Dear Readers:
We have an interesting “breaking news” story about a Russian citizen, name of Andrei Eremin, being tossed off a Delta Airlines flight. One source says the incident took place on Monday; another source says it took place on Tuesday. We do know the number of the flight: Flight #1588. Which is a marathon from Seattle to Atlanta. According to Delta’s website, the flight in question uses a Boeing 757 Twin-jet, costs just under $300 (which is not a bad deal for such a long distance), and serves refreshments in the cabin. Having flown Delta myself, I can attest that the refreshments are crap, I think they even charge you for them, and you should always remember to bring your own sandwich.
Delta drops Andrei off on the runway.
Latest news today is that Eremin plans to sue Delta. Not for the crappy refreshments, but for the brutal treatment he received. Again, as somebody who has partaken of the American airline system, I can attest that flying in America is a ghastly and demeaning process, the whole system degenerates more with every year that goes by. You can blame the terrorists if you like, but it’s not all their fault. And it’s not just the indignities of taking your shoes off, the full-body X-ray that displays your naked image to smirking cops; and being frisked by slab-faced Homeland Security goons — no, the degradation continues even after you have left the horrors of the airport and find yourself inside what should be the comforting womb of the cabin itself.
Oh, believe me, I get it that the captain is always in charge of his ship, and that he has to look out for the lives of all his passengers. That absolutely takes priority. It is also the duty of passengers to follow orders of the crew and not interfere in the system. I get all that.
Still, there was a time when airlines also regarded passengers as customers, not just as cattle to be transported; and treated them courteously, tried to give them good service and make them feel comfortable. Those times are long gone. What with the militarization of American culture, airlines act like they are part of the military-industrial complex. Every passenger is a possible threat and should be treated with utmost surliness. Now, I grant that individual airline employees can be very nice, and very efficient; but the system itself is NOT geared to traditional customer service, to put it mildly. Having experienced gross rudeness myself (and I am a nice and fairly unassuming person who tends to follow the orders given by authority figures), I am inclined to take Eremin’s side of the story. That Delta done him wrong. But also trying to keep an open mind until all the facts are in, because, let’s face it, Eremin could be lying, you never know.
Seattle: An amazing city with a colorful history
In other words, the story is a classic “he said – she said” case of civil conflict, with the two sides telling radically different stories about the event in question. My ears perked up when I read that the incident took place in Seattle. Seattle is my all-time favorite American city, it’s a wonderful place, and I would just hate that anything stained its reputation or kept possible tourists away!
He Said….
So. yesterday (Wednesday) Eremin texted Delta complaining about his treatment on the Seattle Flight, from which he was rudely ejected. A few hours later he received an email back from Delta Assistant Director Susan Curtis. Susan apologized for the incident and promised to investigate it. However, she demurred that a full investigation will take some time. Of course it will.
Andrei Eremin
According to Eremin’s side of the story, he did absolutely nothing wrong, just boarded his flight, was randomly seated next to a guy who blew up when he learned he was sitting next to a Russian. Started going off about “Crimea” and how he refused to fly with a Russian Occupier. Probably some svidomite, but that’s just a guess. Anyhow, instead of separating and re-seating one of the parties, Delta took the side of the other guy and tossed Eremin out of the plane. Forcing him to book a flight on a different airline. In the end, Eremin was able to get to Atlanta, but with a much-bruised ego. Eremin says that he will probably sue Delta, but before resorting to the courts he wanted to see if he could just get an apology from Delta. His feelings were hurt, and he said he needs a public apology from them, more than any desire for financial compensation.
She Said….
According to Delta, Eremin was a problem passenger from the very beginning. He was late to boarding, he was rowdy, he violated all the safety rules, he was running so late, he even attempted to burst through the hatch after the door had already been closed. In spite of all this, he was seated in the cabin. Next to his worst enemy, apparently.
