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Vostok Battalion, A Powerful New Player In Eastern Ukraine
RFE/RL Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty ^ | May 30, 2014 | Claire Bigg

Posted on 06/03/2014 12:42:29 AM PDT by WhiskeyX

Rumors that battle-hardened Chechen fighters from Russia's notorious Vostok Battalion are active in eastern Ukraine have been swirling for weeks.

They unexpectedly materialized on May 29 when dozens of heavily armed men identifying themselves as members of the Vostok Battalion stormed the separatists' headquarters in central Donetsk, evicting the motley band of pro-Russian rebels that had occupied the building since March.

The brazen raid, conducted in broad daylight, has plunged the region into new uncertainty. The emergence of such a widely recognizable Russian military structure in eastern Ukraine has also raised questions about Moscow's role in the conflict.

So what is the Vostok Battalion and what is it doing in eastern Ukraine?

(Excerpt) Read more at rferl.org ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: chechen; russia; ukraine

1 posted on 06/03/2014 12:42:29 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
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To: WhiskeyX

This isn’t the Vostok from Chechnya, but a home grown version, calling themselves Vostok(East). About 1/3rd Ukrainians, and around 2/3rds Russian volunteers.

They appear to be associated with Igor Bezler’s Horlivka group, but not directly under his command.


2 posted on 06/03/2014 12:52:01 AM PDT by tcrlaf (Q)
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To: tcrlaf

“This isn’t the Vostok from Chechnya, but a home grown version, calling themselves Vostok(East). About 1/3rd Ukrainians, and around 2/3rds Russian volunteers.”

“They appear to be associated with Igor Bezler’s Horlivka group, but not directly under his command.”

That is a rather feeble and pathetic attempt upon your part to cloak the Russian command and control of the Vostok Battalion with blatant disinformation.

The Vostok Battalion was reorganized by the Russian GRU in November 2008 and further reorganized in more recent years as the number of its Chechen members continued to decline while on operations in South Ossetia. Using the experience with Chechens as a model, the varous Russian armed forces have been conducting further experiments with raising special operations forces from certain ethnic groups regarded as less reliable or desirable in the conventional Russian armed forces.

The Interior Ministry for one example is following the model with its raising of a special operations force of Daghestani recruits. Now that the GRU’s reorganized Vostok Battalion has been transferred to the Ukrainian front, the battalion is recruiting Ukrainian citizens to serve in the battalion as professional contract soldiers (kontracti) or mercenaries.

Presumably the new doctrine would see this mercenary force recruit from the local population of any future theaters of operation to enhance its ability to falsely pose as local insurgents and foreign “volunteers” in much the same way as the Soviets did in China in the 1930s, in Korea in 1950-1953, and a wide assortment of other conflicts since 1918.

Bottomline, you are a liar attempting to coverup the fact the Russian GRU is invading the Ukraine and attempting to overthrow the Ukrainian Government and its local governments by armed force by using mercenaries organized in a Russian special operations battalion under Russian command and control. The Vostok battalion and its covert opertions are prohibited by interntaional law. The Vostok Battalion and its members are liable to prosecution as war criminals.


3 posted on 06/03/2014 3:07:10 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
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To: WhiskeyX

“Bottomline, you are a liar”

You sir, are completely nuts.
A simple google search would show you that this is VERY well documented already.
http://www.rferl.org/content/vostok-battalion-a-powerful-new-player-in-eastern-ukraine/25404785.html

I guess Radio Free Europe is just “Paid Putinista Propaganda!!”, right?


4 posted on 06/03/2014 3:39:25 AM PDT by tcrlaf (Q)
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To: tcrlaf
You sir, are completely nuts.

That's putting it mildly.

5 posted on 06/03/2014 5:15:18 AM PDT by mac_truck ( Aide toi et dieu t aidera)
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To: tcrlaf

1. The link you provided is the exact same source I provided for the article that was the topic of the thread, corroborates what I said, and is evidence that what you said is a lie.

2. See No. 1.

3. You are a liar because you said the Vostok Battalion was organized in the Ukraine from one-third Ukrainians and two-thirds Russian volunteers; whereas the article and I noted the Vostok Battalion was organized in the Southern Military District of Russia as a Russian special operations military battalion under Russian GRU command and control, transferred to the Ukraine, and recruited some small number of Ukrainians to supplement the overwhelming number of Russian professional contract soldiers.


6 posted on 06/03/2014 6:30:13 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
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