RT News - January 26th 2023 Late

Germany Protests: In the past 24 hours protesters have taken to the streets en masse following Berlin's decision to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Protesters fear that the tanks will escalate and make Germany party to the conflict in Ukraine. RT speaks to some of the protesters with a single consensus - talks are the only way forward.
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Long write up - please press "more"
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Donald Trump posted against the tanks, saying "first come the tanks, then come the nukes. Get this crazy war ended, NOW. So easy to do.
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Having three different types of tanks is a logistical nightmare. Analysis from Scott Ritter, former U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence Officer.
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Brian Berletic analyses and reports saying decisions which favour Washington are being made at German's expense.
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Russia's has said supplying the powerful tanks to Ukraine is indicative of the west's direct involvement in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
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Russia has warned about the use of depleted uranium (DU) shells which equate to dirty bombs. NB NATO countries are the only countries in the world to have ever used such bombs - also note they are still being made in the hundreds of tons by NATO contractors with phenomenal stockpiles. DU bombs are said to be "harder" than regular ones but haven't been used to pierce the armoured shells of say tanks, but have been dropped by planes onto the general population of countries under attack by NATO.
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RT's Roman Kosarev gives and update of the advance in Ugledar on the Donetsk front as Russian forces gain a foothold on the front. Many explosions were heard across Ukraine today. See (1) below.
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Conscription by Ukraine: Hungary accuses Kiev of forcefully recruiting ethnic Hungarians living in Western Ukraine to fight against Russia with mounting casualties already reported. Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian FM, says the conscriptions by Kiev are unjust and brutal and insists that there must be peace talks. George Szamuely reports.
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Representatives at Pfizer admit they wanted to benefit from mutating strains of the Covid-19 virus, viewing them as 'new vaccine opportunities'. Project Veritas has produced a documentary showing an executive of Pfizer saying they had considered mutating the COVID19 virus for business opportunities. Rachel Marsden reports, also on the the serious nature of high percentages of excess deaths. Godfrey Bloom says "Big pharma is a Mafia that siphons off money without a moral compass"
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India: Washington has criticised India over it's comments regarding the BBC's production of a two part "hit piece" aimed at slurring India and Pres Modi. See previous posts on this channel or RT website for more background.
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It's India's Republic day and some Russian cadets were lucky enough to be a part of it. RT talks to some of them.
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Mike Pompeo, former head of CIA and aid to Pres. Trump has admitted that US has been training Ukraine forces for a "very long time" (QS we know that the fascist forces in Ukraine were groomed and grown using taxpayer money since at least 2008) He also has a book out which "alters history" to help it's sales.
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The anti-NATO group "No to NATO" who had planned to use Conway Hall to hold their meeting of free thought, has been blocked from the venue. Max Blumenthal reports.
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Below via RT website *** 1) --- Major wave of airstrikes reported in Ukraine
2) --- US declares Wagner Group ‘transnational criminal organization’
3) --- Germany reveals timeline for Leopard 2 delivery to Ukraine
4) --- Zelensky calls Putin a ‘nobody’
5) --- EU urged to embrace ‘war economy’
6) --- UK jets for Ukraine not on the table – Telegraph
7) --- Kiev persecuting Orthodox Church on foreign request – Patriarch
7a) --- Zelensky-founded studio under fire for ‘blasphemy’
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26 Jan, 2023 09:26

1) --- Major wave of airstrikes reported in Ukraine

Air-raid warnings have been activated all over the country

26 Jan, 2023 15:49

Ukraine was subjected to a huge wave of Russian airstrikes on Thursday morning, with explosions at energy facilities reported from various parts of the country, including the capital, Kiev.

“A blast in Kiev. Stay in shelters,” Mayor Vitaly Klitschko wrote on Telegram.

Videos on social media have shown thick black smoke rising from an undisclosed location in the city. The Kiev metro has reportedly ceased its operations during the airstrikes.