The Battle Front
As is usual with these cases, the battle is taking place in Social Media. Eremin posted his side of the story on social media after which, he claims, he started getting threatening emails and phone calls, so he removed his post. “It’s not that I am afraid,” he averred, “but I do have two children, and this is all so unpleasant…”
Eremin is a citizen of the Russian Federation, but resides in the U.S. He provided the Russian news agency RIA Novosti with screenshots of the threats that he had received, in order to prove that they were real.
I will continue to follow this breaking story, in case there are any new developments!
Awful Avalanche 
Hello yalensis, I am back!
Delta explicitly said what happened and they most likely have video footage of Andrei barging in late. It seems he used geopolitical tensions as cover for his own tardiness and bad behaviour.
I hope he does sue. If he’s telling the truth, he’ll be given some good money, but we’ll also know if he’s lying.
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Hi, Matt!
I’m glad it’s you and not Zippy.
Yeah, hopefully we’ll find out what’s what.
I’ve watched enough episodes of Judge Joe to know that people can fabricate when they get in trouble.
Let’s keep an open mind, though, okay?
Like I said in my post, the American people-flying system is broken in many ways.
Would you agree on that point, at least?
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I’ve never flown in the U.S. – I live close enough to the Can-Am border to be able to drive there. But I do think the TSA seems to be pretty useless, from media reports:
“TSA failed 95% of tests attempting to smuggle mock explosives and banned weapons in airports”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tsa-failed-95-of-tests-attempting-to-smuggle-mock-explosives-and-banned-weapons-in-airports-10290295.html
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The nice thing about flying with American airlines is that America is English-speaking, so although you’ll definitely need the phrase, “Don’t taze me, bro,” you don’t need to worry about learning it in another language.
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Hee hee!
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“The nice thing about flying with American airlines is that America is English-speaking, so although you’ll definitely need the phrase, “Don’t taze me, bro,” you don’t need to worry about learning it in another language.”
“Rincewind could scream for mercy in nineteen languages, and just scream in another forty-four.” (Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times)
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In my personal experience, I have flied both Delta and American Airlines.
Each has their plusses and minuses.
Some of the hubs airports are nice, and some are sort of Third Worldish, depending on the city and terminal.
I think the airlines staff are mostly good people who want to do a good job, but there are so many pressures on them, and the overall system is just getting horrific.
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If you are in need of some half-decent comedy, look no further!
Sputnik: Russia Has Proof of Yatsenyuk’s Involvement in Chechnya Executions in 1995
https://sputniknews.com/russia/201704291053134630-russia-executions-yatsenyuk-proof/
——————
“The committee has evidence that Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk participated in at least two armed conflicts on the Minutka square in Grozny city on December 31, 1994 and on February, 1995, while he was also involved in torture and execution of captured Russian servicemen in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny on January 7, 1995,” the spokeswoman said.
———————
Ah yes, good ol’ Yats, who at the ripe age of 20 (born 1974) tortured and ate alive multiple Russian soldiers in Chechnya in the year 1994. He used his teleportation ability to torture soldiers in Grozny, just in time for law school finals in Ukraine. Despite all this, he was able to graduate from university on time, in 1996 (4 years), and also managed to find the time to run a student law firm. The rascal!
Fortunately, the current Russian administration’s abuse of Interpol for politically-motivated attacks has not gone down well:
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/arsen-avakov-interpol-didnt-issue-search-notice-yatsenyuk.html
“Interpol has dismissed Russia’s request to post an international search alert for former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said.”
Following is the evidence that Russia’s Investigative Committee, which has ignored Medvedev’s corruption, has collected:
Exhibit A: https://twitter.com/Garik_Youmar/status/641307034332364800
Exhibit B: https://twitter.com/ltpzdc/status/641301899447246848
Exhibit C: https://twitter.com/Lndcalling/status/641299645415731200
Exhibit D: https://twitter.com/Lie_News/status/641301289121529856/photo/1
Exhibit E: https://twitter.com/RuLinta/status/641311552843464706
This is overwhelming evidence. Sadly, this may be the end of Yats.
