border

International Law: Minsk-2 Package of Measures, signed February 12, 2015; adopted by UN Security Council, February 17, 2015

Posted by

0

From United Nations Security Council

Resolution 2202 (2015)
Adopted by the Security Council at its 7384th meeting, on 17 February 2015
Annex 1

Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements

Minsk, 12 February 2015

1. Immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine and its strict implementation as of 15 February 2015, 12 a.m. local time.

2. Withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both sides by equal distances in order to create a security zone of at least 50 km wide from each other for the artillery systems of calibre of 100 and more, a security zone of 70 km wide for MLRS and 140 km wide for MLRS “Tornado-S”, Uragan, Smerch and Tactical Missile Systems (Tochka, Tochka U):

– for the Ukrainian troops: from the de facto line of contact;

– for the armed formations from certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine: from the line of contact according to the Minsk Memorandum of Sept. 19th, 2014;

The withdrawal of the heavy weapons as specified above is to start on day 2 of the ceasefire at the latest and be completed within 14 days. The process shall be facilitated by the OSCE and supported by the Trilateral Contact Group.

3. Ensure effective monitoring and verification of the ceasefire regime and the withdrawal of heavy weapons by the OSCE from day 1 of the withdrawal, using all technical equipment necessary, including satellites, drones, radar equipment, etc.

4. Launch a dialogue, on day 1 of the withdrawal, on modalities of local elections in accordance with Ukrainian legislation and the Law of Ukraine “On interim local self-government order in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions” as well as on the future regime of these areas based on this law. Adopt promptly, by no later than 30 days after the date of signing of this document a Resolution of the Parliament of Ukraine specifying the area enjoying a special regime, under the Law of Ukraine “On interim self-government order in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions”, based on the line of the Minsk Memorandum of September 19, 2014.

5. Ensure pardon and amnesty by enacting the law prohibiting the prosecution and punishment of persons in connection with the events that took place in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

6. Ensure release and exchange of all hostages and unlawfully detained persons, based on the principle “all for all”. This process is to be finished on the day 5 after the withdrawal at the latest.

7. Ensure safe access, delivery, storage, and distribution of humanitarian assistance to those in need, on the basis of an international mechanism.

8. Definition of modalities of full resumption of socioeconomic ties, including social transfers such as pension payments and other payments (incomes and revenues, timely payments of all utility bills, reinstating taxation within the legal framework of Ukraine). To this end, Ukraine shall reinstate control of the segment of its banking system in the conflict-affected areas and possibly an international mechanism to facilitate such transfers shall be established.

9. Reinstatement of full control of the state border by the government of Ukraine throughout the conflict area, starting on day 1 after the local elections and ending after the comprehensive political settlement (local elections in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on the basis of the Law of Ukraine and constitutional reform) to be finalized by the end of 2015, provided that paragraph 11 has been implemented in consultation with and upon agreement by representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group.

10. Withdrawal of all foreign armed formations, military equipment, as well as mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine under monitoring of the OSCE. Disarmament of all illegal groups.

11. Carrying out constitutional reform in Ukraine with a new constitution entering into force by the end of 2015 providing for decentralization as a key element (including a reference to the specificities of certain areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, agreed with the representatives of these areas), as well as adopting permanent legislation on the special status of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in line with measures as set out in the footnote until the end of 2015. [Note]

12. Based on the Law of Ukraine “On interim local self-government order in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions”, questions related to local elections will be discussed and agreed upon with representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group. Elections will be held in accordance with relevant OSCE standards and monitored by OSCE/ODIHR.

13. Intensify the work of the Trilateral Contact Group including through the establishment of working groups on the implementation of relevant aspects of the Minsk agreements. They will reflect the composition of the Trilateral Contact Group.

Note

Such measures are, according to the Law on the special order for local selfgovernment in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions:

– Exemption from punishment, prosecution and discrimination for persons involved in the events that have taken place in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions;

– Right to linguistic self-determination;

– Participation of organs of local self-government in the appointment of heads of public prosecution offices and courts in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions;

– Possibility for central governmental authorities to initiate agreements with organs of local self-government regarding the economic, social and cultural development of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions;

– State supports the social and economic development of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions;

– Support by central government authorities of cross-border cooperation in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions with districts of the Russian Federation;

– Creation of the people’s police units by decision of local councils for the maintenance of public order in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions;

– The powers of deputies of local councils and officials, elected at early elections, appointed by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by this law, cannot be early terminated.

