Putin’s retreat: is everything over?

UKRAINE - In Brief 04 Mar 2014 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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Abkhazian scenario did not work with Ukraine. None believes in ‘evil Ukrainians’, no evidences of nationalists threatening Russians. At the same time, all media report that ‘unidentified’ gunmen are Russian soldiers – some soldiers even confirmed this fact openly to media. Against this backdrop the total World rejected to recognize legitimacy of Putin’s move and blamed Russian leader in aggression. Though Putin’s potential reaction on general critique was hardly predictable, he finally decided to reduce tension. Many even assumed that he calmed down and retreated. But does it really mean that Russian leader indeed decided to withdraw? We have strong doubts on this. ‘Unidentified’ gunmen are still besieging Ukrainian military bases. To make matters worse, activists report about dozens of buses with so call ‘Putin’s tourists’ (Russians arranging provocations in Ukraine) arriving to Crimea. Russian troops… sorry, ‘unidentified’ gunmen are digging trenches and do not show any intention to leave peninsular. What more, officers report that ‘Putin’s tourists’ are purchasing Ukrainian military uniform at the peninsular. All the moves indicate that more ‘surprises’ should be expected from invaders in the nearest future. As we discussed, the main problem for Putin – no Russian blood in Crimea. We have doubt that Putin cares much about opinion of the West. But after several days at the peninsular morale of Russian troops have declined – many Crimeans are naming them occupants and openly tell them go home. Common people come to military bases to protect Ukrainian soldiers. The legend about ‘Russian soldiers liberators’ have been damaged. In other words, without hard proves of crim...