WASHINGTON, May 13 (RIA Novosti), Lyudmila Chernova – There is good reason to believe that CIA Director John Brennan's visit to Kiev in April signified a shift for US policy in Ukraine toward action, Daniel McAdams, Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, told RIA Novosti Tuesday.
“It is likely no coincidence that immediately following Brennan's visit to Kiev, violence toward unarmed civilians in the east increased significantly,” McAdams said.
Brennan’s visit can also be connected to the fact that attacks on protesters in the east have been undertaken not by legitimate police or military forces, but rather by very aggressive ad hoc militias.
“These hit-and-run attacks are designed to disorient and destabilize, not to capture and hold territory, and bear the mark of past CIA practice,” the expert said.
Brennan is the Obama administration's chief supporter of the US drone strikes program, McAdams explained.
“He even once made the ludicrous claim that “there hasn't been a single collateral death” from US drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen. Brennan's drones have followed a policy of “signature strike,” whereby an individual is considered a target if he exhibits certain behaviors. There is no evidence of actual wrongdoing necessary,” he said.
On Monday in his interview with Fusion’s Jorge Ramos, CIA head Brennan admitted he went to Kiev in mid-April to talk to his Ukrainian “partners and friends.”
Brennan’s visit to Ukraine on the weekend of April 12-13 coincided with the decision by the Kiev authorities to crack down on pro-federalization protesters in eastern Ukraine who refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the current government.
