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Comment by stefan_ | Hacker News Reader

So in a year the US has sent more than Russia's yearly defence budget, yet Minsk (which one, even?) was needed to secretly (what was secret?) arm the Ukraine over 8 years? Who are the "right-wing paramilitary groups" and if they are Ukraine, since this is who you are alleging is being armed, why are they rebels if they are government-aligned?

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This is all very easy stuff for you to verify for yourself and wasn’t the original point of my top comment (which was that these stories are hard to suppress without manual effort— although apparently many Americans are unaware).

But to be clear, the US was funding Ukrainian rebel groups (right-wing paramilitary organizations) 2014-2022 but through clandestine means. This is much more difficult to do without the support of congress because the support has to be indirect — the funding has to be off-the-books — because this was a violation of the Minsk agreement.

Since 2022, the floodgates have opened and the US is now openly sending money and weapons systems, now totaling over $100B since the Russian invasion. The Russian Defence budget is estimated to be $70-80B per year.

Which side in the conflict are you talking about? It is very unlikely that the US was funding the Russian-backed rebel groups. It is likely that they were supporting the Ukraine-supported paramilitary groups. Who are not rebels cause they were government supported and supporting.

I think maybe you misunderstood; nobody in this thread is claiming the US has backed Russian rebel groups.

You literally did. The rebel paramilitaries are the Russian-backed separatists.

The Ukrainian-backed paramilitaries aren't rebels because they support the government.

The paramilitaries I was referring to are these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Paramilitary_forces_o...

Many of these are right-wing militias that have been fighting in the Donbas since 2014. Some have been absorbed into the UA national guard.

I have never mentioned pro-Russia paramilitary groups; I think you and the other commenter got confused because I didn’t explicitly say Ukrainian paramilitary groups. (Thought it was obvious from context which side I was referring; obviously the CIA would not be supporting pro-Russian militias)

> The paramilitaries I was referring to are these

None of those are “rebels”, which is the term you used.

> Some have been absorbed into the UA national guard.

The National Guard of Ukraine is one of the “paramilitaries” on the list you linked, so, yes, it is fair to say it has been absorbed into…itself.

> I have never mentioned pro-Russia paramilitary groups

You said “rebels”. The only rebels in Ukraine are those forces consisting of Ukrainians (as non-Ukrainians would be invaders, rather than rebels) fighting against the government of Ukraine, i.e., Russian-backed and Russian-aligned armed groups.

He also said 2014, maybe you need to reread that comment once more. Those were times when Ukraine was not clearly separated from Russia, for example most of big boys in the Government were openly pro-Russian. Ukraine have been a rebel since 1991 and the process is yet to be finished.

Boy, Ukraine have never had a proper borderline with Russian, I mean most of that border was nothing more than just demarcation sticks.

The problem is you kept saying "rebel groups". "Rebel" means that they are opposed to the government. Like the separatists.

Plus, you didn't answer the multiple times when asked to clarify.

Consider my answer [1]

Also I have vouched the top comment of this tree because I consider this point as valid.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35537017

The gigantic key factor in all this that you're leaving out is that Ukraine is defending itself against a full-on invasion by a hostile neighbor.

The "CIA and the British" clandestine funding of "right-wing paramilitary Ukrainian rebel organizations" with diplomatic support from "Merkel and Macron via Minsk" is "all very easy stuff" for me to verify?

"many Americans are unaware" of this story because it's nonsense that puts together various tidbits to spin a yarn long enough to envelop the world.

> But to be clear, the US was funding Ukrainian rebel groups (right-wing paramilitary organizations) 2014-2022 but through clandestine means.

You're still being UN-clear. And this far down the thread it's becoming harder and harder to believe that it is unintentional.

"Ukrainian right-wing paramilitary pro-Russian 'rebel' organizations", or "Ukrainian right-wing paramilitary pro-Ukraine 'rebel' organizations"?

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