The Kremlin has repeatedly denied sending agents into Ukraine to stir up trouble, but a series of photos released by Ukraine and the US State Department appear to prove that several uniformed and heavily armed men occupying government and police buildings in Ukraine’s east are Russian Special Forces.

They’re called “the Green Men”, rough looking men wearing combat fatigues stripped of any insignia, except for one guy who left his Russian Special Forces patch on an arm.  The photos show the same men appearing in several flashpoints:  Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine, in the Crimean peninsula, and years earlier in the Republic of Georgia – all places where supposed “local residents” rose up in favor of breaking away and joining the Russian Federation.  In the latter two locations, the tactic worked. 

Ukraine’s state security service has identified one Russian reported to be active among the Green Men as Igor Ivanovich Strelkov, a veteran Russian agent.  Moscow has not commented on the photos.  But Washington has.

“The photos presented by the Ukrainians last week only further confirm this,” said US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who also urged officials in Moscow to “use their influence to de-escalate the situation in Eastern Ukraine”.