Participants of the Trilateral Contact Group:

Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini

Second President of Ukraine, L. D. Kuchma

Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Ukraine, M. Yu. Zurabov

A.W. Zakharchenko

I.W. Plotnitski

Source:
securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2202.pdf

Who is really causing the crisis at the Ukraine-Russia border? Interview with Bruce Gagnon

Posted by

0

From Peace and Planet News

By Bruce Gagnon – Winter 2022 Edition

In an off-the-cuff interview at a vigil in Portland, ME, against war in Ukraine, lifelong peace and justice activist Bruce Gagnon lays out the undoctored truth about the “crisis” at the Russian/Ukraine border. Video by Brian Leonard

Bruce Gagnon

Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He offers his own reflections on organizing and the state of America’s declining empire on his blog Organizing Notes.

https://peaceandplanetnews.org/crisis-at-the-russia-ukraine-border/

In a goodwill gesture, South Korea removes propaganda loudspeakers from border with North Korea (VIDEO)

Posted by

0

From Fort-Russ

By Paul Antonopoulos 

South Korean military personnel were seen removing the propaganda loudspeakers used for cross border anti-North Korean broadcasts on Tuesday.

Dozens of loudspeakers were used for anti-Pyongyang messaging and their removal is seen as indicating a further step in thawing relations between the two Koreas.

South Korean leader Moon Jae-in and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un recently agreed to work on a “complete denuclearize” of the Korean peninsula.

https://www.fort-russ.com/2018/05/in-a-good-gesture-south-korea-removes-propaganda-loud-speakers-from-border-with-north-korea/

Iranian Foreign Minister responds to the amassing of U.S. and British troops at the Syrian-Jordanian border

Posted by

0

May 9th, 2017 – Fort Russ News –
– Al Mayadeen – – translated by Samer Hussein –
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to the news about amassing of the British, American and Jordanian troops at the Syrian-Jordanian border, noting that any military act of aggression against Syria, will result in an absolute failure.
“Any of such actions, now or in the future, are doomed to fail”, Zarif was heard saying.
Yesterday, reports came about the huge gathering of the British, American and Jordanian troops at the Syrian-Jordanian border, suggesting the approaching zero hour of confrontation.
According to the reports, hundreds of American, British and Jordanian troops are being gathered in the area at the Syrian-Jordania border and parallel with Khirbet Awad, located in the southern Syrian province of As Suwayda, Tell Shihab in Syria’s Daraa province and the Ramtha border crossing. Dozens of troops, British tanks of the Challenger brand and a number of Cobra and Black Hawk helicopters were spotted, in addition to about 2300 jihadists whom the US and UK forces trained in Jordan. 
About 4000 more jihadists are reportedly being trained in Al Tanf area at the Syrian-Jordanian border.
It is also being rumoured that the British and US forces are allegedly trying to take control over the southern Syrian-Iraqi border so that the two countries would no longer be able to coordinate each other directly in their fight against terrorism.

Zakharchenko declares Donbass frontline is state border

Posted by

0

March 13, 2017 – Fort Russ News –
RIA Novosti – translated by J. Arnoldski –
According to a decree by Donetsk People’s Republic leader Alexander Zakharchenko, the contact line between the DPR and Kiev-controlled territory from now on has the status of a state border.
The text of the decree has been published on the website of the Ministry of State Security of the DPR.
 
 
According to the document, the contact line can only be crossed through border control points and with the necessary registration processes.
Authority over executing the decree has been assigned to the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Incomes and Fees, as well as the republic’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“The Ministry of State Security of the Donetsk People’s Republic hereby warns that, according to point four of the decree, activities associated with the illegal crossing of the contact line or organizing of illegal crossing in or out of the Donetsk People’s Republics will be qualified in accordance with the Criminal Code of the DPR, specifically Article 378 ‘Illegal Crossing of the State Border,'” the ministry’s statement reads. 
http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/03/zakharchenko-declares-donbass-frontline.html

8,000 NATO troops launch exercise near Russian-Norwegian border (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Posted by

0

Oslo dismissed the notion that the deployment goes against the old commitment, saying that American troops would be rotated rather than stationed permanently. NATO routinely applies the same reasoning to all its deployments in Eastern Europe as a way of circumventing the alliance’s agreement with Russia, which bans permanent deployments of “significant” forces near Russia.

