US/NATO/EU and the desperate subversion of Ukraine

[John Dolva]

MOSCOW, May 23. /ITAR-TASS/.

The Russian Armed Forces General Staff stated that tens of foreign mercenaries are acting in Ukraine on the side of the current Kiev authorities, a high-ranking representative of the country’s General Staff who participates in the 3rd Moscow International Security Conference told reporters on Friday.

“According to available data, dozens of foreign mercenaries, including Americans, are taking part in combat actions on the side of Kiev authorities in south-eastern Ukraine,” the General Staff representative said.

Earlier, Russia’s ambassador to the OSCE Andrei Kelin stated at the session of the organization’s permanent council that there were no Russian subversives in Ukraine, however, US mercenaries were coordinating Ukrainian servicemen in the south-east.

The diplomat recalled that at the previous meetings, the Russian side asked the colleagues to confirm there were no employees of American private military enterprises on the territory of Ukraine. “We were assured that they weren’t there. However, today reports appear in western — not Russian — media, in particular, in the famous German newspaper Das Bild, that foreign mercenaries are indeed in Ukraine,” he said.

Read also

Russia disappointed with OSCE discussion of journalists’ detention in Ukraine

Ukrainian law enforcers build up forces around Donetsk

Martial law introduced in self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic

Turchinov: Kiev ready for final stage of punitive operation in Ukraine’s east

According to the General Staff, there are also facts of participation of private military companies in the Ukrainian events.

The United States and its allies initiated a large part of modern local military conflicts, Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov said at the 3rd Moscow International Security Conference on Friday.

“The US cannot put up with formation of new centers of power,” he said, noting that the US used a broad range of methods, such as sanctions and aid to pro-Western forces. “The military force is becoming a decisive argument,” Gerasimov noted.

Radio interception data

Representatives of people’s militia taking part in Sloviansk defense, have reported May 2 that radio interception data points to participation of foreigners in the punitive operation carried out by the Kiev authorities.

Thus, on different radio frequencies, the militiamen noted that their rivals were talking in English.

Russia demands that the USA carries out an investigation

Earlier, Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov stated that Moscow insists on looking into the reports saying employees of Greystone, a US-based private military company, were involved in the Ukrainian developments, as well as that an American arms depot was found in the republic’s territory.

In addition, the minister mentioned that, according to some reports, “in some incidents, foreigners were also noted”.

[John Dolva]

LUGANSK, May 23, 5:19 /ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian military on Thursday opened fire near the town of Rubezhnoye, the Lugansk Region to kill four and injure sixteen others, military doctor Gennady Moralishvili told a news conference later in the day.

He said first civilians had blocked a Ukrainian army unit on the way to Rubezhnoye.

“They (military - Itar-Tass) were prepared to surrender and agreed to lay down arms. Our people game them something to eat and took them back. On the way they came under the fire of their own forces,” he said.

Infographics Martial law in self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic

May 22, 2014, martial law has been introduced in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic. Under the martial law, general mobilization of men aged 18-45 has been announced.

Moralishvili told the media that according to available information four were killed and sixteen others injured. There were civilians among the casualties.

“Troops were firing shots at civilians,” he said.

According to Moralishvili some representatives of the local people’s militia had contacted the Ukrainian forces near the city to try to persuade them not to open fire, because some industrial enterprises in the area manufacture ammonia and explosives.

Moralishvili said paratroops from the 25th Dnepropetrovsk division were involved in the operation near Rubezhnoye. Some soldiers claim they had been forced to participate in the operation.

“They said outright that they had been mobilized. In case of refusal they would have been sentenced to eight years in prison,” Moralishvili said.

[John Dolva]

The West Supported Coup in Ukraine, Says Putin

Saint Petersburg, Russia, May 23 (Prensa Latina) The Ukrainian crisis was the result of the coup that followed the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovich, with support from the United States and the European Union, said Russian President Vladimir Putin in this city today.

