Ukraine Moves Toward Martial Law as Western Region Splits

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

By Aliaksandr Kudrytski and Daryna Krasnolutska Feb 19, 2014 1:25 PM

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych moved to quell a growing insurgency by granting sweeping powers to the army and police after a region declared independence from his government, risking wider conflict.

Reeling from the bloodiest clashes in a three-month standoff, the Russian-backed leader’s security service said today it’s undertaking a nationwide anti-terrorism operation to restore public order and protect state borders. That gives the military the right to search, detain and even fire on Ukrainians in the course of the operation, the Defense Ministry said. Yanukovych then fired army chief Volodymyr Zaman and replaced him with the head of the navy without explanation.

“Imposing martial law requires parliament’s approval, but an anti-terrorist operation can be declared simply by informing the president,” said Oleksiy Melnyk, an analyst at the Razumkov Center in Kiev. “Authorities now have the right to arrest people, search homes and a whole range of other things in a way that would otherwise be illegal. The leader of the operation’s name is secret and all involved get immunity.”

During an anti-terrorism operation, soldiers can also legally search civilian vehicles and stop car and pedestrian traffic, according to the Defense Ministry. The security service said in the statement that protesters have seized more than 1,500 guns and 100,000 rounds of ammunition from military bases, depots and government buildings, without elaborating.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-18/ukraine-fighting-leaves-at-least-18-dead-as-kiev-barricades-burn.html

[another_liberal]

1. Here are some more details on the theft of those weapons.

Rioters seize over 1,500 guns in Ukraine mayhem

Ukraine’s security service has announced it is launching a counter-terror operation. Radicals have seized over 1,500 firing arms and 100,000 bullets in the last 24 hours, the service said. The recent events in Ukraine have shown "the escalation of violence and a massive use of firearms by the extremist groups. In many parts of the country, public authorities, military installations and depots with munitions are being seized. Court buildings are burning, the vandals are destroying private property and killing peaceful civilians,” the Ukrainian Security Service head, Aleksandr Yakimenko, said in a statement. According to Yakimenko, “over the last day more than 1,500 firearms and 100,000 rounds of ammunition have come into the hands of criminals.”

Reacting to the “conscious, purposeful use of force by means of arson, killings, kidnapping and terrorizing people,” which Yakimenko treats as “terrorist acts,” the Security Service and Anti-terrorist center of Ukraine have decided to launch a counter-terrorist operation. The Security Service head then urged all Ukrainians to stay calm and maintain peace and order. Special measures to reinforce public security and border security are being taken. President Viktor Yanukovich has been informed of the start of the operation, he added.

Meanwhile in Ivano-Frankovsk, rioters have seized 268 pistols, 2 rifles, 3 light machine guns, 92 grenades and 15,000 ammunition rounds, the deputy head of the Security Service, Vladimir Porodko, has said, adding that the police are searching for the stolen arms. The firearms and munitions were stolen from a Security Service department, and the same departments were also attacked in Ternopol and Lvov overnight. According to Porodko, the buildings came under gunfire.

The entire article can be read here:

http://rt.com/news/weapons-protesters-kiev-police-745/

[levp]

3. I'm sure

Russia Today is completely unbiased news source in this case...

"The Security Service head then urged all Ukrainians to stay calm" - is this a joke?

[Purveyor]

8. And of course Bloomberg News is completely unbiased...completely indeed.

[levp]

14. That's right

Which is why I prefer to follow local sources.
In Ukrainian:
УНІАН

In English:
Kyiv Post

[Purveyor]

15. The 'english' link doesn't work for me.

[pampango]

17. Worked for me. It may be overloaded given events. n/t

[El_Johns]

23. Oh, for god's sake:

The Kyiv Post was founded in October 1995 (as part of KP Media)[1] by an American, Jed Sunden.[2] The paper covers politics, business and entertainment. The staff is a team of Western and Ukrainian journalists, numbering 14 editorial team members as of May 2013, including 11 Ukrainians.

Historically, the editorial policy has supported democracy and free markets..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyiv_Post


Jed Sunden, the guy who thought up & funded FEMEN.


Yeah, no bias there.

[levp]

26. OK

So read UNIAN then. They have an English edition:
UNIAN

The only issue is that the English edition is delayed several hours (and not updated during the night local time).

[Kolesar]

31. President Clinton funded media sources in Russia to aid in the creation of a democracy

...with a free press. The US government funded it, to be more precise. It was a well conceived program.

[bananas]

20. It's on the official SBU website

Statement by the President of the Security Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Yakimenko
February 19, 2014
http://www.sbu.gov.ua/sbu/control/uk/publish/article?art_id=122101&cat_id=39574

[levp]

27. No kidding

Do you believe NSA's statements on Edward Snowden as well?

[pampango]

4. It will be interesting to see if that is reported by a source other than Russia Today. n/t

[another_liberal]

7. If you are suggesting the report is fabricated . . .

I doubt it is. Let me assure you, though, if that is the case it would be a great relief. The last thing Ukraine needs is heavily armed gangs of radicals, coupled with a an all-out crackdown by the security forces.

[pampango]

12. Verification from anther source would confirm it.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK.

I agree that "the last thing Ukraine needs is heavily armed gangs of radicals, coupled with a an all-out crackdown by the security forces." It is better off without either of those two. Let us hope that it does not come to that.

[bananas]

22. It's on the official SBU website

Statement by the President of the Security Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Yakimenko
February 19, 2014
http://www.sbu.gov.ua/sbu/control/uk/publish/article?art_id=122101&cat_id=39574

[joshcryer]

24. The "rifle" in that article is a ... pellet gun.

[Javaman]

2. uh oh.