They all lie so easily and think they are so clever, looking us straight in the eye and smiling. They misuse language and try to confuse, while assuring us of their friendship and utmost respect.

 If a country or alliance is permanently present in a country, regardless of personnel changes, that country or alliance is permanently deployed there. NATO  and Norway have violated their agreements with Russia. 

From RT

March 6, 2017

8,000 NATO troops launch exercise near Russian-Norwegian border (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

A total of 8,000 NATO soldiers have been deployed to the Finnmark region of northern Norway, 160-300 km from the Russian border, for a series of joint military exercises.

The Joint Viking 2017 exercises, which involve British, American and Norwegian troops, kicked off Monday and are expected to last until March 15. According to the Norwegian Armed Forces website, the exercises’ primary goals are to practice crisis management and the defense of Norway.

A total of 8,000 troops are taking part, including 700 soldiers from the US Marine Corps, US Army and the British Royal Marines, which have been integrated into Norwegian units. The British and American troops took part in preparatory exercises to acclimatize them to the harsh Norwegian weather.

View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter

U.S. Army Europe

✔@USArmyEurope

📸 : @USArmy @USMC @RoyalNavy & @NorwegianArmy conducting winter warfare training in preparation for

3:42 AM – 6 Mar 2017

View image on Twitter

173rdAirborneBrigade @173rdAbnBde

: Cpt. Thomas Huens, B Troop 1-91 CAV Cdr. Leads from the front testing the water in advance of his troopers.

3:23 AM – 28 Feb 2017

View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter

U.S. Army Europe

✔@USArmyEurope

📸 : Soldiers are in Norway conducting Winter Warfare Training in preparation for .

12:19 PM – 21 Feb 2017

For the duration of the exercise, drones have been banned from local airspace.

“The Armed Forces will have a lot of activity in the air, with fighter jets, helicopters and transport aircraft. To ensure safety in the air, we therefore introduced a drone ban,” military spokesman Ivar Moen told the Norwegian public radio station NRK.

Read more

U.S. Marines, who are to attend a six-month training to learn about winter warfare, arrive in Stjordal, Norway January 16, 2017. © NTB Scanpix / Ned Alley
US Marines land in Norway, signaling departure from post-WW2 commitment to Russia

In previous years, Joint Viking exercises have been held in Hordaland in 2013, Tromso in 2014, Finnmark in 2015 and Trøndelag in 2016. The previous exercise in Finnmark was seen as a provocation in Russia, where in response a large-scale exercise was launched in the Kola Peninsula.

This year, however, Moscow was notified of the planned maneuvers in advance, Moen told NRK.

In January, 300 US Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were deployed to Norway. Both Norway and the US denied the notion that the deployment was meant to irk Russia as part of NATO’s wider campaign to oppose what it calls “Russian aggression” in Europe, by sending additional troops and weapons closer to the Russian border.

A founding member of NATO, Norway pledged not to host foreign forces to allay Moscow’s concerns that it could serve as a platform for a surprise attack. For decades, the Scandinavian country only allowed in other allies’ troops for training purposes.

–
Oslo dismissed the notion that the deployment goes against the old commitment, saying that American troops would be rotated rather than stationed permanently. NATO routinely applies the same reasoning to all its deployments in Eastern Europe as a way of circumventing the alliance’s agreement with Russia, which bans permanent deployments of “significant” forces near Russia.

https://www.rt.com/news/379641-8000-nato-exercise-russia-norway/

Germany to send modern tanks to Russian border – Defense Ministry

Posted by

0

From RT

October 27, 2016

Leopard 2A7 © Michaela Rehle
Leopard 2A7 © Michaela Rehle / Reuters

Germany is preparing to deploy its most modern ‘Leopard 2’ tanks and more than 600 infantrymen to Lithuania as it joins NATO’s biggest military buildup since the Cold War, German media reported citing the defense ministry.

