It was end of November when several experts and well-informed individuals I talked to unanimously supported the idea of a new conflict escalation in Donbas either before or just after the New Year. “Russian attacks will start from a series of provocations like school shelling or demonstrations organized by the Russian intelligence services” – these words I have heard again and again.

‘The impromptu gathering’ according to RusVesna’

Today, on December 27 2015, several Russian propagandist media were covering news on ‘the impromptu gathering’ of the civilian population on the occupied territories. While it is not clear who was behind the transportation of ‘the approximately fifteen hundred civilians’ to the existing boundary line in the Stanytsa Luhanska region, we can be sure that everything was carefully planned.

The Kremlin’s puppets who run the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) forced people to take part in this event; they compelled them to hold the anti-Ukrainian banners faking the civilian protests. That scarce humanitarian aid from ‘the brotherhood Russia’, which besides tin cans and buckwheat also includes the multiple launch rocket systems, shells and howitzers, gradually has been transformed into just the military provision. A food crisis and continuous shortage of the essentials in the currently occupied territories are the main reasons of the growing frustration among the locals. The Russian and the terrorists-controlled media blame Ukraine for such food and medicines deficit. And of course nothing is said about the main role of Russia, her army and hundreds of mercenaries in all the problems and sufferings; as it always happens a victim is presented as an aggressor.

Tatyana Zarovnaya, an ‘Obozrevatel’ reporter writes on her Facebook page about the above-mentioned ‘mass meeting’:

“<…> Today the college students and professors were invited to attend a concert in Luhansk but instead people were transported to Stanytsa Luhanska to participate in the anti-Ukrainian meeting. Everybody including the bus drivers was shocked. Sergei Chavychalov and deputy assistant of the so-called LPR were among the organizers. It was a trivial trick.<…>”.

Please read: ‘Professional Russian Army in Ukraine. Database and Visualisation’

Every Russian infomation operation is based on ‘the news’: a calamity, a catastrophe or a terrorist attack and specially prepared journalists who are ready to cover the story. So, what we see today is just another attempt to provoke a tragedy, which will complicate the situation in Donbas. Russian terrorist army is known for its bloody military actions exactly during the winter time. Let’s name only several of them held in 2015:

January 13, 2015 – a bus in near Volnovakha was under the fire; as a result: 12 killed and 18 wounded.

January 22, 2015 – a public transport stop ‘DonetskGorMash’ (‘Bosse’) in Donetsk; between 8 and 15 killed and more than 20 wounded.

Фото: REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

January 24, 2015 – Ukrainian block posts and the ‘Eastern’ district of Mariupol were under fire of multiple launch rocket systems. 31 people were killed and 117 wounded. All the victims were civilians, including children.

February 10, 2015  – a military airfield and several districts of Kramatorsk were attacked using ‘Tornado’ MLRS. 17 people were killed and 47 wounded.

Each of the above mentioned incidents has been carefully planned and promptly covered by the Russian propagandist media. But a further escalation, which Russia tried to develop using a certain hesitation from the Western politicians was prevented by the united efforts of the Ukrainian and international experts when Kremlin was caught on a number of discrepancies and mismatches.

So, watching another acceleration near ‘the alienation zone’ we would like to remind about… ‘Winter is coming’…

Original article by Roman Burko