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He was a crappy soldier.
Ukrainian Nazis like yourself always do.
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*make poor soldiers.
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That’s a true statement, Pavlo.
And I believe the reason why Ukrainian Nazis make poor soldiers is because they think they can skip the actual daily grind and process of soldiering and jump directly to the desired end result — the violent killings, rapes, and looting.
Those rewards are supposed to come at the end of a victorious process, not right in the middle of it.
As children, Ukrainian Nazis probably also believed that they deserved to eat dessert first, and then skip the vegetables.
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They know crime but they don’t know war.
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Pavlo, you still think I’m a “Ukrainian Nazi”? We had this discussion already – I am not a Ukrainian, nor do I support Nazism.
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My dear chap, I THINK Enya is an overrated bore, I KNOW you’re a Ukrainian Nazi – nobody else would bother to furiously profess the innocence of Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
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“nobody else would bother to furiously profess the innocence of Arseniy Yatsenyuk.”
Huh? Saying that Yats did not participate in the first Chechen war automagically makes me a “Ukrainian Nazi”? How so?
Pavlo, if you succumb to such thinking, you are bound to falsely accuse many of being “Ukrainian Nazis”.
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Perhaps you have never noticed this, but very, very few people care in the slightest about Ukraine – Al-Qaeda terrorists with neckbeards you could camp in get more attention and sympathy from the English-speaking world.
Rule of thumb, only Ukrainian nationalists give a damn about Ukraine and her failed cause, and there haven’t been any non-Nazi Ukrainian nationalists for decades.
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Pavlo makes a very good point. In the English-speaking world, the only 2 groups of people who are actually interested in Ukrainian politics are ethnic Russians and ethnic Ukrainians. Nobody else really cares, why should they? it’s too specialized a topic, and most people can’t read the languages either.
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Reply to Pavlo:
You are assuming that I’m a “Ukrainian nationalist” over a minor thing as refuting Yats fought in Chechnya? I don’t see how that has anything to do with Ukrainian nationalism.
Regardless, I am no Ukrainian or a nationalist. Trying to critique the actions of the Russian government doesn’t make one a Ukrainian nationalist.
As for my interest in the topic, this is perfectly normal. The Ukrainian civil war is a major foreign policy issue involving numerous Western countries and there are many who follow it. One does not need to be a Ukrainian or Russian to be interested in news about this topic.
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Dear Matt,
I wrote on this Jihad Jats story myself, Here is the link from way back in December 2015, when I was still a fledgling blogger only knee-high to a grasshopper.
If this were a courtroom drama, with the prosecutor trying to prove that Yats fought in Chechnya, and Yats defenders saying he was nowhere near the place — then there is actually much concrete evidence for the prosecution side, including actual photos (not the photoshop jokes, but real photos) of Yats with his jihadi buds in the mountains of Chechnya.
And also, if you read my post down to the very end, Avakov’s slip of the tongue could be adduced into the courtroom record as additional evidence for the prosecution.
Your side (Yats defenders) are free to fight back with loads of sarcasm and your own semi-clever photoshops, but it’s not enough to counter the actual real evidence against Yats.
By the way, your side screw themselves when they indulge in hyperbole, as in “Yats was accused of eating babies,” or that sort of thing. That sort of sarcasm and hyperbole never impress actual judges in actual courtrooms, and it all sounds très adolescent, no?
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P.S. Matt – when reading down my earlier post, please read down also into the comment section, in one of my own comments, near the bottom, I posted that famous photo of Yats and his Ukrainian fascist comrades in the mountains of Chechnya., fighting under the UNA-UNSO banner.
That’s a real photo too, and not the creation of a sarcastic teenager.
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I read your post and it hinges on two pieces of evidence: a possibly sarcastic quip by Avakov and a very blurry photo of a thin caucasian guy, of which there are millions in this world.