The plans to deploy not infantry and tanks to the NATO member state bordering Russia were announced by the German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen at a two-day meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers in Brussels.

Deployment of “heavy weaponry” was then confirmed to the German daily Die Welt by a defense ministry spokesman, who said that tanks will be only part of the military equipment that Germany is going to deploy to the Baltic State.

A NATO battalion under German command will be stationed in Lithuania In February. The battalion’s personnel will amount to 1,000 soldiers, with from 450 to 650 of them coming from Germany and the rest being deployed by France, Belgium and Croatia.

According to the German daily Der Tagesspiegel daily, this will be an autonomous combat-ready unit equipped with tanks and armored vehicles that will also have snipers, engineering troops, military medics and even military police. The battalion will be fully operational starting from June 2017, German media reported.

The decision to send tanks alongside with the infantry to Lithuania should “send a clear signal” that Germany takes security concerns of the eastern NATO members “seriously,” von der Leyen said during the ministers’ meeting in Brussels.

“It should send a clear signal that an attack on any NATO member state would be regarded as an attack on all 28 members [of the bloc],” she said, as cited by Der Tagesspiegel. At the same time, she stressed that the deployment of German forces on the Russian border was a “strictly measured” step that has exclusively “defensive” purposes, as reported by Die Welt.

In 2015, von der Leyen ordered 100 new Leopard 2 tanks for the German army, the Bundeswehr, “in response to the Ukrainian crisis.” Additionally, all tanks that are currently in use by German forces should be modernized starting in 2017, according to the defense ministry’s plan.

The upper threshold for the number of tanks in the German army, which was set at 225 in 2011, was then increased to 328 in line with the ministry’s new plans, Die Welt reported.

However, the plans to station tanks almost on the Russian border provoked criticism from some German politicians.

“Sending tanks to the Russian border means forgetting the history,” Sara Wagenknecht, the head of the Left Party’s faction in the German parliament, told the news agency DPA. She also denounced the move as “a step towards further escalation of relations with Russia.”

“Those who really want to preserve peace in Europe should eventually return to relying on the traditions of the policy of détente instead of continuing to support the confrontational course that is neither in German interests, nor in the interests of the EU,” she said.

Continue reading →

Islyamov says Turkey is creating battalion to participate in blockade of Crimea

Posted by

0

From Fort Russ

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ
26th December, 2015

The Defense Ministry of Turkey is providing assistance in Ukraine by creating a volunteer battalion named “Noman of Celebicihan”, said the coordinator of the ‘civil action by blockade of Crimea’ Lenur Islyamov.
“Now we will form a new volunteer battalion named “Noman of Celebicihan”. Further, we expect a number of military units, which we must assign, but we are already receiving volunteer assistance for the battalion”, writes “Odessa crisis media center”.
“On Friday we received the first batch of Turkish military uniforms. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine still itches to help, but the Turkish Ministry of Defense are already beginning to support us. We produced 250 sets of uniforms and shoes,” said Islyamov. 
“Soon we will have the appropriate number of military units, I think, by January 15th, we will gather at Chongar for the world Congress of Crimean Tatars, and the Executive Committee will be here. We will gather all Crimean Tatars from all over the world i.e. from USA, Canada, Poland, Romania, Turkey, some 43 countries,” he said.
According to him, “the battalion will consist of 560 people,” which “will be engaged in the tasks set by the General staff”. “But the main task is the protection of the border of Crimea. We will bring security to Crimea as soon as possible. The task of this battalion is to operate in the same way, the only way we know”, he said. In December, the Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Mustafa Dzhemilev, during his visit to Turkey, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and asked for funding for military units on the border with Crimea.

