Ed. Note: In the interest of keeping track of the facts, and trying to apportion the blame in the Ukraine debacle, we re-posting an article from2019 by the Italian journalist Murizio Blonded dealing with the events of 2014.

Well before 2014, the Russian side obviously made huge miscalculations when Lenin and later Khrushchev, for misplaced political calculations, assigned the Donbas and Crimea to the Ukraine gubernatorial province – not thinking of the possible consequences down the road. But the Russians seem to have swallowed their pride and accepted the loss, which was somewhat attenuated by certain leasing arrangements with Ukraine.

But here comes the United States who, in its hubris, thought they could corner a wounded animal and actually take possession of the historically Russian outposts in Crimea.  The coup in Kiev in 2014 was prepared in order to enable the US 7^th Fleet, in the Mediterranean, to rapidly cross the seas and install itself in Russia’s critical military defense fortifications of Crimea. – An outright act of war, to which Putin’s team responded magisterially, thus avoiding a nuclear war. 

It was the United States who, not satisfied with the attempted barbarian attack, continued to supply the helpless Ukrainians with arms, munitions, intelligence, training, money, and political cover to continue their assaults on Russian-ethnic areas. Thus, it is 100% the United States who is the criminal party here.

Unfortunately, after some initial successes by the Ukrainians, in the end this resulted in a total loss for the naïve Ukrainians: loss of territory, loss of its best men, economic destruction, and almost the loss of statehood. And now, the same United States, just like in Vietnam and Afghanistan, got tired of accepting their own losses and the Ukrainian disaster, and in utterly hypocritical… (more than hypocritical) is now calling on Ukraine to just accept this historical disaster and feed their still-warm corpses to the wolves.

What makes this even more of a nightmare is that what used to be a defeated Russia on the shores of the Black Sea, prior to 2014, these events have empowered Russia to go further and eye territories beyond their wildest dreams – to take over Odessa, Transdnistria, Moldova, etc. Remember Lavrov’s sinister words about their claim to Moldova – part of the Romanian national body since time immemorial, speaking 100% the Romanian language, who want to re-align with its Mother nation. The same holds for Georgia, Armenia, and the Baltic states: small but historically independent principalities/nations who do not want to be part of the Imperial Russia. And who is going to defend them all? The bankrupt Trumptards? – No. Of course not.

This is not about peace. This is about the U.S. owing many apologies and huge reparations, to the poor and deceived Ukrainians rather than stealing the last resources of a nation they led into near-fatal error.

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Source: Dialog UA

Translated by Algora Publishing

Italian journalist Maurizio Blondet says that the events of the Ukrainian Maidan were intended to enable the United States to take control of Crimea and to kick out the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

“The coup d’etat perpetrated in Kiev in February in 2014 had a specific goal: to neutralize the Russian Black Sea Fleet based in Sevastopol and replace it with the United States Navy,” – writes Maurizio Blondet in an article published on the website www.effedieffe.com.

“On 22 February, the day when Yanukovych was removed from power, the American carrier strike group quickly entered the Black Sea through the Bosporus Strait. This is the fleet that was supposed to take the place of the Russian Black Sea Fleet based in Crimea. Secret Russian sources tell us just how grave a threat this was to the vital interests of Moscow, making it clear why Putin was quick to take the Crimea peninsula and declare it Russian. He had irrefutable evidence that the coup perpetrated in Kiev in February 2014 had a specific goal: to neutralize the Russian Black Sea Fleet based in Sevastopol, and replace it with a US fleet. On February 18, 2014, the Ukrainian parliament was occupied by armed activists of the “Svoboda” Party and the Right Sector. On February 22, President Yanukovych was forced to leave Kiev, as pro-Western forces took power.

The journalist also claims that the SBU head Valentyn Nalyvaychenko is a citizen of the United States.

“At the same time, Valentin Nalyvaychenko was appointed head of the Secret Services of Ukraine (SBU). Who is he? An American citizen,” – the article says.

The journalist also writes that on February 22, the day Yanukovych fled, a group of American warships entered the Black Sea.

“Of course,” on February 13, “just by chance” one of the four American naval groups, led by the aircraft carrier George Bush (CSG-2), left the naval base in Norfolk and headed for the Aegean Sea. The George H. W. Bush has a displacement of 102,000 tons; it has 90 fixed wing aircraft and helicopters on board. It is accompanied by 16 warships, including the cruiser USS Philippine Sea, the destroyers Truxtun and Roosevelt, and three nuclear submarines. February 22, the day when Yanukovych was removed from power, the American carrier strike group quickly entered the Black Sea through the Bosporus Strait. This was a direct violation of the Treaty of Montreux (1936), which only permits warships up to 45,000 tons to pass through the Dardanelles. But, as reported by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, citing a source from the Ministry of War in Turkey, authorities secretly gave permission for the passage of the valiant American fleet. This was fleet that was intended to take the place of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the naval bases of Crimea. Of course, it was expected that the Crimea would “choose democracy” and would be happy to greet the stars and stripes navy. However, crowds of people took to the streets of Sevastopol, and in a couple of days, the siege of the Parliament of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea drove out Prime Minister Anatoly Mogilev, who had declared his loyalty to the putschists in Kiev (despite the fact that he had bought his position from Yanukovych, having given him a luxury villa in Yalta). Sergei Aksenov, leader of the pro-Russian forces, was chosen in place of Mogilev.

