Tag: russia

Former Trump Advisor Says FBI Raided His Home This Week Because He Criticized Biden’s Ukraine Policy

The FBI earlier this week raided the home of Dimitri Simes, a Russian-born policy analyst who advised Trump in 2016.

Dimitri Simes, who has been living and working in Russia since October 2022, said his Virginia home was raided because he spoke out against the Deep State and criticized Biden’s Ukraine policy.

The raid “clearly is an attempt to intimidate, not only somebody from Russia, but just anyone who goes against official policies and particularly against the deep state,” Simes told Sputnik News.

“My suspicion is that instead of trying to get me to come to the United States and to interrogate me — or even to arrest me — their real purpose is to make sure that I would not come back,” said Simes.

The bank account Simes uses to pay the mortgage on the home was also frozen.

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Russian Sources Warn Ukraine is Reportedly Planning to Detonate “Dirty Nuclear Bomb” Targeting Russian Nuclear Power Plants

Ukrainian forces struck a nuclear power plant in the Zaporizhia region on Sunday, an area controlled by Russia.

The cooling systems at the nuclear plant caught fire, sending a dark cloud of smoke in the air above the plant.

According to Wikipedia, the Zaporizhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the ten largest in the world. It has been under Russian control since 2022. It was built by the Soviet Union near the city of Enerhodar, on the southern shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper River.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that a fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The cooling system was allegedly not working.

On Friday, Russia warned that Ukraine is plotting a dirty bomb attack at a Russian nuclear energy plant.

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So what really happened in Kursk?

An extremely serious debate is already raging among selected circles of power/intelligence in Moscow – and the heart of the matter could not be more incandescent.

To cut to the chase: what really happened in Kursk? Was the Russian Ministry of Defense caught napping? Or did they see it coming and profited to set up a deadly trap for Kiev?

Well-informed players willing to share a few nuggets on condition of anonymity all stress the extreme sensitivity of it all. An intel pro though has offered what may be interpreted as a precious clue: “It is rather surprising to see such a concentration of force was unnoticed by satellite and drone surveillance at Kursk, but I would not exaggerate its importance.”

Another intel pro prefers to stress that “the foreign intel section is weak as it was very badly run.” This is a direct reference to the state of affairs after former security overseer Nikolai “Yoda” Patrushev, during Putin’s post-inauguration reshuffle, was transferred from his post as secretary of the Security Council to serve as a special presidential aide.

The sources, cautiously, seem to converge on a very serious possibility: “There seems to have been a breakdown in intel; they do not seem to have noticed the accumulation of troops at the Kursk border”.

Another analyst though has offered a way more specific scenario, according to which a hawkish military faction, spread across the Ministry of Defense and the intel apparatus – and antagonistic to the new Minister of Defense Belousov, an economist – let the Ukrainian invasion proceed with two objectives in mind: set a trap for Kiev’s top enemy commanders and troops, who were diverted from the – collapsing – Donbass front; and put extra pressure on Putin to finally go for the head of the snake and finish off the war.

This hawkish faction, incidentally, regards Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov as “totally incompetent”, in the words of one intel pro. There’s no smoking gun, but Gerasimov allegedly ignored several warnings about a Ukrainian buildup near the Kursk border.

A retired intel pro is even more controversial. He complains that “traitors of Russia” actually “stripped three regions from troops to surrender them to the Ukrainians.” Now, these “traitors of Russia” will be able “to ‘exchange’ the city of Suzha for leaving the fake country of Ukraine and promote it as an inevitable solution.”

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Ukraine Wants to Start Talks Using Kursk Nuclear Plant Seizure as Ultimatum – Akhmat Head

The Ukrainian Armed Forces went on the offensive on August 6 to seize territory in Russia’s Kursk region, but their advance was stopped, said Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia’s General Staff. He stressed that the operation in Kursk will be completed by defeating the enemy and reaching the state border.

Units of the Russian Armed Forces are in the Kursk city of Sudzha, which the enemy does not control but there are daily clashes, commander of the Akhmat special forces Apti Alaudinov told Russian media.

“Today there are units of the Russian Defense Ministry in Sudzha. There is an enemy around and in some parts of the city. There are active clashes there every day. The enemy cannot say that he completely controls Sudzha, because he does not really control it,” Alaudinov said.

The major general also said that Kiev is planning on seizing the Kursk nuclear power plant on August 11 and use this to start negotiations with Moscow with an ultimatum.

