The interview on Sky News was ended after Dmitry Polyansky showed an image of a Nazi symbol posted by Ukraine’s leader
Dmitry Polyansky, the deputy head of Russia’s mission to the UN, said the UK’s Sky News abruptly ended an interview with him as soon as he showed a photo with a Nazi symbol that was posted by the Ukrainian president on WWII Victory Day.
“The host’s response? He quickly wound up the talk, muttering that our time, as it turned out, was up suddenly, and that Sky News could not verify this information,” the diplomat wrote on Telegram on Monday.
“So much for the freedom of speech in the West… they don’t need the truth! From now on, they’ll think a hundred times before inviting Russian diplomats to a live show!”
In an interview with Sky News, Polyansky was asked whether he agreed that Russian troops in Ukraine were “dishonoring their grandfathers who fought the Nazis,” and that their actions were “mirroring fascism.”
Polyansky called the assertion “blasphemous.” He added that it was “absolutely disastrous and shameless what the UK is doing right now, forgetting everything that we were fighting [for].”
The diplomat then pulled out a tablet and showed a screenshot of a since-deleted social media post by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. On Victory Day, Zelensky published a photo of a Ukrainian fighter with a skull head patch that was worn by an elite German SS unit during the war.
When the host tried to interject, Polyansky said: “Don’t interrupt me, sir, please.”
“Do you know that this ‘Totenkopf’ division was responsible for the murder of 100 Britons in France in the beginning of the Second World War?” Polyansky continued. “So, it means that now the UK is covering Ukrainian authorities, which display Nazi symbols during the Victory Day. And these Nazi symbols were used by the same regiments that killed British people. Isn’t that a little bit strange?”
The host then said they had run out of time and ended the interview. He added that the network could not independently verify Polyansky’s claims.
The image of a fighter with the skull head patch was also posted by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on Twitter and later removed.
Moscow previously said it had captured fighters with Nazi tattoos and insignia during its military campaign in Ukraine. According to multiple reports, Ukraine’s Azov Battalion contains fighters with openly neo-Nazi views.
German officials say it could include further loans to energy firms and their nationalization
Germany has been busy working on emergency measures to help the country cope in case of an abrupt stop to Russian natural gas flows, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing government sources.
According to the outlet, the package of proposed measures includes providing further loans to energy firms from German state development bank KfW in order to help deal with skyrocketing prices, which have fluctuated wildly since the start of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine and the Western sanctions that followed, including from Germany.
Reuters sources also said that Berlin could resort to nationalizing critical companies, such as energy firms and refineries.
Russia supplied 55% of Germany’s gas imports in 2021, with many industries heavily dependent on Russian energy. However, Berlin has come under pressure to sever ties with Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine. The government announced last month that it plans to cut dependence on Russian supplies as soon as possible, but is unlikely to do so until at least mid-2024. Berlin has so far sanctioned Russian oil and coal, but only slightly lowered Russian gas deliveries.
Sources say that while Germany is unlikely to stop buying Russian gas in the coming months, Berlin fears Russia could cut the supplies abruptly amid the sanctions. No measures to cope with this have been finalized yet, but in April, Berlin passed a law to allow the government to take control of energy companies if necessary.
Earlier, German officials also said they are considering rationing gas in case of an emergency. The national energy regulator (Bundesnetzagentur) said last month it was considering prioritizing industries over households if Russian gas is cut off.
Fears intensified after Russian state energy giant and major exporter Gazprom stopped gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria in April after the two countries refused to pay for Russian gas using the new ruble-based mechanism that Moscow introduced to shield itself from dollar- and euro-linked sanctions.
According to the Reuters sources, Germany has nearly reached the limit of sanctions on Russia that it could impose without bringing down its own economy. German industry majors have reportedly lobbied the government in recent weeks to abstain from sanctioning Russian gas.
Malaysian commodities minister says export tax cut would be temporary
Malaysia is preparing to lower its export tax on palm oil amid the global edible oil shortage and growing demand, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin told Reuters on Tuesday.
“During these times of crisis, probably we can relax a little bit so that more palm oil can be exported,” Kamaruddin said, adding that the cut is planned to be a temporary measure. She noted that the tax could be slashed from the current 8% to as low as 4-6%.
According to the official, her department has already forwarded the cut proposal to the Finance Ministry, where a committee has been set up to determine its feasibility. Kamaruddin said she expects a decision as early as next month.
Apart from the tax cut, Malaysia also plans to prioritize the palm oil supply for food industries by halting the move to implement its B30 biodiesel mandate, in which part of Malaysian biodiesel is to be mixed with 30% palm oil, the official announced.
Malaysia is the world’s second-biggest producer of palm oil, which is used in a variety of products from food to household chemicals, and accounts for roughly 60% of the world’s vegetable oil shipments. According to Kamaruddin, several importers, including India, Iran, and Bangladesh, have urged Malaysia to cut the tax and even proposed barter trade for the commodity.
The shortage in the global edible oil market intensified after Russia’s military operation in Ukraine disrupted sunflower oil shipments, while the world’s largest palm oil producer, Indonesia, banned exports.
Denis Shapovalov launched into a verbal attack on the booing crowd in Rome
Hot-headed Canadian tennis star Denis Shapovalov was hit with a penalty after a furious rant at the crowd during his first-round match against home favorite Lorenzo Sonego at the Italian Open.
Taking issue with a line call on his serve during a tight second-set battle, Shapovalov angrily remonstrated with umpire Richard Haigh before continuing his exchange with the match supervisor at the side of the court.
The Canadian crossed onto his opponent’s side of the net to show officials the mark which he believed indicated that his disputed serve had landed in – something prohibited under the rules of the game.
“Denis, listen, because you crossed the net you’re going to get another code violation. You can't cross the net,” said Haigh.
“No way! Come on I was just showing you the mark. Call the supervisor that’s bullsh*t! That’s so unfair,” argued Shapovalov, who had already been warned for his conduct during an earlier incident.
The crowd booed the 23-year-old incessantly during the row, prompting to Shapovalov to turn around and scream “shut the f**k up,” earning himself a point penalty.
The shocking scenes came during the second set of the meeting in Rome as Shapovalov was leading the match 7-6(4) 3-4.
The Canadian went on to drop the second set but bounced back in the third to win 7-6 (5) 3-6 6-3, setting up a second-round meeting with Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Shapovalov also lobbied unsuccessfully to get a spectator kicked out of the stands for supposedly heckling him, although umpire Haigh declined to take action as he was unsure of what the player had seen or heard.
“He was just telling me to get off the court, get out of there, waving me off the court, trying to obviously get under my skin or whatnot,” Shapovalov later explained at a press conference.
“I think the umpire just needs to keep an eye on it if a player mentions something.
“The reason why [the heckler] didn’t get kicked out was because [the umpire] told me he didn’t see what happened. That’s very understandable. I feel like he kept an eye on him after that. It didn’t bother me after that.
“I think in the NBA there's a lot of hecklers and stuff like that. They’re pretty strict, the security and everything, that [the fans] don’t cross the line. If they do, they’re kicked out right away,” added Shapovalov.
Despite his outburst, Shapovalov claimed he was on good terms with fans in Italy.
“Obviously, I think it’s a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing. I just need to improve with handling myself about that,” said the Canadian.
“But in terms of going forward, I’ve played in Rome a lot of times. The fans love me here and I love the fans... Even after the match, there were a lot of people standing, waiting for pictures, stuff like that.
“I do really appreciate the sport and the love I get here. I'm super excited to play another match – not against an Italian,” joked the world number 16.
Shapovalov was defaulted for the incident and fined $7,000, while Gabas needed surgery after suffering a fractured eye socket.
As recently as January, Shapovalov made headlines after accusing match umpire Carlos Bernardes of being “corrupt” for supposedly allowing Rafael Nadal to get away with slow play during their Australian Open quarterfinal.
Shapovalov later apologized for the comments, but stood by his claims that some players get preferential treatment because of their status.
Rising oil prices are driving the cost at the pump higher
Gasoline prices at the pump in the US hit a new all-time record on Tuesday, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).
The average retail cost of a gallon of gas hit $4.374 early on Tuesday, the AAA said, surpassing the former record of $4.331, set in March.
The increase is mainly due to the high cost of crude oil, which was hovering near $100 per barrel last week and is now closing in on $110, the association explains on its website.
Futures of Brent crude, the main global benchmark, have actually dropped 7% since March 30. As a result, gas prices ticked slightly lower in April but are now up roughly 10%.
