Satellite Images Show Russia Still Building Up Forces Near Ukraine

[Gunny]

Shades of Adolph. Some idiots never learn :rolleyes:


December 24, 2021
(Reuters) – New satellite images captured by a private U.S. company show that Russia has continued to build up its forces in annexed Crimea and near Ukraine in recent weeks while pressing the United States for talks over security guarantees it is seeking.
Reuters could not independently verify the latest images from U.S.-based Maxar Technologies. The Kremlin reiterated on Friday that it reserves the right to move its own forces on Russian territory as it sees fit and that Western countries were carrying out provocative military manoeuvres near its borders.
U.S., European and Ukrainian leaders have accused Russia of building up troops again near Ukraine’s border since October after an earlier brief buildup in April, when Maxar also released images. U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders say Moscow appears to be weighing an attack on Ukraine as soon as next month, something Moscow has repeatedly denied.
The images released late on Thursday showed a base in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, packed with hundreds of armoured vehicles and tanks as of Dec. 13. A Maxar satellite image of the same base in October showed the base was half empty.
Maxar said a new brigade-level unit, comprised of several hundred armoured vehicles that include BMP-series infantry fighting vehicles, tanks, self-propelled artillery and air defence equipment, had arrived at the Russian garrison.
“Over the past month, our high-resolution satellite imagery has observed a number of new Russian deployments in Crimea as well as in several training areas in western Russia along the periphery of the Ukraine border,” Maxar said in a statement.
It cited increased activity at three sites in Crimea and at five sites in western Russia.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia wanted to avoid conflict, but needed an “immediate” response from the United States and its allies to its demands for security guarantees. Moscow has said it expects talks with U.S. officials on the subject to start in January in Geneva.
On Friday, Putin said Russia had conducted a test launch of a hypersonic missile. The test follows earlier ones this month, in October, and in July as part of what he said was a new generation of unrivalled arms systems.
When asked on Friday about the build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was acting to defend its own security.
“Russia is moving its own troops around on its own territory against the backdrop of highly unfriendly actions by our opponents in NATO, the United States and various European countries who are carrying out highly unambiguous manoeuvres near our borders,” said Peskov.
“This forces us to take certain measures to guarantee our own security.”
Russia also accused the United States and the European Union of using the planned Nord Stream 2 pipeline to take Russian gas to Europe as a bargaining chip. The West has threatened to block the pipeline, which is awaiting regulatory approval in Germany, if Russia invades Ukraine.
Biden has threatened strong economic and other measures https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-warns-putin-russia-will-pay-a-terrible-price-if-it-invades-ukraine-2021-12-11 in retaliation for any invasion, building on sanctions imposed over Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and backing for an ongoing separatist rebellion by pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. A U.S. official has said new retaliatory measures could include tough export controls.
Russia says its wants NATO to halt its eastwards expansion and is seeking guarantees that the Western military alliance will not deploy certain offensive weapons to Ukraine and other neighbouring countries.
Other Maxar images showed a build-up at the Soloti staging ground in Russia close to the Ukrainian border, with photos shot at the start of December showing a larger concentration of military hardware than in September.
Pictures also showed continuing build-ups at Yelnya, a Russian town around 160 miles (260 km) north of the Ukrainian border, and at the Pogonovo training ground near the southern Russian city of Voronezh.
(Reporting by Reuters reporters; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
https://www.oann.com/satellite-images-show-russia-still-building-up-forces-near-ukraine/

[Kathianne]

Well now: https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2022/01/07/nbc-biden-to-offer-putin-mutual-troop-drawdowns-in-eastern-europe-n440036

[Gunny]

Well now: https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2022/01/07/nbc-biden-to-offer-putin-mutual-troop-drawdowns-in-eastern-europe-n440036
A "mutual", one-sided drawdown. Now why didn't Obama think if that? :rolleyes:

Putin is nickel-n-diming Dem Presidents (if one wants to call Biden that). By the time we get rid of this Disaster in Chief, the damage will be done and lines redrawn, no one willing to go to full-scale war to reset them.

IMO, was I NATO, I'd be reassessing our spokesman. Captain Capitulate isn't going to cut it.

[revelarts]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHkiVplXsAsrgAF?format=jpg&name=medium

[Kathianne]

ev, I respectyour consistency. It's just not that long since 1917 or 1946.

Biden the Appeaser: https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/01/09/prospects-for-our-talks-with-russia-this-week-appear-dim-n440229

[revelarts]

ev, I respectyour consistency. It's just not that long since 1917 or 1946.

