Putin is worried about the outcome of the 2018 November elections in the US.

In February of 2015 Angela Merkel, then striding the international stage as the powerful leader of the EU, stated in Budapest that,

"Hungary, like other countries, including Germany, has a qualitatively dependence on Russian energy supplies. In this respect we want accountability ... fairness, in trade too obviously .... and reliability. We will concentrate our efforts on this together. But at the same time, in European politics, we must make sure that we diversify our energy resources ..." (UT : 3 February, 2015) (my emphasis)

That was in 2015.

Today Angela Merkel has dramatically changed her tune, thanks to the tight symbiotic business relationship between German industry and Putin in the building, and near completion, of Nord Stream 2.

As recently stated (October 8, 2018) by a German government spokeswoman,

“We get gas from various countries - from Russia, but also from Britain, Norway and the Netherlands, and Germany’s gas needs will grow in coming years, so Nord Stream 2 is a commercial project that the government regards as sensible,” she told a regular news conference." (Reuters : October 8, 2018) (my emphasis)

As now reported by UNIAN,

"All works on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in German territorial waters are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year." (UNIAN : 7 Oct., 2018) (my emphasis)

And in a talk given at the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA),

"Dr Stefan Meister ... discusses German support of the Nord Stream 2 Natural Gas Pipeline and argues that the last meeting of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Vladimir Putin in Meseberg in August (2018) was characterised by a more pragmatic approach in German-Russian relations with less emphasis on Ukraine." (YouTube (full video): 12 Sep 2018) (my emphasis)

Indeed, notwithstanding the threat of yet more US sanctions against EU companies, especially German companies, directly involved in the construction of Nord Sea 2, Nora Kamprath Buli (left) now reports that,

"Russia has signalled it would solely finance the EUR 9.5bn gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 should the US slap the project’s European partners with sanctions, German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported late on Friday." (Montel News : 24 Sept., 2018) (my emphasis)

And in a strange (predictable??) about-turn, UA112 reports that,

"The U.S. does not intend to impose sanctions on the Western companies which are involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2 as Trump said at the joint press-conference with Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland, Voice of America reports." (UA112 : 19 September, 2018) (my emphasis)

On the war front in Ukraine we learn that,

"Monitors of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine have spotted three surface-to-air missile systems in the Russian-occupied areas of Donbas." (UNIAN : 10 Oct., 2018) (my emphasis)

 

just as,

 

"The Mariupol detachment of the Ukrainian coast guards, along with the tactical aviation units of the Air Force, tank troops, artillery, mechanized companies of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and other defense and security agencies, repulsed the "armed assault" of the conditional enemy from the Sea of Azov, as part of the drills, the press service of the State Border Guard Service reports. 

....

Vessel commanders carried out maneuvers near the conditional enemy, while the crews worked out live shooting from weapons of various calibers." (UNIAN : 10 Oct., 2018) (my emphasis)

 

Furthermore, Pavel Felgenhauer (right) argues that,

 

"A Russian military expert has warned there is 'no doubt' Russia has moved nuclear missiles to the Crimean peninsula.
....
'For Moscow the Crimea is a Russian territory, so the agreements on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons do not worry her much,' Felgenhauer told Ukrainian newspaper Gordonua." (George Martin : Mail Online : 3 Oct., 2018) (my emphasis) 

And just recently a huge military convoy was spotted in Russian-occupied Crimea heading towards Simferopol.

 

Now that Trump is paying Putin back for getting him into the White house by not intending to impose sanctions on the Western companies which are involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2 (ibid UA112), and that Putin has most probably placed Russian 'nukes' on occupied Crimean soil, nonetheless Putin is worried about the outcome of the November elections in the US.

 

If the Democrats gain control of the US House of Congress they will have Putin in their sights for having stolen the US presidency from Hillary Clinton.

 

And heaven forbid if they also gain control of the US Senate!

 

One can expect a concerted Democrat push against Trump to up-the-ante against Putin if he wishes to survive in the White House for the next six months.

 

Otherwise Trump will be replaced by the hawkish anti-Russian Mike Pence (left), the Vice President.

 

 And that is not what Putin is bargaining for!

 

(to be continued)

Three school children killed in Donbas by rebel-laid mine of Putin's Russian soldiers and proxies

In my last blog entry (21 Sept. 2018) I wrote that,

"On 14 September, 2018, Angela Merkel said that,

"Before the Minsk [2] agreement has been implemented or progress has been made in that regard, we will not consider lifting sanctions on Russia."." (DW- Deutsche Welle : 14-9-2018) (my emphasis)

The only problem with this pronouncement of the 'Putinversteher' Merkel is that she still insists that the 'dead horse' of Minsk2 has to be implemented." (blog)

UNIAN now reports that,

"The Pentagon's draft budget for 2019, which provides for an increase in assistance for Ukraine's security needs to $250 million, has come into force. U.S. President Donald Trump has signed the bill on the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2019, previously approved by the U.S. Congress," the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States wrote on Facebook." (UNIAN : 29 September,2018) (my emphasis)

This increased US assistance for Ukraine only serves to further cast doubt on Putin even considering making progress on implementing some of the Minsk2 proposals.

This is evidenced by the fact that,

"Russia's hybrid military forces mounted 32 attacks on Ukraine's Joint Forces in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, in the past day, September 29; proscribed weapons were used in six instances. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded in action, the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) headquarters said in a morning update on Facebook on September 30." (UNIAN : 30 September, 2018) (my emphasis)

Increasing US aid to Ukraine also undermines Merkel's attempt at dangling in front of Putin's eyes the carrot of the lifting of EU sanctions against himself and his 'siloviki' cohorts.

It also further increases Putin's growing impatience with Trump.

As Dmitry Peskov, Putin's Kremlin mouthpiece, stated on August 21,

"  ...... the Kremlin welcomed Trump's comments indicating readiness to cooperate with Moscow [at the Helsinki meeting], but that it would "welcome even more some kind of concrete actions." (RFE/RL : 21 August, 2018) (my emphasis)


Putin's impatience with Trump is further exemplified by the fact that, as reported by Henry Foy (right),

"Russia has warned the US against “playing with fire” by imposing new sanctions against Moscow, and vowed that the measures will not succeed in “dictating terms” to the country.

Washington on Thursday added 33 new Russians to a list of sanctioned individuals, alongside a branch of the Chinese military for buying Russian defence products" (Financial Times : 21 September, 2018) (my emphasis)

...................

The more than 10,000 victims of Putin's war with Ukraine in the Donbas has now sadly been added to by the untimely death of of 3 teenage schoolchildren in Horlivka, a city controlled by Putin's Russian soldiers and his Ukrainian proxies.

As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW),

"Three boys were killed and a fourth was injured when they accidentally triggered a mine [laid in a derelict house by Putin's Russian soldiers and his Ukrainian proxies] in eastern Ukraine, separatist officials said. The children attended a school in the separatist-controlled town of Horlivka." (DW : 30 September, 2018) (my emphasis)

(to be continued)