The retail price of diesel fuel also reached a record this week, hitting $5.45 per gallon.
A recent survey found that increasingly expensive fuel has forced roughly two-thirds of vehicle owners in the US to change their driving habits.
Oil prices have been pushed higher by some US refineries having closed during the pandemic, while the remaining ones are nearing full capacity, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.
Global fuel stockpiles are being reduced as demand has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, whereas production has not yet been able to catch up. Oil supplies tightened further after Russia – a major oil exporter – launched its offensive in Ukraine, leading to the United States, the EU and their allies imposing sanctions on Russia and banning, or planning to phase out, the country’s oil.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) commented on sanctions against Russia and Belarus
Members of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) have ratified the sanctions placed on Russia and Belarus, meaning the pair continue to be suspended from the organization and all team events held under its auspices.
The ITF confirmed the step on Monday following a virtual extraordinary general meeting held last week.
The head of the Russian Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpischev, had already indicated to local media that the step had been taken, although it was only formally announced by the ITF this week.
“In a virtual Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held on Friday 6 May by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), member nations ratified the ITF Board’s 1 March 2022 suspension of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) and the Belarus Tennis Federation (BTF) as ITF members,” read a message shared on the ITF website.
“This also confirms that both nations are ineligible to enter ITF international team competitions. The ITF Board withdrew all ITF events from Russia and Belarus on March 1 until further notice.”
It noted, however, that its policy continued to allow Russian and Belarusian players to compete in individual international tournaments but strictly under a neutral status.
“Under this policy, no Russian or Belarusian national insignia or symbol, flag, anthem, nor any sign of patriotism is permitted,” said the statement.
Russian tennis official Tarpischev said last week that the majority of ITF members had backed the sanctions against Russia and Belarus, which were initially unveiled at the outset of the conflict in Ukraine.
“It’s about a temporary suspension. We won 20 percent of the votes in support, theoretically, we could have done more, we needed two-thirds to avoid a suspension,” Tarpischev said.
Tarpischev has argued that the main thing at present is for Russian and Belarusian players to be allowed to compete as individuals.
“In fact, we [the Russian Tennis Federation] been suspended for two months now, we have been living like this since March,”said the official.
“But [in this situation] the main thing is not us, but that our tennis players are performing, albeit in a neutral status Everyone understands who they represent.”
While players such as Russian men’s world number two Daniil Medvedev and Belarusian women’s world number eight Aryna Sabalenka are free to appear on the ATP and WTA tours as well as the upcoming Grand Slam at the French Open, officials at Wimbledon have gone against the grain by banning all players from the two countries this summer.
That stance – which bosses at the grass court showpiece have defended as being in line with UK government policy – has earned Wimbledon widespread condemnation in the tennis community.
The ITF’s position is not as excessive, but nonetheless means that the Russian teams cannot defend major international titles which they won last year.
Back in December, Russia’s men lifted the Davis Cup for the first time in 15 years when they defeated Croatia in the final in Madrid.
Their female counterparts won the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly the Fed Cup) in November after overcoming Switzerland in the final in Prague – Russia’s first triumph in the competition since 2008.
Since Moscow launched its military offensive in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus have faced increasing isolation from global sporting events after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that no athletes from the two countries be invited to compete.
Mexico City International has recently seen an increased number of incidents
An incident at Mexico City International Airport in which two jets nearly collided on the runway has prompted an investigation into safety protocols, the resignation of a key official, and a significant reduction of operations at one of Latin America’s busiest gateways.
A video of Saturday’s near-miss shows two Volaris (an ultra-low-cost Mexican airline) planes – one is seen descending to land and flying directly over the other, which is about to take off.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, when asked about the incident at a press conference on Monday, said, “there was an error, the investigation is being carried out.” Noting that the problem of air traffic at the airport should be addressed, he added: “Tell people that there is no danger, we are responsible, and all the personnel who work in aviation are professional people and good people who do not wish misfortune.”
#VIDEO | Last night, two Volaris aircraft nearly collided with each other at Benito Juarez Mexico City International Airport.
Deputy Transport Minister Rogelio Jimenez Pons, however, did not downplay the significance of the incident, saying it was “a pretty serious, alarming incident.”
He stressed that the timely reaction of the pilots prevented a crash, which was also confirmed by Volaris CEO Enrique Beltranena, who ordered an internal investigation into the incident.
The near-miss, according to Pons, is likely related to an air traffic control mistake. He explained that the current lack of air traffic controllers complicates the work.
“These specialists require fair conditions to perform such a demanding job,” he said in an interview with El Universal.
In an interview with Radio Formula, Pons revealed that in order to ease the load at Mexico City International, over the next 12 months, 25% of operations will be gradually moved to other airports, with the majority set to be carried out from Felipe Angeles International Airport. The transition will begin between August and September, he said.
On May 8, a day after the near-miss, the director of the Navigation Services in the Mexican Air Space (SENEAM), Victor Hernandez, announced his resignation.
This followed a report of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), which was published on May 4 and raised concerns over frequent incidents at Mexico City International.
“In the past month IFALPA has been made aware of several incidents involving aircraft arriving at MMMX with low fuel states due to unplanned holding, diversions for excessive delays, and significant GPWS alerts where one crew almost had a Controlled Flight into Terrain,” the report said.
In May 2021, the US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) downgraded Mexico’s aviation safety rating from category 1 to 2, meaning the US will continue to allow Mexican airlines to conduct flights into the US, but they cannot add new routes.
European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune says “it’s a matter of days,” while Hungary defends its opposition to the embargo
An EU agreement on a Russian oil ban will come in “a matter of days,” French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune claimed on Tuesday, as Hungary, the key critic of the embargo, said that “a lot more needs to be done” for it to drop its objections.
European Union members, in response to Russia’s ongoing military offensive in Ukraine, are now conducting difficult negotiations on the sixth package of sanctions, which includes a gradual ban on Russian oil. In an interview with LCI TV, Beaune said an agreement could be reached “within a week,” and this is the goal of the French presidency.
“We are working hard on it… It’s probably a matter of days. And I can say with confidence, there will be a sixth package of European sanctions, they will be very powerful, and we will gradually, with a timetable, phase out Russian oil first but also Russian hydrocarbons in general,” he stated.
Beaune explained that the EU is now considering two ways to accommodate the needs of the countries that are heavily dependent on Russian energy – giving them extra time to implement the sanctions, and providing them with “alternative supply guarantees.” He noted that, though the negotiations have been difficult, the EU also struggled to agree on the previous package of sanctions, but in the end, the measures were adopted unanimously.
Beaune also revealed that on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron will hold a telephone call with Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
This follows Monday’s meeting of von der Leyen and Orban in Budapest. Following the talks, the European Commission president said they were “helpful to clarify issues related to sanctions and energy security.”
“We made progress, but further work is needed,” she said in a statement on Twitter.
Hungary also signaled some progress. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said “a small step forward” was made.
“A lot more needs to be done, though, for us to potentially change our position… We cannot allow the Hungarian people to pay the price of this war,” he said.
Last week, von der Leyen confirmed that proposals for the sixth package of sanctions include a gradually implemented total embargo on Russian oil. This is arguably the toughest measure so far for the EU itself, considering that in 2021, the bloc as a whole received 25% of its oil imports from Russia, according to Eurostat data.
Orban said the measure would be a “nuclear bomb” for his country’s economy, and revealed that he wants the EU to give Hungary five years to replace Russian oil.
Acknowledging the objections of Hungary and Slovakia, which rely heavily on Russian imports, the EU has reportedly offered the two countries, as well as the Czech Republic, a delay for the implementation of sanctions until 2024. Other countries are due to switch to alternative supplies early next year at the latest.
Any measures have to be unanimously approved by the bloc’s 27 member countries.
Russia attacked its neighboring state following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join NATO. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
The West condemned the attack and responded to it by imposing sweeping sanctions on Moscow. Russia considers these measures unlawful and unjustified and has retaliated by imposing its own counter-sanctions.
Four people were trampled to death in Bolivia after a gas grenade disrupted elections at a university
Four students were killed in a stampede after a chemical agent was dispersed inside a packed university sports hall in Bolivia on Monday, police said. According to reports, up to 80 were injured.
Rector Pedro Lopez said the students had gathered inside a sports hall at the Tomas Frias Autonomous University in the southern city of Potosi to elect their representative to the Local University Federation.
The meeting immediately descended into chaos after someone threw a gas grenade into the crowd. Some reports said it was tear gas.
