Results of Eastern Ukraine Referendum

Final Results of the Referendum in Favor of an Independent Development: - Donezk Region: 89.07% voted "yes" [74.87% participation in the vote] - Lugansk Region: 96.2% voted "yes" [75% participation in the vote]

"Do you support the act of independence for the People's Republic of Donezk?"

Following the referendum, officials of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic have not ruled out that in case the situation in the region deteriorates, they may have to request peacekeeping forces to be deployed.

“We will try to cope with it on our own; we don’t want this confrontation to increase, especially on our territory,” Denis Pushilin, co-chairman of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said. "If the situation deteriorates, we reserve the right to ask for a peacekeeping contingent,” he added.

Pushilin has also said that within hours the Donetsk People’s Republic may decide if it is going to stay with Ukraine or not. The republic has also decided not to take part in Ukraine’s presidential elections on May 25, according to media reports.

Moscow says it's not in a rush to respond to the Donetsk People's Republic’s plea of accession.

[Source: Russian state TV (RT) on their website on May 12, 2014]

All data quoted from the Russian source RT are consistent with those from other foreign media and from previous evaluations.

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克里米亚美女检察官被列入欧盟制裁名单

The public prosecutor of Crimea, a beautiful woman, has been added to a name list of those to be sanctioned by the European Alliance.

[Source: CaiJing Wang 财经网, a Chinese news center for finance and economics on May 13, 2014]

Maybe Natalya doesn't need expensive cosmetics from Western Europe .....

U.S. Sanctions - Russia Strikes Back

俄或停止向美国供应火箭发动机 以回应美制裁

Headline: Russia probably stops supplying the U.S.
with missile engines as an answer to U.S. sanctions.

据俄新社5月13日报道，俄罗斯副总理罗戈津13日表示，俄罗斯或暂停向美国供应RD-180和K-33火箭发动机，以回应美国的制裁。

According to a Russian news agency report on May 13, Russia's deputy prime minister Rogozin made clear the same day that Russia suspends further supply of RD-180 and K-33 missile engines to the U.S. as an answer to U.S. sanctions.

[Source: XinHua Network 新华网, quoted by 中国甘肃网 on May 14, 2014]


The RD-180 (РД-180, Ракетный Двигатель-180, Rocket Engine-180) is a Russian-designed-and-built rocket engine. It features a dual-combustion chamber, dual-nozzle design and is fueled by a kerosene/liquid oxygene mixture. Currently RD-180 engines are used for the first-stage of the U.S. Atlas V launch vehicle and which is expended at each launch. Therefore, a steady supply of RD-180 engines is needed.

Doubts about the reliability of the supply chain for the RD-180 arose following the Ukraine crisis in March 2014. For over 13 years since the engine was first used in the Lockheed Martin Atlas III launch vehicle in 2000, there was never any serious jeopardy to the engine supply, despite an uneven record of U.S.-Russian relations since the Cold War.

Deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin now said "Russia will ban the United States from using Russian-made rocket engines for military launches" thus targeting the frequent military payloads of the ULA Atlas V launch vehicle which powers its first stage with two RD-180 engines.

Originally intended was a co-production of the RD-180 engine by Pratt&Whitney, however up to now all engines have been produced in Russia.




test-firing of an RD-180 engine

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Rogozin, one of the senior Russian officials sanctioned by the European Union and United States after Moscow moved to annex Crimea, was turned away when his plane tried to fly to Moscow from Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region.

According to his tweets in English, Rogozin, who oversees Russia's powerful arms industry, was also blocked by Ukrainian interceptor jets as he tried to fly home from the Russian-speaking region of Moldova bordering Ukraine.

"Upon US request, Romania has closed its airspace for my plane," he tweeted. "Ukraine doesn't allow me to pass through again. Next time I'll fly on board TU-160." The supersonic Soviet-era TU-160 is Russia's largest strategic bomber.

On Saturday the Romanian foreign ministry asked Moscow to clarify whether Rogozin's comments represented "the Russian Federation's official position towards Romania as an EU and Nato member".

[Source: The Guardian, British daily on May 10, 2014]




罗戈津：若摩尔达维亚与欧盟建立联系国关系 俄与其关系或改变

Rogozin: If Moldavia and the EU establish relations of national significance, the relationship between Russia and them will probably change.

