30 Jul, 2023 01:40

Ukrainian drones attack Moscow’s financial district – mayor

The UAVs have damaged the facades of two high-rise buildings in the Russian capital, Sergey Sobyanin said

Ukrainian drones have attacked Moscow City, the Russian capital’s iconic financial and business district, where some of the country’s tallest skyscrapers are located, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in the early hours of Sunday.

“The facades of the [Moscow] City’s two office towers sustained minor damage. There are no casualties or injuries,” Sobyanin wrote in a short post on his Telegram channel.

News agency TASS cited emergency services as saying that there was “an explosion” between the fifth and the sixth floor of the 50-story building in the ‘IQ-Quarter’ complex, which has three high-rise buildings. Local media reported that residents heard a loud blast.

The damaged building has been evacuated, officials said. The evacuations from other Moscow City buildings are underway.

Unverified video posted to Telegram reportedly shows the moment of the attack.

Police and firefighters have arrived at the scene.

All flights to and from Vnukovo airport, which is to the southwest of Moscow, have been canceled, aviation officials told TASS. Two of Moscow’s other airports – Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo – are working as usual.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

https://www.rt.com/russia/580534-drone-attack-moscow-city/

30 Jul, 2023 00:51

Barbie dolls should be banned – Russian MP

Maria Butina has accused the American toy giant of spreading LGBTQ messages

A member of the Russian State Duma, Maria Butina, has called for the removal of Barbie dolls from the Russian market, arguing that their manufacturer Mattel was promoting an “LGBT agenda” instead of family values.

She added that the recently released Barbie movie serves as “an advertisement of the [US] Democratic Party and its program.”

“What do we see? Gays, trans people, and women who took over the world. (Direct shot at Obama)

There is nothing about the union between a man and a woman, nothing about love,” Butina, member of the lower house of Russia’s parliament, told Duma TV on Saturday. She argued that Russia should promote domestic doll brands that better fit the society’s values.

Russia originally banned “LGBTQ propaganda” aimed at minors in 2013. The restrictions were tightened further last December, when the promotion of “non-traditional sexual relations” and transgenderism were outlawed entirely.

In July, the Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill that strictly limited access to sexual reassignment surgery and the ability to legally change one’s sex.

The Barbie movie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, was released in theaters on July 21, 2023 and has become a box office sensation. The movie, however, is not shown in Russia due to the current boycott of the country by Warner Bros Pictures in the wake of the military conflict with Ukraine.

https://www.rt.com/pop-culture/580525-barbie-dolls-should-be-banned/

29 Jul, 2023 20:13

Command and control of troops is not my business – Putin

Interfering with the military would have been “wrong” and “ill-advised,” the Russian president has said

It is not the president’s role to directly command troops, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday, commenting on his role in the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev. Interfering with the military would have been “wrong,” he told the media at a press conference following the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg.

Putin said he was well aware of the situation on the frontlines but does not consider command and control of the military to be “my business.”

The president said he talked with top brass several times a day and could also contact “specific units” when needed. Putin then named several Russian commanders down to the rank of colonel that he'd talked to over the past few days, adding that, although he did receive frontline reports from them, he mostly wanted to thank them for their actions on the battlefield.

The Russian president has regularly commented on situations at the frontlines amid the much-touted Ukrainian counteroffensive that was launched in early June. He repeatedly pointed to Ukraine’s losses in the operation, which he described as “catastrophic.” Last week, he said Kiev lost 26,000 troops in its attacks on Russian defensive positions.

On Thursday, Putin said that Ukraine lost ten times more soldiers than Russia during a battle, calling the difference “colossal.” During Saturday's press conference the president said thatKiev was “exposing” its soldiers to Russian artillery strikes as it makes them attack on foot, supposedly to preserve Western-supplied equipment.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580527-not-putins-business/

29 Jul, 2023 21:16

Musk denied Ukraine Starlink access near Crimea – NYT

Kiev sought to use the SpaceX satellite network to launch an attack on Russian ships in 2022, the US media outlet has reported

The SpaceX co-founder, US billionaire Elon Musk, prevented Ukraine from using his company’s Starlink satellite communications system to strike Russia, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

SpaceX has donated over 20,000 Starlink satellite terminals to Ukraine since the escalation of the conflict with Russia in late February 2022, providing internet access in chaotic battleground areas that would otherwise be cut off. Kiev, however, sought to weaponize the communications system, according to the NYT.

At some point in 2022, Ukrainian forces wanted to use the satellite system to launch a maritime drone and strike Russian ships docked at Black Sea ports. Musk refused Kiev’s request to grant its forces access to Starlink near Crimea to facilitate the attack.

