26 May, 2022 19:08

Moscow casts doubt on rumored Ukraine peace plan

The Italian proposal was never shared with Russia and cannot be serious, judging by media reports, Lavrov says

Russia doesn’t believe that a Ukraine peace proposal, which the Italian government reportedly shared with Kiev and Western allies, could be a viable solution to the ongoing crisis, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said in an interview with RT Arabic.

The document does not appear to be the potential breakthrough that some Italian officials claim it to be, Lavrov said. Italian Foreign Minister “Luigi Di Maio has been active in the media promoting the Italian four-point initiative. But we only read about it,” The foreign minister explained, referring to the fact that Italy apparently wouldn’t officially share its idea with Russia.

If judged by what the media said about the proposal, itmakes Moscow “pity the lack of comprehension by its authorof what is going on and their lack of knowledge of the subject and the history of the issue,” Russia’s top diplomat said.

The most glaring part is that the Italian proposal reportedly envisions the future of Crimea and Donbass as autonomous parts of Ukraine, he said. Russia reabsorbed Crimea in 2014, after the region’s population voted in a referendum for it to happen. Moscow recognized the People’s Donetsk and Lugansk republics as independent states days before launching its offensive in Ukraine.

“A serious politician that wants results as opposed to self-promotion before the voters simply cannot propose such things,” Lavrov told RT.

The diplomat reiterated that Russia used force against Ukraine because Kiev broke its written promises to reintegrate the Donbass republics as autonomous regions. Instead, two subsequent Ukrainian governments simply ignored rebel leaders while driving breakaway republics increasingly away with a trade blockade and discriminatory policies, Lavrov said.

“[Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky spits on Ukraine’s international obligations as well as on its constitution, which guarantees the rights of the Russian-speaking population,”Lavrov said.

He was referring to Ukrainian laws and regulations, which pushed the Russian language out of many spheres of public life in Ukraine, like the media, entertainment and education.

Donbass regions are predominantly Russian speaking. They rebelled against post-coup authorities in Kiev, partially because virtually the first move that they took was to strip the right of the regions to use Russian as a second official language.

Lavrov said that amid the Russian action in Ukraine, its military discovered Kiev’s plans to launch a major offensive against the breakaway regions, which was supposed to start in early March.

“I have no doubt that if this plan worked, the entire West would have turned a blind eye to any violations [by Kiev] the way they ignored its total disregard for any agreements over the previous five years,” he said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/556140-lavrov-italian-peace-proposal/

26 May, 2022 18:20

Moscow warns of new ‘Iron Curtain’

The West tries to bar its own people from accessing alternative information on the conflict in Ukraine, Russia’s deputy UN envoy says

Washington and its allies have turned into a new “collective ministry of truth,” rigorously preserving their narrative on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyansky told RT on Thursday. The West has launched a massive smear campaign against Russia in the media and on the internet, the diplomat believes.

Western governments seek to spread views that are “beneficial to them but do not always correspond to the reality,” Polyansky said, adding that they ultimately seek to put their own population into a “bubble of lies” that makes it hard for an ordinary person to distinguish between factual information and a distorted picture of what is happening on the ground in Ukraine.

“That is behavior of a Ministry of Truth,”Polyansky said. The diplomat also said that Western governments try to dismiss any alternative information as fake or simply block access to it. He particularly pointed to the Western nations banning Russian outlets like RT and branding any information coming from Moscow or the Russian media as “propaganda.”

“We need to speak about the new Iron Curtain that is being imposed upon us by Western countries,” the diplomat said. This tactic does not seem to work, at least when it comes to the UN, he added. According to Polyanksy, Russia feels “a good degree of support or at least of understanding of what we are doing” in the UN. Many people there have covertly expressed their support to Moscow and said they understand the reasons behind Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

“I do not think that the Western countries have succeeded in imposing a one-sided version of events” on other nations at the UN, Polyanksy said. Russia is “very active” in its attempts to present its own version of events. “We will try to promote our position … to push through this new Iron Curtain,” the diplomat said.

Current events will eventually bring the international community to a truly multipolar world, the diplomat believes, adding that the world is already witnessing a “profound transformation” and that it “will be different in a couple of months.”

(They don’t say anything they don’t mean)

https://www.rt.com/news/556109-west-iron-curtain-narrative-ukraine/

26 May, 2022 19:36

EU country may ban Soviet monuments

New law could make it mandatory for municipalities to dismantle all sites and objects “glorifying the Soviet regime”

Latvia's parliament, the Saeima, is aiming to pass a new law that would require the demolition of all sites and objects “glorifying the Soviet and Nazi Regime” on the territory of the country. The bill, which passed its first reading on Wednesday and is expected to be adopted by June 16, will make it mandatory for local municipalities to disassemble any Soviet monuments on their territory by the proposed deadline of November 15, 2022.

