussy-footing around and get serious about repression.

WATCH: Today’s Daily Vertical

According to Bastrykin, it’s time to “stop playing false democracy.” It’s time to abandon “pseudo-liberal values.”

It’s time to block all foreign media. It’s time for all-out Chinese-style censorship of the Internet.

It’s time to expand the definition of extremism to include things like questioning Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

It’s time for a formal national ideology and for the institutionalized political indoctrination of the youth.

Bastrykin’s article is causing a lot of noise in Russia and abroad. In an editorial, Gazeta.ru argued that it would effectively place the entire country under investigation.

And in an article for BNE Intellinews, security expert Mark Galeotti called it a “manifesto for the North Koreanization of Russia.”

It could be just a trial balloon. It could be the product of political infighting among the security services.

But coming on the heels of the creation of a new National Guard that answers to Putin alone, I think it’s something more ominous.

I think it’s a harbinger.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/daily-vertical-transcript-bastrykins-repression-manifesto/27683577.html


Filed under: #RussiaFail, Censorship, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, Censorship, information warfare, Russia

Russia ‘breaks’ military deal with America and threatens US warplanes over Syria

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Russia has broken an agreement with the US by allowing its warplanes to carry out “simulated attacks” on American jets over Syria, according to a new analysis.

Last week, the US accused Russia of “aggressive” and “unsafe” manoeuvres after two Su-24 strike aircraft flew within 30ft of an American destroyer in the Baltic. Across Europe, Russian fighters and bombers have been intercepted while probing the air defences of Nato countries.

The US and Russia held military-to-military talks last year designed to prevent incidents of this kind from occurring over Syria. The result was a memorandum of understanding last October, stating that all Russian and American  jets would stay a safe distance away from one another and communicate in English via recognised radio channels.

Two Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft fly over USS Donald Cook, an American destroyer
Two Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft fly over USS Donald Cook, an American destroyer CREDIT: REUTERS

But a new analysis from Chatham House says that Russia has routinely broken this agreement. While striking the enemies of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on the ground, the Russian air force has also carried out “aggressive and provocative manoeuvres against Western aircraft in Syria,” said Keir Giles, an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House.

The October agreement between America and Russia unravelled within weeks. Last November, the US Air Force deployed 12 F-15 jets to Incirlik air base in southern Turkey. Half of these were F-15C Eagles, designed for air-to-air combat.

A Russian Su-24 attack aircraft sweeps low over the USS Donald Cook
A Russian Su-24 attack aircraft sweeps low over the USS Donald Cook CREDIT: REUTERS

Russia appears to have viewed the arrival of these warplanes as a potential threat to its own air force. While over Syria, the F-15s became a particular target for Russian pilots who “took the opportunity to practise aggressive manoeuvring against US aircraft, including positioning for simulated attacks,” said Mr Giles.

Two jets have already been lost over Syria: a Russian bomber was shot down by Turkey last November and a Turkish reconnaissance aircraft destroyed by Syrian air defences in 2012. A similar incident involving the Russian and US Air Forces – or the warplanes of any Nato country, including Britain – would risk a grave international crisis.

Last month, President Vladimir Putin announced a partial Russian withdrawal from Syria. But about 20 of the Kremlin’s jets are still based in the country, where they continue to mount regular raids against Assad’s enemies.

This force represents half of Russia’s peak deployment of about 40 fighters and bombers. In addition, Russia has sent up to 20 helicopters to the country, most of which are still there.


Filed under: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, Information operations, Information Warfare, Propaganda, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, counter-propaganda, Russia

Authoritarian Regimes Send Westerners Agitprop To Inflame Far-Left, Far-Right

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Russia, Iran, China, and Venezuela are funding political propaganda masquerading as news that stokes the anger of Western countries’ far Left and Right.

19, 2016 By

Russia, Iran, China, and Venezuela may seem to have little in common besides being run by authoritarian, kleptocratic, and opaque regimes—qualities that often make them take anti-American and anti-Western positions. But here’s what else they share: all four destabilize democracies by manipulating what they deny at home: the free flow of information.

Disinformation has long been a tool of war, to be sure. Soviet disinformation campaigns blamed Western interests for anything from the Kennedy assassination to the spread of AIDS, and gullible or willing Westerners either believed it or spread what they knew to be lies.

But today’s disinformation may be even more insidious due to the diversification and democratization of media, which puts the user in the role of filter and makes the principle of “caveat emptor” paramount. Today’s campaigns may also be feeding on—or contributing to, as causality isn’t clear—the current political upheavals upending long-standing democratic arrangements. They also have a decidedly anti-Israel and sometimes anti-Semitic bend.

The campaigns are also racking up victories. The rejection of an economic treaty with Ukraine by Dutch voters in a referendum last week can be laid solely on Russian propaganda, while the ascent of a leftist political party in Spain is due, at least in part, to the fact that an Iranian-funded television network gave its leader free air time.

Infiltrating the Airwaves

Governments are taking action against Russia. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has ordered a probe into whether the Kremlin is leading a disinformation campaign to destabilize Germany. Lithuania last weekbanned a Russian channel for “inciting discord, warmongering, [and] spreading biased information.”

China also forms pressure groups in all these countries to spread the impression that its policies have grassroots support.

China, meanwhile, is surreptitiously taking over radio stations in America, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe to spread its propaganda to unwitting listeners who may not know who’s controlling the message. China also forms pressure groups in all these countries to spread the impression that its policies have grassroots support, as it did recently in the United States during a visit by President Xi Jinping and in Australia to try to prevent Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull from raising China’s aggression in the South China Sea while on a visit to Beijing .

Meanwhile Telesur, created by Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez before his death and now kept in business by his even more erratic and clownish successor Nicolas Maduro, beams its anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-West message to millions of Latin Americans.

These propaganda outlets benefit from the fact that often viewers or readers don’t know they’re consuming Russian or Venezuelan propaganda. The casual web surfer who happens upon a story by “PressTV” about a Russian general warning NATO not to expand further (like into Sweden) will have no idea that PressTV is an arm of the Iranian state.

Neither would someone consuming news on Telesur’s website know it’s funded by Caracas. Those viewing this catchy rap video homage to “Ossatian patriots” would also have no idea the Kremlin is behind it—unless you knew that the “Republic of South Ossetia” is a puppet regime in a part of the sovereign country of Georgia that Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded in 2008.

Shopping for the Disaffected

But even when they did know they are watching foreign outlets, disaffected people in democracies may still watch. Part of the reason the Iranians, Venezuelans, Russians, and Chinese are succeeding is that there’s a growing sense throughout the West that traditionalist institutions—from news outlets to traditional parties—have failed their constituents. This leaves a vacuum for alternative views and analyses. That these outlets seek out ethno-nationalists in the far right, as in the Netherlands, and anti-capitalists and anti-free traders the far left, as in Spain, shows they are shopping for the disaffected anywhere they can find them.

They’re feeding on the real anxiety of those feeling left out and estranged from the power centers.

Google “Telesur and disinformation” and the first several hits you’ll get are media reports or academic papers on how Telesur is fightingWestern disinformation by presenting an alternate view. I have written, here and elsewhere, critically on how the Western media has a leftist bias, but even Walter Cronkite at the height of his power was trying to report on the Vietnam War the way he saw it.

One would have to hope that the people writing for the Russian outlets Sputnik or RT know that fascism does not indeed permeate politics in Ukraine, which is fighting a Russian invasion. As for the people who run PressTV, they might as well believe that Israel does indeed harvest the organs of Palestinians killed in clashes.

It’s bad enough the dictatorships running Russia, China, Venezuela, and Iran suppress information at home, while using its free flow among the democracies to subvert them. The fact that they’re feeding on the real anxiety of those feeling left out and estranged from the power centers can only make this situation worse.

Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, spent close to 20 years as a journalist, 15 of them reporting from Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He is the author of the new book, “A Race for the Future: How Conservatives Can Break the Liberal Monopoly on Hispanic Americans.”

Filed under: China, Information operations, Information Warfare, Iran, Russia Tagged: China, iran, propaganda, Russia

Estonian Report Details Russia’s ‘Hybrid Threat’ to Europe

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov / AP

Combating Russian propaganda increasingly important front in information war

BY:
April 18, 2016 4:00 pm

 A new report by the Estonian Internal Security Service emphasizes the danger a resurgent Russia and a weakening European Union poses to stability and democracy in the region, highlighting Russian propaganda efforts in recent years.

The service, known in Estonia as Kaitsepolitseiamet or “Kapo,” produces an Annual Review summarizing trends and internal threats to Estonia. The 2015 Annual Review, released last week, includes sections on cyber security, preventing international terrorism, and fighting corruption, among other issues.

However, the first page of the report makes it clear what the service considers the top threat to Estonian and European security: “In the context of Russian aggression, the security threat arising from a weakening of the European Union is many times greater than that arising from the refugees settling in Estonia.”

“This is the most important point,” Martin Arpo, Kapo’s deputy director general, told the Washington Free Beacon. “For Estonia, the report is a reminder: let’s think about real security threats, and not imaginary ones. The migration crisis is bringing focus away from real threats not only in Estonia but in Europe, as well. The only hope for Putin to fulfill his ambitions is that Europe and NATO are split or have controversies inside. The refugee crisis is really the only serious topic that can bring these controversies.”

The first page of the report references the Gerasimov Doctrine, a vision of war through non-military means published by Russian Chief of General Staff Valeriy Gerasimov in early 2013.