That does not seem to be strong evidence.
There are the claims made by Russia (Google translate):
“Alexander Bastrykin: According to the investigation, Arseniy Yatsenyuk participated in at least two armed clashes that took place December 31, 1994 on Minutka Square in Grozny in February 1995 near the city hospital number 9 in Grozny, as well as torture and executions of POWs Russian army in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny January 7, 1995. According to our information, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, among other active members of the UNA – UNSO in December 1995 she was awarded the highest award of Dzhokhar Dudayev “Honor of the Nation” for the destruction of Russian troops. Yatsenyuk questioned associates describe him as a person educated, clever, but cunning and resourceful, they say, from an early age to get power and publicity. In early 1995, Arseniy Yatsenyuk as a part of a group of journalists through Georgia returned to Ukraine. Subsequently, he was repeatedly seen at conventions and other activities of UNA-UNSO in Kiev.”
Source: https://rg.ru/2015/09/08/bastrikin-site.html
Yats was still in school during that period, wasn’t he? How could he fight against Russia in Chechnya while running a student law firm and attending studies, and managing to graduate on time?
Also, here’s a good debunking:
Source: https://www.polygraph.info/a/ukraine-yatsenyuk-chechnya-russia-crimes-/28463729.html
—————————————
“Halya Coynash of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group reported that the claims about Yatsenuk were based on testimony obtained by torture from two Ukrainian citizens in Russian custody, Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh, themselves charged with fighting in the 1990s in Chechnya, which they deny.
Karpyuk was abducted and taken by force to Russia in March 2014, and Klykh was arrested after coming to Russia to visit a woman he met in Crimea. They were held incommunicado for over a year, denied lawyers of their choice, and said they gave testimony after being tortured with electric shock and psychotropic drugs, according to Amnesty International. They were ultimately sentenced to 22 and 20 years of prison, respectively. Amnesty International condemned the sentences as “grossly unfair.””
————————
Lastly, no evidence has been presented by Russia. Who are these “associates” of Yats that describes his behaviour while fighting? Where is the evidence he was “seen at conventions and other activities of UNA-UNSO”?
It seems to be more disinformation from the Kremlin. Instead of investigating corruption, the Investigative Committee is wasting resources on an information war to smear good ol’ Yats.
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Dear Matt:
The sole purpose of my post was to introduce that one molecule of “corroborating” evidence, namely Avakov’s quip. Whether it’s weighty enough to be allowed in a court of law, I don’t know, but I found it extremely interesting all the same.
And that is just one element of corroboration. Bastrykin has the testimony of those 2 witnesses, Halya can claim all she likes that their confessions and evidence were derived under torture, but Halya is not exactly an impartial source either, is she? She is a professional “Human Rights” activist against the Russian government. Has she ever criticized the Ukrainian nationalists for their gross abuses of human rights?
As for the photo, it doesn’t look “blurry” to me at all. (You need to get with the program, because Westies usually use the word “grainy” when attempting to discredit photos or videos which they don’t like.)
It’s not just any skinny “Caucasian” guy (by the way, that made me laugh, since Yats actually was fighting in the Caucasus mountains, I reckon one could call him a Caucasian), if that round rabbity face isn’t our boy Yats then I am Koshchei the Immortal!
Having said that, I would urge the Prosecution case to bring in those facial-recognition computer programs to measure angle of nose to ear, etc., or whatever it is that they do. I reckon it’s not an exact science, but I bet they could either confirm or deny with a statistical degree of plausibility.
Now, Yats would have a good defense if he could PROVE that he was elsewhere on the dates and times in question. Personally, I don’t think his alibi is all that tight.
Just saying that he was a student, and that he graduated isn’t a tight enough alibi, IMHO.
His excursions to Chechnya could have been just a couple of weeks at a time — like, on spring break — and, frankly, graduating from a Ukrainian institution is not all that hard, if you know the right people — which Yats clearly does — and whom to bribe for the piece of paper to hang on the wall.
