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Presidential press secretary Dmitri Peskov told Kommersant, “President Vladimir Putin will formulate his attitude to the referenda held on Sunday in Donetsk and Lugansk Oblasts on the strength of their results. His decision is difficult to forecast”. Asked by the newspaper whether the fact that he asked patriot elements to postpone the referendum until a later date would influence Putin’s attitude, Peskov pointed up, “No, he didn’t ask them, he made such a recommendation. However, it was difficult to heed the recommendation, even considering [Putin’s] prestige. Taking into account the real combat actions, the people there had to act according to their own approach and proceed from the real situation”. Already, the USA and the EU declared that they don’t recognise the results of voting on the status of Lugansk and Donetsk Oblasts and warned that they might apply economic sanctions against Russia if the referenda in Novorossiya bollix the so-called Ukrainian “presidential election” due on 25 May. Peskov said, “The reproaches levelled at Russia by the US and the EU are absolute folly. Why couldn’t the West prevent the use of APCs in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk and avoid the gunning down of civilians? They didn’t use their influence, they don’t give a hang, but they blame Russia for everything”.
Editor:
The West screams about “democracy”, but when real democracy faces them, they reject it with disdain. The West accepts “democracy” imposed by American murder and money… it rejects democracy that flows from the people. We are seeing the end of an unnatural era where one country had undue influence… the USA refuses to accept that it’s no longer “the sole superpower”… if it ever were such, first. Do remember that the USA brought on the present world economic crash through intemperate war spending coupled with potty tax cuts to the rich (of course, one usually RAISES taxes to pay for wars, but the Republican Party reversed that… what does that tell you about their intelligence and prudence?). Russia and China will put the arrogant Anglo-Americans in their place. The USA lacks the money to impose its will on the world. It DOES have the means necessary to defend the seaborne defence lines of the Anglosphere… but that means forgoing potty and notional adventures in Eurasia. It has to abandon Zbig’s dreams of the USA implementing Prometheanism… it simply can’t afford to do so.
“THIS IS MINE”, sez the Bear… the USA had best read n’ heed…
BMD
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On Monday, Roman Lyagin, head of the Central Elections Commission of the Donetsk People’s Republic, told Interfax on the phone, “We planned to issue a final referendum report signed by all members of the Central Elections Commission by 15.00 local time (05.00 EDT. 08.00 EDT. 13.00 BST. 16.00 MSK. 22.00 AEST). However, we can hardly do so because of tensions in the Donetsk Oblast. Hence, we’ve intentionally posted tentative results of the ballot; we’ll base our decisions on them… 89.07 percent for Donetsk Oblast to be independent, 10.19 percent against that, and 0.74 percent invalid ballots. The region is witnessing escalating violence and many armed people are about. Sometimes, it’s even impossible to say whom these people represent. Therefore, the delivery of ballot papers to the Central Elections Commission entails danger to the life and health of election commission members. I can’t say when an official referendum report would be available. It may take a week to bring in ballot papers from [polling stations] but I can’t give you an exact time”.
Editor:
I think the real reason that the junta released Pavel Gubaryov is that they traded three American mercs for him. The USA pressured the junta to give in, they didn’t want the adverse publicity (the Republicans would’ve used it as fodder in the upcoming midterm elections). That, I believe, are the facts behind, “Sometimes, it’s even impossible to say whom these people represent”.
BMD
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On Sunday, Central Elections Commission press secretary Vasili Nikitin told Interfax, “Polling stations closed in 29 out of 32 cities of Lugansk Oblast on Sunday night and commissions started counting ballots cast in the referendum. The turnout was 81 percent as of 20.00 local time (10.00 PDT. 13.00 EDT. 18.00 BST. 21.00 MSK. 03.00 12 May AEST). Polling stations stayed open until 23.00 (13.00 PDT. 16.00 EDT. 21.00 BST. 00.00 12 May MSK. 06.00 AEST) at the request of steelmakers and miners in three cities, Stakhanov, Pervomaysk, and Alchevsk. Voters in Krasny Luch, Slavyansk, Krasnodon, Melovoye, and Rubezhnoye were very active. Their turnout in the referendum varied from 85 percent to 95 percent”. He noted that Lugansk Oblast has 2.251 million people according to 2013 official statistics. Lugansk People’s Republic officials will announce the official referendum results at a rally on Monday.