Ukrainian Railways have announced that some trains will be delayed as news of the airstrikes started coming in.

Reports of explosions also came from the Black Sea port of Odessa, where at least two electrical substations were said to have been hit. According to social media accounts, there’ve been power shortages and issues with internet access in the city.

Blasts were also reported from Dnepr, Vinnitsa, Krivoy Rog, Nikolaev and from some other locations.

Ukrainian officials said that air defenses had been activated in Kiev, Vinnitsa and Zhytomir Regions.

Earlier, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said that Russian missiles were incoming from the direction of the Caspian Sea.

Moscow has stepped up pressure on Ukraine since October last year, when it accused Kiev of using “terrorist tactics” and of targeting Russian infrastructure, including the strategic Crimean Bridge. Since then, a number of large-scale missile strikes have been carried out against Ukrainian military installations and energy facilities, leading to rolling blackouts across the country.
https://www.rt.com/russia/570496-ukraine-airstrikes-kiev-odessa/
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2) --- US declares Wagner Group ‘transnational criminal organization’

Russian private military company the Wagner Group poses a “transcontinental threat,” the US Treasury has stated

Washington has designated the private military company (PMC) the Wagner Group a “significant transnational criminal organization,” the US Treasury Department said on Thursday as it unveiled a new batch of sanctions against Russia.

The US accused the company founded by Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin of being engaged in “an ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity” in both Ukraine, where the PMC is fighting with Russian troops, and several African nations.

The Wagner Group poses a “transcontinental threat,” the Treasury statement read, adding that the PMC “has been involved in Kremlin-backed combat operations around the world.” It referred specifically to Russia’s military effort in Ukraine, as well as alleging that the group had “also meddled and destabilized countries in Africa” like the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali.

Apart from the Wagner Group, the US also imposed sanctions on eleven other entities and six individuals, including those it suspects of supporting the PMC’s operations. The list includes Russia- and China-based technology companies and an UAE-based aviation firm, as well as several CAR-based security companies allegedly linked to the Wagner Group.

A separate US sanction list also included in Thursday’s batch of restrictions targets the Russian defense industry and includes a cargo airline, a drone producer, and several technology companies.

Earlier this week, Prigozhin told RT that his company “has not committed any crimes.” The Wagner Group “eliminates only enemies of peace and commits no crimes,” the businessman said at that time, while accusing the US of “preparing outlaws and terrorists all over the world so that there would be trouble everywhere – in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America.”

Prigozhin also said the US “fears” his company because it “kicked their asses” each time American intelligence officers tried to harm the PMC.
https://www.rt.com/russia/570526-us-wagner-criminal/
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26 Jan, 2023 13:16

3) --- Germany reveals timeline for Leopard 2 delivery to Ukraine

The armor long demanded by Kiev will arrive “early enough,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius says

The Ukrainian military will be boosted by Leopard 2 main battle tanks by the end of March at the latest, Germany’s new defense minister Boris Pistorius has promised.

He made the statement on Thursday as he visited German troops in the central state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Journalists asked the minister if he was concerned that the delivery of German-made Leopard 2s would come too late for Ukraine in light of suggestions that Russia may be planning a spring offensive.

“I don’t have any hints that it could be too late. I think we will deliver our Leopards the latest, maybe, at the end of March,” Pistorius replied, adding that he believed this would be “early enough.”

The supply of German tanks is “a very important measure to improve the Ukrainians’ defense integrity; to [make them] fight successfully against the Russian troops,” he stated.

Despite ruling out such a possibility for months, Germany on Wednesday officially approved the supply of 14 Leopard 2A6 tanks from its own stock to Kiev. Berlin also said that it will allow other countries provide the German-made armor.

The German announcement came several hours before the US approved delivery of 31 of its M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. The pledge was made by the Biden administration despite the Pentagon having previously stated that Abrams tanks were inappropriate for the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, as they were difficult to maintain, ran on jet fuel and required extensive training to operate.

