10 May, 2022 15:18

HomeRussia & FSU

Russia to help Belarus build missiles – Lukashenko

The Belarusian president says Minsk wants a weapon similar to Russia’s Iskander

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that his country will build a new missile system with Moscow’s help.

Speaking at a meeting with military officials, Lukashenko said he had been promised “full support” from Moscow in the development of a missile similar to those used in Russia’s Iskander short-range ballistic missile systems.

He added that the matter was discussed last month during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos.

“In my presence, President [Putin] told Rogozin to provide immediate support, so we wouldn’t build it from scratch but instead could use the experience of Russian missile experts who had built the Iskander.”

Lukashenko said he had struck a deal with Moscow to purchase Iskander missiles, noting that Belarus would “keep” the Russian S-400 air defense missile system currently stationed in the country.

Iskander missiles are launched from mobile launchers and can strike targets at a range of up to 500km (310 miles). Russia has used the missiles in Syria and, most recently, during its military campaign in Ukraine.

The S-400 is one of the most advanced long-range air defense systems in the world, and is produced by Russian company Almaz-Antey. According to the specifications, it can hit targets at a range of up to 400km, depending on the type of missile.

https://www.rt.com/russia/555251-belarus-russian-missiles-iskander/

10 May, 2022 17:19

HomeRussia & FSU

Ukraine's first president dies – media

Leonid Kravchuk, 88, passed away after a long illness, Ukrainian media reported

Leonid Makarovich Kravchuk, the first president of the post-Soviet Ukraine, has passed away at the age of 88.

Kravchuk died on Tuesday afternoon “after a long illness,” his family told the Ukrainian News Agency. The former president was hospitalized in June 2021 and placed in intensive care after heart surgery.

Born in the western Ukrainian region of Rovno, Kravchuk joined the Communist Party of Ukraine in 1958 and rose through the ranks of the propaganda department. In 1990, he became the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. He became the acting president of Ukraine in August 1991, after the Supreme Rada in Kiev adopted the Ukrainian constitution – and was formally elected on December 5, 1991.

Just three days later, he met with Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Belarusian parliament chair Stanislav Shushkevich at a dacha in Belarus, and signed the infamous Belovezh Accords that dissolved the Soviet Union. Shushkevich passed away earlier this month, at age 87. Yeltsin died in 2007.

Kravchuk lost the re-election race to Leonid Kuchma in 1994, but remained active in politics, first as an independent member of the Rada and then representing the Social Democratic Party (United) between 1998 and 2006, when he retired.

In 2020, Kravchuk was appointed head of Ukraine’s “contact group” for negotiating the peaceful solution for the Donbass conflict – replacing Kuchma, who had held the post since 2014.

https://www.rt.com/russia/555266-ukraine-first-president-kravchuk-dies/

10 May, 2022 15:21

HomeWorld News

Prison riot kills dozens, over 100 escape

One of the gangs involved in the clash in Ecuador is known to be responsible for casualties in another prison

(And they are probably coming to the US border)

The latest in a spate of prison riots in Ecuador has left 44 inmates dead and more than a hundred still at large, the country’s Interior Ministry confirmed on Monday.

According to the ministry’s head, Patricio Carrillo, the tragedy at the Bellavista prison in Santo Domingo, a province located to the west of the capital city of Quito, resulted from a fight between inmates from two rival gangs: Los Lobos, which was involved in a recent riot at another prison near the city of Cuenca, and R7.

Most of the deaths resulted from stab wounds, Carrillo said. He did not rule out that the number of casualties might increase as several people were severely injured. Initially, the authorities had spoken of 41 deaths but by Tuesday the number had increased to 44.

All of the bodies are expected to be transferred to relatives on Tuesday.

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso responded to the news by saying that his country “will not give in to the mafias.”

“Our commitment to restore order in prisons is firm. An example of this is the actions by the Interior Ministry and Ecuador Police which conducted an immediate transfer of 6 leaders of criminal gangs,” he said.

The gang leaders were transferred to two separate maximum-security prisons. According to Carrillo, 112 inmates have been recaptured while 108 are still at large.

Over the last few years, Ecuador has seen a significant increase in prison incidents. In 2021, at least 316 inmates were killed in separate prison riots.

This past April, meanwhile, 20 casualties were reported following a clash at the Turi prison, near the city of Cuenca.

The government has cited an increase in drug trafficking as among the factors contributing to the rise in violence in the country’s penitentiaries, although overcrowding in prisons remains a significant problem, even despite an increase in investment by the state

Last November, in yet another attempt to address the issue, Lasso granted pardons to several categories of inmates. This decision came a few days after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a strongly-worded statement urging the Ecuadorian authorities “to take immediate, effective measures to protect the rights to life and personal integrity of all individuals in State custody.”

Ecuador’s 65 prisons house around 39,000 inmates but have stated capacity for only 30,000.

The Bellavista prison has capacity for 1,200 inmates but currently houses 1,700.

https://www.rt.com/news/555259-prison-riot-kills-dozens/

10 May, 2022 14:17

HomeWorld News

Sanctions hurt US more than Russia – poll

Most Americans focused on economic woes at home, more than two in five of respondents indifferent to Ukraine's fate

A new poll has found that 53% of Americans believe that sanctions on Moscow hurt the US more than Russia. Amid soaring gas prices and rising living costs, voters are losing confidence in US President Joe Biden’s leadership, and 43% say they’re “OK” with Ukraine losing its ongoing conflict with Russia.

