Wizeus > Religious Affairs
| Katriuk2012
| Video Links
| Perfidy
| Book Reviews
| Putin
Files >
Atlantic Council | 27May2015 | Maksymilian Czuperski, John Herbst,
Eliot Higgins, Alina Polyakova, Damon Wilson
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/reports/hiding-in-plain-sight-putin-s-war-in-ukraine-and-boris-nemtsov-s-putin-war
Czuperski20150527AtlanticCouncil.pdf
Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin's War in Ukraine
Table of Contents
Foreword (p1)
Executive Summary (p3)
Background: A Kremlin-Made War (p4)
Russian Denial of Facts (p7)
Using Digital Forensics to Expose Russia’s War in Ukraine (p8)
A Steady Flow of Arms and Military Equipment from Russia to
Eastern Ukraine (p8)
Border Camps: Preparing for Combat (p13)
Russian Troops in Ukraine (p15)
Cargo 200: Hiding Russia’s Dead (p17)
Cross-Border Shelling (p18)
Policy Recommendations (p20)
Casebook (p21)
Section 1. Russian
Military Equipment in Use in Ukraine (p21)
Section 2. Russian Training Camps on Ukraine’s Border (p23)
Section 3. Russian Soldiers in Ukraine (p25)
Section 4. Russian Cross-Border Artillery Attacks on Ukraine (p28)
Appendix (p32)
Foreword
- "Only after the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, steps from the
Kremlin, did the Council team learn about his efforts to expose Mr.
Putin’s war. While the work Mr. Nemtsov spearheaded remains distinct
from the Council’s, our teams have subsequently coordinated the release
of this report with Mr.
Nemtsov’s report [in
Russian] [English/Russian] to reinforce our common message: Mr. Putin led
his nation into war against a peaceful neighbor and lied about it.
Review and share the facts via #PutinAtW"
Executive Summary
Russia is at war with Ukraine. Russian citizens and soldiers are
fighting and dying in a war of their government's own making. President
Vladimir Putin continues to deny Russian involvement in the fighting,
but the evidence is overwhelming and indisputable. Drawing upon open
source information that is “hiding in plain sight,” this report
provides irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in
eastern Ukraine.
This report is the result of an Atlantic Council Working Group launched
to examine direct Russian military involvement in Ukraine. Discussions
in March 2015 with senior Ukrainian civilian and military officials in
Kyiv, investigative journalists, and a fact-finding mission to eastern
Ukraine inform the report and its conclusions. It finds:
• Satellite images confirm the movement of Russian troops and camp
buildups along the Ukrainian border.
• Russian training camps stationed along the Ukrainian border are the
launching points of Russia’s war in Ukraine. These camps are the
staging ground for Russian military equipment transported into Ukraine,
soon to join the separatist arsenal, and for Russian soldiers mobilized
across Russia to cross into Ukraine.
• Commanders order Russian soldiers to conceal the identifying features
of military vehicles, remove insignia from uniforms, and travel across
the border to join separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
• A variety of Russian manufactured arms and munitions not used by the
Ukrainian military have appeared in the hands of separatists, including
shoulder launched surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS), various types of
rocket launchers, anti-tank guided missiles, landmines, and various
small arms.
• During key offensives, Russian forces in Ukraine have received cover
from Russian territory. A combination of satellite data, crater
analysis, and open source materials confirms that many attacks
originated in Russia, not in the separatist controlled areas of Ukraine.
As a prerequisite for policies that can better deter Russia’s
aggression, Western political leaders should speak clearly about
Russia’s war against Ukraine, including Russian forces fighting in
Ukraine and the Kremlin’s direction of the campaign. To do otherwise
buttresses Putin’s attempt to obfuscate Russia’s direct role in the
conflict. The West must also recognize that Putin has used each lull in
combat, now under the cover of the negotiated ceasefire in Minsk, to
further reinforce Russian and Russian-backed forces in Ukraine’s east
and to prepare for the next stage of fighting. Furthermore, as Russia
strengthens the capacity and arsenal of the forces in eastern Ukraine,
the Kremlin is building its case that forces engaged in any future
outbreaks in fighting are indigenous, legitimate Ukrainian forces
rather than Moscow’s creation. [1]
In addition, to counter Russia’s disinformation war, the Working
Group recommends that Western governments:
• devote substantially more intelligence assets to unveiling and
countering Putin’s war in Ukraine;
• employ new digital forensic methods and geolocation analysis to
collect intelligence that is releasable to the public to complement
covert and technical intelligence collection;
• make public, to the maximum extent possible, information documenting
Putin’s aggressive designs, the presence of Russian troops and
equipment in Ukraine, and Russian officials directing the fighting in
Ukraine, while protecting intelligence methods as needed;
• share intelligence regarding Russian plans against and Russian forces
in and near Ukraine through vetted channels with the Ukrainian
government;
• counter, not abet, Russia’s hybrid war by speaking clearly,
consistently, and publicly about Russia’s war against Ukraine;
• increase funding for, and mobilize private investment in,
Russian-language independent programs and media that broadcast into
Russian-speaking areas to offset the impact of Moscow’s propaganda;
• dedicate more intelligence assets to and analysis of Putin’s
burgeoning hybrid warfare against other neighbors and European nations
(including other post-Soviet states and NATO and EU nations); and
• draw on these insights to inform policy decisions (such as extending,
not curtailing, sanctions) and to formulate a more comprehensive
transatlantic strategy to deter Russia’s aggressive actions.
[1]Adrian Karatnycky, “Putin’s Project Sparta,” New Atlanticist
(blog), Atlantic Council, November 12, 2014,
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlantacist/putin-s-project-sparta
.
[W.Z.
The reader is encouraged to read the full report available in the pdf
file in the link below.]
Czuperski20150527AtlanticCouncil.pdf