Putin Recognizes Donbass Republics, Sends Russian Military to 'Denazify' Ukraine
- Thread starter bjorb
- Start date
Yeah, it's probably Russians, because I don't know how much good information he can get from any western adviser.Either Russians, or he steals it from his "regular" adviser Tony Blair.
I have noticed in Australia in the last month or so that news about Ukraine has definitely taken a different turn... there is very little about what is happening featuring in mainstream media, although lately that is also because of the devastating earthquakes in Turkey/Syria. I guess it is getting harder and harder to try to prop up the 'Russia is losing' mantra.
I noticed these articles today:
Nick Meads, 61, runs driving experiences in old military vehicles such as tanks on his farm in Brackley, Northamptonshire, for military enthusiasts.
When war broke out in Ukraine a year ago he began focussing on shipping vital military vehicles across to the country.
He has legally sourced and supplied 100 military vehicles to help Ukrainians defend against Putin's invasion, all in deals approved by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Sun reports.
He is being supported by peer Lord John Attlee after his business came under serious threat in recent days.
Mr Meads said his business has now been classed as 'high risk' by high street bank Barclays, and closed all of his accounts - both business and personal.
He reportedly received a letter from the nearby Leicester Branch informing him his accounts will be closed on February 20.
He had held the accounts for around 40 years, but has seen turnover in his business account increase 40-fold to £8 million since he began supplying vehicles to Ukraine.
He says he is unable to open an account with any other UK bank, leaving his business and livelihood, as well as potentially life-saving military supplies, in peril.
'I've sent 100 vehicles to Ukraine over the past year, including tanks with guns, but I'm being driven out of business by a bank,' Mr Mead told the Sun. 'I've been banking with Barclays for 40 years and have never bounced a cheque but they haven't even got the decency to explain their decision.'
He said he only wants to help Ukraine and given their armed forces 'what they're crying out for'.
He is even considering setting up accounts in another country such as Singapore so he can carry on supplying the vehicles.
Mr Meads added: 'I'm told I'm on a Russian hit list for the work I'm doing and I'm prepared to accept the risk to help Ukraine defend itself.'
His business, which employs nine staff members and has a stock of 300 vehicles, has so far supplied a war fleet including 35 Spartan armoured personnel carriers.
[...]
Mr Mead purchases used British Army vehicles at auctions and refurbishes them before sale.
A further 15 Spartans, seven armoured personnel carriers and two tank recovery vehicles are due to be dispatched to the front line within days.
He will be unable to send further vehicles unless he is able to reopen his bank accounts."
?? Knowing nothing about military equipment, I wondered if this is another kind of 'money laundering' setup on some level?
Or is it just about making sure there is as little support as possible for Ukraine?
The staccato instructions come from the Ukrainian army escort taking us to a military position in battle-scarred Bakhmut, a city once famed for its sparkling wines.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the eastern city "our fortress". Russian forces have spent the past six months trying to capture Bakhmut. Now they have intensified their onslaught - Ukraine believes - to tear it down ahead of the anniversary of the invasion.
We follow orders, darting down an icy rubble-strewn street, with a clear blue sky overhead - ideal for Russian drones.
Just after we cross the road, two Russian shells come slamming down behind us on the other side. We turn around to see black smoke rising and keep on running. Was the shelling random or aimed at us? We can't be sure, but everything that moves in Bakhmut is a target - soldier or civilian.
For hours there is no let-up in the shelling, incoming and outgoing. A Russian fighter jet roars overhead. The nearest Russian troops are just two kilometres away.
There is street fighting in some areas, but Ukrainian forces still hold the city - despite sub-zero temperatures and dwindling ammunition.
"We have some shortages of ammunition of all kinds, especially artillery rounds," says Capt Mykhailo from the 93rd Mechanised Brigade, whose call sign is 'Polyglot'. "We also need encrypted communication devices from our Western allies, and some armoured personnel carriers to move troops around. But we still manage. One of the main lessons of this war is how to fight with limited resources." [No, one of the main lessons of the war is to think for yourself and realise you are being used and discarded by a consortium that doesn't give a sh*t about any of you, or Ukraine as a nation; but they do seem rather keen on control of the land/resources.]
We get an insight into the ammunition problems as Ukrainian troops target a Russian position with 60mm mortars. The first mortar round flies from the tube with a loud bang. The second round doesn't eject. There's a hiss of smoke and a shout of "misfire" sending the mortar unit scrambling for cover. Troops tell us the ammunition is old stock, sent from abroad.
