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Flashback Wave of 'bizarre suicides' & murders in Ukraine: Former MP shot dead in Kiev


RT
Mon, 25 Apr 2016 15:43 UTC
Ukraine MP Kalashnikov murdered
© glavpost.comOleg Kalashnikov
​A former Ukrainian MP and active anti-Maidan activist, Oleg Kalashnikov, has been killed in his flat in Kiev. His killing is the latest in a series of odd deaths plaguing former government officials and ex-President Yanukovich's party members

The 52-year-old was found dead at his residence in Kiev on Wednesday evening. His death was "caused by a gunshot," the Interior Ministry said in a statement announcing a police inquiry. Ukraine's criminal investigation chief Vasily Paskal, took the investigation under personal control and promised to share motives and the preliminary results of the probe with reporters as soon as they become available.

The investigation is focused on five possible motives for the crime, according to Interior Minister's senior adviser, Anton Gerashchenko.

So far the investigation considers the primary possible motive behind the killing to be Kalashnikov's "political activity" linked with his "participation in the organization and financing" of counter-revolutionary events in Ukraine. Gerashchenko emphasized that Kalashnikov "had knowledge" of the anti-Maidan movement that resisted the coup last year and continues to challenge new authorities in Kiev.

"Without any doubt the deceased knew a lot about who and in what way financed anti-Maidan, which cost Yanukovich and his camarilla several million hryvnias per day. He takes these secrets with him to the grave," Gerashchenko said, also listing some other leads on his Facebook page. Business debts, personal enmity, burglary attempt and"other versions of murder"are listed among other possible motives.
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Jet2

Tensions rising: NATO aircraft allegedly escorted Russian jets over Baltic Sea last week


Sputnik
Mon, 25 Apr 2016 15:41 UTC
F-16 fighter jet
© Sputnik/ Alexander Kovalev
NATO fighter jets based on Lithuania's Siauliai and Estonia's Amari air bases, were allegedly scrambled three times last week to intercept the Russian warplanes over the Baltic Sea, Lithuania's National Defense Ministry said Monday.

"On April 18, NATO fighter jets conducting the Air Policing Mission in the Baltic States from Siauliai Air Base were scrambled to intercept military aircraft of the Russian Federation flying from and back to Kaliningrad. The aircraft flew in international airspace above the Baltic Sea without having pre-filed flight plans, with their onboard transponders switched off, and did not maintain radio communication with air traffic control centres," the ministry said in a statement.
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Eye 2

Foul play suspected after Kiev politics expert plunges to his death


RT
Mon, 25 Apr 2016 15:24 UTC
kiev political expert murdered
© Andrey Stenin / Sputnik
Kiev police are investigating possible foul play after a prominent politics expert fell to his death from the ninth floor. The deceased had called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and had branded recent political turmoil "a plot by oligarchs."

Andrey Doroshenko was an independent political consultant and a regular guest on Ukrainian political talk shows. His body was found on Sunday in a street in the eastern part of the capital. Doroshenko apparently fell from the window of a stairway landing in a nearby house, which is located about five minutes' walk from the man's home, Ukrainian media reported.

The police are treating the 40-year-old's death as suspicious and are investigating it as a possible murder. He died a few weeks after his home was robbed, his neighbors told journalists. No apparent reason why he would commit suicide was immediately reported.

The expert was a regular on Ukrainian TV political talk shows and panels. Among other things, in his latest interviews he had called for internationally-backed peace talks between Kiev and rebel forces in the east, similar to how the 1995 Dayton Agreement put an end to one of the Yugoslav wars. He also accused Ukrainian oligarchs of stage-managing the latest political crisis in the country through MPs they sponsor.

Comment: Another round of purges?