• Lavrov Urges West to Stop Supporting Ukranian Fascists
• Putin Highlights Failure of Unipolar Model

[John Dolva]

BRUSSELS, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – US authorities are pressuring non-governmental organizations to ignore the detention of Russian journalists in Ukraine, a source at a prominent media rights group told RIA Novosti Friday.

"The US government agencies send us and our colleagues pressing requests not to protect the interests of Russian journalists, who work on the Ukrainian territory and get detained by the security forces of that country," said the source, who preferred not to give their name or the name of the organization.

"Their explanation is that Russian journalists have completely discredited themselves, as they had allegedly witnessed at interrogations without interfering with the ill-treatment of the detained, often hide their faces, interact with terrorists, and thus, take their side," the source added.

Journalists of Russian news portal LifeNews, Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, were detained May 18 by the Ukrainian National Guard near the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region after they caught on camera a UN-marked military helicopter apparently used in a special operation targeting demonstrators.

They were later accused of assisting terrorism in the region. Their current whereabouts are unknown. Russian authorities have repeatedly issued calls for their freedom.

Over the past two months, reporters of Russia’s leading channels have been kidnapped, beaten, threatened and denied access to Ukraine. Broadcasting of Russian media has also been banned across the country.

The US insists that Russian journalists adhere to a "wrong" viewpoint, provide "nonobjective" coverage of events, and justify the actions of "separatists and armed terrorists" in their reports, the source said.

"This document – the instructions – also mentions that Russian media uses separatists attributes, the so-called St. George Ribbons. That is why their interests should not be protected," the source added.

[John Dolva]

MARIUPOL, May 23 /ITAR-TASS/. A curfew is enforced in the troubled city of Mariupol to help end looting that the volunteer guard is unable to counteract, the city’s military commandant’s office told Itar-Tass on Friday.

“A gang has started marauding in the city,” the press service of the newly formed Donetsk People’s Republic said confirming the information. “Self-defence units are making attempts to counteract them but it’s rather difficult as small mobile groups of looters, who are wearing the St.George ribbons, rob banks and shops.”

Mariupol’s military commandant has established a dusk-to-dawn curfew (from 00.00 to 04.00 local time) starting from May 24, the press service said. The police refuse to co-operate with the DPR activists and to ensure law and order in the city, it said.

In the meantime, more Ukrainian military forces have been seen about 30 kilometres from the city and the volunteer guard men fear possible provocations and an attack on the city before May 25, the day of Ukraine’s presidential election.

On May 9, reports said Ukrainian law-enforcement personnel had opened fire from armoured vehicles at participants in a Victory Day rally who had gathered near the building of the local police department and tried to prevent its storm.

According to representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, at least ten people were killed in the shooting. Television ran footage of law-enforcers using armoured vehicles to crash unarmed people.

[John Dolva]

​Donetsk bloodbath: Insider video shows Ukraine helicopters firing at own checkpoint

Published time: May 23, 2014 12:33

Edited time: May 23, 2014 19:59

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Screenshot from youtube.com/user/MrTheVvideo

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Ukrainian helicopter gunships shot at a Ukrainian military checkpoint in Donetsk Region in the aftermath of a night battle, a video presumably shot by one of the soldiers indicates. Apparently, Kiev’s troops suffer from gross lack of communications.

The eight-minute video on YouTube was shot near the town of Volnovakha in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region, according to the description. It shows a group of armed uniformed men with Ukrainian army insignia and at least two others in civilian clothes taking cover behind a military truck.

The vehicle is at a field and the men are observing from a distance a woodland belt separating on the field border At least two vans are seen and fire burns among the trees. Sporadic gunfire can be heard, possibly from ammunition detonating in the fire, and then a massive explosion erupts at the camp. The soldiers discuss whether they should fall back.

Then two Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunships start barraging at low altitude over the area. After several passes the aircraft start barraging the burning camp from their cannons.

“What are their doing?” one of the soldiers exclaims in surprise. “Are they ours?” “Who the f*** else?” another replies.

