More Bad News for Russia

[sleepycat]

Plane crash was attempted in July.
I hope you were not involved

What? When did that happen?
Nothing like that was being reported on mainstream media...
You would think an event that significant will at least attract some media coverage, for example like the Malaysian plane that was actually shot down by Russian backed terrorists scum.

[Doll]

I am openly wishing for him to stay inn Russia and leave Ukraine intact and able to seek it's own destiny.

But since that's not happening his demise would be a good second choice. 

I called Putin and checked on him- he is in Russia.

[Doll]

What? When did that happen?
Nothing like that was being reported on mainstream media...
You would think an event that significant will at least attract some media coverage, for example like the Malaysian plane that was actually shot down by Russian backed terrorists scum.

It WAS reported.

[Muzh]

It WAS reported.

Where? RT?

[AkMike]

Cash-Strapped Russia Won't Support Ukrainian Separatist Regions Of Donetsk And Luhansk

As a new ceasefire begins Tuesday between Ukraine and pro-Russia separatists in the east of the country, the Kremlin plunged the political fate of the contested regions of Donetsk and Luhansk into uncertainty. According to the left-leaning Russian daily newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which cited officials within the Kremlin, sources within the cabinet of ministers and pro-Russian insurgents, Russia has abandoned the idea of either war-torn region becoming an independent state, instead preferring that both remain autonomous regions within Ukraine.

While the reason for this change of policy within the Kremlin was not revealed in the report, it is believed that independence would push both regions to rely on Russia financially as they recover from war and begin operating as independent states, something that a financially troubled Russia is keen to avoid.

“Russia clearly doesn’t want to absorb these states into Russia itself,” said Sarah Lain, research fellow with expertise on Russia and the former USSR at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, an independent think tank on defense and security. “And I do imagine that independence would mean that it adds more pressure on Russia because those regions will be asking to be closer to Russia than Kiev."

It was thought that both regions in Eastern Ukraine would be taken under Russian control in the same way Crimea was, after a vote in September, but Russia has been subjected to crippling financial sanctions from the European Union and the U.S. since entering Crimea in February of this year and annexing it just one month later. On top of falling oil prices, that is hurting Russia financially.

This leaves both Luhansk and Donetsk in a quandary. The population that voted in both those regions chose overwhelmingly to become independent states and move away from Kiev's rule -- hoping, Lain said, that Russia would prop them up financially. In response to the move, not recognized internationally, Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk cut off payments to the two regions totaling $2.6 billion, largely in public-sector salaries and pensions, leaving the regions and the people living there largely adrift from central government.

That quandary extends to Moscow, too. “Russia can’t afford to take on that responsibility, especially given the problems with its economy,” said Lain. “However, Russia also can’t afford to step back either, because Putin’s popularity in Russia rides on him protecting the ethnic Russians living in Ukraine.”

But finances are not the only reason Putin would rather see Donetsk and Luhansk remain as autonomous regions. Putin may also have geopolitical reasons to keep both regions locked in "frozen conflicts," whose persistence would make it almost impossible for Ukraine to join the EU and even NATO and leave Russia's sphere of influence in favor of Western affiliation. 

“They [Russia] are attempting to create what’s known as a ‘frozen conflict,’ the same condition as was seen in the [2008] conflict with Georgia, which resulted in the creation of the semi-autonomous states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” said Emma Ashford, a Russia analyst with the Cato Institute in Washington.

The key for Russia, Lain said, is to push separatists to retain their autonomy, which “keeps the tie to the Kiev government, meaning it kind of stays Kiev’s problem."

http://www.ibtimes.com/cash-strapped-russia-wont-support-ukrainian-separatist-regions-donetsk-luhansk-1745350

[AkMike]

Sanctions hurt Vlad!


Russia's Kalashnikov gun-maker struggles with Western ban

It is probably the best-known weapon in the world, brandished by everyone from Che Guevara to Osama bin Laden. But the Kalashnikov assault rifle has failed to produce a profit for its makers for years.

Things were just starting to improve when the firm was hit by Western sanctions.

With Russian military stores full of the famously durable Kalashnikovs, and dwindling orders from abroad, the company had turned its attention to civilian firearms markets.

In January it finally secured a foothold in the biggest of them, sealing a lucrative deal to supply up to 200,000 rifles a year in the US.

But in July, Kalashnikov was placed on a US list of eight arms manufacturers sanctioned for Russia's role in fomenting the crisis in Ukraine. The deal was halted with under half the initial order delivered. It was added to an EU list in September.

View of Izhevsk, home of Kalashnikov factory Most of the weapons produced at the factory in Izhevsk are civilian firearms
"Of course I was upset, because I didn't understand why we'd been sanctioned," Kalashnikov director Alexei Krivoruchko told the BBC, arguing that the firm was no longer wholly state-owned since he and another Russian businessman had invested in a 49% stake.

Also, he points out, it primarily produces firearms for the civilian market.

"The US was a key market for us, one that we planned to develop," Mr Krivoruchko says. "It's a big loss, there's no point saying otherwise."

