May 26 briefing by Russian MoD on U.S. military-biological activity

From Strategic Stability

Report # 249
May 27, 2023

POWERPOINT

The Ministry of Defence or MoD of the Russian Federation continues to analyze the military and biological activities of the U.S. and its allies in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world. On May 26, 2023 it released its updated report. Here is its abridged option.

Consequences for Russia

Moscow has noted the increase of bird flu cases in Russia and European countries, where, according to the International Office of Epizootics, the disease has become a year-round with losses exceeding €3 billion since 2021.

Since the beginning of 2023, there have been 32 outbreaks of Avian influenza recorded in Russia in all federal districts. In the last week in May 2023 alone, the disease was detected in poultry farms in the Kirov and Yaroslavl Regions. Quarantine measures for highly pathogenic Avian influenza have been imposed in Moscow since 17 May 2023.

At the same time, the total damage to the agricultural sector caused by the disease in the last three years has exceeded 4.5 billion Roubles, and more than 10 million poultry have been eliminated.

Consequences for Ukraine

The MoD noted earlier that during the Special Military Operation, documentary evidence was obtained confirming that employees of the Biosphere Reserve in Askania Nova, Kherson Region, Ukraine, were studying the migration routes of migratory birds and selecting and transferring biological material abroad.

The task force of the Russian Ministry of Defence together with officers of the Federal Security Service and Rosselkhoznadzor [Russian Agriculture Monitoring Agency] have confirmed the collection and certification of Avian influenza virus strains with a high potential for epidemic spread and the ability to cross the species barrier, particularly the H5N8 strain, whose lethality in human transmission can reach 40%. Compare: 1% of new coronavirus infections resulted in death.

Despite efforts by the Ukrainian staff to destroy the biomaterials in the U.S.-Ukrainian biolabs by cutting off the power to the refrigeration units and destroying the cryopreservoir with liquid nitrogen, specialists from the 48th Central Research Institute of the Russian MoD found traces of genetic material of highly pathogenic Avian influenza, Newcastle disease virus, and Avuloviruses even in the samples that had undergone decomposition. According to the employees who remained in the these labs, the Ukrainian side offered them a large cash reward for removing or destroying the research results.

Documents seized in the Reserve’s veterinary laboratory confirm the involvement of the Kharkov Institute of Veterinary Medicine in the work of the American UP-8 and P-444 Projects and preparations for the Flu-Fly-Way project. Their goal was to evaluate the circumstances in which the transmission of diseases associated with economically significant infections may become uncontrollable, result in economic harm, and constitute a threat to food security.

African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, which pose a serious threat to food security, have never been recorded in the USA, despite the fact that the U.S. has seen Avian influenza epizootics since 2003. At the same time, the U.S. military is actively studying these economically significant infections outside the national territory in bio-laboratories located along the borders of its geopolitical adversaries.

This demonstrates once more that the U.S. has been creating biological weapons components abroad, notably in Ukraine.

Documents obtained during the Special Military Operation show that for several years the Kharkov Institute of Veterinary Medicine Institute has been involved in training Ukrainian personnel as part of the Biological Threat Reduction Program. Robert Lipnik, head of the Epidemiology Department, and his subordinates were involved in the training of Ukrainian specialists. Representatives of the institute supervised military and biological projects UP-1 and UP-2, organized by DTRA, during which active collection of biomaterials of Ukrainian population was carried out. In the UP-1 project alone, more than 800 blood samples were collected under the pretext of studying the spread of tick-borne infections.

According to the documents possessed by Russia, the Walter Reed Institute was actively involved in the 2014-2020 Ukrainian aggression in Donbass in studying the antibiotic resistance of microbes isolated from military troops of the AFU.

As part of this project, 813 microorganisms obtained from 162 patients were studied in four Ukrainian military hospitals located in different parts of the country and full-genome sequencing of 52 isolates was carried out. It is understandable to wonder why the U.S. Army Institute would research the antibiotic resistance of microbes found in Donbass. This provides more proof that the U.S. considered Ukraine’s territory to be a base for the entry of NATO military forces.

Consequences for Italy

In December 2019, for example, the relocation of the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit Three (NAMRU-3) from Cairo to Sicily’s Sigonella Air Base, Italy, has provoked an extremely negative reaction from Italian citizens.

