Is Putin stepping into the abyss?

As inevitably as the sun will rise to-morrow morning, Putin is repeating his pretext for escalating the war between Russia and Ukraine that he did when he was head of the FSB in 1999, and oversaw the Moscow apartment bombings that he used as a causus belli to start his war with Chechnya.

Let us for a moment remind ourselves that those 1999 apartment bombings in Moscow led to the deaths of 293, and injured more than 1000 people, whilst at the same time spreading a wave of fear across the country. (cf Wikipedia)

There is enough evidence that exposes the fact that these bombings were staged by the then FSB under Putin. (cf Wikipedia)

This is best illustrated by the failed Ryazan bombing attempt by the FSB.

And now we have Putin attempting to use the very same FSB tactic to provoke a full scale war with Ukraine. 

As reported by Andrew Osborn and Gleb Stolyarov,

"Russia's FSB security service said two people were killed in clashes and its forces had dismantled a Ukrainian spy network inside Crimea. Kiev denied the assertions, calling them an attempt by Moscow to create an excuse to escalate towards a war.
...
"Russian accusations towards Ukraine of terrorism in the occupied Crimea sound as preposterous and cynical as the statements of the Russian leadership about the absence of the Russian troops in Donbass (region of Ukraine)," Poroshenko [President of Ukraine] said." (Reuters : Wed Aug 10, 2016) (my emphasis) 

This time, however, the world is not being fooled by Putin.

As reported by EuroMaidan Press,

 

"In the last few weeks, Moscow commentator Aleksandr Nemets says, the leading media in the United States – Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and London’s Economist as well – have focused on Putin’s odious methods because of his backing of Donald Trump in the American election.
...
[Nemets continues] ... “the situation in the Russian Federation is extremely bad and getting still worse.” But despite that, “the Putin regime has as before one powerful resource: its willingness to use the most odious means and to exploit the chaos connected with them.” Those are the only things saving Putin and Company just now." (EuroMaidan Press : 11/08/2016) (my emphasis)

Not only are Putin's troop movements in Crimea and in the Donbas glaring indicators of his impending and dangerous escalation of his war with Ukraine.

More significant is the fact that,

"Straightaway, Mr Putin said more internationally-backed talks, due in the next few weeks, had been proved "pointless". So Russia has a reason to stall again on the Minsk peace process, maintain the unstable status quo in Ukraine and to blame Kiev for all of it." (Sarah Rainsford (left): BBC News : 11/08/2016) (my emphasis)

By referring to the Minsk2 peace process as "pointless, Putin is trying to LEGITIMISE the dangerous escalation of his war with Ukraine. 

This is the equivalent of his pronouncing in 1999 that he will "kill" those Chechen rebels who allegedly blew up those Moscow apartments, even if they are in the toilet, whilst KNOWING full well that his FSB were responsible for those bombings.

Let us also remind ourselves that a few days ago it was reported in the Moscow Times that,

"Largely Unnoticed, Full-Scale War May Be Returning to Ukraine. July was the deadliest month in the Donbass for over a year." (Ola Cichowlas and Matthew Bodner : Moscow Times : Aug. 04 2016) (my emphasis)

 

Also that, as reported by Jill Dougherty (left) on 18 July,

"... At the office I ask a Russian employee about the mood in his working-class Moscow neighborhood. The old people are buying salt, matches and “gretchka,” (buckwheat) he tells me - the time-worn refuge for Russians stocking up on essentials in case of war. In the past two months, I’ve traveled to the Baltic region, to Georgia, and to Russia. Talk of war is everywhere." (Wilson Centre : Jul 18, 2016) (my emphasis)

 

As Jill Dougherty also writes,

"The Kremlin is frightened about its grip on the political situation at home - and the geopolitical situation abroad. Russia is trying to deter the West in a very aggressive way because it realizes it is weaker - economically, militarily, and in terms of soft power." (ibid Wilson Centre) (my emphasis)

 

Putin is re-living 1999, and the tragic and desperate actions he took to present himself to the people of Russia as someone who would ruthlessly hunt down those Chechens alleged to have caused the deaths and suffering of Russian people.

Now it is the deaths, in Ukrainian Crimea that he invaded and annexed, of a Russian soldier and an FSB employee that he is vowing to avenge, alleging that Ukrainian military persons are responsible for those deaths.

 

And just as he vowed in 1999 to "chase the terrorists at the airports or in the toilet and waste them in an outhouse", now he is vowing, in characteristically bellicose language,

“We obviously will not let such things slide by,” the Russian president said on Wednesday. Ukraine had “resorted to the practice of terror”, he said. ( Shaun Walker (left): The Guardian : Wednesday 10 August 2016) (my emphasis)

 

Shaun Walker further reports that,

 

"Oleskandr Turchynov, the head of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, also dismissed the claims. “The hysterical and false statement by Russia’s FSB has no purpose other than an attempt by occupiers to inflame the situation on temporarily occupied Ukrainian lands,” he said." (ibid Shaun Walker) 

 

As in the case of the invasion and occupation of Ukrainian Crimea by Putin's "little green men", an invasion that was planned BEFORE the Maidan revolution, we can expect that this phoney 'tantrum' of Putin is yet another part of a pre-planned 'maskirovka' strategy, the time for implementing which has now arrived.

 

 RUSSIAN "MASKIROVKA" STRATEGY (aired BBC Jan 2015)

 

(to be continued)