We all know who Putin is and what he’s capable of...but he’s not an instigator...he’s a reactionaryFrom SkyNews, August 10, 2008
"The crisis was sparked earlier this week when Georgia sent troops into the breakaway province of South Ossetia to quell a Russian-backed separatist uprising."
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Russia-On-Verge-Of-All-Out-War-As-Troops-Clash-In-Georgias-South-Ossetia/Article/200808215074261?lpos=World%2BNews_4&lid=ARTICLE_15074261_Russia%2BOn%2BVerge%2BOf%2BAll-Out%2BWar%2BAs%2BTroops%2BClash%2BIn%2BGeo
____________________________________________________________
From the New York Times, September 15, 2008
Georgia Offers Fresh Evidence on War’s Start
Russia has not disputed the veracity of the phone calls, which were apparently made by Ossetian border guards on a private Georgian cellphone network. “Listen, has the armor arrived or what?” a supervisor at the South Ossetian border guard headquarters asked a guard at the tunnel with the surname Gassiev, according to a call that Georgia and the cellphone provider said was intercepted at 3:52 a.m. on Aug. 7.
“The armor and people,” the guard replied. Asked if they had gone through, he said, “Yes, 20 minutes ago; when I called you, they had already arrived.”
Shota Utiashvili, the director of the intelligence analysis team at Georgia’s Interior Ministry, said the calls pointed to a Russian incursion. “This whole conflict has been overshadowed by the debate over who started this war,” he said. “These intercepted recordings show that Russia moved first and that we were defending ourselves.”
The recordings, however, do not explicitly describe the quantity of armor or indicate that Russian forces were engaged in fighting at that time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/world/europe/16georgia.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
____________________________________________________________
Georgia says Russia deploying troops in S.Ossetia
October 23, 2008
TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia said on Thursday Russia had deployed 2,000 additional troops into South Ossetia in the past week and was preparing "provocations" in the breakaway territory.
"In the past week, Russia increased the number of troops by 2,000 to 7,000 staff," Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told a news conference.
"We fear Russia is preparing provocations in South Ossetia," he said.
There was no immediate response from Russian authorities.
Utiashvili said dozens of Russian armored vehicles had been positioned in the disputed Akhalgori region, the southeastern corner of South Ossetia which Georgia insists should be returned to Tbilisi's control under a French-brokered ceasefire deal.
Russia sent troops and tanks into Georgia in August to repel an offensive by the Georgian military to retake pro-Russian South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in 1991-92.
Russia's powerful counter-strike drove the Georgian army out of South Ossetia, and Moscow's troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent Georgian attacks.
The West condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" and Russian troops have since pulled back from buffer zones around South Ossetia and a second breakaway region, Abkhazia.
The Kremlin has recognised both rebel regions as independent states and said it would station 7,600 troops there to provide security.
A 225-strong European Union mission is monitoring the ceasefire, patrolling the former buffer zone around South Ossetia up to its de facto border.
Russia says the mission will not be allowed to operate inside South Ossetia.
(Reporting by Niko Mchedlishvili; editing by Christian Lowe)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081023/wl_nm/us_georgia_ossetia_troops_1
Russia decries 'new Cold War' as East-West tensions cloud talks
AFP, by Frank Zeller, Eric Randolph
February 13, 2016
"...a panel of eastern European leaders lined up to add their own accusations of Russian aggression.
"Every single day, Russian troops, Russian weapons, Russian ammunition penetrate into my country," said Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko.
He addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was not present, saying:
"Mr Putin, this is not a civil war in Ukraine, this is your aggression. This is not a civil war in Crimea, this is your soldiers who occupied my country."
http://web.archive.org/save/http://news.yahoo.com/russias-medvedev-says-world-cold-war-091417194.html
Donald Trump: 'Putin has eaten Obama's lunch' on Ukraine
Mar 13, 2014
Eun Kyung Kim: TODAY
Donald Trump slammed President Obama Thursday on TODAY for failing to take a stronger line against President Vladimir Putin in dealing with Ukraine, saying he feared Obama would now make up for lost time with imprudent moves to "show his manhood."
The real estate mogul and reality-TV star, who has criticized Putin for sending military troops into Crimea, said Obama must now take fierce steps to prevent the situation from escalating further.
"We should definitely do sanctions and we have to show some strengths. I mean, Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time," Trump said. ..."
http://www.today.com/news/donald-trump-putin-has-eaten-obamas-lunch-ukraine-2D79372098
From 2014
Yushchenko, hero of Ukraine's Orange Revolution warns Europe that Putin won't stop at Crimea
by Matthew Schofield - McClatchy Foreign Staff
March 27, 2014
Many Ukrainians believe you need look no further than the face of Viktor Yushchenko to understand Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
Once smooth and ruggedly handsome, it still bears the scars from an assassination attempt when someone slipped dioxin into Yushchenko's food. ..."
Read more here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24765781.html#storylink=cpy
______________________________________________
*******************************************************************
Russia Deploying Tactical Nuclear Arms in Crimea
Obama backing indirect talks with Moscow aimed at cutting U.S. non-strategic nukes in EuropeBY: Bill Gertz
October 10, 2014
Russia is moving tactical nuclear weapons systems into recently-annexed Crimea while the Obama administration is backing informal talks aimed at cutting U.S. tactical nuclear deployments in Europe. ..."
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-deploying-tactical-nuclear-arms-in-crimea/
*******************************************************************
Ignore the red and orange lines. They were already on the map when I downloaded it.
