KEK

8 Aug, 2023 11:54

Wagner boss expresses ‘joy’ over Victoria Nuland

The mere mention of the PMC has caused the US to consider recognizing the new government in Niger, Evgeny Prigozhin has said

Wagner chief Evgeny Prigozhin says he is proud of the members of his private military company as simply mentioning their name can compel Washington to reassess its positions. Acting US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland recently urged Niger’s new military government not to enlist the help of the Russian contractors.

Speaking to journalists over the phone on Tuesday, Prigozhin was asked to comment on Nuland’s personal visit to Niger and her advice to the new government not to strike any deals with Wagner.

“I am proud of the boys from Wagner,” replied Prigozhin. “Just the thought of them makes ISIS and Al Qaeda small, obedient, silky boys. Andthe US has recognized a government that it did not recognize yesterday just to avoid meeting the Wagner PMC in the country.”

“This brings joy, Mrs. Nuland,” he quipped.

One of the members of the new military government in Niger, Gen. Salifou Moody, reportedly sought the assistance of Wagner to help safeguard their power. The coup leaders are currently facing an approaching deadline to either return ousted president Mohamed Bazoum to power or face a possible military intervention by neighboring states.

On Monday, Nuland, who played a role in the events leading up to the Western-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014, revealed that she had personally met with Niger’s current defense chief Moussa Barmou and three other senior commanders to urge them to restore the constitutional order in the country.

The US official also claims to have warned Barmou against enlisting the help of the Russian PMC, suggesting that Prigozhin’s group is a “threat to those countries where it is present.”

Niger’s new leaders, however, have apparently refrained from making any firm commitments on the issue.

Moscow, meanwhile, says it opposes any foreign interference in the situation in Niger, arguing that it would most likely fail to change the situation for the better. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has expressed hope that the turbulent country will soon return to “constitutional normality.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/580994-prigozhin-wagner-nuland-niger/

8 Aug, 2023 11:33

Moscow will achieve peace in Ukraine on its own terms – Medvedev

The ex-Russian president noted that Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia in 2008 failed despite Western support

While Ukraine is enjoying unprecedented Western support, it will not prevent Moscow from achieving its national security goals – just as it did not help Georgia’s ill-fated invasion of South Ossetia in 2008, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.

Writing on Telegram on the 15th anniversary of the start of the five-day conflict between Russia and Georgia, which erupted when Tbilisi shelled the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinval, Medvedev noted that Moscow “responded resolutely to the despicable attack”and “gave a tough rebuff to the aggressor.”

Medvedev, who was president at the time of the hostilities, said that then-Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili had the backing of “the collective West, which even then was trying to stir up the situation in the immediate vicinity of Russia’s borders.”

However, Medvedev continued, it took Moscow’s military less than a week “to severely punish the impudent [Georgian] nationalists.”

Explaining the West’s failure to do more to derail Russia at the time, the ex-president said that “the US and its vassals clearly did not have enough experience then.”

“Today they are once again waging a criminal war by proxy, trying to wipe Russia off the face of the earth,” he added, referring to the conflict in Ukraine.

The entire NATO system is fighting against us practically in the open. We have enough forces to solve all the tasks of the special military operation. Just like in August 2008, our enemies will be crushed, and Russia will achieve peace on its own terms.

When Tbilisi, which at the time was actively seeking closer ties with NATO, attacked the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, Moscow responded by announcing a ‘peace enforcement operation’ to protect Russian citizens living in the area, as well as the local Russian peacekeeping contingent. Meanwhile, another breakaway region – Abkhazia – announced a mobilization, fearing a renewal of fighting with Tbilisi.

Russian reinforcements quickly turned the tide, pushing Georgian forces back into their territory, with Medvedev announcing the end of the operation on August 12. Later that month, Moscow recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Tbilisi, however, still claims both territories as its own, with only a handful of countries, including Syria and Venezuela, recognizing their independence.

Russian officials have repeatedly slammed the West over its massive weapons deliveries to Ukraine, arguing that it will only prolong the conflict, but will fail to change the outcome. Moscow has also said that the security assistance makes NATO a direct participant in the hostilities.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580993-medvedev-ukraine-peace-georgia-invasion/

8 Aug, 2023 05:56

US lying about Russia’s position on Ukraine peace talks – Moscow

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that Kiev had withdrawn from negotiations under Western pressure

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova lashed out at Washington over claims that Moscow has rejected peace negotiations with Kiev.

On Monday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing that “There are no peace negotiations going on with Russia right now, because Russia has refused to engage in meaningful peace negotiations.”

Later that day, Zakharova wrote on Telegram: “They know perfectly well that they told [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky to withdraw from peace talks in April 2022, they caused Kiev’s ban on talks with Russia, adopted in September 2022, they have been declaring all year that it’s not the right time for talks, but they still blame Russia anyway.”

Zakharova also advised Miller to read an interview of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he gave in April. She was apparently referring to comments Blinken gave to the Funke Media Group, in which he said he did not support the idea of beginning negotiations, while hailing Kiev’s counteroffensive.