According to media reports, at a high-profile meeting of Ukraine’s backers at the Ramstein US Air Base in Germany earlier this month, Berlin insisted that it would only send its armor to Ukraine if Washington does the same.

The UK was first among Western states to pledge main battle tanks to Kiev, with London announcing in mid-January that it would provide the Zelensky government with 14 of its Challenger 2s.

On Thursday, Poland’s Deputy Defense Minister Wojciech Skurkiewicz told Radio Plus that Warsaw was ready to provide 14 German-made Leopard 2s to Kiev after Ukrainian troops finish training on them, which could happen in “several weeks.”

Kremlin press-secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the announced deliveries of tanks by Germany, the US and UK is viewed in Moscow as a “direct involvement” of NATO in the conflict in Ukraine. “And this involvement is growing,” he stressed.

Earlier this month, Peskov pointed out that the Western armor won’t change the outcome of the fighting and that those tanks will “burn” if they’re supplied.
https://www.rt.com/russia/570513-germany-ukraine-tank-pistorius/
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26 Jan, 2023 10:49

4) --- Zelensky calls Putin a ‘nobody’

Ukrainian leader declares that direct negotiations with Russian counterpart are “not interesting” to him

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has dismissed his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as a “nobody” who is not worth talking with. The Ukrainian leader had previously claimed that Putin may not be alive at all.

Zelensky made the remarks in an interview with Sky News, recorded on Wednesday. Journalist Kay Burley asked him what would happen if he was “in a room alone with President Putin” and whether it would help resolve the conflict with Russia.

After a long pause Zelensky replied: “It’s not interesting for me. Not interesting to meet. Not interesting to speak.”

He claimed that Putin was not trustworthy, adding: “I really don’t understand who makes decisions in Russia.”

“Is it too late now?” Burley asked.

“Too late? Not interesting,” Zelensky replied. “Who is he now? After full-scale invasion, for me he is nobody! Nobody!”

When asked about the remarks on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they didn’t warrant a response. Zelensky was elected on a platform of peace, but failed to deliver, the Russian official said.

“He didn’t implement the Minsk Agreements. Moreover, it turned out he had no intention to implement them. He was preparing for war,” Peskov assessed, referring to the 2014-2015 peace roadmap for Donbass.

In the same interview, Zelensky acknowledged Russian military advances, which he attributed to a purported indifference to losses by Moscow, and thanked the US and its allies for pledging to supply main battle tanks to Kiev.

The Ukrainian president has previously claimed that he rejected direct contacts with Putin because he was “not certain that the president of Russia, who makes occasional appearances on TV … is actually [Putin].”

“I absolutely do not know whether he is alive, whether he takes decisions or someone else does,” Zelensky stated last week, during an event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, which he attended virtually.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this month that seeking talks with Zelensky made no sense because the Ukrainian president was not the person determining his nation’s foreign policy.

The diplomat cited as evidence Kiev’s withdrawal from peace talks, which happened last April, shortly after Moscow accepted in principle Ukraine’s proposal for a truce. The draft document reportedly included among its terms Ukraine’s neutrality and pledge not to host foreign military forces. Western nations “yanked Kiev’s chain and said ‘too early’,” Lavrov remarked.
https://www.rt.com/russia/570501-zelensky-putin-nobody-talks/
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26 Jan, 2023 12:22

5) --- EU urged to embrace ‘war economy’

The bloc is currently incapable to adequately arm either itself or Ukraine, a top MEP argues

The European Union should move its economy to a wartime footing amid the Ukraine conflict, Manfred Weber, the president of the European People’s Party (EPP), suggested on Thursday. He said that the move is required to ramp up the bloc's own defense potential, and that of Kiev.

Speaking to the newspapers of the Funke media group, Weber called for the reorganization of the EU arms industry. The MEP believes that the bloc needs “a kind of war economy… in order to be able to guarantee stability and security”.

