US To Send Drones, Humvees To Ukraine, Boost Russia Sanctions As Moscow May "Deploy Nuclear Weapons In Crimea"

ZeroHedge

So much for the second Minsk ceasefire. A few hours ago, the US returned to its strategy of escalating Russian “costs” when it placed sanctions on eight Ukrainian separatists and a Russian bank, warning that recent attacks by rebels armed by Russia violated a European-brokered ceasefire in the war-torn country.

“If Russia continues to support destabilizing activity in Ukraine and violate the Minsk agreements and implementation plan, the already substantial costs it faces will continue to rise,” Adam Szubin, the Treasury Department’s acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement announcing the sanctions.

As Reuters adds, “the sanctions signal Washington is ratcheting up pressure on Moscow a day after accusing Russia of sending tanks and heavy military equipment into Ukraine, which a top U.S. official also said breached the Minsk accord agreed on Feb. 12.”  What was not said is that this also comes a day after the US sent over 100 tanks and armors to Russia neighbor Latvia in a move that would, from the Kremlin’s perspective, signal further NATO arms build up on its borders.

Among the more prominent individuals sanctioned was Roman Lyagin, who chairs an election commission in separatist territory. The U.S. Treasury accused him of preventing voting in Ukraine’s May presidential election.

 

Lyagin said he was not a fighter and was playing a peaceful role in the separatists’ activities.

 

“It’s the opposite, I do my best to stop the bloodshed,” he said.

The full list of sanctioned individuals, as well the Russian National Commercial Bank, can be found here.

The Russian response to the latest sanction pending, but the response may have been hinted at earlier today when an official from Russia’s Foreign Ministery said the nation has the right to deploy nuclear arms in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea,however he added “he knew of no plans to do so.”

“I don’t know if there are nuclear weapons there now. I don’t know about any plans, but in principle Russia can do it,” said Mikhail Ulyanov, the head of the ministry’s department on arms control, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

And finally, indicating that the semi-hot escalation between the US and Russia is close to getting out of control, AP reported moments ago that Vice President Joe Biden told Ukraine’s president Wednesday the U.S. will send more aid to the country, which U.S. officials said will include small drones and armored Humvees.

Read more at ZH:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-11/us-send-drones-humvees-ukraine-boost-russia-sanctions-moscow-may-deploy-nuclear-weap