Closely supported by Russian air power and artillery, Syrian army attacks against rebel forces near Aleppo, Syria coincide with a significant intensification of fighting in eastern Ukraine, with the largest number of daily attacks by the Russian-separatist forces since August 2015. There have been heavy attacks all across the front line observed in detail by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), yet almost completely unmentioned in the international media. Moreover, recent statements by senior Russian officials show an increase in rhetoric about Ukraine.
Chairman of the Russian National Security Council Nikolay Patrushev—arguably the most important advisor to President Vladimir Putin on geopolitical strategy—recently repeated the comment the Ukraine is “not a real country,” and the U.S., with the help of the European Union (EU), organized an illegal state coup in Ukraine with anti-Russian aims. Patrushev went on to assert the current Ukrainian leadership works for the U.S. and implements the will of the U.S., with the goal of pulling Ukraine as far as possible away from Russia. Patrushev goes on to threaten, “Such a political course has no future: if Ukraine’s leadership does not in time reject this course, then it will lead to a complete collapse of the Ukrainian economy and to the break-up of Ukraine.”
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