Category Archives: Wikileaks

Flashback: WikiLeaks Cables Show Ukraine Worried About Russian Incursion in 2006

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While were all flashing back to the olden days when various officials warned of Russias potential push into Ukraines Crimea peninsula, heres an interesting tidbit via the International Business Times: Diplomatic cables from 2006 and 2009, unearthed by WikiLeaks in 2011, show Ukrainian officials fretting over an emboldened Russia, asking for help to stem the potential for an invasion.

With Ukraine under intense pressure from Russia, any appearance of U.S. disengagement from the region will embolden Russia further, then-U.S. diplomat Alexander Vershbow wrote from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

At another point, Vershbow wrote that Ukrainian security official Raisa Bohatyrova told him that the Kremlin is directly interfering in its former territorys political affairs. Bohatryova said she believes Russian intelligence has devised plans for the dismemberment of Ukraine, the U.S. diplomat explained.

Similarly, a 2006 cable from U.S. State Department official Sheila Gwaltney relays Ukrainian concerns that the overall degradation of Kyivs ability to assert central power and authority in the past two years has provided a conducive climate for destabilizing efforts, particularly in Crimea.

Russian troops moved into the Crimean peninsula last Friday, drawing international concerns and condemnation.

More from the WikiLeaks-obtained 2006 cable, via the IBTimes report:

Gwaltney reported that her Ukrainian counterparts said Russia was trying to slowly take control of the ethnically divided peninsula by increasing communal tensions. Russia, they said, is attempting to destabilize Crimea, weaken Ukraine, and prevent Ukraines movement west into institutions like NATO and the EU.

[S]everal Crimean journalists referred to as Ukraines soft underbelly, the U.S. official wrote at the time.

[h/t David Kashi/IBTimes] [Image via CBS]

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Flashback: WikiLeaks Cables Show Ukraine Worried About Russian Incursion in 2006

WikiLeaks Cables Reveal Ukraine’s Past Cries For Help; Is Kerry’s $1 Billion In Aid Too Late?

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According to U.S. diplomatic cables from 2006 and 2009, obtained and released by WikiLeaks in 2011, Ukrainian officials voiced concerns over Russias growing encroachment on its former territory, and appealed for stronger U.S. support in hopes of quelling Russian ambitions.

With Ukraine under intense pressure from Russia, any appearance of U.S. disengagement from the region will embolden Russia further, U.S. diplomat Alexander Vershbow, who is now deputy secretary general of NATO, wrote in the 2009 cable to Washington from the embassy in Kiev.

[Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Raisa] Bohatyrova underlined that Russia is directly interfering in Ukraine's internal political affairs Bohatryova said she believes Russian intelligence has devised plans for the dismemberment of Ukraine.

The pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko was president of Ukraine at the time.

Five years later, not only are Russian troops fanning out over Ukraines autonomous region of Crimea, but 150,000 Russian soldiers are amassed near Ukraines eastern border, threatening Kiev with military action.

Ukrainian officials acknowledge expert complaints that the overall degradation of Kyiv's ability to assert central power and authority in the past two years has provided a conducive climate for destabilizing efforts, particularly in Crimea, Sheila Gwaltney, a high-ranking State Department official, wrote in the 2006 cable. She noted that Crimea is referred to as Ukraine's "soft underbelly."

Gwaltney reported that her Ukrainian counterparts said Russia was trying to slowly take control of the ethnically divided peninsula by increasing communal tensions. Russia, they said, is attempting to destabilize Crimea, weaken Ukraine, and prevent Ukraine's movement west into institutions like NATO and the EU.

The 2006 and 2009 cables expressed Ukraines hope in turning west to Europe and away from Russia. But that changed in 2010 when the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych was elected president, defeating Yushchenko. Yanukovych had an opportunity to solidify better integration with the EU but instead decided to turn to Russia.

In November Yanukovych withdrew from a trade agreement with the EU and instead accepted a $15 billion aid package from Russia as well as a 33 percent cut on Russian natural gas.In response, pro-Western Ukrainians flooded the streets of Kiev and camped out in a central square until Ukraines parliament forced Yanukovych out last week.

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WikiLeaks Cables Reveal Ukraine's Past Cries For Help; Is Kerry's $1 Billion In Aid Too Late?

WikiLeaks Cables Foreshadow Russian Instigation of Ukrainian Military Action

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Now that Russia has sent troops to seize the Crimean Peninsula, international politics are tense and frantic. An anonymous reader notes an article from Joshua Keating at Slate, which points out that some of the diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks illustrate how this situation is not at all unexpected. Quoting a cable from October, 2009: "... pro-Russian forces in Crimea, acting with funding and direction from Moscow, have systematically attempted to increase communal tensions in Crimea in the two years since the Orange Revolution. They have done so by cynically fanning ethnic Russian chauvinism towards Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians, through manipulation of issues like the status of the Russian language, NATO, and an alleged Tatar threat to 'Slavs,' in a deliberate effort to destabilize Crimea, weaken Ukraine, and prevent Ukraine's movement west into institutions like NATO and the EU." The article points out another cable from a few days later, which was titled, "Ukraine-Russia: Is Military Conflict No Longer Unthinkable?"

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WikiLeaks Cables Foreshadow Russian Instigation of Ukrainian Military Action

‘This Week’ Transcript: WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange

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A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday morning, October 13, 2013 on ABC News is below.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning. Welcome to This Week.

Courting disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) OHIO: I don't want to put anything on the table. I don't want to take anything off the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: With the default deadline just four days away (inaudible) Washington stuck and the American economy your money hangs in the balance. It's up to the Senate to strike a dramatic last minute deal. Will House Republicans rally or revolt? And if we go over the cliff, what happens next.

This morning, all the breaking details about the high stakes negotiations from congress to the White House.

Then, NSA leaker Edward Snowden resurfaces and Hollywood takes on Julian Assange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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'This Week' Transcript: WikiLeaks' Julian Assange

WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange Has Cost The Met Police £5.3m During Ecuador Embassy Stay

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Julian Assange's prolonged stay in the Ecuadorian Embassy has cost the Metropolitan Police 5.3million, in the 18 months since he entered the building in Knightsbridge.

Police are stationed day and night outside the embassy, where the WikiLeaks founder was granted asylum, ready to arrest Assange, who was set to be extradited to face questioning in Sweden on sexual assault allegations.

Assange claimed that Sweden would extradite him to the US over leaking secret documents. In Sweden, he faces potential rape charges from one woman and sexual assault charges from another, stemming from a visit to Stockholm in 2010.

The most recent estimated cost available for the policing operation outside the Ecuador Embassy is for the period to 31st December 2013, according to an Freedom of Information request sent to the Huffington Post UK by the Metropolitan Police.

The estimated total cost of policing the Ecuadorian Embassy between June 2012 and the end of December 2013 is 5.3 million, of which 4.4 million is police officer pay.

Around 900,000 has been paid out in police overtime costs, as a direct result of the deployments at the Ecuadorian Embassy. The cost to the taxpayer has been just under 10,000 every day.

Assange could potentially stay in his Ecuadorian Embassy bolt-hole until 2022 when the statute of limitations on his extradition request expires. This, at current costs, would mean 36.5m is spent on policing.

This month, Swedish MPs called on the prosecutors in the case to travel to question Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy, saying they should accept that Assange will not be leaving the embassy voluntarily.

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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Has Cost The Met Police £5.3m During Ecuador Embassy Stay