Under the proposed law, relevant local governments will be entitled to propose dismantling monuments regardless of the site’s ownership and without coordination with the legal owner of the object or the land on which it is located.

The bill’s text also estimates that there are currently around 300 monuments, memorial plates, and memorial sites dedicated to the Soviet Union in Latvia, and calls for the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers to draw up a list of objects that are to be dismantled by the end of July 2022.

The new law also applies to the ‘Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders’ which was erected in 1985 in the Latvian capital to commemorate the Soviet Army’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

The monument used to fall under a Latvian-Russian treaty on the preservation of monuments. However, that agreement was dissolved earlier this month by the Latvian parliament, citing Russia’s so-called aggression against Ukraine.

Although the move was supported by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers, it sparked outrage among Lativa’s pro-Russian population, as hundreds of people gathered outside Riga’s town hall on May 13 to protest the decision.

Several people, including three members of the Latvian Russian Union party were detained during the protests and charged with a variety of offenses, including “petty hooliganism.”

The dismantling of the Riga monument could reportedly cost up to €2 million, according to the city’s vice mayor, who said that the project is already being prepared and construction companies were being approached.

Latvian authorities have, however, noted that the new law on the dismantling of Soviet monuments does not include monuments placed in cemeteries and memorials for victims of the Soviets or Nazis.

https://www.rt.com/news/556154-latvia-dismantle-soviet-monuments/

26 May, 2022 14:43

Ukraine threatens NATO member

“Something could happen” with an oil pipeline running to Hungary, a Ukrainian official has warned

Ukraine has “a wonderful lever of pressure” on Hungary via the Druzhba – which translates to ‘Friendship’ – oil pipeline, Ukrainian energy minister adviser Lana Zerkal claimed on Thursday.

Speaking during an online discussion at the Kiev Security Forum, Zerkal criticized the policy of the Hungarian government, which is blocking a sixth round of EU sanctions, one which would ban Russian oil. Western countries have imposed harsh restrictions since late February, when Moscow launched its military attack on Ukraine.

In Zerkal’s opinion, Hungary is using the Russian military offensive as an instrument to achieve its own goals and thinks that now it “can demand anything” from the EU.

“Ukraine has a wonderful lever of pressure in its hands – it’s the Druzhba oil pipeline,” Zerkal said, adding that “something could happen” with Hungary’s separate part of the infrastructure.

“And, in my opinion,it would be very appropriate if something happened to it. But, again, it is in the hands of the government and the president to make decisions on political issues, to decide if we really want to talk to [Hungarian President Viktor] Orban in a language that he understands and that he imposes on the EU, or if we are not ready for that yet,” Zerkal stressed.

Zerkal later took to Facebook to clarify “her humble opinion” that “caused a diplomatic scandal,” saying “facts are a stubborn thing.”

“But, to calm the situation, it is worth specifying that the official position of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine on this matter is unchanged. Ukraine is a reliable transporter of energy carriers to Europe,” she stressed.

While Zerkal's words have already started to spread through Hungarian media, official Budapest has yet to comment on the issue.

In a letter to European Council President Charles Michel, seen by the Financial Times, Orban reportedly told the EU that a bloc-wide ban on Russian oil would cause serious problems for his country’s economy and thus “urgent investments” from Brussels would be needed instead.

Hungary is almost entirely dependent on Russia for its gas imports and relies on Moscow for more than half of its imported oil. The country gets 65% it through the Druzhba pipeline. Addressing possible sanctions against Russia’s oil, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto previously said that Budapest would back a ban on maritime shipments, but not on deliveries through pipelines.

Despite the lack of consensus within the EU, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday that the bloc’s 27 member states “will reach a breakthrough within days” on an embargo. Any decision on EU sanctions must be made unanimously.

Ukraine has consistently called on other European countries to stop buying Russian energy resources, claiming that by doing so they are financing Moscow’s military offensive.

In turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused European leaders of committing economic “suicide” by attempting to give up Russian energy.

https://www.rt.com/russia/556145-ukraine-threatens-eu-member/

The EU is now held hostage by Nazis, unfucking believable

26 May, 2022 14:20

Massive job losses feared in Austria without Russian gas

300,000 people could be laid off if energy supply stops

The suspension of Russian gas supplies would be “a serious blow” to the welfare of the Austrian people as it threatens some 300,000 jobs, Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported citing the Federation of Austrian Industries.

