Slava Novorossiya

Slava Novorossiya

Sunday, August 2, 2015

PATRIOTIC DONBASS



            I will post information about a Child Soldiers’ Organization in the United Armed Forces of Novorossiya, known as Patriotic Donbass. 


The position in which the soldier is portrayed is inspired from a photograph of a Russian unmarked soldier, handing a young boy a kitten. Belogorsk.rf

May 07, 2015
Russia Unveils Monument To 'Polite People' Behind Crimean Invasion 


The unveiling of the "polite people" monument in Belogorsk on May 6.
Russia's first monument honoring the "polite people" behind last year's armed annexation of Crimea has been erected in the Far Eastern city of Belogorsk.

Veterans, residents, and a phalanx of local officials gathered amid a May 6 snowfall for the unveiling of the life-size statue, which depicts a heavily armed, insignia-free soldier holding a cat.

The monument, cast from 400 kilograms of Chelyabinsk iron, is reportedly based on an image by TASS photographer Aleksandr Ryumin of a soldier in Crimea handing an orange-and-white cat to a young boy.

A boy attending the Belogorsk unveiling was asked to pose with his arms outstretched toward the soldier, whose stance is otherwise suggestive of a man dumping a cat into a wastebasket.

Unlike the soldier in the original, Belogorsk's "polite person" is unmasked, a detail that didn't pass unremarked on social media:

​​Stanislav Melyukov, the mayor of Belogorsk and the mastermind behind the project, says he hopes the monument will become a major tourist attraction. The city has already laid special decorative tiles around the statue and installed a video surveillance system to discourage vandalism.

The memorial is a tribute to the armed men in unmarked olive-drab uniforms who entered Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in February 2014, seizing control of airports, administration buildings, and other key structures in a purported effort to "protect" the territory's majority-Russian population from Ukrainian unrest.

The soldiers, originally referred to as "little green men," were later given the "polite people" moniker in an attempt to improve their image. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted the men were Russian troops only after Crimea had been annexed following a widely criticized public referendum.

Asked if Belogorsk had been too hasty in immortalizing a particularly controversial chapter in Russia's recent history, Mayor Melyukov said the statue was a matter of patriotism, not current events.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reportedly has thrown his support behind erecting a second "polite person" monument in Moscow.

-- Daisy Sindelar


Ukraine rebels train child soldiers in the making
Yulia Silina, AFP
Jun. 24, 2015, 8:21 AM


A pro-Russian separatist teaches boys how to use a Kalashnikov machine gun, in the eastern Ukrainian city of Khartsyzk, Donetsk region. © AFP Andrey Borodulin
Khartsyzk (Ukraine) (AFP) - He is only 14 but already knows how to assemble a Kalashnikov rifle. Denis is a child soldier in the making -- eager to join the pro-Russian militants fighting Ukrainian troops.

"If I were an adult, I would fight," the skinny boy with a dishevelled crew-cut said in a war-scarred town deep in the heart of the rebel-run east of the ex-Soviet state.

"I want to see war, to learn how to shoot, to see the tanks," he said with an air of excitement as two adult rebels stood nodding at his side.

The UN children's agency said in January it had no proof of minors being used in one of Europe's bloodiest and most diplomatically-charged conflicts since the end of the Cold War.

UNICEF believes that about 250,000 children are being exploited in wars fought across nearly two dozen countries -- many of them in Africa.

But the Western-backed leaders in Kiev accuse the rebels of training a small army of child soldiers in schools under their control.

About 20 kids between the ages of 14 and 19 are still taking training lessons in the town of Khartsyzk  -- home to 60,000 people prior to the breakout of hostilities and a flood of migrants for safer regions that followed -- in the first weeks of their summer break.

Some like Denis are learning basic drills. But his parents are understandably wary after being trapped in fighting that has killed 6,500 and shows few signs of abating 15 months on.

"They do not talk about the war with me. They hate it," Denis said. "They do not even watch the news."

Others like 17-year-old Alina are taking first aid lessons provided by the rebel command.

"We are still children and not ready to go to the front," she conceded.

