RT News - February 10th 2023 LATE

Warning: Disturbing images. Moscow slams international organizations and the West for their silence over Kiev's alleged war crimes, as more footage emerges online showing the execution of Russian soldiers by Ukrainian troops. The United Nations has verified the footage and is set to investigate.

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Ukraine/Russia, Crucial Moments: The Russian advance continues in Artyomovsk and Ugledar. Igor Zhdanov reports from (very) near the front line and talks to some soldiers fighting there.

Israel, Jerusalem: Two are killed, including a six-year old child as a car ploughs into a bus station in Jerusalem. Israeli police are treating it as a terror attack. Maria Finoshina reports.

India: India's ministry of mines has announced they have discovered a record amount of lithium deposits in the Kashmir region, Reasi, giving hope to a boosting of the 'electric vehicle industry' and other sectors. The find is around 5.9 million tons. Report of significance for India by Runjun Sharma.

European Union Summit with Ukraine, Brussels: The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni has lashed out at France and Germany over an "inappropriate" meeting with Pres. Zelensky which she wasn't invited to. Rachel Marsden reports on a lot of hugging in Belgium.

UN peacekeeping forces kill eight civilians and wound nearly 30 more in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after protesters attack a convoy over frustration at the lack of progress in combatting terrorism in the region.

Starlink, Ukraine: Elon Musk's company is to set limits on the use of it's Starlink satellite system for Ukraine's drones saying the system was supposed to be used for humanitarian purposes only. Mikhail Podolyak has tweeted out a moan giving Starlink and ultimatum perhaps? Mike Jones discusses the implications with Eunan.

Africa: DRC. UN peacekeeping forces have killed eight civilians and wounded almost 30 others in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after protesters vented outrage about a lack of progress in combatting terrorism in the region. The "peacekeepers" opened fire to "protect the convoy" which was returning from a re-supply trip to Goma. The UN peacekeepers are supposed to be helping eliminate the continued terrorism from Rwanda's M23 "rebels" (Please see previous posts to catch up).

Earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria: Update report as many remain trapped under the rubble. The latest reports say 20,000 have been killed in the two countries, unknown thousands have been injured, 400,000 building are structurally damaged. Peter Scott reports from Adiyaman. (also see posts below)
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Pres. Putin will deliver his annual message to the Federal Assembly on February 21
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Below via RT website A) --- US ‘lying’ about Nord Stream expose – Moscow
B) --- Missile strikes reported across Ukraine
C) --- Russia comments on prospects of peace treaty with Japan
D) --- US role in Kiev’s artillery warfare identified – media
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1) --- Pentagon seeking to resume top-secret programs in Ukraine – WaPo
2) --- Russia to cut oil production in response to Western sanctions
2a) --- Oil prices jump after Russia announces production cuts
2b) --- EU embargo on Russian oil products kicks in
3) --- Kiev sounds alarm over ammo
4) --- China comments on bombshell Nord Stream report
5) --- EU applicant government to be replaced
6) --- Over 20,000 dead from Türkiye-Syria earthquakes
7) --- UN condemns executions of Russian POWs by Ukrainians
8) --- IOC president blasts Ukraine – media
8a) --- Olympic chiefs react to ‘defamation’ from Kiev
9) Western sanctions will make sure more Syrians die after the earthquakes
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10 Feb, 2023 16:57

A) --- US ‘lying’ about Nord Stream expose – Moscow

The Russian Foreign Ministry has reminded the State Department about its own history of misleading claims

Attempts by the US State Department to brush off Seymour Hersh’s article about the sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines as “nonsense” are overt lies that display shocking ignorance of American history, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Friday.

The veteran investigative journalist reported on Wednesday that the US was behind the destruction of the Baltic Sea pipelines in September 2022. American divers planted charges under the cover of a NATO exercise, and a Norwegian airplane detonated them remotely when the time came, Hersh wrote.

“It would not be typical for us to engage allies and partners on something that is utter and complete nonsense,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday, answering a question about Hersh’s article.

Zakharova said she was astonished by Price’s audacity to call “nonsense” what US President Joe Biden and Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland openly described as their preferred outcome.

“The US is once again lying live on air, openly mocking journalists who asked fully justified questions,” Zakharova said.

Washington also has a history of targeting civilian petrochemical infrastructure, Zakharova noted, citing the 1983 CIA sabotage of a pipeline in Nicaragua as an example.

“You did this, you do this, and you will do this until you’re stopped,” the spokeswoman added.

As for bringing allies and partners into “nonsense,” Zakharova argued that this was precisely what “trans-Atlantic solidarity” means in practice, referring to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as one example.

“Twenty years ago, Secretary of State Colin Powell brought to the UN Security Council a vial of something, and called [on] allies and partners to invade a sovereign state, without any evidence, over claims that proved to be utter nonsense. Ned, do you know your own department’s history?” Zakharova said. “I have no doubts that at the State Department they are bad with the history of their own country. That’s why we are where we are.”

Explosions that damaged both Nord Stream pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm cut off the flow of Russian natural gas to Germany. US officials tried to blame Russia for the blasts, while expressing delight at the destruction and calling it an “opportunity” for Europe. The White House has denounced Hersh’s report as “utterly false and complete fiction.”

