A meeting that took place behind closed doors between intelligence figures in the town of Torgau, Saxony (Germany) last month, reportedly revealed that the Russian President Vladimir Putin will view any attempt from NATO’s side to return Crimea to Ukraine or to step up its presence in the Baltics as declaration of war and threatened […]
Europe
PUTIN’S NEXT CRIMEA GRAB : KALININGRAD

While the world watched Russia’s North Fleet with trepidation as it launched surprise exercises near the Arctic Circle last week, Vladimir Putin has quietly been arming another area inside Europe’s borders: Kaliningrad, the Russian seaport city in a region sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, with convenient access to the Baltic Sea. Vessels from Russia’s Baltic […]
MORE GAMESMANSHIP IN EUROPE

Russia accused NATO on Monday of destabilizing northern Europe and the Baltics by carrying out drills there and announced new military exercises of its own, increasing tension over the Ukraine crisis. NATO responded by blaming Moscow for instability in the region, while British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he was concerned by “extremely aggressive” probing […]
RUSSIAN AGENT IN UKRAINE
When shadowy commander Igor Strelkov appeared before the cameras recently in green combat fatigues and a clipped mustache, he did more than reveal the face of the insurgency rocking eastern Ukraine. He strengthened the case that Russia is behind the turmoil. The commander did not address Ukraine and European Union assertions that he is a Russian intel…
INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT – UKRAINE
Slovakia signed a deal on Monday to deliver natural gas to Ukraine, which is facing the threat of a cut-off in supplies from Russia because of a massive debt. Under the agreement, Slovakia will send gas through a pipeline that was meant for transporting gas from Ukraine but is currently unused. To be able to send the gas, some technical changes are ne…
SLOVIANSK UNDER ATTACK
KIEV, Ukraine — Large contingents of Ukrainian forces are now on the move near Sloviansk and the nearby town of Kramatorsk, where separatists have also seized a government building. But the mood of those in the town and the other occupied areas of eastern Ukraine remains defiant, and greater conflict seems almost a certainty. Over the past few days, Slov…
NEW RUSSIAN FORCE AND TACTICS
The last time the Russian military machine was on public display in Europe , its performance did not impress. But this is no longer the force that NATO observed blundering its way through a brief but messy war with its tiny neighbor, Georgia, back in 2008. A new, leaner and meaner Russian Army has been on display in Crimea and war-gamin…
UKRAINE AGREES TO HOST NATO
Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday approved a series of joint military exercises with NATO countries that would put US troops in direct proximity to Russian forces in the annexed Crimea peninsula. “This is a good opportunity to develop our armed forces,” acting defence minister Mykhailo Koval told Verkhovna Rada lawmakers ahead of the 235-0 vote. The…
RUSSIANS MASSING TROOPS ON BORDER WITH EASTERN UKRAINE
Moscow is sending additional troops to “reinforce” its border region with Ukraine, and U.S. security officials fear it may enter the country’s east to establish a land bridge to Crimea. A new classified intelligence assessment indicates Russian forces are more likely that previously imagined to invade eastern Ukraine.
Two U.S. security officials, who…
HACKING WAR: CRIMEAN STYLE
Hackers have been busy causing service interruptions, breaching databases, and defacing hundreds of Ukrainian and Russian websites, as the crisis between the two countries plays out in cyberwarfare. The attacks have similarities to the resistance movement that sprung up among German-occupied countries during World War II, which took many forms includin…