[quote="GarryB"]
AS and VSS rifles have been standard equipment for Russian recon forces since the 1980s, they likely had them in local stores or bought them on the black market.
then why it wasn't even used by Ukr. mil.? could they buy those burned Russian T-72s too that Ukr. army never used? Or UAVs produced only in Russia? Get real!
I agree that forced Ukrainianization antagonized many in the East & South; however, Kiev is run by nationalists, not democrats, no matter what they say about being a(n aspired) democracy,
Pretty sure it is not the law itself that has created the problem.... rather the shelling and bombing of the people in the region for choosing not to comply.
it started from them declaring DPR/LPR (with Moscow's hand in it) after that infamous law was passed; btw Russia bombed Grozny with a lot more casualties among mostly civilian Russians + some Chechens.
I think of language as communication, they think of it as saving history or some such rubbish.
any language is unique with many words, expressions, concepts, & connotations with no counterparts in other languages; it carries a culture with it; when it dies, a big part of its parent culture dies with it too.
So, even a democracy can have areas where undemocratic practices hold sway.
Do people who don't comply with the law get locked in buildings and burned to death?
if it was done by security forces/militants, they didn't comply with other things-otherwise they would've been just fined or denied service. On many occasions, even Poroshenko & Zelensky switched to Russian, & nothing happened to them. Those considered rebels get treated accordingly.
Still in New Zealand or Canada there are no calls for people not interested in speaking specific languages to be murdered by burning the building they are in or shelling their homes and businesses.
but if they were separatists, I'm sure their opponents would hunt them down. In the US Civil War, Sothern secessionists were mercilessly suppressed, with property burning & other atrocities.
I could also mention Japan with her Ainus & Koreans & Spain with her Basques & Catalans.
Spain arrests them and puts them in jail but does it shell regions and bomb them with their air force.... does it burn down buildings with people inside and shoot people trying to escape the flames so they burn to death?
Some peoples r more barbaric than others. Certainly the Spaniards progressed since the time of the Conquistadores, but don't expect the Slavs to behave the same way as W. Europeans. They were killing each other for as long as they existed, even before coming to E. Europe; to stop it, they invited the Varyags (Vikings) of what is now Sweden to rule over them. Later, the Mongols kept them all on a short leash, with no unauthorized killing allowed.
Why are Russian speaking Ukrainians expendable.... cannon fodder..... terrorists... while muslims in Myanmar and China innocent victims of cruel dictatorships that need to be saved?
who cares about Serbs or Russians, yesterday's Communist enemies & Orthodox Christians that lost in the Cold War?
OTH, the issue of Muslims in Myanmar and China can be used, just like those in Afghanistan were against the USSR.
Russia isn't fuelling this.... they are just stopping the genocide that Kiev would like to perpetrate on these civilians if it could get the chance.
There r many ethnic Russians in the Ukr. forces ready to fight against any invader,
even if they hate the regime in Kiev.
These people just want to speak Russian, they don't consider themselves Russian and don't want to join the Russian Federation,..
many do want to be in the RF- it's not all clear cut there. Tribalism is alive in any big region. Otherwise, they wouldn't have 2 People's Republics instead of 1.