Congratulations people of Crimea

[saxitoxin]

Last year, the U.S. Air Force erected a giant North Korean flag 2 miles from that sovereign state's border and repeatedly made low bombing and strafing runs over it.



A few Russian tanks hanging out at the duty free store isn't in the same league, unless you only listen to western corporate/state media who blast that through their noise machines at 11 while turning the volume on U.S. maneuvers in South Korea down to whisper level. Symmetry is totally brainwashed.

[Symmetry]

Al Jazeera-

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/04/ukraine-alert-amid-pro-russian-uprisings-20144617216307440.html

In Donetsk, 80km west of the Russian border, a group of 50 people, including many in masks carrying sticks and stones, moved away from a crowd of 2,000 rallying the main city square on Sunday and surged into the provincial government building and smashed windows.

[Symmetry]

So qwert, what are have you beem reading if not those sources?

[AslanTheKing]

Donetsk declare independent from Ukraine.

Or, more accurately, thugs storm a government building and say that the city is Russian.

So if protestors are pro EU they are freedom fighters and if they are pro Russian they are thugs?

Precisely. Being pro-Russian is being pro-slavery.

So Russians should not like their country

Well since you shit in your pants when ever you hear or read the word Russia I have 1 video for you... The dog is you, and we all know which nation considers the bear as its national symbol


P.S. Unfortunately no genetic engineering can help you.

the dog was taking a shit, he was scared like shit
a really funny video, lol

[Symmetry]

I think Qwert ran away.

[Qwert]

CNN-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russia-supporters-in-eastern-ukraine-pose-challenges-to-pro-western-government/2014/03/14/be21eeec-ab77-11e3-b8ca-197ef3568958_story.html

It is unsafe to be pro-Ukrainian in Crimea right now, as the region is controlled by Russian military and hired thugs.

sorry,but i read twice,and also use finder button, and still dont find thugs words in this article.

KHARKIV, Ukraine — Not far from this city in eastern Ukraine, Russian tanks are conducting border maneuvers. Yet for the pro-Moscow activists who gather around the statue of Vladimir Lenin in the city’s main square, that is still not close enough.

Such sentiments pose a serious challenge to Ukraine’s new pro-Western government. The pro-Moscow forces in the industrialized east are staging increasingly violent ­clashes with those loyal to the Ukrainian government — leading Russia on Friday to threaten more starkly than ever that it reserves the right to “protect” ethnic Russians.

Gallery

As referendum nears, Crimea’s Tatars worry: The prospect of the Ukrainian region’s annexation to Russia worries a community persecuted from czarist to communist times.
Click here to subscribe.

“We are hoping that the Russians will come and protect us, just like they did in Crimea,” said Victoria, a 29-year-old ethnic Russian in this heavily Russian-speaking city, where she and other Kremlin supporters insist that they have become the victims of a harassment campaign. Like most other Russia supporters here, she declined to give her last name. She added simply, “We are under threat.”

Suggesting the volatility of the situation in Kharkiv, two people were killed and dozens injured after clashes on Friday night, according to Ukraine's Interior ministry and the Kharkiv mayor's office. Tatiana Gruzinskaya, spokeswoman for the mayor, said the incident happened after a group of Russian separatists approached the offices being used by pro-Ukrainian activists. It was not yet clear whether the fatalities were pro-Russian or pro-Ukrainian, and activists on both sides were arrested, officials said.

Yet if order is being broken, those supporting Moscow appear to be active participants rather than victims. On Thursday in the city of Donetsk, a pro-Ukrainian demonstrator was killed and dozens were injured when a rally turned into a street battle with Russian sympathizers, according to Sergey Taruta, governor of the Donetsk region. He echoed officials in Kiev who say many of the instigators are not Ukrainian at all — but rather Russian agents and paid mercenaries pouring in from across the border.

Across the eastern stretch of Ukraine near where Russian troops are massing for exercises, activists supporting Moscow have also stormed regional administrative offices and taken over at least one TV station. Here in Kharkiv, a Soviet-style city adorned with the onion-style domes of the Russian Orthodox Church, pro-Moscow activists launched a bold bid this week to press for a referendum on regional autonomy.

With a population of 1.4 million, Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city, and it lies 25 miles from the Russian border. The largest of the pro-Moscow rallies have drawn about 5,000 people, with activists claiming that they are being victimized by “fascists” supporting the new Kiev government.