According to the Italian media, the U.S. used the pandemic to divert public attention from the fact that the biolaboratory had been relocated.

As L’Antidiplomatico notes, that ‘it is highly suspicious that the opportunity to spread the word about this laboratory was not taken, if on paper its purpose is to study health threats’.

From all European countries it was Italy that was most seriously affected by the COVID-19 virus, and the Russian MoD, at the request of the Italian authorities, promptly provided assistance to the Italian people at the height of the epidemic. However, not a single source mentions the activities of NAMRU-3 to protect Italian citizens, although the level of equipment of the facility allowed and allows for the full range of research with the new coronavirus agent. Clearly, the redeployment of NAMRU-3 under the pretext of providing assistance was not intended to protect Italians, and the role of the biolab in the spread of COVID-19 has yet to be assessed. No wonder that the decision by the Pesaro city authorities to construct a national biolaboratory sparked a wave of local protests and widespread pleas to state authorities given the deployment of a U.S. military biological facility in Italy.

U.S. military bioactivity in Asia

The number of biolaboratories in the United States with the highest possible BSL-3-plus and BSL-4 containment levels has increased significantly over the past few years. According to a report by King’s College based in London, there are 25 active laboratories in the US and three under construction where research on highly dangerous viruses and bacteria is being conducted.

According to a report by King’s College based in London, 18 additional BSL-4 laboratories will be opened in the upcoming years, the most of which will be situated in Asian nations outside the legal jurisdiction of the USA.

There are concerns that these facilities will pose serious risks: they are located in densely populated areas, save on protective equipment, and lack effective biosafety regulations in the countries where they are based.

Work is scheduled to collect and genotype samples of the pathogens of three extremely hazardous illnesses indigenous to these regions—plague, anthrax, and tularaemia – under the cover of doing completely peaceful tasks in the states of Central Asia and Transcaucasia.

Multifaceted U.S. violations

In the post-Soviet region, the U.S. has already stepped up its military-biological activities. Pentagon contractors and civilian intermediates like the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Gryphon Scientific research company have taken the position of the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and Pentagon contractors.

The long-term planning document like the new U.S. DoD Biomanufacturing Strategy approved on 23 March 2023 was developed specifically by the US military department. The document defines the development of biotechnology and the search for its military applications. The claimed goal is to ensure technological sovereignty in the field of bioproduction and to outpace strategic rivals.

The amount of funding for activities within the framework of the approved strategic documents for the next five years will be about $90 billion. In addition, the U.S. intends to strengthen global control of the biological situation in the world and reserves the right to conduct ‘dual-use’ research, including outside the national territory.

It should be noted that the U.S. has never clearly stated its commitment to the safety of research carried out in biolaboratories under its control.

This is supported by a review of US National Institutes of Health documents that relate to safety violations. In the course of an investigation conducted by the Intersept independent company, more than five and a half thousand pages of incident reports were studied. It concluded that research carried out at universities in Washington, Minnesota, and Illinois led to in-lab contamination and created the risk of further spread of dangerous pathogens.

These statistics do not take into account incidents at military-biological facilities, a key one being the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick. However, the Institute has repeatedly been the subject of investigations by U.S. federal agencies because of its non-transparent and unsafe activities. In 2019, federal regulatory agencies banned work on dangerous pathogens at Fort Detrick due to poor efficacy of effluent disinfection systems and numerous safety violations, which took almost a year to fix.

According to an official statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, it was during this period that localized outbreaks of pneumonia of unknown origin were reported in several areas of the U.S.

Systematic breaches of security requirements at U.S. biolabs have raised justifiable concerns in the global community.

Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported on the Pentagon’s establishment of the Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS). Equipping bioweapons facilities on the territory of other countries with such systems provides the U.S. with an opportunity not only to ensure the security of its military contingents at their deployment sites, but also to remotely monitor the activities of biolaboratories outside national jurisdictions.

The surveillance system includes U.S. Army and Navy laboratories as well as verification points located at U.S. military bases in different regions of the world.

One of the areas of strategic development is the improvement of individual and group biosecurity methods for U.S. military personnel in different theatres of war. The goal is also to continue the study of area-endemic pathogens of particularly dangerous infectious diseases.

The Russian MoD shall keep tracking the operations of the agencies subordinate to the U.S. DoD that are involved in creating bioweapons in violation of the international BWC.