[Source: Voice of Russia (Chinese) 俄罗斯之声 on May 12, 2014]

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The Art of War

孙子曰：兵者，国之大事，死生之地，存亡之道，不可不察的。

Sunzi said:
War is a question of vital importance to the state, a matter of life and death, the road to survival or ruin. Hence, it is a subject which calls for careful study.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet Under Attack - Background

UPDATE on September 26 included below.

Video of one of the missiles hit at Black Sea Fleet HQ.
No signs of air defense even attempting to intercept it.

据悉，该指挥所是在苏联时代建立的，曾经是乌克兰海军中央通信中心，编号A-2929，俄军占领克里米亚后，将其改名为黑海舰队指挥部第744通信中心。该中心由多栋地面建筑和一个庞大的天线网组成，还有庞大的地下部分，可以与俄罗斯海军其他舰队和更上级单位通信。

通常来说，这类军事设施本身就具备很强的防御能力，可以抵挡重磅炸弹的直接命中，附近还有防空系统保护，不过，英国和法国提供给乌克兰的“风暴阴影”、“斯卡普-EG”这两款导弹，其“钻孔”战斗部被设计用来专门对付这类目标：在击中目标后，“钻孔”的第一级聚能战斗部会在建筑物的外墙上打出一个洞，第二级高爆战斗部从这个洞里钻进目标建筑物内部爆炸。

It is reported that the command post was established in the Soviet era and was once the Central Communications Center of the Ukrainian Navy, number A-2929, which was renamed the 744th Communications Center of the Black Sea Fleet Command after the Russian army occupied Crimea. The center consists of several above-ground buildings and a large network of antennas, as well as a large underground section that can communicate with other fleets of the Russian Navy and higher-level units.

Usually, such military installations themselves have strong defensive capabilities to withstand direct hits from heavy bombs, and there are air defense systems nearby, but the "Storm Shadow" and "Scalp-EG" missiles [French version of Storm Shadow], provided by Britain and France to Ukraine, with "drilling" warheads are designed to deal specifically with such targets: After hitting the target, the "drill shaped" first-stage warhead will make a hole in the outer wall of the building, and the second-stage high-explosive warhead will drill into the target building from this hole and explode.

值得注意的是，这次袭击是在白天进行的，而以往的类似袭击则是在深夜或黎明时分发动的。不确切的信息显示，乌克兰空军的苏-24M“击剑手”前线轰炸机发射了多枚“风暴阴影”巡航导弹，并发射了3枚AGM-160 MALD诱饵弹，但部署在塔尔汉库特角和贝尔贝克机场的俄军“铠甲-S1”防空系统击落了5枚导弹，3枚导弹则突防成功并击中目标。

视觉证据证实，本月以来，包括在干船坞里被毁的“明斯克”号登陆舰和“顿河畔罗斯托夫”号潜艇在内，黑海舰队已经至少有6艘舰艇遭乌克兰军队攻击，其中4艘被毁或被击沉，黑海舰队面对这种袭击无能为力，被迫将军舰疏散，登陆舰前往亚速海，潜艇则撤往新罗西斯克，当然，新罗西斯克也不安全，那里也曾被乌克兰海军的自杀式无人艇攻击过。

It is noteworthy that this attack was carried out during the day, while similar attacks in the past were distributed late at night or at dawn. Inaccurate information indicates that the Ukrainian Air Force's Su-24M "Fencson" front-line bombers fired multiple Storm Shadow cruise missiles and fired 3 AGM-160 MALD decoy shells, but the Russian "Pantsir-S1" air defense system deployed at Cape Talhancourt and Belbek Airport shot down 5 missiles, and 3 missiles successfully penetrated and hit targets.

Visual evidence confirms that since this month, including the landing ship "Minsk" and the submarine "Rostov-on-Don" destroyed in dry dock, at least 6 ships of the Black Sea Fleet have been attacked by Ukrainian forces, 4 of which have been destroyed or sunk, and the Black Sea Fleet is powerless in the face of such an attack. Forced to evacuate the warships, the landing ship goes to the Sea of Azov and the submarine withdraws to Novorossiysk. Novorossiysk, however, is not safe and has also been attacked by unmanned suicide boats of the Ukrainian Navy.

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UPDATE on September 26:

For fear of Russian air strikes, Ukrainian grain transporters have been temporarily anchoring their ships at night on the Romanian bank of the Danube arm Chilia, which forms the border with Ukraine. Diplomats from the EU and the United States had negotiated this protection option with Romanian and Ukrainian authorities in August, told the director of the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta, Florian Vizan, the German Press Agency (DPA). He had been present at these talks.