The group hastily flees the scene, but the cameraman continues shooting the footage, cursing and praying as he runs.

Screenshot from youtube.com/user/MrTheVvideo

A couple of minutes later he gets to another woodland belt. He approaches another Ukrainian military man, who is speaking on a mobile phone.

“Who are they shooting at?” the man says. “There are civilians and our soldiers there. Do you have a line to the army aviation, what the f*** is happening?”

“Two [Mi-]24s and one [Mi-]8 arrived. They are flying over our checkpoint and shooting at our checkpoint,” the report continues. “There are lots of corpses there. We were dousing the burning BMP [infantry combat vehicle], we thought the Mi-8 was going to pick up the bodies. Now they are shooting.”

Ukrainian troops use their helicopters in the fight against the local armed militias opposing Kiev’s rule to destroy hardware damaged in the clashes to prevent it from falling into the hands of the militias. Miscommunication among the troops could have led to the aviation command believing that the checkpoint was taken over by the militias.

The video was uploaded on YouTube on Tuesday, which puts the timing of the video hours after a night attack on the military checkpoint near Volnovakha. The attack may not have been a militia raid, but rather a case of friendly fire, in which one pro-Kiev unit mistakenly attacked another unit.

The battle left at least 16 Ukrainian troops killed and 30 others injured.

[John Dolva]

Saturday, May 24

00:09 GMT:

Human Rights Watch says that the investigation by Ukrainian authorities into the massacre in Odessa on May 2 that left 48 people dead and over 200 injured, does not “inspire confidence” because of the of the government's “tendency” to justify the actions of “supporters of unity,” as the NGO puts it.

“These serious crimes require serious, impartial and thorough investigation,” Rachel Denber, Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division for HRW told Ria Novosti. She says that she is aware that four investigations are being conducted, but it is the quality not the quantity that matters as well as “clarity and effectiveness in bringing the perpetrators to justice.”

Friday, May 23

23:21 GMT:

The former "people's mayor" of the city of Gorlovka, Aleksandr Sapunov, in the Donetsk Oblast has reportedly gone missing, pro-federalization supporters told Ria Novosti, adding that they have not been able to contact him since Friday morning.

“Today Sapunov was supposed to take his wife and daughter and put them on a train in Russia. In connection with the recent events, he decided to send them outside Ukraine,” a friend of Sapunov told the news agency. But instead, friends say, he has gone missing and has not got in touch with his wife. So far in the search for the missing politician, his car was found with no sign of breakage and with music still on.

22:58 GMT:

A criminal case has been opened against Ukrainian billionaire Renat Akhmetov by the newly appointed prosecutor of the People's Republic of Donetsk (PRD)

"Today, the PRD has been appointed Ravil Halikov as the new prosecutor. He already filed the first criminal cases against Renat Akhmetov for violating two articles, on tax evasion and an attempt to overthrow the government," said chairman of the PRD Supreme Council Dennis Pushilin, as cited by RIA Novosti.

No clarification was given as to what laws the country's richest man violated, PRD Criminal Code or the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

22:14 GMT:

The People's Republic of Donetsk (PRD) will not allow the Ukrainian presidential elections take place in the region, says chairman of the PRD Supreme Council Dennis Pushilin.

"They can say whatever they want," Pushilin said, as cited by Itar-tass, commenting on today's decision by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine to transfer all polling stations in Donetsk to the airport of Donetsk. "We will take all possible measures to make sure that these elections - on the territory of another state - do not take place."

21:52 GMT:

Ukraine's self-appointed president Aleksandr Turchinov held a meeting with the former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Kiev, Itar-Tass reports. During the meeting, Albright said that she welcomes Kiev's steps to prepare and conduct the presidential election, calling the move “historic.”

21:22 GMT:

The New York based Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) condemned the move by Kiev to bar a number of journalists, including RT crews from covering Sunday's elections.

