Hundreds of Russians killed in Ukraine, Nemtsov report says

Colleagues of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov have released a report on Russian soldiers secretly fighting in Ukraine that he had worked on before he was killed in February. It is perhaps the most extensive compilation yet of evidence of the Kremlin’s involvement in the eastern Ukraine conflict, which has killed more than 6,200 people.

According to the publication, called 'Putin War', at least 150 Russian soldiers were killed in August; and around 70 more helping pro-Russia rebels take the strategic town of Debaltseve. It has a chapter about the takeover of Crimea, which quotes Russian soldiers who took part in the military operation to capture key infrastructure on the peninsula in February 2014.

Boris Nemtsov. / Corbis

Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who led the RPR-Parnas party with Nemtsov, explained that “it is not a report with sensational information; it is just a report so that Russian citizens can put everything together to understand the war in Ukraine and to make their own choice.”

“The war that Putin started with Ukraine contradicts Russia’s interests, and we will do everything we can to stop it,” said Ilya Yashin, Nemtsov’s friend and fellow activist, during the press conference. The report is also available at Putin-itogi.ru. “We had trouble finding someone willing to print the publication and have received threats related to their activism”, Yashin added.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday he had not seen the report and was not sure if he would read it. Low-level fighting has continued in the region despite a February ceasefire.

JOHN KERRY´S VISIT TO RUSSIA

After 2 years of his previous visit, US secretary of state, John Kerry, spent a day in Russia, talking with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

“Had frank discussions with President Putin & FM Lavrov on key issues including Iran, Syria, and Ukraine”, Kerry wrote on his Twitter feed. He also thanked Putin for “his directness and detailed explanation of Russia’s position on a number of global issues.”

John Kerry met Putin in Russia. / AP

“Of course, one of the main themes was Ukraine. There is a disagreement between Russia and US about what the genesis of the crisis is, but we were united in our desire to solve the crisis in an exclusively peaceful way through the Minsk agreements”, confirmed Sergei Lavrov.

A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

Pro-Russian gunmen keep terrorising churches and ministers in Ukraine, pastors have died or been detained, and churches destroyed.

But Russian TV has forgotten all this, because, as Christian Ukrainian journalist and president of the International Journalists Association “Novomedia”, Ruslan Kukharchuk, said: “It is possible and even necessary to broadcast lies as loudly as it can. What for? Because war demands lie!”, but “it is impossible to end the war by symmetrical lies, even if these lies are driven by noble motives. Only truth can stop the enmity”, he added.