“On 6 March, the parliament of an autonomous Crimea declared its refusal to submit to Kiev and its intention to hold a referendum on March 16 on the reunification of the Crimea with the Russian motherland. That messed up the American plans,” – writes Italian journalist.

According to Maurizio Blondet, after this the initial order received by the aircraft carrier was canceled and they headed off in the direction of Turkey.

“On March 5, the initial instruction received by the aircraft carrier was canceled. They were given a new order – to go from the Greek city of Piraeus to Antalya, to go to the Turkish naval base and wait there. Only the destroyers USS Truxtun, USS Donald Cook and the frigate USS Taylor were sent to explore the shores of Northern Crimea from 7 to 22 March under the pretext of joint exercises with Bulgaria and Romania. The Russian Air Force announced through the media that the USS Donald Cook had come to disrupt the antennas associated with the Space Center for the Black Sea fleet and a network of ELINT military satellites working in the electromagnetic spectrum. This sophisticated modern system allows Crimea to receive data from the electronic surveillance radar and navigation systems of the American Navy, the onboard aircraft, and launch vehicles. Russian military planes had to block this action by the Cook. Two Su-24MRs circled the American ship eleven times (!) at the lowest possible altitude, using an onboard blocking system at frequencies of 12-18 Hz to neutralize the US cruiser radar. In addition, the Russian special services were sure that six commando groups, of 16 people each, were ready to swim underwater, undetected, to the coast in order to carry out acts of sabotage in the Crimea and create an atmosphere of panic among the local population. Such actions might include explosions on public transportation during rush hour, undermining government buildings, etc. Injecting fear and terror on the eve of the referendum would mean fewer people would go out to vote, so the results would be invalidated. To prevent such actions, “Russian exercised a strong, tight control.” In fact, one of the Crimean websites ran a story about the capture of some commandos from NATO countries, as was also indicated by the fact that Natalia Poklonskaya, the Prosecutor General of Crimea, had urgently requested translators from the language of one of the NATO countries that bordered on Ukraine and had access to the sea. In our understanding, the references to a “treacherous neighbor” meant Romania.

The journalist says that after the Crimean referendum, the U.S. fleet found that its orders had been rescinded.

“Based on the results of the referendum in Crimea (83% of the total population voted, and 99.7% of those who voted opted for Russia), the American fleet led by the aircraft carrier George Bush was ordered to cut short its mission, left the Aegean Sea and went to Bahrain. Everyone understands that the Russian military base in Sevastopol is of the utmost importance. In confirmation of this, we see the recent modernization of the Black Sea Fleet, which increased its line-up to 20 modern ships, including six submarines, and missile carrier frigates specializing in defense and in blocking the enemy in the electronic field, as well as the newest Mistral class helicopters, built in a French shipyard. The Navy has a large group of rapid response troops consisting of paratroopers and marines. They are supported by the fourth division and air defense. In addition they have a separate air cargo fleet, consisting of 135 aircraft of the AN-22, AN-124, Il-76MD and An-12 classes, that can transport 80,000 soldiers of the 49th and 58th military corps. This is a rapid reaction force, directly subordinate to the Black Sea Fleet, and it has a single goal – to protect against terrorism in the Mediterranean basin, East Africa and the Middle East up to the Persian Gulf. But even more important is the invisible, or almost invisible, part of the fleet. This is the Center for Space Flight Management, which has been in existence since Soviet times. Its history includes launching the Salyut, Soyuz, Apollo-Soyuz and moon rover spaceships. Today the Space Center receives data from radar-missile systems of the Voronezh-M type (within 6,000 km.), in Lekhtusi village in the Leningrad region, in Pionersk, in the Kaliningrad region, and in the city of Armavir. The center receives information from satellite-based early warning systems (ILCs / K, capable of detecting missile launches of any type – cruise as well as ballistic). Since this center is a serious obstacle to U.S. hegemony and expansion towards Central Asia, damaging this system or completely destroying it is one of the Pentagon’s main goals.

At the end of the article, Maurizio Blondet draws the following conclusion: “Based on the foregoing, it seems to us that a coup d’etat in Kiev to bring to power a “democratic” puppet government had as its primary objective the elimination of the Space Center. Ukraine’s entry into NATO was a distinctly secondary objective. With the help of the Ukrainian presidential elections and the strengthening of the “democratic” government, the Pentagon hoped to force Putin to abandon the military base in the Crimea in order to make it later into an American base. But in their haste the Americans made a mistake. Thinking they had the situation under control, they launched a whole squadron of reconnaissance drones in Dnepropetrovsk prematurely. Those drone flights over the territory of Crimea on the eve of the referendum were open to the Russian side, who were able to listen in on the plans of the United States. ”

https://www.dialog.ua/news/16232_1409670244