The NGO says that if Kiev is looking to build democracy “they must stop barring the press from covering public events in the country, especially the presidential vote,” said Muzaffar Suleymanov, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program researcher.

"Openness and transparency are vital for democracy. We urge Ukraine to grant entry to all journalists, no matter their nationality or affiliation, or their newsroom's editorial line."

20:43 GMT:

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), in a newly released 14-page report on media freedom in Ukraine, claims that from the period from 28 November last year to 23 May nearly 300 cases of violence against journalists have been reported in Ukraine.

The probe finds that these cases include “murder, physical assaults, kidnappings, threats, intimidations, detentions, imprisonments, and damage and confiscation of equipment.”

Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović insists that it is important to provide journalists with a safe work environment to cover the upcoming elections.

“ With the early presidential election on 25 May in mind I call on the law enforcement agencies to offer all possible support and protection to the members of the media,” Mijatović said also calling on all media outlets to stop engaging in “propaganda.”

20:11 GMT:

The US has noticed Russian troops moving away from the border with Ukraine, said US State Department’s spokeswoman Marie Harf at a press briefing on Friday. However she added the US still believes there are many Russian military units near the border. The US believes that Russia should speed up the troops’ re-deployment to their permanent location, she noted.

19:41 GMT:

It will take 20 days to completely withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine's borders to places of their permanent location, the head of Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov said. He stressed that Russia started pulling back its forces on May, 19 and expects to fully relocate them by June, 8.

18:41 GMT:

Anti-government troops spread papers warning of attack by Kiev’s army and calling for mass evacuation.

Штаб ополчения Славянска призвал население к эвакуации. Листовки раздают в центре города. pic.twitter.com/lEpPoiOhOA

— Антимайдан (@myrevolutionrus) May 23, 2014

17:16 GMT:

Russia has requested the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to conduct an inquiry on possible use of poisoning substances during violence in Odessa on May,2, Stephane Dujarric, an official spokesperson for the UN said, according to Itar-Tass.

“There has been a request from Russia to launch an OPCW investigation,” he said. “Will see where it will lead to.”

16:59 GMT:

#Slavyansk anti-government troops call for mass evacuation of the city #Ukraine

— Irina Galushko (@IrinaGalushkoRT) May 23, 2014

13:17 GMT:

Officials in Kiev detention centers say they do not have the captured Russian LifeNews journalists - reporter Oleg Sidyakin and cameraman Marat Saichenko - in their facilities, the journalists’ lawyer Tatiana Khokhlova told RIA Novosti.

“Currently we have official responses from Kiev’s detention facilities that [sidyakin and Saichenko] are not being held there. Ukraine’s Security Council still has not given an official response. Lawyers are not permitted [to see them]” said Khokhlova.

09:53 GMT:

Clashes are reported in the village of Karlovka, 35km from the city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Anti-government protesters are fighting pro-Kiev group called Donbas Region Battalion, reports press service of the Donetsk People’s Republic. Nine members of Donbas battalion have been injured in the clashes.

09:38 GMT:

Journalists from RT Spanish accredited to cover the upcoming Ukrainian elections have been refused entry to Ukraine without any explanation. RT operator Aleksandr Serichenko and his assistant, Andrey Peleshok, were refused entry at Odessa Airport, southern Ukraine.

On May 20, journalists from RT Arabic were also denied entry to Ukraine, despite their accreditation to cover the elections.

[John Dolva]

LUGANSK, May 24 /ITAR-TASS/. The Kiev authorities may stage provocations during early presidential elections in Ukraine on May 25 in order to accuse the Southeast Army, a paramilitary formation that appeared during ongoing protests in Ukraine’s southeast, of disrupting the vote, the people’s governor of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), Valery Bolotov, said Saturday.

“I recommend LPR nationals not to go to the polling stations as we have information about provocations being prepared by the Ukrainian government and National Guard. They will be conducted to later accuse the Army of the Southeast of disrupting the elections,” Bolotov told journalists.

