1 Apr, 2022 20:10

Ukraine can now seize property from Russians

A law allowing Russian government property to be seized has been expanded to cover Russian citizens and supporters of Moscow

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) voted on Friday to expand a law allowing Russian government property to be nationalized by the Ukrainian state. The law now extends toRussian citizens in Ukraine, those with a “close relation” to Russia, and Ukrainians who publicly support or ignore Moscow’s military operation.

The measure passed with 305 out of 450 votes, lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak announced in a Telegram post.

According to Ekonomichna Pravda, a Ukrainian news outlet, the amendment will allow the Ukrainian government to seize and nationalize the property of Russian citizens in Ukraine, people with “a close relationship” with Russia, and legal entities operating in Ukraine but whose beneficiary is the Russian Federation, or in which the Russian Federation owns shares.

In addition, the amendment will also allow for the seizure of property from those who “publicly deny or support” Russia’s “aggression,” regardless of their citizenship or place of residence, the newspaper reported. This could also include those who support “the temporary occupation of a part of the territory of Ukraine,” the paper added,likely referring to anyone supporting the independence of the Donbass republicsof Donetsk and Lugansk, or Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea.

Seized property will be used to finance “future reparations in favor of Ukraine,” the newspaper continued.

An earlier version of the law was signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month. However, this first version only applied to assets owned by Russia and companies owned by the Russian state.

In Russia, the ruling United Russia party has proposed the nationalization of foreign companies leaving the country in response to the conflict in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin has also signed a law allowing Russian airlines to keep planes leased from Western companies and pay for them in rubles, rather than handing them back as the companies have demanded.

https://www.rt.com/russia/553140-ukraine-seize-russian-property/

1 Apr, 2022 21:56

US confirms giving chemical weapons protection to Ukraine

Wow the US and Ukraine are desperate to get Russia in WWIII

Washington is providing equipment to be used in case of chemical or biological attacks, White House says

The US is bracing for the possibility that Russia might use chemical or biological weapons against Ukraine, providing equipment and supplies that could be used to save lives after such an attack, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has confirmed.

Psaki disclosed the aid effort on Friday, without giving details on the gear that’s being sent to Kiev. She added that giving the equipment to Ukraine won’t compromise US preparedness for chemical or biological attacks.

The statement comes weeks after Psaki suggested that Moscow may be planning to deploy chemical or biological weapons against Ukraine. She initially made that assertion in response to documents published by Russia, which alleged that US-backed labs in Ukraine were developing bioweapons.

This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine,” Psaki said last month. “Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them.”

US officials also dismissed as “preposterous” subsequent allegations that President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, had been involved in financing military research into dangerous pathogens at Ukrainian biolabs. However, the UK Daily Mail last week reported that correspondence found on the younger Biden’s abandoned laptop at least partially corroborated the Russian claims.

Also last week, President Biden raised eyebrows when he told reporters during a visit to Europe that NATO would respond “in kind” if Russia used chemical weapons in Ukraine. White House officials later denied that the US would use chemical weapons, saying that it was still against policy.

Biden administration officials have dismissed the Russian accusations as “laughable” and “absurd,” but as Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian noted on Friday, Washington hasn’t offered “any constructive response” to the allegations. He said the US has conducted the most bioweapons activities of any country and that it’s the only nation opposing establishment of multilateral verification of compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).

“The international community has good reason to question the US bio-military activities,” Zhao said. Washington has accused other countries of BWC violations, without providing “solid evidence” – in some cases to justify imposing sanctions or waging war – but “when it comes to its own compliance, the US has tried to muddle through, which is unacceptable,” he added.

https://www.rt.com/news/553149-us-gives-ukraine-chemical-weapons-protection/

1 Apr, 2022 19:56

Multiple projectiles hit in Russia’s southwest (VIDEO)

The incident comes after an oil depot located in the same area was attacked overnight by two helicopters

Several unknown projectiles landed and exploded in Russia’s southern region of Belgorod on Friday, damaging a power line and a residential house. The blasts were heard in the region’s capital city of Belgorod, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said.

“We’re dealing with the consequences [of the explosions]. The most important thing is that no one was hurt. I went to the site – near the villages of Nikolskoye and Yasnye Zori. Examined the sites of the explosions,” Gladkov said in a Telegram post, sharing pictures of a large crater and debris on the site.

Dashcam footage circulating online purports to show the moment one of the projectiles, apparently the one that damaged the power line, landed. The munition, appearing to be a large unguided rocket, hits by the side of a road, sending a large fountain of soil into the air.

It was not immediately clear where exactly the projectiles came from, with the authorities abstaining from assigning blame for the incident.

Earlier in the day, a civilian oil depot on the outskirts of Belgorod was attacked by two helicopters, which launched multiple unguided rockets at the facility. The attack, attributed to the Ukrainian military by Russian officials, sparked a major fire at the facility. Kiev at first refused to confirm or deny its involvement in the incident, but then did the latter.

