Army wives urge Russia to come clean on soldiers in Ukraine

yahoo.com ^ | August 28, 2014 | Anna Smolchenko

[Tailgunner Joe]

Kostroma (Russia) (AFP) - Several dozen women gathered outside a military base in central Russia on Thursday to demand that commanders come clean about the whereabouts of their husbands after reports of secret funerals for soldiers covertly sent to Ukraine.

The women -- mostly in their 20s, a few with small children -- huddled outside a base that houses paratroopers in Kostroma, around 300 kilometres (200 miles) north of Moscow.

Some 350 soldiers from the city were this month sent on military drills to the border with Ukraine and then went incommunicado, said one of the women, 26-year-old Valeria Sokolova.

Commanders from the base have told her several have returned dead, she said, and around 15 wounded soldiers were also flown back this week.

"Cargo-200 arrived yesterday," Sokolova said, citing military officials and using the Russian army term for body bags.

Funerals for those killed are expected to be held in the town on Friday.

The women stood outside the drab base with banners extolling the "beloved troops of the motherland", but military commanders refused to confirm that their loved ones had been sent to Ukraine, Sokolova said. They were told they could not hold a formal demonstration and should go home.

Mothers and wives of Russia paratroopers captured in Ukraine stand near a check point in Kostroma on … "They would only tell us that they are not in Russia," she said.

[goldstategop]

No longer in service to Soviet proletarianism. But the calls to support a fraternal government and fight fascism are like the 80s are calling.

[SunkenCiv]

> Several dozen women gathered outside a military base in central Russia on Thursday to demand that commanders come clean about the whereabouts of their husbands after reports of secret funerals for soldiers covertly sent to Ukraine.

I have no problem with funerals for neosoviet red army soldiers.

Thanks Tailgunner Joe.

[publius911]

Another reason why I increasingly believe that the greatest human invention to date, as well as the most dangerous is the internet, the World Wide Web.

Its unintended consequences are limitless both for good and for ill.

Before, an isolated woman could complain to a bureaucrat, be ignored even by her national leader who would simply deny everything and that would be the end of it.

Today, a dozen women can get together and reach the eyes and ears of hundreds of millions in a few minutes.

Despotism just isn't as easy as it used to be.

[GeronL]

If you see my post #21 on this thread

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3198293/posts

I pulled together some of the recent reportings from the invasion of Ukraine.

BTW- they report that 14-15 hours ago another armored column crossed the border into Ukraine.

[familyop]

NATO should be hitting those Russian aircraft and armored units as they cross the border.