There are now some 200 models of Kalashnikov, still produced at the original factory in Izhevsk, two hours' flight east of Moscow.

In Soviet times, the sprawling plant manufactured around 600,000 rifles a year for the military. Last year it turned out one tenth of that number and 80% were civilian firearms.

With a new crisis management team on board, the firm is now on a major efficiency drive. Production has already been streamlined, putting the plant on course to double its output this year.

The next goal is to upgrade the ancient, chunky equipment that fills the shop floor: one machine was discovered from the 19th Century.

But sanctions are complicating life there, too, as Kalashnikov now has to seek suppliers in Asia, instead of Europe.

Kalashnikov gun production - assembled guns The company is keeping quiet about who will buy the weapons originally produced for the American market
"I remember all sorts of times here, including the 1990s, when wages weren't paid, or only in part. And when the firm declared bankruptcy," Nikolai Svintsov reminisces as he assembles a hunting rifle on an old, rutted wooden worktop.

As part of its comeback effort, the weapons firm was recently re-launched as the oddly-named Kalashnikov Concern, with a red-carpet event in Moscow complete with high-heeled hostesses handing out replicas of the rifle's distinctive, banana-shaped magazine.

A glitzy video promoted the AK as a "weapon of peace", wielded historically by liberation movements in their "search for justice" and, more recently, by Russia's own anti-terrorist Special Forces.

The fact that the Kalashnikov is currently used by both sides fighting in eastern Ukraine - the conflict that led to sanctions - was glossed over.

Kalashnikov gun production worker Nikolai Production worker Nikolai Svintsov remembers worse times in the 1990s when wages were not paid
"We're trying to hear customers' needs," explains another of the young team of managers, Dmitry Tarasov, of his firm's attempts to win a share of the civilian firearms market.

"Of course we can compete," he insists. "The Kalashnikov is the most famous assault gun."

But first the weapon has to compete against itself.

In Cold War times, Moscow allowed its allies to produce Kalashnikovs locally and some continued to do that long after the Iron Curtain fell. Those copies ate deeply into post-Soviet profits in Izhevsk.

As the right to any legal challenge has long since passed, the firm is preparing to launch a fully updated rifle in the hope that Kalashnikov users will upgrade too. A civilian version will follow.

The AK-12, as it is known, is one of two assault rifles currently being tested by the Russian military as part of President Vladimir Putin's military modernisation programme.

Final word on which firm gets the big state order is due early next year - a decision the Kalashnikov boss calls "extremely important".

Kalashnikov test firing The company is keen for the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia to end soon
But he also insists his firm is coping under sanctions.

Senior managers say they have found new buyers for the extra rifles originally intended for the US. Mr Krivoruchko admits it was not easy but will not be drawn on details.

While US weapons enthusiasts will probably manage without a Kalashnikov, for the company itself, hitting the lucrative American market was a clear route to recovery.

If the bosses are lobbying Mr Putin to push for an end to sanctions, Alexei Krivoruchko is not admitting it.

"There's nothing we can do," he says. "But we hope the sanctions will be lifted soon."

He has a multi-million dollar investment riding on that.
BBC News - Russia's Kalashnikov gun-maker struggles with Western ban

[Doll]

Where? RT?

I don't remember

[Doll]

AKMike, besides AK, Russia has hunred thousands of "items' to sell, trust me.
 

[AkMike]

Yeah we got a pretty good deal at 2 cents an acre for AK.

Russia may have goods to sell but if they can't be exported and sold they are sale they are worthless.

[Brasscasing]

I called Putin and checked on him- he is in Russia.

Well, next time you talk to him advise him that while on an indoor gun range holding a fully cocked Makarov to the ceiling with the safety off is really not something someone who "knows his way around a gun" does contrary to the title of your jpg. 

Brass

[AkMike]

He should play that famous  game of Russian roulette with that semi auto. 

[Brasscasing]

He should play that famous  game of Russian roulette with that semi auto. 

LOL, I wonder how many readers will get that...

Brass

[AkMike]

  Time will tell! 

[Gator]

Well, next time you talk to him advise him that while on an indoor gun range holding a fully cocked Makarov to the ceiling with the safety off is really not something someone who "knows his way around a gun" does contrary to the title of your jpg. 

Brass

 

Remember, the bear does what he wants to do when in his territory; there are no rules and he need not ask permission.   Besides the people on the floor above the range are not important.  A ricochet?  That would make a good Youtube. 

[Doll]

Called Putin again, he sent me the pic
 

[Doll]

 

[Muzh]

Bear from North America.

[Muzh]

Regarding the obvious of Putin asking Ukraine to take back the two regions, well, Poroshenko should say Not so fast.


The main reason for Huilo to do this is to put further stress on the Ukrainian economy. Poroshenko should be asking these regions to


1) send the Russians back to Russia
2) no amnesty to the criminals
3) kiss his ass


and then say Deal or no Deal.

[Brasscasing]

Bear from North America.

Bear from Russia.

