Ukraine has been firing into Russia for weeks now.

Stop ignoring the conduct of Ukraine.

Here's State Department Marie Harf in two recent sessions, Obi. The 2nd video deals with your quote, Obi, while the first deals with the "enormous amount of evidence" incriminating Russia and the separatists.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqPCejH3mTM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEuviNg2UCg

"Ukraine has been firing into Russia for weeks now."

You're really going to have to back that up with something

http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/742070

http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/740317

http://en.itar-tass.com/world/738815

Since I know I'll get the inevitable "only the western corporate media tells the truth", here's the Ukrainian news:

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/shells-fired-on-ukrainian-territory-hit-russian-checkpoint-354811.html

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/investigators-claim-six-ukrainian-shells-blew-up-on-russian-territory-355946.html

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine-abroad/france-24-shells-land-in-russia-as-eastern-ukrainians-flee-fighting-355815.html

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine-abroad/reuters-one-man-killed-as-shell-from-ukraine-hits-russian-border-town-report-says-355801.html

"Since I know I'll get the inevitable "only the western corporate media tells the truth""

definitely not, I only asked you to back up your claims

Not from you maybe, but from others this is always the response.

Putin's right, and in any war like this shots are going to fly across the border either way.

Russian economic strength compared to USA+close allies is 1:15. Somehow it does not look like Russia wants trouble there. Russia always had Ukraine as its buffer zone toward the center Europe, and it is trying to keep that buffer from falling to NATO hands. USA would do the same thing. Imagine possibility that for example Mexico become close ally to the China, and China builds multiple bases on the Mexican soil.

Actually similar situation happened to USA in the past. After USA seceded from British Empire it had multiple conflicts with Canada. War of 1812 was USA attempt to conquer Canada and remove enemy bases from its borders (back at them time, Britain was main USA enemy).

"Putin's right, and in any war like this shots are going to fly across the border either way."

Regardless, Putin vowed to de-escalate the conflict, and firing artillery shells--whatever the circumstances--is, by definition, NOT de-escalation.

firing artillery shells... That's just it. The videos I posted is where the quote you sited originates. Follow-up questions by an AP reporter demonstrates how shockingly unsubstantiated and flimsy these claims are. The real headline, after watching the briefing, should not be, "Russia is shelling the Ukraine." Rather, it should be on the inexcusable ineptitude and unprofessionality of the US State Department.

Barn3tt: Could you please give the minute for that? I don't have time to skip through the press conference and I'm curious.

obiwanobiwan: Assuming that Russian Federation troops are not involved in the conflict (which is more than likely the case given current information), there is no reason for shells to fly from Russia into Ukraine. There is, however, every reason to believe that shells would fly in the opposite direction (i. e., from a warzone into the surrounding countryside).

Not 100% of the time, JECE. Turkey shelled Syria in response to shells flying over the border and hitting Turkish villages during the Syrian conflict, without being involved in the real Syrian war.

Starts at about the 28 sec. mark in the 2nd video link I provided, JECE.

Hellenic Riot: Illogical, dangerous, etc. as the Turkish response may have been in the incident you highlight, Turkey does have a Kurdish separatist crisis while the Russian Federation does not have a Russian separatist crisis.

Chechyna and the North Caucasus aren't so different from Kurdistan, and where Turkey shelled wasn't in the Kurdish part of Syria.

I wasn't claiming Russia had no separatists. And I didn't realize or forgot that Turkey's minor intervention in Syria had nothing to do with Kurds.

Ah, that makes sense then. Turkey shelled northwest Syria in retaliation early on when they were very anti-Assad before the Islamists overtook the FSA as the main rebel forces, and it looked like the FSA were going to win.

Anyway, it appears that the Ukrainian commander of the offensive in the East has announced that pro-Russian separatists (in addition to resisting his offensive) are driving arround tanks with Ukrainian flags on them and shelling from a distance pro-Russian towns they still control. I'm glad to see that an individual capable of such reasoned and logical thought has so many lives in his steady hands.

Hellenic Riot: That's from the time when Erdoğan almost invaded Syria. I'd forgotten about that. From brief research, by the way, it appears that Turkey hasn't yet attacked Syrian Kurdistan at all. Sorry for the confusion.