Russian Defense Ministry denies claims that Su-34 violated Turkish border

"Statements by the Turkish side of an alleged case of violation by the Russian Su-34 aircraft of airspace are unsubstantiated propaganda," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday denied claims by Turkey that a Russian Su-34 fighter jet allegedly violated Turkish airspace on Friday.

"There have been no violations of Turkey’s airspace by aircraft of the Russian air group in the Syrian Arab Republic," the ministry said.

"Statements by the Turkish side of an alleged case of violation by the Russian Su-34 aircraft of airspace are unsubstantiated propaganda," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry earlier Saturday claimed that a Russian Su-34 fighter jet violated its airspace on January 29. "Yesterday the Russian Aerospace Forces’ Su-34 violated Turkish airspace. Before the violation, Turkish radar stations repeatedly warned the Russian aircraft in Russian and in English," the statement said.

It said that on January 29 in the evening "the ambassador of the Russian Federation was summoned to the ministry" and a protest was lodged to him in connection with what happened. The Turkish ministry did not state where the alleged airspace violation occurred exactly.

Konashenkov said: "I am convinced that even Turkish air defense specialists know that radar stations controlling airspace may only register the altitude, course and speed of the object in the air. None of these radars is capable of establishing the type and state affiliation of the air object - Russia or the US-led so-called anti-ISIL coalition."

He said this is only possible with the help of "direct visual contact from another aircraft, which did not take place."

"Only illiterate propagandists who have watched many Hollywood action movies may speak seriously that the radars were used by someone to warn someone ‘in Russian and English’," Konashenkov said.

 
"On our part, we may flatly state that neither Russian air defense means in Syria, nor Syrian airspace control radar stations have registered any violations of the Syrian-Turkish border. Not to say that there have long been no voice contacts of the Turkish side with our pilots," he said.

Source: ITAR-TASS 31-01-2016

Donetsk republic militia report 153 episodes of shelling by Kiev forces over past day

On Thursday, the DPR militia reported 148 episodes of shelling.

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. As many as 153 episodes of shelling of the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) by Ukrainian troops have been reported in the past day, a spokesman for the DPR defense ministry said on Friday.

"Ukrainian troops opened fire at the republic’s territory 153 times. As a result, they committed 23 violations of the ceasefire regime. Ukrainian troops used tanks, mortars of 82mm and 120mm caliber, armored personnel carriers, anti-aircraft systems, anti-tank guns and firearms," the Donetsk News Agency quoted him as saying.

According to the DPR defense ministry, the settlements of Trudovskiye in Donetsk’s western suburb, Zhabichevo, Lozovsky and Spartak, as well as the area of the Volvo Center in the vicinity of the former Donetsk airport, the airport and the village of Naberezhnoye came under fire.

Earlier, the DPR defense ministry reported 148 episodes of shelling along the engagement line in Donbass by Ukrainian troops on Thursday.

Source: ITAR-TASS 30-01-2016

Envoy: Minsk Deal Not Fulfilled Until Kiev Grants Special Status to Donbass

According to Russia OSCE envoy, Kiev is dragging out the process of granting permanent special status to Donbass and, thus, fulfilling it's end of the Minsk agreements.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – If Kiev refuses to incorporate amendments into the country’s constitution on granting the self-proclaimed eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk special status, then Kiev is not fulfilling its obligations to the Minsk agreements, Russia’s envoy to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said Friday.

“Kiev authorities are clearly dragging the process out in fulfilling the political part of the Minsk agreements of granting permanent special status to Donbass, agreeing on legislation on local elections, and conducting constitutional reforms. We see a solid disinterest in fulfilling the point of granting amnesty and refusing persecution over the events in Donbas,” Alexander Lukashevich said during an OSCE meeting.

He also expressed hope that Western colleagues would provide the necessary support to Ukraine in implementing the Minsk accords, including through the OSCE.

On Thursday, the east Ukrainian self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic proposed an amendment to the Ukrainian Constitution that would give the DPR and the Luhansk People’s Republic special status.

According to the DPR negotiator for Ukrainian reconciliation talks, Denis Pushilin, special status of the regions presupposes an independent formation and functioning of authorities and management, as well as the right to choose which language is spoken in the regions.

Source: Sputnik News 29-01-2016

Kiev forces reportedly used Grad rocket launcher to shell self-proclaimed Donetsk republic

According to the local defense ministry, the situation along the line of contact has escalated dramatically over the past 24 hours

MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces have used the Grad multiple rocket launchers for the first time since the beginning of this year to shell the territory west of Donetsk, the Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said on Wednesday.

Commenting on this information, Defense Ministry spokesman Eduard Basurin accused Kiev of flagrant violations of the Minsk agreements. In his opinion, "it cannot be ruled out that the Ukrainian positions close to which the shells exploded could be the target of the shelling with the use of the Grad rocket launchers." "This was supposed to be a pretext for accusing the DPR armed forces of blatant violations of the agreements," Donetsk news agency quotes him as saying.

 
According to the defense ministry, the situation along the line of contact has escalated dramatically over the past 24 hours. The Ukrainian military shelled the DPR territory 222 times using the Grad multiple rockets launchers for the first time in 2016 whose projectiles exploded in the vicinity of the villages of Staromikhailovka and Tudovskiye.

Source: ITAR-TASS 28-01-2016

Senior lawmaker calls memory of Leningrad siege source of spiritual strength of Russians

Valentina Matviyenko made this statement on Wednesday on the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of the full lifting of the siege.

MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. The memory of the Siege of Leningrad is an inexhaustible source of Russians’ spiritual strength, speaker of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Valentina Matviyenko said on Wednesday on the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of the full lifting of the siege.

"The memory of this unprecedented feat is the eternal inexhaustible source of spiritual strength of our people. Moreover, for many people, especially for those who lost their near and dear ones in besieged Leningrad, the memory of the blockade is the emotional wound that will never heal," she said.

The speaker also noted that on Wednesday the work marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day. "The victims of the genocide of the Jewish people are a stern warning to people of the evil brought by Nazism and other kinds of radicalism, extremism on ethnic or religious grounds," she said, adding that "this warning applied not only to the past." "Unfortunately, it is topical today in various parts of the globe," she said.

For his part, speaker of Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament) Sergey Naryshkin said on Monday that it was a moral duty of humanity to remember victims of the Holocaust and Nazi crimes. "It is undoubtedly a moral duty of humanity, one of the guarantees of its self-preservation, to remember about the Holocaust, about World War Two, about the cost of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War," Naryshkin said. The Duma speaker noted that flirting with neo-Nazism in Ukraine, Latvia and several other countries was representative in this respect, along with attempts to rewrite history, in particular when it comes to the fact of who freed "this terrible death camp Auschwitz" 71 years ago.

 
After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, the Nazis besieged the city of Leningrad (historically and currently known as St.Petersburg) in September. Although the Soviets managed to establish a land corridor to the city, the full siege was not lifted until 1944. Altogether, the Siege of Leningrad lasted almost 900 days claiming the lives of more than 1 million civilians.

Source: ITAR-TASS 27-01-2016