Zing! I know that’s mean, but it’s true, and you know it too.
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“but Halya is not exactly an impartial source either, is she? She is a professional “Human Rights” activist against the Russian government. Has she ever criticized the Ukrainian nationalists for their gross abuses of human rights?”
As a matter of fact, she has:
“Armed Right Sector & Azov fighters are discrediting Crimea Blockade”
http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1444175812
“As for the photo, it doesn’t look “blurry” to me at all.”
It’s too difficult to make out exactly who is in the photo. It’s not good evidence. Furthermore, the fact that it first appeared on random blogs/social media websites, even though it was purportedly taken over 20 years ago. Not only that, but Interpol even rejected Russia’s request to put out an international arrest warrant for Yats. We can only assume it was done due to a lack of evidence.
“His excursions to Chechnya could have been just a couple of weeks at a time — like, on spring break.”
Russia’s Investigative Committee claims “Arseniy Yatsenyuk participated in at least two armed clashes that took place December 31, 1994 on Minutka Square in Grozny in February 1995 near the city hospital number 9 in Grozny, as well as torture and executions of POWs Russian army in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny January 7, 1995… in December 1995 he was awarded the highest award of Dzhokhar Dudayev “Honor of the Nation” for the destruction of Russian troops.”
Is the period of December to February a vacation period in Ukraine? Because that’s the timeline given by the Investigative Committee.
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That piece by Halya is not “Impartial” at all. It fits into the propaganda meme of “constructive criticism” of own one side. For example, if I were to say: “Mom, I really love you, but you just CAN’T wear that dress in front of the neighbors, I’m telling you this for your own good…”
Even the headline is biased: Azov Nazis are “discrediting” the Crimea blockade. Implying that the Crimea blockade is, in itself, legitimate and a good thing, and should not be discredited. In reality, the blockade itself is an international war crime, like trying to deprive a civilian population of food, water and electricity.
Or take this concluding sentence: “in Crimea, Ukraine’s leaders have hindered, rather than helped those most directly affected by Russian occupation. Crimean Tatar leaders felt compelled to begin this blockade because the government was not doing enough, and it is galling that those purportedly supporting them, are acting in a way that can only sabotage the initiative.”
Isn’t it clear as daylight whose side Halya is on, and that she is only giving “constructive” criticism? She is saying: I support the blockade, just don’t be total assholes about it, because it doesn’t look good in front of others.
That’s not exactly the same thing as objective reporting on human rights abuses. REAL human rights specialists are supposed to be completely objective and not take sides in a given conflict.
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Oops, forgot to respond to your 2 other debating points:
(1) I agree that the photo is probably not solid forensic evidence, it woud have to be examined by specialists, not just for facial recognition, but even just to authenticate that it is not a photoshop. One of the reasons, also, why I wish people would stop flooding the internet with photoshop fakes, it makes the lives of actual criminologists that much harder.
Having said that, I’d bet money that it’s a real photo, and that’s really Yats in it.
(2) The period from December to February — in the Russian-speaking world, this is known as Winter Holiday. It encompasses Orthodox Christmas (more than 12 days of that), New Year, and lots in between.
You would know that, if you were more familiar with Russian culture.
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Reply to yalensis:
It’s true that Halya doesn’t criticize RS in good faith and only from the perspective of her situation. But from the piece, it’s still clear she condemns their actions towards others, including the destruction/damaging of their property.
That website seems to be an interesting one. For example: http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1480027741
“The video of Shtyblikov’s arrest would have been comical, had the situation not been so very serious. The camera focuses on, for example, the Ukrainian trident, a Ukrainian flag on the wall, and Dmytro Yarosh’s ‘Right Sector’ business card. The card is described on Russian television as being from the nationalist movement banned in Russia. It was first ‘found’ intact and looking remarkably untouched in a totally gutted out car at a checkpoint near Kremlin-backed militant-controlled Sloviansk in April 2014. Russian propaganda used the business card as ‘proof’ that Right Sector was behind the shootout, with this leading to a twitter meme storm, with Yarosh’s business card ‘found’ in all kinds of wildly improbable places (including the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican!). The video shoots of weapons were of the same quality as ‘evidence’ since they are reportedly airsoft weapons and testify only to Shtyblikov’s paintball hobby.”
