NOVANEWS
Russia’s aid convoy pretense for invading Ukraine: US official
The Russians have been pre-stagging this aid for several weeks now
[ Editor’s Note: We have very visible evidence now of infighting inside Kiev, with two factions vying for control over the Russian humanitarian aid.
Lavrov has negotiated a deal where Ukrainian plates will be put on the trucks, Kiev determining the routes, and have one of their people on each truck to give them control to see that none of the supplies go directly to the self-defense forces.
But we see today another group does not want Russia to have any mention at all, when the history of Red Cross assistance has often used government transportation and logistics assistance, and with all assisting parties being made public.
The second Ukrainian faction’s position of there being no humanitarian crisis in East Ukraine can only be based on their wanting the civilian suffering to continue, and to put more pressure on the self defense forces to give up. I refer to this faction as the Julia Tymoshenko crowd, after her comment of wanting to nuke all the Russian speaking East Ukrainians as part of her final solution to the violent coup resisters.
So this “air brushing” Russia out of the picture only seems to have one purpose… to deny the Russians any diplomatic victory they will get from that. But blocking it, as you see the White House is still trying to do, is only digging them deeper into the loss-of-credibility hole. One mistake follows another, like doubling down on a bad poker hand. The EU seems to be staying out of it, something that mass media has not mentioned, but I will.
What might happen is that the Russian-Red Cross convoy will cross the border with the Ukrainian faction A assisting, while faction B and the White House and Pentagon will claim an invasion of Ukraine is taking place. You just can’t make this stuff up. This is Alice in Wonderland stuff to the max… Jim W. Dean ]
Can Lavrov dance around the roadblocks as he has before?
The United States says Russia is preparing to attack Ukraine under the pretext of sending humanitarian aid to the country, according to an American official.
“We are concerned that Russia could try to use a humanitarian or peacekeeping operation as a pretense for inserting elements of its military force into Ukraine,” the unnamed official told The Hill on Tuesday.
Nearly 300 Russian trucks have set off from Moscow, carrying 2,000 tons of aid, including medicine, food, sleeping bags and power generators. Ukraine, however, rejected the convoy. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Danylo Lubkivsky said that there would be no need for humanitarian aid.
Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said on Tuesday, “If this is some sort of Trojan Horse, it would be illegal.” During a press briefing on Tuesday, State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf condemned Moscow’s aid move.
“Russia has no right to move into Ukraine unilaterally, whether under the guise of humanitarian convoys or any other pretext, without Kiev’s permission,” she said. When asked whether the convoy was an invasion, she replied, “Well, we don’t know. We do have concerns. And that’s why, as we’ve said today, if it goes through all of these steps, then we would support this,” Harf said.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow and Kiev had agreed on a humanitarian mission under the authority of the Red Cross.
“I am certain there will be no disruptions on their part. They are on the territory whose residents need humanitarian aid,” Lavrov said.
The Red Cross says that humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine is critical as reports say thousands have no access to water, electricity and medical aid.