Biden the Appeaser: https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/01/09/prospects-for-our-talks-with-russia-this-week-appear-dim-n440229


BTW 1917 the revolution was supported by many U.S. leaders.
Trotski was living in NewYork and supported by American money and given cash tickets to get to Russia for the event.

1946 - 1985 the USSR was the best enemy money could buy.
And they were bankrupted out of existence... couldn't even maintain a presence in Afghanistan and collapsed. that's the recent history.
AND they are STILL comparatively weak financially and militarily.
Plus the U.S. has missiles pointed at Russia sitting in nearly every one of the NEW NATO countries added since 1990.
Aggressive much? When the USSR wanted to put missiles in Cuba or South America we nearly lost our minds.
But we have missiles in most of the NATO countries just off it's boarders. Not to mention hundreds of nukes pointed at them from the U.S. and ships and subs at sea.

OBJECTIVELY speaking in 2022 Russia is not a threat to the U.S. or the E.U. or NATO.
And the Ukraine is not the 51st state.

Seems like to me this is just another BS Military industrial complex game to get more military action and funds since the afghan and terrorist $$$ have dried up.
"Saddam.. I mean RUSSIA has WMDS pointed at London, ANthrax! BS! FEAR FEAR we MUST attack!.. or be READY TO "preemptively strike!!!" because we are the good guys:rolleyes:

how many times are we going to fall for it?
are we the most well armed and protected nation in the world or Not?
Do we have to "fix" or step in at ever military flinch from other countries across the globe?
Are we that fearful? or could it be something else?

[Gunny]

BTW 1917 the revolution was supported by many U.S. leaders.
Trotski was living in NewYork and supported by American money and given cash tickets to get to Russia for the event.

1946 - 1985 the USSR was the best enemy money could buy.
And they were bankrupted out of existence... couldn't even maintain a presence in Afghanistan and collapsed. that's the recent history.
AND they are STILL comparatively weak financially and militarily.
Plus the U.S. has missiles pointed at Russia sitting in nearly every one of the NEW NATO countries added since 1990.
Aggressive much? When the USSR wanted to put missiles in Cuba or South America we nearly lost our minds.
But we have missiles in most of the NATO countries just off it's boarders. Not to mention hundreds of nukes pointed at them from the U.S. and ships and subs at sea.

OBJECTIVELY speaking in 2022 Russia is not a threat to the U.S. or the E.U. or NATO.
And the Ukraine is not the 51st state.

Seems like to me this is just another BS Military industrial complex game to get more military action and funds since the afghan and terrorist $$$ have dried up.
"Saddam.. I mean RUSSIA has WMDS pointed at London, ANthrax! BS! FEAR FEAR we MUST attack!.. or be READY TO "preemptively strike!!!" because we are the good guys:rolleyes:

how many times are we going to fall for it?
are we the most well armed and protected nation in the world or Not?
Do we have to "fix" or step in at ever military flinch from other countries across the globe?
Are we that fearful? or could it be something else?

Spend much time throwing dirt on your own country? Really, Rev:rolleyes: Should I bust out a map of the borders of "Rus" during the Mongolian Empire? Moscow was its eastern border.

Having said that, I don't get the rush to welcome Ukraine into NATO. That was a red flag (for me and others) at the time. It's more of the West's "we support you if you claim to be a democracy " strategy that has been mostly a failure since 1946. There seems to be a serious disconnect between our foreign policy and reality. We're still resting on WWII laurels while these other nations, to include Russia and China have moved on. The game's still the same though: World domination for the purposes of exploitation. The hungry are always the winners. We haven't been "hungry" since 1946.

There were lots of NAZIs in the US at the beginning of WWII. That's about as germane to the discussion as who supported Trotsky. A more relevant parallel to WWI is we are caught up in a bunch of obsolete mutual defense agreements that are going to force us into a war even as it did Germany in WWI. Dependence on others and and idealism that nobody believes in but we still posture to keeps us in everybody else's business.

I consider what Russia is doing nothing more than an irritating (to me)distraction and rekindling an old confrontation we don't need at this time.
Russia - bad" is too instilled in our minds institutionally for anyone to look at our real position objectively. We have a couple of direct threats to address -- Iran and China -- that are more important to our existence than an Eastern European nation that has never meant shit to us except for a post-Cold War diplomatic coup.

Dumb grunts learn a lesson apparently our overly-educated, smarter than the average bear elected officials never do: know your enemies and address them in order of importance.