Wave of 'bizarre suicides' & murders in Ukraine: Former MP shot dead in Kiev

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Snakes in Suits

She's back: Nuland to visit Ukraine to discuss reforms, Minsk Accords


Sputnik
Mon, 25 Apr 2016 15:37 UTC
Petro Poroshenko and Victoria Nuland
© REUTERS/ Mykola Lazarenko/Pool
Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland will make a stop in Ukraine today to discuss with senior officials and party leaders the country's reforms and the implementation of the Minsk accords, the US Department of State announced in a statement on Monday.

"On April 25, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland will travel from Hannover, Germany, to Kiev, Ukraine, to meet with senior Ukrainian government officials, political party leaders, Rada members, and civil society representatives," the statement said. "[Nuland would] discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues, including reform priorities and Minsk implementation."

Nuland's visit to Kiev comes as Ukraine is undertaking a range of reforms, including anti-corruption measures, power decentralization and the reorganization of the national energy sector, in order to obtain the latest bailout package from the International Monetary Fund.
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Radar

Jamming the airwaves: Russia starts trial of electromagnetic warfare system


RT
Mon, 25 Apr 2016 15:24 UTC
Russian electronic warfare (EW) system
© Mikhail Voskresenskiy / SputnikA ground-based, unified electronic warfare (EW) system at the MAKS-2015 International Aerospace Salon in Zhukovsky near Moscow.
Russia's electronic warfare equipment producer launched tests of a tactical electromagnetic combat complex fully integrated with latest air-defense systems. It guarantees complete neutralization of all enemy electronics.

Factory testing is underway for components of the new system, capable of protecting troops and civilian facilities from air and space attacks, a representative of Russia's leading producer of electronic warfare systems, Radio-Electronic Technologies Concern (KRET), told TASS. The tests are expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

Integrated with air defense systems and networks, the new complex "maintains automated real-time intelligence data exchange with the airspace defense task force" to facilitate centralized target distribution, the source said.
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Jet5

More threats towards Russia: US deploys F-22 stealth fighter jets to Romanian base on Black Sea


RT
Mon, 25 Apr 2016 15:08 UTC
Two F-22 Raptor fighter jets
© Justin Connaher / Reuters
Two American F-22 Raptor 5G stealth fighter jets and a refueling aircraft have been deployed to an airfield in Romania as manifestation of NATO's support to its Eastern European members against "Russian aggression."

The US Air Force aircraft arrived at the air base on the Black Sea, less than 400km from the Russian military stronghold of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula.

"For the first time in Romania, the next-generation combat aircraft F-22 Raptor, part of the US Air Force Europe mission, arrived today at Mihail Kogalniceanu military base," the US Embassy said on its Facebook page Monday.
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Info

Germany to invest €65mn for its own section at Turkish air base for Tornado jets


RT
Mon, 25 Apr 2016 14:52 UTC
German Tornado jets
© Tobias Schwarz / Reuters
German Air Force is reportedly to have its own section at the Turkish Incirlik Air Base, which is already used by American warplanes to attack targets in Syria. The planned project will cost €65 million and is to be finished by summer 2017, Der Spiegel reports.

The air base is located in southern Turkey east of Adana close to the Mediterranean coast. Ankara allowed the US to use it for its Syrian campaign against Islamic State on the condition that it would not be used to support America's Kurdish allies, whom the Turks see as a threat. Saudi Arabia has a presence at Incirlik as well.

The base international club welcomed Germany as its new member in December 2015, when the European country started flying reconnaissance missions as part of the US-led coalition. According to a report published Monday by Spiegel Online, the presence may soon become permanent.
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Newspaper

Foreign journalists refused entry to Turkey, no explanation given


RT
Mon, 25 Apr 2016 13:56 UTC
Giorgio Moutafis
© giorgios-moutafis.comGiorgio Moutafis
Turkey is refusing entry to foreign journalists without providing any explanation for its actions. In the past few days a Greek photojournalist on assignment from the German tabloid Bild and an American journalist have been sent home from Istanbul.

