Then, "self defense forces" on the Crimean peninsula swept over that area aided by various Russian soldiers "on vacation" who had apparently pilfered stores of Russian armaments in order to take control of that territory in the name of Russia! What an uproar this must have caused in Moscow! This was undoubtedly an embarrassment at first for the Kremlin, which by their claims did not seek such territorial control, and while the Russian president strove to put the best face on it, it must have been decidedly touch and go. That is, up until the point that a popular referendum seemed to decide that the peninsula would break away from Ukraine and instead throw in its lot with Russia-- what choice did the Russian president have, then, other than to move Russian military and arms onto the peninsula. Crimea, where after all Russia had rented the naval base at Sevastopol needed to be secured, right? While the validity of this referendum has not yet been determined by impartial observers, it was probably with grave determination that the Kremlin leadership decided what had to be done in order to ensure peace in the region had to be done.
Then, astonishingly, this unruly mob in Kiev that had thrown out the previous president organized legitimate elections and selected a new president that carried all Ukrainian regions! Whatever strange turn of events enabled this to occur, it was decidedly a bright spot for Russian in the otherwise bewildering rush of events.
Finally, as if this strange rush of events wasn't enough, certain armed factions in Eastern Ukraine suddenly materialized and took over various police stations and government buildings! It turns out that these factions in the Eastern portion of Ukraine did not agree so much with the uprising in Kiev, Western portion. They would have preferred that the pro-Russian Ukrainian president would have stayed around, it appeared, and suddenly a great mess was made in East Ukraine, where some of the same 'Russian volunteers' and 'vacationing soldiers' began to show up with yet more pilfered Russian military gear!
Throughout it all, the Russian president balanced on this hurtling avalanche of events much like a snowboarder in the Sochi olympics doing his level best to maintain international calm. Imagine his anguish as it was found that a Russian model of anti-aircraft weapon was used by the Eastern Ukrainian faction to shoot down a commercial jet-liner! Yet he maintained his balance.
What should happen next but that the Western world, EU, US, NATO and the rest, should find cause to slap sanctions on Russia! Just like these schemers to hit the great Russian nation while it's down, pouring on all manner of foul accusations that the acquisition of Crimea and the violence in Eastern Ukraine was part of some elaborate Russian plan all along!
The new Ukrainian president also became bold and took his opportunities to make a stand on the world stage at Russia's expense, mobilizing the Ukrainian military to combat the armed factions in the east in an "anti-terrorist operation". This must have been upsetting to the Russian president, but of course it was the case that this new president was elected by all of the regions in Ukraine, and so he was the legitimate leader thereof.
Despite all of this, it was only due to the great efforts of the Russian president that a series of peace talks could be conducted at Minsk, the capital of a mutual neighbor of both Ukraine and Russia, and certain accords could be reached. Because of these talks, it looked like some calm might well have arrived in Eastern Ukraine.
But we see at this point it is not to be. The odd assemblage of vacationing military men, adventure seekers and local separatists that had determined to set up breakaway republics could not hold their fire any longer, and rushed back into territory that the Ukrainian anti-terrorist forces had expelled them from. What's worse, it seemed that there was no end to the military gear that was pilfered from Russian stores and used to further violent ends.
We must applaud the earnest peacemaking efforts of the President Putin, the Russian diplomatic corps and the Kremlin leadership: clearly we can see from the above that what have been called callous denials on their part are instead only statements ensuring a neutral posture so that these tireless efforts to secure peace in the restive regions in Ukraine might be given time to bear fruit.
However, now a year has passed, cities that had enjoyed some of the fruits of Minsk and had been free of violence now report that they've been bombarded by rockets of a most destructive type from the position of the ragtag ranks of separatist/vacationer/thrill seekers.
We must face reality: despite the very best efforts of Russian diplomacy to secure the peace in Minsk, their hard work has been undone by these ne'er-do-wells who seem to have gotten their pilfering hands on some of the latest and most destructive Russian armaments available.
How these rebels might have picked which locks on whatever depot fences to get to these most destructive prizes, or which set of insidious arms dealers they dealt with, must be left to a later investigation: what we can determine at this point is that despite the tireless efforts of the Russian government, these ruffians are determined to besmirch the apparatus of international diplomacy, and indeed the sully the reputation of the stalwart Russian president himself by using these newfound implements of destruction to press this most destructive and vile war in Eastern Ukraine.
It has come time for the rest of the world to set aside petty differences and take this effort seriously, by shoring up the efforts of the Ukrainian president and his armed forces by supplying them with arms that can make inroads against those in the east have thieved from their rightful places in Russian stores. While it is undoubtedly embarrassing to the Russian government, and the great Russian people, that so many trucks, armored personnel carriers, rocket launchers, tanks, self-propelled artillery, anti-aircraft missiles, and ammunition for all of these have been wantonly hijacked from their military, we see that the Russian government has done it's utmost at the negotiating tables of Minsk.
Despite this, the time for negotiation is over. We must trust this fledgling Ukrainian government and it's young army with the sorts of machinery and materiel that can make short work of these despicable rebel-persons, their ranks constituted by whatever mixture of criminal, mercenary and thrill seeker they may be. Once the Ukrainians are armed with the proper sorts of weapons that can confront those stolen by these perfidious rebels, they will undoubtedly need careful guidance in their operation.
It will be touch and go, but surely given the extraordinary balancing done by the Russian government thus far, we can bear some anxiety ourselves. Once the violence in Eastern Ukraine has been settled, we can assist in ensuring that the people of Crimea can hold a free and fair referendum with regards to their alignment with either Russia or Ukraine.
Because as the afore-going paragraphs make all too clear, it's not fair or right that Russia should continue to shoulder the burden alone.
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