Month: April 2022

Baltics non-nuclear status in question

Blog, Conflict, Uncategorized

Brussels 16.04.2022 Russia is warning of new nuclear deployments in the Baltics if Finland and Sweden join NATO, as the two countries discussing a perspective to becoming part of the military alliance.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former President of Russia, wrote in a Telegram post on Thursday, April 14, that “there can be no talk of non-nuclear status for the Baltic” if Finland and Sweden join NATO.

The chairman said that should Finland and Sweden join NATO, Moscow would need to “seriously strengthen the grouping of land forces and air defense, deploy significant naval forces in the waters of the Gulf of Finland.”

“In this case, it will no longer be possible to talk about any nuclear-free status of the Baltic — the balance must be restored,” he added, according to CNBC.

Medvedev said that previously “Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to,” according to Reuters.

“If our hand is forced well … take note it wasn’t us who proposed this,” he added.

Putin: Russia proceeds with military operation

Blog, Conflict, Europe

Brussels 12.04.2022 President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, April 12, Russia will proceed according to plan with military operations in Ukraine as the pro-Western country braces for a major offensive in the east.

“Our task is to fulfil and achieve all the goals set, minimising losses. And we will act rhythmically, calmly, according to the plan originally proposed by the General Staff,” Putin said during a TV press conference.

Speaking to press following a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at “Vostochny” cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East, Putin dismissed claims Russian army was struggling against the Ukrainian resistance and was forced to withdraw from around major cities, including the Kyiv.

“Our actions in certain regions of Ukraine were just related to containing (enemy) forces, destroying military infrastructure, creating conditions for a more active operation in Donbas,” Putin said referring to a region in eastern Ukraine, parts of which are controlled by pro-Russia separatists.

Putin also added the military operation was not going to speed up, in order to minimise casualties.

“I often hear the question: is it possible to do it a bit faster? It is. This depends on the intensity of hostilities, but the intensity of hostilities is, unfortunately related to losses,” he explained.

The Ukrainian military commanders claim that Russia’s death toll has risen to nearly 20,000, though this may well be an exaggeration. However the figures, announced by the Russian Ministry of Defence do not seem convincing either.

Russian prisoners of war killings

Blog, Europe, Human rights, International, Politics

Brussels 11.04.2022 The evidence has emerged revealing Ukrainian soldiers killings of captured and bound Russian prisoners of war near Bucha, the small town near Kyiv where presumed massacre of Ukrainian civilians happened according to President Zelensky and the international community accusing Russia of war crimes.

Kiev is plotting, with the West’ support, provocations with massacre of civilians in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) to place the blame for it on the Russian army, Colonel Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said on April 10.

“Official Kiev, with the support from several Western countries, continues to plan barbarous and ruthless actions with mass killings of civilians in the Lugansk People’s Republic to later accuse the Russian armed forces and LPR troops,” he said.

According to the Colonel, a provocation is planned in the Ragovka community in the Kiev region. The Ukrainian side, in his words, is plotting to shoot a fake video about searches of places of mass burials of civilians allegedly killed by Russian troops. “A team of Ukrainian forensic experts and police officers will be involved in the provocation to make it look more trustworthy,” he said.

“Reporters from foreign mass media outlets have arrived in the city of Kremennaya in the Severodonetsk district and have accommodated in the building of the local hospital. They are supposed to record the Ukrainian army’s provocation with the alleged selling of ambulance cars carrying patients by Russian troops,” he said.

Apart from that, he said that Ukrainian nationalists have mined reservoirs with chlorine at a water utility in the Popyasnaya district and plan to blow them up when forces of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) approach the city.

Russia suspended from UN HRC Geneva

Blog, International, Politics

Brussels 07.04.2022 Today UN’s general assembly on Thursday, April 7, voted to suspend Russia from the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, in a new international reaction to Kremlin over the invasion of Ukraine and alleged atrocities, especially in the town of Bucha near the capital.

Ninety-three (93) UN members approved Russia’s suspension — the first imposed on any permanent member of the UN Security Council.

However, 24 UN members, including China, Iran, Bolivia and Kazakhstan, voted against Russia’s suspension. Another 58 countries abstained, including India, Indonesia and Egypt, showing that a wide range of countries are either siding with Moscow or remaining neutral as the military conflict continues.

Reacting upon the news Russian diplomat Gennady Kuzmin from the mission to the UN, said that the Human Rights Council has been in fact “monopolised by a single group of states that exploits the mechanism to achieve their opportunistic goals”.
“These states over years have either engaged in gross and mass violations of human rights or showed indulgence towards such”.

Romania: Russian Embassy violent attack

Blog, Conflict, EU

Strasbourg 07.04.2022 The Foreign Ministry of Romania urged not to rush to conclusions before the official investigation of the incident ends, and to refrain from drawing hasty conclusions, according to the statement from the Romanian ministry concerning a car, violently rammed into the gates of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest.

“The Foreign Ministry [of Romania] rejects the stance of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest following a dismal incident, which took place early this morning,” the statement from the Romanian Foreign Ministry reads.

“Therefore, the Foreign Ministry views any estimation of this incident as hasty, completely inappropriate and irrelevant,” the statement added.

Russian Ambassador to Romania Valery Kuzmin said earlier in the day that “a car-ramming attack at the entrance to the Russian Embassy’s building in Bucharest, should be classified as an “actual terrorist attack.”

