Simpleχity;1063778492 said:
I'll concede the Cargo 200 issue. Don't really know that much about how Russia ships soldier bodies home.
But I won't concede on the "accidental" border crossing. Paratroopers getting lost? That's bull-dookey. And there is a reason why the Russian military ordered Russian soldiers in Ukraine to stop taking selfies and posting them via Instagram on social media sites such as VKontakte.
8.28.2014. Russian mothers and wives seeking info on the whereabouts of their men at the Kostroma military base (98th Airborne Division) north of Moscow. This is where captured Russian troops in Ukraine were based.
a. The truck photo you posted appeared (along others) in an Echo Moscow article few months ago:
"Cargo 200" 2.6.14 (In Russian)
The article was posted after the defeat of an anti-Kiev Vostok battalion near Donetsk airport, the truck isn't carrying "Russian soldiers" but Russian volunteers from that battalion.
b. Simply saying that VDV soldiers can't get lost, isn't enough, as we don't know the circumstances of their capture the gear they had on them and on which vehicle they were conducting their supposed march. Knowing the history of SBU's past "evidence" I am not inclined to believe the story these soldiers are telling under interrogation.
c. The sensible and the needed move to prohibit posting military service pictures on social media came few months before Russia decided/needed to "take off the gloves", and I welcome it as the level of a media/bloggers schizophrenia as a result of every Russian soldier photo posted on VK and the idiocy of those posting them went well beyond any reasonable level.
d. You are mistaken if you think that you are talking to someome that would deny Russia's involvement in the recent DNR/LNR counter-attack, which in turn lead to the current stalemate and ceasefire.
I was actually one of the first ones on the internetz that posted and talked to journalists about a BTR-82 which most probably came with its' "operators" and was spotted on the rebel side. I was the first one on DP to post the above info, I was also the first on DP to talk about an actual anti-Kiev counter-attack when everyone talked about the "close defeat of the rebels". I was also the first on DP to talk about Russian T-72BM, ASVK, VSS, etc...that sometimes come with their "indigenous operators".
Indirectly even the Russian official channels admit that there are Russian soldiers dying in Ukraine.
However, on these channels they are being called "professional soldiers that use their vacation time to fight in Donbass" - unfortunately the Russian propaganda and news making was always quite asinine and crude, but that doesn't prevent the Russian liberal media outlets and numerous bloggers from talking about the dead Russian soldiers, Russian supplies and Russian involvement in the rebel counter-offensive.
Too bad that the Western media/analysts/politicians are way too slow and simplistic in their assessment of the situatiion in Ukraine and Russia, to make factual and adequate reports about the events in Eastern Ukraine.
Fallen.
