https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/turkey-us-discuss-nato-expansion-ukrainian-grain-export

Turkey & US discuss NATO expansion, Ukrainian grain export

The Turkish foreign ministry's press service told Sputnik today that the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed NATO expansion and Ukrainian rain exports from the Black Sea with his American counterpart, Antony Blinken.

"Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken today. During the meeting they discussed bilateral relations, NATO enlargement and grain shipments from Ukraine," the statement read.

World leaders and international organizations have been raising concerns over the world's food crisis since the start of the war in Ukraine, citing disruptions in supply chains, the price hike, and derailed crop productions in the world's bread basket on the Black Sea.

Ukraine and Russia account for an estimated 30% of global exports of wheat, 20% of maize, and 76% of sunflower.

If Ankara is ready to help clear the water of the ports of mines for the export of Ukrainian grain, the Russian and Turkish Armed Forces will be able to agree on the best way to conduct this affair, Lavrov explained.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had previously said that his country's navy would ensure the free passage of vessels carrying Ukrainian grain, which are now blocked in the Black Sea ports, once Kiev agrees to remove its mines from the coastal waters.

Millions of tons of grain remain trapped in Ukraine, stored in silos and at the port of Odessa, causing a dramatic increase in global food prices that is expected to worsen as the war continues.

Ukraine is considered the world's fourth-largest exporter of corn and fifth-largest exporter of wheat, and the UN's program to combat food insecurity purchases roughly half of its wheat from Ukraine each year.

Several countries and international organizations have been calling for the unblocking of the Ukrainian seaports since the start of the war, with the aim of curtailing the rising food process and delivering crops to regions facing acute food crises as soon as possible.

This comes as Russia stressed that it would retain its grain export quota mechanism next season, and its exports in 2022 could reach 50 million tonnes.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/putin-lukashenko-discuss-regional-security-world-fertilizer

Putin, Lukashenko discuss regional security, world fertilizer supply

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, in St. Petersburg on Saturday to discuss several issues, including regional security and fertilizer exports.

"We must take care of our security and the security of the Union State [of Russia and Belarus] and maybe the security of other Collective Security Treaty Organization [CSTO] member states as well," Putin said during the meeting.

The CSTO member states are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.

Russia is ready to modernize the Belarusian fleet of Su-25 attack aircraft, Putin said, adding that Moscow would supply Minsk with Iskander-M nuclear-capable ballistic missile systems "over the next few months."

Lukashenko compared Lithuanian obstructions to rail cargo transit to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to a declaration of war.

Lithuanian authorities have announced that there has been a ban on the transit through their territory to Kaliningrad, Russia, of goods subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union starting last Saturday.

Senator Konstantin Kosachev, the deputy speaker of the upper house of Russia’s parliament, said that Lithuania broke international law when it implemented the economic "blockade" on Russia's Kaliningrad Region. In a statement via his Telegram channel, Kosachev said "Lithuania is a flagship of the destruction of international law."

The region is a Russian enclave that falls between EU and NATO members Poland and Lithuania, both of whom have staunchly been opposing Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, exporting arms to Kiev and imposing sanctions on Moscow.

"An increasing number of reports suggest that they plan to stifle transit to Kaliningrad from Russia through Belarus. It is akin to declaring war. It is unacceptable under current circumstances," the Belarusian president said.

Putin underlined that the allies would continue working on the Union State project, while assuring his ally, Lukashenko, that government agencies had "coordinated everything", and it was time to put implement their agreements.

On fertilizers, Putin said that the two countries were the world's largest exporters of crop nutrients. Russia alone exports about 15% of the world's fertilizers, he estimated.

"A lack of fertilizers will, of course, cut crop forecasts for the next year. It is very sad," the president said.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said earlier this month that fertilizer prices had more than doubled. He warned that the world faced shortages of all staple crops next year and urged to bring Russian crops and fertilizers back into world markets despite the conflict.

