RT News - December 26th 2022

Ukraine targeted the Engels airfield in Russia’s Saratov Region with a drone early on Monday, the Russian Defence Ministry said. The UAV, traveling at a low altitude, was shot down by the base’s air defences, but three servicemen suffered fatal wounds from the falling debris, the ministry said. The men who died were technical staff. No aircraft stationed at the airfield was damaged. It's the second attack on the airfield this month (1)

"Almost every conspiracy theory about Twitter has turned out to be true." Elon Musk mocks Twitter's dark past, revealing how federal agents pushed it to censor negative information about Ukraine; told to label it 'Russian disinformation'.

Twitter banning inconsistencies weren't confined to Russia but other regions/commentators too, including Israel/Palestine.

Burkina Faso expels its UN coordinator declaring her "persona non grata", accusing the official of painting a negative picture of the country's security situation.

China calls out the US as a 'direct threat to international order', saying Washington is behind regional turmoil in many countries.

Qatargate:

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below 1) --- Three killed in Ukrainian drone attack on Russian airfield – MoD
2) --- Inflation in Russia continues to slow
3) -- Paris shooter admits ‘pathological hatred’ of migrants – prosecutor
4) --- Erdogan accuses West of ‘provocations’ over Ukraine
5) --- China responds to US ‘provocation’
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via RT website 26 Dec, 2022 05:24

1) --- Three killed in Ukrainian drone attack on Russian airfield – MoD

Three Russian serviceman were killed by debris from a destroyed UAV, the Defence Ministry says

Ukraine targeted the Engels airfield in Russia’s Saratov Region with a drone early on Monday, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

The UAV, traveling at a low altitude, was shot down by the base’s air defences, but three servicemen suffered fatal wounds from the falling debris, the ministry said. The men who died were technical staff, and none of the aircraft stationed at the airfield were damaged in the incident, the statement said.

The Saratov Region is located deep inside Russia, some 900 km from the Kiev-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine.

On December 5, Ukraine attempted similar drone attacks on the Engels facility and the Dyagilevo airfield in Russia’s Ryazan Region. According to the Defence Ministry, the “Soviet-made” jet drones used in the strikes were destroyed by air-defences, but their debris ended up killing three service personnel and “slightly” damaging two aircraft.

The bases Engels and Dyagilevo bases host Russia’s long-range bombers, involved in strikes on Ukrainian military facilities and energy infrastructure.
https://www.rt.com/russia/568913-airfield-ukraine-attack-saratov/
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related: 10 Dec, 2022 07:49

US greenlights Ukrainian attacks inside Russia – The Times

Washington now reportedly believes such strikes are less likely to trigger a direct clash between Moscow and NATO

The US has quietly given Ukraine the go-ahead to launch long-range strikes against targets inside Russian territory, The Times reported on Friday, citing sources. The Pentagon has apparently changed its stance on the matter as it has become less concerned that such attacks could escalate the conflict.

According to a US defense source interviewed by the outlet, the Pentagon is now “not saying to Kiev, ‘Don’t strike the Russians [in Russia or Crimea].’

“We can’t tell them what to do. It’s up to them how they use their weapons,” he said, adding that Washington only demands that Kiev conforms to international law and the Geneva conventions when using US-supplied weapons.

However, the Pentagon has revised the evaluation of threats linked to the Ukraine conflict, particularly on whether providing Kiev with arms might trigger a direct clash between NATO and Russia, the report says.

“We’re still using the same escalatory calculations but the fear of escalation has changed since the beginning,” a US official told the outlet, arguing that the calculus had changed due to “brutality the Ukrainians are being subjected to by the Russians.”

Against this backdrop, Pentagon officials are now reportedly “seriously” considering Ukraine’s requests for long-range weapons that could be used for strikes deep inside Russia. “Nothing is off the table,” a senior US defense official told The Times.

Earlier this month, Ukraine launched an attack on two Russian air bases in Ryazan and Saratov regions, both several hundred kilometers from Kiev-controlled territory, using a number of “Soviet-made” drones, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. The raid “fatally injured” three service members, with another four being taken to hospital.

