Ukrainian chief of general staff admits there are no Russian troops in Ukraine

[Aleksandr]

Since most people reading this have no doubt heard the preposterous claims made by the Western governments of some kind of Russian invasion of Ukraine, I thought I should point this out as the Western mainstream media did not report on it (not surprisingly).

This actually happened in January 2015, as General Viktor Muzhenko, the Chief of General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said to foreign military attaches that: "Now, we have only the involvement of some members of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, individual Russian citizens as part of illegal armed groups in the fighting. Currently, we [Ukrainian army] are not engaged in combat operations against the Russian army. We have enough forces to inflict a final [defeat]."

The statement appeared on Ukraine's Channel 5 news. A clip of him saying it be found here:

 

[Calixis]

Since most people reading this have no doubt heard the preposterous claims made by the Western governments of some kind of Russian invasion of Ukraine

Of course not. No country would ever send special forces or soldiers undercover to train, arm and assist separatists, especially not the Russian Federation.

I don't think it was in doubt that, after a certain point, Russia wasn't daft enough to openly send troops in (though they did deploy them to Crimea in their 'peacekeeping' efforts mind you). I think it's kind of naive to assume that Russia was content to just let the separatists and government fight it out without actively backing the former through means other than officially sending in whole divisions. Not that NATO hasn't been providing the government with support either mind you.

 

[Aleksandr]

If credible evidence was provided to prove such an act is taking place, then that would be great. So far there has not. On the other hand, they have made many claims and have attempted to present evidence that later turned out to either be lies or fabrications, and this admission by the Ukrainian chief of general staff has made me take their word even less seriously. If they did actually have hard evidence of such a thing, then I do not see why they have not presented it yet. Not to mention that many of the separatists already have military experience from serving in the Soviet or Ukrainian armies, and that the Ukrainian army uses mostly Russian weapons and equipment.

 

[BLADE]

It's rather difficult to defend Russian imperialism but given that American imperialism is the more prolific and the proximate cause of the most recent outbreak of the former, I tend to at least sympathize with the idea that Western media (not known for its sober pursuit of the truth) is exaggerating about EVUL Russia (of course Mr. Putin does not make that particularly difficult.)

The likelihood of war between the Great Powers, in any case, is much greater today than at any other time after the end of the Cold War. A marginal possibility still, but one that is no longer quite so implausible. That presents a very specific political challenge for the anti-war movement. It should not defend Putin's Russia (a bourgeois, authoritarian regime desperately angling to become the caudal end of a Sinocentric weltsystem) but neither should it stand passively by in this political climate where Cold War hysterics are back in vogue. I don't ask any of you to espouse a particular viewpoint, but the sluggish, almost mental slovenliness many of us have adopted towards this new Great Game or whatever you want to call it is very concerning.

tl;dr Read about this stuff maybe. The OP is interesting enough on its own no matter what your angle is towards the whole thing (Russia CYA denialism, American lies exposed, etc. etc.)

 

[Eccles]

Wasn't there a Russian website that revealed that 'Russian military personnel serving in Ukraine would get a pay raise of....' ?? It has since been deleted and wasn't really taken over by the majority of western media. Bill Cosby ofcourse makes the most important point in fancier words than my limited english would ever allow: The media (mainstream plus press statements/releases/interviews) should always be taken with a grain of salt, or two.

It's just one of those things we'll never know for sure, I guess.

 

[Vulpes]

Oh man. What about the Nemtsov reports, and the thousands of verified geo-tags on websites such as VK? Active service Russian military members posting locations in Ukraine feels like a bit of a smoking gun to me. At the very least, it feels a bit absurd that Russia is willing to allow members to go on leave to fight, if that's to be believed in the first place.

 

[Aleksandr]

Oh man. What about the Nemtsov reports, and the thousands of verified geo-tags on websites such as VK? Active service Russian military members posting locations in Ukraine feels like a bit of a smoking gun to me. At the very least, it feels a bit absurd that Russia is willing to allow members to go on leave to fight, if that's to be believed in the first place.

Because social media is a great and reliable source. Anyone could easily make an account with a Russian name, get a picture of a Russian soldier, say that it's you and say that you are in Ukraine. It is especially easy if they happen to be Ukrainians in Ukraine.

Also, why would Russian soldiers in Ukraine go on the internet and reveal themselves? Seems like a pretty stupid move.

Have you read the actual documents from Nemtsov? Most of his "sources" are unreliable. In fact, for much of it he doesn't even explain where he got the information. The liberal opposition is not known for honesty.

 

[Vulpes]

Because social media is a great and reliable source. Anyone could easily make an account with a Russian name, get a picture of a Russian soldier, say that it's you and say that you are in Ukraine. It is especially easy if they happen to be Ukrainians in Ukraine.

Also, why would Russian soldiers in Ukraine go on the internet and reveal themselves? Seems like a pretty stupid move.

Have you read the actual documents from Nemtsov? Most of his "sources" are unreliable. In fact, for much of it he doesn't even explain where he got the information. The liberal opposition is not known for honesty.

There's a thing that's getting popular among frontline and investigative journalism called geo-locating, where they look at the backgrounds of selfies and recreate them, which surprisingly, are in warzones in Ukraine, like Pisky and Donetsk Airport. 'Selfie Soldiers' is a great example of this, where not only does he recreate the pictures, but he travels to Siberia to their residence to verify that the person he had chosen was, in fact, real.

And that's a fact of life for the 21st century, whether it's Russian, British, or American. Average people like to take pictures when they travel, and a more recent phenomenon, to use social media when doing so. Websites like Facebook and VK use a lot of GPS locations, and I'm sure when soldiers post, they aren't aware that this feature exists, or is turned on. So when claiming that maybe a picture is taken in Kursk or Stavropol, their GPS may say otherwise. Regardless, social media is becoming an interest tool in investigative journalism.

Probably sounds like I'm regurgitating a bit from the documentary I linked, but it is definitely an interesting watch, if you have 20 minutes to spare.