In mid-February the entrepreneur said on Twitter that his company would not “enable escalation of a conflict that may lead to WWIII.” He also said that SpaceX would not be “allowing Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes.”He also warned about the risks of a global conflict, adding that most people seem to be “oblivious” to the danger of it.

According to the NYT, SpaceX also restricted access to its Starlink systems depending on frontline changes. The company used location data gathered by its service to enforce certain limits on satellite communication access, the media outlet said, adding that such a policy supposedly “caused problems” during Kiev’s counteroffensive attempts.

Starlink was initially hailed by both Ukraine and the US as a gamechanger for the Ukrainian military, providing a reliable communications system that Russia allegedly could not disrupt through hacking.

Musk then gradually fell out of favor with Ukrainian officials, provoking the ire of Kiev on several occasions. In autumn 2022, he said that SpaceX could no longer cover the Starlink operation costs in Ukraine out of its own pocket. In October 2022, he revealed that the effort would cost $20 million a month and could not be sustained indefinitely.

According to the NYT, about 1,300 Starlink terminals in Ukraine stopped working after Kiev failed to pay the $2,500 monthly fee for each. In December 2022, it secured additional funding from some of its European backers to cover the system’s costs.

The SpaceX CEO also incurred Kiev’s wrath by suggesting a peace plan in October 2022 that would have required Ukraine to make concessions to Russia. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s aide, Mikhail Podoliak, then demanded that the billionaire either side with Ukraine and refrain from seeking “ways to do harm,” or that he be seen as pro-Russian.

In June of this year the Pentagon announced it had awarded a contract to SpaceX for Starlink satellite communications services in Ukraine. The US Department of Defense declined to disclose any details about the deal, citing “operational security reasons” and the “critical nature of these systems.”

https://www.rt.com/news/580531-musk-ukraine-starlink-access-crimea/

30 Jul, 2023 01:22

Key takeaways from Putin’s Q&A session with journalists

The president answered questions after concluding the major Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg

President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Strelna, Russia on July 29, 2023. © Aleksandr Kazakov / Sputnik

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a press conference on Saturday evening, addressing topics ranging from national security to global food supply.

The event took place after the conclusion of the two-day Russia-Africa summit attended by delegations from nearly 50 countries.

Putin’s meeting with journalists, however, was dominated by the ongoing tensions with the West over Ukraine.

Moscow ready for ‘any scenario’ with NATO

Apart from the standoff over Ukraine, this month saw several non-fatal incidents in Syrian skies involving Russian aircraft and US drones, with both sides blaming each other for reckless behavior. Russia would like to avoid a direct armed confrontation with the West, but keeps the worst possible scenarios in mind, Putin said. “If someone wants it – and that’s not us – then we’re ready,” he stressed.

Putin doesn’t directly command operation in Ukraine

According to the Russian leader, as commander-in-chief, he has been receiving regular reports about the situation of the front line and spoke with his top generals several times a day. Putin added that he can reach out to “special units” when needed. However, it would be “wrong” for the president to interfere with the military and start directly commanding the troops, he said.

Kiev running out of conscripts

The Ukrainian army is not only suffering heavy losses on the battlefield, but is struggling with manpower as well, Putin argued. He said that, while taking prisoners, Russian authorities discovered thatUkraine had “formed military units” made up of aircraft technicians. “What does it tell us? That their mobilization resources are depleting,” the Russian leader said. He previously pointed out that Kiev’s forces lost dozens of Western armor, including German-made Leopard 2 tanks and US-supplied Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.

Crimean Bridge will have additional protection from attacks

The security around the long bridge, which connects Crimea with mainland Russia, will be strengthened in the wake of this month’s Ukrainian attack, which killed two people and wounded a 14-year-old girl. Russia has responded with “preemptive strikes” on sites that were used to manufacture and deliver naval drones that targeted the bridge, Putin explained.

Russia is more important to global food supply than Ukraine

The share of Ukrainian grain on the world markets is less than 5%, while the share of grain from Russia is more than 20%, Putin said, adding that the amount of grain exported from Ukraine would shrink further due to Kiev’s mobilization efforts. Russia has recently refused to renew the 2022 deal aimed at facilitating the deliveries of foodstuffs and fertilizers from Ukraine and Russia. Moscow has since argued that Western countries failed to hold up their end of the bargain.

EU states keep blocking fertilizer shipments to developing countries

Putin noted that Russian cargo is still held up in the ports of the Baltic states. Moscow was ready to deliver the fertilizers to the countries in need for free, but had been barred from doing so. “Nobody can explain to us why,” he said. The Russian leader said last year that the country was not allowed to ship 300,000 tons of its fertilizers out of EU ports.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580532-putin-press-conference-july/