3 Apr, 2022 15:20

HomeRussia & FSU

Russia denies Ukraine war-crimes allegations

Moscow claims accusations of Bucha massacre by Russian forces are fake news

The Russian military has firmly denied accusations of mass killings of civilians in Bucha, a Ukrainian town northwest of Kiev. The claims have been raised by Ukraine itself, some Western media outlets and human rights groups, after Moscow had withdrawn its troops from the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital.

“All photographs and video materials published by the Kiev regime, allegedly showing some kind of "crimes" by Russian military personnel in the town of Bucha, Kiev region, are yet another provocation,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said Sunday.

Russian troops had been pulled out from the area on March 30, the military said, pointing out that “the so-called ‘evidence of crimes’ in Bucha appeared only on the fourth day” after the withdrawal, when Ukrainian intelligence and “representatives of Ukrainian television arrived in the town.”

“Moreover, on March 31 the mayor of Bucha, Anatoly Fedoruk, confirmed in his video address that there was no Russian military in the town, but did not even mention any local residents laying shot in the streets with their hands tied,” the Russian military also pointed out.

“It’s particularity concerning that all the bodies of people whose images were published by the Kiev regime, after at least four days, have not stiffened, do not have characteristic cadaveric spots, and have fresh blood in their wounds,” the military noted, adding that all these inconsistencies show that the whole Bucha affair “has been staged by the Kiev regime for Western media, as was the case with the [fake news from the] Mariupol maternity clinic.”

Wow Ukraine and US are incompetent

Graphic footage from Bucha shows multiple bodies in civilian clothing lying in the middle of a street. Some of the dead apparently had their hands tied, while others were white armbands, commonly used by Russian forces and civilians in areas under Russian control.

Kiev has blamed the Bucha killings on Moscow, with Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba claiming it was a "deliberate massacre" by Russian troops.

“The Bucha massacre was deliberate. Russians aim to eliminate as many Ukrainians as they can. We must stop them and kick them out. I demand new, devastating G7 sanctions NOW,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

Top Western politicians have backed Kiev’s assessment of Bucha, with some explicitly pinning the blame for the killings on Moscow as well. “Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.

A similar stance was voiced by the UK, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss stating that such “indiscriminate attacks” on civilians should be probed as war crimes. “We will not allow Russia to cover up their involvement in these atrocities through cynical disinformation,” she said.

Moscow launched a large-scale offensive against 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 alliance. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two rebel regions by force.

https://www.rt.com/russia/553231-bucha-war-crimes-allegations-denied/

3 Apr, 2022 13:10

HomeRussia & Former Soviet Union

Zelensky rejected peace offer days before Russian offensive – WSJ

German Chancellor had reportedly attempted to convince the Ukrainian leader to drop NATO membership plan

German chancellor Olaf Scholz had offered Volodymyr Zelensky a chance for peace just days before the launch of the Russian military offensive, but the Ukrainian president turned it down, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported.

Scholz had made what the US outlet described as “one last push for a settlement between Moscow and Kiev” less than a week before the Russian forces were sent into Ukraine on February 24.

The chancellor told Zelensky in Munich on February 19 “that Ukraine should renounce its NATO aspirations and declare neutrality as part of a wider European security deal between the West and Russia,” the paper writes. The daily also claims that “thepact would be signed by Mr. Putin and Mr. Biden, who would jointly guarantee Ukraine’s security.”

(So on effect Bidan rejected the peace deal, the little comedian couldnt make that decision)

However, Zelensky rejected the offer to make the concession and avoid confrontation, saying that “[Russia’s President Vladimir] Putin couldn’t be trusted to uphold such an agreement and that most Ukrainians wanted to join NATO,” the WSJ reports, without revealing its sources for the information.

“His answer left German officials worried that the chances of peace were fading,” the report points out.