“The European states are currently not in a position to provide the necessary armaments quickly enough, neither for our own defense, nor for Ukraine,” he lamented. To remedy the situation, Weber argued, the EU should “break new ground,” pointing out that complex allocation structures are not working the way they are supposed to.

The MEP pointed out that Germany had established a €100 billion ($109 billion) special defense fund amid the Ukraine conflict, but “hardly anything happens because the bureaucracy is paralyzing.” “A year after the start of the war, the armaments companies have hardly received any orders,” he added.

His comments come after both the US and Germany on Wednesday approved the delivery of 31 M1 Abrams and 14 Leopard 2 tanks respectively to Kiev. However, the decision comes amid numerous warnings by EU officials that the bloc’s own arms stockpiles are running low.

Last month, Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said that the Ukraine conflict had become “a brutal wake-up call” for the bloc’s policymakers and its military industry, which had been underfunded for years.

The military aid for Ukraine comes from army stocks and “everybody agrees that this stockpile has been quickly depleted because they were almost empty,” he admitted at the time.

Russia has repeatedly warned the West against supplying Ukraine with weapons, arguing that this would only prolong the conflict but would not change its outcome. On Wednesday, commenting on the Western tank shipments, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov reiterated that this armor “would burn as [did] the rest of it.”

“They [tanks] are quite expensive, and this will fall and is falling on the shoulders of, first of all, European taxpayers,” the spokesman stated, suggesting that Washington would likely financially benefit from the deliveries.
https://www.rt.com/news/570507-eu-war-economy-defense/
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26 Jan, 2023 07:12

6) --- UK jets for Ukraine not on the table – Telegraph

Supplying Kiev with Typhoon warplanes is seen as “too escalatory,” the paper’s sources say

The UK has no plans to send its advanced fighter jets to Ukraine due to concerns that such a move would lead to an escalation of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

On Wednesday, following a decision by Germany and the US to supply Ukraine with modern Western-made main battle tanks, President Vladimir Zelensky doubled down on his request for armaments, also asking Western backers for long-range missiles and jets.

However, according to Royal Air Force sources cited by The Telegraph, sending aircraft to Kiev “was seen as being too escalatory” by the UK authorities.

A source also told the outlet that training on UK Typhoons “would likely take years,” given that Ukraine flies Soviet-era aircraft. “The only option would be for nations with former Russian aircraft to offer such aircraft, such as Poland,” he added.

While London has “not ruled out” providing Ukraine with longer-range precision missiles, Telegraph sources cautioned that such a step is not being “considered” right now.

Last week, the Dutch government said it was ready to consider deliveries of F-16 fighters to Ukraine with an “open mind.” Later, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the issue was currently off the table, but that nothing could be ruled out.

On Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that his country would send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and was “acting in a closely coordinated manner internationally.” On the same day, US President Joe Biden said Washington would supply Kiev with 31 Abrams main battle tanks, portraying them as a “defensive” weapon and not a threat to Russia.

Russia’s ambassador to Germany, Sergey Nechayev, said the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks clearly shows that Germany and its closest allies are not interested in a diplomatic solution in Ukraine but will continue the “unlimited pumping” of Ukraine with “new deadly weapons.”

Moscow has repeatedly warned the West against providing Ukraine with weapons, arguing that it would only prolong the conflict. Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to Washington, described the upcoming tank deliveries as “another blatant provocation,” claiming that NATO weaponry “without any doubt will be destroyed.”
https://www.rt.com/news/570490-uk-jets-ukraine-not-considered/

*** see also this morning's post # 4 ****
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26 Jan, 2023 14:15

7) --- Kiev persecuting Orthodox Church on foreign request – Patriarch

Religious agitation could make future reconciliation in Ukraine impossible, he warned

The “architects” of international conflicts hate the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) because it could serve as an instrument of reconciliation between the Russian and Ukrainian people, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has said. That is why there are demands that it be persecuted, he believes.