The doctrine stipulates that the purpose of modern war is to erode the “readiness, will, and values” of the enemy. This concept drives how Estonia evaluates the internal threat from Russia.

Propaganda and other Russian activities in Estonia are tools, Arpo says, “for possibilities to create instability. The Russians won’t do anything militarily without creating an internal threat—the impression of an internal threat, if not a real one.”

One front in the information battle has been the debate over Syrian refugees.

Estonia, like the rest of Europe, has hosted fierce public debate about immigration due to the influx of refugees from Syria and other conflicts zones. Arpo said fear of the refugees is misplaced.

“Thousands of immigrants come to Estonia and integrate, create no problems,” said Arpo. “The number of refugees coming to Estonia is marginal compared to this number. These are ungrounded fears.”

Arpo said Russia is exploiting the immigration debate to sow dissent and bolster opposition movements within European countries.

“Populists have gained a lot of ground by bringing the refugee topic to the public,” he said. “Russian propaganda picks up the populist comments. The prevailing message is that governments in Europe are unable to address the migration crisis, so populists now represent ‘the people’ more than their governments.”

Asked how Estonia tries to fight the Russian propaganda campaigns against it, Arpo laughed. “The best you can achieve with Russian outlets is that they don’t use what you give them.”

If the facts are good enough, he says, the Russians can’t spin them, so they end up on the cutting-room floor. Often this process is seen as wasted effort.

“You have to tell your own story. Don’t get trapped into their story. If there are lies, we have to say it is a lie, and what is the truth. But we can’t lose ourselves on this Russian battlefield, reproducing their narrative for them.

“Propaganda is for the Western audience as much as the Russian one, and the West should not forget this. It is the electorates of NATO countries who will ultimately decide if NATO protects us or not, if sanctions continue or not.”

Arpo compared the information campaigns of Russia with those of ISIS.

“Russia wants to show itself as the last fortress of the Christian world and conservative values. ISIS propaganda also tries to offer an alternative to the liberal world and Western values,” he said. “Both use anti-liberal, anti-Western rhetoric. This is the common ground. But more important is the synergy between them. The big, distorted picture of the West as weak, and decadent.

“Maybe Russian propaganda is not a direct threat for western European countries,” Arpo said. “But it is a threat to the integrity of Europe.”

When Estonia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it embraced a national policy of rapid integration into the EU and NATO to provide political and security guarantees for its sovereignty. Estonia is now one of the few NATO countries spending the target 2 percent of GDP on national defense.

Estonia’s recent history of Soviet occupation, as well as attempted Russian disruption of its internal affairs since, means it keeps a wary eye on its neighbor to the east.

The review provides detailed examples of what Arpo describes as the “hybrid threat” that Russia presents to Estonia. Arpo emphasizes that the threat is about far more than espionage.

“Information is not a goal, but a tool. The goal is not information, but to influence,” Arpo said.

Previously seen as an outlier in its fear about Russian aggression in its near abroad, Estonia is now at the center of conversations about countering the Russian threat.

“It’s not Russia that has changed,” Arpo said. “It’s the perception of Russia that has changed.”

Arpo said Baltic economies have been impacted far more by sanctions against Russia than the rest of Europe, but that it is a small price to pay. “Europe needs this approach to Russia. So we are accepting the losses. It is cheaper to deal with Russia this way than deal with consequences later from their aggressive policy.”

High-profile examples of Russian aggression, such as the dangerous flyover of the USS Donald Cook and intercept of an American reconnaissance plane, dominate media coverage, but the review said more attention should be paid to the internal subversion being pushed and funded by Russia across Europe.

Source: http://freebeacon.com/national-security/estonian-report-russia-hybrid-threat/


Filed under: #RussiaFail, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Propaganda, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, propaganda, Russia, Russian propaganda

Terrorist and extremist crimes on rise in Russia in 2015 – report

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This is Russian reporting on the reason for Russian Head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin calling for a crackdown on opposition talk, further restricting speech of Russian citizens.

</end editorial>


15:12 18/04/2016

MOSCOW, April 18 (RAPSI) – Head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin made public the statistics related to terrorist and extremist activities in Russia in 2015, noting a negative trend in the year-to-year dynamics of such crimes, Kommersant-Vlast magazine informs on Monday.

A rise in the number of crimes of extremist nature was registered across 56 subjects of the Russian Federation; overall, there were committed 1329 such crimes, by 28.5 % more than in 2014 (1034).

The number of such crimes as public calls for carrying out extremist activities, instigation of hatred or enmity, as well as violation of human dignity rose by almost 40 % as compared with 2014 figures.

There were registered 42 crimes relating to arrangement of activities of extremist organizations (+2.4%).

A significant rise in the number of terror attacks carried out in the territory of the Russian Federation (by 36.3 %) was also registered in 2015, 1538 as compared with 1128 in 2014.

According to Bastrykin, 70 crimes were prevented at the stage of preparation or attempt, whereas 113 crimes of terrorist nature were committed using Internet.

The Head of Investigative Committee noted that especially complex situation was observed in the North Caucasus Federal Okrug, where the majority of crimes of terrorist nature were registered: 1168 such crimes or 75.9 % of the total across the nation (+ 32.3 % as compared with 883 crimes in 2014).

Source: http://www.rapsinews.com/news/20160418/275887042.html


Filed under: #RussiaFail, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, counter-propaganda, CounterPropaganda, Russia

Putin’s Downfall: The Coming Crisis Of The Russian Regime

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Screen Shot 2016-04-20 at 9.46.27 AMNikolay Petrov

SUMMARY

• Russia’s political regime is unsustainable. It has no capacity to reform, and faces growing economic woes, crumbling infrastructure, and warring elites.

• After widespread protests and ebbing of support, the government began in 2014 to base its legitimacy on winning wars. Putin centralised all power in the presidency, suppressing dissent and weakening institutions in the process.

• Now, the regime needs to keep delivering military victories or face a loss of support. Excessive centralisation makes the system unstable and inefficient, focused on survival rather than strategy. As sanctions bite and funds run short, the elites are growing impatient, and the chance of conflict is rising in regions such as the Caucasus.

• There are two ways out for the Russian regime: improve its finances by reconciling with the West, or regain legitimacy by replacing the president. Even these will only buy it time, and may not prevent a total collapse.

• There is no clear heir to Putin, and collapse could be followed by the redistribution of power to various government bodies, companies, and regions, including Chechnya.

Download: http://www.ecfr.eu/page/-/ECFR_166_PUTINS_DOWNFALL.pdf


Filed under: #RussiaFail, Information operations, Information Warfare, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, CounterPropaganda, putin, Russia, Russian propaganda

Russia Non-Responds To Panama Papers

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Russia’s response to the release of the Panama Papers is typical and predictable.

Whenever anything embarrassing or detrimental to Russia or Russian President Putin is released, Russia whips out the checklist.

  1. Undermine the credibility of the papers
  2. Attack the source
  3. Blame the CIA or MI-6 for a deliberate smear job (substitute US and UK)
  4. Offer alternate theories
  5. Distract by starting another incident
  6. Use Whataboutisms
  7. Coverup
  8. Blame Chechnyan terrorists or opposition candidate
  9. Deny, deny, deny

Now, re-reading the list, think of all the Russian incidents in the past few weeks since the Panamanian papers were published.

Please notice, dear reader, the following are not included:

  • Accept the blame
  • Declare reports accurate, truthful
  • Thank the source for revealing the problem
  • Work to fix the problem
  • Use the situation as a positive learning experience
  • Keep focus on the problem to ensure problem completely fixed
  • Reassure public with progress reports
  • Allow press access to entire process

Incidentally, what happened to the Navalny murder investigation that Putin was taking personal responsibility for?

The following article is a perfect example of Russian non-acceptance of blame, blame an external enemy.

Incidentally, this report was highlighted by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

</end editorial>


(Translated by my Chrome browser)

Wikileaks: US Panamanian documents were paid for with the aim to discredit the Russian president

Yeah, it came at last! Here is a quote from my article dated April 4: “First of all, let me stress that this text is not about the reliability and value of« Panamapapers leaks of documents. ” From my point of view, it is absolutely necessary as a lot of truth on all levels. However, it should be an impartial, unbiased and honest truth. Although the current leak is possible, it is absolutely perfect, the problem is that there are attempts to turn it into an anti-Putin, anti-Russian, and “anti-BRIKSovsky” circus.

How come today, American, British and other leading media? They take the truth, and then shamelessly stirred it with a deliberate lie, and flaunt the resulting mixture as the truth. So persistent attacks on Putin, Russia and all the others who are trying to achieve the formation of a new world order, a new global reality, will continue and intensify. These countries and their leaders will continue to be attacked on all levels.

What are you waiting for? They lose and they know that the time they have left a little bit. They will use any means available. Of course, they did not dare to direct confrontation with Russia. They will use puppets and secret techniques.What is really strong point of the West? Of course, this propaganda in official media. They will continue to use this weapon as long as it is available.

New revelations Wikileaks and other sources confirm the above (WikiLeaks project made a sensational statement in his official Twitter account, saying that “sink” archive offshore Mossack Fonseca was a sponsor of the USA and is an information attack on Russia, approx. Mixednews).

I predicted in 2014 that whatever lies neither invent the United States, Britain and the West in general against Russia, they will fight back. It does not matter, it will happen immediately or after some time. This is one of the cases of “instant retaliation.”

