Tag: russia

Former commander who criticised Putin for the state of Russia’s air force is mysteriously found dead alongside his wife

A former commander of Russian air defences has been found dead alongside his wife under mysterious circumstances.

Highly-decorated Lieutenant General Vladimir Sviridov, 68, and his wife Tatyana, 72, were dead for around a week before their corpses were found, it is reported.

The retired pilot once criticised Vladimir Putin for running a ‘third-ranking’ air force, warning top officers were leaving the armed forces because of dire pay and conditions.

Russian authorities have been unable to ascertain the cause of death, local media reported. 

The general and his wife were found in their home in the village of Adzhievsky in Stavropol region.

‘Gas service workers have already taken measurements and no excess of the permissible concentration of harmful substances has been detected,’ an initial report into their death read. 

‘What caused the death of Vladimir and Tatyana Sviridov is still unknown.’

Keep reading

WaPo Drops Bombshell On The Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage Narrative: A Ukrainian Colonel, Covert Ops, & The CIA’s Shadow

No lesser deep-state mouthpiece than The Washington Post just dropped a bombshell with the revelation that Ukrainian Colonel Roman Chervinsky “was integral to the brazen sabotage operation” on the Nord Stream pipeline, “according to officials in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, as well as other people knowledgeable about the details of the covert operation.”

The bombing, dubbed a “dangerous assault on Europe’s energy infrastructure” by US and Western officials at the time, marked a critical juncture in the ongoing tensions between Russia and the West. By targeting the pipeline, the operatives (whoever they were) struck a blow to a critical artery of Russian energy exports, a sector that has been at the heart of European-Russian economic relations.

Additionally, as the Goebbels-ian narrative that ‘Russia did it’ was pushed by mainstream media (and politicians), it enabled further ‘aid’ to be sent to Ukraine, to ‘protect interests’.

Chervinsky, a senior figure within Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, was allegedly the “coordinator” of the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline. The operation, executed with precision and secrecy, involved deep-sea diving and explosive charges, ultimately resulting in substantial damage to the pipeline which Ukraine had long complained would allow Russia to bypass Ukrainian pipes, depriving Kyiv of huge transit revenue.

Of course, as one would expect, the Ukrainian Colonel, via his counsel, refutes any involvement in the pipeline sabotage, blaming Russia for this accusation.

“Without merit, Russian propaganda is spreading all rumors regarding my participation in the assault on Nord Stream,” Chervinsky stated in a written statement to The Washington Post and Der Spiegel, which jointly investigated his activities.

It would not have been out of character as WaPo reports that Chervinsky is a decorated officer with extensive experience in covert operations, reportedly including plans to ensnare Russian Wagner mercenaries and targeting pro-Russian separatists, highlighting a pattern of aggressive, high-stakes operations against Russian interests.

Furthermore, WaPo reports that Chervinsky did not act alone and he did not plan the operation, again “according to the people familiar with his role,” but instead took orders from more senior Ukrainian officials, who ultimately reported to Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s highest-ranking military officer, “according to people familiar with how the operation was carried out.”

More problematically, Chervinsky’s involvement in the Nord Stream assault is in direct opposition to Zelensky’s public denials regarding Ukraine’s involvement.

Keep reading

U.S. WEAPONS TRANSFERS TO ISRAEL SHROUDED IN SECRECY — BUT NOT UKRAINE

ONE MONTH SINCE Hamas’s surprise attack, little is known about the weapons the U.S. has provided to Israel. Whereas the Biden administration released a three-page itemized list of weapons provided to Ukraine, down to the exact number of rounds, the information released about weapons sent to Israel could fit in a single sentence.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged the secrecy in an October 23 press briefing, saying that while U.S. security assistance flows to Israel “on a near-daily basis,” he continued, “We’re being careful not to quantify or get into too much detail about what they’re getting — for their own operational security purposes, of course.”

The argument that transparency would imperil Israel’s operational security — somehow not a concern with Ukraine — is misleading, experts told The Intercept.

“The notion that it would in any way harm the Israeli military’s operational security to provide more information is a cover story for efforts to reduce information on the types of weapons being supplied to Israel and how they are being used,” William Hartung, a fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and expert on weapons sales, told The Intercept. “I think the purposeful lack of transparency over what weapons the U.S. is supplying to Israel ‘on a daily basis’ is tied to the larger administration policy of downplaying the extent to which Israel will use those weapons to commit war crimes and kill civilians in Gaza.”

