In this latest incident between Russia and the Ukraine [ see article ] one group of Ukrainians met Russian personnel who were in Crimea. The status and identification of both sides is suspect.
The Moscow Times describes the incident circumstances this way:
"One soldier was shot dead in the Crimean city of Armyansk on Aug. 6 during a raid on an alleged Ukrainian spy ring, Russian officials have claimed. Russian forces announced that they had seized a large quantity of explosives, weapons and military supplies and accused Ukraine of preparing a 'terrorist attack' on the peninsula. [Note: The actual attack, according to a few of the Russian papers, was directed at the Kerch Strait. For those with short memories, the Kerch bridge, which connects small islands much like the Florida Keys, is supposed to be Putin's idea for giving the Crimea support, most of which has to come from the Ukraine. It was originally Hitler's idea to facilitate putting his army into Russia. Today's bridge, however, has proven expensive and hard to build and is a bridge to nowhere - at the moment. [ see Russia's Kerch Bridge ].]
A second Russian soldier was shot and killed on the night of Aug. 7 after Ukrainian troops and armored vehicles fired from over the border, the FSB claimed." It almost sounds like the Russians knew they were coming which, given the amount of monitoring of Ukraine's computers and telecommunications, could be.
The Wall Street Journal described these two Russian men who were killed as FSB agents which sounds different than the Russian version, but isn't since the FSB is a military organization under Russian law. The London Telegraph says the Russians captured one of the shooters and he confessed to being a special operations force member from the Ukraine. If so, both sides have used the same strategy in the past. In May of last year, the Ukraine arrested two Russians who they claimed were terrorists because they were not in uniform but acting like terrorists would. The two claimed to be soldiers on Russian Army contracts to serve in the Ukraine.
Both sides are fighting a covert war, that every now and again, breaks out in hostilities that can't be covert. This is usually when someone gets killed or buildings explode. This time, it is the Crimea which the Russians seized and are finding difficult and expensive to support. When the Ukraine blew up electric transmissions lines in their own country, the Russians built "an electricity bridge" from mainland Russia to Crimea. That must have been expensive, but Crimea, even with all the sanctions on Russia in Europe and the United States, is still not too expensive for Putin. Just like the Chinese in the South China Sea, they have staked out territory they claim as their own, occupied it, and ignored every challenge to their authority to be there.
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