Last week, senior officials from more than 40 countries took part in a summit in Saudi Arabia regarding the situation in Ukraine. Russia was not invited to attend, and called any negotiations without its participation “pointless.”

After the talks, Kiev said it had rejected all points of compromise and had not given up on its ‘peace formula’ – a set of ten demands amounting to unconditional surrender on the part of Russia, which Moscow sees as “a useless ultimatum” that only serves to prolong the conflict.

The Russian Defense Ministry estimated that during June and July, Ukraine sustained losses of more than 43,000 troops in its counteroffensive against Russian positions. According to the ministry’s data, over 4,900 pieces of heavy weaponry were destroyed during this period of time.

(The State Dept. Rewriting history will fail.)

https://www.rt.com/russia/580984-us-lying-russias-position-ukraine-talks-moscow/

>>19321139

8 Aug, 2023 08:30

Maidan ‘midwife’ warns Niger against courting Wagner

The country’s new military government understands the risk of inviting the defense contractor, Victoria Nuland believes

Acting US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has traveled to Niger where she met with the new military government and warned against enlisting the help of Russian defense contractor Wagner Group. Nuland, who spoke of the risks of foreign interference, played a role in events leading up to the Western-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014.

Speaking to reporters during a special briefing on Monday, Nuland revealed that she met with the military government’s defense chief Moussa Barmou and three other senior commanders. She described the negotiations as “extremely frank and at times quite difficult.”

Last month the presidential guard detained Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum and his family, sparking international condemnation. The coup also triggered pushback from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which threatened military action against Niger’s plotters unless they reinstate Bazoum. The new government has refused to back down.

Nuland also said that she urged the coup leaders to “hear our offer to try to work with them to solve this diplomatically and return to constitutional order.”

She also addressed recent media reports that the new Nigerien military government had sought the assistance of Wagner Group PMC to solidify their position.

According to the US official, she “raised the [issue of] Wagner and its threat to those countries where it is present.” Although her counterparts did not make any firm commitments, she said she believed they understood her message.

“I got the sense in my meetings today that the people who have taken this action here understand very well the risks to their sovereignty when Wagner is invited in,”Nuland added.

Widely regarded as a foreign policy hawk, Nuland famously traveled to Kiev prior to the Maidan coup in 2014, handing out pastries to Ukrainian protesters demanding that their country embrace a pro-Western course.

Nuland also entered in the spotlight during the protests after a phone call was leaked in which she discussed possible successors for then Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich. Yanukovich was later ousted from power, which led to Crimea rejoining Russia and violent clashes in the Donbass.

Last week, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov warned that any interference in Niger by powers outside the region would be unlikely to change the situation for the better. He also reiterated hope that the turbulent country will return to “constitutional normality.”

https://www.rt.com/africa/580985-nuland-niger-wagner-warning/

7 Aug, 2023 14:24

Kiev covering up illegal organ trade – Moscow

Ukraine has become a world leader in black-market trafficking, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has claimed

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has alleged that members of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s administration are personally engaged in, and are covering up, the illicit export of human organs.

In an article published on the Foreign Ministry's website, Maria Zakharova cited media reports suggesting that the organs of killed Ukrainian soldiers, such as hearts, kidneys and livers, have been appearing on some of the biggest marketplaces of the dark net, with prices starting at €5,000 ($5,500). One dealer allegedly claimed thatit takes 48-60 hours to receiveany desired organ in a medical box, with deliveries limited to EU countries.

Zakharova noted that organs were also being traded offline, citing reports from June that representatives of a health ministry in a NATO country had struck a deal with some “private businessmen” who were assisted by Ukraine’s Health Ministry and Presidential Officeto deliver a refrigerated train car full of human organs and body parts.

According to the spokeswoman, organ trafficking in Ukraine has boomed since the authorities inKiev passed a number of laws that “drastically simplifiedthe work of transplant specialists in the country.”

Specifically, Zakharova pointed to last year’s Law No. 5610, which exempted transplantation from value-added tax, and the December 2021 Law No. 5831, whichremoved the need to notarise the written consentor authenticate the signature of a living donor-to give up their organs

In an explanatory note attached to the 2021 bill, Ukrainian lawmakers explained the simplification of the country’s organ transplant regulations by the need to increase the efficiency of the transplantation system, in order to save more lives. Additionally, Ukrainian law prohibits buying or selling human anatomical materials andbans the harvesting of organs from orphaned children, unidentified persons, or people who died in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Nevertheless, Zakharova claimed that according to experts, Ukrainian organ sellers are not able to specify the origin of biomaterial that they schedule for delivery. It’s apparently believed that many of these organs are supplied by black-market transplant specialists, whoillegally remove them from the bodies of dead soldiersand burn the unclaimed remains.

Zakharova claimed that such suspicions are backed by the high death rate and the large number of missing Ukrainian soldiers, as well the shortage of specialists and reagents for studying corpses in Ukraine.

“This allows these criminals to cover their tracks and send human organs and body parts to the western regions of Ukraine, where they are prepared to be sent abroad for transplants,” she said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580958-russia-ukraine-organ-trafficking/

>>19321600

Demon

>>19321655

Kek, I miss these posts. I remember the first one i saw in early 2018, and asked is this real?