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A source at the Donbass People’s Opolchenie told Interfax, “The enemy opened artillery fire on Andreyevka using heavy mortars and howitzers. We also have information that the enemy is using combat helicopters to cover them. Some people may have died in the attack; we had some wounded. We’re verifying this information mow”.
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Russian helicopter carrier/amphibious assault ship Vladivostok under construction in France
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On Monday, according to Reuters, French diplomatic sources said that France would press ahead with a 1.66 billion USD (57.6 billion Roubles. 1.77 billion AUD. 1.81 billion CAD. 1.22 billion Euros. 990 million UK Pounds) contract to sell helicopter carriers to Russia as cancelling the deal would do more damage to Paris than to Moscow. France came under pressure from Washington and some European partners to reconsider its supply of high-tech military hardware to Moscow. It said it’d review the deal in October… but not before.
French diplomatic sources said, “The Mistrals aren’t part of the third level of sanctions. We’ll deliver them. They paid for them according to the contract, and there’d be financial penalties for not delivering them. France would be one paying the penalty. It’s too easy to say that France has to cancel the sale of the ships. We’ve done our part”. The Minoborony warned France in March that it’d have to repay the cost of the contract and more penalties if it cancelled the deal. The long-discussed French sale was Moscow’s first major foreign arms purchase in the two decades since the fall of the USSR. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the signing of the Mistral contract as evidence that the Cold War was over. It created about 1,000 jobs in France. A French government source said that at no point had the USA officially expressed any concern over the sale. The first carrier, the Vladivostok, is due for delivery by the last quarter of 2014. The second, named Sevastopol after the Crimean seaport, ha a delivery date of 2016.
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On Monday, the chairman of the Lugansk People’s Republic Central Elections Commission in charge of the referendum told a press conference in Lugansk that election workers handed out 1.35 million ballots to voters at polling stations and gave another 15,000 ballots to voters outside of polling stations. According to official information, 1.29 million people, or 96.2 percent of voters, voted “yes” for independence of the Lugansk People’s Republic, and 51,276 people, or 3.8 percent of voters, voted against it.
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On Monday, police sources in Lugansk Oblast said, “A group of 15 unidentified gunmen wearing camouflage seized an oil terminal on Vygonnaya Street in Rovenki. The incident occurred at 13.40 local time (03.40 PDT. 06.40 EDT. 11.40 BST. 14.40 MSK. 20.40 AEST) on Sunday. No further details are available”.
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On Monday, according to Interfax, RF Gosduma Chairman Sergei Naryshkin told reporters when asked to comment on the outcome of the referendum, “The referendum shows their wish to defend their rights, essentially, their wish to be free. The results of the referendum clearly show that millions of Ukrainians who live in Lugansk and Donetsk Oblasts believe that the current state apparat massively violates their rights”.
Editor:
Don’t forget, one of the first actions of the junta was to outlaw Russian and they tried to ram Galician semi-Polish pidgin down everyone’s throats. They’re fascist pigs who glorify the UPA murderers… they loudly made that clear, too. No right-minded patriot in Novorossiya or Malorossiya trusts the junta, as it tries to push Galician Uniate nonsense in place of real Russian language and culture. In short, the people of the east want no part of Galician Uniate hillbilly nekulturny flapdoodle… they’d rather fight and die first. Oh, one last thing… the people in the east outnumber the hillbillies (there are more people in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics than there are Uniates in the whole country)… need I tell who has the better chance of winning?