Videos and photos posted on social media show people fleeing the building and later tending to fellow students who were lying on the ground.
The young woman tried her stunt after the main event at UFC 274 in Phoenix
An MMA enthusiast has gone viral for her ill-advised attempt to storm the octagon following the main event at UFC 274 on Saturday.
The card at Phoenix's Footprint Center was headlined by hometown favorite Justin Gaethje, who attempted to clinch the vacant lightweight belt after former champion Charles Oliveira failed to make the 155-lbs limit and was stripped on the scales the day before.
Filmed after Oliveira finished the bout in the first round via an impressive submission, the clip already seen over a million times on Twitter and originally shared on TikTok shows a clearly inebriated young woman identifying herself as "Miss Maggie" and informing her audience of what she is about to try and pull off.
A man nearby tells her "Go, go, girl" until the woman sets off on her way to claps and cheers. Hopping up to the perimeter of the Octagon, she is then stopped from being able to scale it as a member of security pushes her away and launches the attention seeker into orbit.
"Oh sh*t!" says the man who had previously encouraged her, with the girl criticized online for having "no end game" in her poorly-thought out plan.
The New York Post reported that the girl was "dazed for a few seconds" and also tried running toward a tunnel in the arena.
Then stopped and seated in a chair, she was taken away as two-time title challenger Gaethje left the floor.
To MMA Fighting, an official representing arena security said the fan was attended to by medical staff and wasn't injured.
"It was swiftly dealt with and she was ejected from the arena," the official confirmed.
Also in the comments section of the viral clip, a member of the public who seems to work for Texas-based Executive Protection Concierge Security Solutions said that the company was "very proud of having great female agents on our team like the one you saw in the video."
Prime Minister Trudeau says the ban sends a ‘powerful message’ despite the fact that Canada doesn’t buy Russian crude
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a ban on imports of Russian oil to punish Moscow for launching a military offensive against Ukraine. However, Canada hasn’t purchased a single barrel of Russian crude since 2019, according to Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
The ban is part of a new round of penalties that Canada unveiled on Monday to help defend Ukraine and pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the conflict. Ottawa will send anti-tank weapon systems and upgraded ammunition to help Kiev fend off Russian attacks, and Canadian financial institutions are now barred from transacting with Russia’s central bank or buying Russian government bonds.
Trudeau played up the significance of his ban on imports of Russian oil, saying the petroleum industry “has benefited President Putin and his oligarchs greatly,” accounting for more than one-third of the country’s federal government revenue. “While Canada has imported very little amounts in recent years, this measure sends a powerful message,” he added.
In fact, Canada produces more crude than it uses, making it a net exporter of oil. Most of the country’s oil trade, including imports and exports, is with the US. Russia isn’t a significant player among the other nations that sell oil to Canada, as 2022 will likely mark the third straight year of zero crude trade between the countries.
However, Trudeau argued that his import ban will help “ensure that those who are complicit in President Putin’s atrocities cannot escape accountability for their actions.” He added that “this unnecessary war must stop now. The costs will only grow steeper, and those responsible will be held accountable.”
The US currently has no plans to join Canada in banning Russian oil. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that although all sanctioning options “remain on the table,” Washington has been reluctant so far to target the energy sector.
Psaki: "We have taken steps, we have not taken some steps on energy sanctions in part because we weigh that ... it would also have extreme consequences on the world energy market..." pic.twitter.com/BZEGvIN19d
“Sanctioning energy would affect Russia’s income stream,” Psaki said. “Certainly that would be a reason to do it. But it would also have extreme consequences on the world energy markets, particularly for our allies in Europe.”
Like Canada, the US is a net oil exporter and buys relatively little of its foreign supplies from Russia.
Tokyo’s long-standing nuclear policy rules out any arms-sharing plan with Washington, Japan’s prime minister said
Japan will not be seeking a nuclear weapons-sharing deal with the United States, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, after a former Japanese leader claimed the idea should not be considered “taboo.”
Speaking to parliament on Monday, Kishida rejected a nuclear-sharing arrangement as “unacceptable,” citing Japan’s “stance of maintaining the three nonnuclear principles,”according to Kyodo News.
Japan has long vowed to never produce, possess or allow other nations to bring nuclear weapons on its territory, having been the only nation in history to be attacked with atomic bombs. While it is protected under the US ‘nuclear umbrella,’ its non-nuclear status has been enshrined as a guiding principle for Japanese policy.
Kishida was responding to recent remarks by former PM Shinzo Abe, who said during a Sunday interview that Japan should consider a sharing deal as an option. “It's essential to understand how the world's security is maintained, and we shouldn't treat those discussions as a taboo,” he argued, though also reiterated previous calls for the ultimate abolition of nukes altogether.
In addition to the UK and France, five non-nuclear NATO members – Turkey, Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands – currently host American nuclear bombs on their soil, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Seven other NATO states provide assistance for nuclear missions through conventional air support, and all 30 members, excluding France, belong to a body to discuss nuclear policy issues, the Nuclear Planning Group.
The film production giants said the moves were in response to Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine
Disney, Warner Bros and Sony have each vowed to keep upcoming films out of Russian theaters, accusing Moscow of an “unprovoked invasion” of Ukraine as a long list of Western states and institutions retaliate with penalties of their own.
The Walt Disney Company announced the decision on Monday, saying it would halt future releases in Russia in reaction to its ongoing military operation.
“Given the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis, we are pausing the release of theatrical films in Russia, including the upcoming Turning Red from Pixar,” the company said, adding that its “future business decisions” will be “based on the evolving situation.”
Disney also noted that it would work with partnered NGOs to provide “urgent aid and other humanitarian assistance to refugees.”
Warner Bros later made a similar move“in light of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine,” though it appears the company’s response was more limited and only applied to the upcoming film ‘The Batman.’
“We hope for a swift and peaceful resolution to this tragedy,” it added.
Sony was the latest studio to pull content from the Russian market, with a company spokesperson saying late on Monday that, like Disney, it would pause all theatrical releases in the country “given the ongoing military action in Ukraine and the resulting uncertainty and humanitarian crisis unfolding in that region.”
Earlier, the Motion Picture Association – a trade org that represents the largest film production outfits, including Disney, Warner Bros and Sony – issued a statement “condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
“On behalf of our member companies, who lead the film, TV and streaming industry, we express our strongest support for Ukraine’s vibrant creative community who, like all people, deserve to live and work peacefully,” it said.
The production houses’ latest actions come after the Ukrainian Film Academy urged for an international boycott of the Russian film industry over the weekend – all as Western governments impose a raft of harsh sanctions on senior Russian officials, lawmakers, financial institutions and other businesses, and even media figures in retaliation for the Ukraine incursion.
President Vladimir Putin announced what he called a “special military operation” in Ukraine last Thursday, aiming for the complete “demilitarization” and “denazification” of the country, and made a pledge to prosecute those who were involved in “numerous bloody crimes against civilians.”
Kiev, however, insists the attack was “unprovoked,” claiming it has had no plans to retake the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk by force. They split from Ukraine back in 2014 following the Maidan coup in Kiev, and endured years of low-intensity warfare that left thousands of people dead.
All major streaming services making a profit in the country are required by law to include them on their platform
US streaming giant Netflix will not comply with a Russian law that requires all video content providers with over 100,000 daily views to add 20 free-to-air TV channels to their platform. “Given the current situation, we have no plans to add these channels to our service,” a Netflix spokesperson told Variety on Monday.
The entertainment news website called the required package “propaganda channels,” and stated that one of them was “Spa, a channel operated by the Russian Orthodox Church.” The religious outlet it was referring to is called Spas, which means ‘Savior’ in Church Slavonic. The two packages comprising the obligatory set also include several entertainment channels, a children’s cartoon channel, and a music channel.
Netflix localized in Russia over a year ago. Its Russian subsidiary was added to the official list of content providers in late December, after pressure that its competitors put on media regulator RKN. The service had two months to comply with the rules about the 20 must-have channels after that, with the deadline expiring on Tuesday.
Unlike many other Western companies that pledged to stop doing business in Russia due to the ongoing military operation against Ukraine, Netflix will continue to provide services to Russian subscribers, “while monitoring the situation closely,” Variety reported.
Bulgaria, Poland, and Slovakia are said to be delivering 70+ airplanes for the Ukrainian military
Three NATO countries will deliver more than 70 warplanes for Kiev, Ukrainian Army representatives announced on Tuesday morning.