[...]
"They have been trying to take the city since July," says Iryna, press officer of the 93rd Brigade. "Little by little they are winning now. They have more resources, so if they play the long game they will win. I can't say how long it will take.
"Maybe they will run out of resources. I really hope so."
[...]
"They are trying to encircle us so that we leave the city, but it's not working," says Ihor, a camouflage-clad commander, with a battle-hardened edge. "The city is under control. Transport moves, despite constant artillery strikes. Of course, we have losses from our side, but we are holding on. We only have one option - to keep going to victory."
BBC
He definitely looks like he believes those words, huh.
"There is another option - to withdraw from Bakhmut before it's too late. But among the defenders on the ground there seems little appetite for that. "If we have such an order from our HQ, OK, order is order," says Captain Myhailo. "But what sense to hold all these months if you need to retreat from this city? No, we don't want to do this."
He recalls those who have given their lives for Bakhmut - "a lot of good brave men who just love this country."
And if the defenders of Bakhmut were to withdraw, it would pave the way for Russia to push towards bigger cities in eastern Ukraine like Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.
Moscow has stepped up its attacks in other front-line areas in the Donbas region in the east, and in the south.
Ukrainian officials say a new Russian offensive is already under way.
The Kremlin is on a clock, as it counts down to the anniversary on 24 February. "They are mad about dates and so-called 'victory days'," says Capt Mykhailo.
But the battle of attrition for Bakhmut could wear out the Russians, according to Viktor, a tall, lean Ukrainian commander who has captured Russian magazines on a shelf in his bunker.
"They don't defend now," he says, "they just attack. They continue taking some metres, but we are trying to make sure they take as little of our land as possible. We are holding the enemy here and wearing them out."
And still these people cannot see they are being sacrificed / lied to at every turn. What will it take??
I noticed these articles today:
British businessman who sold 100 military vehicles to under-fire Ukraine faces ruin after Barclays shuts down his accounts
"A British businessman specialising in military gear who has supplied 100 military vehicles to war-torn Ukraine is in financial peril after bank Barclays closed his accounts.Nick Meads, 61, runs driving experiences in old military vehicles such as tanks on his farm in Brackley, Northamptonshire, for military enthusiasts.
When war broke out in Ukraine a year ago he began focussing on shipping vital military vehicles across to the country.
He has legally sourced and supplied 100 military vehicles to help Ukrainians defend against Putin's invasion, all in deals approved by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Sun reports.
He is being supported by peer Lord John Attlee after his business came under serious threat in recent days.
Mr Meads said his business has now been classed as 'high risk' by high street bank Barclays, and closed all of his accounts - both business and personal.
He reportedly received a letter from the nearby Leicester Branch informing him his accounts will be closed on February 20.
He had held the accounts for around 40 years, but has seen turnover in his business account increase 40-fold to £8 million since he began supplying vehicles to Ukraine.
He says he is unable to open an account with any other UK bank, leaving his business and livelihood, as well as potentially life-saving military supplies, in peril.
'I've sent 100 vehicles to Ukraine over the past year, including tanks with guns, but I'm being driven out of business by a bank,' Mr Mead told the Sun. 'I've been banking with Barclays for 40 years and have never bounced a cheque but they haven't even got the decency to explain their decision.'
He said he only wants to help Ukraine and given their armed forces 'what they're crying out for'.
He is even considering setting up accounts in another country such as Singapore so he can carry on supplying the vehicles.
Mr Meads added: 'I'm told I'm on a Russian hit list for the work I'm doing and I'm prepared to accept the risk to help Ukraine defend itself.'
His business, which employs nine staff members and has a stock of 300 vehicles, has so far supplied a war fleet including 35 Spartan armoured personnel carriers.
[...]
Mr Mead purchases used British Army vehicles at auctions and refurbishes them before sale.
A further 15 Spartans, seven armoured personnel carriers and two tank recovery vehicles are due to be dispatched to the front line within days.
He will be unable to send further vehicles unless he is able to reopen his bank accounts."
?? Knowing nothing about military equipment, I wondered if this is another kind of 'money laundering' setup on some level?
Or is it just about making sure there is as little support as possible for Ukraine?
