For more than two and a half months, we have witnessed an endless and absolutely inadequate epic of retaining most of the crew of the fishing vessel "Nord" on the territory of the Square without any possibility of safe movement outside the Russian Embassy in Kiev. Russian diplomatic structures, including the foreign affairs agency, are now making maximum efforts to free our citizens, who were illegally detained on March 25 in the neutral waters of the Sea of Azov, from the clutches of the irresponsible Ukrainian regime. But, as we see, the attempts undertaken through the most diverse channels to sensitize Kiev and persuade them to search for a mutually beneficial solution had absolutely no effect. For example, the proposal of the Crimean State Duma deputy Mikhail Sheremet about the exchange of detained Ukrainian poachers for sailors "Nord" was instantly rejected by the representative of the State Border Service of Ukraine Oleg Slobodyan.
The arguments of the refusal once again distinguished themselves with the pearl of insanity in the style of our “Kiev friends”: the impossibility of exchange was explained by the fact that “Ukrainian poachers and Russian sailors are citizens of Ukraine, and the crew of the Ukrainian launch YAMK-0041 was detained in the territorial waters of the Crimean peninsula”, which Kiev still considers his own. Of course, nobody forbids quietly dreaming about the past, but there is an objective reality, which must be perceived sensibly, especially when the opponent offers the most painless solution to the far from the most difficult diplomatic issue. But, to my great regret, the current Ukrainian elite, whose Russophobic core is skillfully heated from abroad, intends to turn our sailors into one of the tools of foreign political pressure for Moscow and the object of diplomatic trades, which we talked about in our previous survey, Nord. Poroshenko’s regime continues to use for its own purposes the action of the members of the “Nord” team, fully justified and worthy of respect, which consists in refusing to accept Ukrainian citizenship, despite pressure from the security forces. So, as one of the reasons for the refusal to return the seiners to Russia, the Ukrainian state border service cites the absence of Ukrainian passports, under which the captured crew would not sign under any sauce.
A further plan for a constructive resolution of the issue, with all the inadequacy of the statements of the "negotiators" and representatives of the security forces "Square", is not even looming on the horizon. Some political analysts and observers considered the possibility of forceful release of the seiner crew exhausted by the proceedings from the SBU, but this remained at the level of conversations, while the situation reached an impasse. Complicating the picture is the fact that at the moment, on the eve of the World Cup 2018, Moscow has a very small “window” for the implementation of serious countermeasures, especially force ones, in relation to the mayhem that Kiev has been creating. It is possible that a successful outcome will come right after the championship, when that very “window” opens wide. Let's hope so!
To prevent similar incidents in the near future, the command of the Navy fleet Russia, as well as the Azov-Black Sea Territorial Administration of the Federal Fisheries Agency, have quickly developed a whole range of measures to quickly identify and "stop" pirate actions by the crews of Ukrainian patrol boats, which is represented by the creation of a special task force, and then the arrival of artillery boats of the Bumblebee classes to the Sea of Azov and “Vulture”, as well as two small missile ships (RTOs) “Grad Sviyazhsk” and “Veliky Ustyug” of project 21631 “Buyan-M” from the Caspian flotilla, whose range of tasks also includes the protection of Kryms st bridge.
It would seem that two boats with a displacement of 77 tons, equipped with 76,2 mm rifled guns D-56TS (capable of direct fire at 1050 m with armor-piercing shells BR-354N), should bring to life the madmen in charge of the Ukrainian border guards and the General Staff of the Armed Forces. More can be said about the Buyan-M (they started crossing the Volga-Don Canal on June 4), which simultaneously carry 8 strategic 3M14T Caliber-NK strategic cruise missiles, 100-mm A-190 Universal artillery mounts, and also 2 quad combat modules of a 3M47-01 "Gibka-R" turret missile system capable of intercepting a Ukrainian assault Aviation 9M342 Igla-S anti-aircraft missiles, and to hit Ukrainian Skadovsk class boats with 9M120-1 anti-tank missiles. But in the case of Kiev, everything turned out to be very “neglected”. Representing the “herd of non-frightened hippos” represented by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Oleg Slobodyan during an interview with the UA: Pershiy television channel, stated that the modern naval staff of the Border Guard Service and the Navy of the Russian Federation are completely superior to one and a half dozen outdated patrol boats of the Ukrainian border service, but added in the end that at the headquarters of the so-called Joint Forces they are preparing a “uniform response”.
