Russia sinks ship to block Urkrainian naval vessels from entering Black Sea

[KeepItReal]

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Ukraine Defence Ministry spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Mazepa said Russian sailors pulled the anti-submarine vessel Ochakov out of a naval junkyard and sank it in the straits that connect the Black Sea with a body of water known as Donuzlav Lake. He said the act was intended to prevent Ukrainian navy ships from leaving a nearby base and going to sea.

...

Earlier in the week, the commander of the Russian Black Sea fleet, Admiral Alexander Vitko, visited Ukraine’s South Base, according to the deputy base commander, Captain Viktor Shmiganovsky.

“He asked me to invite all the officers and suggested that we collectively take up the Russian military allegiance oath and become part of the Black Sea fleet … promising good pay and a bright future,” Shmiganovsky said in an interview. “He insisted we do that to help protect Ukraine from extremist gangs.”

The officer said his boss, the base commander, retorted: “Comrade admiral, we didn't see any extremist gangs here until you came with your men.” He said the admiral left “in a rage.”


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/russia-sinks-ship-to-block-urkrainian-naval-vessels-from-entering-black-sea-20140307-hvghs.html

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Ukrainian Navy and Air Force (at besieged BelBek air base) have some real patriots.

[TwilightGardener]

1. Obviously, Russia has to do that to protect ethnic Russians from instability and

violence.

[arcane1]

2. I thought they did it to distract from Bengazi

[freshwest]

4. LOL! The Russians have their own GTA Issa in parliament? n/t

[arcane1]

6. It's the only logical explanation.

[Turbineguy]

23. Makes sense. Putin invades Crimea

to help Obama distract from Benghazi.

As Ren Hoek would say.... "It's all so clear to me now!"

[KeepItReal]

5. Putin keeps saying that it's not his Russian military doing this stuff

Last edited Thu Mar 6, 2014, 07:19 PM - Edit history (1)

Does that mean Russia's Navy has gone rogue?

[freshwest]

7. First reports were that civilians started occupying places in Crimea, waving the Russian flag.

And telling Putin they were being done wrong by Ukraine nationalists. Who was first, the chicken or the egg, is what I see going on here. Civilians may have rioted and then called for help.

I liked the unarmed Ukraine forces march, as it reminded the Russian forces that they have been living in the same area with friendly relations for many years. Sometimes the quiet voice gets through on a level that violence never will.

[RiverNoord]

21. That's the part I don't get either.

Seriously - he's somehow getting mega support at home for the cowardly move of sending in Russian troops without any identifying insignias, then telling the world that they're not actually Russian military. Whatever one's views on the nature of the conflict, that's pretty damn pathetic.

[freshwest]

22. If he did.. that seems like an insane move to me. What's to be ashamed of if doing the right thing?

Too many not uniformed people running around in Ukraine right now from both sides. It makes for a volatile atmosphere there. It muddles the peception of a rightful authority for the public.

[TwilightGardener]

11. It's the local Crimean "self defense force". They have naval expertise.

Just a rag-tag band of plucky patriots, don'tcha know.

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. Gone rouge? They've always been Red.

Or did you mean rogue?

[KeepItReal]

14. I'm a native of Baton Rouge...

Must've been homesick when I did that

[Tommy_Carcetti]

36. You know who else has gone rogue...

[C_U_L8R]

3. Building walls again.

Don't they learn?

[amandabeech]

8. Putin has let this get completely out of hand.

I really hope that those who do business with him now will rethink any future commitments.

He is completely unreliable.

[riderinthestorm]

9. .

No words. This is unreal.

[randome]

10. This is so 1950-ish.

Putin is trying to convince himself he's tough and smart but in the context of an old way of life. This is the 21st century and he needs to get out of the way.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[olddad56]

19. completely out of style

[warrprayer]

13. they sunk their Battleship! :O

[joshcryer]

28. Putin on the sinking of the ship:

[blackspade]

15. Russia is essentially trying to thieve parts of the Ukrainian Navy and Airforce

...as a way to further violate Ukrainian national integrity.

[KeepItReal]

17. Yes. They don't want just basing agreements.

Russia is going after Ukrainian ships and planes and their crews.

[Cha]

16. KICK

[geek tragedy]

18. Just like Reagan mining Managua's harbor.

Russia has become an authoritarian version of Reagan's America.

[okaawhatever]

20. Putin is such a p...sy. Fight like a man. If you want the dang place that bad, have your Navy

fight for it instead of keeping the opponents docked. If this does go to war I hope we bomb every road leading into the Crimea from Russia, ditto railroad tracks. Of course, unlike him we'll actually wait until there's a confrontation to do it.

[newthinking]

25. You sure seem anxious to see people die...

This is more than about Geopolitics. Either a Civil war or a war between West Ukraine and Russia will leave many Ukrainians dead.

[okaawhatever]

35. No, in fact if the Ukraine navy needs to fight I want them to have an opportunity to survive. This

is a sucker punch. It would be one thing if war had been declared, but to do it preemptively is a punk move, like a sucker punch.

[rdharma]

30. Whoa!

That's just plain .......

[Theyletmeeatcake2]

32. Is the Crimea physically connected to Russia?

This is like a giant onion,there are many layers to this.....does Cuba sound familiar!!!!

[okaawhatever]

34. No, but it's very close. In fact, something I found odd was that in a lease deal for 9% of their

arable farm land with China, part of the deal was to build a bridge between the Crimea and Russia. Since the farmland was on mainland Ukraine and not the Crimea I couldn't figure it out unless it had to do with the transportation of the crops. Even so, it wouldn't really make sense to ship it that way.

[joshcryer]

26. I thought all Ukrainian forces surrendered or defected?

This is quite strange if all the Ukrainian forces defected or surrendered.

[stg81]

27. can't the Ukranians just blow it up?

[joshcryer]

29. You don't "blow up" welded steel, here is video:

Simply blowing it up would just spread it around. It needs to be cut up with experienced water salvage operations. Could be done in a day or two with the right equipment and expertise and a lot of workers. But realistically it's a month long salvage operation.

[davidpdx]

31. Interesting take

This is just speculation, but maybe they weakened the hull and sides. The explosion sounded like timed devices like when a building is demolished.

[joshcryer]

33. OSCE blocked from going into Crimea.

Putin is such a fucking dumbass.

Note: source is http://www.osce.org/fsc/116201