| Information |  | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
| ||
| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
| ||
16Jan15
New spate of drafting to Ukrainian Armed Forces fraught with full-scale war in Europe
A new spate of drafting to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the fourth one since the start of the military campaign in the country's eastern regions, testifies to Kiev's plans to suppress resistance in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics by force and is fraught with a full-scale war in the center of Europe, experts polled by TASS said.
On Thursday, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada voted for a Law on Partial Mobilization. The country's Defense Ministry said earlier about 104,000 persons with military specializations in tanks, artillery, airborne troops, telecommunications, and various aspects of mechanics in the age bracket of 25 to 60 years old would be drafted to the Army in 2015 if need be.
The ministry claimed that rotation of servicemen in the zone of the so-called anti-terrorist operation was the objective of the drafting.
"Yet another drafting to the Armed Forces declared in Ukraine now proves that all the talking about willingness for peace in the south-east of the country on the part of president Petro Poroshenko is little more than a cover-up aimed at getting a pause prior to a major offensive on the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics," Dr Konstantin Sivkov, the president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, said on Friday.
"At present, the Ukrainian Army doesn't have enough manpower or resources to guarantee victory over the self-defense forces but Poroshenko obviously hopes to accumulate enough strength and to destroy the rebellious republics by spring," he said.
"The so-called Ukraine Freedom Support Act that was passed by the US Congress at the end of last year empowers the US President to grant offensive weaponry to Ukraine to the tune of $350 million and the scope of armaments includes antitank or armor-piercing weaponry, anti-artillery radars, drones, and secure communications systems," Dr Sivkov went on. "NATO countries are already providing Kiev with weaponry from the depots of the former Warsaw Treaty Organization."
"Ukraine has received armored personnel carriers decommissioned in Britain," he said. "Ukrainian plants can't manufacture up-to-date armaments, as they received some of the component parts for them from Russia."
"There's hardly any doubt as regards Kiev's craving to regain control over Donbas through the use of arms, since the region concentrates the biggest manufacturing potential and natural resources -- mostly coal -- found in Ukraine," Dr. Sivkov said.
"In addition, Donbas and Novorossia that was declared on its territory make up a buffer zone between Russia and Ukraine, while the American masters of the incumbent Kiev rulers need to eliminate that buffer zone by fair means and foul and to turn it into a springboard for destabilizing Russia. These plans of the Kiev government, which is drawing on Washington's support, are fraught with a full-scale war in the center of Europe," he said.
Dr. Sivkov noted the difficulties in preparations for a summit of the so-called Normandy format countries -- Germany, France, Russia, and Ukraine -- in Kazakhstan's capital Astana. Preparations for this summit will not bring about peace settlement in eastern Ukraine, since the US is pushing Kiev towards resolution of the conflict through the use of force.
"The new spate of drafting to the Army in Ukraine is not a conventional one, since mobilization means preparations for war," Dr Vyacheslav Nikonov, a deputy of the State Duma said.
"Petro Poroshenko, the president and the commander-in-chief is thus playing out the scenario of a future war in this manner," he said. "Since Poroshenko is not an independently acting figure and he wouldn't declare new drafting unless his initiative was suitable for covering up the US plans to fan tensions in the region as a method of struggle with Russia."
"Russia won't be able to watch the plight of citizens of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics placidly because the Russians never let their relatives or friends down," Dr. Nikonov said. "Once in the past, the US lost the Vietnam war because Russia -- then the Soviet Union -- gave aid to the brotherly Vietnamese people and that's a lesson not to be forgotten."
[Source: By Tamara Zamyatina, Itar Tass, Moscow, 16Jan15]
 | This document has been published on 19Jan15 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |