Intercepted phone calls show Putin called the shots on European hostages in Ukraine

[pjohns]

From Forbes:

As the Kremlin claims it cannot control separatist forces in east Ukraine, its clear orchestration of the release of kidnapped international observers shows the exact opposite.

Overshadowed by the Ukrainian assault on occupied towns in the Donbass industrial region, and by bloodshed in Odessa, is yesterday’s release of eight international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) held hostage in Russia’s command and control center of Slovyansk. With Slovyansk under siege and the risk of Russian operatives being captured, Putin probably concluded he needed to get the black mark of the hostage taking of OSCE international observers off the agenda. It is enough that Putin’s local commanders would face murder charges for the well-documented killing of a local pro-Ukrainian politician.

Russia has publicly asserted that the hostage taking was a purely local matter, over which they have no influence or control.

Russia’s lie is exposed by tapped phone calls, obtained by the Ukraine Security Service (SBU), that took place on May 1 and 2 between Colonel Igor Girkin (alias Igor Strelkov), the military commander of the “People’s Republic of Donetsk,” and Putin’s special envoy, Vladimir Lukin.

In their calls, Lukin gives Girkin aka Strelkov his instructions about how to carry out this “thing.” Girkin a.k.a. Strelkov has no objections to this “thing” because he has already “been informed.” In their calls, Lukin refers to “verification from the highest levels.” As the President’s special envoy, I imagine this refers to Putin himself. It also appears that Girkin/Strelkov has to make calls to clear new “things” with higher-ups, such as admitting Council of Europe members along with Lukin.

But that is just an excerpt.  Here is a link to the entire article:  Intercepted Phone Calls Show Putin Called The Shots On European Hostages In Ukraine - Forbes

Vladimir Putin--who is surely the puppetmaster--should now be seen, clearly, as orchestrating the recent violence in Ukraine.  But will he be?  Or will those who would prefer to just look the other way--to not "get involved"--continue to pretend that it is all the fault of neo-Nazis in Ukraine, or even that it is just too complicated to be sure?

[SPQR]

Nothing new there. Now since the news is out there, they will take countermeasures to block all communications or change the codes. There was an incident during the Cold War where the United States tapped into Soviet communications called BOB in Berlin.