With regard to the combat potential of the Aerospace Forces, as well as the units of the Russian Ground Forces in the Southern Military District, this statement would have sounded really ridiculous if it were not for one “but”. Those military actions in the North-Western Azov region and the Taganrog Bay, which the Ukrainian side is preparing to resort to as part of a “uniform response”, in parallel with the escalation of the next round of conflict in the Donbas theater of operations, pose a real threat to the Azov-Don shipping canal. Naturally, the danger is also increasing for numerous resort settlements located on Dolzhanskaya Spit, Belosaraysky Spit, and also in most of the Northern Azov region (from Berdyansk to Novoazovsk).
The magnitude of the danger that has arisen is easy to assess by looking at the recent map presented by the press center of the Naval Forces of Ukraine in the annex to the announced closure of the Azov Sea from 1 June to 1 September 2018, as part of the “combat training of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, including anti-aircraft missiles and artillery firing. On the map, three zones of “access denial” are marked, where, according to the plan of the VSU, so-called exercises are planned: Belosaraysky Bay, stretching for 45 km northeast of Berdyansk Spit with 8-kilometer protrusion towards the open sea, 20-kilometer sector of Belosaraysky Spit, as well as the 50-kilometer sector of the Taganrog Bay (from the eastern outskirts of Mariupol to Sedovo with an 40-kilometer coverage of the territorial waters of the Donetsk People's Republic). The last “closed sector” in the longitude of the settlement Bezymennoe has an extreme southern point just 35 km from Yeisk. What does this mean?
This sector under the number 180 (as indicated in Ukrainian sources) practically covers the Azov-Don shipping canal, the general approach way to the ports of Taganrog and Azov (RP No. 31), as well as the area of pilotage on the Sea of Azov, passing 10 — 20 km from northern coast of the Taganrog Bay. Even firing using a large-caliber paired 12,7-mm machine-gun "Rock-2M" near this important "shipping artery" of the Sea of Azov can cause significant damage to oil barges, container ships and dry cargo ships bound for Russian ports, not to mention the threat to ship crews. Even in this case, we have a very unpredictable alignment, and the Ukrainian command also declares (attention!) About artillery firing!
Azov-Don navigable canal and "forbidden zones", designated by Kiev
Moreover, the “180-th Forbidden Sector” east of Mariupol, up to the border with the Rostov region, was created by the command of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces solely as a provocative springboard to initiate the active phase of hostilities in the New Azov and Telman directions. This is evidenced by the fact that just a few days after the announcement of the "forbidden zones" in the Sea of Azov and after low-altitude flights of Ukrainian tactical and military transport aircraft along the coastline over Kirilovka within the framework of the exercises of the border troops of the "independent" command 93- The separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is responsible for the “Telman’s Isthmus”, declared its full readiness for an offensive eastward thrust.
