This is typical Kremlin "reportage". Remember -- always! -- that more than 95% of Russian "news" now speaks with Putin's voice.
It's quite plausible, that a large shipment of gold was flown from Kyiv. Gold is bought and sold in quantity around the world every day.
If such a shipment was made, it's to be expected that armed guards escorted the gold to the plane.
According to an article about gold transfers yesterday on bloomberg.com, in 2014 "Ukraine sold the most as fighters ... clashed along Ukraine’s eastern border."
Because Ukraine is broke, and its currency is in free-fall, its government is probably selling gold reserves to obtain foreign currency. That's why governments keep gold reserves!
I also don't read science fiction, fantasy literature, the Book of Mormon, and lots of other things made up from people's imaginations.
globalresearch.ca is based on two premises:
(1) US foreign policy is always, necessarily, and irredeemably wrong
(2) NATO is always, necessarily, and irredeemably wrong
Now, because US foreign policy is often wrong, and NATO has made a few debatable moves, globalresearch.ca sometimes contains truth, in the sense that a stopped clock sometimes indicates the correc time, or the stuck needle of a broken compass may happen to point north, or a "magic eight ball" may happen to give you the right answer.
For those who actually want to learn about the world, there are many outlets that respect fact much, much better than globalresearch.ca
Thanks guys. Among the Russian attacks on Yahoo comments, this info was one of the very few that was not a personal attack.
I pretty much told them the same thing - Russian news. I asked the Russian telling me, how much was the gold worth? How much aid has the west and given Ukraine?
RUSSIA'S FADING POWER TO BLACKMAIL EUROPE VIA GAS SUPPLIES
http://goo.gl/Ac5hzx
Interesting NY Times opinion piece. A variety of factors are reducing Russia's "gas power". Some are independent of the political situation, such as increasing gas production worldwide and dropping petroleum prices.
However, some are deliberate responses to Russia's history of gas blackmail, and specifically to the Ukraine crisis.
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I didn't post about the cancellation of the South Stream (pipeline from Russia to southern Europe) when it happened a few months ago, but it seemed a major turning point. Russia has long wanted to bypass Ukraine, because it can more easily blackmail Ukraine if it can shut off the gas without inconveniencing its other customers in Europe. South Stream was therefore an important part of Russia's campaign to crush Ukraine's independence.
It is telling, that Putin blamed Bulgaria when he announced the South Stream cancellation, because Bulgaria is often thought of as the European country whose government is most easily manipulated by Russia
Putin and his henchmen immediately tried to cast the cancellation as some kind of a victory (Russia will build a pipeline to Turkey instead), but it is a major blow to Russia's long-term strategy, as explained in the article linked above.
its very possible they stole the gold . the us government are liars and they would steal anything they could get there hands on .... americans in general are thieves you only need to watch the show on tv called COPS . I bet 90% of americans deep down are criminals .
look at how the americans tried to take over the australian seal trade .... the aussies gave them seal pochers a flogging . anything worth money you will find anericans sniffing around like rats .
What surprised me in this whole deal is the amount of dollar reserves Russia has. This, in no doubt is financing the war. Apparently, they have enough reserves to last another year. Another year of mischief.
On Friday (20 February) Moody's Investors Service downgraded the sovereign debt of the Russian Federation from Baa3 (the lowest investment-grade rating) to Ba1 (the highest rating for non-investment or "junk" bonds), with a negative outlook (further deterioration is likely).
This follows the equivalent downgrade from Standard & Poor's a few weeks ago. Now that two of the three major ratings companies have classified Russian debt as junk, the rules of some funds may prohibit buying these bonds, or require that current holdings be sold.
Moody's expects a deep recession for Russia in 2015, persisting into 2016.
http://goo.gl/HRSshn
In related news, although crude oil has rebounded somewhat (around USD 59 / bbl for Urals crude), the 2015 outlook for oil prices is low. World economic growth remains slow; crude production is still increasing; and OPEC is not functioning to support prices. Sharp cuts in crude prices might occur during the next 2 to 3 months.
IN 2015, AT LEAST HALF OF RUSSIAN HOUSEHOLD SPENDING WILL BE ON FOOD
This according to analysts at Vneshtorgbank (VTB), one of Russia's largest banks. They estimate that 50 to 55 percent of household spending will be on food, compared with 36 percent in autumn of 2014.
This rate of increase in the household food-cost burden is even worse than in the worldwide financial collapse of 2008.
The VTB analysts expect lower food-cost inflation as 2015 progresses.
For comparison, less than 7 percent of US household spending goes to food -- and about a third of that is spent in restaurants, a rare luxury for most Russians.
"That affliction this year will be most acute in Venezuela, Argentina, South Africa, Ukraine and Greece — the five most painful economies in which to live and work"