By John Simpson
The annexation of Crimea (click here) was the smoothest invasion of modern times. It was over before the outside world realised it had even started.
And until Tuesday 18 March, when a group of pro-Russian gunmen attacked a small Ukrainian army base in Simferopol, killing one officer and injuring another, it was entirely bloodless.
For much of February, thousands of extra soldiers were quietly sent in to the bases which Russia was permitted by treaty to own in Crimea. Civilian "volunteers" moved in too. The plan was carried out secretly and with complete success.
The first obvious sign that Crimea was being taken over was on Friday 28 February, when checkpoints were established at Armyansk and Chongar - the two main road crossings from mainland Ukraine to the Crimean peninsula....
Long before Russia began to destroy Ukraine with the invasion in 2014 there were issues of great concern to the world in general.
After the disintegration of the USSR, (click here) Ukraine found itself in possession of the world's third largest nuclear arsenal. There were 176 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers with some 1,240 warheads on Ukrainian territory. This force consisted of 130 SS-19s, each capable of delivering six nuclear weapons, and 46 SS-24s, each armed with ten nuclear weapons. An additional 14 SS-24 missiles were present in Ukraine, but not operationally deployed with warheads. Several dozen bombers with strategic nuclear capabilities were armed with some 600 air-launched missiles, along with gravity bombs. In addition, as many as 3,000 tactical nuclear weapons rounded out an arsenal totaling approximately 5,000 strategic and tactical weapons. Today, Ukraine’s remaining nuclear activities are entirely civilian in nature, and Ukraine is a member of all major nonproliferation treaties and regimes....
This reality was not strange when the Soviet Union disintegrated. As a matter of fact there were three Soviet astronauts circling the Earth for three months before anyone bothered to bring them back. That's right. Three cosmonauts were left in space unattended for three months before Russia got their act together to bring them back to Earth.
February 28, 2014
By Ron Synovitz
...The "Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances" (click here) is a diplomatic memorandum that was signed in December 1994 by Ukraine, Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
It is not a formal treaty, but rather, a diplomatic document under which signatories made promises to each other as part of the denuclearization of former Soviet republics after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Under the memorandum, Ukraine promised to remove all Soviet-era nuclear weapons from its territory, send them to disarmament facilities in Russia, and sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Ukraine kept these promises.
In return, Russia and the Western signatory countries essentially consecrated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine as an independent state. They did so by applying the principles of territorial integrity and nonintervention in 1975 Helsinki Final Act -- a Cold War-era treaty signed by 35 states including the Soviet Union -- to an independent post-Soviet Ukraine....
Ukrainian leaders realizing the proximity of the country to Russia gave up their weapons IN EXCHANGE FOR PEACE. Russia could not leave it alone and with the help of Paul Manafort put Viktor Yanukovych into the Presidency of Ukraine. Manafort, Putin and Yanukovych were buddies and made sure the leadership of Ukraine returned to Russia. It is well established Yanukovych was Putin's henchman.
Yanukovych disarmed the national military and instead placed militias under the control of oligarchs in cities around the country. Yanukovych made it completely impossible for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia.
The crimes of Russia is significant and it was at a time Russia was lead by Vladimir Putin.
Putin's politics embrasses the idea Russia is leading a return of the Soviet Union. Putin is ruthless and instituted nationalism in the country in the face of profound poverty with many of it's poeple, including those near the Olympic grounds in Sochi. For the wealth of the oil it sells, that wealth never translate into a better quality of life for the Russian people, while the elite of Russia and Putin accumulate incredible wealth.
March 20, 2014
By Mark Landler, Annie Lowrey and Steven Lee Myers
Washington — President Obama (click here for video thank you) expanded sanctions against Russia on Thursday, blacklisting a bank and several wealthy businessmen with close ties to President Vladimir V. Putin, as the United States struggled to forestall further Russian incursions into Ukraine.
Among those targeted were Sergei B. Ivanov, the president’s chief of staff; Gennady N. Timchenko, a billionaire investor with links to Mr. Putin; and Yuri V. Kovalchuk, whom the administration described as the personal banker for Russian leaders, including the president.
Mr. Obama also opened the door to more sweeping measures against core parts of the Russian economy, including the oil and natural gas industries, which account for much of Russia’s exports. He said the actions could disrupt the global economy, but might be necessary because of what he described as menacing movements by the Russian military near eastern and southern Ukraine....
Since the sanctions by President Obama because Russia continues to break international laws and invade and kill Ukraine, there have been additional sanctions on Russia by Congress as well. This was not a single act by a President, it was also backed by the USA Congress, too.
Enter stage right, Donald Trump, engaged in negotiations with Russia for a Trump Tower Moscow. He was securing a great deal of money from a bank sanctioned by the Russian government.
November 29, 2018
By David E. Sanger
...March 2016 (click here) was also when Mr. Trump brought into his campaign Paul Manafort, the longtime Republican lobbyist and strategist who had made millions of dollars advising and lobbying on behalf of the pro-Russia leader of Ukraine, Viktor F. Yanukovych. Mr. Manafort became the campaign’s chairman several months later.
The annexation of Crimea hardened anti-Putin sentiment among most Republicans. But from the start of his campaign in mid-2015, several months before prosecutors say his company began considering a deal in Russia, Mr. Trump departed from the normal Republican hard line about Russia, attacking President Barack Obama’s approach because it alienated a potential partner.
“I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin,” Mr. Trump said soon after announcing his run for the presidency. “I don’t think you’d need the sanctions.”
It was an unusual argument for a Republican candidate; the party had been instinctively anti-Soviet during the Cold War and deeply suspicious of Mr. Putin thereafter. So Mr. Trump’s position that sanctions were counterproductive — and harmed American interests — stood out from the start of the campaign, prompting many to question whether his interest in selling properties to rich Russians seeking to park their assets in the United States, or his efforts to build the tower in Moscow, explained his position....
That was Trump's position as a candidate and as the president. Trump UNDERSTOOD Putin better than anyone else in the world.
NO ONE NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND A LEADER OF A COUNTRY ON A PERSONAL LEVEL.
All the President of the USA needs to understand is the international laws broken and the role of the USA in enforcing protections of the international status of democracy INCLUDING the democracy, freedom and USA Constitution and it's Amendments and subsequent laws.
The USA institutes the "Rule of Law" within it's borders and "Rule of International Law" outside it's borders.
President Trump seems to be stuck in thinking the only issue before the country, due to his manner of conducting business, is that he didn't build the tower.
"W"rong!
Trump INVITED Russia to unleash it's power on the USA elections of 2016. And it did. THAT is the issue. The fact that he was negotiating with Russia for building a luxury tower in Moscow is very interesting, because, it was when the USA government had significant sanctions against Russia. And what a relief it must have been to have a USA billionaire wheeling and dealing to bring dearly needed business to Moscow in complete conflict of the role of the USA.
Trump has no respect for the role of the USA in the world and he still doesn't.
He is complaining the Mueller investigation is getting in the way of any relationship between Russia and the USA.
I BET IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The dates of his lies are interesting. He was actively negotiating with Russia through his attorneys until July 2016. He never denied it before those dates.