On Tuesday, following the attack, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that Washington had “neither encouraged nor enabled the Ukrainians to strike inside of Russia.”

The report comes as Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba claimed on Thursday that, while Washington and Kiev agree that Ukrainian forces will not use US-supplied weapons to attack most Russian territory, this does not apply to Crimea.

In September, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned the US that, should it provide Kiev with long-range weapons, this would cross a “red line” and make America “a direct party to the conflict.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/567993-us-ukraine-attacks-deep-russia/
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26 Dec, 2022 05:19

2) --- Inflation in Russia continues to slow

The surge in consumer prices recorded earlier this year amid Western sanctions has been gradually subsiding

Annual inflation in Russia slowed during the week ending December 19, according to official data released on Thursday by Rosstat, the country’s official statistics agency.

The weekly inflation report showed prices having decreased by 0.3% against the previous week to reach 12.35% in year-on-year terms.

The price increases in the food segment slowed to 0.10% from 0.15% a week earlier due to a drop in the cost of fruit and vegetables. Rosstat noted that the prices on certain food items even fell below last year’s levels.

The non-food sector also recorded deflation, of 0.03%, mainly due to a decline in prices on electricity and household appliances. Prices on travel and tourism services fell 0.18% owing to a decrease in the cost of airline tickets and hotels, the report noted.

Inflation in Russia spiked to a 20-year high of nearly 18% in April against the backdrop of Ukraine-related Western sanctions. It has been gradually dropping in the subsequent months as the economy started to recover, trade flows were reoriented and the ruble strengthened. The indicator is still far above the central bank’s 4% target, however.

The Ministry of Economic Development forecasts annual inflation in Russia finishing this year at 12.4% and dropping to 5.5% next year. The central bank has issued similar forecasts, predicting a drop to 5-7% in 2023, and for price growth to fall to as low as 4% by 2024.
https://www.rt.com/business/568741-russia-annual-inflation-drop/
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26 Dec, 2022 00:46

3) -- Paris shooter admits ‘pathological hatred’ of migrants – prosecutor

A police interrogation sheds light on the gunman's motives

The gunman who shot and killed three people in the French capital has admitted to investigators that the massacre was driven by his long-standing hatred of foreigners, the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday.

During questioning, the suspect allegedly said he had developed a “hatred of foreigners that became totally pathological” following a burglary at his house in 2016, prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.

The 69-year-old man described himself as “depressive” and “suicidal,” and allegedly planned to kill himself with the last bullet. He initially sought to target the immigrant population in the northern Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, but changed his mind after seeing “too few people” in the area and finding his clothes too uncomfortable to reload the weapon quickly enough.

Instead, he opened fire at a Kurdish cultural center and a nearby cafe on Friday, killing two men and a woman, and injuring three others in the 10th district of Paris. Previously identified as “William M.” by French media, the retired train driver was reportedly armed with a US-made Army Colt 1911 pistol, along with several loaded magazines.

The prosecutor added that the investigators were forced to halt the questioning on “medical grounds” on Saturday, and transfer the suspect to a police psychiatric facility. In the meantime police conducted a search at his parents’ home, where he lived, but found no evidence linking him to “extremist ideology.”

However, the authorities previously acknowledged that the suspect had a history of violence against migrants, and had just recently been freed from detention while awaiting trial for a stabbing attack at a migrant camp in Paris a year ago. He was also convicted of armed violence in 2016 – a ruling which he appealed against.

The attack triggered mass unrest over the weekend, as shocked locals demanded justice and accused police of ignoring threats to the Kurdish community. The protest soon turned violent, with angry crowds pelting police with projectiles, overturning several cars and smashing shop windows. Police responded with tear gas and arrested at least 11 people in an attempt to quell the violence, and later said that over 30 officers were injured in clashes.
https://www.rt.com/news/568910-paris-shooter-hatred-migrants/
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25 Dec, 2022 23:08

4) --- Erdogan accuses West of ‘provocations’ over Ukraine

The Turkish leader claimed his country is the only one trying to mediate between Moscow and Kiev

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has praised Türkiye’s role in securing a grain deal between Russia and Ukraine, claiming in a speech on Sunday that unlike Ankara, Western nations have not made any tangible diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict.