Ukraine war: Russians slowly take ground around Bakhmut
"Stay close to the wall. Move fast. Single file. Just a few at a time."The staccato instructions come from the Ukrainian army escort taking us to a military position in battle-scarred Bakhmut, a city once famed for its sparkling wines.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the eastern city "our fortress". Russian forces have spent the past six months trying to capture Bakhmut. Now they have intensified their onslaught - Ukraine believes - to tear it down ahead of the anniversary of the invasion.
We follow orders, darting down an icy rubble-strewn street, with a clear blue sky overhead - ideal for Russian drones.
Just after we cross the road, two Russian shells come slamming down behind us on the other side. We turn around to see black smoke rising and keep on running. Was the shelling random or aimed at us? We can't be sure, but everything that moves in Bakhmut is a target - soldier or civilian.
For hours there is no let-up in the shelling, incoming and outgoing. A Russian fighter jet roars overhead. The nearest Russian troops are just two kilometres away.
There is street fighting in some areas, but Ukrainian forces still hold the city - despite sub-zero temperatures and dwindling ammunition.
"We have some shortages of ammunition of all kinds, especially artillery rounds," says Capt Mykhailo from the 93rd Mechanised Brigade, whose call sign is 'Polyglot'. "We also need encrypted communication devices from our Western allies, and some armoured personnel carriers to move troops around. But we still manage. One of the main lessons of this war is how to fight with limited resources." [No, one of the main lessons of the war is to think for yourself and realise you are being used and discarded by a consortium that doesn't give a sh*t about any of you, or Ukraine as a nation; but they do seem rather keen on control of the land/resources.]
We get an insight into the ammunition problems as Ukrainian troops target a Russian position with 60mm mortars. The first mortar round flies from the tube with a loud bang. The second round doesn't eject. There's a hiss of smoke and a shout of "misfire" sending the mortar unit scrambling for cover. Troops tell us the ammunition is old stock, sent from abroad.
[...]
"They have been trying to take the city since July," says Iryna, press officer of the 93rd Brigade. "Little by little they are winning now. They have more resources, so if they play the long game they will win. I can't say how long it will take.
"Maybe they will run out of resources. I really hope so."
[...]
"They are trying to encircle us so that we leave the city, but it's not working," says Ihor, a camouflage-clad commander, with a battle-hardened edge. "The city is under control. Transport moves, despite constant artillery strikes. Of course, we have losses from our side, but we are holding on. We only have one option - to keep going to victory."
BBC
He definitely looks like he believes those words, huh.
"There is another option - to withdraw from Bakhmut before it's too late. But among the defenders on the ground there seems little appetite for that. "If we have such an order from our HQ, OK, order is order," says Captain Myhailo. "But what sense to hold all these months if you need to retreat from this city? No, we don't want to do this."
He recalls those who have given their lives for Bakhmut - "a lot of good brave men who just love this country."
And if the defenders of Bakhmut were to withdraw, it would pave the way for Russia to push towards bigger cities in eastern Ukraine like Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.
Moscow has stepped up its attacks in other front-line areas in the Donbas region in the east, and in the south.
Ukrainian officials say a new Russian offensive is already under way.
The Kremlin is on a clock, as it counts down to the anniversary on 24 February. "They are mad about dates and so-called 'victory days'," says Capt Mykhailo.
But the battle of attrition for Bakhmut could wear out the Russians, according to Viktor, a tall, lean Ukrainian commander who has captured Russian magazines on a shelf in his bunker.
"They don't defend now," he says, "they just attack. They continue taking some metres, but we are trying to make sure they take as little of our land as possible. We are holding the enemy here and wearing them out."
And still these people cannot see they are being sacrificed / lied to at every turn. What will it take??
Elon says that he will not enable WW3 escalation on his starlink satellite 
This was from years ago, in 2014 - at least the photos above were from 2014. I don't see anything about a new dove...
Ill omen? Pope’s doves of peace for Ukraine attacked by angry birds (PHOTOS)
Pope Francis on Sunday prayed for the start of a “constructive dialogue” in Ukraine, releasing two white doves to symbolize the hope for peace. However, the doves were immediately attacked by a crow and a seagull.
