@ Eric. Earlier in another thread you made this comment:

If they ARE backed up by a certain country, and that country does invade in case of a counter terrorist operation, well, then at least everyone will see the real face of that country.
And now you say this:

Quote Originally Posted by Eric C. View Post
I doubt the civilian people there support any of the sides of the conflict. What it really is is some masked a**holes who want to play a war vs. regular Ukrainian army. It's not a surprise that the latter should demonstrate a bigger ability to smash the enemy than the former one, which is eventually going to happen. It's not very smart to compare the area to Chechnya, as the masked clowns just lack so many attributes the Chechen fighters had.
Since the Ukrainian military and police have been very disorganized and are working with very dated equipment then I'm forced to make this conclusion:
If Russia was really training and arming the pro-Russians, the entire Donbas region would probably already be secured by the Peoples Republics.
But they are only a**holes and clowns playing war if you think it's a game. As for me, I believe this is happening in real-life.

Quote Originally Posted by Eric C. View Post
By "Chechen fighters" I mean those Chechen residents who took part in the fights in that area. No position or personal attitude have been expressed by what I've said, really. But what I meant is that they were really different compared to the "Donetsk republicans", and whether they were good or evil, they had some ideas, beliefs and combat skills that are helpful in such fights, and that those "Donetsk republicans" don't have. And I mentioned them for the only reason of someone else having mentioned them while addressing me....
The pro-Russians have suffered a lot of casualties and they were driven out of Mariupol by a business man and some steel workers. That wouldn't have happened that quickly if the pro-Russians were trained and well armed troops. Imo, those masked pro-Russians are Ukrainian citizens defending themselves against ethnic abuse.

And yeah, the Chechen "residents" had impressive combat skills and those are skills nobody has without a lot of special training. Imo, Chechnya needs a LOT of watching... That's all I'll say about that since I don't ever like to have to think about Chechens.

@ Hanna. I think I may know what's happening now. President Putin was fine with Ukraine till the protests began on the Maidan in Kiev. His 2 concerns are the welfare of the compatriots and a workable relationship with Ukraine. That may be happening now.
Mr. Poroshenko has 54.7% in the polls for the upcoming election. He's pro-Ukrainian but he did say he would reject NATO and that he would work for the welfare of all the Ukrainian people. Also, he's not an ultranationalist and he does have a lot of his confection business in Russia.
Since President Putin has softened his stand against Poroshenko and also towards the election, this may be somebody Putin can work with. If the elections do move foreward, it's very likely that Poroshenko will win the Presidency.
This situation is definitely worth watching.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/19/wo...ance.html?_r=0

Btw, thanks for the information about Romania and Bulgaria. I didn't know anything about those countries.