Zakharova noted that Denmark and Sweden had refused Russian offers to assist with the investigation, while Norway declined to provide aid citing EU sanctions, adding that this shows the three governments were not interested in finding out the truth, but rather covering it up.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571298-zakharova-american-lies-nordstream/
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10 Feb, 2023 10:42

B) --- Missile strikes reported across Ukraine

An air-raid alert was declared in all parts of the country

Ukrainian officials and media reported a series of Russian drone and missile attacks targeting the country’s critical infrastructure, on Friday. Several barrages reportedly caused power outages and disrupted train services.

The attacks are said to have started early in the morning, and air-raid warnings have since been activated all over the country. The Ukrainian Air Force command claimed it intercepted five kamikaze drones and five sea-launched Kalibr missiles.

Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, claimed that two Kalibr missiles fired from the Black Sea had crossed the airspace of Romania and Moldova. Moldova’s defense ministry reported detecting a missile flying over its territory towards Ukraine, condemning the violation, but would not immediately blame Russia. However, its foreign ministry attributed the action to Moscow and said it would urgently summon the Russian ambassador.

The Russian Defense Ministry has so far not commented on the strikes.

Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s energy operator, stated that several high-voltage sites around the country had been hit. Emergency shutdowns are being implemented to preempt possible damage to the power grid from overload, it reported.

Railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said the power cuts had forced several trains to be delayed, with some electric locomotives being replaced by backup diesel engines.

The administration of Kiev Region reported air-defense action and urged people to stay in shelters. According to Vitaly Klitschko, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, missile debris damaged a car and the roof of a building.

In Kharkov, several strikes hit industrial and infrastructure objects, according to Igor Terekhov, the head of the region. He warned that residents may experience blackouts and water shortages.

The Russian military has been targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure, which it considers essential for the country’s military capabilities, since October last year. Moscow stepped up pressure after it accused Kiev of using “terrorist tactics” and targeting Russian infrastructure, including the Crimean Bridge. Russian investigators said Ukrainian military intelligence had masterminded the bomb attack on the strategic crossing.

The degradation of Ukraine’s energy system has forced the introduction of rolling blackouts.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571272-ukraine-drone-missile-strikes/
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10 Feb, 2023 14:44

C) --- Russia comments on prospects of peace treaty with Japan

The issue of ending a decades-old war dispute with Japan is “closed” for Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said

Any plans to strike a peace treaty with Japan are off the table for Moscow, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said, citing Tokyo's hostility towards Russia.

“As for the subject of a peace treaty, as you know, it has been closed for us,” Maria Zakharova said during a regular media briefing on Friday. The spokeswoman noted that the Foreign Ministry clearly articulated its position on the issue last March, stating that the “unfriendly” stance of Japan makes any further negotiations impossible.

The remarks came shortly after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed to prioritize reopening talks with Moscow on the peace treaty, and resolving the territorial dispute over the South Kuril Islands, referred to by Tokyo as the “northern territories.”

“The fact that 77 years after the end of the war, the issue of the Northern Territories has not been resolved and there is no peace treaty between Japan and Russia is extremely regrettable... The Japanese government is committed to resolving the territorial issue and concluding a peace treaty,” Kishida said on Tuesday during a ceremony to commemorate the day of the “northern territories.”

During the event, Japan referred to the four southern islands of the Kuril chain as “illegally occupied” by Moscow for the first time in five years. “It is completely unacceptable that the Northern Territories have yet to be returned since the Soviet Union’s illegal occupation of them 77 years ago,” a joint statement adopted by the government and civic groups at the ceremony stated.

Russia and Japan have technically remained at war with each other for almost eight decades, after failing to reach a post-WWII settlement. Tokyo disputes Russian sovereignty over four of the islands in the Kuril Archipelago, which the Soviet Union captured during the war. In the San Francisco Treaty of 1951, Japan relinquished its claims to the Kurils, but later claimed the “northern territories” were never a part of the archipelago.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow offered some compromises to Japan on the issue, namely a simplified visa mechanism for separate Japanese families and joint economic development of the islands. However, the two countries have never reached a final settlement on the issue.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571288-japan-peace-treaty-prospects/
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(RE-POST from 3 Jan, 2023 16:42) recall:

Japan's militarization a 'security threat' – Russia

Tokyo’s plan to deploy supersonic missiles on the island of Hokkaido represents a “serious challenge,” according to Moscow

Moscow stands ready to thwart threats from a Japanese military buildup near Russian islands in the Far East, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has said.

The statement came after Japanese broadcaster NHK cited the country’s Defense Ministry in late December as saying that Tokyo was planning to deploy supersonic missiles on the island of Hokkaido, which borders Russia’s Kuril Islands, the southern part of which Japan claims as its “Northern Territories.” Moscow condemned the move at the time.

“We consider Tokyo’s activities a serious challenge to the security of our country and the Asia-Pacific as a whole,” Rudenko stated, in an interview with TASS news agency on Tuesday.

“If such practices continue, we will be forced to implement appropriate retaliatory measures in order to block the military threats Russia faces,” the diplomat added, condemning the “expedited militarization” of Japan and the “unprecedented” increase in its military budget.

In 2017, then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled a plan to revise the country’s pacifist constitution, adopted shortly after World War II under the auspices of the US. Although the document bans Tokyo from maintaining a standing army, Japan has formidable self-defense forces. Abe said at the time that the reform would make their status “explicit.”

Last month, the Japanese government approved a record $51 billion draft defense budget for fiscal year 2023. Tokyo also revised its National Security Strategy, allowing for the acquisition of “counterstrike capabilities.”

It has become “increasingly difficult to fully address missile threats with the existing missile defense network alone,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in December, citing threats from China and North Korea.