According to the president of the federation, Georg Knill, almost the entire food industry depends on the supply of the “blue fuel.” Steel production also requires huge capacities, he said, noting that other industries will also be seriously affected.

The Austrian government does not have a plan in the event of a cessation of gas supplies from Russia, Knill said as cited by the newspaper. The Cabinet reportedly proceeds from the point that “it should not be cold in any apartment.” (The only EU country that cares about citizens)

Knill said that authorities could first cut off gas to the country’s enterprises, which is a major concern for the nation’s business owners.

He stressed that he sees the danger not so much in the fact that Russia could “turn off the taps,” but in the decision of the European Union to stop importing Russian gas. The bloc earlier pledged to abandon fossil fuels by 2040-2050.

Meanwhile, Austrian energy giantOMV is preparing to open ruble accounts at Russia’s Gazprombank to pay for gas supplies, according to media reports. The company said that its next payment is due this month.

https://www.rt.com/business/556142-austria-job-losses-russian-gas/

26 May, 2022 15:03

EU not prepared for war – top diplomat

Josep Borrell claims the bloc’s armies would “run out of ammo in two weeks” if confronted with a conflict such as in Ukraine

The European Union is not prepared for a war such as the one in Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell warned on Wednesday. He made the claim at a debatepanel hosted by the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS) lobby group.

The top diplomat stated that he doesn’t believe it “realistic” that EU nations could substantially improve their military capabilities in a timely manner, since the process is “voluntaristic”and there is no “law of gravity to make things happen.”

He explained that even though it is well known where the EU defense shortcomings are, there has to be a “wake-up call” for members to act in a coordinated manner and not end up wasting money. However, he expressed his dismay that the war in Ukraine was apparently not “the right wake up call.”

“We should learn from this war. Look, the European armies couldn't maintain a war like the one in Ukraine for more than two weeks. They’ll run out of ammunition,” Borrel said.

He also pointed to the fact that EU states had grown too accustomed to peace and refused to acknowledge the threat looming from abroad. He stated that the bloc was built with the banner of peace and that war had “disappeared from our collective imagination,”after its founders set out to make war “mentally impossible.”

However, the diplomat noted that peace was “no longer an engine, no longer something that moves. Yes, peace, okay, what else?”

“Don't believe that peace is the natural state of things. The natural state of things is war and we in Europe, we have been accustomed to believe that peace is the normal state and I hope that we are not going to learn that this is not the case,” he said.

Borrell went on to compare Europeans to “big birds that put their head inside the sand” and don’t want to understand how dangerous the world is, insisting that it is important to make them understand “how the world is.”

Borrell previously called for an enhancement of European defense capabilities and for shortfalls revealed by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to be overcome. He wrote in his blog on Sunday that the most obvious examples of such gaps were the “depleted stockpiles resulting from the military support we provided to Ukraine,” as well as issues “inherited from past budget cuts and underinvestments.”

“The EU needs to take on more responsibility for its own security,” which would require creating “modern and interoperable European armed forces, looking at the higher-end of the spectrum and also striving to scale up capabilities and forces,” he pointed out.

The diplomat underscored three main lines of action that should eventually allow the bloc to eradicate the current deficiencies in its defense:working on combat readiness, stockpile replenishment and modernization of its capabilities. (Unbelievable when Trump warned them over and over and they are still noy military ready. Wow! What if it was the middle east attacking?)

“The time to push forward European defense is now. We need to strengthen the European defense industrial base and to be operational with the needed military capacities. To be able to increase our military capacity to defend ourselves, to make NATO stronger and to support better our partners whenever needed,”he insisted.

Meanwhile, Moscow has decried the EU’s increasing militarization and has argued that the bloc is becoming an “aggressive militant player that has ambitions stretching far beyond the European continent” and is “following in the footsteps of NATO.”

https://www.rt.com/news/556147-josep-borrell-war-eu-unprepared/

26 May, 2022 11:25

Putin predicts failure of the West

The Russian leader claimed that his country's opponents are attempting to act like global police

(Which is why Trump didn’t want to protect every country and not our own)

Western nations that are trying to punish others with economic sanctions areoverestimating their strength, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the Eurasian Economic Forum on Thursday.

“More and more countries in the world want and will pursue independent policy,” he said at the international event. “No ‘world policeman’ can halt this natural global process. No one is that strong.”