According to a statement published on Facebook, Poland, Bulgaria, and Slovakia will provide over 70 MiG-29 and SU-25 aircraft that can be based at Polish airfields. Sixteen MiG-29 planes and 14 SU-25s will be provided by Bulgaria. Poland will send 28 MiG-29 warplanes, and Slovakia can deliver 12 MiG-29 planes, the officials stated.
“Our partners gave us MiG-29 and SU-25! If needed, they can be based on Polish airfields from which Ukrainian pilots can carry out combat missions,” the statement read, also suggesting that there will be more “Ghosts of Kiev” soon.
The ‘Ghost of Kiev’ became a media legend following reports that a Ukrainian pilot “managed to single-handedly take down 6 Russian fighter jets.” However, the footage showing the ‘Ghost’ was soon revealed to be a clip from ‘Digital Combat Simulator’.
Putin made the decision to launch a military offensive against Ukraine last Thursday, stating it was necessary to “demilitarize” Ukraine to protect the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and Russian security interests. The majority of Western countries condemned the attack and imposed tough sanctions on Moscow and Russian officials.
The incident was reportedly a case of mistaken identity
Ukrainian troops have shot and killed an Israeli man trying to flee the country during the Russian military operation, Tel Aviv confirmed on Monday.
Russia attacked its neighbor last week, arguing that it was defending the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which broke off from Ukraine following the 2014 coup in Kiev. Ukraine said the attack was entirely unprovoked and called on the international community for help.
Israeli media reported that Roman Brodsky, who had been living in Ukraine for the past few years, was shot by the Ukrainians at a roadblock 95km (59 miles) south of Kiev, when he tried to escape by car to Moldova. The man was described as a father of two and a DJ.
Haaretz newspaper said the Ukrainians had apparently mistaken Brodsky for someone else. Several outlets reported that he was killed by soldiers, while others said he was shot by militia members. Ukraine has been actively arming civilians and urging them to stay on the lookout for groups of “Russian saboteurs” infiltrating cities.
“They thought he was Chechen or something and killed him,” the man’s father was quoted as saying. Nevertheless, Brodsky’s family told the media they blame Moscow for their son’s death.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett expressed condolences to Brodsky’s family and said Tel Aviv will “continue to do all we can to help Israelis return home.”
Many countries, including the US, Britain, and EU member states, imposed new sanctions on Russia, hitting its banks and trade, among other things. The majority of European countries closed their airspace to Russian airlines, and Moscow has responded in kind.
Russians and Ukrainians held the first round of peace talks in Belarus on Monday.
Tokyo vows to ‘freeze assets’ of top Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin
Japan has slapped Russia with additional sanctions for its offensive in Ukraine, targeting three state banks and six individuals, including President Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.
“We've agreed on the need to take powerful sanctions against Russia,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida declared on Tuesday.
Japan’s asset freeze will also target Russia’s central bank, as well as the state-owned Vnesheconombank and Promsvyazbank. In addition, Tokyo will ban exports to 49 Russian companies and entities.
Japan joins the US, EU and other Western allies in introducing embargoes against Moscow for what they describe as “an invasion of Ukraine.” The measures mostly focus on cutting off certain Russian banks from global financial transactions and freezing assets abroad.
Putin announced that Russia would launch a special military operation in Ukraine last Thursday, calling for the complete “demilitarization” and “denazification” of the country, and made a pledge to prosecute those who were involved in “numerous bloody crimes against civilians.”
Kiev, however, claims the attack was “unprovoked,” insisting it has had no plans to retake the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk by force. They split from Ukraine back in 2014 following the Maidan coup, which ousted the democratically-elected government in Kiev, and endured years of low-intensity warfare that left thousands of people dead.
Facebook’s parent company will throttle European users’ access to Russian state media
Social media behemoth Meta will restrict access to Russian state-backed media outlets on its Facebook and Instagram platforms throughout Europe, the company’s vice president Nick Clegg announced Monday, citing “requests from a number of governments.”
“Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time,” Clegg tweeted, vowing to continue to “work closely” with governments on the matter.
The ban comes just days after Facebook barred Russian state media outlets from monetizing on its platform anywhere in the world, citing the attack on Ukraine and declining a request by Russian authorities to discontinue the deployment of biased fact-checking and warning labels on Ukraine-related content. Moscow responded by partially restricting access to the platform in Russia.
Facebook is one of several social networks that has pledged to squelch Russian media amid the ongoing offensive in Ukraine. On Sunday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed to block Russian state-owned media transmissions across the EU, announcing “we are developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe.”
EU officials have also spoken with the CEOs of Google and its subsidiary YouTube, requesting the social media platforms step up their efforts to block access to Russian state media. Google and YouTube demonetized Russian state channels over the weekend, but the EU has insisted this is not sufficient, arguing for a ban on the content itself, which it has denounced as “war propaganda.”
Twitter, which already warns users when they are looking at Russian state-backed media, announced on Monday that it would add warning labels to tweets sharing content from such outlets, even if the poster is not a Russian state-owned media account.
Offending tweets now carry an orange exclamation point alerting the user that “This Tweet links to a Russia state-affiliated media website.” The new label will not be applied to RT, Sputnik or other media already carrying the “state-affiliated media” scarlet letter. However, tweets sharing content allegedly affiliated with the Russian state will not appear on the platform’s “top search” function.
The trip by former Pentagon and national security figures is a show of support for the island claimed by Beijing
US President Joe Biden on Monday sent a group of former military and national security figures to Taiwan, where they will meet with officials, including President Tsai Ing-wen. The trip comes amid concerns in the US that Beijing may be enticed to invade the island having observed the US’ unwillingness to commit troops to Ukraine.
The visit was initially reported by Reuters and confirmed shortly afterwards by Taiwanese diplomats. Taiwan’s embassy in the US said the trip is “a sign that relations between Taipei and Washington remain ‘rock-solid’!”
Led by former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen, the delegation includes Meghan O'Sullivan, a former deputy national security advisor in George W. Bush’s administration, and Michele Flournoy, a former under secretary of defense under Barack Obama. Former National Security Council officials Mike Green and Evan Medeiros also traveled with the group.
The team is expected to arrive in Taipei on Tuesday, and meet with President Tsai on Wednesday.
A similar trip took place under Biden’s direction last April, when a group of former lawmakers and diplomats traveled to Taiwan to assure Taipei that Washington would support the island nation’s defense. While the government in Beijing insists that Taiwan belongs to China, the US has unofficially supported Taiwanese independence, supplying weapons to Taipei even while recognizing China’s claim to the island.
The US is not party to any binding security treaties with Taiwan, and has never pledged to defend the island with force. This non-committal position, coupled with the US’ refusal to commit troops to Ukraine in response to Russia’s military offensive there last week, has led to speculation in the US media that Beijing may be considering “an invasion.”
In an interview last week, former President Donald Trump claimed that China would “absolutely” move on Taiwan during Biden’s presidency.
While there are no signs that such a move is in the works, Taiwan has accused the Chinese military of probing its air defense zone with jets last week.
Speaking to Reuters, an unnamed US official declined to link the delegation’s trip with any increased threat, saying that it instead represented Biden’s “broader commitment to Taiwan.”
Russia’s president has criticized the West as the country faces a new massive wave of sanctions
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the West an “empire of lies,” responding to a new wave of sanctions that hit the country over its special military operation in neighboring Ukraine.
Speaking to top government officials on Monday, he said: “I invited you to discuss economic and financial issues … bearing in mind the sanctions that the so-called Western community — an empire of lies, as I called it in my address — is trying to implement against our country.”
The “empire of lies” term was coined by Russia’s president last Thursday, when he announced the launch of the offensive in Ukraine. Since the US is a “system-forming power,” the whole collective West has become such an “empire,” he said then.
“By the way, American politicians, political scientists, and journalists themselves write and say that, in recent years, an actual ‘empire of lies’ has been created inside the United States. It’s hard to disagree with that, as it’s true,” Putin stated.
All [the US] satellites not only dutifully agree, sing along to its music, but also copy its behavior, and enthusiastically accept the rules they are offered. Therefore, with good reason, we can confidently say that the entire so-called Western bloc, formed by the United States in its own image and likeness, all of it is an ‘empire of lies.’
Russia’s operation in Ukraine has become the only option left to prevent further bloodshed in the country and stop Kiev from trying to launch an all-out assault on the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in the country’s east, the Kremlin has explained. Ahead of the offensive, Moscow formally recognized the People’s Republics there as independent states.