Not sure if this has been posted, since it is a few days old. It is an analysis looking at possible scenarios. Quite interesting.
bmanalysis.substack.com
From the intro:
Prospects for World War 3 – Dedicated to Andrei Raevsky, the Vineyard Saker
A strategic picture of the events of a collapsing Ukraine and the end of NATO
bmanalysis.substack.com
From the intro:
The US is recruiting jihadist fighters to carry out terrorist attacks on the territory of Russia and the CIS countries, the Moscow's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said.
www.rt.com
13 Feb, 2023
'The US is trying to create chaos inside Russia.'
US training terrorists to target Russia – Moscow
The US is recruiting Islamist extremists to attack targets in Russia and neighboring countries, Moscow’s spy agency has claimed
'The US is trying to create chaos inside Russia.'
Nević Nenad
The Living Force
Its indicative that they dont want to get rid of nazi symbols. In any other, normal army, there would be order to take it off and that is forbiden to wear them.
WOW @loreta. What a spot-on description of that human piece of garbage Zelensky, the personification of evil. And it speaks volumes about the sorry state of the West's leaders when it fawns over such a poor excuse for a human being.
fifty_five
Jedi Master
You are unfair
. There is a DEEP marketing study that took all the time it needed thanks to the Minsk agreements, and involved billions of funds to a large set of international think tanks, behind Zelensky's "perfect-for-every-occasion" never-washed look, including bad smell, the setting and the coherent timeline fixation. He is a brand. And far beyond M-TAC's predictable casual-tactical patriotic sense (Meet M-TAC, the maker of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's casual sweaters and t-shirts that started out selling airsoft guns). 
aaaah, you are right! That's the new type of man, a creation, now I understand how he has so many fans, men and women all together. He is fashion. But he is a hypocrite. He looks poor, simple, Amazon adventurer style, valiant and not pretentious, but he is the opposite: he is a coward, a liar, and loves to have dollars in his bank account somewhere on an island. And then, beyond being a manufactured product, he is full of himself and thinks he is a Diva. So, like everything else, it's all fiction.You are unfair
"U.S. ACT OF WAR AGAINST THE EUROPEAN UNION: PRESIDENT BIDEN ORDERED THE TERROR ATTACK AGAINST NORD STREAM. HIGH TREASON AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF EUROPE"
Written by Prof Michel Chossudovsky. (Originally published by GlobalResearch. First published on October 1, 2022)
Author’s Update (12.02.2023)
Excerpts:
America is at War against Europe
"The Nord Stream pipelines which were the object of the attack are located within the (maritime) territorial jurisdiction of four member states of the European Union. In international law, “Territorial Integrity” extends to “properties” located within the territorial waters of the Nation State. ""The deliberate destruction of said “properties” within a country’s territorial waters by or on behalf of a foreign state actor constitutes an act of war."
"Bombshell: From a legal standpoint (International Law: UN Charter, Law of the Sea) this was not a terrorist attack against Russia, it was a U.S. Act of War against the European Union."
"The Nord Stream pipelines which were the object of the attack are located within the (maritime) territorial jurisdiction of four member states of the European Union. In international law, “Territorial Integrity” extends to “properties” located within the territorial waters of the Nation State."
"The deliberate destruction of said “properties” within a country’s territorial waters by or on behalf of a foreign state actor constitutes an act of war."
“La Classe Politique“: High Treason
"America is no longer “An Ally” of the EU. Quite the opposite. The insidious role of the US in carrying out acts of sabotage against the EU is amply documented. Beyond doubt."
"Meanwhile corrupt EU politicians are not only blaming Russia, they are setting the stage for the destruction of the European Union on behalf of Washington."
"Treason constitutes an act of betrayal by European politicians in high office on behalf of a foreign power, which through various means is actively and deliberately triggering economic and social chaos in both Western and Eastern Europe."
"The U.S. is not an ally of the EU. Quite the opposite. Washington is waging war against Europe, with the support of corrupt government officials in high office. It’s an act of treason."
"The media is also complicit i.e. in sustaining a flow of lies. The unspoken objective is to provide a human face to these acts of treason."
Treason at the highest levels of government.
"What is required is “Regime Change” throughout the European Union as well criminal prosecutions directed against corrupt politicians."Videos and links, in the full article below:
U.S. Act of War Against The European Union: President Biden Ordered The Terror Attack Against Nord Stream. High Treason against the People of Europe
Written by Prof Michel Chossudovsky. Originally published by GlobalResearch. First published on October 1, 2022 Author’s Update In recent developments, German Prosecutor...
southfront.org
Last edited:
XPan
The Living Force
An interesting article comes from Thomas Röper
revolving the Nord Stream blow up
He is the German reporter who lives in St Petersburg, who got contacted by a whistleblower via a friend back in 4 Oct 2022 a couple weeks after the Nord Stream pipeline was demolished. The whistleblower was supposedly part of the BALTOPS 22.