Scholz and Zelensky did meet on that day on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, at which each delivered an address.

https://www.rt.com/news/553213-zelensky-scholz-ukraine-peace/

3 Apr, 2022 13:52

Slovakia agrees to pay for Russian gas in rubles

Did Trump have to be out of office to make this happen? I think so

The country cannot afford to lose its major supplier

Slovakia will pay for Russian natural gas in rubles if that’s what it takes to keep the commodity flowing, Slovak Economy Minister Richard Sulik has said on national television.

“If there is a condition to pay in rubles, then we will pay in rubles,” Sulik said. He stressed that Russian imports account for roughly 85% of all Slovakian gas supplies, so the country’s authorities will remain pragmatic on the issue.

“We cannot be cut off from gas,” Sulik emphasized, urging the rest of Europe to jointly seek a solution.

Nearly all of the countries of the European Union, of which Slovakia is a member, slapped Russia with economic sanctions over the past month, jeopardizing Russia’s ability to receive payments from trade partners in the European currency. In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin last week signed a decree introducing a new ruble gas payment mechanism.

Although it is viewed by some as going against existing gas contracts, the mechanism does not imply a change of the currency of payment. It enables buyers to open ruble accounts with Russian Gazprombank to facilitate the transfer of European companies’ payments to Russian suppliers.

According to Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, “de facto nothing will change for European companies… They will pay, as they used to, in euro, the same currency that is indicated in the contracts,” but the seller, Russia’s major gas exporter Gazprom, will be able to receive the funds in Russia’s national currency. Despite extensive explanations, however, many Russian buyers found themselves puzzled by the change. The initial reaction was mostly one of protest, with countries claiming they would not pay for gas in rubles. However, it appears that this will not be necessary at all.

The Slovakian economy minister, along with a number of other European politicians, said the situation calls for diversification of suppliers. But he said this may take years, while Slovakia has only two months to solve the current problem with fuel purchases.

https://www.rt.com/business/553219-slovakia-russian-gas-rubles/

3 Apr, 2022 16:29

Russia comments on Ukraine peace deal status

Kiev has started to treat some issues “more realistically,” the chief Russian negotiator claims

Now that Zelensky realizes they are left out in the cold, by US and EU egging him on. I wonder if he realizes they really wanted Ukraine to be destroyed yet!

There’s been some progress in the peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, but the draft deal isn’t yet ready to be submitted for a meeting at the highest level, Vladimir Medinsky, who heads the team of Russian negotiators, has said.

“The Ukrainian side has become more realistic in its approach to issues related to the neutral and non-nuclear status of Ukraine,” Medinsky wrote on Telegram on Sunday.

There’s also understanding between Moscow and Kiev on the need to create a “system of international security guarantees for a neutral Ukraine,” he added.

Medinsky said that among other things agreed-on by the sides during the talks in Istanbul last week were Kiev’s abstention from the deployment of foreign troops, bases and any offensive strike weapons on Ukrainian territory, the fielding and production of weapons of mass destruction, and the staging of drills with foreign militaries without consent from guarantor states, including Russia.

However, Medinsky disagreed with Ukraine’s top negotiator David Arakhamia, who’d earlier claimed that Moscow accepted Kiev’s stance on all points except for the Crimea issue.

“I object,” the Russian wrote, insisting that Moscow’s position on the status of Crimea and the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk remained “unchanged.”

Moscow is demanding that Kiev officially recognize Crimea as part of Russia and the republics in Donbass as independent states. Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and rejoin Russia shortly after the 2014 Maidan coup in Kiev. During the recent talks in Istanbul the Ukrainian delegation promised that Kiev won’t be making attempts to return the Donbass republics by force, and suggested holding separate negotiations on the status of Crimea over the course of 15 years.

Medinsky also said that he didn’t share Arakhamia’s optimism on the state of readiness of the draft peace deal, insisting that “it wasn’t yet fit to be submitted to a highest-level meeting.”

Kiev has been pushing for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to hold face-to-face talks with Vladimir Putin. Moscow didn’t rule out such a summit, but insisted that it should only be held if the two leaders are going to sign an actual agreement.