[Gunny]

January 9, 2022
By Tom Balmforth and Mark Trevelyan
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Sunday it would not make any concessions under U.S. pressure at talks this week on the Ukraine crisis and its demands for Western security guarantees, and that there was a risk they might end quickly.
The hard line from Moscow underscored the fragile prospects for negotiations that Washington hopes will avert the danger of a new Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the tensest point in U.S.-Russia relations since the Cold War ended three decades ago.
Talks are due in Geneva, Brussels and Vienna but the state-owned RIA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying it was entirely possible that diplomacy could end abruptly after a single meeting.
“I can’t rule out anything, this is an entirely possible scenario and the Americans… should have no illusions about this,” he was quoted as saying.
“Naturally, we will not make any concessions under pressure and in the course of threats that are constantly being formed by the Western participants of the upcoming talks.”
Interfax news agency quoted Ryabkov, who will lead the Russian delegation in Geneva, as saying Moscow was not optimistic going into the negotiations.
The comments from Ryabkov, who has compared the situation to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when the world stood on the brink of nuclear war, were consistent with the uncompromising line that Russia has been signalling for weeks.
Tens of thousands of Russian troops are gathered within reach of the border with Ukraine in preparation for what Washington and Kyiv say could be an invasion, eight years after Russia seized the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine.
Russia denies invasion plans and says it is responding to what it calls aggressive and provocative behaviour from the NATO military alliance and Ukraine, its former Soviet neighbour which has tilted towards the West and aspires to join NATO.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Russia of pushing a false narrative. “That’s like the fox saying it had to attack the hen house because its occupants somehow pose a threat. We’ve seen this gaslighting before,” he said last week.
Further complicating the picture, Russia sent troops into neighbouring Kazakhstan last week after the oil-producing former Soviet republic was hit by a wave of unrest. Its foreign ministry reacted furiously on Saturday to a jibe by Blinken that “once Russians are in your house, it’s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave”.
RED LINES
Last month Russia presented a sweeping set of demands including for a bar on further NATO expansion and an end to the alliance’s activity in central and eastern European countries that joined it after 1997.
The United States and NATO have said large parts of the Russian proposals are a non-starter.
A senior Biden administration official on Saturday said the United States was not willing to discuss limits on U.S. troop deployments or the U.S. force posture in NATO countries in the region.
It was ready, however, to talk about the possibility of each side restricting military exercises and missile deployments in the region.
To accept that limited agenda and abandon its other demands would be a major climb-down that Russia seems unlikely to make, especially after weeks of troop movements near Ukraine and a series of tough statements from President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin leader has said that after successive waves of NATO expansion it is time for Russia to enforce its “red lines” and ensure the alliance does not admit Ukraine or station weapons systems there that would target Russia.
Ukraine won a NATO promise back in 2008 that it would be allowed to join one day, but diplomats say there is no question of that happening any time soon.
NATO says it is a defensive alliance and Moscow has nothing to fear from it. That is far from Putin’s world view, which sees Russia as under threat from hostile Western powers he says have repeatedly broken promises given as the Cold War ended not to expand towards its borders. The United States and its allies dispute such pledges were given.
In two conversations with Putin over the past five weeks, U.S. President Joe Biden warned him that Russia would face unprecedented economic sanctions in the event of further aggression against Ukraine. The Group of Seven nations and the European Union have joined in threatening “massive consequences”.
Putin responded that this would be a colossal mistake that would lead to a complete rupture of relations.
Russia’s foreign ministry said the team led by Ryabkov had arrived in Geneva, where the formal talks are due on Monday.
Russia is also due to hold negotiations with NATO in Brussels on Wednesday and at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna on Thursday.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth in Moscow and Mark Trevelyan in London; writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Andrew Heavens)
https://www.oann.com/russia-says-its-disappointed-by-u-s-signals-before-geneva-talks/

SO what is Russia REALLY threatening? To stop talking to us? My ex-wife used to do that all the time :rolleyes: I'm sure Biden will screw this up. I'd tell Russia they aren't telling us to do jack-nothing and if they want to play HS BF-GF games, feel free.

Fact is, it's Russia's move. It's blowing all this smoke. Depends on whether or not Russia feels it has to do something to prove something :rolleyes: THEN the West, to include us is going to have to pony up on our promises.

Or get used for a doormat and lose whatever remaining respect we have. It's no accident Putin annexed Crimea on Obama's watch and pushing for more on this bowl of Jello we have now.