I think we have just witnessed the start of a civil war.

[rootProbiscus]

5. back to Poland's pre 1945 borders?

So Germany gets to move their eastern border 200 miles east as well. right~!
And the EU supports it because the EU is Germany, right?

[MisterP]

19. it'll be Lwow again?

[iamthebandfanman]

6. Glad they are stepping up...

apparently im the only one on DU who sees the take over of the Ukrainian government by right wingers who are as equally corrupt (and will be proven so as soon as they get their chance) from a corrupted center corporatist government as not something to be excited about.

people should really do more research on the opposition before taking sides.. theres a reason they've been pulling down statues of left wingers, and its not just their hatred for Russia.

[jakeXT]

9. SACEUR, Hagel and Obama are having none of it

19:36 GMT:

NATO's top military commander appealed to Ukraine's leaders on Wednesday to avoid using military force against their people and called for dialogue with the country's new military leadership.

In Twitter messages, US Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, asked that "responsible leaders avoid the use of military force against the people of Ukraine."

"I am calling upon the new military leadership in Ukraine to open a dialogue with us to bring this situation to a peaceful resolution," Breedlove said. (Reuters)

19:31 GMT:

US President Barack Obama has threatened the Ukrainian government with “consequences” if the violence continues and the Ukrainian military steps into the conflict, Reuters reports.

..

“The Department of Defense is encouraged that the Ukrainian armed forces have not been brought into this crisis. We urge them to remain on the sidelines,” he said, adding that US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned his Ukrainian counterpart, Pavlo Lebedyev, of unspecified “consequences” in December.

http://rt.com/news/kiev-clashes-rioters-police-571/

[former9thward]

18. Words.

[levp]

10. Other than the statue of Lenin in central Kiev

what other ones are you referring to?
By the way, thousands of Lenin's statues were removed since 1991 in all parts of former USSR.

No civil war is something to be excited about.

[dipsydoodle]

13. The base of that one had decayed

and apparently all that was need to topple it was a shove.

[pampango]

16. I doubt that gay Ukrainians share your belief that aligning with Europe not Russia is a 'right wing'

move. Gays have better prospects in a "European" society than they do in a Russian one (at least the current version).

Polls show that Ukrainians support an agreement with the EU over Russia by a 3 to 1 margin. President Yanukovych hiself campaigned on a pro-EU agreement platform. Whether you or I consider that to be right wing or left wing, the decision should be up to the Ukrainian people, not its military.

I'm glad that someone is happy that the Ukrainian military is 'stepping up'. If it stays united (apparently the army chief was just sacked for 'hesitating' to agree to use the military against protesters), the military should have no trouble a bunch of civilian protesters.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Yield on the government’s $1 billion of notes maturing in June jumped a record to an all-time high

34.97 percent ! That dwarfs issues which occurred in Spain and Greece. Goldman Sachs had predicted such months ago when it was c. 10% and encouraged buying of those bonds.

Presumably the opposition have solutions for this mess. Be in interesting to see what they are.

[rollin74]

21. live streaming video

#t=1531250

some major shit just went down near the square in Kiev

numerous people being taken away on stretchers. pretty chaotic scene.

[pampango]

25. There's talk in the eastern region of a split, too.

The head of the Crimean parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, told Interfax that if the situation continues to deteriorate, there is a possibility of the region separating from Ukraine. Crimea, with its largely ethnic-Russian population, is staunchly pro-Moscow.

“It’s possible, if the country collapses” said Konstantinov, on the possibility of secession. “Everything is heading in that direction.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2014/feb/20/ukraine-crisis-new-clashes-strain-truce-live-updates#block-5305db01e4b0e0e8038da857

The largely ethnic-Russian population in part of Moldova has created its own (largely unrecognized) 'country as well. Transnistria separated from Moldova when the latter became independent when the USSR dissolved. If this happens in Ukraine, it won't be the first time, unfortunately.

[happyslug]

28. Crimea Given to Ukraine by Kruschev in 1954...

Last edited Thu Feb 20, 2014, 02:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Prior to 1954, the Crimea was in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea#Crimea_in_the_20th_and_21st_centuries

The Crimea is an "Autonomous Republic" within the Ukraine. "Autonomous Republics" are quite common within the Russian Federation, but the Crimea is the only such "Autonomous Republic" within the Ukraine. These "Autonomous Republics" are more like an American State then anything else, they legally exist independent of the larger "state"/Countrty they are part of.

Remember a "State" under international law, is a legal entity that exists independent of any other legal entity. Thus the State of the US are States as that term is used in International law for the Federal Government can NOT change the borders or the makeup of a State without permission of said State. The Federal Government is also a "State" as that term is used in International law for it exists independent of the 50 states that makes up the United States.

The same with these "Autonomous Republics" they exist independent of larger state they belong to and as such are much like US States. The only issue can they declare themselves to be independent, as did the Various Soviet Republics did in the years just before the breakup of the Soviet Union? At the time the leadership of the Soviet Union said such declaration of Independence were illegal under Soviet Law, but when the Coup hit the Soviet Union broke up into its Republics.

List of such "Autonomous Republics" within the Russian Federation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republics_of_Russia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia#Soviet_Russia_and_civil_war

More on "Autonomous Republics":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_republic

[quadrature]

29. where is Obama on this matter?

what about Olympic athletes?

are they with Putin or Lviv?

[happyslug]

30. Putin will NOT do Anything as long as the Olympics are occurring...

Putin has put to much political capital into the Winter Olympics to risk them for the Ukraine. On the other hand next week the games will be over and that restriction on the actions of Putin will be gone.