Wait, gentlemen! In the near future we are waiting for a lot of such “retaliation”: some of them for Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union, the other related to the Middle East, Daishev, Turkey, Qatar, the Saudis. Bluff US and the West in Syria has already become evident. This is only the beginning!

There was a Russian time, the “Great Balancing” of our planet. Today’s highly unbalanced world order and the socio-political and economic structures will be transformed and re-rebalance “the Great Planetary Balancing”. The strength of the US and the West runs out. In their place come new world powers. We are only at the very beginning of this process.However, the process has already started and nothing can stop it.


Filed under: #RussiaFail, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, information warfare, Russia, Russian propaganda

The Kremlin’s Spin, NATO’s Reality

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The Daily Vertical: The Kremlin’s Spin, NATO’s Reality (Transcript)

In Brussels, it is viewed as a technical meeting to put safeguards in place to prevent an accidental conflict from breaking out amid rising tensions.

The Kremlin says reviving the NATO-Russia Council after nearly two years is proof that a chastened West has realized the error of its ways and is now ready to engage Moscow.

WATCH: Today’s Daily Vertical

In Western capitals, the meeting is largely viewed as a necessary evil and an opportunity to call out Russia for the provocative actions of its warplanes in international airspace — and their continued violations of NATO airspace.

The Kremlin is presenting the resurrection of the NATO-Russia Council as a sign that the Ukraine crisis has changed the rules of international politics in Moscow’s favor.

NATO officials see it as an opportunity to reprimand Russia for its continued efforts to destabilize Ukraine, for its failure to abide by the Minsk cease-fire agreement — and to reinforce the message that this behavior has costs and consequences.

Today’s meeting among NATO and Russian envoys will again illustrate that Moscow and the West live in completely different cognitive realities.

The Kremlin’s propaganda machine will spin it as a major victory for a resurgent Russia.

But optics aside, it will be nothing of the sort.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/daily-vertical-kremlin-spin-nato-reality-transcript/27686066.html

Video source: http://www.rferl.org/content/daily-vertical-kremlin-spin-nato-reality/27686056.html


Filed under: #RussiaFail, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, CounterPropaganda, information warfare, Russian propaganda

Russia Continues Revising Soviet History

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Here is yet another example of one of the world’s worst murders being rewritten into a Russian hero.

What a pity that people like Stalin, so rarely come into this world.

Putin said revising history is a crime, yet now he is the worst offender.

</end editorial>


(Translated from Russian by my Chrome browser)

Source: https://cont.ws/post/252607

History of
the Great Victory , the USSR , Stalin

Stalin’s diplomatic triumph

The conversation with the last Minister of Defense of the USSR …

Corr .: Dmitri Timofeyevich, your last interview has caused a lot of comments on the Internet. Here are a few of them.

To raise the country from the plow, break up the most powerful army in Europe, to accelerate the creation of the atomic bomb – the merit of this great man! Russia’s enemies try to tarnish the Leader, but the people can not be fooled …

None of the anti-Stalinists never answer two simple questions: how, without collectivization could industrialize a huge country, drowning in ruins? And what would happen to the world if Stalin did not have time to create a strong industry before the war?

Must have been be years until it was exposed lie Khrushchev. He lied about Stalin, if not in every word, in every line of his vile report. Moreover, the actual numbers that scoundrel knew .. . ”

What a pity that people like Stalin, so rarely come into this world. As it is now we are lacking is not enough. … ”

D.T.Yazov : I can not judge about the entire correspondence on the Internet, but from what I’ve read, a rather interesting picture emerges. Camp Stalinists – and they were in the majority – is distinguished from competitors a higher intellectual level.

Instead of arguments they do not use a lie. Their arguments are based on serious evidence, backed up by authoritative sources. The other side often takes unceremoniously, without regard to any logic or facts. One such anti-Stalinists made a really sensational discovery: that under Stalin, “Russia lost Kazakhstan and Karelia.” And then this “expert” history making categorical conclusion: “Russia will never suffered such territorial losses as with him.”The man apparently mistook Stalin to Yeltsin. But said it wanted: they say, and I am against the bloody dictator!

For comparison, a sample of the argument Stalinist camps. The conversation is about the repression. And this, as you know, our favorite skate liberals.

“There can be no question about the impact of repression to reduce the combat capability of the Red Army due to the insignificance of their size in comparison with the total number of the officer corps …” And then, the author refers to the publication in the “Russian Historical Journal”, which fully confirms his view .

Reporter :. Regarding the repression is believed a prominent British politician Lord Beaverbrook: “…. It is now clear that those who were shot, would have betrayed the Russian Germans “. The brutal words.But this time it was.

D.T.Yazov : Apparently, we can not get away from this topic. Liberals insist that the villain Stalin destroyed the color of the Red Army. This silent, that this color was an active participant in a military plot. And shortly before the impending war with Germany. As for the alleged catastrophic consequences for the country’s army and the elimination of such figures as Tukhachevsky, Egorov, Yakir, Uborevich, Cork, Blucher , and some others, we hear the opinion of a man who, together with Zhukov and Rokossovsky took Berlin. I mean Marshal Ivan Konev. That’s how he developed the theme that we are interested in talking with Konstantin Simonov. Interested in an address to the book writer, ” my generation of the human eye .”

If we evaluate the military experience, military level and the prospects for these people – said the marshal, – then there must be approached individually to each.

He does so. It starts with Blucher , who, in his opinion, was the thirty-seventh year of a man with a past but no future. The man who in the level of their knowledge far left from the civil war …. Imagine what he could do in modern war on the front, you can not … In any case, such a small operation like the Khasan events Blucher failed.

Tukhachevsky , – said Ivan Stepanovich, – was a man gifted, strong, strong-willed, theoretically well-prepared. Its disadvantages belonged to the famous raid of adventure, which is manifested more in the Polish campaign. But the main drawback was the fact that he has not passed step by step ladder military …

Yakir , according to Marshall, the man with abilities but without real military school, without a real military education. His Konev hardly imagine in the role of commander of the front in the Great Patriotic War.

Egorova Cork and he believes people of average ability, did not shine any noticeable military talents.

Dybenko Belov and he belongs to the category of people who in the military entirely in the past and whether they were alive, they would be doomed to show in a major war their backwardness and helplessness.

Of all the warlords – Konev prefers Uborevich , “who knew how to look ahead and to educate staff …” He could during the war to be “one of the leading roles in the army.”

As they say, no comment.

In the same conversation with Konev Simonov said the following:

– By the beginning of the war he had boundless faith Stalin loved it, was under his charm.

Q .: It’s a shame that many of them at the time of the reign of Khrushchev suddenly “seen the light” and began to write about his Supreme Commander various stories. But this topic – for another conversation.

D.T.Yazov : Yes, we are with you pretty distracted. Persuasion was to reflect on Stalin, not only as a brilliant policy and an outstanding military leader, but also as a brilliant diplomat. And this is the most vivid illustration of the work of the three conferences of Heads of State anti-Hitler coalition.

Corr. : Let’s start with the first of them – with Tehran. It is called a diplomatic victory for Stalin’s course. Do you agree?

D.T.Yazov : I agree. But on the conference – later. Let us not forget that there is a war. Two years we are fighting alone against Hitler’s armada. Allies promised to open a second front in the spring or summer of 1942. But any progress in this direction was not observed. During this time we managed to not only beat the Germans near Moscow, but also to win a resounding victory at Stalingrad. In January 1943, the American magazine “Time” called Stalin’s “Man of the Year” by putting on its cover a portrait of our Supreme Commander. A British historian Geoffrey Roberts wrote in those days: “The Battle of Stalingrad was the signal that the Germans were inevitably defeated on the Eastern Front and the Soviet Union after the war to become the most powerful country in continental Europe. The balance of power shifted to Moscow, and London and Washington became junior partners in the alliance. ”

Continued at https://cont.ws/post/252607

Source: https://cont.ws/post/252607


Filed under: #RussiaFail, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Propaganda, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, CounterPropaganda, information warfare, Russia, Russian propaganda

Crimea: OSCE condemns Russian prosecutions of journalists

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The origin of this story is the OSCE, a neutral organization.

Screen Shot 2016-04-20 at 2.04.31 PMThis story is not being carried in Sputnik News, RT, TASS, Pravda, or any other major Russian news source, English or Russian. Gee, I wonder why not?

</end editorial>


Freedom of Speech Under Threat in Crimea: OSCE condemns prosecutions of journalists

Published on Apr 20, 2016

Free expression and freedom of the media remain under threat in Russia-occupied Crimea.

OSCE representative Dunja Mijatovic slammed the recent prosecution of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Nikolay Semena.

The relevant statement is published on the site of the organisation. “This recent detention only shows the urgent need to stop the arbitrary practice of silencing journalists in Crimea,” Mijatović said.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYYUQlnKaOc


Filed under: #RussiaFail, Information operations, Information Warfare, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, anti-censorship, counter-propaganda, Crimea, Russia, Ukraine

Polish minister says Russia preparing aggression against NATO

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Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:06am BST

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s defence minister has said Russia continued to pose a serious threat to NATO and that Moscow was systematically preparing for aggression against the alliance.

Poland, a former Soviet satellite state, fears Russia is seeking to extend its influence beyond its borders after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and continues to support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Earlier this month, two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes near a U.S. guided missile destroyer which had just left the Polish port of Gdynia. A U.S. official said this was one of the most aggressive interactions between the two sides in recent memory.

