kemopa.blogg.se

Putin is clearly considering military action on some level.

There was definitely a moment where I recognized that this is not just a force buildup for diplomatic effect. Jon Finer, deputy national security adviser, National Security Council, White House: In the spring of 2021, we started to see a concerning buildup of Russian forces on the border with Ukraine.Īvril Haines, director of National Intelligence: In that April-March period, I’d seen it build up. The national defense strategy said, “Hey, the pacing threat is China, but Russia is this acute threat out there.” I always had that in the back of my mind - Russia is potentially very, very dangerous. I’ve been thinking about the Russians for a very long time. Scott Berrier, director, Defense Intelligence Agency: DIA is supposed to be the master sense-makers of militaries around the world - how they’re organized, trained, equipped, where they are, why they fight, when they would fight, what their doctrine is and what their leaders are all about. While many have taken refuge in local synagogues and Jewish centers, others have fled to foreign countries, including Israel, which has urged all Jews to leave Ukraine.Lt. Indeed, thanks to Putin, Jews living in Odessa, Kharkiv and other eastern cities are under extreme duress. Congress stipulated that its aid to Ukraine couldn’t be used “to provide arms, training or other assistance to the Azov Battalion.” Even so, Azov is now an official member of the Ukraine National Guard.įor sure, none of this disturbing context justifies the misery that has befallen Ukrainians over the past several weeks - and it’s unlikely that Putin was motivated by any of it when he launched his invasion.

One is the Azov Battalion, founded by an avowed white supremacist who claimed Ukraine’s national purpose was to rid the country of Jews and other inferior races.

They are battle-hardened after waging some of the toughest street fighting against Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine following Putin’s Crimean invasion in 2014. Just as disturbing, neo-Nazis are part of some of Ukraine’s growing ranks of volunteer battalions.