There indeed appear to be several dozen members of far-right nationalist groups whose stronghold is traditionally in the west now operating in Kharkov. But interviews with more than a dozen officials, activists, hospital workers and local politicians suggest little evidence of a concerted campaign of violence.

There have been symbolic acts of aggression, such as a can of red paint that was thrown at the Lenin statue, which also had stickers stuck to its base reading “Go back to Russia.” There is also an unsubstantiated account of a pro-Russian activist who was shot in the leg after a rally Saturday.

But even the activists concede that two suspicious killings last weekend were linked to the mob, not politics. Several pro-Russian activists’ injuries came in clashes with pro-Kiev activists that left both sides bloodied. When questioned, Moscow sympathizers here have offered conflicting accounts of some incidents and could provide little evidence for others.

And in a city where the mayor has allegedly kept a band of thugs on the off-the-books payrolls, at least some of the aggression between rival groups appears more linked to local politics than international intrigue. Some of the violence appears to be unfolding as semi-criminal elements — including pro-Ukrainian soccer hooligans known as “Ultras” and members of pro-Russian no-rules fight clubs — square off on eastern streets.

Police officials here privately say their claims of persecution are grossly exaggerated.

“No, they are not facing a threat,” said a Kharkiv police official who asked not to be named because of the volatility of the situation.

Those loyal to the new government in Kiev, meanwhile, say they suffered brutal attacks by Moscow loyalists March 1, when roughly 2,000 pro-Russian activists stormed Kharkiv’s regional administration building and raised the Russian flag. Citing Russian license plates seen on buses near rallies, pro-Kiev activists also claim that many of those who have taken to the streets in favor of Moscow are being shuttled in from across the nearby border.

“Older people here are more pro-Russian, but Kharkiv is still a Ukrainian city, and most people here want it that way,” said Olha Boudar-Rizmichenko, a 50-year-old museum curator who said she was beaten by pro-Russian protesters when they forced their way into the administration building. Her right eye and lower jowls are still purple with bruising.

“If the Russians came here,” she said, “they would not be welcome.”

A divided east

Out east, where citizens are so tied to Russia that pop stars from Moscow perform at high school graduations, Ukrainians are deeply divided.

Kharkiv lives and dies off Russian cash, and distrust of the new pro-European stance in Kiev is running strong among many in the Russian-speaking population. Kharkiv today appears to be a nest of paranoia, rumors and power struggles, suggesting a rough road ahead as Kiev seeks to secure the trust of a nation.

Yet even here, there are some signs of things going in Kiev’s favor — perhaps none more telling than the new wind blowing from the Kharkiv mayor’s office.

Seen as part strongman, part politician, Mayor Hennadiy Kernes was so close to Ukraine’s pro-Russian former president Viktor Yanukovych that the ousted leader reportedly stopped here en route to Russia after fleeing Kiev last month. The mayor himself was hauled in for questioning in Kiev on Thursday and later placed under house arrest over allegations of maintaining a staff of paid thugs, carrying out state-sponsored torture and embezzling public funds.

Yet in an interview Wednesday in his palatial office, whose waiting room is outfitted with a live macaw and a stuffed African lion, Kernes appeared to be trying to appease the new powers that be. He refused to be drawn into a discussion about his relationship with Yanukovych, whom he dismissed as political “history.”

Both Yanukovych and the Kremlin have denounced Ukraine’s new interim government as being filled with anti-Semites and neo-Nazis — and, in fact, far-right nationalists do hold several key posts. Yet, even though he dismissed the ­charges against him as an act of political revenge, Kernes described the new government as being “legally appointed.”

He said he was opposed to autonomy but conceded that people in his city are of “different opinions” on what should happen here next. He denied that ethnic Russians faced any threat and insisted that this was, and would remain, Ukrainian land.

“The people who support the idea of Kharkiv autonomy are basing this on emotion,” he said. “But Kharkiv is part of Ukraine. It always was. It always will be.”

But at a rally Thursday of about 5,000 supporters of the mayor, political leaders in favor of a referendum took the stage. Several of them denounced the new government in Kiev for passing a law lessening the status of the Russian language in Ukraine, a political blunder that has since been acknowledged by rescinding the measure. But many here talk as if it is still on the books, or set to be reinstated.

The speakers also railed against a deal pending with the International Monetary Fund that would probably mean painful cuts in subsidies providing cheap energy to millions of Ukrainians. They attacked a new trade deal with the European Union that is likely to result in new barriers to the Russian market — a highly unpopular trade-off among many in Kharkiv, where factories turn out components and chemicals exported to and finished in Russia.

In addition, fresh measures by the new national government — including a decision to begin blocking Russian television — appear to be stoking paranoia here.

“I know what I’ve heard — that Kiev is run by extremist nationalists who do not like Russia,” said Alexander Serdiuk, a 21-year-old law student with a Russian father and a Ukrainian mother. “They are trying to tell us the people of Crimea are being occupied. But my brother lives there, and I know this referendum is what the people there want.”

Conflicting accounts

The pro-Russian activists insist they have been the targets of a campaign by far-right Ukrainian nationalists, and the Russian government has been saying much the same. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that Moscow remains deeply concerned about a lack of law and order in eastern Ukraine.

But the activists’ stories have been difficult to prove.

One activist said he saw a suspected nationalist pull up in a beige car, get out and fire a gun above the heads of protesters at a rally last Saturday. But another activist said that the gun was fake and that the suspected nationalist had fired blanks. And Artem, a 35-year-old who called himself the pro-Russia group’s “security chief,” said that local police seized the gun before it could be fired.

Artem, who declined to give his last name, also claimed that he had been fired at last week while crossing a darkened street, adding that he was alone when it happened.

Across this city, however, more locals appear to share the mind of 71-year-old Pavel Shemet, a retiree who was mingling among the old Soviet tanks at the military museum and who grew up in the post-World War II era.

“We are connected to Russia, and always will be,” he said. “But this is Ukraine; it is our country. That cannot change.”

[saxitoxin]

South Koreans protesting the U.S. Foal Eagle military buildup along the North Korean border the other year, being brutalized by the ROK Combat Police -

A poll shows that 34 percent of first-year army cadets called the United States the main enemy of South Korea, a former superintendent of the Korea Military Academy (KMA) said.

Kim was quoted by a newspaper as saying, "While the majority ― or 34 percent ― picked the U.S., 33 percent said they regarded North Korea as the main enemy.''

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/na ... 22029.html

[Symmetry]

CNN-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russia-supporters-in-eastern-ukraine-pose-challenges-to-pro-western-government/2014/03/14/be21eeec-ab77-11e3-b8ca-197ef3568958_story.html

It is unsafe to be pro-Ukrainian in Crimea right now, as the region is controlled by Russian military and hired thugs.

sorry,but i read twice,and also use finder button, and still dont find thugs words in this article.

KHARKIV, Ukraine — Not far from this city in eastern Ukraine, Russian tanks are conducting border maneuvers. Yet for the pro-Moscow activists who gather around the statue of Vladimir Lenin in the city’s main square, that is still not close enough.

Such sentiments pose a serious challenge to Ukraine’s new pro-Western government. The pro-Moscow forces in the industrialized east are staging increasingly violent ­clashes with those loyal to the Ukrainian government — leading Russia on Friday to threaten more starkly than ever that it reserves the right to “protect” ethnic Russians.

Gallery

As referendum nears, Crimea’s Tatars worry: The prospect of the Ukrainian region’s annexation to Russia worries a community persecuted from czarist to communist times.
Click here to subscribe.

“We are hoping that the Russians will come and protect us, just like they did in Crimea,” said Victoria, a 29-year-old ethnic Russian in this heavily Russian-speaking city, where she and other Kremlin supporters insist that they have become the victims of a harassment campaign. Like most other Russia supporters here, she declined to give her last name. She added simply, “We are under threat.”

Suggesting the volatility of the situation in Kharkiv, two people were killed and dozens injured after clashes on Friday night, according to Ukraine's Interior ministry and the Kharkiv mayor's office. Tatiana Gruzinskaya, spokeswoman for the mayor, said the incident happened after a group of Russian separatists approached the offices being used by pro-Ukrainian activists. It was not yet clear whether the fatalities were pro-Russian or pro-Ukrainian, and activists on both sides were arrested, officials said.