“So far, all Russian behaviour attests to systematic preparation for aggressive action,” Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz told the Rzeczpospolita daily in an interview published on Tuesday.

“And it’s time to talk about it openly.”

Warsaw will host a NATO heads of state summit in July, where it will push for an increased military presence on the alliance’s eastern flank.

In 2014, NATO suspended cooperation with Russia over its role the conflict in Ukraine. Russia says deployment of significant NATO forces close to its borders would violate the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act.

(Reporting by Wiktor Szary; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKCN0XG0UD?irpc=932


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Russian editor who reported on Putin’s circle to take study leave

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Editorial Director, RBC Media Holding Elizaveta Osetinskaya attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 22, 2016. REUTERS/RUBEN SPRICH

Can you spell Russian intimidation of the press?

Is corruption easier?  How about Russian corruption?

How about Russian corruption enabled by intimidation of the press?

Russian mafia?  Former KGB?   Do I repeat myself?

Putin?

</end editorial>


MOSCOW |

The editor-in-chief of Russia’s RBC media group, whose outlets published disclosures about the commercial interests of people close to President Vladimir Putin, is to leave her job to start a sabbatical four months earlier than planned.

A source close to the media group said the departure of the editor-in-chief, Elizaveta Osetinskaya, may have been brought forward under pressure from Kremlin officials who were displeased with the publications about Putin’s inner circle.

A Kremlin spokesman denied the media group or its owners were being subjected to pressure.

 Law enforcement officials last week searched the offices of Mikhail Prokhorov, the tycoon who controls RBC. People close to the media group said the raid was linked, at least in part, to official anger at their reporting.

The RBC newspaper, part of the media group, had in the past few months reported on the business interests of Putin’s son-in-law, and wrote in detail about people in Putin’s circle who were named in the leaked “Panama Papers” as having offshore firms.

The Kremlin denied last week there was any political motive behind the searches. Officials said they were related to an investigation into a bank that one of Prokhorov’s firms had bailed out.

In a statement, RBC holding said Osetinskaya, was taking a sabbatical to study at Stanford University in the United States during the 2016-2017 academic year. The statement said that she would start her sabbatical after the May Day holidays, which in Russia end on May 10.

However, in a post on her Facebook page dated from the start of this month, Osetinskaya had said she would start her sabbatical in September.

There was no immediate explanation from the company or from Osetinskaya for the discrepancy over the dates. Osetinskaya, when contacted by Reuters, declined to comment. A representative of Onexim, Prokhorov’s holding company, also declined to comment.

Osetinskaya’s plans “may have been changed under pressure from the Kremlin,” said the source close to RBC holding, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Over the course of several days before the searches at Prokhorov’s (businesses), there were several conversations with officials from the presidential administration, during which they held up the front page of the newspaper with the article about the Panama offshore firms, accompanied by the photograph of Putin,” the source said.

The source said that another, earlier article in RBC newspaper, about the business interests of Kirill Shamalov, Putin’s son-in-law, prompted “phone calls to top management from Kremlin officials.”

Asked by Reuters about Osetinskaya’s departure, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “I’m unaware that she is going anywhere… I have a working meeting with Osetinskaya tomorrow. That’s to say she continues in her job. We meet from time to time. But no one is applying any pressure whatsoever.”

(Additional reporting by Jack Stubbs, Andrey Kuzmin, Darya Korsunskaya, Dmitry Zhdannikov and Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by Christian Lowe; editing by Dmitry Solovyov and Richard Balmforth)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-onexim-editor-idUSKCN0XH22Y


Filed under: #RussiaFail, Censorship, Corruption, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, Censorship, Russia

Crimean speaker calls journalists names “enemies of Russia”

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Vladimir Konstantinov (center)

The Chairman of the State Council of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov considers the journalists of the Internet resource “Crimea.Realities” enemies of the Republic. Thus, he has commented to initiate the criminal proceeding against one of the journalists Mykola Semena.

“I know those people very well. They are our enemies. They are enemies of Russia, enemies of Crimea. Whatever they write there, they have the only one goal to hurt us, to make us suffer,” said Konstantinov.

According to him, materials published on such web resources have nothing in common with journalism and freedom of speech. “There is nothing in common with freedom of speech there at all. There is no freedom. They all are lying and paid by the Western intelligence agencies aiming the only one goal to bring harm to Russia. Whatever we do, they will still look for some kind of muck,” said Konstantinov.

As the “News from Crimea” reported, the journalist of the “Crimea.Realities” (the Radio Liberty regional branch) Mykola Semena was charged with “inciting to a violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation”.

Russian security forces have simultaneously searched seven locations during the criminal investigation on the extremism accusation of the journalist in Crimea. Also it became known about the detention of two more people along with Semena.

Source: http://en.sobytiya.info/crimean-speaker-calls-journalists-names-enemies-of-russia.html


Filed under: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, Crimea, Russia, Russian propaganda, Ukraine

How to bypass the blocking of websites in Kazakhstan

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Caricature Ansy Mustafa

(Translated from Russian by my Chrome browser)

Vyacheslav Polovinko

At the beginning of this week the website “Medusa”, covering the global and Russian news agenda, became available again in Kazakhstan. However, not completely and not all: in most parts of the country, “Medusa” is still locked on the first day of its existence, with the exception of only the owners of phones with android-platform. The new editor in chief of the website Ivan Kolpakov sent to subscribers “Medusa” a letter in which he said that the developers created a program site, allowing to bypass the blockage in Kazakhstan.

“Over the past year our technical department has played cat and mouse with the local officials, and officials were winning – our applications are not able to work in this country more than a week. Today we released a new Android-application where there is a button “Add to Kazakhstan”: if you live there, try out a new feature. If local authorities want to block us, with us they would have to cripple half of Google. Let’s see what happens, “- writes Kolpakov.

“Medusa” – with caveats such as the lack of certain features in the mobile version – running on mobile devices (except IPhone) without interruption.But the case of the resource-based former team of the site “to Lenta.ru,” in some sense an exception to the rule: usually blocked in Kazakhstan foreign site has virtually no chance of unlocking. And if that happens, then the owners of the resource often forced to guess, from what suddenly happened “electronic amnesty”.

Block by block

Website “Medusa” was blocked almost on the first day of its existence in October 2014 after the article Ilya Azar “Ust-Kamenogorsk People’s Republic” about the possibility of a repetition of the Crimean events six months earlier. At the same time, according to the publisher’s “Medusa”Elijah Dyer , from the authorities, they have not received any information on the prohibition of the activity site in Kazakhstan.

In the edition of the site "Medusa" in Riga. March 30, 2015.In the edition of the site “Medusa” in Riga. March 30, 2015.

“Official papers we have seen, calls have been received. All the reasons we know only from the press, and on blocking learned from users. The reasons are clear. Material about the Russian in Kazakhstan is considered extremism “, – said Ilya Dyer in a written correspondence with a reporterAzattyk in October 2015.

Nevertheless, official papers were. An application for site blocking Liaison Committee, information and data of the Ministry of Investment and Development of Kazakhstan sent October 22, 2014 in Esil district court of Astana. The commentary site Tengrinews.kz Representatives Committee stated that in the article “Medusa” showed signs of excitement ethnic hatred or enmity, as well as indirect calls for the violent disruption of the integrity of the territory of Kazakhstan. Ilya Dyer in early March 2016 comments Azattyk said that the meaning to persuade officials edition sees. As has now become clear, the publication found its way.

Erotic or article about authoritarianism 

Through correspondence with the officials decided to go another resource guide – the online version of the popular men’s magazine Maxim. Magazine site has been blocked for a year. The exact date of the beginning of the block is unknown, resource managers themselves, too, this was not followed. According to the chief editor Alexander Malenkov , signals the impossibility of access to the site, they also did not receive from the regulatory authorities, and from readers and acquaintances.

– Your power could strain our naked girls – suggests Malenkov. – It’s erotic, it is suitable in Russia under the category of “16+”. And here is how it taboo in Kazakhstan, I do not know.

Your authorities could exert our naked girls. It’s erotic, it is suitable in Russia under the category of “16+”. And here is how it taboo in Kazakhstan, I do not know.

Due to the fact that the site, according to the chief editor Maxim, was not warned about blocking, as speculation about the reasons put forward Alexander Malenkov even the idea that the motive could be the material of authoritarianism, published on the website.But keyword search showed that about President Nursultan Nazarbayev did not mention, not only in this article, but also on the site at all.

Alexander Malenkov sent a letter to clarify the reasons for blocking the site in Kazakhstan General Prosecutor’s Office, Liaison Committee, information and data, and the main provider – “Kazakhtelecom”. Replies in writing to editors and website did not receive, but the site is unexpectedly unblocked within one month, and without explaining any reasons for the ban, nor the reasons for the sudden indulgence.

Website Maximonline.ru could be blocked for any reason. The magazine does not hide his ironic attitude to all things, without exception, he writes about international politics and drugs, and corruption.

Kazakhstan has also blocked the site of the famous Russian journalist Oleg Kashin Kashin.guru, similar problems were at the site of radio “Echo of Moscow”, there is no access to Ferghananews.com site is still blocked by the same “Medusa.”

bloc mentality

In early 2016 it became known that the law “On Telecommunications” provides rules that allow communication Committee, information and data of the Ministry of Investment and Development of Kazakhstan to block sites without a court order, and it has allowed the agency still less to explain its position on this or that lock.