Keep reading

U.S., European officials broach topic of peace negotiations with Ukraine, sources say

U.S. and European officials have begun quietly talking to the Ukrainian government about what possible peace negotiations with Russia might entail to end the war, according to one current senior U.S. official and one former senior U.S. official familiar with the discussions.

The conversations have included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal, the officials said. Some of the talks, which officials described as delicate, took place last month during a meeting of representatives from more than 50 nations supporting Ukraine, including NATO members, known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the officials said.

The discussions are an acknowledgment of the dynamics militarily on the ground in Ukraine and politically in the U.S. and Europe, officials said.

They began amid concerns among U.S. and European officials that the war has reached a stalemate and about the ability to continue providing aid to Ukraine, officials said. Biden administration officials also are worried that Ukraine is running out of forces, while Russia has a seemingly endless supply, officials said. Ukraine is also struggling with recruiting and has recently seen public protests about some of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s open-ended conscription requirements.

And there is unease in the U.S. government with how much less public attention the war in Ukraine has garnered since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly a month ago, the officials said. Officials fear that shift could make securing additional aid for Kyiv more difficult. 

Some U.S. military officials have privately begun using the term “stalemate” to describe the current battle in Ukraine, with some saying it may come down to which side can maintain a military force the longest. Neither side is making large strides on the battlefield, which some U.S. officials now describe as a war of inches. Officials also have privately said Ukraine likely only has until the end of the year or shortly thereafter before more urgent discussions about peace negotiations should begin. U.S. officials have shared their views on such a timeline with European allies, officials said.

Keep reading

Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Says the War Is a Stalemate

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny acknowledged in comments to The Economist that the war in Ukraine is a stalemate and that there will “most likely” be no Ukrainian breakthrough.

“Just like in the First World War, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” the general said. “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.”

Ukraine gained no significant territory in its counteroffensive that was launched back in June. Media reports and the Discord leaks revealed that the US, Kyiv’s main backer, did not think Ukraine would have much success, but the Biden administration pushed for the counteroffensive anyway.

Zaluzhny discussed changes he tried to make during the counteroffensive. “First I thought there was something wrong with our commanders, so I changed some of them. Then I thought maybe our soldiers are not fit for purpose, so I moved soldiers in some brigades,” he said.

After the changes failed, Zaluzhny said he looked to a book published in 1941 by a Soviet major general that analyzed World War I. “And before I got even halfway through it, I realized that is exactly where we are because just like then, the level of our technological development today has put both us and our enemies in a stupor,” he said.

Zaluzhny said that both sides can always see the other coming, thanks to modern technology. “The simple fact is that we see everything the enemy is doing and they see everything we are doing. In order for us to break this deadlock, we need something new, like the gunpowder which the Chinese invented and which we are still using to kill each other,” he said.

Keep reading

U.S. ammo supplies feel the pinch as Ukraine and Israel draw down depleted inventory

President Biden, in his prime-time address to the nation this month, called America the “arsenal of democracy,” evoking President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s message to a nation emerging from the Great Depression that it had the industrial base and know-how to arm Britain and other countries fighting Nazi Germany.

“Just as in World War II, today, patriotic American workers are building the arsenal of democracy and serving the cause of freedom,” Mr. Biden said Oct. 19 in remarks from the Oval Office.

Like the days before the U.S. entered World War II, countries asking for America’s help are questioning the Pentagon’s ability to meet their needs.

Conflicts in Ukraine and Israel have required some logistical backing and filling with uncertain end dates for planners.

In January, the Pentagon dipped into a little-known stockpile earmarked for Israel to help Ukraine meet its urgent need for artillery ammunition to continue its nearly year-old fight against Russian invaders.

The munitions were intended to support future U.S. and allied military needs in the Middle East, but Ukrainian troops were expending thousands of artillery rounds a day to claw back territory from Moscow.

Keep reading

The White House is losing the messaging war on Ukraine. Now it’s changing the message.

The White House has been quietly urging lawmakers in both parties to sell the war efforts abroad as a potential economic boom at home.

Aides have been distributing talking points to Democrats and Republicans who have been supportive of continued efforts to fund Ukraine’s resistance to make the case that doing so is good for American jobs, according to five White House aides and lawmakers familiar with the effort and granted anonymity to speak freely.

The push, first previewed publicly in President Joe Biden’s Oval Office address last week, comes ahead of the election of a new House speaker, with the White House trying to invoke patriotism to help convince holdout Republicans not just to help Kyiv but to pass a major package that includes funds for Israel as well.