Yet if order is being broken, those supporting Moscow appear to be active participants rather than victims. On Thursday in the city of Donetsk, a pro-Ukrainian demonstrator was killed and dozens were injured when a rally turned into a street battle with Russian sympathizers, according to Sergey Taruta, governor of the Donetsk region. He echoed officials in Kiev who say many of the instigators are not Ukrainian at all — but rather Russian agents and paid mercenaries pouring in from across the border.

Across the eastern stretch of Ukraine near where Russian troops are massing for exercises, activists supporting Moscow have also stormed regional administrative offices and taken over at least one TV station. Here in Kharkiv, a Soviet-style city adorned with the onion-style domes of the Russian Orthodox Church, pro-Moscow activists launched a bold bid this week to press for a referendum on regional autonomy.

With a population of 1.4 million, Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city, and it lies 25 miles from the Russian border. The largest of the pro-Moscow rallies have drawn about 5,000 people, with activists claiming that they are being victimized by “fascists” supporting the new Kiev government.

There indeed appear to be several dozen members of far-right nationalist groups whose stronghold is traditionally in the west now operating in Kharkov. But interviews with more than a dozen officials, activists, hospital workers and local politicians suggest little evidence of a concerted campaign of violence.

There have been symbolic acts of aggression, such as a can of red paint that was thrown at the Lenin statue, which also had stickers stuck to its base reading “Go back to Russia.” There is also an unsubstantiated account of a pro-Russian activist who was shot in the leg after a rally Saturday.

But even the activists concede that two suspicious killings last weekend were linked to the mob, not politics. Several pro-Russian activists’ injuries came in clashes with pro-Kiev activists that left both sides bloodied. When questioned, Moscow sympathizers here have offered conflicting accounts of some incidents and could provide little evidence for others.

And in a city where the mayor has allegedly kept a band of thugs on the off-the-books payrolls, at least some of the aggression between rival groups appears more linked to local politics than international intrigue. Some of the violence appears to be unfolding as semi-criminal elements — including pro-Ukrainian soccer hooligans known as “Ultras” and members of pro-Russian no-rules fight clubs — square off on eastern streets.

Police officials here privately say their claims of persecution are grossly exaggerated.

“No, they are not facing a threat,” said a Kharkiv police official who asked not to be named because of the volatility of the situation.

Those loyal to the new government in Kiev, meanwhile, say they suffered brutal attacks by Moscow loyalists March 1, when roughly 2,000 pro-Russian activists stormed Kharkiv’s regional administration building and raised the Russian flag. Citing Russian license plates seen on buses near rallies, pro-Kiev activists also claim that many of those who have taken to the streets in favor of Moscow are being shuttled in from across the nearby border.

“Older people here are more pro-Russian, but Kharkiv is still a Ukrainian city, and most people here want it that way,” said Olha Boudar-Rizmichenko, a 50-year-old museum curator who said she was beaten by pro-Russian protesters when they forced their way into the administration building. Her right eye and lower jowls are still purple with bruising.

“If the Russians came here,” she said, “they would not be welcome.”

A divided east

Out east, where citizens are so tied to Russia that pop stars from Moscow perform at high school graduations, Ukrainians are deeply divided.

Kharkiv lives and dies off Russian cash, and distrust of the new pro-European stance in Kiev is running strong among many in the Russian-speaking population. Kharkiv today appears to be a nest of paranoia, rumors and power struggles, suggesting a rough road ahead as Kiev seeks to secure the trust of a nation.

Yet even here, there are some signs of things going in Kiev’s favor — perhaps none more telling than the new wind blowing from the Kharkiv mayor’s office.

Seen as part strongman, part politician, Mayor Hennadiy Kernes was so close to Ukraine’s pro-Russian former president Viktor Yanukovych that the ousted leader reportedly stopped here en route to Russia after fleeing Kiev last month. The mayor himself was hauled in for questioning in Kiev on Thursday and later placed under house arrest over allegations of maintaining a staff of paid thugs, carrying out state-sponsored torture and embezzling public funds.

Yet in an interview Wednesday in his palatial office, whose waiting room is outfitted with a live macaw and a stuffed African lion, Kernes appeared to be trying to appease the new powers that be. He refused to be drawn into a discussion about his relationship with Yanukovych, whom he dismissed as political “history.”

Both Yanukovych and the Kremlin have denounced Ukraine’s new interim government as being filled with anti-Semites and neo-Nazis — and, in fact, far-right nationalists do hold several key posts. Yet, even though he dismissed the ­charges against him as an act of political revenge, Kernes described the new government as being “legally appointed.”

