Ukraine
Thursday 17 August 2017
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Oleksandr Turchynov
secretary of Ukraine's Security and Defense Council (NSDC)
"Ukraine has never supplied rocket engines or any kind of missile technology to North Korea.”
Read more...Aside from Ukrainian denials, even Michael Elleman, the missile expert cited by the New York Times, conceded that the engines could have come from a Russian factory. -
Aleksandr Zakharchenko
leader of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's Donetsk region
“Our desire is to create favorable conditions for the work of the OSCE mission, full cooperation. I would like the whole world to know what is happening in the DPR.”
Read more...In fact, obstruction of OSCE monitors and armed attacks on their patrols have mounted in recent weeks with clear indication of separatist responsibility. -
Denis Pushilin
leader of the Russia-backed separatists in Donetsk region
"These outrageous facts of the violations of the Minsk agreements by Ukrainian forces has not elicited a reaction on the part of the leadership of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission."
Read more...The charge by the separatist leader came after reports by the OSCE monitors noting the movement of military vehicles between Russia and separatist-controlled areas of southeastern Ukraine as well as the refusal by the separatists allowing monitors access to a separatist-controlled area. As for the monitors' reports, regularly site violations by both sides, however most are committed by the separatists. -
RT
Russian government-funded international broadcaster
“In an effort to compete with more technologically advanced forces, the U.S. Army is investing in new programs to develop autonomous drones and create a network of battlefield devices that communicate with each other… The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report that found the US Army has fallen behind other technologically advanced states after spending nearly two decades fighting technologically inferior adversaries in the Middle East.”
Read more...The U.S. Army actually enjoys “an overall qualitative advantage” over all of its counterparts, including Russia, despite a narrowing gap in capabilities -
Ramzan Kadyrov
Head of Chechnya
“America is carrying out policies against Russia, against the nation’s leadership. They know I am one of those ready to give my life for Russia, and that I have a good army capable of attacking and defending. We will see who comes out on top.”
Read more...Chechnya’s Kremlin-appointed head threatened the U.S. with his “army.” His claims are baseless: by military standards, Chechnya has no army. -
Igor Girkin, aka Strelkov
former Russian FSB officer and 'defense minister' of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic
“The militia did not shoot down the Boeing [MH17]. I only had Igla and Strela anti-aircraft missiles.”
Read more...Three years after 298 people lost their lives, Igor Girkin, aka Strelkov, still tells the lie that Russia-backed fighters in eastern Ukraine could not have shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. -
Leonid Kalashnikov
State Duma member and chairman of the Duma Committee on CIS Affairs
“The creation of such a state [‘Malorossiya’] is possible and likely inevitable, judging by what is happening in Ukraine.”
Read more...Leonid Kalashnikov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, claims that it may be “inevitable” that Ukrainian regions fall into a new entity proposed by Donetsk separatist leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko as ‘Malorossiya’ (little Russia). But neither Moscow nor Zakharchenko’s fellow separatists seem very keen, to say nothing of other Ukrainians. -
Press Service of the Russian Southern Military District
"[N]o one from the command ever met with [Viktor] Ageyev and couldn't have signed a contract with him...he signed the so-called contract...in Luhansk, where there have not been and are no active Russian servicemen."
Read more...While the Russian military denies it has troops in Ukraine and that Ageyev was on active duty, he testified that he was, as did his mother, friends and a fellow serviceman, and his ID does not show a discharge. -
Russian Embassy to the United Kingdom
“Racist posters in Kiev. Russian language equal to infection and bad IQ. Food for thought.”
Read more...Despite Russian embassy claim, no such posters have been spotted in Ukrainian capital outside of an exhibition at a Kyiv art gallery in 2015. -
Viktor Medvedchuk
head of pro-Russian political organization Ukrainian Choice
“Perhaps for the U.S. this is indeed a ‘golden era,’ but for Ukraine, where ‘reformers’ shut down coal mines en masse and destroy the coal sector, this is a period of decline and total dependence on Washington.”
Read more...The leader of the pro-Russian Ukrainian Choice organization claims Ukraine is falling into “total dependence” on the United States for coal imports. In fact, Russia remains the country’s top supplier. -
Vladimir Putin
Russian President
“The Ukrainian government is insisting that the section of the border in the area of the unrecognized republics must be closed. And indeed, the Minsk protocols require that the border with Russia be closed by Ukrainian border guards, but only after the key political decisions are adopted.”
Read more...Putin is right about the timetable of the Minsk peace agreements, but he ignores his own responsibility for the ongoing war in Ukraine. -
Kiselyov’s legal defense team
“Dmitry Kiselyov has never expressed support for the directing of Russian forces to Ukraine... The EU Council did not provide information necessary to ensure [his] legal right to defense, since the accusations leveled were formulated in an unduly vague way.”
Read more...Lawyers for pro-Kremlin media figure Dmitry Kiselyov claim their client never expressed support for sending Russian troops into Ukraine, and that the European Council has denied him the right to legal defense. In fact, Kiselyov is notorious for provocative comments about Ukraine and the court followed regular procedures in adjudicating his case.