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Russian national Igor Strelkov, a former commander of pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine, has claimed "personal responsibility" for unleashing the conflict across the border, in which 4,300 people have been killed since April.
"I was the one who pulled the firing trigger of this war," Strelkov said in an interview published Thursday with Russia's Zavtra newspaper, which espouses imperialist views.
"If our unit hadn't crossed the border, in the end everything would have fizzled out, like in [the Ukrainian city of] Kharkiv, like in Odessa," Strelkov, also known as Girkin, was quoted as saying.
"There would have been several dozen killed, burned, detained. And that would have been the end of it. But the flywheel of the war, which is continuing to this day, was spun by our unit. We mixed up all the cards on the table," he said.
For the US, Putin’s blitz over Crimea was very painful for the reason of misguided expectations. Money was already invested into gas exploration in Crimea. Companies such as Chevron, Shell, ExxonMobil, Repsol and Petrochina were going to develop their offshore energy assets.
Yanukovych’s government sold 5 provinces of Ukraine to the Anglo-Dutch company, Shell, and US Chevron for 50 years, with rights for renewal at their discretion.
According to Article 2.5.3 of Agreement, the Ukrainian government has no right to refuse to renew this agreement.
Appendix 1 of the Agreement with the company «Shell» given the exact coordinates of the "Treaty Land" to be allocated for shale gas. This area mainly is Donetsk and Kharkiv provinces (approx. 7,886 square kilometers), including such major cities as Slavyansk, Izum, Barvenkovo, a huge chunk of Kramatorsk, part Druzhkivka and Balakley, as well as dozens and hundreds of smaller settlements.
According to Article 37.2 (b) of Agreement, properties of residents of these cities no longer belong to the residents.
Strelkov may well be responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people, as he claims.
originally posted by: tsurfer2000h
a reply to: AndyMayhew
Strelkov may well be responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people, as he claims.
I wonder what Putin offered to get him to be the sole patsy for all of this?
originally posted by: Xcathdra
Apparently he was stable enough for Russia to trust him by sending him to Ukraine to lead.
He stepped down from his post for a reason. Putin could not argue his point on self determination when the political and military leadership for rebels in south and east Ukraine were in fact Russian citizens. I think the guy just below girkin also resigned as he was a Russian citizen also.
He has commented before on his issue with Moscow and them not overtly wading into the fray. Maybe he has decided to force Russia's hand by exposing their involvement. It puts Russia into the position of being forced to act instead of the wait and see obfuscation game they play.
Pro Russian rebels leadership does not have to worry about political ramifications that Russia does.
Trying to dismiss his interview because it doesn't support what Russia says is just sad and desperate.
But in fact, Strelkov does not run the social media pages that generate these quotes. He never has. Since April, he has only published his messages on an Internet forum dedicated to the antique trade, forum-antikvariat.ru.... He writes under the username “Kotych” (“Cat”). Others then take Strelkov’s messages and copy them on to Facebook, VKontakte, and Livejournal. Some of these pages are maintained by Strelkov’s sincere fans. Others are run by Ukrainian activists, still others just by pranksters. As a result, it can sometimes be difficult to divine authentic quotes from fabrications. For example, “Strelkov” once ordered his subordinate Cossacks to dress less provocatively in order to avoid provoking sexual desire among gay Caucasians. The virtual “Strelkov” also ordered the troops to lay down their arms and to leave for Russia in civilian clothes. Amazingly, even after four months of war, most Russian journalists have not learned to tell the real Strelkov from the impostors, and now this mistake has crossed the ocean and spread through the American media.
They say that real actors dream of playing the greatest roles in real life beyond the confines of the stage. This may also the dream of war reenactors who play at battle while fantasizing about the real thing. What had once been a game for Strelkov has now become a real war, with real deaths, real shootouts, and real assaults. If Putin does not want to become a sponsor of international terrorism in front of the whole world, he will have to do all he can to stop Strelkov. The Ukrainians think this is very simple: Putin orders Strelkov to return to Moscow, and the Donbass is at peace. To me, this does not seem very realistic: I doubt Strelkov would take orders from Putin.
originally posted by: stirling
Im sure there are greater names behind this conflict....this is crap from a mad dogs mouth.....