A car rammed into the gates of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest in the early hours of Wednesday April 6 and subsequently burst into flames killing the driver behind the wheel. There were no other casualties reported in the attack.

According to pictures and videos posted earlier on Facebook – outlawed in Russia, owned by Meta Platforms, Inc. which is recognised as extremist by the Russian justice,- the burning vehicle was right in the front of the Russian Embassy’s gates.

Romanian TV channels cited their own sources that this was apparently a premeditated attack. According to some of them, the driver stopped in front of the gates and after a short exchange of words with on-duty security guards, he steered his car ahead, plowing into the gates.

The Russian ambassador in Romania said earlier that the driver of the car had several canisters in his sedan containing gasoline. After the perpetrator crashed into the gates of the Embassy building, on-duty police officers tried to drag him out of the car. “However, he directly stated to them that he would set the gasoline on fire, which he did and burnt [himself] alive inside the car,” Kuzmin specified.

The diplomat added that on the night of April 5 he was summoned to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, where he was handed a note regarding the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats from the country.

“Yesterday, I was summoned by the Romanian Foreign Ministry, where I was told about terrible protests, multiple condemnations voiced in regard to the events in [Ukraine’s] Bucha,” Kuzmin said. “I advised them to switch on the TV, which broadcasted a live session of the UN Security Council, where the Russian delegation was providing factual information and arguments.”

“However, I was told in response that we had to proceed to another issue of today’s talks and was handed a note about the expulsion of 10 diplomats from our Embassy’s staff,” the ambassador noted.

On March 29, a number of European countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Ireland, announced that they were kicking out Russian diplomats amid Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine. In particular, 21 Russian diplomats were expelled from Belgium, 17 from the Netherlands and four from Ireland. Earlier, a number of other EU states, including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, also sent Russian diplomats home.

Russia denies Bucha massacre responsibility

Blog, Conflict, EU, Human rights

Strasbourg 05.04.2022 The situation in the Ukrainian city of Bucha is a “false flag” operation to discredit Russian military and justify Western sanctions, and a genuine investigation into what happened is not something that NATO countries seek, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Tuesday, April 5.

“The only objective is to discredit Russia, justify the sanctions, weapons supplies and other unfriendly actions, as well as to further exacerbate the situation in Ukraine,” Volodin maintained.

According to the Duma speaker, “an investigation is of no use to NATO countries” because the perpetrators have already been found.

“There are no facts, just lies. The Ukrainian media had to delete the photo evidence posted by them, since the information is not confirmed. But no one cares about all this anymore. The accusations have been made,” Volodin regretted.

The Mayor of Bucha, Anatoly Fedoruk, has told AFP that 280 people have been buried after the Ukrainian Army found the city’s streets full of bodies after retaking it.

Ukraine accused Russian forces of carrying out a ‘massacre’ in the town of Bucha, while Western nations reacted to images of dead bodies there with calls for new sanctions against Moscow.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry posted a video early Sunday and accused Russian forces of executing civilians before their retreat from the suburb of Bucha, where bodies in civilian clothes dotted the streets in the wake of Russian withdrawal.

The prospects for resolution from peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are more in doubt than ever with the reported discovery of hundreds of corpses of civilians in Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs as Russian forces retreated.

The President of the European Parliament Robert Metsola said she was appalled by atrocities of Russian army in #Bucha other liberated areas. “This is cold reality of Putin’s war crimes. World must be aware of what is happening. Tougher sanctions must be imposed. Perpetrators & their commanders must be brought to justice”.

Russia-Ukraine: Medinsky continues drafting Treaty

Blog, Europe, International, NATO

Brussels 03.03.2022 Treaty with Ukraine is not ready yet to be discussed at the highest level, the Kremlin chief negotiator said. The Ukrainian authorities became more realistic in approaching the issues related to Ukraine’s neutral and non-nuclear status, Vladimir Medinsky continued. A draft of a Treaty between Russia and Ukraine is not yet ready “to be presented at the top-level meeting,” while Ukraine became more realistic in approaching the issue of its neutral and non-nuclear status, Medinsky who leads the Russian delegation.

“The Ukrainian side became more realistic in approaching the issues related to Ukraine’s neutral and non-nuclear status but the draft of the agreement is not ready to be presented at the top-level meeting,” Medinsky wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday, April 3.

Commenting on the remarks by David Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, who stated that Russia accepted Ukraine’s stance with the exception of Crimea, he noted that Russia’s point of view with regards to the status of Crimea and Donbass remained unchanged. Medinsky added that Moscow had been trying to achieve Ukraine’s neutral and unaffiliated status as well as security guarantees for it since 2014.

The talks between Russia and Ukraine delegations would continue on Monday April 4 while editing of the text of the agreement continued in a remote format on Friday and Saturday.

On March 29 in Istanbul, the first face-to-face talks in over three weeks between the delegations of Moscow and Kiev took place. The Russian side assessed the results of this round as “positive progress.” Following the talks, Medinsky said that Russia received Ukraine’s written proposals containing provisions on Ukraine’s non-nuclear and unaffiliated status.

However the powerful head of Republic of Chechnya, said that Kremlin would make no concessions in its war in Ukraine, deviating from the official line and suggesting the Russia top negotiator was wrong in articulating the delegation position.

Ramzan Kadyrov, who has Chechen forces fighting in Ukraine as part of Russia’s military operation, said in comments on Telegram that President Vladimir Putin would not simply stop what he had started there.