Japan, together with many Western countries, imposed sanctions on Russia following Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine launched last February. It also sent military supplies to Kiev, including flak jackets and helmets.

Russia has since blacklisted several top Japanese officials, including Kishida, for waging “an unprecedented anti-Russian campaign.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/569341-russia-japan-military-threat/
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10 Feb, 2023 08:40

D) --- US role in Kiev’s artillery warfare identified – media

The American military is “controlling every shot” with Pentagon-supplied rockets, a Ukrainian official told the Washington Post (paywall: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/09/ukraine-himars-rocket-artillery-russia/)

The Ukrainian military requests precise coordinates from the Pentagon for almost every rocket fired from US-made artillery systems, and would not fire a shot without getting them, according to a report by the Washington Post.

Three Ukrainian officials and one senior US official spoke to the newspaper, on condition of anonymity, about America’s involvement. One Ukrainian source implied that Washington has the final say on every action, making the case for the delivery of longer-range rockets to Kiev.

“You’re controlling every shot anyway, so when you say: ‘We’re afraid that you’re going to use it for some other purposes,’ well, we can’t do it even if we want to,” the senior official was quoted as saying.

The US official disputed the characterization, claiming that Ukraine selected targets and that the American side simply provided intelligence to make best use of the GPS-guided munitions. But the Ukrainian official said that when the US fails to provide coordinates as requested, Ukrainian troops simply don’t open fire.

The US has supplied the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to prop up the Ukrainian military against Russia, while the UK has sent the M270 Multiple-Launch Rocket System (MLRS).

Both systems can fire various types of rockets, but the US has declined to provide the longest-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) tactical ballistic missiles. Washington reportedly has concerns that Kiev would use them to attack targets in Russia, while Kiev has been lobbying for lifting the restriction.

Russian officials have accused Washington of waging a proxy war against it, citing, among other things, its role in targeting Ukrainian strikes.

HIMARS launchers were reportedly used in attacks on civilian targets, such as the October 2022 strike on a river crossing in Kherson Region, which killed four and injured 13 others. A Ukrainian military spokesperson claimed at the time that the victims were Russian troops disguised as civilians.

Another incident occurred in January, and involved a HIMARS strike on a hospital in the city of Novoaydar in the Lugansk People’s Republic. The attack killed 14 people and injured 24 others, according to the Russian military.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571265-us-coordinates-ukrainian-strikes/
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10 Feb, 2023 16:39

1) --- Pentagon seeking to resume top-secret programs in Ukraine – WaPo

Local operatives may be hired and overseen by US Special Operations troops, the paper reports

The US Department of Defense is trying to convince lawmakers to fund two top-secret programs in Ukraine, which were put on hold after Russia launched its military operation in the country last year, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

If the Pentagon gets its way, the operations involving US Special Forces could resume in 2024, the newspaper claimed.

The Post, citing unnamed current and former US officials, alleged that the schemes in question would allow US commandos to employ Ukrainian operatives to “observe Russian military movements and counter disinformation.”

It said the programs are considered to be a form of “irregular warfare” intended for use against adversaries with whom Washington is not engaged in a military conflict.

While the Pentagon has already begun preparing its case for the resumption of these operations, Congress is unlikely to make a decision on the matter before the fall of 2023, the paper reported.

The article also noted that a big question mark remains over whether the Biden administration would allow US commandos to actually reestablish a physical presence in Ukraine to oversee surrogates’ activities.

According to the Post, American special operations forces could end up having to oversee activities from a neighboring country – a format they have reportedly become accustomed to in recent years.

However, it is unknown whether lawmakers will give the programs a green light as a number of critics remain unconvinced, the article claimed. Some of these are reportedly concerned that such operations may risk dragging the US deeper into the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.

“What started as a reconnaissance mission can quickly turn into combat when the surrogates start getting shot at,” one official told reporters on condition of anonymity. They went on to add that it is not clear “how the [defense] department is going to change people in Congress’ minds about that.”

Representatives of the Senate and House Armed Services committees, as well as the White House and the Pentagon, declined to comment, citing the programs’ classified status, the Post reported.

Since the start of the military conflict between Moscow and Kiev, Washington has pledged to support Kiev with arms, money and other forms of assistance “for as long as it takes” to defeat Russia strategically. Moscow, meanwhile, has called the conflict a proxy war waged against it by Washington and its allies to preserve Western dominance.
https://www.rt.com/news/571300-us-special-operations-ukraine-programs/
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10 Feb, 2023 13:00

2) --- Russia to cut oil production in response to Western sanctions

Output will be reduced by 500,000 barrels per day in March

Russia will voluntarily reduce oil production in March by 500,000 barrels per day as it halts sales to buyers complying with a Western-imposed price cap, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak announced on Friday.

Novak said the move should help restore market relations shattered by the price ceiling, which he branded “illegal.”

“Russia believes that the mechanism of price caps on Russian oil and petroleum products is an intervention in market relations and an extension of destructive energy policies of the collective West,” the deputy PM said in a statement.

The EU and the G7 nations introduced a price cap on Russian supplies on February 5, setting a limit of $100 per barrel for diesel, jet fuel and gasoline coming from Russia, and a $45 per barrel for other oil products that trade below the crude price, such as fuel oil used in industry. Fuel exports priced over these limits will be barred from insurance and shipping services from companies located in Western countries. The caps follow a previously introduced $60-per-barrel price ceiling on Russian crude oil.