– On the imposition of court decisions it took up to two months, and illegal material at the time circulated on the Internet. However, a lot of criticism was part of the court. “If the law clearly spelled out restrictions on any information, why would you request our decision? Why do not you stop by? “- Sounded and such proposals. Therefore, we have made changes in the law and have been authorized – then said the representative of the Ministry of Investment and Development Bekzat Rakhimov .

Management committee officials say that all owners of blocked resources can complain and they warned about blocking. But, according to the Public Fund lawyer “Legal media center” Gulmira Birzhanova , not in all cases, this rule is observed.

Logic in different locks are absent. Though we have talked with representatives of the locked resources, never notified of blocking does not act.

– Logic in different locks are absent. Though we have talked with representatives of the locked resources, never notice a lock does not come, – says Gulmira Birzhanova Azattyk .

According to her, we can talk about the system of locks “just in case” when the committee makes an order prohibiting a resource, but the reason for seeking post factum. The same opinion is shared by the head of the organization pressozaschitnoy “Adil Soz” Kaleyeva :

– I see the need for locks once more to protect themselves against any accusations. It’s just a safety net: it is easier to forbid this or that resource than to listen to later accusations that it failed to notice, or any other violation.

According to Gulmira Birzhanova, Informatization Committee has adequate tools to block sites not need to ask permission of the court, there is no black list of blocked sites (and no one will ever know exactly denied it or not). At the same time by the committee sometimes hear the statement that to some locks irrelevant. So it was, for example, in the case of the blocking of websites and Ratel.kz Zonakz.net. However, Gulmira Birzhanova suggested that, even if the committee and had no direct relation to it, blocking sites still carried out from the territory of Kazakhstan.

It’s just a safety net: it is easier to forbid this or that resource than to listen to later accusations that it failed to notice, or any other violation.

An example of “Medusa” indicates that any action blockers, sooner or later there is a reaction. Gulmira Birzhanova says that the country has officially banned anonymizer, but do not really understand how its own program of “Medusa” can be considered as such. If the chief editor Ivan Kolpakov not exaggerating, the possibility of problems with Google can be a stop sign for themselves blockers.

The position of the authorities on the activities of Internet resources on removing the lock could not be found. For any questions related to the Committee, the Office was asked to send a letter by regular mail.”Kazakhtelecom” as a performer on the lock Azattyk request forbidden sites, posted in March, did not answer.

PS When the material was prepared for publication, the editors Azattyk has received from “Kazakhtelecom” response to your request. In one sentence says that kashin.guru resources, medusa.io, fergananews.com, echo.msk.ru, maximonline.ru network of “Kazakhtelecom” “not blocked”.

Source: http://ru.krymr.com/content/article/27686802.html


Filed under: #RussiaFail, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Kazakhstan, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, Censorship, Kazakhstan

Putin Is A ‘Smart But Truly Evil Man,’ Says Madeleine Albright

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Notice, the Russian response is to attack the source.

</end editorial>


BY ON 4/20/16 AT 1:22 PM

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has incurred the wrath of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allies after calling him a “smart but truly evil man.”

In an interview with Austrian newspaper Die Presse, Albright defended the foreign policy of Bill Clinton’s administration, in which she was Secretary of State during Clinton’s second term. The Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary were the first former Communist states to join NATO in 1999, in what would become the first step of an eastward expansion which has strongly incensed Moscow.

“I am very proud of the NATO expansion. Then we managed to use the power of Western Europe and help the Balkan states,” Albright said. “The United States saw its role as an indispensable nation which should do good all over the world.”

Albright took a less positive view of Putin, whom she met during a visit to the Kremlin in 2000, shortly after he succeeded former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. When asked what her lasting impression was of the young president, Albright was critical.

“He is smart, but a truly evil man,” she said, describing him as “a KGB officer, who wants to keep everything under control and believes that everyone conspires against Russia.”

“Putin had bad cards, but they were played well,” she said. “At least, in the short-term. I think his goal is to undermine and split the EU. He wants to drive NATO from his sphere of influence.”

Washington’s former top diplomat also warned that the Baltic states should be concerned from Russia’s military build-up on its borders, especially because of Russia’s method of “asymmetric warfare.”

Albright also dismissed Russian criticisms that the U.S. seeks to provoke Russia, saying “the U.S. has no problem with Russia, except when it occupies other countries.”

“One always looks for excuses for Russia and I’m fed up with it,” Albright said. “Russia is a country that provokes and then feels insulted.”

In response, Putin-ally and chairman of Russian parliament’s International Relations Committee Alexey Pushkov took to Twitter.

“Whether Albright is fed up or not, is not important,” he wrote. “The U.S. and its allies are forced to deal with Russia. The opinion of some forgotten Secretary of State, is of nobody’s interest.”

Source: http://www.newsweek.com/putin-smart-truly-evil-man-says-madeleine-albright-450332?rx=us


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Verbal slugfest at NATO-Russia meeting

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“waah”

Putin used the meeting in Brussels as a Wailing Wall: With great indignation, he accused NATO of unlawfully expanding in Eastern Europe. The increased deployment of troops there, however, was ordered at the request of the Baltic States and Poland, who feel threatened – by Russia. Again, the reason for this is the annexation of Crimea. This little detail is regularly omitted in Russia’s propaganda campaigns.

</end editorial>


Barbara Wesel

Moscow may present the reconvening of the NATO-Russia Council as a political victory of sorts. The Kremlin must decide whether it is worth maintaining the cooperation, DW’s Barbara Wesel writes.Nato Russland-Rat - Logo

It was a “serious and frank exchange,” the secretary-general of NATO said after the meeting. In the language of diplomacy, that means that the sides were close to a fight. The Russian ambassador had struck an icy tone, claiming that the relationship between NATO and Russia is very bad – that the sides have no positive agenda and no mutual interests. NATO has supposedly switched from partnership mode to deterrent. This is Moscow’s interpretation of its place on the international stage following Russia’s interventions in Ukraine, Crimea and Syria.

The cooperation was shelved almost two years ago, following Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The reconvening serves as a barometer. The aim is to re-establish dialogue, at least at a minimal level, and to create some transparency and predictability. Another aim is to avoid “misunderstandings”. This is a friendly term for recent military provocations by Russian fighter jets against NATO aircraft and ships in the Baltic Sea. Vladimir Putin seems to be having fun playing with fire.

Porträt - Barbara Wesel
DW’s Barbara Wesel

Putin used the meeting in Brussels as a Wailing Wall: With great indignation, he accused NATO of unlawfully expanding in Eastern Europe. The increased deployment of troops there, however, was ordered at the request of the Baltic States and Poland, who feel threatened – by Russia. Again, the reason for this is the annexation of Crimea. This little detail is regularly omitted in Russia’s propaganda campaigns.

The NATO-Russia Council has just provided Putin with another forum for heaping insults on the United States and Europe. At the same time, however, NATO is capable of sending a warning or two to Moscow. Perhaps a ritual exchange of insults can relax the relationship.

The German government is especially keen on reviving the NATO-Russia Council. However, it is a conversation with a partner who holds his hands firmly over his ears. Putin does not want to listen, and only wants to recite his own arguments loudly. The West, in turn, should remind him that he was the one who terminated the partnership again. The invasion of Crimea, support for the eastern Ukrainian rebels, the undermining of the Minsk Agreement and activities in Syria show where and how the Kremlin leader wants to enforce his power. And because he gives no insight into his strategies and ultimate goals, one hopes in vain for transparency and reliability.

Diplomats believe that meaningless conversation is worthwhile because you can always make use of the situation in an emergency. As such, it seems like a good idea to keep the NATO-Russia Council alive. On the other hand, Russia threatens to make it a mere propaganda vehicle: NATO should not be manipulated indefinitely. It must always make it clear that a minimum level of listening and cooperation is necessary so that such discussions do not degenerate into an absurd attempt at dialogue among the deaf and dumb.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/opinion-verbal-slugfest-at-nato-russia-meeting/a-19202245


Filed under: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, CounterPropaganda, Russia, Russian propaganda

Trial And Error: Putin’s Savchenko Slip-Up

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Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko during her sentencing hearing in Donetsk last month. (VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images)

By Adrian Bonenberger

Mr. Bonenberger was an infantry officer in the U.S. Army from 2005-2012 and served twice in Afghanistan. He is now a freelance journalist.

In late March, Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko was sentenced by a Russian court to 22 years in prison, ostensibly for directing artillery fire onto separatist positions. The judge refused to admit arguments or evidence from the defense that established Savchenko’s innocence. Savchenko was convicted, essentially, on hearsay, and the trial has been widely described as a farce. In an absurd twist, Russian state media reported the guilty verdict a full day before the verdict was announced in court.

The trial was a public reminder of what justice looks like in Russia. Like all major events allowed to unfold in Russian-controlled territory, the assumption is that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved of the trial and its verdict. Coming on the heels of Putin’s well-timed and effectively-spun “withdrawal” from Syria, why did Putin allow the trial to conclude in such a transparently misbegotten fashion? Did Putin and his advisors believe that the trial would signal strength? Or were they blinded by an unreasonable, emotional hatred for Ukrainian independence?