Russia’s top negotiator also pointed out the Ukrainian side has been “lagging far behind in confirming the text of the wording of the draft, even regarding those agreements that have already been reached at the political level.”

The Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were busy finalizing the text of the peace treaty on Friday and Saturday via a video-conference, and they’re planning to continue this work on Monday, Medinsky said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/553225-ukraine-peace-talks-medinsky/

3 Apr, 2022 15:56

Ukraine conflict makes Germany ‘poorer’ – finance minister

Christian Lindner acknowledged that the government “can’t offset this loss in prosperity”

I think the NWO thought they could cajole and bully all countries to go along with this stupid idea of taking down Russia. It seems like a wake up call for all of them. Countries will only take so much abuse!

Germans are already paying a price for Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, the country’s finance minister has acknowledged.

Speaking to Bild tabloid newspaper, Christian Lindner said that “the Ukraine war is making us all poorer, for example, because we have to pay more for imported energy.”

In an interview published on Sunday, the German minister went on to admit that the government “cannot offset this loss in prosperity,” adding on a more positive note, however, that the authorities were working to “cushion the biggest shocks.”

The current state of affairs in the national economy is giving Lindner “serious concerns,” he admitted, citing sagging growth and rising prices. The minister reassured journalists that the government is doing all it can to “avoid the threat of so-called stagflation.”

Among the measures Berlin is taking are relief for the middle class, support for the economically vulnerable strata of society and at-risk businesses, Lindner said. The German official pointed out, however, that since the country’s financial resources are limited, these programs are all meant to be temporary.

In the long term, Germany is going to have to “lay new foundations of prosperity,” Lindner warned, adding that special emphasis should be placed on social and ecological aspects.

When asked why Germany was still “funding warmonger Putin with our gas and oil imports,” the German finance minister argued that the end of Russian hydrocarbon supplies “would have dramatic effects on our country.” Lindner clarified that the potential repercussions would go beyond money, affecting the “physical availability of energy” for Germans. He also hailed the sanctions recently imposed on Moscow as “unparalleled,” emphasizing at the same time that punitive measures should “not jeopardize Germany’s stability.”

Lindner also promised that no German would freeze next winter, as Berlin is “building up reserves and tapping alternative sources of supply.” The politician indicated that Germany could consider using “oil and gas reserves in the North Sea, the extraction of which had thus far been deemed too expensive.”

On top of that, Germany will have to shell out considerable sums of money to end what Lindner described as the “neglect” of the country’s military.

Despite the economic woes and massive spending planned in the German budget, there will be no tax hikes in the country this year, Lindner vowed. According to him, some taxes will even be slashed, so as not to “damage the economic recovery.”

Germany – one of Europe’s industrial powerhouses – is a major importer of Russian natural gas, with 34% of the fuel consumed in the country last year coming from Russia. Berlin also buys considerable amounts of Russian oil.

In the wake of February 24, when Russia launched its offensive against Ukraine, energy prices went through the roof, reaching levels unseen since 2008. Although the situation has since somewhat stabilized, prices are still higher than prior to late February, translating into ballooning living and operational costs for European households and businesses.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday requiring countries that have slapped Moscow with sanctions to pay for Russian gas in rubles starting from April 1. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned that failure to pay this way would mean the end of gas supplies, which Moscow was not going to give away “free of charge.” Moscow insists that Western sanctions had left Russia no choice but to switch to its own national currency, as dollars and euro could be “taken away.”

Germany has, however, refused to comply with Russia’s demands, describing them as “blackmail” which runs counter to the terms of the existing gas contracts.

https://www.rt.com/news/553228-ukraine-conflict-makes-germans-poorer-minister/

>>16004858

What brother? Was Beau involved? Does he have another brother by another mother

Never forgive and never forget what they did to America and the World! And when these two are done go after Pharma

Chad Pergram@ChadPergram

1) Top GOPer on Oversight Cmte Comer on Fox on COVID lab leak theory: Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins, with an age, orchestrated a spin campaign to make sure from the very beginning that anyone who tried to suggest that this was a lab leak theory was labeled a conspiracy theorist.