“We received very interesting materials — the whole layout of the operation, which was being prepared, by what forces and what was planned. What can I say: on the 11th [of August] it was necessary to take the nuclear power plant in Kurchatov… [Ukrainian President] Zelensky’s blitzkrieg, which was planned with the seizure of the Kursk nuclear power plant and already entering negotiations with an ultimatum… failed,” Alaudinov explained.

The operation had not been completed, despite all the reserves directed by Kiev in this direction, Alaudinov said.

“Most of the equipment has already been destroyed from what was deployed in the Kursk direction,” Alaudinov concluded.

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Ukrainian Shelling Causes Fire at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

Ukrainian shelling started a fire at one of the cooling towers at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, according to Zaporizhzhia’s Russian-installed governor, Yevgeny Balitsky.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its experts stationed at the ZNPP, which has been under Russian control since February 2022, saw dark smoke rising at the plant after hearing multiple explosions. They were told by plant officials that one of the cooling towers was targeted by an alleged Ukrainian drone attack.

The IAEA said there was no reported impact on nuclear safety as a result of the fire, and Balitsky said radiation levels around the plant were normal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is claiming that the fire was started by Russians who control the plant. The ZNPP is located in the town of Enerhodar on the south bank of the Dnieper River. Russia controls the territory on the southern bank, while Ukraine controls the territory on the northern side.

Zelensky wrote on X that a video of the fire at the plant was recorded from the city of Nikopol, which is across the river. “Enerhodar. We have recorded from Nikopol that the Russian occupiers have started a fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” he wrote.

Zelensky also said the radiation levels at the plant were normal. “However, as long as the Russian terrorists maintain control over the nuclear plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal,” he added.

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Last Year’s Pentagon Leaks Proved That Zelensky Was Plotting To Invade Russia Since January 2023

So much has happened since spring 2023’s Pentagon leaks that few even remember that they happened, but they’re more relevant than ever amidst Ukraine’s ongoing invasion of Russia’s Kursk Region since they proved that Zelensky had been plotting this since January 2023. The Washington Post reported on this aspect of those leaks in May 2023, writing that the US was already aware by then that Zelensky thought that this move would “give Kyiv leverage in talks with Moscow.”

This wasn’t lost on the Russians either since RT promptly published an article about it, which was analyzed here at the time, thus raising questions about why there weren’t better border defenses in place just in case. These reports circulated right before Ukraine’s ultimately failed counteroffensive, so it’s possible that the border was fortified as a precaution ahead of that happening, but then Russia grew complacent with its on-the-ground gains in Donbass over the past year and let its guard down.

About that, this analysis here from last week pointed out that Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk Region should incentivize Russia to finally eliminate groupthink. It’s difficult to believe that there were no reports whatsoever about a build-up along the border ahead of time, thus meaning that higher-ups might have dismissed whatever they were speculatively told by their underlings as “irrational”. Therein lies the problem since Ukraine always ends up surprising Russia but relevant lessons have yet to be learned.

Whether it’s long-range drone strikes against its strategic airfields, early warning systems, and even the Kremlin or naval drone attacks against its Black Sea fleet, all of which are aided by the Anglo-American Axis, Russia should have expected by now that every one of its soft spots is a likely target. Nevertheless, it’s regularly caught with its pants down, though folks also shouldn’t forget that it still intercepts a lot of drones and foils many impending plots too.

With that being said, more could have been done to protect the border from the invasion that Zelensky had been plotting for a year and a half. Prior to the latest events, he employed terrorist proxies for cross-border raids into Belgorod Region, which might have deceived Russia into thinking that Ukraine abandoned its plans for a conventional invasion. That could explain why the only forces that it deployed along the border were counter-sabotage units who were unprepared to fend off a real invasion.

Such a decision still represents a lapse in judgement, however, when recalling that Ukrainian military-intelligence chief Budanov drew attention to Kursk Region in mid-May shortly after the start of Russia’s push into his country’s Kharkov Region. He said at the time that “they are holding a small group of forces in the border area, in the town of Sudzha. From our side, it is the Sumy direction, but the situation has not yet allowed them to take active action and start, let’s say, implementing their plan.”

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Ukrainian offensive into Russian territory is first direct attack into Russia since 1941

The Ukrainian offensive deep into Russian territory marks the first direct attack on the country since 1941, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro.

The operation, which began in the Kursk region, is not merely a diversion but signifies a new direction in the conflict, the newspaper suggested.

