To ανεξάρτητο κράτος της Υπερδνειστερίας το οποίο δεν αναγνωρίζεται όμως από την Δύση και βρίσκεται μεταξύ της Μολδαβίας και της Ουκρανίας (είναι περίκλειστο, χωρίς έξοδο σε θάλασσα) είναι κατέθεσε πριν λίγο αίτημα ένταξης στη Ρωσία!
Τρίτη 18 Μαρτίου 2014
Δευτέρα 17 Μαρτίου 2014
the effect in Ukranian population numbers , loosing the disputed South East
the effect on Ukranian population numbers , loosing the South East is described bellow.
In Orange is the % of population included in disputed areas (47% total )
Κυριακή 16 Μαρτίου 2014
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Παρασκευή 14 Μαρτίου 2014
Πέμπτη 13 Μαρτίου 2014
Nuclear Power in Ukraine
(Updated January 2014)
Ukraine is heavily dependent on nuclear energy – it has 15 reactors generating about half of its electricity. Ukraine receives most of its nuclear services and nuclear fuel from Russia. In 2004 Ukraine commissioned two large new reactors. The government plans to maintain nuclear share in electricity production to 2030, which will involve substantial new build. A large share of primary energy supply in Ukraine comes from the country's uranium and substantial coal resources. The remainder is oil and gas, mostly imported from Russia. In 1991, due to breakdown of the Soviet Union, the country's economy collapsed and its electricity consumption declined dramatically from 296 billion kWh in 1990 to 170 in 2000, all the decrease being from coal and gas plants. Today Ukraine is developing shale gas deposits and hoping to export this to western Europe by 2020 through the established pipeline infrastructure crossing its territory from the east. Total electricity production in 2009 amounted to 173 billion kWh, with 4 billion kWh net exports, and total capacity is over 52 GWe. In 2009, 41% of power came from coal and gas (approx 20% gas), 48% from nuclear (82.9 TWh) and 7% from hydro, according to the Ministry of Fuel and Energy. In 2009, 77.9 billion kWh net came from nuclear, according to IAEA. Nuclear plant comprises 26.6% of capacity, hydro 9.3%. A major increase in electricity demand to 307 billion kWh per year by 2020 and 420 billion kWh by 2030 is envisaged, and government policy was to continue supplying half of this from nuclear power. This would have required 29.5 GWe of nuclear capacity in 2030, up from 13.9 GWe (13.2 GWe net) now.
In mid 2011 the Ukraine energy strategy to 2030 was updated, and in the electricity sector nuclear power's role was emphasized, with improved safety and increased domestic fuel fabrication. In mid-2012 the policy was gain updated, and 5000 to 7000 MWe of new nuclear capacity was proposed by 2030, costing some $25 billion.
Nuclear industry development
Nuclear energy development started in 1970 with construction of the Chernobyl power plant, the first unit being commissioned in 1977. Though the Ukrainian nuclear industry was closely involved with Russia for many years, it remained relatively stable during the changes that occurred when the country became independent of the former Soviet Union. In fact, during that period and since, there have been continuing improvements in the operational safety and output levels of Ukraine's nuclear reactors.
Ukraine's 15 nuclear power units at four nuclear power plants are operated by Energoatom, the country's nuclear power utility. Following the addition of two new VVER-1000 reactors in 2005, capacity increased to 13,168 which was 26.3% of the country’s total installed capacity. Energoatom expects nuclear to retain its contribution of 50-52% of Ukraine's electricity in 2020.
All are Russian VVER types, two being 440 MWe V-312 models and the rest the larger 1000 MWe units – two early models and the rest V-320s. Power reactors have operated in Ukraine since 1977, and over 300 reactor years of operating experience have been accumulated. Load factors have increased steadily and reached 81.4% in 2004. A decrease of the country's load factor after 2005 is related to restrictions imposed by the national electricity grid. Early in 2010 it was at 73%. "Operational disturbances" at nuclear plants dropped from 71 in 1999 to 21 in 2009.
At the end of 1995 Zaporozhe unit 6 was connected to the grid making Zaporozhe the largest nuclear power station in Europe, with a net capacity of 5718 MWe. (The second largest station operating is Gravelines, near Dunkerque in France, with a net capacity of 5460 MWe.)
