US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) reported to Fox News Sunday night on information he had received that Russian troops along Ukraine’s western border were poised to go into this pro-Russian enclave where 1,000 Russian troops have been posted for some time. About a third of Transdniester’s half-million people are ethnic Russians, many of whom want to return to rule from Moscow. Last week, Gen Breedlove warned that President Putin had a readymade pretext to send troops in there as a “protection” force for ethnic Russians, just as he has done in Crimea. According to Congressman Rogers, Russian covert forces had infiltrated parts of Ukraine with large Russian-speaking populations to foment demands for Moscow’s next incursions. The congressman also alleged that Russia is building up its military forces in the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia. He suggested that Russian president Vladimir Putin “is considering an invasion of both Georgia and the Armenia” to seize the disputed Nagorno-Karabach pocket, “as part of an effort to create an overland link between Russia and Iran.” DEBKAfile’s military sources say that if Rogers is correct in his assessments, Putin is not just preparing to strengthen Russia’s military positions in the Black sea region but seeks to spread Russian control across a larger area up to the Caspian Sea. As seen from Washington and Jerusalem – where America’s top armed forces chief, Gen. Martin Dempsey is on a visit for talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon – Putin appears to be gearing up to create a Russian military line to shield Iran against a potential attack on its nuclear facilities coming from the north, over the Caspian. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has also described the 40,000 Russian troops deployed on Ukraine’s borders as “a formation that looks like an invasion force.” read full text below:
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 05:29:11 +0000
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