2) Comer: The NIH used their grant funding as a piggybank to reward people who would go along with this theory. Dr. Fauci gets all the attention from the media about the origination of COVID 19 and all the cover ups and everything.

3) Comer: But I think EcoHealth Alliance has all the answers because..the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, prove that taxpayer dollars were going to Eco Health Alliance, which were then using those tax dollars at the Wuhan lab to do gain of function research

4) Comer: Dr. Fauci lied about this to the Senate for over a year. I think that EcoHealth Alliance can answer a lot of questions

5) Comer: When Republicans become the majority, hopefully in January, all the executives with EcoHealth Alliance are going to be asked to come before the House Oversight Committee. If they don't come, then they're going to be subpoenaed

6) Comer: They have the answers to what really went on. And this is these emails are more proof that there was a cover up campaign from the very beginning..I think they were trying to cover this up with.

https://twitter.com/ChadPergram/status/1510614817962348547?s=20&t=soFezLr4zcHe6q6AjhISkg

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1510386830755221511?s=20&t=soFezLr4zcHe6q6AjhISkg

Did Disney and Teachers Union overplay their hand, expecting no one would read the bill?Yep, the Left is waking everyone up for us

https://twitter.com/RpwWilliams/status/1510468333761536002?s=20&t=soFezLr4zcHe6q6AjhISkg

My guess is they havent been able to start a civil war in the US, so they could jail patriots, so they are releasing this BS. No one would believe this. Its fear mongering.

https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1510468744300085253?s=20&t=soFezLr4zcHe6q6AjhISkg

Did they ask her if black people had natural rights?

https://twitter.com/EdWhelanEPPC/status/1509946533302747139?s=20&t=soFezLr4zcHe6q6AjhISkg

Yes War on Disney

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1510026196775542784?s=20&t=soFezLr4zcHe6q6AjhISkg

Coroners are useful to the left

https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1510281939831435281?s=20&t=xml1YD1y7nXL9HkCzPt2xw

Now Apple is on board to take away parental rights

https://twitter.com/JessAnderson2/status/1509960128388345860?s=20&t=xml1YD1y7nXL9HkCzPt2xw

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1510086800169177095?s=20&t=xml1YD1y7nXL9HkCzPt2xw

2 Apr, 2022 18:26

Russia tells EU to 'sober up'. Kek

Moscow says Brussels must free itself from Washington's control

Mending relations between Russia and the European Union (EU) is still possible, but it will only happen when the latter “sobers up from the American bourbon” and gets rid of US influence, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday.

“There are always solutions. From any confrontation, from any difficult situation, there are always ways out,” Peskov explained.

Russia-EU relations, however, are unlikely to improve in the near future, he admitted. Moscow expects that to happen only when Western Europe realizes that it, and not the US, is responsible for its own fate, he added.

“When the Europeans sober up from the American bourbon a little bit, and when they finally realize that we should on our own take care of the fate of our continent, Europe, maybe even Eurasia, then it will happen – that’s not a matter for the nearest future - but then the time will come for a reassessment of our relations,” Peskov stated.

The already strained relationship between Moscow and the EU entered a downward spiral after the Kremlin launched a large-scale military offensive in Ukraine in late February. Brussels responded with a massive wave of new anti-Russian sanctions, targeting Russia’s financial and energy sectors, censoring media, and severing travel links.

Moscow blamed 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 NATO alliance. 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/553184-moscow-europe-mending-ties/

2 Apr, 2022 21:29

White House refuses to rule out pardon for Hunter Biden

Presidential spokesperson dodges questions about Hunter Biden probe after laptop info resurfaces

The White House repeatedly refused on Friday to rule out the possibility that President Joe Biden could pardon his son Hunter Biden or brother James Biden if suspected financial crimes related to business dealings in China are proven in court, despite questions from multiple journalists and a growing volume of articles on the subject.