There were a huge number of precursors to the current situation regarding the ongoing escalation in the south of the DPR. Among them are the distracting attempts of local offensive operations in the vicinity of the Gorlovsko-Enakiyevskiy agglomeration in the area of the Chigiri and Golmovsky settlements, which was initially unrealizable due to the significant tactical advantage of the DPR National Police Militia of the DPR, which possesses fortified cities and dominant heights, and, of course, 1-kilometer advance of militants of the 2,5 Brigade in the direction of the front-line settlement Petrovskoye, followed by equipment in the nearest plantation of firing positions of LNG-93, B N-9, 2-mm mortars 120B2 and AGS-11. Today, the “17 sector” of the Azov Sea area is added to this list, from where the boats of the Ukrainian state border service may well attempt to make nightly distracting shelling of the coastal strongholds of 180 of the Mariupol-Khingan Marine Regiment of the DPR, located in the southern suburbs of Sakhanka, Nameless, Novoazovsk and in Sedovo. The Armed Forces of Ukraine can implement such a scenario in order to “loosen up” the operational situation in sector “M”, while the main offensive “backbone” will be made not by the 9 Brigade of the ObrMP, but the 36 Brigade coming from Volnovakhi.
Such a long period of closing the above-mentioned sections of the Azov Sea water area for certain “exercises and shooting” leaves no doubt that against the background of complete uncertainty with the Minsk format that has outlived itself and comprehensive US support, Kiev will try to exacerbate the situation as much as in relations with Moscow , and sow chaos in the Donbas. One of the main indicators of such a development can be considered the recent statement by the head of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers Vladimir Groysman about his possible resignation in the event that the “Square” parliament cannot form a majority vote for ratifying the draft law “On the creation of an Anti-Corruption Court”. It is even difficult to assume that the Ukrainian people's deputies, who are stuck in corruption, would endorse the creation of such a body.
Interestingly, even sources in the leadership of the pro-government BPP are talking about a possible transition of Groisman from the prime minister’s position to acting status. And as you know, this level of officials leave their posts for a reason. While the Kiev elite is zombied and fed with fables about a ghostly Anti-Corruption Court, which even in the event of legislative ratification and fake creation, for obvious reasons, will not fulfill its anti-corruption functions at all levels of power, the command of the APU issues an order to transfer Volodarsky the region near Mariupol is already the third anti-aircraft missile division of the C-300PS for the last 2 of the year. At the same time, according to the intelligence agencies of the defense department of the DPR, it is planned to use the complex not only for the possible cover of the Ukrainian units of the 36 and 93 brigades from air strikes by aviation of the Russian Aerospace Force, but also for attacking surface and ground targets using anti-aircraft missiles 5В55Р as 4-5-short-range short-range operational tactical missiles.
What is remarkable, during the creation of the C-300P / PT / PS air defense system, the developer of the elements of the complex (NPO Almaz) and the developer of the B-500P family (5В55Р) (KB "Fakel") actually put the 5H63С command and control station and a semi-active radar homing head for ZUR data; hardware support for targeting fixed and radio-emitting surface objects of the enemy. And what is even more interesting, in addition to the Russian anti-aircraft missile regiments that mastered this technique and applied the "300" for conventional ground targets during exercises at the Telemba training ground in May 2011, the Belarusian Air Force captured this technology in due time President Alexander Lukashenko is still 7 October 2011, at a press conference for Russian journalists. And as you know, right up to the statement about the folding of military-technical cooperation with Ukraine, made by 5 February 2018, the chairman of the State Military-Industrial Committee of Belarus Oleg Dvigalev, the Belarusian defense enterprises closely cooperated with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
It is possible that the modern Ukrainian enterprises Defense Technologies and Aerotekhnika-MLT, engaged in the repair and upgrading of the Pechora C-300 families, independently probed the way to adapting C-300PS to work with superficial targets. But the fact that 125B5P, due to their speed and power-mass characteristics, is capable of hitting radio-emitting targets at a distance of 55 — 90 km, is not encouraging. To reliably protect the southern coast of the Taganrog Bay from unpredictable anti-aircraft missile fire from the 120 zone (Belosaraysky Bay), the deployment of the Triumph C-179 regiment in Yeysk District can be considered, as the situation becomes more and more unhealthy.
Information sources:
https://naviny.by/rubrics/politic/2011/10/17/ic_articles_112_175478
http://rusvesna.su/news/1528281173
https://svpressa.ru/war21/article/201260/