The people’s governor also said mobilization of the population is taking place on a voluntary basis.

“Local residents go to military registration and enlistment offices voluntarily, enlisting in the militia. In this way it is radically different from mobilization events in Ukraine, where people are forced to go to be killed under the threat of criminal responsibility,” he said.

The LPR government, Bolotov said, has nearly been formed in full. Work is currently underway to draft the republic’s constitution.

[John Dolva]

Little news from besieged areas of ukraine. Reports of journaists killed, wounded, detained and deported. It seems a typical blanket being drawn over events so so far there is only junta approved coverage with snippets in articles referring to the condition of people in anti-fascist camps. A prayer meeting in kiev attended by junta members asked for them to 'go up in smoke'.

[gap]

[John Dolva]

Donetsk, Lugansk republics unite in “Novorossiya” state

World

May 24, 21:29 UTC+4

The DPR commissions are currently working to form a new social and economic platform under which the new region will live

© Archiv ITAR-TASS/Konstantin Sazonchik

DONETSK, May 24. /ITAR-TASS/. Self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk have united in a state called Novorossiya (New Russia), the chairman of the DPR Supreme Council, Denis Pushilin has said.

“We’ve signed a memorandum on the republics’ union. We've named the united regions as the union of people’s republics,” Pushilin told Itar-Tass on Saturday.

Mobilisation starts in self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic

Answering a question about the unification of the republics’ government, he said, “I believe that this will happen in due time. It is expedient.”

The DPR commissions are currently working to form a new social and economic platform under which the new region will live, Pushilin said.

Earlier, Donbass Governor Pavel Gubarev said the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics “signed a document on the union in Novorossiya”.

“The document was signed by DPR premier Alexander Borodai and head of the Lugansk People’s Republic Alexei Karyakin,” Gubarev said.

“We do not recognise the president and parliament of Ukraine. The Donetsk and Lugansk republics are independent states. We will recognise a government of a newly-elected president if they [the Kiev authorities] recognise the republics’ independence,” he said.

“They should immediately withdraw troops from our republics and stop any military actions,” Gubarev added.

[John Dolva]

Sunday, May 25

22:03 GMT:

As of Monday, martial law has been declared in Donetsk region, the People's Republic co-chairman Denis Pushilin said, Itar-Tass reports.

"On the territory of Donetsk People's Republic martial law is instated. The main task is to clear the territory of the republic from the Ukrainian military divisions,” he said.

Pushilin also commented on Presidential hopeful Pyotr Poroshenko's earlier statement that he plans to visit the region.

"Let's face it. This is not quite appropriate,” Pushilin said because neither Poroshenko or anyone else in the presidential race have “condemned the criminal orders of the authorities in Kiev, from which peaceful people continue to die. None of them condemned the events in Odessa. What can we talk about here?"

The republic's official said that he is only willing to negotiate prisoner exchange and the exit of Ukrainian forces from the region with the government in Kiev and with the help of the intermediaries.

20:22 GMT:

In the nearest future "the active phase of the anti-terrorist operation will resume" in the eastern regions of Ukraine, the first deputy PM of Ukraine Vitaly Yarema said, Itar-Tass reports.

Yerema also stated that Ukrainian troops have completely blocked off parts of the areas under the control of the self-defense forces in Lugansk and Donetsk regions.

He stated that during elections “active actions by the Ukrainian army and law enforcement agencies were suspended so that the residents of the eastern areas could get to the polls and vote."

19:08 GMT:

Self-defense forces report ongoing fighting near Slavyansk in the Donetsk region, RIA Novosti reports. Machine-gun fire is heard at the scene, a self-defense activist told RIA. Another fight is ongoing at a fodder plant he added.

18:57 GMT:

Ukraine’s border service has confirmed the withdrawal of Russian troops from the border between the two countries.

“Russians are pulling away their troops from the border with Ukraine,” said the State Border Service’s head of the department of staff, Viktor Myshakovsky.

