Putin's last stand?

Aljazeera reports that the,

"Arrival of 300 US Army soldiers to train Ukraine's national guard sparks warnings by Russia of escalation in conflict. ......
.....
The troops, from the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade, are to spend six months training a total of about 900 Ukrainian national guardsmen." (Aljazeera : 18 Apr 2015) (my emphasis)

BBC News also reports that,

"Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov (left) warned that the move "could seriously destabilise the situation" in Ukraine.

He said the US military presence "is a long way from helping towards a settlement of the conflict", Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported." (BBC News : 17 April 2015)

The absolute audacity of Alexander Lukashevich (right), a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, saying that,

"....the US troops' presence violated the section of the Minsk agreement that banned foreign "armed formations" from Ukraine." (ibid Aljazeera) (my emphasis)

simply beggars belief.

Putin's Russian troops have been killed and captured by the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine, and secretly buried in Russia, since the start of his invasion of eastern Ukraine. The evidence for this is simply overwhelming.

Yet Robert Garver, reporting on Putin's marathon choreographed TV phone-in last Thursday, reported Putin as categorically stating that, 

“There are no Russian troops in Ukraine,” [Putin] said flatly, when asked by a caller.
War between Russia and Ukraine “is impossible,” he said, calling the nations “brotherly.”(The Fiscal Times : April 16, 2015) (my emphasis)

Many have, over the last few weeks, warned against the impending invasion of Mariupol by Putin's Russian soldiers and his proxies in eastern Ukraine.

Putin has stepped-up his supply of military equipment and Russian soldiers into eastern Ukraine over the last few weeks.

Why, therefore, does he persist in simply blatantly lying to the world about Russian troops and armaments in eastern Ukraine?

In a recent BBC interview of Aleksandr Zakharchenko, (left : pictured pointing at Ukrainian) the self-styled 'leader' of Putin's proxies in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, gives us the answer.

"...the war will start again, and the war will continue until Kiev can see its losing and will again request peace and another Minsk agreement. There could be a Minsk5, a Minsk6, ..... [to] infinity..." (BBC News : 18 April, 2015) (my emphasis)

 

And exactly against who is Kiev going to lose? Against his motley collection of rebels, or against the Russian army.

Had it not been for the support that Zakharchenko and his motley collection of rebels have been receiving viz. Russian generals, trained Russian soldiers, and sophisticated Russian military equipment, sent by Putin to eastern Ukraine, the so-called "Republic of Donetsk" would now simply be a faint memory.


Instead, Putin continues to believe that he can delude the rest of the world by simply repeating, over and over again, his blatant lie that there are no Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine.

As stated in an ealier blog-entry, Putin simply has "no exit strategy" from the "tangled web of deceit" that he has spun around himself regarding his war with Ukraine.

His desperate attempt to paint the US and the EU, together with Canada and Australia, as the villains who are totally responsible for his current war with Ukraine, no longer holds any water.

Putin, his kleptocratic 'siloviki', together with the full might of his propaganda machine, simply cannot now live without a final push against Mariupol in his war with Ukraine.

For him, there is simply too much at stake.

(to be continued)