Kiev, however, claimed the attack was “unprovoked,” insisting it has had zero plans to retake the breakaway regions by force. Donetsk and Lugansk split from Ukraine back in 2014 following the Maidan coup, which ousted the democratically-elected government of the country. While active, large-scale combat ended with the 2014-15 Minsk agreements, the roadmap out of the crisis the deal had provided was never implemented, with the republics enduring years of low-intensity warfare that left thousands of people dead.
US president says Americans shouldn’t worry about a potentially catastrophic conflict with Russia amid Ukraine tensions
President Joe Biden has shrugged off fears that tensions between Washington and Moscow over the Ukraine crisis will escalate into nuclear war, denying that Americans have any reason to be concerned about risks of such a conflict.
Asked by a reporter whether Americans should be worried about nuclear war, Biden curtly replied, “No.” The question came at a spontaneous moment while Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were walking by a group of journalists on Monday during a Black History Month event at the White House.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday put his country’s deterrence forces – including nuclear weapons – on highest alert. Moscow said the move was made at least partly in response to comments by UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who told Sky News that unless Putin was stopped in Ukraine, other countries in Eastern Europe would come under threat, leading to a conflict with NATO.
BREAKING: President Biden answers "no" when asked if Americans should be worried about nuclear war. pic.twitter.com/7zzSDgMb7L
“Statements were made by various representatives at various levels on possible altercations, or even collisions and clashes, between NATO and Russia,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. “We believe that such statements are absolutely unacceptable.”
The bloc’s top officials, however, showed a mixed reaction to the idea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a formal EU membership bid on Monday amid the military offensive launched by Russia in the country.
“Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal. I’m sure that’s fair. I am sure we deserve it,” Zelensky said in a video address shared on social media, urging the “immediate accession of Ukraine via a new special procedure” into the bloc.
The president claimed the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine is “fighting not only for our country, but for all of Europe,” as well as purportedly “for peace for all.”
Ukraine’s potential ascension into the EU has been a favorite talking point of pro-western politicians in the country for decades now. The 2014 Maidan protests – which ultimately resulted in a coup overthrowing the country’s democratically-elected government and led to years of conflict with the breakaway regions in the east – largely revolved around EU aspirations as well. Still, Kiev made little to no actual progress in achieving its proclaimed goal over the years.
The renewed drive to join the EU has been met with apparent skepticism by the top officials of the bloc, who pointed out that no fast-track ascension procedure even exists. The process routinely takes years to come to fruition, while a potential member has to meet assorted criteria to join, political and economical alike.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, for instance, said that while Ukraine is regarded as a part of the “house of Europe,” its potential ascension was not something that could be done in a couple of months.
“And it’s not that we woke up in a different world just now because the European Union has always been a house whose doors were open,” Baerbock said, adding that accepting Kiev into the bloc would not mean the latter seeks to sever the country from Russia.
EU top diplomat Josep Borrell provided even a longer time frame for a potential ascension of Ukraine, stating that any membership bid could take “a lot of years.”
Some leaders of the EU members, however, appeared to be more welcoming towards Kiev’s aspirations. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the bloc needed to show a clear sign to Ukraine that it was welcome, while his Slovenian counterpart, Janez Jansa, expressed his “full support” towards a speedier ascension procedure for Kiev.
Sofia’s military chief has been sacked for calling Russia’s conflict in Ukraine a ‘military intervention’ rather than a ‘war’
Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov has fired defense chief Stefan Yanev over his word choices in describing the Russia-Ukraine conflict, calling the situation a “military intervention” or an “operation” rather than a “war.”
“My defense minister cannot use the word operation instead of the word war,” Petkov told reporters on Monday. “You cannot call it an operation when thousands of soldiers from the one and the other side are already killed.”
The prime minister added that “the Bulgarian interest is not in bending our heads down.” Rather, “When we see something we do not agree with, something so obvious, we cannot keep quiet.”
All four parties in Bulgaria’s ruling coalition agreed to call for Yanev’s resignation, Petkov noted. A new defense minister – reportedly Todor Tagarev, who held the position in 2013 – will be appointed in an extraordinary session of Parliament that will be held on Tuesday.
The firing came in reaction to a Facebook post by Yanev. Commenting on the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the defense minister warned against using the word “war.” He said there was no need for Bulgaria to side with Russia, the US, or European allies in the conflict, adding, “Our suffering motherland does not deserve to be sacrificed in the game of the great powers.”
Petkov chided him for the post, saying, “No minister can attempt to do foreign policymaking on his own, especially on Facebook.” Yanev argued that he was being targeted for removal so the government could install a defense minister who will be more willing to serve foreign interests, in some cases at the expense of Bulgaria’s security.
Bulgaria was for long a close ally of Russia and was a Soviet satellite as a member of the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. However, the country joined NATO in 2004 and became part of the European Union in 2007. Petkov has said that standing in solidarity with Western allies is the best way to ensure Bulgaria’s security.
Moscow last week closed its airspace to flights from Bulgaria, after the Balkan country blocked Russian air carriers from its territory in response to the attack on Ukraine.
The US defense chief’s account retweeted a screenshot of the Fox News host’s comment on the Russian military deployments
No, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin hasn’t come over to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s side on Ukraine policy. The Pentagon has deleted a Twitter post in which the defense chief’s account mistakenly shared a Fox News screenshot that appeared to defend Moscow’s motives in massing troops near Ukraine in December.
“It was a fat finger mistake by one of our social media guys,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told media outlet Politico on Monday. “He undid it immediately.”
However, the post lives on as a screenshot of the apparently inadvertent retweet from Austin’s account. The photo in question was from December, when Fox host Tucker Carlson defended Putin’s controversial deployment of military forces near Ukraine’s borders. A caption at the bottom said, “Putin just wants to keep his western border secure.”
Like other US officials, the secretary of defense warned for weeks of a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. For instance, Austin earlier this month likened Russia’s military to a snake that was uncoiling and preparing to strike Ukraine. He told ABC News that Russia’s deployments near Ukraine were “not a bluff,” and an invasion could happen “any day.”
Biden’s Burisma board colleague sentenced to prison for securities fraud
Devon Archer, a close friend and former business partner of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, was sentenced on Monday for defrauding a Native American tribe. A federal judge in New York said Archer may go to prison for a year and a day, as well as serve one year of probation and forfeit $14 million in property.
Archer gained notoriety when it emerged he introduced Hunter Biden – his partner at Rosemont Seneca – to the Ukrainian gas company Burisma back in 2014.
Both Archer and Biden sat on Burisma’s board of directors for years, reportedly being paid over $83,000 a month.
Monday’s sentence is not related to the Ukrainian gas deals, however, but the June 2018 conviction for conspiracy and securities fraud, over Archer’s role in a bond scheme to defraud an Oglala Sioux tribe to the tune of tens of millions.
Archer and two other defendants conspired to have the Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation issue a series of tribal bonds and defrauded both the tribe and the buyers of the bonds while pocketing the profits, the court said in 2018. Archer and another defendant had used the bonds to meet capital requirements in broker deals, and used the profits to buy companies “as part of a strategy to build a financial services conglomerate,” according to the Department of Justice.
On Monday, Judge Ronnie Abrams said the crime was too serious to avoid prison time, but cut the sentence down from the 30 months requested by prosecutors, reportedly citing the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason. He also ordered a one-year probation rather than the requested three years. The US government may also seize up to $14 million in assets owned by Archer as restitution to the tribe.
Abrams also gave Archer 60 days to report to prison, but then said he would set a new surrender date pending appeal.
Archer has appealed the sentence all the way to the US Supreme Court, without success. In November 2021, it emerged that Archer had requested – and Judge Abrams had granted – permission to go on over 40 international trips since his indictment and even conviction.
Kiev suspends entry requirements for anyone who wants to enlist its foreign legion
Foreigners who wish to travel to Ukraine and join the International Legion to fight against Russia can do so without a visa starting March 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Monday amid the ongoing military offensive launched by Moscow.
Zelensky’s Order 82 establishes a visa-free regime for the duration of the current state of emergency, and instructs the Ukrainian government to begin its implementation immediately.
The only exception is made for citizens of the “aggressor state,” meaning that any Russian nationals who’d like to take Kiev’s side in the conflict are not welcome.
The Ukrainian president announced the establishment of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine – a separate unit composed entirely of foreign volunteers – on Sunday, in a speech in which he called the Russian offensive the “beginning of a war against Europe.”
