Heartfelt thank you from Sevastopol
 

My fellow tankers,

Ye'lean'chka and I would like to express our deepest appreciation for all the emails we have received in the last few days with concern over our safety and well being. So far we have received 37 messages of concern and worry for us.

While the situation in Sevastopol was relatively calm until the past Monday, we were needless to say deeply worried and concerned about the coup d'etat up north for the last three months. That being said, please keep politics out of this thread. If any of you want a SitRep please email or PM me.

Sevastopol has a unique status in relation to Ukraine and Krimea. We are basically a Russian enclave, home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and various Russian Spetznaz and Marine units, but subservient to Ukraine to an extent. We will, I can guaranty you, now be completely safe as of yesterday shortly after noon our time. That deep sigh you heard in your final predawn slumbers was 300,000 people breathing a collective sigh of relief.

Again, thank you all so much! Ye'lean'chka and I were and are deeply moved by the concern of so many of our tanker friends, Ye'lean'chka to tears.

With kindest regards

Bob and Yeleana, aka Sev and VCO

Good to hear.

WOW!! I always think of Sevastopol as part of Russia not Ukraine. I am glad to hear that all is well with you and VCO!!!

Rudy

I didn't realize you were in the mix, glad to hear everything's turning out okay.

Absolutely Bob. I'm glad to hear you and yours are safe now and protected. Pray for peace.

Being newer to the site, I too had no idea you guys were at risk. Rest assured, your in our prayers.

Be safe

Was thinking of you yesterday while listening to a BBC report of the action. Keep your head down, Bob!

I wasn't (geographically) smart enough to even know that you were in danger. I'm very glad to hear that you no longer are! -Mike

Perhaps you can sell this chap & his comrades a few kits once things cool down.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26366700

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1973339

Thank you, my friends. It is a cool and gray morning in Sevastopol. All here is quiet.

All 5 roads in to Sevastopol were barricaded Tuesday morning before dawn with serpentine concrete slab barricades and check points with armed Berkut and local Self Defense guards (Self Defense units are local recent service Army and Navy combat troops), manned 24/7. Traffic is moving well but all buses, trucks and vans are checked and inspected. Ironically the barricades are all at the old Soviet block houses left over from the days not too long ago when Sevastopol and Balaklava were closed cities.

The city is calm, people are going about their work and normal business. People are concerned of course but no longer in fear of fighting in the city itself.

Umm, the Russians just barricaded the airport too….

No, the airport in Simferopol is working normally as of 30 minutes ago. The civilian security guards were replaced by armed Berkut and Militsiya (Militsiya are the normal patrol police, as opposed to GAI, who are the traffic cops) after a security threat on the airport was received in the wee hours this morning. Please do not believe anything in any news unless you have a verifiable video, unedited, to support the news. Both sides can, will and are using news as propaganda. Again, if you want a SitRep, email or PM me. Net is still working.

The reality is I've been through Istanbul and Frankfurt so often a few short years ago that I always wondered why all the guards there were heavily armed, especially Istanbul, yet the 'guards' at Sim were civilian and unarmed, not even a billy club.

Let's hope the radio & TV stations aren't next since that tends to always be a precursor to something no one wants to see. Either that or a fabricated border post assault circa Sept '39.

Good to hear Bob. We are all praying for you and everyone in the region.

Thanks, Gregg, that means a lot, as to all the messages.

Situation in Krim is still somewhat fluid but there is no fighting at this time.

Hello, Tankers,
Best wishes to Sev & Yelena.
And for your friends here, I'm impressed. You clearly have a friendly modeling group here.
Just passing through,
Scar

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...21335466-1.jpg
Airport armed patrol

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...21335466-1.jpg

Airport armed patrol

http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/images/kf...36_448x252.jpg
ON the roads in Crimea

Best Wishes from Virginia!!!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and VCO, keep your heads down and stay safe ;)

Sounds like Putin is sending in the big guns now.

http://world.time.com/2014/02/28/cri...-night-wolves/

My personal expectation is that Putin takes what he really wants (a Naval base on the Black Sea) and leaves the rest for idiot western politicians to bail out, just like Portugal and Greece...

Call me cynical, but that's what I would do in his shoes - "you want that space? Fine, here enjoy the money pit that comes with it..."

Nice to see that Comrade KGB chief Putin at least waited until the Sochi Olympics were over before once again revealing the true nature of 'mother Russia' under his rule

My friends

I clearly stated that this thread was for my charming wife and I to thank you all for the large number of messages expressing concern for our safety and well being and that I desire no politics. Please, let's keep it that way. From midnight last PM until 06 this morning we have gotten another half dozen messages. Again, Ye'lean'chka and I deeply thank you for your support and concern. We are fine this morning, city is quiet as a mouse.

If any of you want a SitRep or want to express your views on the situation, feel free to PM me.



Again, please refrain from any political comments or conjecture. The few comments about the situation down here were meant to give you some small glimmer of information on the situation, nothing more and I did not want to draw out comments about the overall situation. From this moment forward those reports will stop. I will reply to some individual questions shortly by PM or email. We lost net last late evening and just got it back 20 mikes ago. We'll see how works today.