Thousands of Russian troops sent to Turkish border

Posted by

0

From Fort Russ

15th December, 2015
Originally published at What Does It Mean on the 28th November by Sorcha Faal

*It was also reported here on the 14th December*
A stunning new Ministry of Defense (MoD) report circulating in the Kremlin states that President Putin, this morning, issued an order to the 58th Army Headquarters of the North-Caucasian Military District to immediately deploy “selected” regiments and brigades of Federation military electronic warfare, anti-aircraft, multiple rocket launcher, anti-tank, motorized rifle, and artillery forces to the Turkish-Armenia border—which in total comprises nearly 7,000 Russian troops now being put into full combat status.
According to this report, the legal authorization for this massive combat deployment is due to the joint Russian-Armenian missile air defense system agreement ordered to be signed by President Putin on 11 November and which will be finalized this week by Prime Minister Medvedev.
With Armenia now becoming a vital part of the Russian Joint Air Defense, this report continues, Federation military forces will now be able to counter threats from Turkey coming from that nations western border—which will mirror the air defense protections provided by Federation Aerospace and Naval forces on Turkey’s border with Syria that since being implemented this past week have seen both United States and Turkish aircraft completely cease flying missions against Islamic State terrorists in this war zone all together.
Important to note too about this Federation military deployment to Armenia, this report says, are that these forces will be protected, like their counterparts operating in Syria, with S-400 Triumf (NATO designation: SA-21 Growler) medium/long-range mobile surface-to-air missile systems and Krasukha-4 jamming platforms giving them near total air defense superiority over 85 percent of Turkish territory.
The Krasukha-4 broadband multifunctional jamming station is mounted on a BAZ-6910-022 four-axle-chassis and like the Krasukha-2, the Krasukha-4 counters NATO-Turkish AWACS and other air borne radar systems. The Krasukha-4, also, has the range for effectively disrupting low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and can cause permanent damage to targeted radio-electronic devices with ground based radars also being a viable target—which is, undoubtedly, MoD experts in this report state, the reason US and Turkish aircraft have fled from the skies over Syria.
Russia’s fearsome S-400 anti-aircraft missiles arrive in Syria.
Russia’s Krasukha-4 broadband multifunctional jamming station operating in Syria.
With the criminal Erdogan regime in Turkey continuing to support Islamic State terrorists in Syria and Iraq, this report further notes, President Putin’s order today to begin the deployment of Federation military forces to Armenia will protect that nations peoples from their barbaric Turkish enemies who just a century ago (1915-1917) massacred an estimated 1.5 million men, women and children in what is known now as the Armenian Genocide.
And to the great shame of the United States against these Armenia peoples too, this report grimly states, President Obama, this past August, and for the 7th year in row, broke his promise to them to acknowledge the genocide committed against them by Turkey.
The Federation, however, this report continues, is not only one of the 25 nations that has acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, this past week a bill was introduced into the Russian parliament on holding to account anyone who denies that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces was “genocide”.
With Turkish President Erdogan having lashed out at Russia, Germany and France for recognizing the Armenian Genocide, this report warns, his actions against the Kurdish peoples in the Levant Region are even more troubling—especially since this past summer when he broke off all peace talks with them.
But to the Federations greatest fears of the criminal Erdogan necessitating the deployment of thousands of Russian troops to Turkey’s border, this report concludes, is his using of Islamic State terrorists to create for himself a new empire—and which he and his Prime Minister this past May (2015) made no secret of when they declared to the entire Islamic world:
 
[O.R: This information was confirmed by reliable sources who are close to both the Iraqi and Syrian armies, as well as Hezbollah, hence its publication on Fort Russ]
http://www.fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/12/thousands-of-russian-troops-sent-to.html

Ukraine is preparing to seize over 400 km of DPR’s border with Russia

Posted by

0

From Fort Russ

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ
16th December, 2015
Tvzvezda 

Ukraine intends to establish control over the border of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic with Russia. An appropriate plan was developed by the state border service of the country. This was stated by the head of the department Viktor Nazarenko in an interview to the Agency “Interfax-Ukraine”.
According to him, Ukrainian border guards, together with Ukrainian armed forces and law enforcement authorities, are preparing to seize 409.4 km of land in South East Ukraine.
“We are preparing to take control of the site, which we have no control over, it’s 409,3 km. We drafted a plan, discussed it at the Board, and we must be ready for it. It is a difficult task we must perform. I noted that in this question we will also operate closely with the Armed forces and other law enforcement agencies,” – said Nazarenko.
Previously, Donetsk media reported that the national guard of Ukraine is preparing the invasion of the DPR and moved its military equipment to the contact line. Scouting of the Republic confirmed the fact of accumulation of armored vehicles from the Donetsk and Horlivka directions, and in the village of Pioneer.

http://www.fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/12/ukraine-is-preparing-to-seize-over-400.html