Ukraine crisis: What the 'Russian soldier' photos say ('Russian' soldier photos appear to be fake

BBC ^ | 4/22/2014 | Staff

[Laissez-faire capitalist]

Theses photos [at URL] purport to show the same bearded Russian soldier (circled) in operation in Georgia in 2008 and Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in 2014

Photos released by the Ukranian government as "proof" of Russian soldiers on the ground in Donetsk leave many questions to be answered...

The low-quality, annotated images were handed to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 16 April, as evidence that Russian "sabotage-reconnaissance groups" had been working with separatists in the Donetsk towns of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

According to a NYT article, the photos and their descriptions were "endorsed by the Obama administration".

However, the BBC has been unable to verify the pictures and there was no immediate response from the Russian government...

The Ukranian press release says the photos show the same heavily bearded gunman taking part in militant operations in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk this year, and in an operation in Georgia in 2008...

This would be damning evidence indeed but in the 2014 photos, the man's greying beard apppears to be black while in Georgia six years ago, the slimmer-looking man shown has a reddish beard.

The Ukranian government highlights a Russian special forces badge on the sleeve of the gunman in Georgia but such badges can be bought on the internet for less than $5.

Another set of photos purports to show the same masked gunman in both Crimea earlier and in the Donetsk region this month. However, while a similar uniform is worn in both photos, the masks are different, as is the way the pistol is worn on his belt. Is this really the same gunman?

Apart from the photo said to have been taken in Georgia, all of the images seem to be recent and there is nothing to suggest any of them were taken outside Ukraine.

[hubel458]

‘’Putin is putting everyone in the world into the middle of this crisis in one way or another.... ‘’

Exactly right; WE, UK, Nato, EU, the rest of the world

need to get right up his and supporters nose,

And tell Putin to take his assholism and little

green men terrorists and go the hell home.....

There Are Some Things That Stick In A Man’s Craw,

That Are Worse Than The Thought Of Death..Ed

[little jeremiah]

Placemark

[Laissez-faire capitalist]

Very cmpelling insight...

Good post.

And I notice, no retort from rude either.

[jjsheridan5]

I suspect there are many people who really want Russia to be the big bad villain, for the same reason that many on the left see "fascism" everywhere: because they envision themselves in the role of White Rose, a romantic vision of a scrappy underdog fighting for good against insurmountable odds. The problem is that, in doing so, they lose sight of context, and fail to grasp the magnitude of how bad fascism, and communism, really were. So cross-border activity in the east of the Ukraine becomes, in their mind, a full scale invasion replete with violations of the Geneva convention, rather than what it is: the kind of thing that has been happening in that area of the world for 100's of years. Not necessarily pretty or "good", but not the end of the world, either.

[1rudeboy]

I refer you to my comment #39. And if you want a response, ping me. That’s how things work around here. No need to artificially boost your ego.

[FBD]

Title of the article was altered by the poster.
The title is:
‘Ukraine crisis: What the ‘Russian soldier’ photos say’

[hubel458]

‘’how bad fascism, and communism, really were.’’

jj—And they still are bad, and Putin and his KGB minion
running Russia just combined the two to the detriment of
the world. They meddle everywhere that keeps energy prices
up, as well as in Ukraine, Georgia. Polls show that 60%
of Russians want to go back and expand to the old Soviet
Union, running all of Asia and Europe.

On the AR forum we have long thread about Ukraine and
we have Russian trolls paid by Putin to promote him,
one of whom says if we or EU puts one private on the ground
the missles will fly to the US.

I posted fine, most of your rusted junk won’t reach the
Arctic but ours will reach. Sometimes you just gotta
give the world assholes, an attitude adjustment...

Where do you say enough, especially when it appears that
our administration behind the scenes, seems to be giving
away half of Ukraine, as evidenced by their not even
lukewarm response. That is our ‘’flexibility’’ bunch that
has to go into the dustbin also..

Where do we, US, Nato, EU, stop the crap.I’m not a lib but
a redneck gun nut who posts on Accurate Reloading,
where they have a political forum with a thread about
Ukraine hundreds of pages long, with some posters who
are there and in the EU. Please heck it out ..Ed

[hubel458]

[kaehurowing]

I thought it was Woody Allen from the movie “Bananas.”