Russia has repeatedly warned of potential output cuts since the EU and G7 began discussing capping the price of Russian exports. Economists say the production reduction, which is the equivalent of about 5% of January’s output, may trigger volatility on the oil market, which has taken in its stride the EU ban on seaborne imports of Russian oil.

Russia is currently able to sell “all volumes of oil produced” to foreign markets, Novak said, adding that “we will act based on how the market situation is developing,” when making further decisions.

There are concerns that Moscow’s decision will deepen the 2 million barrel-a-day supply curbs announced late last year by OPEC+, which Russia leads along with Saudi Arabia.

An analyst at UBS Group, Giovanni Staunovo, told Bloomberg that in the short term there is nobody to fill the supply gap created by the Russian cuts.

Crude prices jumped on the news, with the international benchmark Brent rising more than 2% to $86.60 a barrel as 13:00 GMT on Friday.
https://www.rt.com/business/571270-russia-oil-production-cut-sanctions/
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10 Feb, 2023 15:45

2a) --- Oil prices jump after Russia announces production cuts

Crude is on course for a 10% weekly gain as Moscow plans an output cut of 500,000 barrels per day in March

Oil prices jumped more than 2% on Friday, heading for weekly gains, as Moscow announced plans to reduce crude production next month in response to Western price caps.

Brent crude futures were trading 2% higher to $86.21 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 2% at $79.63. Both contracts are on course for weekly gains of around 10%.

Earlier on Friday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak announced that Moscow will voluntarily reduce oil production in March by 500,000 barrels per day as it halts sales to buyers complying with a Western-imposed price cap.

Novak said the move should help restore market relations shattered by the price ceiling, which he branded “illegal.”

The EU and the G7 nations introduced a price cap on Russian refined oil products on February 5, setting a limit of $100 per barrel for diesel, jet fuel and gasoline coming from Russia, and a $45-per-barrel cap for other oil products that trade below the crude price, such as fuel oil used in industry. Fuel exports priced over these limits will be barred from insurance and shipping services from companies located in Western countries. The caps follow a previously introduced $60-per-barrel price ceiling on Russian crude oil.

Moscow has repeatedly warned of potential output cuts since the EU and G7 began discussing capping the price of Russian exports. Economists say the move may trigger volatility on the oil market.

“Lower Russian production together with China’s reopening should tighten the oil market further over the coming quarters,” UBS Strategist Giovanni Staunovo said in a Friday note to clients, seen by CNBC.

There are also concerns that Moscow’s decision will deepen the two-million-barrels-a-day supply curbs announced late last year by the OPEC+ alliance.
https://www.rt.com/business/571292-oil-prices-spike-russia-sanctions/
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6 Feb, 2023 12:19

2b) --- EU embargo on Russian oil products kicks in

The measure is entering force along with a Western price cap on Moscow’s refined petroleum products

The EU has placed an embargo on Russian refined oil products, including diesel. The measure came into force on Sunday, February 5, and provides for a 55-day grace period for the fuel loaded on tankers before this date.

The ban follows previously introduced embargos on Russian coal and crude oil, and is aimed at further lowering the bloc’s reliance on Russian energy and slashing Moscow’s profits from energy exports.

The embargo has reignited warnings of diesel supply disruptions and price spikes across the bloc. The EU relied on Russia for about half of its diesel imports last year, some 700,000 barrels a day, and will now have to find alternate sources. At the same time, Russia will have to find new buyers for its fuel exports, and may be forced to cut production if this doesn’t happen quickly, which would lower supply on the global market.

Meanwhile, diesel prices, which are currently around $110-$120 a barrel, may rise in the short term while the EU is securing supplies from new sources. However, later on, as many experts point out, the bloc may start buying processed fuel from countries still able to import Russian oil, with the cost of such products much higher than direct imports from Russia. The latter scenario may keep global diesel prices elevated for a long while.

“The system will find its equilibrium sooner or later. At a cost for everybody, of course,” Dario Scaffardi, former CEO of Italy’s Saras SpA oil refinery, told Bloomberg.

The EU ban coincides with a Western price cap on Russian petroleum products, which also came into force on Sunday. The measure sets a price limit of $100 per barrel for diesel, jet fuel and gasoline coming from Russia, and a $45-per-barrel price cap for other oil products that trade below the crude price, such as fuel oil used in industry. The fuel exports priced over these limits will be barred from getting insurance and shipping services from companies located in Western countries. The caps follow a previously introduced $60-per-barrel price ceiling on Russian crude oil.

Moscow has been opposed to any attempts to cap prices on its energy exports. Russia has banned crude sales to buyers that mention the price ceiling in their contracts. A similar restriction is expected to be introduced regarding the EU’s latest cap on oil products.
https://www.rt.com/business/571028-eu-embargo-russian-oil-products/
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10 Feb, 2023 12:52

3) --- Kiev sounds alarm over ammo

Top Ukrainian official Igor Zhovkva told Bloomberg the country’s stocks are “almost zero”

Intense fighting in Ukraine has caused its military to almost run out of ammunition, with stocks not being replenished in time, Igor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s office, has told media. The official also called on the West to provide Kiev with long-range artillery systems, tanks and fighter jets.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, Zhovkva lamented that “now we are having like almost zero ammunition,” a situation that makes it harder for the Ukrainian military to respond to Russian shelling.

“We are running [out] of the ammunition very quickly because the fighting is intensive,” he explained, adding that Russian forces boast more firepower.

Zelensky’s staffer also noted that Kiev needs long-range missiles to “de-occupy Ukrainian territory,” as opposed to hitting targets inside Russia. According to the official, this type of weaponry would be crucial to launch a counteroffensive against Moscow’s forces.