Moscow attacked its neighbor in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered protocols had been designed to regularize the status of those regions within the Ukrainian state.

Russia has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.

https://www.rt.com/russia/553136-belgorod-rocket-power-line/

1 Apr, 2022 18:30

Ukraine’s ‘International Legion’ explains why it stopped recruiting

The head of the unit says it’s running out of weapons, and that untrained westerners have been more of a hindrance than a help

Ukraine’s ‘International Legion’ no longer wants foreign recruits to fight Russia, a spokesman told Canada’s National Post on Friday. Despite Kiev once welcoming Western recruits with open arms, he has now revealed that supplies are low, and inexperienced volunteers aren’t ready for combat. Volunteers who’ve already made the journey have told horror stories of being sent to the front lines unarmed and untrained. Following the Russian offensive, videos emerged online of people claiming they joined the fight against Moscow’s forces, but were given no ammo or weapons by the Ukrainian side.

Within days of Russia’s military assault on Ukraine, the government in Kiev promised visa-free entry for foreigners willing to take up arms against Moscow’s forces. Potential recruits visited Ukrainian embassies across the west and signed up to fight – often with the blessing of their own governments – and made their way to the battlefield.

However, the Ukrainian military was soon forced to be more selective about who could join its ‘International Legion’. Recruitment was narrowed last month to those with “live combat experience,” and a ‘legion’ spokesman told the National Post on Friday that enlistment had been paused entirely.

“There are multiple reasons (for halting recruiting) with one of them being the lack of firearms,” the spokesman said. Borys Wrzesnewskyj, a former MP from Canada who had been helping the ‘legion’ screen applicants, told the newspaper that inexperienced recruits were of no use on the front lines.

“Some people assumed they would arrive, they would get quick training, be given a gun and head off to the front,” he said. “There are all sorts of consequences if untrained people head in.”

“The Ukrainian military guys I’ve talked to don’t want to sacrifice young Canadians or young Brits for dramatic effect,” Lubomyr Luciuk, a Royal Military College (RMC) professor, added. “Very quickly it becomes obvious that some of these well-intentioned volunteers are not ready.”

The ‘International Legion’s website is still soliciting recruits, explaining the step-by-step process for anyone interested. On Reddit’s ‘VolunteersForUkraine’ forum, potential recruits and those already in Ukraine swap advice, encouragement, and sometimes horror stories.

One poster who allegedly survived a Russian missile strike on a training center for foreign recruits last month described how his commanding officers were “sending untrained guys to the front with little ammo and s**t AKs and they’re getting killed.” The Reddit user said that he fled to Poland after the attack with a number of foreign veterans, as “the legion is totally outgunned as has a few crazy Ukrainian leaders. After the attack one officer wanted to march everyone to Kyiv and fight. Absolute insanity. Stay home.” Other posters have told similar stories, involving unprepared recruits receiving several days’ training before being sent to the front with inadequate equipment.

After the strike on the training center, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that the destruction of foreign mercenaries arriving in Ukraine “would continue.”

“All locations of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine are known to us,” Konashenkov said in a statement. “I want to warn you again – there will be no mercy for the mercenaries, no matter where they are on the territory of Ukraine.”

Despite the ‘legion’ pausing recruitment, its spokesman told the National Post that Ukraine’s parliament was meeting on Friday to discuss the future role of foreign volunteers in the conflict.

https://www.rt.com/news/553137-ukraine-stops-foreign-legion-recruitment/

1 Apr, 2022 16:35

Hong Kong fires back at US and UK

London and Washington have published reports on Hong Kong’s political freedoms record

Hong Kong officials have called on the foreign powers to stop meddling in China’s domestic affairs after the US and UK governments released reports pointing at an alleged deterioration of political freedoms in the city.

“We strongly oppose the unfounded and ridiculous allegations against the Hong Kong special administrative region’s government made by foreign countries through various reports," the global financial hub’s authorities said in a statement on Friday. "The government urges foreign countries to stop interfering into the internal affairs of China through Hong Kong affairs.”

Earlier on Thursday, London and Washington published two separate reports with a similar conclusion, claiming Hong Kong is facing an erosion of political rights and freedoms under Beijing’s rule.

“Actions by the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities continue to systematically undermine the rights and freedoms promised to the people of Hong Kong,” says the British report.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also commented on the matter, blaming the Chinese Communist Party for allegedly dismantling Hong Kong’s democratic institutions.

“Hong Kong’s freedoms are diminishing while the [People’s Republic of China] tightens its rule. The differences between Hong Kong and cities in mainland China are shrinking due to ongoing repression from the PRC,” the US top diplomat stated.

Prior to 1997, Hong Kong was a colony of the British Empire. Today the city is one of China’s two special administrative regions. Under the principle “one country, two systems” Hong Kong enjoys a special status maintaining separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China.

https://www.rt.com/news/553133-us-uk-criticize-hongkong/