Giorgos Moutafis, 38, was denied entry to Turkey after landing in Istanbul on Saturday and was sent back to Athens. He was kicked out of the country less than an hour after German Chancellor Angela Merkel had left, having visited a refugee camp in Gaziantep, the newspaper pointed out. He intended to go to Libya from Turkey.

"I was told at the passport control that my name was on a blacklist and that I'm not allowed to enter Turkey. Then my passport was taken from me until the early morning. I had to spend the night in a room in the airport. The reasons why I'm on this list were not explained to me," Moutafis said.

He added that he entered Turkey six months ago with no problems, and that he cannot explain why he could have been banned since then.

Moutafis is an internationally-acclaimed journalist and filmmaker, who has covered stories for outlets such as Newsweek, TIME, the New Yorker, Der Spiegel, the Guardian, Al Jazeera, CBS, CNN and the BBC, among others. He received the 2014 Press Freedom Award from Reporters Without Borders.

Comment: See also:

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Rocket

N. Korea will stop nuke testing if US stops military drills S. Korea


RT
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 05:27 UTC
N Korea nukes
© Damir Sagolj / ReutersWe won't if you won't.
Pyongyang said it will stop conducting nuclear tests if the US puts an end to its annual military drills in the South, North Korea's foreign minister told AP on Saturday. "Stop the nuclear war exercises in the Korean Peninsula, then we should also cease our nuclear tests, "Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong said in his first-ever interview with Western media. "If we continue on this path of confrontation, this will lead to very catastrophic results, not only for the two countries but for the whole entire world as well."

At the same time, Ri stressed that his country has the right to maintain a nuclear deterrent and will not be bullied by international sanctions. Korea's foreign minister asserted that it was the US that had pushed the North to develop nuclear weapons as a self-defense strategy, adding that the only thing that could dissuade the country from carrying out its tests, would be for the US to halt its military exercises with Seoul.

"It is really crucial for the United States government to withdraw its hostile policy against the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] and as an expression of this stop the military exercises, war exercises, in the Korean Peninsula. Then we will respond likewise," he said in Korean. If the drills were to be stopped "for some period, for some years, new opportunities may arise for the two countries and for the whole entire world as well," he observed. Ri arrived in New York on Friday for an official UN ceremony, where over 160 countries signed on to a climate change deal reached last year.

In response to Ri's comments, a US official told AP that participating in military exercises in South Korea demonstrates the US' commitment to the region and provides an opportunity to update existing military techniques. "We call again on North Korea to refrain from actions and rhetoric that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international commitments and obligations," said the official on condition of anonymity.

Pyongyang views American exercises in the South as a rehearsal for an actual invasion of the North. This is not the first time such a proposal has been made, but the US continues to insist that North Korea must make the first move by giving up its nuclear ambitions.

Comment: And the dialog games begin. "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

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Snakes in Suits

Obama requesting military support for possible war against Russia

Eric Zuesse
Sott.net
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 11:53 UTC
NATO bases
According to an April 23rd article carried by Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (German Economic News), U.S. President Barack Obama is "demanding the active deployment of the Bundeswehr [Germany's armed forces, including their Army, Navy, and Air Force] to NATO's eastern borders" at Poland and the Baltic republics, to join the quadrupling of America's forces there, on and near the borders of Russia. This is an extreme violation of what Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to when he ended the Soviet Union and its NATO-mirror organization the Warsaw Pact, but it's actually culminating a process that began shortly after he agreed to America's terms, which included that NATO "not move one inch to the east."

Furthermore, DWN reports that on April 25th, the U.S. President will hold a summit meeting in Hannover, Germany with the leaders of Germany (Angela Merkel), Italy (Matteo Renzi), France (Francois Hollande), and Britain (David Cameron). The presumed objective of this meeting is to agree to establish in the NATO countries bordering on Russia a military force of these five countries, a force threatening Russia with an invasion, if or when NATO subsequently decides that the 'threat from Russia' be 'responded to' militarily.
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