“Unfortunately, the West has only made provocations and failed to make efforts to be a mediator in the Ukraine-Russia war,” Erdogan said at a youth event in Türkiye's eastern Erzurum province on Sunday.

Türkiye has thus “assumed this mediator role in 2022” and is set to continue its diplomatic efforts next year, building on the success of the Black Sea corridor created as part of an Istanbul grain deal in July, Erdogan said.

The grain corridor was touted as a way to secure food supplies to the neediest nations, but Erdogan confirmed Russia’s long-standing concerns, saying on Sunday that some 44 percent of the grain exported from Ukraine went to Europe instead. In the meantime Moscow voiced its readiness to supply African nations with “large volumes” of grain and fertilizers out of its own stocks, for free.

Ankara adopted a neutral position early in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, refusing to take part in the Western sanctions on Moscow, while continuing its military cooperation with Kiev – including selling a number of Bayraktar attack drones. A preliminary peace agreement was reportedly reached in Istanbul as early as March, but was later rejected by Ukraine under alleged pressure from the West.

The grain deal, touted as a rare victory for diplomacy, was signed in July by representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Türkiye and the UN, with a Joint Coordination Center set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments. In late October, Russia briefly suspended its participation in the agreement, after accusing Kiev of launching a terrorist attack on the Crimea bridge, and drone strikes on ships involved in securing safe passage for agricultural cargo. Moscow ultimately returned to the accord after receiving unspecified “written security guarantees” from Kiev.

Last month, Moscow allowed “a technical prolongation” of the deal, but Russian officials have repeatedly voiced concerns that the agreement is not meeting its stated goals, and have also insisted that the pledge to lift restrictions on Russian agricultural exports was not being fulfilled. The Turkish president expressed hope that the issue of fertilizer exports and Moscow's other concerns would be resolved through “more intense” negotiations next year.
https://www.rt.com/news/568909-edgogan-provocations-mediation-ukraine/
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25 Dec, 2022 14:49

5) --- China responds to US ‘provocation’

Beijing has launched military drills just days after Washington authorized a security assistance package to Taiwan

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) staged military exercises near Taiwan on Sunday, its Eastern Theater Command said in a statement. Beijing has blamed the US and the self-governing island for the continued escalation in the region.

The military “organized joint combat-readiness patrols and joint firepower strike drills in airspace and waters around Taiwan,” the command spokesman, Colonel Shi Yi, said in a brief statement, without specifying the exact location or the scale of the exercise.

The colonel called the drills “a resolute response to the escalating collusion and provocation by the United States and Taiwan,” adding that the PLA would take “all necessary measures” to defend China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Chinese officials did not reveal the nature of the alleged US “provocation,” but the drills took place just two days after President Joe Biden signed the 2023 US National Defense Authorization Act into law. America’s military budget for fiscal year 2023 authorizes $10 billion in security assistance and fast-tracked weapons procurement for Taiwan.

The Chinese Defense Ministry on Saturday blasted the bill as yet another move that “seriously jeopardizes the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” and increases the risk of a direct military conflict between Washington and Beijing.

Taiwan’s government has not commented on the development so far. Self-ruled since 1949, the island nation has never officially declared independence from Beijing. China views it as an inalienable part of its territory.

Tensions around Taiwan have been running high since the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island in August. While formally following the One China policy and recognizing Beijing’s sovereignty over the island, Washington has actively supported Taipei.

Visits of senior US officials to Taiwan, as well as booming military cooperation between Taipei and Washington, have repeatedly led to objections from Beijing. On Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused the US of “stabbing China in the back” in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and called on Washington to drop its policy of “unilateral bullying.”
https://www.rt.com/news/568901-china-respond-us-provocation/
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