The CANVAS and Right Sector trail in the murder of Nemtsov

Posted on Fort Russ

March 6, 2015
Ruscom
Translated by Kristina Rus
Originally published: March 1, 2015

The Serbian trail, stretching from the terrorist attack in Kharkov to the murder of Boris Nemtsov, stands out from under the carpet too much to ignore it. NGO CANVAS, grown from the Serbian maidan organization “Otpor!”, is very heavily involved in Ukraine and now have seriously taken over Russia.

The murder of Boris Nemtsov, whose corpse was found almost at the walls of the Kremlin, is in itself a very extraordinary event for Russia. Never in the Russian Federation there was a murder of a former member of the government, Deputy Prime Minister, a politician who was welcome at the White House and who spoke before the U.S. Congress. The body of this politician, deliberately executed in direct line of sight from the Kremlin, calls for a very serious approach to the murder, the forces behind it and the effects. A serious approach to the situation forces us to carefully consider all the versions of what happened.

On February 28, 2015, on the program “Norkin’s List” (NTV) a well-known political analyst Sergey Kurginyan expressed some thoughts about the murder of Nemtsov:

In particular, Kurginyan said:

“…Yarosh [the leader of the Right Sector”, a radical Ukrainian organization – Ruskom] cooperates with CANVAS, it’s a Serbian – American organization for the implementation of the “orange revolutions”, this organization organized Maidan [in Kiev – Ruskom] and everything else. Now CANVAS is heavily involved in Russia. Boris Nemtsov, unfortunately, said some strange words on February 10th, that he is afraid he will be killed by the authorities [which turned to be a fantasy of the editors – KR]. Immediately after that, the topic was discussed by Yarosh and representatives of CANVAS. Then the representatives of CANVAS came to Russia, among those representatives there is a man, a Serb, “Atsa” is his nickname (Alexander “Atsa” Kazun, lives in the USA, works for CANVAS – Ruskom), who was apprehended for the Kharkov explosion, and then he was released by Turchynov. Isn’t this interesting? Do we really want to know who is behind the murders?”

If we discard all versions except for the most probable – the murder of Nemtsov was supposed to destabilize the situation in Russia before the opposition march on March 1, this destabilization is most needed by the Ukrainian radical organizations, and therefore, Yarosh and the Right Sector. The situation on the fronts of Donbass is such that defeated on all fronts and expelled from Debaltsevo Ukrainian military will not soon recover from the damage and most likely will not be able to recover at all. In this situation a strategically winning solution for the Ukrainian radicals and their Western friends and curators is only a serious destabilization of the situation in Russia.

The focus of certain forces on the course of civil and political terror in Ukraine is evident in the terrorist act that took place in Kharkov on February 23, killing three people and injuring about ten. Ukrainian media of course, immediately, before the start of investigation, rushed to blame the “separatists”, “vatniki” and the Russian security services. There is no faith that the Ukrainian investigation will find the perpetrators, just as there is no hope for the investigation of Maidan snipers, which has taken already a year to no result. But if we think about who benefits from the terror in Ukraine, it is clear that neither Russia nor DPR/LPR can benefit from it.

The terror only benefits Ukrainian radicals and their curators, who thus wish to strengthen the anti-Russian and anti-Donbass mood in the society.

What was extraordinary about the Kharkov explosion?

“…two fighters from the special police battalion group “Kharkov-1” and a girl from the Right Sector, who showed negligence when handling explosives, injuring themselves, were supposed to be evacuated by the group consisting of four people. Strange activity of this group attracted the attention of the police, and the four were arrested. During a search of their minivan it turned out that, that it was unclear how they were going to evacuate their own, when the car was packed full of weapons, including automatic mounted grenade launcher AGS-30 of Russian production. The senior of the group turned out to be a U.S. citizen, presumably, of Serbian decent, Alexander Kazun nicknamed “Atsa” permanently residing in Washington, DC. Place of work: NGO CANVAS. Mr. Kazun was immediately released on the personal order from the Secretary of the Council of National Security and Defense of Ukraine, Aleksandr  Turchinov.”