"But if something were to happen, I would be able to help out."

- 'Back to the USSR' –

The Khartsyzk military lessons for children are organised by Patriotic Donbass -- the local name for a rustbelt region that hugs the 2,000-kilometre (1,250-mile) Don River and includes the self-declared "people's republics" of Lugansk and Donetsk.

Patriotic Donbass boss Yury Tsupka -- a 53-year-old who disdains the Ukrainian nationalists who fight as volunteers across the war zone -- said he only wanted to reinstate the old Soviet tradition of teaching army skills in school.

"We decided to go back to what we had in the USSR," the fatigues-clad Tsupka said.

"We will also teach them to dig trenches, to work the terrain."

Tsupka said more and more schools across the heavily Russified region were running such military clubs. He said there were at least four others in surrounding towns alone.

But not all of them are providing simple training.

Some have seen their pupils actually join the Khartsyzk separatist units stationed in the mine-strewn fields that stretch 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of the rebel stronghold city of Donetsk.


Child Soldiers of Novorossiya
- 'Not afraid of blood' –

Anya and Katya are genial twins who are used to wearing heavy combat boots.

They seem at ease and not the slightest bit regretful recalling how -- at the tender age of 19 -- they made the life-altering decision to quit their technical college and join one of the local militia forces.

"We studied and lived in Donetsk when the war started," Katya said.

"We decided to join the rebellion when we learned that kids were being killed."

Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) believe that at least 68 children have died and 180 have been wounded since fighting began in March 2014.

The campaign's brutality has splintered family allegiances and left psychological scars on both ethnic Russian and Ukrainians -- fellow Slavs who had lived in relative harmony even after the Soviet Union broke up.

Anya admits that "at first, mom would not let us" join the war.

But she then she caved, and started going along with her daughters to treat rebels wounded at the front.

"Before the war, I used to be afraid of blood -- of its smell," Katya said. "I am not afraid of blood any more."


Novorossiya, children of war – Archive

14:31 Jun. 24, 2015
Russian-backed militants train children for war


In a picture taken on Saturday, March 7, 2015, Denis, second from left, along with other boys looks out from the window of a children's home, in Khartsyzk, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
"We decided to go back to what we had in the Soviet Union," the fatigues-clad Tsiupka said.

The Patriotic Donbas militant organization has organized military training for children in the militant-controlled town of Khartsyzk, according to AFP.

Patriotic Donbas boss Yuriy Tsiupka - a 53-year-old who disdains the Ukrainian nationalists who fight as volunteers across the war zone - said he only wanted to reinstate the old Soviet tradition of teaching army skills in school.

"We decided to go back to what we had in the Soviet Union," the fatigues-clad Tsiupka said.
"We will also teach them to dig trenches, to work the terrain," he said.

About 20 kids between the ages of 14 and 19 are still taking training lessons in the town of Khartsyzk - home to 60,000 people prior to the breakout of hostilities and a flood of migrants for safer regions that followed - in the first weeks of their summer break. Some of them are learning basic drills, while others are taking first aid lessons provided by the rebel command.

For example, Denis is only 14 but he already knows how to assemble a Kalashnikov rifle. Denis is a child soldier in the making - eager to join the pro-Russian militants fighting Ukrainian troops.

"If I was an adult, I would fight," the skinny boy with a disheveled crew-cut said in a war-scarred town deep in the heart of the rebel-run east of the ex-Soviet state.

"I want to see war, to learn how to shoot, to see the tanks," he said with an air of excitement as two adult rebels stood nodding at his side.

Tsiupka said more and more schools across the heavily Russified region were running such military clubs. He said there were at least four others in surrounding towns alone.

But not all of them are providing simple training.

Some have seen their pupils actually join the Khartsyzk separatist units stationed in the mine-strewn fields that stretch 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of the rebel stronghold city of Donetsk.


Ukraine rebels train child soldiers in the making
Published on Jun 24, 2015
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School children in the town of Khartsyzk in northern Donetsk are learning how to assemble Kalashnikov rifles -- eager to join the pro-Russian militants fighting Ukrainian troops.
 




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