In August and October 2004 Khmelnitsky 2 and Rovno 4 respectively were connected to the grid, bringing their long and interrupted construction to an end and adding 1900 MWe to replace that lost by closure of Chernobyl 1&3 in 1996 and 2000 respectively. They were completed by Energoatom using a consortium of Framatome ANP and Atomstroyexport. See fuller account of K2-R4 in Appendix below. In 1990 construction of three reactors (units 2-4) at Khmelnitski had been halted, though the site infrastructure for all four units was largely complete. Unit 3 was (and is) 75% complete, unit 4: 28% complete. These have been maintained to some extent since. An intergovernmental agreement with Russia on completing the two units was signed in mid-2010 and a contract with Atomstroyexport was signed in February 2011. Ukraine was hoping to sign a loan agreement for them late in 2012 and resume construction soon after.
Natalia Polonskaya picks new Attorney General of the Crimea
Наталья Поклонская
Natalia Polonskaya picks new Attorney General of the Crimea
)Natalia Polonskaya picks new Attorney General of the Crimea
Τετάρτη 12 Μαρτίου 2014
Vladivostok – Mistral Class LHD Bound for Russia Begins Sea Trials in the Atlantic
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| http://defense-update.com/20140306_vladivostok_mistral.html |
The Vladivostok is on track to be delivered by the last quarter of this year, said spokesman Emmanuel Gaudez of DCNS, a state-backed naval shipbuilder manufacturing the warships along with South Korean-controlled shipbuilder STX. A sister ship, the Sevastopol is scheduled to be delivered about a year later.The two carriers will be delivered to the Russian Pacific Fleet in 2015 and 2016. Under the contract, France shall build each Mistral ship within 36 months. The first of them, the Vladivostok, is to arrive in St. Petersburg from Saint-Nazaire, France, in December 2014. The vessel will receive its additional Russian systems at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg, and then be handed over to Russia’s Pacific Fleet in November 2014.
The Mistral-class assault landing ship has a displacement of 21,000 tons; its overall length is 210 meters. The vessel can operate on missions at ranges of up to 20,000 miles sailing at a speed of over 18 knots. It is operated by a crew of 160 men plus 450 marines. The air wing operating on board comprises 16 helicopters, of which six are placed on the flight deck. The Russian Navy plans to deploy eight Ka-52K attack helicopters and eight Ka-29 multi-mission/ASW helicopters on the ship.
Agreement on Mistral ships is one of the largest contracts in the history of Russian-French military cooperation. Moscow and Paris signed the EUR 1.2-bln contract for two Mistrals in June 2011.The first crew comprising 177 seamen and 60 instructors is already undergoing training in France. The first stage of training began in February and will continue until the end of May. The second stage will take place from June through October in Saint-Nazaire both onshore and onboard the Vladivostok.
Supporting the Russian Pacific Fleet, the two vessels are expected to increase the at-sea to in-port ratio of the Fleet, increasing the average mission endurance of the new vessels. The port facilities for the two ships will be located at an existing naval base on the shore of the Uliss Bay near the Far East city of Vladivostok
The Ukrainian Pendulum
The Ukrainian Pendulum
by ISRAEL SHAMIR
The people of Crimea rose, dismissed their compromise-seeking officials and elected a new leader, Mr Sergey Aksyonov. The new leadership assumed power, took over Crimea and asked for Russian troops to save them from the impending attack by the Kiev storm troopers. It does not seem to have been necessary at this stage: there were plenty of Crimeans ready to defend their land from the Brown invaders, there were Cossack volunteers and there is the Russian Navy stationed in Crimea by treaty. Its Marines would probably be able to help the Crimeans in case of trouble. The Crimeans, with some Russian help, manned the road blocks on the narrow isthmus that connects Crimea to the mainland.
by ISRAEL SHAMIR
The stakes are high in the Ukraine: after the coup, as Crimea and Donbas asserted their right to self determination, American and Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory, both under cover. The American soldiers are “military advisors”, ostensibly members of Blackwater private army (renamed Academi); a few hundred of them patrol Kiev while others try to suppress the revolt in Donetsk. Officially, they were invited by the new West-installed regime. They are the spearhead of the US invasion attempting to prop up the regime and break down all resistance. They have already bloodied their hands in Donetsk.
Besides, the Pentagon has doubled the number of US fighter jets on a NATO air patrol mission in the Baltics; the US air carrier entered the Black Sea, some US Marines reportedly landed in Lvov “as a part of pre-planned manoeuvres”.