In a speech on Thursday, Kirill expressed “deep grief and righteous anger” over what he called “attempts by incumbent authorities in Kiev and their foreign backers to use the UOC as a weapon of incitement of Russian-Ukrainian hatred.”

Future reconciliation “will be impossible” without an apolitical Orthodox church in Ukraine, the Patriarch predicted. “That is why [the UOC] faces such hatred from the modern architects of world conflicts,” he explained.

He lamented the “unprecedented persecution” of the UOC by the Ukrainian government, which he compared in “scale and cynicism” to the anti-religious campaign that the Bolshevik government launched after seizing power in Russia in 1917.

Orthodox priests and faithful in Ukraine are facing fabricated criminal cases, slander in the media, seizure of property and desecration of their sacred places, Kirill claimed. There are even calls for an outright ban of the UOC, he added.

"..All of that can be considered as part of a global foreign commission for the destruction of canonical Orthodoxy within Ukraine..."

Religious tensions among Orthodox Christians have existed in Ukraine since the early years of the country’s independence. Some priests split from the UOC to form a “Kiev patriarchate,” which the Moscow patriarchate condemned. Later, in 2018, some UOC clerics and schismatics formed a new “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”

Then-President Pyotr Poroshenko touted the recognition of the new church by the Turkish-headquartered Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople as a key achievement of his presidency.

In his speech on Thursday, Patriarch Kirill criticized Constantinople for its role in fostering divisions among Orthodox Christians. Moscow cut spiritual and diplomatic ties with Constantinople over its Ukraine decision.

In November last year, the Ukrainian security agency (SBU) launched a crackdown against the UOC, raiding monasteries and churches, searching for evidence of collusion with the Russian government. The service claimed that the church could be sheltering Russian agents and weapons stockpiles.

On Wednesday, Zelensky imposed the latest round of personal sanctions targeting UOC clergy, including several bishops.
https://www.rt.com/russia/570516-ukraine-orthodox-church-crackdown/
========== RELATED

15 Dec, 2022 15:35

7a) --- Zelensky-founded studio under fire for ‘blasphemy’

A comedy show’s attack on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church crossed the line into “spiritual war,” the institution has said

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) has lashed out at a comedy studio that once boasted now-President Vladimir Zelensky among its stars and co-owners, alleging that actors made offensive remarks about the institution.

The Bayraktar News show, produced by the Kvartal 95 (District 95) studio, purports to cover national news in a humorous way. The UOC was the predominant subject in its latest episode, with hosts claiming the church is a corrupt organization full of “agents of Russia.” The Ukrainian government is currently investigating the UOC for alleged ties with Russia.

A UOC statement claimed on Wednesday that the episode “was drenched with blasphemy” and mocked “not only the Church, but also faith in God per se, and thus it offended the religious feelings of all Christians in our nation.”

In one scene, the hosts reported that a young man in Ukraine had been fined $3 for cursing at a UOC priest, commenting that it was a small price to pay for harassing the clergy.

The routine went on to suggest a “price list” for acts, such as spitting at a priest, “nailing the Holy Scripture to an SUV” used by one, and hitting one “on the left cheek, and automatically on the right one too.” Kicking the UOC out of Ukraine is “priceless,” the ‘joke’ concluded, paraphrasing the famous MasterCard ad campaign.

A message in the name of “clergy and lay people,” which was published by the UOC’s press office online, urged the studio to remove the content. The Church said it would consider “a declaration of spiritual war against [its] multimillion congregation” and act accordingly, if the episode is not pulled.

It also announced filing a criminal complaint against Kvartal, arguing that the episode incited hatred against the faithful.

The SBU, Ukraine’s domestic security agency, has conducted raids on UOC properties since mid-November, in what critics have called a politically-motivated campaign. The Church has historical ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, and remains the biggest religious institution in the country.
https://www.rt.com/russia/568311-ukraine-church-zelensky-studio/
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