“As we replenish our stocks of weapons, we are partnering with the U.S. defense industry to increase our capacity and meet the needs of the U.S. and our allies both now and in the future,” according to a copy of the talking points obtained by POLITICO.

“This supplemental request invests over $50 billion in the American defense industrial base — ensuring our military continues to be the most ready, capable, and best equipped fighting force the world has ever seen — and expanding production lines, strengthening the American economy and creating new American jobs,” the document states.

The talking points are an implicit recognition that the administration has work to do in selling its $106 billion foreign aid supplemental request — and that talking about it squarely under the umbrella of national security interests hasn’t done the trick.

The White House’s pitch is an echo of one made by an influential figure on the other side of the aisle: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Keep reading

Ukraine’s baby factories rake in record profits amid chaos of war

While average Ukrainians suffer amid NATO’s proxy war against Russia, business is booming for the surrogate baby industry, which requires a steady supply of healthy and financially desperate women willing to lease their wombs to affluent foreigners.

Surrogates “have to be from poorer places than our clients,” explained the medical director of Kiev’s largest “baby factory.”

Ihor Pechonoha of the Swiss-based BioTexCom says the business model that enabled him to build one of the most profitable surrogacy companies in the world is simple exploitation: “We are looking for women in the former Soviet republics because, logically, [the women] have to be from poorer places than our clients.”

It is no surprise then that BioTexCom’s quest for rentable wombs has led it to the seemingly endless pool of desperate young women in war-torn Ukraine. Eight years of civil conflict combined with the subsequent proxy war between NATO and Russia has plunged Ukraine into economic disaster. As Ukrainians sank into poverty, their country swiftly emerged as the international capital of the surrogacy industry. Today, Ukraine controls at least a quarter of the global market—despite being home to fewer than one percent of the world’s population. Alongside the industry’s rise, a seedy medical underworld filled with patient abuse and corruption took hold of the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his team have actively encouraged the West to plunder their war-torn country, inking an investment partnership with the global asset management firm Blackrock, stripping workers of labor protections, and handing state owned companies over to private firms.

Yet Ukraine’s surrogacy industry has fallen under the radar, despite pumping over $1.5 billion into the country’s economy in 2018 alone. Since then, the global market for surrogate babies has more than doubled. The industry was valued at over $14 billion in 2022, and is projected to grow by around 25% annually in coming years, according to an analysis by Global Market Insights.

Keep reading

‘Russia Will Pay The Price!’ Israeli Official Amir Weitmann Threatens Russia is Next After Gaza

Amir Weitmann of Israel’s ruling Likud Party threatened Russia that Israel will come after them once their war with Gaza is over for supporting Hamas “Nazis” who “beheaded babies” and “raped” women.

Weitmann claimed everyone has seen such atrocities with their own eyes (I guess like Biden).

From Newsweek:

Amir Weitmann, the head of the libertarian caucus in Israel’s Likud Party, appeared on Russia’s state-run RT News network this week and spoke about fighting between Israel and Hamas militants, as well as Russia’s war with Ukraine.

While speaking about recent claims relating to al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, Weitmann criticized Russia, saying that “we’re gonna finish this war, we’re going to win because we’re stronger. After this, Russia will pay the price, believe me, Russia will pay the price.”

“Russia is supporting the enemies of Israel. Russia is supporting Nazi people who want to commit genocide on us and Russia will pay the price,” Weitmann said. “We’re gonna win this war. Afterwards, we’re not forgetting what you’re doing, we’re not forgetting, we will come, we will make sure Ukraine wins. We will make sure that you pay the price for what you have done, you as Russia.”

You can see the full interview on RT’s Odysee channel.

Keep reading

More children killed in Gaza than Ukraine

More Palestinian children were killed in the first few days of Israeli attacks on Gaza than Ukrainian children in 18 months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Though I follow many international developments closely, this stunned me.

American television viewers have routinely been told that Russia’s attack on Ukraine is extremely brutal.

How much worse must be the brutality meted out to Palestinian children to have all this death packed into a matter of days as the Western media fail to convey the full horror of what is happening in Gaza and how quickly.

According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) regarding Ukraine, as of 5 October, it had “verified that 9,806 civilians, including 560 children, have been killed as a result of the war. The Office has also verified that 17,962 people, including 1,196 children, have been injured.”

Defense for Children International – Palestine reported Monday afternoon that already more than 1,000 children have been killed in Gaza.

Keep reading