The Russian soldiers ostensibly belong to the Russian Fleet, legally stationed in Crimea. They were in Crimea before the coup, in accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian treaty (like the US 5th fleet in Kuwait), but their presence was probably beefed up. Additional Russian troops were invited in by deposed but legitimately elected President Yanukovych (compare this with the US landing on Haiti in support of the deposed President Aristide ). They help the local pro-Russian militia maintain order, and no one gets killed in the process. In addition, Russia brought its troops on alert and returned a few warships to the Black Sea.
It is only the Russian presence which is described as an “invasion” by the Western media, while the American one is hardly mentioned. ”We have a moral duty to stick our nose in your business in your backyard a world away from our homeland. It’s for your own good”, wrote an ironic American blogger.
Moscow woke up to trouble in Ukraine after its preoccupation, nay obsession, with the Winter Olympic games had somewhat abated, — when people began to say that “Putin won the games and lost the Ukraine”. Indeed, while Putin watched sports in Sochi, the Brown Revolution succeeded in Ukraine. A great European country the size of France, the biggest republic of the former USSR (save Russia), was taken over by a coalition of Ukrainian ultra-nationalists and (mainly Jewish) oligarchs. The legitimate president was forced to flee for his very life. Members of Parliament were manhandled, and in some cases their children were taken hostage to ensure their vote, as their houses were visited by gunmen. The putsch was completed. The West recognised the new government; Russia refused to recognise it, but continued to deal with it on a day -to-day basis. However the real story is now developing in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, a story of resistance to the pro-Western takeover.
The Putsch
The economic situation of Ukraine is dreadful. They are where Russia was in the 1990s, before Putin – in Ukraine the Nineties never ended. For years the country was ripped off by the oligarchs who siphoned off profits to Western banks, bringing it to the very edge of the abyss. To avoid default and collapse, the Ukraine was to receive a Russian loan of 15 billion euros without preconditions, but then came the coup. Now the junta’s prime minister will be happy to receive a mere one billion dollars from the US via IMF. (Europeans have promised more, but in a few years’ time…) He already accepted the conditions of the IMF, which will mean austerity, unemployment and debt bondage. Probably this was the raison d’être for the coup. IMF and US loans are a major source of profit for the financial community, and they are used to enslave debtor countries, as Perkins explained at length.
The oligarchs who financed the Maidan operation divided the spoils: the most generous supporter, multi-billionaire Igor “Benya” Kolomoysky, received the great Russian-speaking city of Dnepropetrovsk in fief. He was not required to give up his Israeli passport. His brethren oligarchs took other Russian-speaking industrial cities, including Kharkov and Donetsk, the Ukrainian Chicago or Liverpool. Kolomoysky is not just an ‘oligarch of Jewish origin’: he is an active member of the Jewish community, a supporter of Israel and a donor of many synagogues, one of them the biggest in Europe. He had no problem supporting the neo-Nazis, even those whose entry to the US had been banned because of their declared antisemitism. That is why the appeals to Jewish consciousness against the Brown putsch demonstrably failed.
Now came the nationalists’ crusade against Russian-speakers (ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians – the distinction is moot), chiefly industrial workers of East and South of the country. The Kiev regime banned the Communist Party and the Regions’ Party (the biggest party of the country, mainly supported by the Russian-speaking workers). The regime’s first decree banned the Russian language from schools, radio and TV, and forbade all official use of Russian. The Minister of Culture called Russian-speakers “imbeciles” and proposed to jail them for using the banned tongue in public places. Another decree threatened every holder of dual Russian/Ukrainian nationality with a ten-years jail sentence, unless he gives up the Russian one right away.
Not empty words, these threats: The storm-troopers of the Right Sector, the leading fighting force of the New Order, went around the country terrorising officials, taking over government buildings, beating up citizens, destroying Lenin’s statues, smashing memorials of the Second World War and otherwise enforcing their rule A video showed a Right Sector fighter mistreating the city attorney while police looked other way. They began to hunt down riot policemen who supported the ex-president, and they burned down a synagogue or two. They tortured a governor, and lynched some technicians they found in the former ruling party’s headquarters. They started to take over the Orthodox churches of the Russian rite, intending to transfer them to their own Greek-Catholic Church.