On Aug. 7, Ukrainian forces seized at least three localities in the Kursk region, as confirmed by local media reports on the same day. Mykhailo Podolak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, also confirmed the offensive on Aug. 8.

In recent months, particularly last spring, Ukrainian forces faced additional challenges due to a Russian attack on the Kharkiv region. Although the aggressors failed to penetrate deeper into Ukraine, it added further strain to the already stretched Ukrainian military.

The operation in the Kursk area might be an attempt to force Russians to redeploy their troops to this region, thereby relieving defenses on other fronts, and possibly even to recapture territories occupied by Russia.

There is also a possibility that the operation is intended to be demonstrative, to convey that, after months of difficult situations, Ukrainians are again in control of the battlefield dynamics.

“The idea (behind this attack) is to show that Ukrainians are still brave, formidable, and not merely retreating,” said an anonymous representative of the French military. The Kursk region is poorly defended compared to areas around Donetsk, where the heaviest fighting is ongoing.

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What Is The Objective Behind Ukrainian Incursion Inside Russia’s Kursk Region?

The Ukrainian armed forces incursion into Kursk Oblast in Russia raises questions – not the least of which is…why?

We have some possible answers:

The effort itself is not sustainable, and can expose the Ukrainian elements to encirclement, but perhaps the AFU commanders don’t mind that eventual possibility, if there are getting what they want in other ways.

First, the development could be all theater, to lay the groundwork for some bigger event our psychopathic overlords have planned as the 2024 election approaches.

Second, the incursion could be to gain territory for the inevitable peace negotiations that will have to come, if WWIII is to be avoided — a bargaining chip if you will.

Third, the capture of Russian territory could be a diversion to take Russia’s eyes off the Ukrainian  Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which may be the main target.

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Newly Released Footage Proves That Gershkovich & Whelan Were Indeed American Spies

This debunks the fake news alleging that they were “innocent Americans taken hostage by Russia”.

The US Government (USG) insisted throughout the entire time of Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan’s imprisonment in Russia on espionage charges that these two were “wrongfully detained”, but newly released footage from the FSB proves that they were indeed American spies. Folks can view the footage of Gershkovich here and Whelan here, both of which have a brief video analysis from RT’s Murad Gazdiev embedded at the bottom that’s also worth watching to place everything into context.

Gershkovich’s includes audio which proves that he knew that he was soliciting classified defense secrets on behalf of the Wall Street Journal and then planned to mislead their readers by claiming that they only spoke to an “anonymous source” without mentioning that they also obtained documents about this. He also tried hiding the flash drive that he obtained during his meeting with his source in a Yekaterinburg restaurant when he was arrested, which the video specifically highlights to draw attention to.

As for Whelan, there’s no audio in his video but it shows him receiving a flash drive in a hotel bathroom from a friend who he claimed during his interrogation was allegedly giving him pictures of churches. RT’s brief analytical video amusingly mocks his story as absurd. After all, Gazdiev reminded everyone that friends share pictures over email or text, not via flash drives in hotel bathrooms. Just like Gershkovich, he also obviously knew that he was illegally soliciting classified secrets, in this case about FSB officers.

Nevertheless, CNN promptly spun this newly released footage as alleged evidence of “entrapment”, completely ignoring the fact that both men knowingly accepted flash drives from their Russian sources that they were told contained classified information about their host country’s national security. It’s altogether a very shoddy information product that reeks of desperation to distract from the visual evidence that those two were literally caught red-handed receiving Russian state secrets.

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EU endorses Ukraine’s incursion into Russia

The European Union fully supports the actions of Ukraine’s forces, including striking Russian territory, European Commission spokesman Peter Stano has said.

The statement came a day after Ukraine launched a major cross-border sortie into Russia’s Kursk Region early on Tuesday. At least five civilians were killed in assault as of Wednesday evening, according to the Interim Governor of Kursk, Aleksey Smirnov. Another 31 people – including six children – were injured in the Ukrainian shelling of the town of Sudzha, Russia’s Health Ministry said late on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the Kursk attack yet another “large-scale provocation” by Kiev, accusing Ukrainian troops of deliberately targeting civilians.

Commenting on the raid, Stano said Ukraine has the right to defend itself, “including by striking the aggressor on its territory.” 

“The EU continues to fully support Ukraine’s legitimate right to defend itself” and win back its lost territories, the spokesperson told the Ukrainian news network Suspilne on Wednesday.

Kiev considers the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, the Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as the Crimean peninsula to be parts of Ukraine. All five territories formerly joined the Russian Federation after a series of democratic referendums.

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