A capture of a foreign citizen at the place of a terrorist attack looks very suspicious. Even more suspicious is the fact of the release of this citizen, Alexander Kazun, on the order of Alexander Turchynov, who has serious ties with the elites in the USA. And it becomes even more suspicious after understanding what is the NGO CANVAS. Here’s what William Engdahl wrote about it on January 7, 2014 in the article “American NGO involved in the protests in Ukraine”:

“CANVAS: the Belgrade U.S.-funded training organization is behind the carefully organized protests in Kiev. The recent protests in Ukraine stink of an attempt to destabilize the government of Yanukovych, organized from abroad 

After the events in Kharkov the representatives of this organization, engaged in the export of “revolutions” ended up in Moscow. In addition, NGO CANVAS originated from the “bulldozer revolution” in Belgrade in 2000, which overthrew Slobodan Milosevic. The Serbs, who at the time experienced all the “charms” of the coups organized by the West, warned the citizens of Ukraine about those consequences which follow the “peaceful protest against the bloody tyrant” under the cries of “they’re just children!”:

“I live in Belgrade, Serbia, and events in Ukraine remind me of the events in Serbia in the late 1990s and in 2000. In 2000 Western-paid opposition overthrew Slobodan Milosevic, all to our great joy and our great hopes for the future, just because we were tired of the difficult life (or what we perceived as a difficult life at that time) and, in fact, we were naive and duped by Western media (as well as you are today, but let me continue, I will explain this later). Later we realized that it does not work like that – the West did not give us money, did not give us investments, in essence, the West and the European Union did not act like friends at all. Better life never came, and in fact things have gotten worse.

Now, attention! The same people who lied to us and made our “democratic revolution”, are now making YOURS – NGO called “Otpor!” (“Resistance”) in the 1990s, now known as the “CANVAS” – “The Center for the applied nonviolent action and strategies”. Also the usual names and agencies in this show: USAID, Freedom House, The National Endowment for Democracy, George Soros… See for yourself. These are the same people – the oligarchs in Serbia now. They are trained by the CIA, and do their work in Ukraine (and other countries), your Yanukovych even banned some of the many very interesting articles, Ukraine is mentioned in almost every one of them”

Unfortunately, the Ukrainians did not heed the calls of the Serbian people and decided by their bitter experience to test the heavy forces of democracy and breathe the free air of Maidan. In this they were helped by many experts from Serbia (and not only), in particular Marko Ivkovic, the head of the above-mentioned Serbian organization “Otpor!” This was reported by Oleg Tsarev on December 1, 2013 at his page on Facebook:

“The day before yesterday my friend was flying to Ukraine, and in his companion he recognized the well-known organizer of coups and revolutions, Marko Ivkovic. He became famous as the founder of the Serbian “Otpor”, then there were Georgian “Kmara” and Ukrainian “Pora”. Marco tried to organize something similar in Russia, but was extradited and banned from entry. Was in Kyrgyzstan in 2010, when President Bakiyev was ousted there. Now Maidan is in experienced and financially secure hands. Americans do not spare any money on Ivakovic – not so long ago on his projects in Ukraine the National Democratic Institute of the United States provided $1,200,000″.

In 2012, Marko Ivkovic already worked in Ukraine at the National Democratic Institute of USA, operated in contact with the party “Front of Changes” of Arseniy Yatsenyuk, created a public organization “OPORA” to count the votes at elections. Was the unofficial head of the electoral headquarters of Yatsenyuk. The Ukrainian media already in early 2012 hypothesized that Ivkovic was busy preparing “Maidan-2”.

In 2013, right before the aggravation of the situation, Ivkovic arrived to Ukraine on November 29, which was reported by Oleg Tsarev. Next, let’s give a word to the Ukrainian media (publication date September 12, 2013):

“On the eve of the “Popular Assembly,” Arseniy Yatsenyuk and opposition leaders met with Marko Ivkovic – one of the members of the National Democratic Institute, USA. This was reported by the media, citing sources close to Yatsenyuk. The meeting was attended also by Fink Bryne (Gomez) – U.S. citizen, employee of the Agency for International Development, USA. Both U.S. citizens, known as consultants for colored revolutions, came to Ukraine a few weeks ago (Fink Bryne – on October 28). [the spelling of the name may be different in English as it is a translation from Russian – KR]

Now the details of that meeting became known. In particular, it is reported that Marko Ivkovic offered to A. Yatsenyuk, V. Klitschko and O. Tiagnybok to proclaim on the Maidan on Sunday during the “Popular Assembly” a “Manifesto”, according to which to announce the transition of power into the hands of the provisional (until the elections) “people’s government”.