I was in Ukraine recently. “Free Savchenko” posters and banners hung on fences, buildings and gates, ubiquitous in Ukrainian towns and villages. Since being captured in 2014, Nadiya Savchenko had been elected to Ukrainian parliament, and evolved into a folk hero—Ukraine’s “Joan of Arc.” Everyone knew her name, and were conversant with basic details of her case. Ukrainians viewed the proceedings as a gross and palpable miscarriage of justice.

And despite the politics involved (a small, vocal minority of Ukrainians still see some reconciliation with Russia as possible or even preferable to integration with the EU) everyone with whom I spoke said that the Savchenko case might be resolved peaceably, and mercifully. Apparently, this opportunity was not communicated to the Russians.

A missed opportunity

Objectively speaking, had Putin directed that Savchenko be exchanged for Russian or separatist prisoners—or had he simply insisted on the merciful or transparent adjudication of her case—he could have curried an incredible amount of sympathy with Ukrainians and laid the groundwork for meaningful peace talks. He might even have been seen more positively by many moderate Ukrainians who grow tired with the war in Crimea and the East of their country. Putin could have been seen as prudent, sober and level-headed where his separatist proxies are anything but.

Whether or not Putin is, in fact, prudent or wise or friendly to Ukraine, it’s hard to see why he would miss such an excellent opportunity to be perceived as such, especially as it would have stood so clearly to Russia’s advantage. In other words: Had Putin granted Savchenko clemency (organizing an uncontested “not guilty” verdict would have amounted to the same thing), it would have been to his benefit.

As a general rule, the actions that Putin takes are reported favorably in a mostly-compliant Russian media. Consequently it’s difficult to imagine Putin suffering from a merciful disposition toward Savchenko domestically. Meanwhile, mercy for Savchenko would have made him look wise to Westerners, would have placed Ukraine’s government at a diplomatic disadvantage regarding Russian demands, and would have undermined hatred for Russia among Ukrainian nationalists. It’s far more difficult to despise someone who seems capable of compassion.

The consequences of imprisoning Savchenko

Instead, the decision to imprison Savchenko has accomplished the following:

1. A very public trial has delivered the following (intentional or unintentional) message to Ukraine: There can be no compromise with Russia.

2. Russia is not interested in facts or actions—they are interested in forwarding their own narrative of the war in Ukraine. Not only is this an existential struggle for Ukraine’s sovereignty, it’s a struggle for their history, and the right to tell Ukraine’s story as it occurred, rather than a Russian version of the same. Ukraine cannot hope for objectivity with the Russians.

And while Ukraine’s history, with Europe and America, will always include its role in World War II and the Holocaust, it will exist as part of a larger story that is not inimically hostile to Ukraine. Russia would erase Holodomor and brand Ukrainian volunteers and nationalists as terrorists to be prosecuted. Europe and America understand Ukraine’s role in WWII as being embedded in a larger, longer tale of Russian repression of Ukrainian ethnicity. They see the actions of Ukraine’s militias and volunteer units as having a higher moral quality than those of the Russian intruders, or the handful of separatists that (thinly) cloak Russia’s aggression in morality.

3. Two generations of Ukrainians are now implacable foes of Russia. The generation that drove Euromaidan in 2013-14 was already lost, so far as the Kremlin was concerned. Their ongoing pro-democracy, pro-transparency and anti-corruption work and their military service on the front lines in Eastern Ukraine (as well as their steadfast refusal to acknowledge Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea) have demonstrated that Ukraine’s youngest adults will never accept Russian dominion, and also that they have the means to effectively resist Russian hostility. Perhaps the condemnation of Savchenko was an effort to stab back at this young generation, to beat them in a rigged court where Putin cannot defeat them elsewhere, no matter how hard he tries.

Putin’s revenge?

From that perspective, on a certain immature level—one of the petulant child—Putin’s actions are understandable. He wanted revenge against the people who spurned his world order. A face to punch in futile, impotent rage at the sanctions that have quartered Russia’s economy, a human image to harrow for defiantly refusing to lay down weapons in Mariupol and Slavyansk, in Pisky and Yasynuvyata.

If that’s the case—if Putin wanted to “get back” at Savchenko’s cohort, it has come at a terrible cost. Because the trial was so well-publicized in Ukraine, Putin has effectively radicalized the next generation of Ukrainians—the boys and girls that will be the voting, fighting young adults a decade from now. Those people who watched the trial, who were emotionally invested in its outcome, can never forget or forgive Russia. To them, Russia and Putin will forever be the enemy, the antagonist.

It seems unlikely that Putin foresaw that this action would result in a hardening of the lines—a more resolute Ukraine, a deeper sense of solidarity and patriotism. It seems possible though unlikely that Putin did anticipate the consequences of this decision, but was powerless to prevent it, in which case he is far weaker than the public perceives. It seems more likely, however, that he is not the consummate chess-master that some claim. The most obvious and likely explanation is that Putin was blinded by a hatred for everything Savchenko represents, and that he spurned the wise, rational choice in order to stage an emotional and counterproductive kabuki play that benefits Ukrainian patriotism, and Russia not at all.

An unusual opportunity for the West

And this presents an unusual opportunity for NATO and the West. America and Europe now have another excellent opening to provide assistance to Ukraine where it matters and strengthen their relationship. This trial sends a very clear signal to Washington and Brussels that Putin is going to do what he feels. He is not interested in making rational, productive diplomatic progress toward peace with Ukraine. Rather than wasting diplomatic energy on enforcing meaningless ceasefires, the U.S. and Europe should see this as a great chance to push for more effective, wide-ranging sanctions on Russian individuals and businesses while seeking greater partnership with Ukraine’s military, providing NATO training and equipment to beleaguered Ukrainian units, as well as expanded training opportunities like the U.S. Army’s Fearless Guardian andFearless Guardian II.

Why not? If Putin is so hard up for a moral victory over Ukraine that he’s willing to go to the mat to imprison a young officer, clearly he’s not a very serious opponent. Diplomatic and military success in the Middle East has obscured his total vulnerability in Eastern Europe—and Europe and America should act decisively to expose that weakness.

The sooner Putin is exposed as a cheap fraud, the sooner the Russian people can choose a different path for themselves. If he were capable of war, he wouldn’t be bullying young women.

Ukraine is an Achilles heel 

While far-right and quasi-libertarian groups in America and Europe that receive funding and support from Russia make Putin out as a brilliant strategist who has done an effective job of running circles around America’s shambolic policy in the Middle East, Ukraine continues to be his Achilles heel.

When a choice has to be made about Ukraine, one can expect more and worse miscalculations from the Russian leader. This, more than anything, should give the people of Ukraine hope: Savchenko’s sentence means, on a broader level, that Ukraine itself stands a much better chance of pulling through its Russian ordeal stronger and more unified. Eventually, it’s not out of the question that Ukraine can reclaim Crimea and the eastern portions of its country—on its own terms.

Whatever his intentions were with the trial of Nadiya Savchenko, the verdict is in: Putin slipped up.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/04/20/putin-savchenko-trial/#3d1a540e466d


Filed under: Information operations, Russia, Ukraine Tagged: #FreeSavchenko, #RussiaFail, Ukraine

NATO DISMISSES RUSSIAN CLAIMS OF CIVIL WAR IN UKRAINE

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks after a NATO-Russia Council at the Alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, April 20. FRANCOIS LENOIR/REUTERS

It is a wee bit difficult to justify Russia calling the de facto invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces and mercenaries a civil war.

Russia must keep up the facade of lies, however, for the sake of the Russian people. This is the only story they have heard.  Changing the story at this point would not only undermine the credibility of the Putin regime and would cast more doubt on all press releases by the Russian government.

The presence of Russia soldiers, tons of obsolete, excess Russian equipment, followed by state of the art Russian equipment, and Russian generals leading Russian operations is the definition of an invasion.  At the very least, Russia is lying to itself.  Judged by the evidence, Russia is lying to the world.

</end editorial>


BY ON 4/21/16 AT 8:28 AM

The NATO and Russia council’s first meeting in almost two years was marred by “profound disagreements” on the crisis in Ukraine, with NATO dismissing Russian claims that the conflict is a “civil war”

“During the meeting it was reconfirmed that we disagree both when it comes to the facts, the narratives, and the responsibilities for the crisis in and around Ukraine,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting on Wednesday.

“And many Allies also conveyed a very strong message that we disagree when Russia try to portray this as a civil war,” he added. “This is Russia destabilizing Eastern Ukraine, providing support for separatists, ammunition, funding equipment and also command and control.”

The conflict in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk erupted in early 2014, when pro-European protesters toppled the pro-Russian government of President Viktor Yanukovych. Flare-ups of violence across south eastern Ukraine quickly followed, with Russia annexing Crimea, and separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk declaring independence.

Both regions border Russia and are predominantly Russian-speaking, however, it is unclear to what extent the separatist forces holding parts of them comprise of Russian mercenaries and not local forces.

NATO and Ukraine have alleged Russia is arming and providing reinforcements for those forces while Russia maintains that its servicemen that are fighting there are doing so as volunteers in what is an internal Ukrainian dispute.

“NATO Allies and Russia hold very different views,” Stoltenberg said. “But we have listened to what each of us have to say.”

Russia’s representative to the council, Alexander Grushko, was less diplomatic, telling Russian state newsItar-Tass that the meeting marked NATO’s “failed policy of isolation of Russia”.

Stoltenberg said that a new meeting had not yet been scheduled but it was possible the council would meet again.