Russia started pulling back its forces on May, 19 and expects to fully relocate them by June, 8.

15:48 GMT:

Members of the district election committee in Novoaydar, Lugansk Region, were reportedly shot for refusing to open the polling station, said a member of the press service of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic.

"Our commandant reported that in Novoaydar the ‘Dnepr’ squad [a battalion of the National Guard] shot the committee members who refused to open the polling station," he told RIA Novosti.

15:07 GMT:

Kiev military shelled a café on Sunday near Novoaydar in Lugansk Region, an official from the administration of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic told RIA Novosti.

“They shelled a café with civilians” he said adding that there are killed and wounded.

[John Dolva]

Millares de ucranianos protestan en Donetsk contra elecciones

[John Dolva]

Millions of Ukrainians Protest Against Elections

Kiev, May 25 (Prensa Latina) Over two thousand people in the region of Donetsk, harassed by the Army, gathered today in Lenin main square to protest for the holding of the elections and the politics of the coup junta.

• Irregularities Detected in Ukranian Elections

[John Dolva]

MOSCOW, May 25, /ITAR-TASS/. Sunday’s presidential elections in Ukraine can be barely be called legitimate, Oleg Tserv, a member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parlaiement) and the leader of the South-East movement, told the Russia 24 television channel on Sunday night.

Although, he said it was still necessary to respect the choice of those Ukrainian who had voted for oligarch Petr Porishenko.

“Naturally, we cannot say these elections were legitimate, we can say only that we respect the will of those Ukrainian who voted for Poroshenko. But Donbass, Lugansk and Donetsk voted for neither of the candidates,” he said, noting that Poroshenko’s supporters were mainly from the Ukrainian western regions. “That is why we insist that this is the choice of only half of Ukraine,” he stressed, adding that if Poroshenko finally won the elections, he would be “the president of a half of the country.”

“The Poroshenko phenomenon stems from the fact that people are tired of the war, they are ready to vote for anyone who they think can stop this war. Yulia Timoshenko, who called to burn down the southeast of the country, Russians with atomic weapons… well, people have decided she is unable to stop the war,” he said.

“Much will depend on whether Petr Porioshenko takes the position of the Kiev authorities. If he condemns them, he will have a chance. If he stops the bloodshed, if he pulls back troops from the southeastern regions, announces amnesty, promises to change the constitution, grant the second official language status to the Russian language, he will have a chance,” Tsarev stressed.

[John Dolva]

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Aleksey Yaroshevsky, Human rights, Mass media, Military, Politics, Russia, Security, Ukraine

Two Russian journalists held in detention in Ukraine for several days say they were kept in a dug-out cell with sacks on their heads, their hands and legs tied. They claim their lives were also threatened.

It all started when the two moved towards the airport near Kramatorsk to check the information provided by the locals that the Ukrainian forces had left it.

“Next to the airport, we ended up being at gunpoint by Ukrainian law enforcement officials. We raised our hands and shouted that we are journalists,” cameraman Saichenko said.

About 12 people jumped from two armored vehicles and opened fire over the journalists’ heads. They were surrounded, searched, pushed in to the armored vehicle. The military men also took their belongings.

No reasons were given for their detention, everyone just “kept poking at them with machine guns,” Sidyakin said.

“We told them we’re journalists, that we had no weapons, that we were on an official mission from our editors. But they weren’t convinced. In an hour we were pushed in the same armored vehicles and took to a field, and then loaded us into helicopters. When we arrived, we were forced to keep our heads close to the ground not to see anyone’s faces… In response to our requests to call someone, we were hit on the head,” Sidyakin added.

The journalists also said that initially, they were given “no food at all, only gave us some water overnight.”

“While we were waiting for the helicopter, we were shown an ‘Igla’ [needle] MANPAD [Man-Portable Air Defense] and told that we were Russians, and that is a Russian weapon. When they were loading us into the helicopter, they also took that weapon. All the military men were sure that they had caught separatists and terrorists who had this thing with them,” Saichenko continued.

