Ukraine first.. Moldova will be next
Good point, they've just elected a pro-EU president. Not to mention Transistria....
when will eu sanctions against russia kick in.. on declaration of russian recognition of ukraine provinces being independent... or when russian army enters ukraine (whatever that means after russia is done unilaterally declaring parts of the country independent..) ..?!
I would imagine they will have to kick in if there is a declaration of recognition. It is essentially a declaration of war. The world turned a blind eye with Crimea, hard to see how anything short of severe sanctions will not be warranted.
It’s scarier without an interpreter
It's chess. The EU/US have agreed to sanction Russia but only if they invade, so if Moscow recognises Donetsk and Luhansk there are unlikely to be repercussions. It's a clever move by Russia. They could hypothetically deescalate after that, and then continue all this at a later stage when the world isn't paying so much attention. If Russia does recognise the two regions, 100% there will be a "referendum" down the line and they'll be incorporated into Russia. It's really insane stuff, a very shrewd cynical methodical invasion of it's neighbour. Crimea, soon Eastern Ukraine. Moldova must be sweating.
Is he trying to add to his collection of large economically deprived countries? Russians are renowned for their logic but I dont get it.
Don't mistake Russian speaking with Russian feeling. The overwhelming majority of people in Ireland speak English as their native tongue. It doesn't mean they'd welcome a return to the United Kingdom - far from it.
Odessa is a majority Russian speaking city and they had a big pro-Ukraine rally at the weekend.
Russia could easily invade all of those locations but holding onto them without major ongoing losses would be another thing altogether.
You do realise the information is open source? My 7 year old can look this up.
Hey, thread has been great today without the usual suspects. Imagine that.
Maybe they got sent to the front
They probably got called in front of a council and were asked questions which they hadn't rehearsed for..
Putin is speaking at 6pm our time when he will almost certainly recognise the DNR/LNR as independent.
The kicker is illustrated below. The DNR/LNR comprise less than half of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. But the claim of control over all of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts is written into the "constitutions" of the puppet enclaves. I don't see what he gains by recognising only the currently occupied territory and nothing else.
I don't even see what he gains by trying to get all of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and nothing else. That still leaves the "problem" of the rest of Ukraine for him. And all of it is a "problem" for him.
#BREAKING | Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov: #Putin to make a televised address to #Russians soon.
5
I'd imagine the play-book is recognition, troops enter DNR / LNR and occupy area up to current line of contact. Then provoke a response from Ukraine (and one will be manufactured if they don't take the bait), followed by a massive military assault to destroy the Ukrainian military and security services. There will be a temporary occupation, an attempt to install a puppet Government and a subsequent withdrawal to the historical borders of Donetsk and Luhansk. In time there will be a referendum to incorporate the territories into Russia itself, but well down the line.
Be that as it may , where do NATO come in here ?
They don't. There will have to a major rethink of European security following this, a major increase in military forces in Eastern Europe. There won't be any NATO intervention here.
They don't. That's pretty clear cut.
Ukraine won't be defended by anyone that isn't Ukrainian. The Western response will be purely economic.
So with that in mind , (sorry clueless mostly) where does World War 3 come in to being ?
It doesn't....
Cold War 2.0 with iron curtain on Romanian border?
The narratives are being updated. They'll be back again posting stuff that directly contradicts what they were saying previously and when you point that out, they'll just ignore it. When a person's opinions for whatever reason line up with Russian propaganda which doesn't even attempt to be consistent, those contradictions will keep happening.
Macron and Scholz have been informed by Putin that he will sign a declaration of recognition. War it is.
Basically Ukraine could be thrown to the wolves here and all Europe and US can employ is sanctions, certainly sucks for Ukraine , but assistance to Ukraine potentially means WW3.
the west will continue to supply ukraine with weapons as well assuming putin doesnt go and take entire country....
RT reporting in advance of Putin's speech tonight that the decision has been made.
I can’t figure out how invading will work well for Russia. I’m sure Putin has some vision on how it could play out but it just seems so high risk.
where does this end.. out eu brothers & sisters in poland, the baltics, romania etc. must be horrified ... ukraine today.. latvia tomorrow??
When it comes to drinking, and more especially Russian's drinking, its a different ballgame entirely !!! ......as my Russian Friend and drinking buddy used to say when I asked him how much he could drink, Well, he said. the 1st bottle is for starters and to get the ball rolling ( so to speak) bottle Nr 2 is the life and soul of the party, but bottle Nr 3 is the kiddy....that's when I draw my gun and start shooting!!!
And thats very true, believe it or not.
I think this prospect has actually sealed the fate for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Russia has little option but to completely destroy it, alongside the wider security forces, to counter the threat in the years ahead.
There won't be much of a military left to arm. They could set the armed forces back a decade or more.
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