Russian Officers and Militants Identified as Perpetrators of the January 2015 Mariupol Artillery Strike – bellingcat

via aleksey godin

The Bellingcat Investigation Team has determined conclusively that the artillery attack on the Ukrainian town of Mariupol on 24 January 2015, which resulted at least 30 civilian deaths and over 100 injuries, came from Russia-controlled territory. Bellingcat has also determined that the shelling operation was instructed, directed and supervised by Russian military commanders in active service with the Russian Ministry of Defense. Bellingcat has identified nine Russian officers, including one general, two colonels, and three lieutenant colonels, involved directly with the military operation.

Furthermore, Bellingcat has determined that two artillery batteries of Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) were transported from Russia into Ukraine the day before the Mariupol operation. In the early morning of 24 January 2015, these batteries were deployed near the village of Bezimenne exclusively for the shelling of targets in and around Mariupol, after which they were repatriated back into Russia.

In the course of analyzing the events in the eve of and on 24 January 2015, Bellingcat has also identified two Russian generals involved with the selection and assignment of Russian artillery specialists to commanding roles in eastern Ukraine.

This investigation was made possible due to access to raw video and audio data that is being submitted by the Ukrainian government to the International Court of Justice as part of an ongoing legal case. This data was made available to a small group of international investigative media for the purposes of independent assessment. Bellingcat and its media partners analyzed a large volume of intercepted calls from and to participants in the armed conflict located in the area of Bezimenne at the time of shelling. Bellingcat conducted detailed cross-referencing of events, names and locations, as well as metadata from the calls, to open source data, including satellite photography data, social media posts, and voice samples from public statements of some of the identified persons. A detailed analysis permitted the identification of persons and military units, and the reconstruction of events leading up to the shelling of residential areas in Mariupol.

While previous reports, including the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine report from 24 January 2015, have identified that shelling of Mariupol’s residential areas came from separatist-controlled territory, Bellingcat’s investigation is the first to fully detail and identify the role of active Russian military units, as well as the direct commanding role of active Russian army officers in this military operation.

Our full report identifying the nine Russian officers involved with the military operation that led to the deaths of 30 Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol will be published later this week. Today, we are revealing the names of these individuals, along with a sampling of the telephone conversations that led to their identification.

The Russian officers who were in charge on high and lower levels of the MLRS batteries on the day of the shelling at Mariupol, or provided target instructions from another location in Eastern Ukraine, have been identified by Bellingcat as:

Major General Stepan Stepanovich Yaroshchuk

Alexander Iozhefovich Tsapliuk, call sign ‘Gorets’

Alexander Anatolevich Muratov

Maksim Vladimirovich Vlasov, call sign ‘Yugra’

Sergey Sergeyevich Yurchenko, call sign ‘Voronezh’

Alexander Valeryevich Grunchev, call sign ‘Terek’

The Russian officers who were in charge of selecting and sending artillery commanders and artillery equipment to Eastern Ukraine have been identified by Bellingcat as:

Colonel Oleg Leargievich Kuvshinov

Major General Dmitry Nikolaevich Klimenko

Colonel Sergey Ivanovich Lisai

The two Russian and Ukrainian militants in direct charge of the artillery units that shelled Mariupol have been identified by Bellingcat as:

Alexander Mikhailovich Evtody, call sign ‘Pepel’

Grayr Manukovich Egiazaryan, call sign ‘Shram’

Our full investigation, with biographical details on each of these men, our research process, and our analysis of the shelling attack itself, will be published later this week.

Sir Kim Darroch’s cable leaks appear to be a calculated sting. Who or what was behind it? – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

“MPs obviously are partisan but we still think that they are prepared to respect convention, and what you’ve seen in Brexit is people caring so much about their version of the future that they sort of butt through convention. “I hope this isn’t an example of it, but it feels like it.’

Source: Sir Kim Darroch’s cable leaks appear to be a calculated sting. Who or what was behind it? – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Kim Darroch has resigned. Now Britain risks becoming a vassal of the US | Martin Kettle

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Donald Trump’s role in the Washington ambassador’s exit has driven a stake through the heart of the UK’s postwar self-image

The chief of Britain’s Foreign Office does nothing casually. He is a past master at saying nothing unintended in public. So when the Foreign Office permanent secretary, Simon McDonald, went before MPs this lunchtime after the devastating resignation of Britain’s Washington ambassador, Kim Darroch, his incisive directness was a revelation. It was the most eloquent evidence possible that the Darroch affair is not just a diplomatic storm but an existential challenge to Britain’s entire foreign policy.

What precedent was there, the foreign affairs committee chair Tom Tugendhat asked McDonald straight off, for the head of state of a friendly government to do what Donald Trump has done this week and make it impossible for Britain’s senior representative in that country to do his job? McDonald’s answer was monosyllabic, crisp and explosive. “None,” he said.

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Reckitt Benckiser to pay $1.4bn fine over opioid treatment sales

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Nurofen maker reaches deal with US over alleged fraudulent marketing of Suboxone

Reckitt Benckiser has agreed to pay a $1.4bn (£1.1bn) fine to settle a US investigation into sales of a treatment for addiction to opioids by its former prescription drugs business Indivior.

The maker of Nurofen and Durex said it had reached a deal with the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission to resolve the long-running inquiry into sales and marketing of Suboxone Film, an opioid-based drug.

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Tory MPs condemn Boris Johnson over Kim Darroch resignation

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Frontrunner to become PM accused of lack of leadership and called on to apologise

Boris Johnson has been heavily criticised by fellow Tory MPs over his role in Sir Kim Darroch’s decision to resign as the UK ambassador to Washington, with one backbencher saying the frontrunner in the Conservative leadership contest should come to the Commons to apologise.

An urgent question in the Commons about Darroch’s departure, which followed the leak of diplomatic cables critical of Donald Trump’s White House, resulted in repeated condemnation of Johnson, and only one Conservative MP came to his defence.

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