Röper never wrote an article back then, because he couldn't verify that information being valid or not. But after the substack article from Seymour Hersh, he realized how close the whistleblowers information was to what Hersh revealed/wrote !
Thomas Röper wrote following, translated via DeepL:
Confirmation of the Hersh article
What I learned about the Nord Stream blow-up from a whistleblower back in 2022
In October 2022, I was sent a message from a whistleblower who claimed to have information about the Nord Stream blow-up. His narrative exactly confirms Seymour Hersh's account of the pipeline blow-up.
From 9 February 2023 15:16
In my article translating Seymour Hersh's report detailing how the Biden administration planned and then carried out the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines as early as 2021, I mentioned that I had been contacted a few months ago by someone who claimed to have been a soldier on the BALTOPS 22 manoeuvre and to have seen US special divers behaving in an extremely arrogant manner, who claimed to have been a soldier on manoeuvre BALTOPS 22 and to have seen arrogant US special divers "practising" mine-laying on the very ship on which he served.
Unfortunately, he could not provide any evidence for his story and wanted to remain anonymous, which is why I did not report on it, because he could not provide anything resilient to corroborate his story. Based on a story by someone who does not reveal his identity and cannot provide any evidence for his story, I naturally do not write an article. However, after Hersh's publication on 8 February, I am sure that this whistleblower who contacted me at that time was telling the truth because his story exactly matches what Hersh published.
Therefore, I will tell here what I learned in October 2022 and I will also translate and publish in full the whistleblower's mail, the text of which I received on 4 October 2022. The original mail was in English and came from an anonymous Proton address.
How I found out about the whistleblower
In early October 2022, I was contacted by my colleague and friend John Marc Dugan, a US citizen living in Moscow. He had received an email from an anonymous whistleblower.
At the time, we discussed at length what we could do with it, but since the whistleblower could not provide any evidence for his story and we also could not verify the pictures he sent along - after all, anything is possible with Photoshop - I was not prepared to publish anything about it. John also did not report on it in his videos at the end, to my knowledge.
What parts of the Hersh story the whistleblower's email confirms.
Knowing today from Seymour Hersh's article, I think the whistleblower's story is authentic because it fits exactly what Hersh writes. At the time, the whistleblower reported non-military looking US special divers being taken by helicopter to the warship on which the whistleblower was serving during the BALTOPS 22 manoeuvre.
This confirms Hersh's story that the special divers were from the Panama City Navy Diving School in Florida and were not soldiers but were probably from US intelligence agencies. More than that, Hersh does not go into the details of the operation in the Baltic Sea itself, but the whistleblower does. And he mentioned that the US special divers had MK29 diving systems, which according to him are secret.
The MK29s are indeed secret, according to everything you can find out on the net, at least you can't order them, there are only reports about them. Most importantly, according to a 2018 US Department of Defence report, they were developed by the very US Navy diving school in Panama City, Florida, that Hersh mentions. The fact that the whistleblower mentioned the MK29 system, which has a direct link to the Navy diving school whose special divers Hersh says planted the bombs on the pipelines, as early as early October 2022 is further confirmation for me of Hersh's story.
In this video, the US Navy proudly displays the MK29 and explains its advantages for long dives at great depths.
According to the whistleblower, the special divers were supposed to do exercises with sea mines, but according to the whistleblower they did not have the necessary equipment. Instead, they had state-of-the-art deep diving equipment (including the MK29), which they do not need for a sea mine exercise, because these mines float at such shallow depths that conventional diving equipment is sufficient. During the exercise, according to the whistleblower, the special divers were also active in the wrong place and were under water much longer than is possible with equipment he knows.
Hersh writes in his article that the special divers placed the explosive devices on the pipelines under the cover of an exercise with sea mines. According to the article, the exercise with sea mines was included in the BALTOPS 22 manoeuvre specifically as a cover for planting the bombs on the pipelines. Here, too, the whistleblower's e-mail coincides with the article now published by Hersh.