The instructions of US State Dept.’s Victoria Nuland were followed through: the Ukraine had had the government she prescribed in the famous telephone conversation with the US Ambassador. Amazingly, while she notoriously gave “fuck” to the EU, she did not give a fuck about the Russian view of Ukraine’s immediate future.
Russia was not involved in Ukrainian developments: Putin did not want to be accused of meddling in Ukrainian internal affairs, even when the US and EU envoys assisted and directed the rebels. The people of Russia would applaud him if he were to send his tanks to Kiev to regain the whole of Ukraine, as they consider it an integral part of Russia. But Putin is not a Russian nationalist, not a man of Imperial designs. Though he would like the Ukraine to be friendly to Russia, annexing it, in whole or in part, has never been his ambition. It would be too expensive even for wealthy Russia: the average income in the Ukraine is just half of the Russian one, and tits infrastructure is in a shambles. (Compare to the very costly West German takeover of the GDR.) It would not be easy, either, for every Ukrainian government in the past twenty years has drenched the people with anti-Russian sentiment. But involvement was forced upon Putin:
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians voted with their feet and fled to Russia, asking for asylum. Two hundred thousand refugees checked in during the weekend. The only free piece of land in the whole republic was the city of Sevastopol, the object of a French and British siege in 1852 and of a German siege in 1941, and the home base of the Russian Black Sea fleet. This heroic city did not surrender to the Kiev emissaries, though even here some local deputies were ready to submit. And at that last moment, the people began their resistance. The awful success of the putsch was the beginning of its undoing. The pendulum of Ukraine, forever swinging between East and West, began its return movement.
The Rising
Δευτέρα 10 Μαρτίου 2014
Tension rises in the Transnistria
Tension rises in the Transnistria
The 1800 Russian personnel in Alert, as the Junda of Kiev signs military agreement with Romania .. ie NATO proxy state.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Titus Corlatean is paying a working visit to Kiev on Monday, at the invitation of his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchitsa.
According to a release the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), the visit of Minister Titus Corlatean is part of the sustained efforts made by Romania both in the European and Euro-Atlantic structures and bilaterally for peacefully solving, through dialogue, the acute crisis in Ukraine. 'The presence of the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs in Kiev is due to the escalation of the tensions caused by the Crimean Peninsula, an integral part of the independent and sovereign Ukraine. The consultations in Kiev will also occasion the approach to a comprehensive set of aspects on the bilateral agenda of the relations between Romania and Ukraine,' informs MAE.
The visit was agreed upon during the telephone conversation of March 4, at the initiative of the Romanian side, between the Romanian Foreign Minister and his Ukrainian counterpart.
'We agreed that I should travel to Kiev in the time to come and discuss ways to ensure protection at European standards for the Romanians living in Ukraine and here I welcomed the fact that Ukraine's acting President refused to sign the decree enacting the law that repeals the old piece of legislation on regional and minority languages,' Titus Corlatean said at the end of the talks he held with the representatives of the foreign policy parliamentary commissions about the situation in Ukraine.
The Romanian chief diplomat said that he had informed the MPs of the telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart in connection with Romania's position to the situation in the neighbouring country.
'I have informed the members of the parliamentary commissions of the contents of the telephone conversation I had with the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Romania's position is appreciated, the firm principled position of observing Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty and of condemning, together with the European and Euro-Atlantic partners, the clear violation of these prerogatives of sovereignty, of this act of aggression the Russian military action committed in a territory belonging to the Ukrainian State,' said Corlatean.
The Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs also informed of the MAE intention to send a team of negotiators to Kiev to finalize the agreement on the small-scale border traffic between Romania and Ukraine.
'We have equally agreed to speed up negotiations for the completion and signing of the small-scale border traffic. There are still one or two items in suspension that were not completed in the previous negotiations with the former Ukrainian Government. I shall promptly send a team of negotiators to Kiev for us to try and identify the final solutions. This will be a major decision of support on the part of Romania. The visa-free, free of charge movement within a range of 30 to 50 km on both sides of the border, based on the permits the Romanian side is authorized to issue,' Corlatean declared.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also appreciated on Thursday that the decision of the authoritiesof Crimea to request joining the Russian Federation is 'unacceptable and illegal.'
