Accusing Russia

From the BBC:

"Russia accuses Ukraine of attempted Crimea 'incursions'"

Russia has accused Ukraine of trying to carry out armed incursions into Crimea - the territory annexed by Russia in 2014 after an unrecognised referendum. The FSB intelligence agency said two attempted incursions had taken place over the weekend and a Russian soldier and an FSB employee had been killed. President Vladimir Putin vowed "further security measures" in response to Ukraine's "stupid and criminal" acts. Ukraine's president described the accusations as "preposterous". "Russian accusations against Ukraine of terrorism in occupied Crimea sound as preposterous and cynical as the statements of the Russian leadership about the absence of Russian troops in the Donbass [region of rebel-held eastern Ukraine]," Petro Poroshenko said. "These fantasies are only a pretext for making more military threats against Ukraine," he added.  Russia accuses. Ukraine denies. So what few things can we say for certain about what happened Crimea at the weekend? We know that on Saturday the Russian authorities in Crimea temporarily closed one of the main crossing points between the territory and mainland Ukraine. Ukrainian sources then claimed that Russia had moved a considerable amount of armour and troops into the peninsular.  Rumours circled on social media (the information war is a crucial dimension in the deterioration of relations between Moscow and Kiev). An unverified video was posted on Twitter, which purported to show Russian military vehicles heading west from the very eastern tip of Crimea, close to the Russian mainland. Now the FSB claims Ukraine's military hatched a plot to attack infrastructure in Crimea. And, true to previous form, Vladimir Putin has not minced his words. Last year, on primetime Russian TV, President Putin admitted he had lied about deploying Russian troops in Crimea when the territory was annexed by Russia in 2014. So whether true or not, the FSB's claims will be viewed with huge scepticism and will probably provoke some anger in Ukraine. Ukraine has managed to contain the Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and, in purely military terms, it is hard to see what Ukraine has to gain by provoking its larger, much more powerful neighbour. For all the talk about rapprochements and peace in eastern Ukraine, there has been very little concrete progress. Fighting between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainians goes on every day. Just two weeks before Ukraine celebrates 25 years of independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, relations between Moscow and Kiev have taken another turn for the worse.  Kiev is preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Ukrainian independence on 24 August, and officials have suggested Moscow may try to disrupt the celebrations. Russia is preparing for a parliamentary election on 18 September.  Mr Putin said there was no point in further negotiations with Ukraine and called on the US and European countries to put pressure on Kiev to change its behavior. About 9,000 people are reported to have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine that followed the Russian annexation of Crimea. The annexation, which was itself largely bloodless, followed a vote to secede at a referendum on self-determination on 16 March 2014 - a ballot which was not recognised internationally. The US and European Union imposed sanctions on Moscow in response to its seizure of the territory.

^ To anyone with even basic thinking ability can see right through this. The Russian Government is doing what it does best - lying. I don't believe that the Ukraine tried to "invade" the Crimea - although it isn't an invasion when you are trying to regain control of your own territory that was illegally invaded, occupied and annexed by another country and which most of the world does not recognize. The Ukrainians wouldn't unilaterally do that and risk loosing the support from the US, the EU and the UN especially when Russia continues to support the ethnic Russian fighters in the Donbass. This is just a way for Russia to get its citizens to forget about all the economic, political and social hardships affecting millions because they decided to break international law and their own treaties and invade, occupy and annex the Crimea. The Russians have lied and eventually admitted it with respects to pre-planning the Crimea take-over long before and "cries for help" from the Crimean people or about having Russian soldiers (ie the Little Green Men) there. Russia likes to portray itself as the victim when 9 out of 10 times they are the aggressor. This is one of those 9 times. Russia will continue to openly lie and use fake propaganda so they will have a "valid" reason to openly invade the rest of the Ukraine (since their ethnic Russian fighters haven't been able to do it themselves.) To hear Putin's speak about all of this "injustice" etc. is laughable. If any country invaded, occupied and annexed a part of Russia than the Russians would fight to the death to get it back, but when Russia invades, occupies and annexes another country they are "shocked" that they meet any resistance. Russia needs to remember that they lost the Cold War and that they can not simply take whatever they want like they used to. The rest of the world needs to remind them of that  fact. ^

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37037401