What You Need To Know Now About The Crimea-Ukraine Crisis

It almost seems that the moment the Sochi Winter Olympics were a wrap, Russia (read: Vladimir Putin) started rolling out aggressive countermoves to the uprising in Kiev which culminated with the ouster of de facto Ukranian dictator…  er, President Viktor Yanukovich earlier this week. Much of the action is happening in the Ukranian region of Crimea. Here’s the 101 on what you need to know now.

• Troops who have taken over two airports in Crimea – but they are not Russian military, rather private contractors, possibly working for a Russian ‘Blackwater’ type outfit: “… according to informed sources in the region. And those contractors could be setting the stage for ousted President Viktor Yanukovich to come to the breakaway region. … Although not confirmed, informed sources in Moscow are telling their American interlocutors that the troops belong to Vnevedomstvenaya Okhrana, the private security contracting bureau inside the Russian interior ministry that hires mercenaries to protect Russian Navy installations and assets in Crimea. Other diplomatic sources said that the troops at the airport were paramilitary troops but not specifically belonging to Vnevedomstvenaya Okhrana.”
• The goal? Wrest Crimea from the Ukraine: Russian President Vladimir Putin wrested control of the Ukrainian Black Sea region of Crimea from Kiev on Saturday citing a threat to Russian citizens and servicemen of the Russian Black Sea fleet based there. … Putin’s statement, and remarks from a pro-Russian leader installed in Crimea this week, effectively confirmed what most people in the region had assumed: that military units who had seized control in the past two days were indeed Moscow’s.
• Crimea’s pro-Russian leader claims control of military, police: “The pro-Russian prime minister of Ukraine’s restive Crimea is claiming control of all military forces, police and other security services in the region.  In a statement reported by local and Russian news agencies on Saturday, Sergei Aksenov declares that the armed forces, the police, the national security service and border guards will answer only to his orders. He says that any commanders who don’t agree should leave their posts. Aksenov, the head of the main pro-Russia party on the peninsula, was appointed by the Crimean parliament on Thursday as tensions soared over Crimea’s resistance to the new authorities in Kiev, who took power last week.”
• Putin sought and received approval from the Russian parliament’s upper house for a troop deployment to the Ukraine, triggering a UN Security Council emergency meeting: “A diplomat from Luxembourg, president of the 15-nation council this month, said the meeting would take place at 2:00 p.m. EST”
• Most Russians believe the Crimea is theirs, and are likely to support Putin’s actions: “It’s unlikely that what’s happening in Ukraine will foment a new protest movement in Russia: the ongoing crackdown on civil society makes the cost of protest too high. Still, the Crimean invasion is a landmark in Russian domestic politics. It signals a loss of innocence: no longer will Russians be able to think that Putin merely feels nostalgic for the USSR. It also signals ever greater polarisation of Russian society: in addition to all the other lines along which Russians are divided and across which civilised dialogue is impossible, there is now the chasm between supporters and opponents of the planned annexation. It also means the political crackdown in Russia will intensify further.”
• Meanwhile, a Swiss prosecutor has opened an investigation into Yanukovich’s megaeuros: “‘A penal investigation for severe money laundering is currently being conducted in Geneva against Viktor Yanukovich and his son Oleksander,’ the prosecutor’s office said in the statement, adding it had opened the probe on Thursday. It said prosecutor Yves Bertossa and the police had searched the office of a company owned by Oleksander Yanukovich on Thursday morning and seized some documents.

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.