Replying to my own thread so as not to multiply threads. On the Russian forces in Crimea,
you have to open up this link to get the pictures, I have included the main two pictures below,
especially the license plate.
http://wyborcza.pl/1,75477,15565190,Ekspert_demaskuje_bajki_Putina_o_silach_samoobrony.html
Good article. I have translated it at the bottom.
I will now translate (it's in Polish, my knowledge here is only 90%):
Expert unmasks Putin's fairy tailes about self-defense forces in Crimea. "Markings
of a Russian division" -- Roman Imielski 04-03-2014 actualization 04-03-2014 15:47
Caption: "Self-defense forces" (according to Putin) in Crimea
Those are not our soldiers, those are local self-defense forces dressed in gear they bought
at the store -- maintained Vladimir Putin, answering the question about the divisions that
have taken control over Crimea. The facts speak otherwise.
Over the weekend in Crimea at least several dozen heavy transport aircraft landed in Crimea.
According to information of the Ukrainian government those were Russian soldiers in them,
who were sent by Moscow to reinforce the forces stationed on the peninsula against the xxxxx forces of Kiev.
Russia counters, however, that it would send any forces into Crimea it would have to have the official
approval of the Ukrainian parliament.
Strange, armed, and the majority of them masked men in uniforms without insignia took control
over the peninsula, which has wide autonomy within the framework of the Ukrainian government.
They are armed xxxxxxx , including tanks.
The Russian weekly "Novoe Vremya" (New Times) asked experts to given an evaluation as to whether
the unmarked soldiers do not have something in common with the Russian army. What did they find out?
Putin's assertions can be filed together with fairy tales.
The magazine showed on its internet website the delivery of one of the vehicles reminiscent of the American
Humvee, which the "self-defense forces" are using. That is a GAZ-2975 Tigr costing $60,000 and produced
for the Russian army. In addition, they photographed xxxxxxxx (license plate) having an army registration
ending in the number 21, signifying South-Caucasus Army District. Those probably are the xxxxxxx forces
sent into Crimea.
Also other armament shows that the "self-defense forces" are regular units of the Russian army. One of
the armed and masked men has on his rifle a Dragunova sniper's scope, which only Russian forces have
in their possession. Some of the members of the "self-defense forces" also have Kalashnikov automatics
model 101-105. Moscow does not sell them to the Ukraine, but licenses their production to Venezuela,
India, and Indonesia. The "Novoe Vremya" expert says that it is possible that the 101-105 Kalashnikovs got
into the hands of the "self-defense forces" illegally, but that is improbable (of low probability).
Equally, other parts of the gear can show that the armed men are regular divisions of the Russian army,
but they are not heavy xxxxxxxx.
The expert for the magazine emphasized an interesting thing -- the Russian speaking men from the
"self-defense forces" often carry their weapons in the Western style, in front of themselves with their arms
crossed over their chest. Thus do the members of some Special Forces of the Russian Army learn to carry them,
whose training is (taken from the playbooks of) Western armies, emphasized the expert.
I have marked with x's parts that I could not get. Wife is sleeping right now, so I can refine this tomorrow.
Yeah, the dictionaries are there, but I don't want to get up and get them.
The New Times good website, in Russian.