The whistleblower's mail
Now I show the text of the mail that the whistleblower sent to John and that John forwarded to me immediately afterwards on 4 October. I have translated it from English.
Beginning of the translation:
Dear Mr Dugan!
I am writing this letter in the hope that you will pass it on. I cannot pass on the information myself as it would damage my career and my life. I am sending you this photo as proof that I was there and a copy of my ID. You may pass this on to another journalist you trust, but do not give it out of your possession. It is important that you do not share it with anyone and that you never use this email account again. You may quote the letter verbatim as written:
I had a leading administrative role in the military manoeuvre BALTOPS 22 in June near the island of Bornholm, Denmark. I cannot give you my exact title because it might reveal my identity. There were some unusual details relating to a group of US Navy soldiers from the Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) who had travelled from Stockholm. What seemed strange at the time looks downright nefarious in retrospect.
Let me explain. Forgive me in advance if I got the terminology wrong, because my country's military may use different terms. I cannot be specific about my job, but I work in the coordination of diving teams and underwater operations with various forces of the NATO alliance.
On 15 June, the day of the exercise, I was involved in coordinating certain aspects of the exercise. I have to be vague here. A US military helicopter arrived with a group of men who were to be US Navy mine hunters. They got off, unloaded their equipment and met both the US Navy Vice Admiral and a group of American men in civilian clothes who arrived a few hours later. We all suspected that they were some kind of intelligence operatives.
After a short conversation, which I could not hear because of the helicopter noise, they proceeded to their briefing.
I thought it was rather strange that they were from the US Navy. My first thought was that they looked like a group of terrorists and not someone from the US Navy. The other groups we had from many branches of the military had some sort of standards. Haircuts, for example. Not only did these men have wild hair that would have been against military standards in any civilised nation, but they also had facial hair. As I said, they looked more like Middle Eastern terrorists. None of these men wore identification tags around their necks.
Another thing I found strange was that they claimed to be searching for underwater mines, but they did not have the equipment for such exercises. Their equipment consisted of the navy's latest underwater diving equipment and some small hard-shell cases we call pelicans.
Their task was to go to a certain place in an inflatable boat, search for anti-ship mines there and return with their findings. Normally they carry long metal-detecting equipment on such ventures, but it was missing from their kit.
One detail that struck me as very odd here was that other mine detection teams were wearing conventional SCUBA gear with tanks and such, while this group was wearing state-of-the-art helium breathing helmets and diving suits. Although I've never seen one up close, I'm pretty sure they were the MK29 systems, which were designed for deep dives and remain classified to this day. My country's military wouldn't even be able to afford the helium for it, let alone the suits themselves. These suits would certainly not be needed for locating mines that are only a few metres below the surface.
They took their boat out to sea. Not to the area where the simulated mines were placed, but to a completely different location. My colleague, who was monitoring the various team locations, made a casual joke about the US Navy being lost and two thousand metres from their destination.
They left their boat, wore their breathing apparatus and disappeared underwater for over six hours. As far as I know, there is no self-contained underwater equipment that can keep a diver underwater for six hours. With the latest military systems, three or four hours at most is possible if the diver does not overexert himself. After a few hours we started to get worried and contacted the US 6th Fleet coordinator who assured us that everything was fine, that they were in contact, that we should ignore it and not make any reports about it.
After the exercise was over and they returned, almost all the pelicans were missing. They did not stay for any pleasantries. They chatted briefly with the civilians from the US, got into a waiting helicopter and took off. The civilians they had spoken to also took off, but on a different helicopter. Their mission was later described as "successfully completed", although they had not been near the target.
In hindsight, I have the following suspicion. The divers rendezvoused with a small waiting dive boat that took them to the pipeline area. The explosives required for such an operation would not have fitted into their equipment, so I suspect they were carrying surveying and locating equipment with which to mark where the explosives needed to be placed. Once they had surveyed the pipeline and marked the correct coordinates, they had time to check this data with explosives technicians, return to the site at a later date and place the necessary explosive charges, which were then detonated with a timer or remotely.
End of translation
It remains to be noted that the whistleblower may have been mistaken in one point of his conclusion, as the divers may have placed the explosives immediately, according to the Hersh report. Perhaps the submersible suspected by the whistleblower carried it, which is quite possible.
The US has the necessary so-called "unmanned maritime systems" and they are regularly tested during manoeuvres, as for example this manoeuvre from September 2022 off the coast of Portugal shows.