On the subject of fighter jets, Zhovkva named several reasons why Ukraine is seeking to get hold of them. He pointed out that, among other things, such aircraft are “very good in intercepting the ballistic missiles.”

He expressed hope that the upcoming Ramstein format meeting on February 14 will see Kiev’s Western backers pledge more weapons, adding that “it’s high time” they stopped caring about Moscow’s reaction to such deliveries.

Commenting on the military aid already provided by the West, Zhovkva said that it was “too late, too little, and too slow.”

On Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reacted to the news that the British government was considering donating some of its warplanes to Ukraine, by warning that the UK and several other European nations are becoming increasingly involved in the conflict.

“The line between indirect and direct involvement is gradually disappearing,” he stressed, adding that this fuels further escalation.

Peskov pointed out, however, that while unnecessarily prolonging the fighting, Western arms shipments will not be able to change the outcome of the conflict or prevent Russia from achieving its goals.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571284-zelensky-advisor-ukraine-ammo-shortages/
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10 Feb, 2023 17:04

4) --- China comments on bombshell Nord Stream report

The US owes the world an explanation on the sabotage of the Russian gas pipelines, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry says

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Friday that Washington owed the world an explanation, following the publication of journalist Seymour Hersh’s report, claiming the US was behind the September 2022 attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

“We have noted the reports,” Mao Ning said, responding to a question from Dragon TV. She added that the two Nord Stream pipelines were “vital transnational infrastructure” and that their destruction caused a serious economic and environmental impact. “If Hersh is telling the truth, what he revealed is clearly unacceptable and must be answered for. The US owes the world a responsible explanation,” Mao stated.

A follow-up question from the Beijing Youth Daily pointed out the sparse coverage of Hersh’s report by the “free, professional and impartial” US outlets. Mao responded:

"...It only proves that some media outlets care little about the truth. They pretend not to see the truth that really matters and, more often than not, try to sell false narratives rather than the truth...."

Hersh, an investigative journalist and Pulitzer Prize laureate, published a report titled “How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline” on Wednesday. He cited a “source with direct knowledge of the operational planning” of the attack on the Russia-Germany pipelines. He claims a bomb was planted by the US during the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercises, and the explosive was then detonated by Norway dropping a sonar buoy from a military plane.

US Department of State spokesman Ned Price was asked about Hersh’s report on Thursday and dismissed it as “utter and complete nonsense.” He went on to label it as “propaganda” that he did not want to see “aired in the briefing room."

In Germany, which jointly funded the construction of the Nord Stream pipelines, members of the AfD party demanded a discussion on the article and its claims in the country’s parliament on Friday. “The Bundestag has a right to know what the federal government knows,” said the party’s official Twitter account, citing parliamentary group leader Tino Chrupalla.
https://www.rt.com/news/571304-china-comment-nord-stream-report/
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10 Feb, 2023 13:58

5) --- EU applicant government to be replaced

Moldova’s prime minister has stepped down amid allegations of crackdowns on dissent

Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita resigned on Friday, precipitating a change in government for the economically-troubled and politically-unstable nation.

Gavrilita did not divulge the reasons behind her decision in her farewell speech, which focused on what she described as the achievements of her team during her short-lived tenure.

“I am proud to have accelerated infrastructure projects that were stagnating due to incompetence and corruption,” the politician said. Her government “preserved peace and economic stability” despite efforts by “agents of destabilization,” she added.

Gavrilita announced her resignation after holding a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, who accepted it immediately. In a Facebook post, the president thanked the former PM for her efforts in governing Moldova at a time of “unprecedented challenges.”

The outgoing cabinet took the helm in August 2021, after the Sandu-founded Party of Action and Solidarity won a snap election a month earlier. Rumors about the government’s imminent collapse have been swirling in Moldova since Monday.

For months last year, the government in Chisinau faced mass protests over rising energy prices and worsening standards of living, which followed a feud with Russian gas giant Gazprom over the terms of fuel supplies. The demonstrations also had a political aspect, as the government was accused of cracking down on the opposition.

Former president Igor Dodon, whom Sandu beat at the ballot box in 2020, is facing a number of criminal charges, ranging from corruption and illegal campaign financing to falsifying medical documents. His supporters believe the investigations are politically motivated, since Dodon, an advocate of good relations with Russia, has been criticizing Sandu’s pro-Western stance.

Amid the protests, the government forced several Russian-language media outlets to go off air when it refused to renew their broadcasting licenses in December. Since October, Moldova has been living in a state of emergency, which the opposition claims is just a method of preventing mass gatherings of discontent citizens.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov assessed last week that Moldova may become “a new Ukraine” in the sense of adopting anti-Russian policies despite how much they may hurt the country. He said Sandu was a major factor, because she was ready to do “practically anything” to further her pro-Western agenda.

Last June, the EU granted Moldova a candidate status alongside fellow applicant Ukraine.
(QS see post from yesterday - plans by EU for Moldova to become "the next Ukraine")
https://www.rt.com/russia/571290-moldova-prime-minister-resigns/
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9 Feb, 2023 20:33

6) --- Over 20,000 dead from Türkiye-Syria earthquakes

The odds of finding more survivors are dwindling with the passage of time and cold temperatures

More than 20,000 people have lost their lives and almost 80,000 have been injured from the series of catastrophic earthquakes that struck southern Türkiye and northern Syria beginning on Monday, according to the latest official figures. Meanwhile, tens of thousands have been left homeless in the winter cold.