Next was a matter of technique and concerted action. The “People’s government” was supposed to move into the building of the Kiev city administration to use the existing phones of government communications, contact law enforcement agencies and the army calling for support. And also – and this is, perhaps, the most important thing – to contact the embassies of the European countries and the USA with the request for recognition. When it comes to their interests, the United States and Europe, do not waste time with recognition. According to the source, the American Embassy has already prepared the official response with the approval of the actions of the opposition”

Now we know that the January – February events of 2014 in Kiev took place according to the scenario written in December 2013, and therefore, reality confirms the involvement of Serbs and Americans in Kiev events, and the high profile of the organizers of Euromaidan.

Serbian – American consultants of Kiev Euromaidan do not hesitate to use established and successful templates, instructions and practices. For example, the leaflets, which were first used in Belgrade in 2000, then in Cairo in 2011, and then in Kiev in 2013-2014:

NGO CANVAS at first glance at its website seems like a reputable international organization which strongly emphasizes its non-violent character. Now we understand what “non-violent” actions the employee of CANVAS Alexander Kazun, nicknamed “Atsa” was engaged in in Kharkov on February 23 in the car with explosives and automatic grenade launchers and what actions he may have been engaged in in Moscow.

CANVAS operates in Europe, in America, in Africa, and Asia. Tremendous scope for a modest Serbian organization, isn’t it?

https://i0.wp.com/ic.pics.livejournal.com/ruskom/19557183/68575/68575_original.png

Everything falls into place, when we see,  which organizations CANVAS is cooperating with in “developing long-term strategies related to the production of knowledge, tools, and studies of the global nonviolent struggle and the formation of a network of researchers related to the topic of non-violent resistance and strategies”. This is the Air Force Academy of Colorado, the John Hopkins University, and Columbia University. The website of CANVAS shows links to the sites of organizations such as the Institute of Albert Einstein, Freedom House and others, not less “friendly” to Russia:

https://i0.wp.com/ic.pics.livejournal.com/ruskom/19557183/68182/68182_original.png

Words are given to us to conceal our thoughts, and websites – to hide the true extent and details of the activities of organizations. So the sterile website CANVAS will not reveal the real information about their activities. But this data is provided by Wikileaks and other resources.

For example, there is a correspondence between the staff of the American organization Stratfor (private intelligence company of the United States, which is also called “the shadow CIA”), in which “CANVAS” and its leaders are very highly rated:

“This is an impressive group. They come in, operate in a country, and try to topple its regime. When used properly, they are stronger than an aircraft battle group.”

In response to the mention of “aircraft battle group”, Vice President of Stratfor, Fred Burton, sarcastically said that perhaps they should be sent to Iran.

Another letter said that “this organization (CANVAS) gets a lot of American money …I spoke with some people who lobbied for them (CANVAS) to get more money”. It is further specified that the Serbian organization “Otpor!” was funded, in particular, by Freedom House, the International Republican Institute, The Open Society Institute, USAID and the U.S. Institute for Peace. And it is indicated that CANVAS has financial ties with these organizations.

“Otpor!” and then CANVAS are not only mentioned in the correspondence of Stratfor employees, they also have close ties with Stratfor, Goldman Sachs, and the U.S. government. The wife of the leader of CANVAS worked in Stratfor for one year (from March 2010 to March 2011).

Srdja Popovich, the leader of the CANVAS

To put it briefly, CANVAS helps Stratfor in executing the color revolutions, overthrowing any leader hostile to the United States. This is what, according to Wikileaks, the US elite valued in Srdja Popovic and his “Otpor”.

In another letter dated March 2010 Stuart Burton said that CANVAS “is trying to get rid of Chavez,” referring to the late President Hugo Chavez. In 2007, the CANVAS tried to overthrow Chavez with trained activists.

In conclusion we can say that the activists of Serbian “Otpor” in their work used (and use) the models of Gene Sharp, the leading expert on the so-called “non-violent regime change”.