And then there’s this article: http://khpg.org/index.php?id=1478822889
How much validity is there behind these claims? Is it common for the FSB to show RS business cards on TV when they make arrests of those they accuse of working for RS?
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Reply to yalensis:
“The period from December to February — in the Russian-speaking world, this is known as Winter Holiday. It encompasses Orthodox Christmas (more than 12 days of that), New Year, and lots in between.”
That only seems to be for a few days, right? I still don’t see how Yats could have gone down to Chechnya for 2-3 months. And the Investigative Committee hasn’t gotten anywhere, with no evidence against Yats released. Even Interpol refused their request for an international arrest warrant. They usually ask for evidence and the government was probably unable to provide it.
I also found this: https://www.unian.info/politics/1905576-interpol-rejects-russias-appeal-to-put-yatsenyuk-on-intl-wanted-list.html
“Posting a copy of Interpol General Secretariat’s notice stating that the data contained in the NCB Moscow’s diffusion concerning Mr Yatsenyuk “would not be in conformity with Article 3 of Interpol’s Constitution,”
?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unian.info%2Fpolitics%2F1905576-interpol-rejects-russias-appeal-to-put-yatsenyuk-on-intl-wanted-list.html
Article 3 of Interpol’s Constitution: Neutrality
https://www.interpol.int/About-INTERPOL/Legal-materials/Neutrality-Article-3-of-the-Constitution
“It is strictly forbidden for the Organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.”
This seems to show that Interpol realized the Russian government’s claims were politically-motivated. Not only that, but military-related matters are out of the jurisdiction of Interpol, aren’t they? If Yats did commit war crimes in Chechnya, it would make more sense to get the ICC involved.
Also, the Russian IC has made some very specific claims against Yats: “Russian investigators suspect Mr. Yatsenyuk has killed with a Kalashnikov rifle 30 Russian servicemen and wounded 13 during military operations in Grozny, the Chechen Republic.”
How did this get such specific information? It seems impossible to know exactly how many people Yats killed over 20 years ago, in an era when mobile cameras were not that popular. Where did the IC get its information from?
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Dear Matt:
I am pretty sure the Russian government is aware that Interpol never has, and never will, satisfy any of their demands for arrest or extradition.
Russia goes through the motions of submitting these requests, just to get them on the record. In some cases, like the Tsarnaev brothers, later they can say “I told you so.”
As for the ICC’s charges against Yats, we’ll just have to wait and see if Bastrykin goes forward with the case or lets it drop.
Sometimes police/prosecutors know with a high degree of certainty that a fellow is guilty, but just don’t have enough evidence to prove it in court. And, in any case, it is harder to convict someone in absentia.
At the very least, this case prevents Yats from ever entering Russian territory on a visa, if he was so inclined.
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Dear yalensis – and other fair visitors of AwAv! If I might interest you in one novel invention, that, given the content and direction of this particular comment thread, you might find rather useful…
Comment Blocker!
[This one is for Mozilla, but there are also version for GoogleChrome,]
“CommentBlocker is an addon which essentially blocks, or hides, all unwanted comments on websites you visit. It can be used as either a blacklist or a whitelist for websites, letting you decide what to filter out and what not to.
Have you ever found yourself frustrated while reading some stupid comments written on a website? We’ve all been there. This addon, CommentBlocker, is the perfect solution for us who get annoyed daily on comment posts.