On Thursday evening, the Turkish Health Ministry updated the death toll to 17,406, with 71,866 people with documented injuries from the quakes. Syrian authorities put the number of dead at 1,347, while the Western-backed rebels claimed almost 1,800 more in territories under their control.

A 7.7 magnitude quake struck Türkiye’s Kahramanmaras Province in the early hours of Monday. The two strongest aftershocks in Gaziantep Province came in at magnitudes of 6.4 and 6.5, respectively.

Survivors are struggling with the lack of shelter in the bitter winter temperatures, and some have reportedly asked the Turkish government to evacuate them elsewhere.

“Especially in this cold, it is not possible to live here,” Ahmet Tokgoz, a resident of Antakya in the Hatay province, told AP. “People are warming up around campfires, but campfires can only warm you up so much.”

“If people haven’t died from being stuck under the rubble, they’ll die from the cold,” Tokgoz added.

Visiting Hatay on Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that no one could have been prepared for a disaster of this magnitude, but that Ankara “will not leave any of our citizens uncared for.”

More than 110,000 rescuers were working in Türkiye, backed by over 5,500 vehicles, including bulldozers, cranes, excavators and tractors. Among them were Russian Emergency Ministry crews, which were also deployed in Syria.

Russian troops operating in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Latakia and Hama have rescued 47 people from the rubble, rendered medical aid to 225 more, and delivered 38.5 tons of humanitarian aid, Major-General Oleg Yegorov told reporters.

The World Health Organization has estimated that the earthquakes may impact as many as 23 million people in the long run. The situation in Syria is particularly dire, after 12 years of armed conflict and an economic blockade imposed by the US and its allies. Charities and international organizations have repeatedly called on the West to lift or at least suspend its sanctions, to make it easier for aid to get in.

“We just hope that the political considerations will get out of the way and let us do our job,” El-Mostafa Benlamlih, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Syria, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
https://www.rt.com/news/571253-syria-turkiye-quake-death-toll/
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10 Feb, 2023 17:56

7) --- UN condemns executions of Russian POWs by Ukrainians

The UN human rights watchdog is aware of a new graphic video purportedly showing the execution of Russian POWs by Ukrainians and has raised the issue with Kiev

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is aware of recently-emerged footage apparently showing the execution of Russian soldiers who had surrendered by Ukrainian troops, a spokeswoman for the UN watchdog, Marta Hurtado, has said.

“We have raised concerns about the treatment of prisoners of war, including alleged killings of POWs by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense,” Hurtado told TASS in a statement on Friday.

The graphic video in question surfaced earlier this week, filmed by an armed individual speaking Ukrainian and demanding answers from three men in military uniforms lying on the ground. After failing to elicit a coherent response from them, the man shoots one of the men in the head multiple times at point blank range.

One of the men, lying motionless on the ground, also has visible blood around his head, apparently getting shot and killed before the video started. A fellow Ukrainian soldier appeared to try to reason with the gunman, pointing out that the third captive was holding a grenade. The killer briefly showed his face at the very end of the video, concluding it with an obscenity and ‘Glory to Ukraine’ slogan, which is commonly associated with World War II-era Nazi collaborators but is widely used in present-day Ukraine.

Additional footage seemingly filmed in the immediate aftermath of the incident showed the killer trying to provide excuses to justify his actions. The UN is aware of this footage as well, Hurtado said, adding that none of the excuses actually have merit.

“We are also aware of another video that has appeared on social media platforms that includes additional footage of the original incident and also appears to show a Ukrainian soldier confessing [to] the killing and trying to justify it by alleging that the victims refused to surrender or that they were part of the Wagner Group military and security contractors fighting on behalf of the Russian Federation,” the spokeswoman said. “These excuses do not provide justification for the soldier's actions under international humanitarian law.”

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the killing of unarmed soldiers who surrendered is a “widespread practice” by Kiev’s troops, and multiple incidents of this sort have occurred amid the ongoing conflict, with some of them published online by the killers themselves. The Russian Investigative Committee said on Thursday that the footage appeared to show the recent murder of three Russian POWs by “Ukrainian nationalists,” pledging to investigate further and identify the perpetrators.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571297-un-ukraine-pow-execution/
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10 Feb, 2023 13:37

8) --- IOC president blasts Ukraine – media

Pressure from Kiev for countries to boycott the Paris 2024 Games goes against the Olympic Charter, Thomas Bach reportedly said

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach has reportedly urged Kiev to cease its calls for a boycott of the Paris 2024 Games. Ukraine has claimed that allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete would promote Moscow’s military operation – an allegation that the IOC has dismissed as “defamatory.”

In a letter sent to the president of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee (NOC), Vadim Guttsait, and seen by several media outlets, Bach called on the authorities in Kiev to end their threats regarding the next edition of the Summer Games, and to refrain from pressuring other countries into a boycott.

Bach noted that the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes under a neutral flag at the 2024 Games had “not even been discussed in concrete terms yet.” He also suggested that a letter from Guttsait to other NOCs had been sent prematurely and had caused dismay among numerous IOC members.

“Your letter at this premature stage to your fellow NOCs, to the International Federations, IOC Members and to future Olympic hosts, pressuring them in an attempt to publicly influence their decision making, has been perceived by the vast majority of them as, at the very least, extremely regrettable,” Bach is said to have written.

The IOC president reportedly reminded Kiev that a boycott is a violation of the Olympic Charter, which “obliges all NOCs to ‘participate in the Games of the Olympiad by sending athletes.’”