He said he was opposed to autonomy but conceded that people in his city are of “different opinions” on what should happen here next. He denied that ethnic Russians faced any threat and insisted that this was, and would remain, Ukrainian land.

“The people who support the idea of Kharkiv autonomy are basing this on emotion,” he said. “But Kharkiv is part of Ukraine. It always was. It always will be.”

But at a rally Thursday of about 5,000 supporters of the mayor, political leaders in favor of a referendum took the stage. Several of them denounced the new government in Kiev for passing a law lessening the status of the Russian language in Ukraine, a political blunder that has since been acknowledged by rescinding the measure. But many here talk as if it is still on the books, or set to be reinstated.

The speakers also railed against a deal pending with the International Monetary Fund that would probably mean painful cuts in subsidies providing cheap energy to millions of Ukrainians. They attacked a new trade deal with the European Union that is likely to result in new barriers to the Russian market — a highly unpopular trade-off among many in Kharkiv, where factories turn out components and chemicals exported to and finished in Russia.

In addition, fresh measures by the new national government — including a decision to begin blocking Russian television — appear to be stoking paranoia here.

“I know what I’ve heard — that Kiev is run by extremist nationalists who do not like Russia,” said Alexander Serdiuk, a 21-year-old law student with a Russian father and a Ukrainian mother. “They are trying to tell us the people of Crimea are being occupied. But my brother lives there, and I know this referendum is what the people there want.”

Conflicting accounts

The pro-Russian activists insist they have been the targets of a campaign by far-right Ukrainian nationalists, and the Russian government has been saying much the same. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that Moscow remains deeply concerned about a lack of law and order in eastern Ukraine.

But the activists’ stories have been difficult to prove.

One activist said he saw a suspected nationalist pull up in a beige car, get out and fire a gun above the heads of protesters at a rally last Saturday. But another activist said that the gun was fake and that the suspected nationalist had fired blanks. And Artem, a 35-year-old who called himself the pro-Russia group’s “security chief,” said that local police seized the gun before it could be fired.

Artem, who declined to give his last name, also claimed that he had been fired at last week while crossing a darkened street, adding that he was alone when it happened.

Across this city, however, more locals appear to share the mind of 71-year-old Pavel Shemet, a retiree who was mingling among the old Soviet tanks at the military museum and who grew up in the post-World War II era.

“We are connected to Russia, and always will be,” he said. “But this is Ukraine; it is our country. That cannot change.”

It's in there dude, try searching again.

[Qwert]

and for symetry, from now on i will post all links what i read from Washington post-CNN-The New york time and Al JAzzera,, and i will try to find article related on thugs. Consider that this its not easy task, and have to much to read every day,i can not know how much time will need to find this.

[Jmac1026]

Qwert, wtf is your definition of thug?!

According to this document:
http://www.zda.org.zm/sites/default/files/Sector%20Profile%20-%20Agriculture.pdf

90% of what Zambia grows is from the Americas. It's really a shame that the Zambians of 200 years ago weren't as forward thinking as the Zambians of today.

To be fair, Zambia didn't exist as a nation 200 years ago. European colonization did a wonder for African centralization.

[saxitoxin]

It's in there dude, try searching again.

Probably a dumb invitation ... the first use of "thug" from your "source" explains them thusly ...

... aggression between rival groups appears more linked to local politics than international intrigue. Some of the violence appears to be unfolding as semi-criminal elements — including pro-Ukrainian soccer hooligans known as “Ultras” ..

[Symmetry]

It's in there dude, try searching again.

Probably a dumb invitation ... the first use of "thug" from your "source" explains them thusly ...

... aggression between rival groups appears more linked to local politics than international intrigue. Some of the violence appears to be unfolding as semi-criminal elements — including pro-Ukrainian soccer hooligans known as “Ultras” ..

It's not as if he actually reads anything other than Kremlin controlled propaganda though, which was kind of my point.

[Qwert]

symmetry post
It is unsafe to be pro-Ukrainian in Crimea right now, as the region is controlled by Russian military and hired thugs.

USe finder to find reference with Crimea word.

As referendum nears, Crimea’s Tatars worry: The prospect of the Ukrainian region’s annexation to Russia worries a community persecuted from czarist to communist times.

