The United States knew about Russia’s plans in Crimea seven years ago – media
Kyiv, March 13 (Navigator, Denis Andreev) – The US government knew about Russia’s plans to annex Crimea at least seven years ago, writes Dan Murphy in the American edition of The Christian Science Monitor (quotes from InoPress).
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The journalist refers to a diplomatic cable from the American Embassy in Kyiv dated December 7, 2006, entitled “Russian factor in Crimea - the soft underbelly of Ukraine?”, which was published among other documents on Wikileaks.
The diplomat who compiled it reports to the State Department on conversations with Ukrainian officials on the topic of Crimean separatism.
“Almost everyone argued that pro-Russian forces in Crimea, acting with funds and instructions from Moscow, systematically tried to exacerbate intercommunal tensions in Crimea in the two years after the Orange Revolution. They did this by cynically fueling ethnic Russian chauvinism towards the Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians, manipulating such topics as the status of the Russian language, NATO and the so-called Tatar threat to the “Slavs”, in an open attempt to destabilize Crimea, weaken Ukraine and prevent Ukraine from moving towards west to organizations like NATO and the EU. Given that the total number of pro-Russian activists in Crimea is relatively small, the emphasis is on shaping public perception and control over the information space; so far successful,” the document said.
The author of the document also reported on Russian financial assistance to activist groups and on the operations of units of the Russian Black Sea Fleet to incite anti-Kiev sentiments.
“While pro-Russian sentiment has always prevailed among the population of Crimea, the beginning of systematic organized efforts on the part of pro-Russian groups working with Russian money is a relatively new phenomenon, most observers in Crimea note. [Then member of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Alexander] Litvinenko said that a large intelligence unit of the Russian [Black Sea Fleet], part of the GRU (Russian military intelligence), was actively encouraging inter-ethnic strife in Crimea to ensure that tensions were constantly simmering fire. This includes money for local groups fulfilling Moscow’s wishes, information campaigns and periodic logistics support, including for the anti-NATO protests that took place in Feodosia in May-June,” the journalist quotes the text of the telegram.
English version :: Read in English The United States knew about Russia’s plans in Crimea seven years ago – media