Western sanctions on Moscow and Mink imposed over the war in Ukraine have undermined Russia and Belarus's sales of agricultural products around the globe, which prompted the Kremlin to suspend the export of fertilizers.

The sanctions fired back against the West, surging food prices in March to their highest levels ever, while the International Monetary Fund warned in April that global food prices would likely rise further in the future due to the war, the sanctions on Russia and Belarus, and climate issues ravaging the planet.

Belarus was sucked into the debacle due to its backing of Russia against NATO and Ukraine.

>>16517140

nasty

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/25000-people-evacuated-from-ukraine-donbass-to-russia-in-pas

25,000 people evacuated from Ukraine, Donbass to Russia in past day

More than 25,000 people have been evacuated to Russia from dangerous areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), as well as Ukraine, over the past day, Russian National Defense Control Center chief Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev said on Saturday. Mizintsev also heads Russia's humanitarian response coordination headquarters.

"Over the past 24 hours, without the participation of the Ukrainian side, 25,674 people, including 3,803 children, were evacuated to the territory of the Russian Federation from dangerous areas of Ukraine and the Donbass republics," he told a briefing.

The official also revealed that since the start of the Ukraine war, more than 2.1 million people, including more than a third of a million children, have been evacuated to Russia.

Mizintsev did not report any attempts by Ukraine to interrupt the evacuation process, but that was the case several times. Ukrainian nationalists have shelled gatherings of people seeking evacuation and opened fire against surrendering civilians in a bid to discredit Moscow's humanitarian efforts.

The Ukrainian forces and nationalists have also been committing provocations against civilians in areas they control, and Russia's humanitarian efforts come in a bid to curtail any offensives against civilians.

The authorities in Kiev have ordered nationalist battalions to film and direct staged videos about looting and mass murder to accuse the Russian armed forces of being behind these crimes, Mizintsev had underlined in April.

Russia has also been sending aid to civilians affected by the war, but on several occasions, the Ukrainian nationalists were found to be taking humanitarian aid away from Donbass civilians, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) reported in April.

Russia had unilaterally opened the humanitarian corridors for civilians months ago to help them evacuate from Ukraine despite the lack of cooperation from Keiv.

"We officially declare that humanitarian corridors toward the Russian Federation will be opened unilaterally, without any approvals, now daily from 10 a.m. [07:00 GMT], as well as in other directions upon coordination with the Ukrainian side. In areas controlled by the Russian armed forces, we guarantee complete security," Moscow said on March 11.

>>16517158

Concur.

>>16517168

Thanks

>>16517215

Pope's turn?

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/technology/twitter-fb-tiktok-more-are-run-by-the-fbi-cia-and-nato

Twitter, Fb, TikTok, more are run by the FBI, CIA, and NATO

After conducting an analysis of employment and recruitment websites, MintPress News found that Twitter has hired “an alarming number” of ex-FBI agents and other former “feds and spies.”

According to MintPress New’s report, “dozens of individuals from the national security state” have been hired in recent years “to work in the fields of security, trust, safety, and content.” Furthermore, it is stated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the chief among the places where Twitter finds future recruits. While the FBI is largely known as “a domestic security and intelligence force,” however, the report highlights that “it has recently expanded its remit into cyberspace.”

For example, the report showed that Mark Jaroszewski, the current director of corporate security and risk at Twitter, had previously worked for 20+ years at the FBI. Also, there is Karen Walsh, director of corporate resilience at Twitter after 21 years as a special agent with the FBI.

Agencies such as NATO and the Central Intelligence Agency have also been named as key apparatus for personnel higher at Twitter.

“Twitter also directly employs active army officers. In 2019, Gordon Macmillan, the head of editorial for the entire Europe, Middle East and Africa region was revealed to be an officer in the British Army’s notorious 77th Brigade – a unit dedicated to online warfare and psychological operations. This bombshell news was steadfastly ignored across the media,” the outlet stressed.