“The leadership of Ukraine invites all foreigners who wish to join the resistance to the Russian occupiers and to protect world security to come to our state and to join the ranks of the Territorial Defense Forces,” Zelensky had said, inviting anyone who wishes to “stand side by side” with Ukrainians to do so.
Moscow ordered troops into Ukraine last week, in what President Vladimir Putin called a special operation to demilitarize and “denazify” the “regime” in Kiev. Zelensky has accused Russia of an unprovoked invasion. While the US, UK and the EU have taken Ukraine’s side and introduced sanctions against Russia, they have promised support in the form of weapons and ammunition – but not troops.
Moscow’s envoy to the UN gets notice of 12 more staffers being expelled while holding press conference
US-Russia diplomatic relations have deteriorated further, as Washington has ordered the expulsion of 12 staffers who work at Moscow’s mission to the United Nations in New York on Monday.
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, interrupted a press conference on Monday as he received notice of the expulsions from his office. He said US officials had delivered a letter saying that 12 Russian diplomats had been declared persona non grata and would have to leave the country by March 7.
“The US authorities have undertaken another hostile action against the Russian mission to the United Nations, grossly violating the commitments of the host country agreement that they undertook,” Nebenzia said.
The notice came less than one week after Washington expelled the second-ranking diplomat at Moscow’s embassy in Washington, Sergey Trepelkov. The US State Department attributed that move to Russia’s “unprovoked” expulsion of the deputy chief of mission at Washington’s embassy in Moscow.
The US expelled 27 Russian diplomats and their families late last year, demanding that they leave the country by January 30. Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said at the time that the embassy was facing a severe staffing shortage. Russia had nearly 200 diplomats working in the US, including Moscow’s mission to the UN, before those expulsions.
Nebenzia told reporters that he didn’t know the reason, if any, cited by the US for the latest expulsions because he hadn’t seen the letter himself. Nor was he able to identify the diplomats who were ordered to leave.
A spokeswoman for the US mission to the UN told Reuters that the Russians who were expelled had been “engaging in espionage activities that are adverse to our national security.” She added that the expulsions have been in the works for several months, suggesting the move wasn’t driven by tensions over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Nebenzia called the order “sad news,” and “another demonstration of gross disrespect of the host country agreement.”
Virtual assistant to provide remote touch-free healthcare services
Amazon has announced its Echo devices, powered by the Alexa AI virtual assistant, can put customers in touch with doctors hands-free via the telemedicine company Teladoc. The company will offer voice-activated medical care at all hours, a Monday press release revealed.
Concerned users need only state “Alexa, I want to talk to a doctor” in the vicinity of their Echo, Echo Dot, or Echo Show device to be hooked up with a Teladoc call center. They can then share their symptoms, though the consultation won’t necessarily be free. Virtual “visits” – audio-only for now, though Teladoc has promised video visits are “coming soon” – will cost $75 for the uninsured. The consultations are available for non-emergency services only, and customers must already have an Alexa voice ID.
Amazon has offered medical services to its employees since 2019 with its “Amazon Care” program, which connects patients with doctors and sends professionals to users’ homes if necessary, and the program has since expanded to cover non-employees, offering in-home visits as well as telehealth services.
The Alexa personal assistant has also deployed medical advice courtesy of WebMD since 2017, and Amazon even operates a prescription delivery service, offering its Prime members “unlimited” two-day delivery on all the pills they can pop.
However, the Alexa option omits the cumbersome step of actually having to place a phone call, log into a computer interface, or otherwise expend physical effort in order to speak to a doctor.
A Teladoc spokesperson has promised Amazon will not be able to access, store, or record the content of any Alexa consultations. The virtual assistant is infamous for its propensity to “accidentally” eavesdrop on clients when it’s supposed to be dormant, and using humans to hone its voice-recognition services without customers’ knowledge. Those humans have been caught passing around particularly choice recordings, and some snippets have even been requested by courts as evidence.
Moscow seeks to “demilitarize and denazify” Kiev, ambassador tells the UN General Assembly
Russia seeks to save lives in the Donbass and punish those responsible for eight years of genocide and atrocities, Moscow’s envoy to the UN Vasily Nebenzia told the General Assembly during a session called to denounce the invasion of Ukraine.
“Occupation of Ukraine is not part of our plans. The purpose of this special operation is to protect people, who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for the past eight years. This is why it’s necessary to demilitarize and de-nazify Ukraine,” Nebenzia said.
As one example of “ghastly crimes” committed by the government in Kiev, the Russian envoy cited the murder of people protesting the US-backed coup in Kiev, when 40 people were burned alive in a building in Odessa. Moscow is seeking to bring to justice anyone who committed such atrocities, “including Russian citizens,” Nebenzia said.
Russia is defending itself from a “regime” which “aspires to gain access to nuclear weapons,” the UN envoy added, noting the statement of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to that effect at the Munich Security Conference on February 18.
Rather than violating the underlying principles of the UN, as critics have accused Russia of doing, Nebenzia argued the military operation is actually ensuring the key principle is upheld – to prevent another world war.
NATO’s placement of military assets in Ukraine would have forced Russia to take measures that would have put Moscow and the alliance “on the brink of conflict,” he said.
Ukraine and its Western backers have accused Russia of unprovoked aggression and dismissed accusations of genocide and atrocities in the two breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
“Everyone knows that Russia and Russia alone started this invasion,” said Kiev’s ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya.
The UN General Assembly is meeting at the request of the US, which last week submitted a joint resolution with Albania to condemn Russia at the UN Security Council, where it was vetoed by Moscow.
In a phone call, the two leaders have expressed hope for a peace settlement
During a conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin named three conditions for a peace settlement in Ukraine, including the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
According to the Kremlin's readout of the phone talks, Putin told Macron that Russia was “open to negotiations with representatives of Ukraine.”
Putin stressed, however, that a settlement was possible “only if Russia's legitimate security interests were unconditionally taken into account,” which includes “the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, the fulfillment of the tasks of demilitarizing and denazifying the Ukrainian state and ensuring its neutral status.”
The Russian leader also said that his country’s forces have not threatened civilians and have not struck civilian objects.
“The threat comes from the Ukrainian nationalists, who use the civilian population as a human shield, deliberately place strike weapon systems in residential areas, and intensified shelling of the cities of Donbass,” the Kremlin said.
As the French presidency said in a statement, Macron “has reiterated the demand by the international community to stop the Russian offensive against Ukraine” and called for an immediate ceasefire.
While negotiations are ongoing between Kiev and Moscow, Macron also named three demands which “have to be respected on the ground.” He called on Russia to “stop all strikes and attacks against civilians and places of residence,” “preserve civil infrastructure,” and “secure the main routes,” including the southern route to Kiev.
According to the Elysee, Putin expressed a “willingness to commit” to these three issues.
The French president also called on his Russian counterpart “to respect the international humanitarian law” as well as the “delivery of aid.”
The two leaders agreed to stay in contact “to prevent the situation from worsening.”
The Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine was launched on February 24, with Putin stating a goal of “demilitarizing” the country and protecting the security of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as of Russia itself. Western nations have condemned the attack and imposed harsh economic sanctions on Moscow.
The ruling means that Russia's men's team is set to be denied the chance to qualify for the 2022 World Cup
Football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA have banned all Russian teams from their competitions until further notice, as the two organizations issued a joint statement on Monday.
"FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice," read a statement.
"These decisions were adopted today by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the Executive Committee of UEFA, respectively the highest decision-making bodies of both institutions on such urgent matters.
"Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people."
In a separate statement, UEFA announced that it had ended its partnership with Russian energy company Gazprom "with immediate effect."
FIFA and UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions.
FIFA had earlier been in advanced talks regarding Russian teams after Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic refused to play against Russia in an upcoming men's World Cup qualifying semi-final and potential final in Moscow on March 24 and March 29.
On Sunday, the world football governing body had determined that Russian teams must play at neutral venues amid Russia's military operation in Ukraine, and that Russian national teams would have to perform under a 'Football Union of Russia' banner without fans and the use of their flag or national anthem.
However, with Monday's decision, FIFA and UEFA have gone beyond those measures and have now excluded Russia and its club teams entirely from all their tournaments until further notice, which seems certain to bar the men's team from contention for qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The ban also means that, as things stand, the Russian women's national team would be ruled out of competing at Euro 2022.
Unlike the men's team, who had a tough road ahead in having to first beat Poland and then either Sweden or the Czech Republic to reach the FIFA World Cup, Russia's women have already qualified for the UEFA Euro showpiece in England, which they were due to kick off by facing Switzerland in a Group C clash on July 9.