'The decision that has been made today, March 6, by the authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to request joining the Russian Federation and organizing a local referendum on this option, on March 16, without the assent of the central authorities in Kiev, is unacceptable and illegal, it is a direct threat to Ukraine's territorial integrity,' said Corlatean. The Romanian chief diplomat also said that any step taken with reference to Crimea's status must be made in consultation and with the assent of the authorities in Kiev.
'The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an integral part of the sovereign territory of independent Ukraine, within the borders of Ukraine, which are acknowledged internationally. In keeping with the international law norms and with Ukraine's constitutional and legal framework, any step meant to define the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea must be taken in consultation and with the assent of the central authorities in Kiev,' added the Romanian chief diplomat.
The pro-Russian Parliament of Crimea, an autonomous republic in southern Ukraine, on Thursday unanimously voted for the republic joining the Russian Federation.
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Bastion antiship missiles range transferred to Sevastople
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http://www.getaddictedto.com/stories-east-of-the-river/#sthash.FiaTdh6A.dpbs
Minister of Foreign Affairs Titus Corlatean is paying a working visit to Kiev on Monday, at the invitation of his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchitsa.
According to a release the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), the visit of Minister Titus Corlatean is part of the sustained efforts made by Romania both in the European and Euro-Atlantic structures and bilaterally for peacefully solving, through dialogue, the acute crisis in Ukraine. 'The presence of the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs in Kiev is due to the escalation of the tensions caused by the Crimean Peninsula, an integral part of the independent and sovereign Ukraine. The consultations in Kiev will also occasion the approach to a comprehensive set of aspects on the bilateral agenda of the relations between Romania and Ukraine,' informs MAE.
The visit was agreed upon during the telephone conversation of March 4, at the initiative of the Romanian side, between the Romanian Foreign Minister and his Ukrainian counterpart.
'We agreed that I should travel to Kiev in the time to come and discuss ways to ensure protection at European standards for the Romanians living in Ukraine and here I welcomed the fact that Ukraine's acting President refused to sign the decree enacting the law that repeals the old piece of legislation on regional and minority languages,' Titus Corlatean said at the end of the talks he held with the representatives of the foreign policy parliamentary commissions about the situation in Ukraine.
The Romanian chief diplomat said that he had informed the MPs of the telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart in connection with Romania's position to the situation in the neighbouring country.
'I have informed the members of the parliamentary commissions of the contents of the telephone conversation I had with the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Romania's position is appreciated, the firm principled position of observing Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty and of condemning, together with the European and Euro-Atlantic partners, the clear violation of these prerogatives of sovereignty, of this act of aggression the Russian military action committed in a territory belonging to the Ukrainian State,' said Corlatean.
The Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs also informed of the MAE intention to send a team of negotiators to Kiev to finalize the agreement on the small-scale border traffic between Romania and Ukraine.
'We have equally agreed to speed up negotiations for the completion and signing of the small-scale border traffic. There are still one or two items in suspension that were not completed in the previous negotiations with the former Ukrainian Government. I shall promptly send a team of negotiators to Kiev for us to try and identify the final solutions. This will be a major decision of support on the part of Romania. The visa-free, free of charge movement within a range of 30 to 50 km on both sides of the border, based on the permits the Romanian side is authorized to issue,' Corlatean declared.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also appreciated on Thursday that the decision of the authoritiesof Crimea to request joining the Russian Federation is 'unacceptable and illegal.'
'The decision that has been made today, March 6, by the authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to request joining the Russian Federation and organizing a local referendum on this option, on March 16, without the assent of the central authorities in Kiev, is unacceptable and illegal, it is a direct threat to Ukraine's territorial integrity,' said Corlatean. The Romanian chief diplomat also said that any step taken with reference to Crimea's status must be made in consultation and with the assent of the authorities in Kiev.
'The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an integral part of the sovereign territory of independent Ukraine, within the borders of Ukraine, which are acknowledged internationally. In keeping with the international law norms and with Ukraine's constitutional and legal framework, any step meant to define the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea must be taken in consultation and with the assent of the central authorities in Kiev,' added the Romanian chief diplomat.
The pro-Russian Parliament of Crimea, an autonomous republic in southern Ukraine, on Thursday unanimously voted for the republic joining the Russian Federation.
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Bastion antiship missiles range transferred to Sevastople
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http://www.getaddictedto.com/stories-east-of-the-river/#sthash.FiaTdh6A.dpbs
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