“They face challenges inside their nations, and I hope they realize that this policy has absolutely no prospects,” the Russian leader said, referring to the US and its Western allies.

Russia became the world’s most sanctioned nation after the West retaliated against it for attacking Ukraine in February. The restrictions were touted by officials as a way to inflict a cost on Russia and destabilize its economy to coerce Moscow into a retreat. However, many nations refused to join the sanctions drive, including NATO member Turkey.

Global markets, which were already under pressure due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the disruption of supply chains, have been further destabilized by the stand-off. Many Western nations have experienced levels of inflation unseen in decades as energy and food prices have surged on the uncertainty.

The event where Putin made the remarks was organized by the Eurasian Economic Union, a regional economic integration organization comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia as members.

In his opening speech, the Russian leader explained how his country had no intention of shuttering its economy to the rest of the world. He also reported how Russia was dealing with the sanctions, including by replacing crucial imported products with domestically-produced replacements.

https://www.rt.com/russia/556125-world-policeman-stop-freedom-nations-putin/

26 May, 2022 13:54

HomeWorld News

Ukrainian ambassador insults Germany again

Kekkity!!!

Ambassador Andrey Melnik is apparently angry at the pace of arms deliveries from Berlin

Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andrey Melnik, posted an image on Thursday implying that German weapons are being sent to Ukraine at a snail’s pace. Melnik has a long record of insulting his host nation.

Melnik posted an image of a snail with a bullet taped to its shell on his official Twitter account, along with the text “German weapons for Ukraine already on their way.” Claiming to have been sent the picture by a member of the government in Kiev, he added a dismissive “Pff. Russia must not win the war.”

Melnik’s post came a week after the German Defense Ministry announced it would deliver 15 1960s-era Gepard anti-aircraft vehicles to Ukraine in July, along with 59,000 rounds of ammunition and training for their operators. In April, Berlin authorized their manufacturer, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, to deliver up to 50 units to Ukraine at the German government’s expense.

Berlin has also sent shoulder-fired anti-tank rockets and reportedly delivered seven self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, but an earlier deal that would have seen 50 or more Leopard 1 tanks donated to Kiev fell through, reportedly due to a lack of ammunition and spare parts for the Cold War-era vehicles.

Melnik welcomed the delivery of the Gepard vehicles, but accused Germany of failing to display “imagination and courage” by sending more heavy weapons. In an interview with German tabloid Bild earlier this month, the ambassador asked for 88 Leopard tanks, 100 Marder tanks and more self-propelled howitzers, while he also called on Berlin to pass a lend-lease law to allow for an unlimited supply of arms and ammunition to Ukraine.

With Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisting that his country should strive to “avoid a direct military confrontation” with Russia, Melnik told Bild that he thinks the German government “is very good at justifying and giving absurd excuses for its inaction."

Melnik has veered into even more undiplomatic language too. After Kiev told German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in April that he was “not wanted” in the city due to his past warm relations with Moscow, Scholz called it “unacceptable to tell the president of a country that provides so much military assistance, so much financial assistance…that he can't come.”

Rather than defuse the tension, Melnik declared that Scholz was acting like an “offended liverwurst.” While the chancellor said that he would not “overreact” to the remark, a number of German MPs complained, with Left Party deputy leader Sevim Dagdelen demanding the expulsion of Melnik. Dagdelen called the ambassador a “Nazi sympathizer”over his pilgrimage to the grave of Ukrainian war criminal and Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.

Melnik has also ridiculed the chief of Volkswagen for urging Ukraine and Russia to pursue a negotiated peace deal, calledGermany’s reliance on Russian energy imports “shameful,” and describing an invitation to a concert at Steinmeier’s residence in March as “an affront” due to the fact that Russian musicians were set to perform.

(Ukraine apparently has a lot of dirt on EU countries that they can insult them so indiscriminately)

https://www.rt.com/news/556137-melnik-ambassador-insult-germany/

>>16347629

I know, these people are disgusting. Behind China and India, Russia to my knowledge is the worlds oldest countries and societies

Anons I just won a $1,000 on a $10 scatch off ticket. I’ve made the money back I’ve lost in the last year. Its not worth it, but its fun.

>>16347683

I agree

>>16347675

This was the funniest comment from Undead FOIA

https://twitter.com/UndeadFoia/status/1529471482434228224?s=20&t=u_A_EoLWYHv3yH9BSdprQA

>>16347675

This has proved to me I NEVER want fo be on a jury! The jurors must be so confused.