RB Leipzig claimed that UEFA is close to canceling its Europa League games against Spartak Moscow
UEFA is close to kicking Spartak Moscow out of the Europa League, according to upcoming opponent RB Leipzig.
The German club are set to face Spartak at home in the last 16 first leg on March 10, and then at a neutral venue for the return leg a week later following a UEFA ruling that saw all Russian teams ordered to play out of their homeland amid a military operation in Ukraine.
Through CEO Oliver Mintzlaff, Leipzig revealed that they continue "to be in close contact with the associations" and has "complete confidence in UEFA and their decision."
"We assume that the games will be canceled," Mintzlaff added.
Discussions are said to revolve around whether the Germans, who reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2020, will get an automatic bye through to the Europa League quarter-finals or will have to face another reinstated outfit that has already been knocked out.
Such decisions would effectively expel Spartak from the competition after the Russians topped Group C which also contained Napoli, Leicester City, and Legia Warsaw.
Second-placed Napoli lost 5-3 on aggregate to FC Barcelona in a play-off following a heavy 4-2 loss in Naples last week, and could be a possible candidate to face Leipzig.
Oliver Mintzlaff äußert sich zum aktuellen Stand bzgl. der Europa-League-Spiele gg. Spartak Moskau: „Wir stehen weiterhin in einem engen Austausch mit den Verbänden & haben vollstes Vertrauen in die UEFA & ihre Entscheidung. Wir gehen davon aus, dass die Spiele abgesagt werden.“ pic.twitter.com/4XfQOVWGZ3
Bild in Germany have also reported that UEFA, who moved the Champions League final on May 28 from St. Petersburg to Paris as part of their ruling on Friday, are ready to throw Spartak out of the tournament.
But this is something that Leipzig coach Domenico Tedesco will perhaps not agree with. Tedesco managed Spartak Moscow before leaving his position last year.
"We are waiting for more information. It's clear that I would have liked a different framework for these games," Tedesco said after his team beat Bochum 1-0 away at the weekend.
"The current situation is bad...war is absolutely no solution in any situation.
"History shows that it always hits the wrong people, first and foremost the athletes and the fans," Tedesco added.
Before this earlier last week, Leipzig striker Yussuf Poulsen stressed that "UEFA is the decision-maker" and that the power is out of the player's hands.
"If UEFA decides nothing other than that we should play on neutral ground, then that's the way it is. We can't do anything there, then we have to play the game," said the Dane.
Elsewhere, Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic have refused to play against Russia in a World Cup qualifying semi-final and potential final in Moscow on March 24 and March 29.
FIFA has thus far resisted an outright ban on Russia, but ordered it to play on neutral turf, without fans and under a 'Football Union of Russia' banner while their flag and national anthem cannot be used.
Spartak's Europa League fate is expected to be known later on Monday by some, but Russian media outlet Match TV has insisted that a source has told them UEFA's stance has not changed yet and no official decisions have been made or announced to either the Russian club or Leipzig.
Match TV say that UEFA's Executive Committee is on standby, with UEFA awaiting the holding of meetings where decisions can be made to reassess the legal frameworks and facts of the situation as it develops.
Ceasefire talks hosted by Belarus adjourn for consultations
Moscow and Kiev have found certain things that could be agreed on during the ceasefire talks hosted by Belarus and will return for consultations before the next round, both delegations told reporters after the talks ended on Monday.
The main purpose of the talks was to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine, said Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The two sides have identified a number of priority topics, on which “certain solutions have been outlined,” he added.
The two delegations found points on which common positions could be reached, confirmed Vladimir Medinsky, aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Monday’s talks, which lasted for nearly five hours, took place in Belarus near the Russian and the Ukrainian borders. The next round will take place on the border between Belarus and Poland in the coming days, Medinsky said.
Ukraine’s delegation was led by Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov, and its main demand was an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of all Russian troops from the country.
Zelensky said on Sunday he didn’t really believe the negotiations would succeed, but thought they were “a chance, however small, to de-escalate the situation.”
While the talks were ongoing, Zelensky sent a formal request for Ukraine’s EU membership to Brussels. Meanwhile, Russia has put its nuclear deterrent forces on highest alert amid NATO moves to send weapons to Kiev.
Moscow ordered military forces into Ukraine on Thursday, saying Kiev needs to be “demilitarized” and “denazified” to protect the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as Russia itself. Ukraine and its Western supporters accused Russia of “unprovoked” aggression. The UK, US, EU and several other countries have imposed sweeping sanctions targeting not just the Russian economy, but Putin and other senior Russian officials personally.
The World Taekwondo Federation had presented the item to Putin in 2013
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been stripped of his honorary taekwondo black belt by the World Taekwondo Federation.
Putin was awarded the prestigious item by the federation's chief, Choue Chung-won, and was also made a grandmaster of the martial art during a November 2013 visit to South Korea, where taekwondo originated.
The World Taekwondo Federation announced the decision in a statement and said that it strongly condemned Russia's military operation in Ukraine, which it said goes "against the World Taekwondo vision of 'Peace is More Precious than Triumph' and the World Taekwondo values of respect and tolerance".
"In this regard, World Taekwondo has decided to withdraw the honorary 9th dan black belt conferred to Mr. Vladimir Putin in November 2013," it continued.
"In solidarity with the International Olympic Committee, no Russian or Belarusian national flags or anthems will be displayed or played at World Taekwondo events," the statement added, while announcing that neither itself nor the European Taekwondo Union will organize or recognize taekwondo events in the two countries moving forward.
"World Taekwondo’s thoughts are with the people of Ukraine," the federation concluded, saying that it hoped for a "peaceful and immediate end" to the conflict.
The World Taekwondo Federation's decision to strip Putin of the honorary black belt is a second personal sporting snub for the leader in recent days.
On Sunday, The International Judo Federation (IJF) suspended Putin from his role as its Honorary President and Ambassador, a position which he had held since 2008.
A black belt in that sport too, Putin was a regional champion in his hometown St. Petersburg as a youth, the IJF website says, and also made an instructional DVD named 'Let's Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin' in addition to a book on the discipline distributed to millions of schoolchildren.
The IJF has also canceled this year's Grand Slam scheduled for Kazan in May, but Putin has not yet responded to these measures or those from the World Taekwondo Federation.
Elsewhere on Monday, global and European football bodies FIFA and UEFA banned all Russian teams from international competitions, while the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has similarly made calls for all athletes from Russia and Belarus to be prevented from participating at international events.
Downing Street clarified that the official 'misspoke' when he said bringing down “the Putin regime” is a goal of the sanctions
Toppling Russia's President Vladimir Putin is the goal of the new wave of international sanctions introduced in response to Moscow's offensive in Ukraine, a spokesman for Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters on Monday. Downing Street later clarified that the spokesperson had “misspoken”.
"The measures we are introducing, that large parts of the world are introducing, are to bring down the Putin regime," the unnamed official said.
The restrictions, centered around Russia's financial sector, are aimed to "inflict financial pain on Putin", the spokesman went on. The sanctions are also meant to "stymie the Russian war machine as it attempts to subjugate a democratic European country," he added, referring to the Ukraine conflict.
Further enquiry on the "regime" change remark, however, prompted the spokesman to somewhat quickly backtrack, insisting that London has not actually been actively seeking to do so.
"We are not seeking anything in terms of regime change, what we are talking about here clearly is how we stop Russia seeking to subjugate a democratic country," the spokesman said, warning "that businesses should think very carefully if they are still continuing to do anything that props up the Putin regime." Downing Street then later said the PM’s spokesman “misspoke” when he claimed that the sanctions aimed “to bring down the Putin regime.”
The new wave of Western restrictions, that included personal sanctions against Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and against President Putin, come amid Moscow's special military operation in neighboring Ukraine launched last week. The operation’s stated goal is to protect the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk from an allegedly imminent all-out offensive by the Kiev forces, Moscow has claimed. Days before the launch of the operation, Russia formally recognized the republics as independent states.
Ukraine, however, branded the attack "unprovoked”, insisting it has had no plans to attack the republics. Donetsk and Lugansk broke away from Kiev back in 2014, following the Maidan coup that ousted the democratically elected government of the country.
Ukraine is pushing the West to remove Russia from the international policing organization
Britain will “be leading all international effort” to suspend Russia from Interpol at Ukraine’s request, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced on Monday. Russia has been a member of the international police organization since 1990.