Source: http://www.newsweek.com/nato-dismisses-russian-claims-civil-war-ukraine-450617


Filed under: #RussiaFail, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Russia, Ukraine Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, counter-propaganda, CounterPropaganda, propaganda, Russia, Russian propaganda, Ukraine

Russia Disinformation Digest Friday 22 April 2016

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  • News: No adverts on disinformation sites
  • Analysis: Answers from the President
  • News: Reports without Borders warns of “era of propaganda”
  • Analysis: Too successful?
  • Friday fun: The most watched TV show in the universe

No adverts on disinformation sites

A brand new method for fighting the challenge of pro-Kremlin disinformation campaigns was presented this week in Slovakia by a group of private companies, academics and journalists, major Slovak newspaper SME informs.

Companies that want to keep their brand away from suspicious websites will have a new tool for that – the new website konspiratori.sk aggregates sites with “non-credible, deceitful, conspirational or propagandistic content”. The site is run by a marketing agency, NetSuccess.

“Lies, nonsense, and unfounded information have become a part of our everyday life. But why should our agency, or our clients, support it?” explains the director of the project, Ján Urbančík. The initiative is supported by many of the biggest agencies in the country and the list of supporters is growing. A special committee identifies the conspiracy or disinformation outlets – among the twelve members are not only people from the marketing business, but also journalists, academics, or civic activists.

The top ten sites with “objectionable contents” on konspiratori.sk.

Answers from the President

Last week, President Putin held his traditional annual phone-in Question and Answer session, which was broadcast live by Russian government-controlled TV and radio stations.
This year a series of independent Russian media analysed Putin’s speech: Independent investigative website The Insider ran an article covering also the claim that Mr Roldugin spent the funds in his offshore account on musical instruments, reminding readers that the Panama papers reveal where the money had actually been spent. Independent, internet-based Slon ran the headline “Checking language. Putin’s 15 mistakes during his Q&A.”
One of the errors resulted in an official correction from Putin’s spokesman Peskov who apologized for the President’s claim that Süddeutsche Zeitung should be owned by Goldman Sachs. In Vladimir Soloviev’s Sunday night talk show, Peskov took responsibility for the mistake having found its ways into the President’s briefing note, adding that the mistake led to “trouble” with his boss: “I wish for no one to be criticized by the President.”
On a less critical note, government-owned news wire RIA Novosti published an articleabout the international coverage of Putin’s Questions & Answers. RIA asks rhetorically if western leaders are capable of such long live media appearances (the Q&A lasted three hours and 39 minutes, and the president answered a total of 80 questions) and suggests that it is an indication of Russian democracy.

With more than 20 stories, Sputnik also thoroughly reflected the phone-in. Its coverage of the event started with advance advertisement and continued with an overview immediately after the session. The centrepiece of its coverage is a live blog, where Sputnik covers the softer and more emotional side of the conversation, including a child’s question whether a women can become president of Russia, “because daddy says only Putin can handle those Americans”.
A full readout of Putin’s Q&A is available on the official Kremlin website. (Image: Sputnik)

Reporters Without Borders warn of “an era of propaganda”

“Media freedom has declined steadily in the post-Soviet region” amidst a “new era of propaganda”, warn Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in their annual World Press Freedom Index, released on 20 April. While attacks on journalistic freedom intensified in many authoritarian regimes, Russia’s score in 2016 reached its worst performance to date, putting it on place 148 out of the 180 countries evaluated.
According to RSF’s analysis, the survival of independent news coverage in under threat from ideologies hostile to media freedom. RSF says: “It is unfortunately clear that many of the world’s leaders are developing a form of paranoia about legitimate journalism.” In addition, Reporters Without Borders highlight that “throughout the world, ‘oligarchs’ are buying up media outlets and are exercising pressure that compounds the pressure already coming from governments.”
Prominent democracy advocacy group Freedom House has also drawn attention to the information war the Kremlin has been conducting since 2014: “Russia’s occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine helped to drive an increase in propagandistic content in the Russian news media and tighter restrictions on dissenting views,” it said in its 2015 report.
The image below shows the global evaluation of press freedom by Reporters without Borders.

Too successful?

News about media in Russia may indicate the balance of power in a market divided between state media; private, but state-loyal outlets; politically neutral media and critical sources.
This week RBC, owned by Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov and one of the most successful neutral media, found itself under what many perceived as pressure from the authorities. Although it was the critical opposition media flagship Novaya Gazeta that made the Russian contribution to the Panama Papers investigation, RBC relayed Novaya’s results, most notably the names of President Putin’s personal friends.
When offices of Prokhorov’s companies were raided last week, Russian media speculated that the raids were a message to the oligarch that a red line had been crossed for Russia’s most popular online media. While many focused on the raids as a political warning sign, two anonymous sources quoted by independent TV Dozhdinterpreted the raids as pressure on Mr Prokhorov to sell RBC, which is successful, but also heavily indebted.

Friday fun: A spoof Sputnik account on Twitter makes fun of the annual phone-in session with President Putin that is broadcast live on major Russian state media.
The Disinformation Review collects examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation all around Europe and beyond. Every week, it exposes the breadth of this campaign, showing the countries and languages targeted. We’re always looking for new partners to cooperate with us for that.
The Disinformation Digest analyses how pro-Kremlin media see the world and what independent Russian voices say. It follows key trends on Russian social media, so you can put pro-Kremlin narratives into their wider context. And finally… some Friday fun before the weekend!
DISCLAIMER: The Weekly Digest is based on the analysis of the EU East StratCom Task Force; opinions and judgements expressed do not represent official EU positions.

Source: http://us11.campaign-archive2.com/?u=cd23226ada1699a77000eb60b&id=50a7f526b9&e=6be6445564


Filed under: #RussiaFail, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Propaganda, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, counter-propaganda, CounterPropaganda, Russia, Russian propaganda

The Russian Foreign Ministry has presented “their” evidence of fraud in the case of MH17

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The Russian Foreign Ministry attempts to counter Bellingcat’s proof that Russia lied about the MH17 shootdown.

Fail.

</end editorial>


(Translated from Russian by my Chrome browser)

April 22, 2016

By Bellingcat

Last week we published the correspondence Bellingcat and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. In his letter, we asked to bring proof of their accusations of forgery of evidence about the circumstances of the death of MH17 Bellingcat team and other groups. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation responded to our letter. Below is the full text of their response to the evidence of use fakes, as well as the text of the response letter Bellingcat.

E.Higgins Sir,

Your persistence could put to better use if you do more faithfully performed voluntarily taken on the role of a medic Internet space. For its part, would consider it important to note that the Russian Ministry of Defense has already resulted, extremely detailed and clear examples of your fraud. We absolutely agree with the thesis of colleagues, but it would like to add a number of facts from him.

Everyone is really obvious that your priority goal – to create the public impression of the presence of Russian troops in the area of the alleged missile launch, the plane struck the Malaysian July 17, 2014 over the Ukraine. However, you can not confirm it. Indeed, to date no one has provided real evidence of the presence of the Russian Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is simply impossible, because the Russian military is not there and never was. Data from social networks, as well as various publications on the Internet, used by you, under any circumstances can not be regarded as real evidence of the involvement of the Russian side to the conflict in Ukraine.

Now to particulars – it is worth emphasizing that most clearly the facts of your fraud can be traced in your approach to give processed, the Board of the original images, allegedly revealing the truth.

Seek at least to your report, published October 8, 2015, in which you, as stated, summing up the study of open sources of information about the MN17. In particular, the alleged facts set about the origin of the rocket launcher “Beech”, brought down the Malaysian aircraft, its movement and even accompanied. All its conclusions you are accompanied by photographs. Well, you ask for facts proving falsification on your part. Let me mention just a few.

– Use of the composition of photos and clippings of the video with the “Volvo” 1 image trailer cabins and 8 pages of the report you are trying to prove that this is the same car that July 17, 2014 allegedly brought a rocket launcher from Russia to Ukraine, and July 18 has already exported it back. It’s fake. Even if you omit this important detail that can not be through the Internet “so reliably” determine the date of movement of the vehicle and its route, it is obvious that the photo shows the different cars. Especially degraded image quality purports to hide this fact – the first picture has a spare tire on the other it does not exist (it turns out that spare tire that is, it is not, then again there). Furthermore, there is the technical features of the cabin equipment, which indicate a clear difference machines.

1 p.

p2 MFA

– Another example. You say that in the course of studying the photos and videos of missile launchers “Buk” in Ukraine and Russia, you find that one of the missile systems “Buk”, seen in Russia in the end of June 2014, had features similar to those observed in two photographs of a rocket launcher “Buk” in Donetsk. Seen in Russia “Beech”, as stated, it was provisionally designated as “3×2”, due to poor visibility on the machine room, which, in your opinion unjustified, typical for the board rooms of various equipment, are ferried from Russia to Ukraine. This is also a fake. In fact, the “3×2” board number indicates that this unit can belong to any anti-aircraft missile brigade, including the Ukrainian. Board number “3×2” means: 3 – Division X – Battery, 2 – number of the plant itself in the battery.This three-digit numbering of military equipment has remained ever since the Soviet Union and adopted by almost all armies of the former Soviet republics, including Ukrainian.

