Russian Defense Ministry claims Kiev is plotting provocations against Russian officers

The Defense Ministry through several reliable channels has received information about "provocations" prepared by Ukrainian security services.

MOSCOW, October 4./TASS/. Ukrainian security services are planning provocations against Russian officers of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) of the ceasefire in the southeast of Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry’s department for information and mass communications said on Tuesday.

"The Defense Ministry has received through several reliable channels information about a provocation prepared by Ukrainian security services against Russian officers of the JCCC," the report said.

According to the ministry, the Ukrainian Security Service intends to detain Russian military on charges of alleged ‘espionage’. It says this plan will be carried out during the upcoming rotation of the Russian contingent in the JCCC.

"In order to prevent disruption of further activity of the JCCC, we urge the Ukrainian leadership to take this information with all responsibility and to prevent provocations against Russian military by Ukrainian security services," the report said.

It said Russian officers were staying in Ukraine under a mutual agreement between the Russian and Ukrainian leadership only to assist representatives of the Special Monitoring Mission of the European security agency in control over cessation of hostilities.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 05-10-2016

Militia forces return to positions as Kiev disrupts disengagement in Petrovskoye

A framework agreement on disengagement of the sides was signed by militia leaders and representatives of OSCE, Russia and Ukraine on September 21-23.

DONETSK, October 3. /TASS/. Kiev has disrupted disengagement of the sides in Petrovskoye, so the forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) are returning to their starting positions, the DPR’s operational command spokesman Eduard Basurin said Monday.

"The Ukrainian side has disrupted disengagement of forces in Petrovskoye; the DPR Armed Forces’ units are returning to the positions they held earlier," Basurin said.

A framework agreement on disengagement of the sides was signed by DPR leader Alexander Zakharchenko and leader of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) Igor Plotnitsky, representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on September 21-23.

The document defines the procedure of disengagement of units of the opposing sides at three sections: Petrovskoye (DPR), Stanitsa Luganskaya and Zolotoye (LPR).

The agreement notes that the armed forces are withdrawn by the sides to create security sections at least 2 kilometers wide and 2 kilometers deep. The entire process of disengagement of forces and hardware, including preparatory events, should take no more than 30 days for each section.

The document also says that its effect "covers additionally agreed sections of disengagement, which may be defined during further consultations."

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 04-10-2016

Russian security service detains Ukrainian intelligence officer over espionage charges

Roman Sushchenko, an officer of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, was aleegedly collecting data on the Russian military and National Guards.

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained Ukrainian defense intelligence officer Roman Sushchenko on suspicion of espionage, an FSB source told TASS on Monday.

"The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has detained an officer of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Sushchenko Roman Vladimirovich while conducting an espionage operation in Moscow," the source said.

"The Ukrainian national was purposefully collecting information on the Russian Armed Forces and National Guard, constituting state secrets, the disclosure of which could have undermined Russia’s defense capabilities," the FSB source stated.

The FSB has initiated a criminal case against Sushchenko over espionage charges. The investigation is currently underway.

Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court has authorized the arrest of Sushchenko, the court spokesperson Yekaterina Krasnova told TASS.

"By court decision, Sushchenko has been arrested for two months, that is till Noverber 30," she said.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has not yet reacted on the FSB’s statement. The Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform has reported that the detainee was their own correspondent in France. The news agency claims that Sushchenko was in Moscow on vacation.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 03-10-2016

DPR and LPR to hold primaries on Sunday

The DPR head stressed that primaries "are in no way in violation of the Minsk Agreements, since they are purely preliminary".

DONETSK/LUGANSK, October 2. /TASS/. Primary election will be held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) for the first time on Sunday. After the election, lists of candidates for local government positions will be formed in accordance with the Minsk Agreements.

DPR head Alexander Zakharchenko announced primaries back in May, followed by LPR head Igor Plotnitsky.

The DPR head repeatedly stated that since the Minsk Agreements had been reached, Kiev has not yet managed to coordinate the text of the law on election in Donbass with representatives of DPR and LPR. Consequently, the Verkhovna Rada has not adopted the law.

As a result, DPR and LPR had to postpone local election several times while it was initially planned to be held at the end of 2015. The decision to hold primaries was made in the conditions of persisting vagueness of joint work with Kiev on developing a law on local election in Donbass. Zakharchenko said primaries will help "on the one hand, to resolve our own tasks on building a state system, and on the other hand, to show that complaints made by the Ukrainian side are in fact worthless."

"The primaries will become a preliminary stage of elections on our territories, a kind of ‘political drills’ ahead of possible local election," he explained. "We will in fact use the same system and the same procedures which are usually used during elections," he added.

The DPR head stressed that primaries "are in no way in violation of the Minsk Agreements, since they are purely preliminary and are aimed at clarifying the prevailing attitudes and preferences of residents."

LPR’s envoy to the Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in Donbass Vladislav Deinego said that primaries "represent the result of Ukraine’s unconstructive position." "When the representatives of the ‘Normandy Quartet’ set a task for us to prepare Ukrainian legislation in the shortest possible time for holding local election, the Ukrainian side was trying to prolong this process as much as it could," he said. "However, we are not going to stop. We need local government, that’s why it is very important now to see the most popular leaders on our territories. Primaries will be like a test in three administrative-territorial districts," he noted.

In DPR, primaries will be held in nine districts of Donetsk and settlements of Staromikhaylovka, Alexandrovka, Larino, as well as in the town of Mospino. In LPR, primary election will be held in Lugansk, Alexandrovsk and Yubileyny settlement.

Polling stations will be open from 8am until 8pm local time.

Representatives of different countries will monitor the election, including from Finland, Greece, Germany, Italy, South Ossetia, Czech Republic. DPR’s interim election commission registered 1,043 observers for the primaries, including 22 international observers. A total of 147 journalists from 23 media outlets in Donbass, Russia, CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and European Union applied for accreditation in DPR. No Ukrainian media outlets applied for accreditation.

In LPR, foreign journalists and observers from 15 countries, including from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Finland, Poland, Israel, and India, will monitor the process.

Kiev has spoken against primaries in Donbass. After a session of the Contact Group, Kiev’s representative Darya Olifer wrote that "Ukraine expressed concern over organization of the so-called primaries that are being prepared in separate districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions because such actions are in violation of the Minsk Agreements." Ukraine’s envoy to the Contact Group’s political subgroup Olga Ayvazovskaya described the primaries as "a fake process" which is destructive for the Minsk talks and is aimed at undermining them.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 02-10-2016

Russian Armed Forces to have new Ratnik-3 outfit with built-in exoskeleton

According to Army commander Col. Gen. Oleg Salyukov, it will be an outfit of a totally new level by all components.

MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. A totally new Ratnik-3 combat outfit with a built-in exoskeleton and a target designation system on the visor is being created for the Russian Armed Forces, Army commander Col. Gen. Oleg Salyukov told journalists.

Salyukov said the issue of improving the Ratnik outfit, which is operational, is being worked out in the Ratnik-3 research work.

"I think the most successful technical solutions from Ratnik will be included in it, but it will be an outfit of a totally new level by all components - protection, destruction, life support, control and power supply, with the use of exoskeleton constructions, information and target designation on the visor or eyewear, microclimate maintenance and the serviceman’s condition monitoring systems ," he said.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 01-10-2016