Posted on 06/13/2022 6:48:47 AM PDT by dennisw
The Russians know that they were regular military. They’re not assuming anything. It was a show trial and just like in the 30s, some westerners fall for it.
One of them is a naturalized Ukrainian citizen, having received citizenship prior to the invasion. He originally moved to Ukraine because his wife is Ukrainian and has been in their military for a few years. The russians know this and there is video evidence for it.
A big difference between their cases and other mercenaries is that here they are actually soldiers in the Ukrainian military. They’re not private contractors, etc.
It’s also interesting because Russia has plenty of non-nationals and dual-nationals (Uzbek supply drivers, there were articles early in the invasion about how they arrived in Russia, were given Russian passports, and started work supplying the military). So it could end up in a tit for tat situation.
They’re hostages and a deterrent at the same time. Perhaps they will actually execute one of them and keep the other.
:-)...Aaaah, the poor foreign mercenaries that decided to stuck their nose into war that was none of their business.
So what. Putin is to blame for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. All that Putin rubbish about Russia’s security? A fantasy that he uses on dupes like you. What really happened is that NATO/EU/ were leaving Russia in the dust economically, making Russians look like their oil/gas supplying clowns. This is why Putin would not let Ukraine join NATO and EU. Ukrainian (Slavs) economic successes would make Putin look like a Slavic loser and chump.
Not Mercs. Go read #41.
I say, that’s a rather expensive virtue signal
What if Russian mercs were nabbed in Mexico?
“huh?”
They sure are.
“It’s like going to Wisconsin!”
This is all so immature, including the so-called reporting of this stuff.
They originally signed up for the Nazi militia, later incorporated into the 36th Marines after the Russians promised to hang irregulars.
They are Ukrainian citizens, in the Ukrainian military.
All my life conservatives defended mercenaries and many Americans sought work to fight in Africa and Latin America against Russian interests, especially during the 1970s and the red hot Reagan years, when Americans doing mercenary work was at it’s peak.
The left hated mercs and their anti-Russia and anti-Communist dedication, the left even hated Soldier of Fortune magazine and others like it.
Here is an example with the leftist VVAW condoning the Angola executions of brits and an American Vietnam vet.
Mercenary Shot in Angola: No Tears for Daniel
http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=3536&print=yes
“They are Ukrainian citizens, in the Ukrainian military.”
The nitwits here are calling them mercenaries. Same as Putin’s TV stooges.
Yeah, I know.
It’s not worth arguing with them.
I don’t even read their crap.
It just raises your blood pressure.
There are many half truths in what you wrote.
Many things were left out.
But what is a fact is the NO MAJOR POWER wants another playing in what they see as their sphere of influence and for the US that is nearly the entire Pacific Rim, South America and NATO nations.
We would not accept what we are demanding Russia to accept in the 60s and almost hurled the world into a nuclear war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
We would not accept it in the 80s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis The Soviets were building a runway which could support strategic bombers there.
We do not accept it today: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220508-australia-pm-says-will-ensure-no-china-base-on-solomon-islands-1 (that is us in the background).
While we freak out over missiles and the Soviets setting up shop on Cuba, with 90 miles of water between us, or the Solomon Islands with 6414 miles from our S. W. border, we are expecting Russia to accept a situation where:
1. Ukraine shares 1,400 miles of border with Russia. That long border includes large and open maneuver corridors where you can easily stuff large armored and mechanized forces through, rail lines with the same gauge, major road routes that lead into Russia: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Map_of_Ukraine_border_with_Russia.png
2. Moscow is ~ 10 - 12 minutes from Ukraine with a modern high speed (hypersonic) missile: http://distancebetween2.com/moscow/kiev#:~:text=The%20total%20straight%20line%20distance,to%20curvature%20of%20the%20road%20. This gives us a first strike advantage.
3. Ukraine has infrastructure which could support a large force stationed there.
4. Ukraine is large and has forested areas where you can easily hide things: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anatoliy-Nijnik/publication/258383304/figure/fig2/AS:324937035337728@1454482434973/Forestry-zoning-of-Ukraine-Source-adapted-from-39-and-the-records-of-the-National.png
5. Bordering NATO nations to the North West and South West, logistics is easy: https://cdn.britannica.com/17/4817-050-53CD4527/Ukraine-map-features-locator.jpg
6. With a bunch of large and hardball airfields, Ukraine can support both strategic lift but also bombers... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_Ukraine
7. Much of Russia’s ICBMs are based in their West and Ukraine being NATO, as well as our breaking away from the Ballistic Missile Treaty, has serious implications for their nuclear deterrent capabilities: https://nuclearforces.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/NewSTART-2012-Russia.png
For Russia this is a security matter first and foremost.
It is the West that has the economic motive.
Your feelings and loyalty to Ukraine aside, this situation is unacceptable for Russia and if we were in their shoes, we would do the same. If YOU were on the Russian side, YOU would see this as unacceptable. This isn’t about your “feelings.” Russia is not the big guy here. We are. Russia is not the one that was calling the shots, we were. We put Mr. Z in power, we keep Mr. Z in power, we armed the crap out of Ukraine, and we decided to admit Ukraine to NATO in October 2021.
This right here, was us causing a war: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-president-zelenskiy-holding-talks-with-biden-adviser-says-2021-12-09/
Russia is reacting to us, not us to them.
Russia has 55% of our Army, ~43% of our Navy and Air-force. They have the GDP of Texas. Their allies are few and weak compared to ours... The Warsaw Pact is gone, the Soviet Union is gone. All these feelings that were invoked by Western “propaganda” (and that is what that was), were based on historical events that are not relevant today. They were not even remotely realistic (all that talk about Putin rebuilding the Soviet Union, invading Europe... what a bunch of crap).
In reality, Russia is in a corner and we were poking them. They didn’t even want to do this, this is something they were essentially forced into unless they accept us being able to do whatever we want, when we want it, where we want it. This is a war we 100% unquestionably provoked. We created a situation that was so bad, so intolerable, specific to Russia’s security situation, that unless they are willing to accept laying face down and sticking their ass up for us, they basically had to do what they did.
“Mercenaries are always executed and usually never leave the field of battle.”
The reports are they officially joined the Ukrainian military some time before the 2022 Russian invasion. If true, they are not mercenaries.
“Why would that make him a mercenary? These three went into The Ukraine to fight as foreigners within that country. THEY WERE NOT LEGAL CITIZENS.”
Hell, you don’t have to be a US citizen to serve in the US military. But you can’t be an officer. You do have to be in the US legally in order to enlist.
“Yeah...they were out committing war crimes against civilians, for which they’ll pay with their lives.”
What specific war crimes have they been charged with? Please provide the link that specifies “war crimes.”
The only charges I’ve seen are for being “mercenaries,” though they’d been in the Ukrainian military for quite some time before the 2022 Russian invasion.
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