The addon is customizable and lets you choose wether or not to blacklist or whitelist specific websites. This means that when used with its default settings, CommentBlocker will filter out and block all comments on websites that you visit. It then lets you choose to view the comments live on the page with one mouse click, or to save the website in the whitelist, making it always show comments on this website.
With the blacklist settings, all comments will be visible when you first visit websites. However, the addon lets you add websites to the blacklist, making you able to block all comments on specific websites rather than all of the internet.
To access the settings window, you can use the usual way and go through the addon manager in Firefox, or you could click the scroll button on your mouse on the CommentBlocker icon. Once inside the settings window, you are given options of how the icon should act, where it should be placed and how the addon should manage comments.”
Basically, it is an option of “ignore”. If your ideals forbid you from banning the trolls – even the fat ones – you at least can ignore them, and implore others to do the same, lest they will feed dem beasts.
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That add-on can not block individual people.
Such a shame…
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Dear Matt:
I don’t plan to block you, I just hope that you can abide by “anti-Piranha House Rules”.
In other words, no sarcasm, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes or satire. To which I would add hyperbole.
Like Doug Piranha, your side hopes to win the propaganda war through a combination of violence and sarcasm. But it’s not enough to overcome a solid array of factual data.
By the way, do you actually deny the fact that Yatsenyuk was/is a member of UNA-UNSO?
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OK, no more sarcasm or anything like that from me!
“By the way, do you actually deny the fact that Yatsenyuk was/is a member of UNA-UNSO?”
I don’t know enough about this topic to say either way. What do you think?
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I know enough, and have read enough, about Yats and his cohorts to think it is pretty much a sure thing that both Yats and his mentor Avakov, were/are card-carrying members of UNA-UNSO.
By the way, Matt, why the topic suddenly spring up?
When you posted that comment and series of humorous photo-shop links, I jumped to the conclusion that there might have been some new developments in the last few days.
But when I checed, it’s actually all old news.
As far as I know, Bastrykin is still building his case, these types of criminal cases (especially across international borders) typically take years to build.
The only semi-recent thing you had was the Sputnik piece from April.
It’s okay to bring up old stories, I don’t demand that commenters stick to the thead, but I was just curious what got you all foamed up about Yatsie now?
Seems like only a couple of weeks ago you were obsessed about North Korea and determined to bring “fat Kimmy” down. Do you wake up in the morning with random news obsessions?
🙂
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I just wanted to discuss this, since I wanted to know the opinions of others. And because I got bored of the Andrei Eremin topic.
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Interesting article on the Siemens issue:
http://www.rbc.ru/business/31/07/2017/596e18ec9a794779bab7843f
It was mentioned that Russia would try to get help from specialists of other countries to get the turbines running, but in this case, that did not work out.
Maybe Russian specialists could do it, but that would be unsafe, as they’d essentially be testing out their software without any help from Siemens
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So, Matt, it seems you DO read Russian?
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I don’t read Russian. I follow Meduza’s daily newsletter and one of the benefits of this is that they don’t merely list news from their own website, but also provide a short summary of news from other Russian-lanuage news websites. Here is the paragraph they wrote concerning the turbines and Iran:
—————
It ain’t easy powering Crimea. Earlier this year, Russia was unable to purchase Iranian-produced gas turbines because they were manufactured under a license from the German company Siemens, unnamed sources close to Siemens, Rostec (which is building power plants in Crimea), and the Russian government told the news agency RBC. In July, Siemens announced that four of its turbines had been illegally transferred to Crimea, in violation of European Union sanctions barring EU firms from supplying the occupied peninsula with energy technology. The German company has threatened to break it licensing agreements to supply equipment to Russian power plants and said it might suspend all deliveries to state-controlled Russian businesses. Siemens has proposed annulling its contract with Technopromexport and buying back its electricity turbines, and Rostec’s subsidiary has expressed willingness to discuss the sale. Story in Russian
—————–
The link to RBC is hyperlinked in the last three words of the above paragraph.
You’ve got to trust in me more!
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Yes, dear…
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