“We are hoping that the Russians will come and protect us, just like they did in Crimea,” said Victoria

“They are trying to tell us the people of Crimea are being occupied. But my brother lives there, and I know this referendum is what the people there want.”

So i realy need help from other to find symetry sentence in this article, because i can not find.
(why i have feel that symetry dont even read this article at all?)

[saxitoxin]

It's in there dude, try searching again.

Probably a dumb invitation ... the first use of "thug" from your "source" explains them thusly ...

... aggression between rival groups appears more linked to local politics than international intrigue. Some of the violence appears to be unfolding as semi-criminal elements — including pro-Ukrainian soccer hooligans known as “Ultras” ..

uh huh ...

(why i have feel that symetry dont even read this article at all?)[/size]

It's not just you!

[Qwert]

The Washington Post
Recommended
The less Americans know about Ukraine's location, the more they want U.S.to intervene

This its so true

[Symmetry]

I think Qwert may has just misspelled the word "thugs" in his search. It's in there twice.

[GoranZ]

It is unsafe to be pro-Ukrainian in Crimea right now, as the region is controlled by Russian military and hired thugs.

It also not safe to be proRussian in UK right now... so what makes you different then thugs?

I think Qwert ran away.

He never runs away, its not in his blood

[Symmetry]

You can apologise to me any time you want Qwert, I know you're mature enough to do that. I'm sorry for accusing you of running away.

See, it's easy.

[saxitoxin]

I think Qwert may has just misspelled the word "thugs" in his search.

I disagree. I don't thought he were misspelled "thugs."

[Qwert]

I think Qwert may has just misspelled the word "thugs" in his search. It's in there twice.

you joke with me?

symmetry post
It is unsafe to be pro-Ukrainian in Crimea right now, as the region is controlled by Russian military and hired thugs.

i use word military in your sentence, and only find one similar word in this sentence

Across this city, however, more locals appear to share the mind of 71-year-old Pavel Shemet, a retiree who was mingling among the old Soviet tanks at the military museum and who grew up in the post-World War II era.

So i conclude that you fabricated this sentence from who know where and present that its part of this article.

[Symmetry]

I think Qwert may has just misspelled the word "thugs" in his search. It's in there twice.

you joke with me?

No, that was the word you claimed wasn't there, in a report from a paper you claimed had never used it. It's a word used twice in one of your own posts where you claim it is never used.

What are you thinking?

[Jmac1026]

I think Qwert may has just misspelled the word "thugs" in his search. It's in there twice.

you joke with me?

No, that was the word you claimed wasn't there, in a report from a paper you claimed had never used it. It's a word used twice in one of your own posts where you claim it is never used.

What are you thinking?

[Qwert]

I think Qwert may has just misspelled the word "thugs" in his search. It's in there twice.

you joke with me?

No, that was the word you claimed wasn't there, in a report from a paper you claimed had never used it. It's a word used twice in one of your own posts where you claim it is never used.

What are you thinking?

You give me link to article where you post one sentence with thug. In this article i dont find this word.
So you need to find proper link ,where i can confirm that this sentence are from this article.

symmetry post
"It is unsafe to be pro-Ukrainian in Crimea right now, as the region is controlled by Russian military and hired thugs".

can you tell me who say that, and where, when you quoted?

[Symmetry]

I think Qwert may has just misspelled the word "thugs" in his search. It's in there twice.

you joke with me?

No, that was the word you claimed wasn't there, in a report from a paper you claimed had never used it. It's a word used twice in one of your own posts where you claim it is never used.

What are you thinking?

You give me link to article where you post one sentence with thug. In this article i dont find this word.
So you need to find proper link ,where i can confirm that this sentence are from this article.

It's in there twice dude, why are you even arguing about this?

[muy_thaiguy]

I know English isn't qwert's first language, but thug isn't the most difficult of words to find if you know enough English.

And thug is in there at least 2 times qwert. Here are the times it is used. Bolded for clarity.

And in a city where the mayor has allegedly kept a band of thugs on the off-the-books payrolls, at least some of the aggression between rival groups appears more linked to local politics than international intrigue.

The mayor himself was hauled in for questioning in Kiev on Thursday and later placed under house arrest over allegations of maintaining a staff of paid thugs, carrying out state-sponsored torture and embezzling public funds.