“During the questioning, they used some ointment that was supposed to lead to some result. But there was none, so they got angry,” Sidyakin said.

“The guards told us that we would be shot down by dawn anyway, and asked us to take off our trainers so that they could have them [while they were still] clean,” Saichenko said.

The journalists said that the military men wanted them to admit that the weapon had been in their possession.

“They were trying to force us to confess that it was our MANPAD… We didn’t take any weapons in our hands, even ammunition, as it contradicts our profession,” Sidyakin said.

When asked what kind of people they saw during their detention, the journalists stressed that the contingent was most diverse at the airport.

“There were many mercenaries. There were people in uniforms uncharacteristic for Ukraine. They didn’t speak with anyone, just silently entered the HQ. It remains a mystery to us who they were.”

Despite not having heard anything spoken in English, Sidyakin said there were many people “uniformed and equipped Western-style, their behavior was strange, and so was their demeanor and the fact they weren’t talking to anyone.”

RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich

Saichenko remarked that, in his opinion, the Ukrainian army has a very disconnected structure.

“Having spent some time within the Ukrainian army and felt what it’s like, we understood that it is a very divided body. Many conscripts, including those who guarded us, complained that they should have been fired a long time ago, but haven’t been dismissed up to that moment. They complained about the quality of food,” Saichenko said.

“A young man who used to romanticize Maidan [the heart of the Kiev protest earlier in the year] was among them and he told us that now “he understands what he was caught up in…” Saichenko added.

Earlier, Saichenko said that Ukrainian law enforcement officials threatened to kill him and his colleague, reporter Oleg Sidyakin, and did everything possible to make the two would believe in the seriousness of their intentions.

Their hands were tied behind their backs, their legs were taped up, and sacks were put on their heads. The sacks were also taped up on their necks, so it was barely possible to breathe.

“My state was close to madness, it was very bad. I was hit on the head and kicked into the groin a couple of times, but I would prefer being beaten to the way we were held in that hole,” Saichenko said.

Saichenko also said that despite the hate, there was always room for hope.

RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich

“We were surrounded by hatred. Our guards believed that we were terrorists. I was told that I could be taken to the toilet and shot dead because I supposedly was trying to escape. We spent two days in that dug-out cell, and then four days in a closed room. But we still understood that we would be fought for, that our case would make it to the top. We were certain that President Putin and other leaders would fight for us,” he said.

Despite everything they’ve been through, Sidyakin and Saichenko are leaving the possibility that they will go to Ukraine to cover events there open, if the channel’s leadership approves their work trip – but not because they’re daredevils.

“I’ve always justified my presence in such places with the idea that I need to show that war is bad, that it’s suffering, death,” Saichenko stressed.

He says they signed a document which said that they, as LifeNews journalists, “pledge not to inflict any harm on Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.”

The Russian journalists for LifeNews TV channel were captured by Kiev forces near the eastern city of Kramatorsk a week ago.

They were being investigated on charges of “aiding terrorist groups,” according to Kiev authorities, who refused to give any information about their location and denied a special observer mission access to the journalists.

The accusations of illegally transporting weapons and aiding terrorism against Russian journalists are “nonsense and delirium,” President Putin said earlier, calling the situation “unacceptable” and warning that Kiev’s crackdown on reporters working in Ukraine will affect Moscow’s relations with the “new Ukrainian authorities.”

It was a plea by the UN and the OSCE that made the Ukrainian authorities change their mind and stop trying to build a case against the journalists, deputy chief of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) clarified.

“Ambassadors and representatives of the UN and the OSCE have turned to SBU. We decided to accommodate these two particular organizations,” Victor Yagun said at a briefing.

But according to LifeNews Channel, envoys of Chechen president Ramsan Kadyrov have led the negotiations, yet kept it away from the public as a safety precaution several days, while a plane ready to depart at a moment’s notice was for waiting for negotiations results.