END OF ARTICLE
revolving the Nord Stream blow up
He is the German reporter who lives in St Petersburg, who got contacted by a whistleblower via a friend back in 4 Oct 2022 a couple weeks after the Nord Stream pipeline was demolished. The whistleblower was supposedly part of the BALTOPS 22.
Röper never wrote an article back then, because he couldn't verify that information being valid or not. But after the substack article from Seymour Hersh, he realized how close the whistleblowers information was to what Hersh revealed/wrote !
Thomas Röper wrote following, translated via DeepL:
Confirmation of the Hersh article
What I learned about the Nord Stream blow-up from a whistleblower back in 2022
In October 2022, I was sent a message from a whistleblower who claimed to have information about the Nord Stream blow-up. His narrative exactly confirms Seymour Hersh's account of the pipeline blow-up.
From 9 February 2023 15:16
In my article translating Seymour Hersh's report detailing how the Biden administration planned and then carried out the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines as early as 2021, I mentioned that I had been contacted a few months ago by someone who claimed to have been a soldier on the BALTOPS 22 manoeuvre and to have seen US special divers behaving in an extremely arrogant manner, who claimed to have been a soldier on manoeuvre BALTOPS 22 and to have seen arrogant US special divers "practising" mine-laying on the very ship on which he served.
Unfortunately, he could not provide any evidence for his story and wanted to remain anonymous, which is why I did not report on it, because he could not provide anything resilient to corroborate his story. Based on a story by someone who does not reveal his identity and cannot provide any evidence for his story, I naturally do not write an article. However, after Hersh's publication on 8 February, I am sure that this whistleblower who contacted me at that time was telling the truth because his story exactly matches what Hersh published.
Therefore, I will tell here what I learned in October 2022 and I will also translate and publish in full the whistleblower's mail, the text of which I received on 4 October 2022. The original mail was in English and came from an anonymous Proton address.
How I found out about the whistleblower
In early October 2022, I was contacted by my colleague and friend John Marc Dugan, a US citizen living in Moscow. He had received an email from an anonymous whistleblower.
At the time, we discussed at length what we could do with it, but since the whistleblower could not provide any evidence for his story and we also could not verify the pictures he sent along - after all, anything is possible with Photoshop - I was not prepared to publish anything about it. John also did not report on it in his videos at the end, to my knowledge.
What parts of the Hersh story the whistleblower's email confirms.
Knowing today from Seymour Hersh's article, I think the whistleblower's story is authentic because it fits exactly what Hersh writes. At the time, the whistleblower reported non-military looking US special divers being taken by helicopter to the warship on which the whistleblower was serving during the BALTOPS 22 manoeuvre.
This confirms Hersh's story that the special divers were from the Panama City Navy Diving School in Florida and were not soldiers but were probably from US intelligence agencies. More than that, Hersh does not go into the details of the operation in the Baltic Sea itself, but the whistleblower does. And he mentioned that the US special divers had MK29 diving systems, which according to him are secret.
The MK29s are indeed secret, according to everything you can find out on the net, at least you can't order them, there are only reports about them. Most importantly, according to a 2018 US Department of Defence report, they were developed by the very US Navy diving school in Panama City, Florida, that Hersh mentions. The fact that the whistleblower mentioned the MK29 system, which has a direct link to the Navy diving school whose special divers Hersh says planted the bombs on the pipelines, as early as early October 2022 is further confirmation for me of Hersh's story.
In this video, the US Navy proudly displays the MK29 and explains its advantages for long dives at great depths.
According to the whistleblower, the special divers were supposed to do exercises with sea mines, but according to the whistleblower they did not have the necessary equipment. Instead, they had state-of-the-art deep diving equipment (including the MK29), which they do not need for a sea mine exercise, because these mines float at such shallow depths that conventional diving equipment is sufficient. During the exercise, according to the whistleblower, the special divers were also active in the wrong place and were under water much longer than is possible with equipment he knows.
Hersh writes in his article that the special divers placed the explosive devices on the pipelines under the cover of an exercise with sea mines. According to the article, the exercise with sea mines was included in the BALTOPS 22 manoeuvre specifically as a cover for planting the bombs on the pipelines. Here, too, the whistleblower's e-mail coincides with the article now published by Hersh.
The whistleblower's mail
Now I show the text of the mail that the whistleblower sent to John and that John forwarded to me immediately afterwards on 4 October. I have translated it from English.