Bach also condemned “defamatory statements” made by several Ukrainian officials who have accused the IOC of being a “promoter of war, murder and destruction.” Last month, the organization denied allegations that it took bribes from Moscow and warned that such claims would not lead to “constructive discussion.”

In January, the IOC announced it was looking at ways to permit athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the Paris 2024 Games under a neutral flag. Senior Ukrainian officials, including President Vladimir Zelensky, responded to the news by vowing to lobby for a boycott of the event. They have repeatedly insisted on isolating Russian and Belarusian athletes from any international sporting events.
https://www.rt.com/sport/571287-ioc-ukraine-paris-boycott/
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31 Jan, 2023 07:49

8a) --- Olympic chiefs react to ‘defamation’ from Kiev

Hurling accusations at the committee won’t lead to a “constructive discussion,” the organization warned

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has denied claims by an aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky that the sporting body took bribes from Russia and was “promoting war.” Mikhail Podoliak lashed out at the IOC after it floated the idea of allowing Russian athletes to compete again.

“The IOC rejects in the strongest possible terms this and other defamatory statements,” a release quoted by Reuters on Monday said. “They cannot serve as a basis for any constructive discussion.”

Last week, the IOC announced that it was exploring “a pathway” for athletes from Belarus and Russia to take part in international events under a neutral flag with certain restrictions. In February, it urged organizers of all events not to invite athletes from the two countries, ostensibly to protect the integrity of sports and to show solidarity with Kiev.

In response, Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee threatened to boycott the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. The proposal was harshly criticized by senior Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky.

Podoliak called the IOC a “promoter of war, murder & destruction” that takes “pleasure” in watching his country being hurt. He also claimed that the body takes “Russian money” to “platform [Russia] to promote genocide.”

Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said last week that the IOC wants “to sweep Russian war crimes under the rug” and “trample on the graves of thousands of innocent” Ukrainians.

Zelensky said he had sent a letter to his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to put pressure on him.

“We must be certain that Russia will not be able to use this or any other international sports events to propagandize aggression or its state chauvinism,” he said in a video address on Sunday.

The Kremlin declined to comment on the IOC’s proposal before formal measures are adopted. International sports has been affected by politics, spokesman Dmitry Peskov observed, adding that even the wording of the IOC’s initiative reflects this.
https://www.rt.com/news/570738-ukraine-defamation-ioc-response/
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10 Feb, 2023 16:26 OP-ED

9) Western sanctions will make sure more Syrians die after the earthquakes

The economic stranglehold and selective approach to aid will mean more death and displacement

OP-ED by Eva Bartlett

Following the devastating earthquakes that rocked Türkiye, Syria and their neighboring countries on February 6, leaving more than 20,000 dead, Damascus is struggling to deal with this unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe as it remains under brutal Western sanctions that have brought the country to its knees.

The West’s war on Syria that began in early 2011 failed to topple its elected president, but the subsequent years of increasingly cruel sanctions – all in the name of ‘helping the Syrian people’ – have succeeded in rendering life miserable and near impossible, with most unable to afford to properly feed their families, much less heat their homes.

Now, in a time of crisis, the Syrian people cannot even receive donations or emergency support from abroad. One supporter set up a GoFundMe campaign, only to have it taken down due to the sanctions. Type the word “Ukraine” into the search field on PayPal or GoFundMe and you’ll see countless appeals for sending money to Ukraine. But for Syrians, Western platforms like these are off-limits, and have been for years.

Adding to the destruction left by war
On February 6, southern Türkiye and northern Syria were hit by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, followed by dozens of aftershocks and then another earthquake. While the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq and others were affected, the worst of the damage was in Türkiye and Syria.
As of February 9, the official death toll in Syria was 1,347, with more than 2,300 injured. Nearly 300,000 Syrians have been displaced due to the earthquakes. The scenes initially coming out of Türkiye and Syria were heartbreaking and catastrophic, with buildings collapsing in front of people, and piles of rubble with the dead and the maimed trapped below.

In Syria, the earthquakes added to already extensive damage from the war. Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city, was tragically prone to building collapses because of the terrorist occupation that had lasted until 2016. The militants had frequently tunneled under buildings, in many cases in order to lay explosives and destroy them, as they did with the Chamber of Industry in April 2014. With the Syrian population already struggling to just survive prior to the earthquakes, now Aleppo and the coastal regions of Syria affected by the earthquakes face even more death, injury and displacement.

Sanctions were already killing Syrians
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Even without the earthquakes, Syrians struggled to get medication, hospitals struggled to get or maintain critical machinery and equipment, and the population as a whole suffocated as the country’s economy steadily worsened, all by design.

Western leaders are adamant that the only ones to blame for the Syrians’ suffering before the earthquake were President Bashar Assad and his government (or “regime,” as Washington calls any undesirable foreign government it hasn’t yet toppled), whose “dictatorship” caused the people to rise up and start a civil war (actually a US-led proxy war against Syria to overthrow said government). The sanctions, ostensibly aimed at the “regime,” are, by this logic, intended to helpand protect the general population. In reality, they are strangling Syrian civilians.

Here’s what life is like for many Syrians now, according to British journalist Vanessa Beeley: “The US and its proxy Kurdish separatist forces are occupying Syrian resources in the northeast which includes their oil, which means of course that the bulk of Syria is reliant upon Iranian oil to keep any kind of electricity running. At the moment, we have basically about two or three hours of electricity per day. There is no heating in the majority of homes across Syria.”