How non-violent are these methods, you can evaluate, judging how Gene Sharp participated in the events in Riga in 1990, advising “Sajudis” (nationalist anti-soviet Latvian organization), and that snipers from “Sajudis” shot (and killed) the demonstrators and the police with the aim to destabilize the Baltic States and cause the collapse of the USSR. These are the “non-violent” methods used in his time by Gene Sharp. Such methods are used by his followers from CANVAS, blowing up rallies in Kharkov and killing politicians in Moscow. Don’t you think this version seems more than logical?

For Russia today a new complex phase began, in which the country can win, and therefore survive only if Russian patriots and responsible citizens will understand the situation in all its complexity and tragedy. For further detailed analysis please see Friend: http://friend.livejournal.com/1762463.html (Russian)

Rada deputy Lyashko urges shooting the Kharkov authorities for refusing to declare Russia as an “aggressor”

Posted on Fort Russ

Pro-Russian rally in Kharkov, March 2014

March 5, 2015
Vognebroda.net
Translated by Kristina Rus

The head of the Radical party, Oleg Lyashko asked the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to consider the dissolution of the city and regional councils of Kharkov for not recognizing Russia as an “aggressor”.

“Today an extraordinary event took place in Kharkov. Kharkov regional council refused to include in the agenda the recognition of Russia as an aggressor. Let me remind you, that earlier the Kharkov city council refused to recognize Russia as an aggressor. I think this is an extremely dangerous event. Kharkov region is a border region. [!!!] When the city and regional councils refuse to recognize Russia as an aggressor, then tomorrow they can hold a referendum on the accession of the Kharkov region to Russia,” – said Lyashko.

The politician promised to register a draft law on the dissolution of the regional and city councils of Kharkov, as well as new elections. However, he did not stop there.

Kharkov regional and city councils should be dissolved for contributing to terrorism, conducting anti-state activities. As a minimum – dissolution, and the maximum – Kharkov mayor Kernes and the head of the Kharkov regional Council should be shot,” – suggested deputy Lyashko.

http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/03/rada-deputy-threatens-to-shoot-kharkov.html

Odessa massacre coordinator killed in Kharkov terrorist attack

Posted on Fort Russ

February 23, 2015
Translated by Kristina Rus
“No Condolences”
“Internet militia” reports: Kharkov explosion during Maidan anniversary march on February 22 killed the coordinator of Kharkov Maidan, who brought the football fans of “Metallist” to burn people in Odessa Trade Unions building on May 2, 2014.
Kristina Rus:
 
Without looking at any other information, two theories about yesterday’s Kharkov explosion have a right to exist: either it was done by the Kiev junta or by it’s opponents.
 
Kiev junta of course is a terrorist government. It came to power by provocations and resorted to provocations in order to stay in power. As soon as it was done with one provocation it would begin plotting the next. If the information above is indeed true, then the Kiev junta could kill two birds with one stone: get rid of a key witness and earn some reputation points by “proving” that the “separatists” are indeed “terrorists”, just when the public opinion was shifting away from the war after Kiev’s devastating loss of 3,500 soldiers in Debaltsevo.
 
If it was done by the “Kharkov anti-junta underground”, then they could set out to eliminate a key participant of the Odessa massacre, and terrorize junta supporters, who are not welcome by the majority Russian-speaking Kharkov. But then they would be resorting to the same tactics as the junta. No doubt, that it is possible that there could be some in the resistance who could turn to such methods on their own, just like the anti-fascist underground in the 1940’s. But it would also a gift to the junta and the Western media supporting it in justifying their narrative and would be contrary to the overall mission of the anti-junta movement to create an all-inclusive truly democratic society without terror and nationalist slogans in Ukraine (or at least their own regions-republics).
 
At least 700 people have been detained in Kharkov on charges of separatism, and Kharkov was of course the only other city besides Lugansk and Donetsk, were the resistance had seized the regional administration building in April, trying to set up a Kharkov Republic. In a way Kharkov saved Lugansk and Donetsk, since it was geographically closer to Kiev and was the only location were the junta could manage to direct it’s storm troopers, who stormed the building arrested the activists inside, and surrounded it’s perimeter, but would not respond to locals’ questions in Russian or Ukrainian.
 
The fact that administration buildings were seized by the Right Sector and other militants (previously trained for years in Poland and Lithuania) in Western Ukraine and downtown Kiev as part of a coup to overthrow the government of Yanukovich did not seem to upset junta’s Western backers.