Buk MFA– Let me point out one more Your fake. As you stir once, repeatedly, were allegedly photo contrail of a rocket launch with a hint of the area of the village of snow. This is a photograph of the visible vertical white smoke. Any military expert will tell you that from the start of the trail, “Buk” missile can be vertical, it is the laws of physics will be located at an angle. On the internet you can easily find a video example of how to run missile exercises. What is presented on your “sensational picture”, nor on what parameters can not be associated with “Buck”.

Smoke MFA– There’s something else. In their submissions you post more convincing rocket and for the readers at the bottom sign that this “Beech”, apparently trying to “splurge”. But even here the falsification – in fact in front of us missile “Cube”, which, incidentally, is removed from service and not used in the Russian army.

Missile MFAAnd that’s just out of your October report.

We can recall the one that came out of your pen in May 2015, it was called “Analysis of satellite images published by the Ministry of Defense of Russia in the international press conference July 21, 2014”. The report you said that at least two of the six satellite photos of the Defense Ministry rigged. For authentication you have used “analysis of the sources, the metadata analysis and error level analysis” method on N.Kravettsa, professor of Texas and the University of California. On the same day he N.Kravetts in his “Twitter” disown your work, saying that it was a perfect example of “how not to do the analysis,” and the report called a “crystal ball gazing”. Expert analysis of the images and created photographic archive IRISPIX Y.Krize criticized the approach of “Bellingket”, calling it unscientific. Sorry, but again – falsification.

However, as your February’s creation (2016) – here you sprinkles names of parts and divisions of the Russian Armed Forces, the names of military personnel. As a result, the main guilty call Putin and Shoigu. As evidence – photos of dozens of social networks, which show some men with blurred faces, military equipment to be difficult to read on-board accommodation, besides it is not clear where located. That’s funny.

In fact, we can very long to enumerate here your specific fakie. But it is better to emphasize the following. One of the basic principles of the work of journalists and people related to the information space, is confident the reliability of the material used, which will then be reused variety of media. We are sure that you like nobody else, you know how easy development of modern technologies to create and replicate any myth that a cursory look at it looks quite truthfully.

We hope that you are able to understand how important is the quality of information relating to such tragic events. That is why we urge you to continue to avoid the use of outright fraud, and begin to provide only proven, reliable data, at least because the topic that you are doing is very painful and directly affects people who have suffered the terrible loss of their loved ones.

If you want to and intend to work seriously, we are ready to answer your questions and provide the necessary information. If you continue to follow the chosen tactics of a selective approach to the selection of material, the further correspondence, in our opinion, does not make sense. We – for the first option.

Regards,

Russian Foreign Ministry

Below, we give our full response directed Russian MFA:

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for your response. As you emphasized my persistence, you can hardly be surprised that I, in turn, has prepared a detailed response.

Please do not worry about how much effort I put into “voluntarily taken on the role of a medic Internet space.” Given that we are talking about the death of 298 people, I find it important to establish the facts and check the evidence presented by all parties, and so glad that you have decided to share with Bellingcat evidence available to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Firstly, I must express my disappointment that you did not specify whether or not you believe that the international investigation team (Joint Investigation Team, JIT) using “all possible” fakie “to create psevdodokazatelnuyu basis for accusations of Russia” . If you start your next reply with a clarification of this statement, it will help to close this issue. If you really push these charges JIT address, I (and I think not only me) would be most grateful if you would have provided evidence of these allegations.

As for the statement, “The Ministry of Defense has already resulted, extremely detailed and clear examples of your fraud”, we, unfortunately, did not find such examples cited the Defense Ministry.We would be very grateful if you could provide a link to the Department of Defense cited “very detailed and specific examples of your fraud.”

As for your statement concerning the Russian troops in Ukraine I believe, at this stage, it can be argued that many would not agree with your assessment of the situation. Some evidence of the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine was published in the report Atlantic Council «Hidden in plain sight.” The report is available in Russian here. In addition, we recommend that you look at several award-winning documentary News, VICE’s «Selfies soldiers” . After the publication of the report was published a number of different examples of evidence of the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine.We would be very interested to hear your assessment of each of these examples. We suggest to start with the investigation , which indicated that in Ukraine after a tank battle were captured two existing Russian military.

Captured Soldiers MFAThen you mention the installation image “Beech”, transported through the territory controlled by the separatists, July 17, 2014. First you specify on the “important detail that can not be through the Internet” so reliably “determine the movement of the vehicle and the date of its route.” Let me challenge this statement. Firstly, we were able to find the exact location shooting all the photos and videos.Our findings confirmed the journalists of various media who have visited these places and to confirm their compliance with photos and videos.

Those journalists found witnesses who saw the carriage of “Buka” in the area in the time specified by us. In addition, we found a message on the social networks of local residents who saw the “Buk” in these places at the time, in which, according to our findings, there he was driving.

Unless you do not believe in conspiracy theory, which involves a variety of media, publishing false information on his field visits, creating multiple fake web accounts in social networks, have published posts and communicate with different persons on various topics for a long time, training of front of witnesses giving false evidence are mutually consistent, and the creation of several fake web photos and videos, it is impossible to deny the fact that the installation of “Beech” in the morning on July 17 transported on the territory controlled by the separatists, and in the afternoon arrived in the city snowy, also controlled by separatists.

With regard to your next statement in relation to the spare wheel: suppose you made the same mistake that the authors of the various conspiracy sites. Do you think that the wheel is attached to the cab, while in fact it is attached to the body, as seen here:

Tire 1 MFADespite the quality of the images, they can see the wheel marked in red on the collage below:

Tire 2 MFAIf you want me to elaborate on this issue, I can do this in one of the following answers.

With regard to the “Buka 3×2”: apparently you misunderstood our conclusions on this figure. We know that both Ukrainian and Russian “Buki” have a three-digit numbering, because in the course of our research, we have studied many months Russian and Ukrainian “Buki”. Studying the “Beech”, which we call the “Beech 3×2” We found several distinctive features, including the exact position of marks and traces of soot, as well as damage to the rubber caterpillar panel, matching only the “Buka”, filmed in Ukraine on 17 and 18 July and “Buka”, was in the convoy, moves through the territory of Russia on June 23-25. If you would claim that two different “Buka” can have many overlapping features, we are ready to discuss with you this question. However, we would prefer that the Russian Ministry of Defense to discuss this with the International investigation team.

As for the column of smoke pictures near Snow: very much depends on the position of the camera relative to the trajectory of the missile.For example, in this video , which shows several launches “Bukov” missile because the camera position relative to the path of a missile, it appears that it flies upwardly. Camera, shot a column of smoke on July 17 was located directly under the path of the missile, guided from the starting place near the last location Snow MH17.

Photographer MFAWith regard to your next application for the scheme with the image of the missiles: let me quote the original post :

“The most obvious visual difference between a rocket and a 9M38M1 new missile 9M317 – the length of the stabilizers: as you can see below, the rocket stabilizers 9M38M1 longer.”

Here’sa picture given in your reply:

Missile MFAI do not know how it was possible to more clearly indicate that we are talking about missiles and 9M317 9M38M1. This diagram also clearly marked every type of missile depicted thereon – including 9M38M1 (second from top), and 9M317 (third from the top). So I felt that indicate a particular type of vehicle and the presence of each of these types of designations in the figure is enough to any reader to understand what is at stake.

As for the satellite imagery of the Russian Ministry of Defense: Although our use of “error rate analysis” remains a controversial issue, in any case, it is obvious that the dating of satellite images of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defence is incorrect. For simplicity, I will give one more characteristic example: A group of trees or shrubs, which in July had already clearly absent, suddenly appeared on the satellite image of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation dated July 14:

Sat image MFAI would be very interested to hear from you or from the Defense Ministry to explain how these trees or shrubs appeared in mid-July, the Ministry of Defence if the dating is correct satellite images.Please include your views on this matter in your next reply.

Let us turn to the February report. You criticize the report because it contains photos, “which depicted some soldiers with faces blurred.”However, as we pointed out in the report, we have specially painted out faces of the soldiers, in order to protect their personal data. Be sure that more versions of the report, aimed Dutch police are neretushirovannye image and indicates the identity of all men, and there are many unpublished information, which we shared exclusively with the police.

As you can see from the above, I am very serious about the investigation of the death of MH17. Since you are “ready to answer questions and provide the necessary information,” I hope that you will respond to the questions raised above. If the answer to any of the questions you need more information, let me know. I recall a list of basic questions that we want answered in your next letter:

  • Could you clarify whether you really believe that the international investigation team (Joint Investigation Team, JIT) using “all possible” fakie “in order to create the basis for charges psevdodokazatelnuyu Russia”?
  • Could you provide a specific reference to “very detailed and specific examples of” our “fraud” given by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation?
  • Can you or the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation to explain the differences between their July satellite images and all other satellite images of the same area taken in July?

I like the whole team Bellingcat, look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully,

Eliot Higgins

PS Do not we can not say that the examples cited by you – is a retelling of the two posts LJ user “albert-lex”. Some phrases from your letter word-for-word copied from these posts. We would be very grateful, if in the future, talking about information regarding the shooting down of MH17, you formulate your own answers or provide links to the sources of your statements. As representatives of your Ministry rightly noted in a previous letter, this topic is “very painful,” so we, in turn, encourage you, to use your own words, “to continue to avoid the use of outright fraud, and begin to provide only proven, reliable data.”

Source: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2016/04/22/8882/

Filed under: #RussiaFail, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Russia, Ukraine Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, CounterPropaganda, Russia, Russian propaganda
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