BMD
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Aleksei Chmilenko, leader of the People’s Front of the Lugansk People’s Republic, told Interfax, “[The junta] wants to annex three raions… Svatovsk, Troitsk, and Starobelsky Raions… and forcibly join them to Kharkov Oblast. To do that, they want to organise fictitious citizens’ assemblies, doing such with local criminals. I have information that the Kiev administration intends to do a similar thing in Krasnoarmeisk, to join it to Dnepropetrovsk Oblast.
Editor:
Let’s see… Avakov is a real estate fraudster and Turchinov and Yatsenyuk are both known thieves and confederates of Darlin’ Yuliya. Ergo, for them to ally with criminals is a no-brainer. They’re criminals themselves, so, they’re just reaching out to likeminded shitbirds. Note well that Shevchuk kisses their ass publicly and effusively (he also kisses Biden’s ass publicly for all to see). However, does that surprise you? Slipy kissed Hitler’s ass, didn’t he? The Uniates haven’t changed their spots, have they?
BMD
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On Monday, Army of the Southeast spokesman Vasili Nikitin told a press conference in Lugansk that the Lugansk People’s Republic wouldn’t take part in the Ukrainian presidential election on 25 May, saying, “The election might have taken place in Lugansk Oblast, but now we’re the Lugansk People’s Republic. Therefore, we won’t take part in the election. The Lugansk Oblast Soviet lost its legitimacy when we proclaimed the People’s Republic. The new Republic authorities are drawing up a request for recognition from the UN. We’ll have a gala concert on Monday night”.
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On Sunday, Aleksei Chmilenko, leader of the Lugansk People’s Front, told Interfax, “We’d like to create a unified space with Donetsk, a united state; in future, probably Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, and other oblasts might join us and follow our example. We face many challenges after the referendum, including forming a new administration, armed forces, and other state institutions”.
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On Monday, Denis Pushilin, Chairman of the Donetsk People’s Republic Soviet, said that the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) proclaimed itself an independent state after the referendum, saying, “We, the people of Donetsk People’s Republic, proclaim the DNR’s independence following the results of the referendum held on 11 May 2014, which manifested this independence. Following the will of the people of DNR, who wish to restore historical justice, we ask the Russian Federation to let the DNR integrate with Russia. Moscow respects the will of the citizens of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics and hopes that the further fulfilment of the results of the referendum would come peacefully through dialogue between representatives of the Ukrainian government, Donetsk, and Lugansk”.
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On Friday, Gazprom stated that the Ukraine’s accumulated debt for previous deliveries totalled 3.5 billion USD (121.4 billion Roubles. 3.75 billion AUD. 3.8 billion CAD. 2.55 billion Euros. 2.1 billion UK Pounds). It said that it’d switch to advance payments for natural gas supplied to the Ukraine starting from June. Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller said at a meeting with Chairman of the RF Government Dmitri Medvedev, “The Ukrainian side must pay for June deliveries by 2 June. If the Ukraine fails to pay for June deliveries, Gazprom will cut off gas supplies from 3 June”. Earlier, Gazprom said that Moscow’s conflict with the putschist junta in Kiev could potentially hamper Russian natural gas deliveries to Europe through the Ukraine. The company said that it feared that Naftogaz could fail on its transport obligations, withholding gas allocated for Europe for itself. On 1 April, the price of Russian gas for the Ukraine rose to 485 USD (16,810 Roubles. 518 AUD. 528 CAD. 354 Euros. 290 UK Pounds) per 1,000 cubic metres (35,315 cubic feet) from 268.50 USD (9,305 Roubles. 286.50 AUD. 292 CAD. 196 Euros. 160 UK Pounds), as Russia withdrew two major discounts. In December, Russia offered Ukraine a 25 percent discount on natural gas, a deal cancelled because of Kiev’s overdue gas bills.