As Beeley notes, earthquake-displaced Syrians – unless they receive emergency aid – face freezing and wet conditions, “without any alternative shelter, without any electricity, without any heating.” And thanks to the sanctions, desperately needed humanitarian aid and fundraising is difficult. International cargo planes can’t land in Syria, and crowdfunding services and even credit cards are unavailable. The virtue-signaling Western nations – the main cause of suffering in Syria since 2011 – have not only persisted in keeping the sanctions in place; most of them haven’t offered any meaningful help since the earthquake, just hollow words.
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thread : https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1623019008743157763
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The Chinese Foreign Ministry blamed the sanctions for amplifying the miserable situation, and likewise pointed out that the US’ illegal presence in Syria and theft of Syrian resources was also exacerbating the economic situation.

“Frequent [US] military strikes and harsh economic sanctions have caused huge civilian casualties and taken away the means to subsistence of the Syrians. As we speak, the US troops continue to occupy Syria’s principal oil-producing regions. They have plundered more than 80% of Syria’s oil production and smuggled and burned Syria’s grain stock. All this has made Syria’s humanitarian crisis even worse.”

A friend in need is a neighbor on the sanctions list
All of the above has left Syrians to rely mostly on the country’s friends for help. Incidentally, many of those nations and groups are among the most vilified by the West.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry blamed the sanctions for amplifying the miserable situation, and likewise pointed out that the US’ illegal presence in Syria and theft of Syrian resources was also exacerbating the economic situation.

“Frequent [US] military strikes and harsh economic sanctions have caused huge civilian casualties and taken away the means to subsistence of the Syrians. As we speak, the US troops continue to occupy Syria’s principal oil-producing regions. They have plundered more than 80% of Syria’s oil production and smuggled and burned Syria’s grain stock. All this has made Syria’s humanitarian crisis even worse.”

A friend in need is a neighbor on the sanctions list
All of the above has left Syrians to rely mostly on the country’s friends for help. Incidentally, many of those nations and groups are among the most vilified by the West.
thread
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https://twitter.com/EvaKBartlett/status/1622933425362505730
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Following the earthquake, Russia’s Ministry of Defense dispatched “over 300 personnel, and 60 military and special vehicles” for rescue and aid efforts in Syria. The Russian Emergencies Ministry sent more than 100 rescue workers to Türkiye and Syria, including an airmobile hospital with 40 medics.

Iran sent a plane with 45 tons of medical, food and sanitary aid to Syria, and has pledged to send more.

Even battered Libya, itself largely destroyed by another Western regime-change project, sent a plane with 40 tons of medical and humanitarian aid, as well as an ambulance, to Aleppo International Airport.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese resistance movement, sent convoys of humanitarian aid to Syria. Lebanon’s army said it would send members of its Engineering Regiment to Syria, to contribute to the search and rescue operations.

Not everyone who offered their help to Syria are on Western sanctions list, of course. Algeria sent 115 tons of aid of food and medical supplies, tents and blankets, as well as 86 specialized civil protection personnel. The United Arab Emirates will apparently send $50 million to Syria for relief efforts, and Indian, Emirati and Jordanian planes carrying humanitarian and medical aid for Syrian victims arrived in the capital on Wednesday. Even New Zealand pledged to contribute NZ$500,000 “for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) to meet humanitarian needs.”

Meanwhile, Western corporate media stuck to the narrative of blaming the Assad government, with a New York Times article on the issue apparently saying initially that Western sanctions had hampered relief efforts to Syria – before quickly changing the line to say the government “tightly controls what aid it allows into opposition-held areas.” This is in-keeping with the old trope that the Syrian government denies aid to civilians in areas occupied by terrorists, which in most Western media are dubbed “rebels” and “opposition fighters.” This is something I and other journalists on the ground have repeatedly debunked, visiting liberated areas and hearing time and again that locals had been starving because terrorists had been hoarding humanitarian aid, denying it to civilians or selling it at massively inflated prices.
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https://twitter.com/EvaKBartlett/status/1623232012982136832
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Western aid is not for everyone
On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned about a looming “secondary disaster” in Syria, pointing to “major disruptions” to basic life supplies, but failing to highlight the role of Western sanctions or the terrorist presence in northwestern Syria as the underlying causes. Reports on UN aid reaching northern Syria via Türkiye also downplayed the presence of Al-Qaeda terrorists in the areas mentioned, as well as Türkiye’s years-long support for Syrian anti-government forces. Such reports likewise neglected to mention the need for emergency relief in government-controlled areas of Syria, and the government’s efforts to bring that relief in.

Some 12 years into the West’s proxy war on Syria, the continued denial of the very basics of emergency humanitarian relief to Syrians outside “rebel-controlled” areas, shows how little the West’s claim to care for Syrians really matter. The lack of concern by the UN, WHO, and affiliated aid agencies for the Syrians of Aleppo, among other government-controlled areas, is not at all surprising, given these bodies over the years systematically downplayed terrorism against Syrian civilians.

As the humanitarian disaster continues, it is also worth remembering that, over the decades, Syria has taken in refugees from numerous countries. Yet, in spite of the current emergency situation and the very dire need to lift the West’s sanctions, it is unlikely the “benevolent” West will change its crippling anti-Syria policies to allow Syrians to merely survive.
--
Eva Bartlett is a Canadian independent journalist. She has spent years on the ground covering conflict zones in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Palestine (where she lived for nearly four years).

"... The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT...."
https://www.rt.com/news/571295-western-sanctions-syria-earthquake/
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