“That’s not a hypothetical I’m going to entertain,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield told a room full of journalists after she was asked whether the president had considered a pardon for his son Hunter or brother James, both of whom are being investigated for financial impropriety regarding a business deal with Chinese firm CEFC China Energy.

Asked about the president’s continued insistence that there was nothing “unethical” and that Hunter Biden had made no money from “this thing about what you’re talking about, China,” Bedingfield doubled down on the elder Biden’s denial – made over a year earlier – that his son was guilty of any wrongdoing. “We absolutely stand by the president’s comment,” she said, insisting she did not have “anything to add from this podium” when the question was phrased another way.

Hunter Biden is currently being investigated by the Justice Department regarding a business deal he was involved with in China, proof of which surfaced almost two years ago on the infamous “laptop from hell” left by him at a repair shop in Delaware. The younger Biden appeared to have raked in millions of dollars for a consulting role despite insisting the deal itself “fell through,” and his Chinese partner in the affair was later detained in China.

While a handful of media outlets initially reported on the content of the laptop, which included not only incriminating financial documents but also more salacious materials including images of Hunter engaged in sex acts and drug use, most major press outlets gave it a pass, either dismissing it as “Russian propaganda” without any evidence or refusing to comment on it at all. The president infamously laughed when asked about the laptop again after the election.

However, with Biden safely in the White House, mainstream outlets from the New York Times to CNN have begun to nibble at the story, acknowledging not only that the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden but that there are some serious problems with the “business deals” discussed in emails it contained.

https://www.rt.com/news/553194-white-house-pardon-hunter-china/

2 Apr, 2022 21:12

Russia considers Ukraine a ‘hostile’ country – Kremlin

Ukraine in its “current state” has long been an openly hostile country toward Russia, the Kremlin has claimed.

Ukraine became an openly hostile country to Russia long before the ongoing conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

“Ukraine is a very difficult country for us. It is in its current state a country hostile towards us,” Peskov told the Belarus-1 TV channel in an exclusive interview aired Saturday.

Over the past several years, Kiev has been taking consistent hostile steps against its own Russian-speaking population and Russian media outlets, and has openly nurtured neo-Nazi groups, the official complained. Ukraine has also written a clause outlining its desire to join the US-led NATO alliance into its constitution, Peskov noted. Kiev’s NATO aspirations have long been a major security concern for Moscow, and the West has refused to address the issue, citing the bloc’s declared “open-door” policy.

“It is a country that nurtured those who march through the streets with the Nazi swastika. It is a country that, de-facto, has completely banned any Russian-language Russian media outlets. It is a country that has turned Russian into a second-class language,” Peskov said.

Apart from turning a blind eye to openly neo-Nazi groups, Kiev actually has also allowed people sharing such views to integrate themselves into the country’s power structure, he added.

“For many years, indeed, Nazis were absolutely free from any pressure, from any persecution, they did what they wanted to,” Peskov said. “It was happening not only in western Ukraine, where they traditionally indulged in that, but this disease has begun to spread throughout the country. The authorities turned a blind eye to this.”

And not only turned a blind eye to it – representatives of the very same nationalist elements were in power. This is the scariest thing.

Moscow still hopes the current state of affairs can be reversed and Ukraine cease to be a hostile entity, Peskov added.

“We still expect and hope that, one way or another, manifestations of nationalist ideas will get banned in Ukraine, we hope that the Russian language will restore its position in Ukraine,” he outlined.

Not because it is Russian, but because this language is spoken by many millions, tens of millions of Ukraine’s residents. This is their native language, it cannot be made second- or third-class.

Peskov also reiterated Moscow's resolve to defend itself and its allies from any threats. He explicitly cautioned potential adversaries against targeting Russia’s “closest ally” – Belarus – in any manner.

“An attack on any member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), especially our closest ally, is, in fact, tantamount to an attack on Russia. There is absolute mutual support here. Nobody should doubt that,” he said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/553193-peskov-ukraine-hostile-country/