With inflation at a 40-year peak and gas prices near record highs, the Democracy Institute/Express.co.uk poll revealed that Biden is polling negatively in all policy areas, with foreign policy the worst. Some 56% disapprove of his handling of foreign matters, compared to 40% approving. On Ukraine specifically, only 38% approve of his stewardship, while 52% disapprove.

The Biden administration has attempted to blame Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, for the rising cost of living at home, with his officials repeatedly referring to “Putin’s price hike.” However, living costs were rising for months before Russia sent troops into Ukraine, and voters are pointing the finger at Biden for their economic woes.

Some 50% said they’d back Republicans in November’s midterm elections, compared with 42% saying they’d vote Democrat. In addition to more voters being “OK” than “not OK” with Ukraine losing the conflict with Russia (43%-41%), a majority of Americans think it would be better for Biden to leave office than for Putin to step down, by 53% to 44%.

Biden has sanctioned the Russian banking and energy sectors, and his administration has sent nearly $4 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promising last month to “move heaven and earth” to finance Kiev’s fighting. The US president has also asked Congress to approve another $33 billion aid package for Ukraine – of which $20 billion would be earmarked for military aid – and on Monday signed the Lend-Lease Act of 2022, allowing Washington to send unlimited quantities of arms to Kiev.

In the eyes of the Kremlin, this deluge of weapons plus the US and NATO’s intelligence-sharing arrangements with Kiev mean that the West is “essentially going to war with Russia through a proxy.”

American voters, however, are not as earnest as the Biden administration in fuelling this war. According to the latest poll, they consider Russia the fourth biggest threat to the US at 16%, behind North Korea (18%), Iran (20%), and China (40%).

https://www.rt.com/news/555252-biden-sanctions-hurt-america/

10 May, 2022 15:21

Millions of UK homes face no heat this winter, power chief warns

Scottish Power CEO warned that rising gas prices could drive energy bills to nearly £3,000 in October

Scottish Power CEO Keith Anderson told the Daily Mail on Monday that with gas prices skyrocketing in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine and Western sanctions on Russia, household energy bills could rise to £2,900 ($3,576) by October. With some 10 million UK homes potentially unable to afford heating, Anderson called on the government to set up a support scheme.

British households have already seen their energy costs – including electricity and heating – rise by £700 between October and April, and that increase is expected to accelerate, Anderson warned.

“It will hit incredibly hard and immediately,” said Anderson, whose company supplies electricity to parts of Scotland, England, and Wales. “If nothing else happens by October, I think we will see a huge increase in pre-payment customers in effect self disconnecting – not reloading their pre-payment meter because they can’t afford to do it.”

“We will also see a massive increase in debt levels for direct debit customers, and a massive increase in people being pushed from direct debits to prepayment meters so that companies can recover the debt,” he continued. “We are heading to a really horrible place where none of us want to be.”

While Scottish Power owns and operates two wind farms, the majority of the UK’s power comes from oil, gas, and coal. Just a fifth of the country’s energy is obtained from low-carbon sources, including wind, solar, and nuclear.

Anderson blamed the spike in household costs on a worldwide spike in wholesale gas prices, exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine. The UK has also voluntarily cut itself off from Russian oil and gas imports, and leaders in Europe are working toward a phased cutoff from Russian energy too.

The energy boss called on lawmakers to set up a support scheme for struggling households. Consumers have already received a £150 ($185) council tax rebate this month and will be offered a £200 ($246) loan in October. However, ”consumer groups and industry leaders” cited by the Daily Mail say that this will not be enough to “protect millions from facing a choice between heating and eating.”

Some have already sought out alternate sources of heat, with catastrophic results. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said on Monday that its officers responded to 100 house fires involving open fireplaces, log burners and heaters in recent months. “The Brigade fears that costly energy bills could result in a surge of fires as people resort to alternative means to heat their homes,” the LFB warned in a statement.

Aside from energy, the cost of food, clothing and transportation has risen across the UK, and the Bank of England warned last week that inflation would soon hit 10%. Andy Haldane, the Bank’s former chief economist, told LBC Radio on Monday that this number would likely increase, and that soaring inflation would “last the duration of the year, and into next or even the year beyond.”

https://www.rt.com/news/555258-uk-energy-heating-cost/

https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1524069311094140933?s=20&t=cirdLpQi3Cp6i-RmQPKBtA

10 May, 2022 14:49

HomeBusiness News

US oil request rejected – media

Brazil refused to raise crude output when asked by Washington, Reuters says

The US asked Brazil in March to increase its crude oil output to curb soaring prices amid international sanctions against Russia, but Brazil refused, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

US government officials approached Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras, the outlet quoted its sources as saying, as crude prices started to rise against the backdrop of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine and the ensuing international sanctions.

The officials came away empty-handed, however, as Petrobras said that output levels were determined by business strategy rather than diplomacy and also that a significant short-term production boost would not be logistically possible, Reuters says.

Brazil is the world’s 11th largest oil exporter, with most of its crude going to China, the US, and India, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC).

Also in March, the US approached Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, offering to ease some of the sanctions on the country in exchange for increased oil exports to the US. However, Washington later backtracked on the issue.

Washington banned the import of Russian oil in early March, with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm saying that the country was on “war footing,” and calling on domestic producers to boost output. Last year, the US got 8% of its total petroleum imports from Russia, according to the US Energy Information Administration, with other major suppliers being Canada, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia.

https://www.rt.com/business/555250-us-oil-request-rejected/

>>16249380

Seconded

>>16249371

I was wondering if Q team members are in the area? Kek