Beginning of the translation:
Dear Mr Dugan!
I am writing this letter in the hope that you will pass it on. I cannot pass on the information myself as it would damage my career and my life. I am sending you this photo as proof that I was there and a copy of my ID. You may pass this on to another journalist you trust, but do not give it out of your possession. It is important that you do not share it with anyone and that you never use this email account again. You may quote the letter verbatim as written:
I had a leading administrative role in the military manoeuvre BALTOPS 22 in June near the island of Bornholm, Denmark. I cannot give you my exact title because it might reveal my identity. There were some unusual details relating to a group of US Navy soldiers from the Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) who had travelled from Stockholm. What seemed strange at the time looks downright nefarious in retrospect.
Let me explain. Forgive me in advance if I got the terminology wrong, because my country's military may use different terms. I cannot be specific about my job, but I work in the coordination of diving teams and underwater operations with various forces of the NATO alliance.
On 15 June, the day of the exercise, I was involved in coordinating certain aspects of the exercise. I have to be vague here. A US military helicopter arrived with a group of men who were to be US Navy mine hunters. They got off, unloaded their equipment and met both the US Navy Vice Admiral and a group of American men in civilian clothes who arrived a few hours later. We all suspected that they were some kind of intelligence operatives.
After a short conversation, which I could not hear because of the helicopter noise, they proceeded to their briefing.
I thought it was rather strange that they were from the US Navy. My first thought was that they looked like a group of terrorists and not someone from the US Navy. The other groups we had from many branches of the military had some sort of standards. Haircuts, for example. Not only did these men have wild hair that would have been against military standards in any civilised nation, but they also had facial hair. As I said, they looked more like Middle Eastern terrorists. None of these men wore identification tags around their necks.
Another thing I found strange was that they claimed to be searching for underwater mines, but they did not have the equipment for such exercises. Their equipment consisted of the navy's latest underwater diving equipment and some small hard-shell cases we call pelicans.
Their task was to go to a certain place in an inflatable boat, search for anti-ship mines there and return with their findings. Normally they carry long metal-detecting equipment on such ventures, but it was missing from their kit.
One detail that struck me as very odd here was that other mine detection teams were wearing conventional SCUBA gear with tanks and such, while this group was wearing state-of-the-art helium breathing helmets and diving suits. Although I've never seen one up close, I'm pretty sure they were the MK29 systems, which were designed for deep dives and remain classified to this day. My country's military wouldn't even be able to afford the helium for it, let alone the suits themselves. These suits would certainly not be needed for locating mines that are only a few metres below the surface.
They took their boat out to sea. Not to the area where the simulated mines were placed, but to a completely different location. My colleague, who was monitoring the various team locations, made a casual joke about the US Navy being lost and two thousand metres from their destination.
They left their boat, wore their breathing apparatus and disappeared underwater for over six hours. As far as I know, there is no self-contained underwater equipment that can keep a diver underwater for six hours. With the latest military systems, three or four hours at most is possible if the diver does not overexert himself. After a few hours we started to get worried and contacted the US 6th Fleet coordinator who assured us that everything was fine, that they were in contact, that we should ignore it and not make any reports about it.
After the exercise was over and they returned, almost all the pelicans were missing. They did not stay for any pleasantries. They chatted briefly with the civilians from the US, got into a waiting helicopter and took off. The civilians they had spoken to also took off, but on a different helicopter. Their mission was later described as "successfully completed", although they had not been near the target.
In hindsight, I have the following suspicion. The divers rendezvoused with a small waiting dive boat that took them to the pipeline area. The explosives required for such an operation would not have fitted into their equipment, so I suspect they were carrying surveying and locating equipment with which to mark where the explosives needed to be placed. Once they had surveyed the pipeline and marked the correct coordinates, they had time to check this data with explosives technicians, return to the site at a later date and place the necessary explosive charges, which were then detonated with a timer or remotely.
End of translation
It remains to be noted that the whistleblower may have been mistaken in one point of his conclusion, as the divers may have placed the explosives immediately, according to the Hersh report. Perhaps the submersible suspected by the whistleblower carried it, which is quite possible.
The US has the necessary so-called "unmanned maritime systems" and they are regularly tested during manoeuvres, as for example this manoeuvre from September 2022 off the coast of Portugal shows.
END OF ARTICLE
