Beautiful Crimea: A Summer Road Trip Amid a Fratricidal War  

Fact Finding Mission to Crimea and Rostov/Donetsk/Border Zone 

Launching My Private Fact Finding Mission

As a member of the Russian media establishment who was reporting and commenting on the situation in Ukraine from day one I had many reasons for making my trip. Since December I have made many trips to the Russian areas bordering Ukraine mainly out of personal interest and to help refugees. As a seeker of the truth it was also important for me personally to verify that all of the reports of massive troop buildups by Russian forces along the border were false. Unless Russia has invisible troops and weapons, such as those which filled the empty space of the humanitarian aid convoy, then these build ups are 100% fantasy on the part of the West and their nazi junta in Kiev.

Since the referendum on reunification with Russia and my reports on the plans by NATO to use extremist Muslim elements among the Crimean Tartar population I wanted to see firsthand what the situation on the ground was in Crimea and being as I had my first vacation in over a year (on week paid) I decided to satisfy my curiosity. I also wanted to see what I could to do to further assist the refugees pouring out of Ukraine and I needed to find information and take measures to protect a former source who was kidnapped by the Right Sector and the Ukrainian SBU.

As I am now on Right Sector/SBU hit lists, along with CIA “WikiLeaks watch lists” something I am quite proud of in fact, and the US Government decided to brand me as an enemy of the state and revoke my citizenship, there was also a covert aspect to my trip which maybe someday I will tell you all about if I am still alive when this is all over.

6,000 kilometer/3,728 mile road trip on a shoestring        

Back to the launch of my little trip, saying little by no means should minimize it, I do so merely because time was short, funding was almost non-existent and I was extremely limited in the scope of what I could actually do due to those factors and the fact that I cannot cross the border. If you have been one of my readers for a long time you know I usually take a road trip or two in the summer and the tell my readers about it or post photos on my site.

Previous Trip

This time my road trip was a little different than they usually are as you have gathered. Usually they were just touristic in nature but this time there is a fratricidal war raging across the border and a new territory belonging to the Russian Federation to explore.

Due to an almost zero budget and a complete lack of sponsors or even means to borrow money to finance the trip I came up with an idea and finally used the internet to positively affect my real world existence. Due to the liquidation of the Voice of Russia and the disappearance of my 4 week paid vacation as well as the fact that unlike everyone else who was still left with a job I was only given one week paid vacation, the money available was almost nothing.

I registered on several sites for people wishing to find travel companions and found dozens of other people who were also interested in travelling to the Crimea or the southern part of the Russian Federation and in the end took them along with me and had them pay for the gas. I drove they provided company, paid for fuel and coffee and were transported almost non-stop to their destinations. So it was a win-win for all of us involved. One woman actually moved to Anapa and her luggage filled the back of the vehicle. She paid extra of course.