Brass

[Doll]

Both are cute

[sleepycat]

Cuter would be huilo's severed head stuck on a pike...

[AkMike]

Terrorists suspect SBU( Ukrainian) “assassination squad” responsible for recent deaths.
 
Members of the  so-called “people’s militias” in Horlivka suspect that an “assassination squad” of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is active in their city, military analyst Dmytro Tymchuk, head of the Information Resistance group, reports on Facebook Monday, December 8.

There are persistent rumors among former members of the militias organized by the terrorist leader Igor Bezler (Bes) that an SBU “assassination squad” is active in their city, Tymchuk writes.

According to Tymchuk, the militants believe the SBU got a hold of a database of the Horlivka militias and that Ukrainian security service operatives placed in the occupied territories are methodically seizing or liquidating “Bezler’s fighters” who have remained in the city and who have now been incorporated into the “Army of Novorossiya.”

“During the past week, three former commanders of the Bezler gang units have been found dead with obvious signs of a violent death. Two others have vanished without a trace,” Tymchuk reports.

Additionally, Tymchuk reports that in a number of localities in the Donbas (Torez, Rovenky, Snizhne, Krasnyi Luch) terrorists are continuing to carry out  forcible “mobilization activities” for the so-called “Army of Novorossiya” in businesses and mines of the region. The total number of the local residents “mobilized” in this fashion in recent days stands at fewer than 30, he writes.

As previously reported, Igor Bezler (Bes) was one of the leaders of the Donetsk separatists, the commander of the so-called “people’s militia” in Horlivka and a close associate of the Russian ultra-nationalist commander Igor Girkin (Strelkov). There were unconfirmed rumors recently that Bezler had been eliminated by Russian security services for refusing to cooperate with Russian military authorities in the Donbas.

[AkMike]

Russia's South Stream Alternative Rests on Shaky Ground
By Alexander Panin
The St. Petersburg Times
Published: December 8, 2014
Ukraine's role as a natural gas transit zone between Russia and the European Union will be "nullified" once a newly announced pipeline through Turkey to Greece is completed, Gazprom head Alexei Miller said Saturday.

But Miller's enthusiasm about building a Turkish gas line, meant to take the place of the recently scrapped $40 billion South Stream pipeline through Bulgaria, may be misplaced. The likely high price tag of the project, Turkey's strong negotiating position and unresolved political concerns may cost Russia dearly.

Neither Miller nor Russia's President Vladimir Putin has yet specified what route the new pipeline will take from Russia to Turkey or which investors in Turkey are ready to contribute funding. Nor have they mentioned who would have to build or expand the existing pipeline network from Turkey to Greece.

During Rossia-1's program "The News on Sunday," Miller stated that some 4 billion euros ($5 billion) of infrastructure already built for the scrapped South Stream project can be repurposed for transit to Turkey.

Given Gazprom's current projects, however, including a massive pipeline being built to provide gas to China, "Gazprom can hardly afford to finance a new pipeline," said Mikhail Korchemkin, head of East European Gas Analysis, a U.S.-based energy consultancy.

And even assuming that the pipelines are built to Turkey, it is unclear who will own and operate them and on what terms, said Mikhail Krutikhin, a partner and analyst at the Russia-based RusEnergy consultancy.

While transiting Russian gas, Ukraine abides by an agreement signed between Ukraine's state-owned Naftogaz and Gazprom, which gives Gazprom control of its gas while in Ukraine.
Turkey, though, will likely want to re-export gas bought at its border as its own, judging by its negotiations for gas supplies from Iran and Azerbaijan, Krutikhin said. Given its power as one of Russia's only points of contact with its EU consumers, Turkey would then be able to demand even lower prices for gas supplies.

Russia has already offered a 6 percent discount on gas supplies to Turkey starting from next year and possibly could offer even lower prices, "depending on how our relations develop," Putin said last week.

Even if the pipeline is built, it will not necessarily be able to avoid the political and legal problems that plagued South Stream, cited by Russia as a prime factor in leading to the project's cancellation.

"Gazprom has an illusion that it can fool Europe by using Turkey as a transit hub and gain access this way to markets in Southern Europe," said Sergei Pikin, director of Moscow-based think tank the Energy Development Fund.

Greece, though, is a member of the European Union and complies with the same rules that stalled the development of South Stream in the first place, he said.

And while Putin and Miller sounded as if their plans for Turkey were a done deal, Turkish officials were far more careful with their statements.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Tuesday that Russian and Turkish agencies were working toward a final deal on the new pipeline. But he said it was too soon "to pronounce the final word on these matters today," The Wall Street Journal reported.

Officials in Turkey have merely signed a memorandum of understanding, which does not oblige them to anything, according to Krutikhin.

"And for this piece of paper Russia had to pay by offering a discount to future gas supplies," he said, referring to the discount Moscow has already given Ankara.
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=41379

[Doll]

Russia has no choice but to "cancel" or change South Stream.
Don't you agree?

[lordtiberius]

I couldn't be happier.