Editor:
If the Ukraine were to interfere with gas shipments, not only would that trigger Russian intervention, Europe would stand by and do nothing… the USA can’t supply them with needed energy. The Uniate junta has chutzpah… it wants discounts for gas given for naval base rents (moot, as the Crimea rejoined Russia) and for a neutralist foreign policy (it now holds a pro-American Russophobic policy, the wet dream of the Galician Uniate hillbillies). Of course, Russia withdrew the discounts. The junta believes in a libertarian “Free Market”… well, let them pay the market price. That’s only fair, isn’t it?
BMD
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On Monday, Valery Bolotov, People’s Governor of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LNR), told residents in a televised address, that the LNR declared itself a sovereign state following the 11 May referendum, “We’ve chosen our own path of independence from tyranny and bloody dictatorship by the Kiev junta, from fascism and nationalism. We’ve chosen the path of freedom and the rule of law”.
12 May 2014
Voice of Russia World Service
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Putin-to-formulate-his-attitude-to-referenda-in-Ukraines-south-east-on-their-results-5579/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Final-results-of-Donetsk-referendum-still-while-away-organizers-suggest-looking-to-tentative-data-6279/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Lugansk-referendum-demonstrates-over-80-turnout-9626/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Explosions-gunfire-heard-near-Ukraines-Slavyansk-3156/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/France-wont-cancel-warship-deal-with-Russia-sources-6028/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/96-2-percent-vote-for-Lugansk-federalization-at-referendum-final-data-3520/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Unidentified-gunmen-seize-oil-terminal-in-Ukraines-Lugansk-region-1342/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Referendum-in-two-eastern-Ukrainian-regions-shows-that-their-residents-want-freedom-Duma-Speaker-3757/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Kiev-has-plans-to-annex-some-districts-of-Lugansk-Donetsk-regions-self-defense-0541/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Lugansk-Peoples-Republic-not-to-have-Ukrainian-presidential-election-on-May-25-9990/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Lugansk-doesnt-rule-out-union-with-Donetsk-Peoples-Republic-8276/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Donetsk-People-s-Republic-declare-itself-sovereign-state-official-1568/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Gazprom-may-stop-deliveries-of-gas-to-Ukraine-in-June-7813/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_12/Ukraines-Lugansk-declares-itself-sovereign-state-4343/
Voices from Russia 
Sailors of the Pacific Ocean Fleet Paid Homage to the Heroes of Tsushima
Tags: Battle of Tsushima, memorial, memorial service, patriotic, patriotism, political commentary, Russia, Russian, Russian Empire, Russian Navy, Russian warships, Russo-Japanese War, sea and ships, Togo Heihachiro, war and conflict, Zinovy Rozhdestvensky
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During their passage of the Korea Strait near Tsushima islands, ships of the Pacific Ocean Fleet (TOF-MF), the destroyer Admiral Vinogradov, replenishment tanker Ilim, and ocean tug MB-37, honoured the sacrifice of the sailors who fell in the bloody battle in May 1905 of the 2nd Pacific Squadron of Vice-Admiral Z P Rozhdestvensky with a Japanese fleet under Marshal-Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō. The Russian ships stopped at the site of the tragic battle. On all ships, the crews held patriotic rallies and memorial services. Then, sailors lowered a wreath into the ocean from the Admiral Vinogradov. Transiting the Sea of Japan, the ships’ crews practised manoeuvring as part of a task force. Besides this, the Admiral Vinogradov held unit exercises for its antiterrorist unit. The crews also carried out damage control exercises. At present, the ships are in the East China Sea, continuing their exercises and patrols.
3 November 2014
Minoborony Rossii official website
http://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=11998318@egNews
NB:
“Rozhdestvensky” (вице-адмирала Зиновия Рождественского) is the spelling used by the Minoborony… some other sources use “Rozhestvensky”. You pays your money and takes your choice, I guess…
BMD