“The Ukrainian government has today requested that the Russian government be suspended from its membership of Interpol, and we will be leading all international effort to that effect,” Patel told Parliament.
Russia has been a member of the global policing agency since 1990, which counts 195 nations among its members. The organization is not a law enforcement agency, but facilitates international cooperation against a wide range of criminal activity, particularly transnational crimes like terrorism, cybercrime, and organized crime.
Although Ukraine is pushing for Russia’s exclusion from Interpol in light of its military offensive in the country, Kiev has protested Russia’s membership in the organization before. Back in 2018, then-Interior Minister Arsen Avakov threatened to withdraw from Interpol if a Russian, Aleksandr Prokopchuk, was made its chief. Avakov claimed that appointing a Russian official to lead Interpol would pose “a hybrid threat to the whole world,” and the organization eventually elected a South Korean, Kim Jong-yang, to the role instead.
The UK has levied a range of punishments on Russia in light of the conflict in Ukraine. British airspace is closed to Russian flights, the UK government has sent anti-tank weapons and other “lethal aid” to the Ukrainian military, and London has sanctioned Russia’s central bank and backed Russia’s expulsion from the SWIFT network.
The Russian military offensive in Ukraine is ongoing, with Moscow aiming to force Kiev into disarming and abandoning its aspirations toward NATO membership. While fighting raged in several cities throughout the country, delegations from Moscow and Kiev met in Belarus on Monday for tentative peace talks.
Rental platform will offer short-term housing to up to 100,000 people leaving Ukraine
Airbnb announced on Monday that it will offer “free, short-term housing” for refugees fleeing conflict in Ukraine. The platform's efforts will focus on Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Romania, and could extend to providing longer-term accommodation.
Airbnb announced the move in a blog post, stating that it would be funded by Airbnb itself, donors to the company’s refugee fund, and hosts offering their properties up for free through Airbnb.org, a nonprofit founded by the short-stay firm.
The move is not unprecedented for Airbnb, which has provided accommodation for Afghan, Syrian, and Venezuelan refugees over the past five years, to people affected by natural disasters, and to healthcare workers during the initial weeks and months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi claimed on Monday that some 500,000 refugees have left Ukraine since Russia launched a military offensive last week. Most of those fleeing have been women and children, on account of Ukrainian authorities ordering military-aged men to stay and fight.
Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova have taken most of the refugees, Grandi said. Reports also suggest that some have crossed into Belarus, where the government is supporting Russia’s Ukrainian operation.
Ukrainian and Russian officials met in Gomel, Belarus on Monday for tentative peace talks. Following negotiations, delegations from each side returned to their capitals, with Kremlin negotiator Vladimir Medinsky saying they had agreed to a second round of discussions later this week.
Meanwhile in Ukraine, fighting continues. Russian forces have engaged Ukrainian troops and militias in the cities of Kharkov and Mariupol, as well as on the outskirts of Kiev. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the aim of the operation is to neutralize and “de-Nazify” Ukraine, while Moscow’s foreign policy has for decades aimed to block Ukraine’s accession to the NATO alliance.
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) responded to claims that its athletes had supported calls from Ukrainian athletes for a blanket ban
Claims that several Russians including Olympic champion fencer Sofiya Velikaya supported a letter from Ukrainian athletes calling for a ban on Russia and Belarus are entirely false, a Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) spokesman has said.
An open letter addressed to IOC president Thomas Bach and IPC counterpart Andrew Parsons was published on Sunday by sporting movement Global Athlete, which listed a host of Ukrainian athletes as calling for a blanket ban on Russia and Belarus.
It also claimed that the notion was ‘supported’ by Russian fencers including Velikaya, who is chair of the ROC Athletes’ Committee.
However, that was refuted by ROC spokesman Konstantin Vybornov.
“The information that several Russian athletes, including the Chairman of the ROC Athletes’ Commission Sofia Velikaya, signed an open letter of their Ukrainian colleagues to the leadership of the IOC and the IPC, is a common deception of the audience,” said Vybornov on Monday.
“The names are mentioned in the [Inside The Games] sports news website with a reference to the tweet of the internet portal of dubious reputation [Global Athlete].
“This news cannot be regarded in any other way but as a fake published by its initial source. This is confirmed by Sofia and other athletes. We have already sent an official request to the above-mentioned websites to remove the false information.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Monday that its Executive Board was recommending that federations across all sports do not invite Russian or Belarusian athletes and officials to international competitions, due to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine.
Support for compulsory face coverings declines as Americans become less fearful of catching Covid-19, poll shows
As their fears of catching Covid-19 fade, Americans are becoming less inclined to think that their fellow citizens should be forced to wear masks in public places, a new poll has revealed.
About 50% of Americans favor requiring face coverings in public, down from 55% last August, according to a poll conducted by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago’s NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The latest result marks a strong shift from the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, when about 75% of respondents agreed with compulsory mask-wearing.
However, even in the February AP/NORC survey, 77% of Democrats still favored mask mandates, and 16% were neutral. Just 7% said they opposed forcing people to wear face coverings, compared with 53% of Republicans.
Most US states have ended their mask mandates. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last Friday said Covid-19 risks are high enough in only about 28% of the country to make face coverings necessary.
The shift in attitudes about mask rules appears to correlate with a similar slide in virus fears. Just 24% of Americans are now “extremely” or “very” worried about themselves or a family member being infected with Covid-19, down from 36% when the Omicron variant was spreading rapidly in December and January, according to the poll, which was released on Monday.
Covid-19 anxiety is at the lowest level in eight months. Just 13% of unvaccinated Americans have strong concerns about contracting the virus, while 28% of people who’ve been inoculated said they are extremely or very worried.
Concerns over infectious diseases in general also have waned. The poll showed that 48% of Americans are extremely or very worried about disease outbreaks threatening the US, down from 65% last August. Disease concerns are near the same level seen just before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Russia will bear the “consequences” of President Vladimir Putin choosing “war,” US President Joe Biden has said
Accusing Russia of “premeditated” and “unprovoked aggression” against Ukraine, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Washington and its allies have rolled out “additional strong sanctions” designed to have long-term crippling impact on the Russian economy.
“Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences,” Biden told reporters at the White House. The sanctions by the G7 countries will limit Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, pounds or yen, he added. All US assets of five top Russian banks will be frozen, along with individuals who “personally benefit” from Kremlin’s policies.
The banking sanctions do not include cutting of Russia from the SWIFT system, as several European countries objected, but Biden said they “exceed” SWIFT and their full effect will be felt in the coming months.
Biden said the US has spent months assembling an international coalition representing half the global economy. The sanctions are designed to “degrade [Russia’s] industrial capacity for years to come,” including crippling the shipbuilding, air and space industry and access to high-tech imports. It will be a “major hit to Putin’s long-term strategic ambitions,” the US president argued.
Asked if India and China were on board with the sanctions, Biden said the US was “in consultations” with New Delhi but has “not resolved” anything yet, while declining to comment on Beijing.
Switzerland is introducing financial sanctions on three Russian banks and travel restrictions on 361 State Duma deputies, the president of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis announced at a press conference on Thursday.
He didn't give details on the targeted banks but said Bern would be toughening the compulsory measures it had introduced against Russia in 2014, due to the Ukraine crisis.
“For reasons of neutrality, Switzerland did not directly adopt sanctions at that time. Today, the government has sharpened its response … The EU sanctions issued yesterday are to be integrated into this ordinance in the form of anti-circumvention measures, and individual measures will be tightened, particularly in the financial sector,” Cassis explained.
The government would adjust its regulations so Switzerland could not be used to circumvent sanctions imposed by the European Union, he added. The list of persons sanctioned by the EU will be adopted in principle, Cassis said.
Switzerland is obliged under international law to implement only sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council.
Kyle Rittenhouse says he is considering pursuing NBA ace LeBron James for defamation damages
Kyle Rittenhouse has again backtracked on his support for the Los Angeles Lakers and is prepared to launch a defamation lawsuit against its biggest star, NBA icon LeBron James.
Rittenhouse was center to a global media frenzy late last year related to his high profile court case in which he was cleared of murder charges after he killed two men and wounded a third during anti-police demonstrations in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020.
The teenager took to the stand in his own defense to deliver emotional testimony in which he claimed that he acted in self-defence, and was subsequently cleared by a jury.
What tears????? I didn’t see one. Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads before walking into court. 🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/LKwYssIUmD
However, Rittenhouse later said that he was angered by James mocking his tears on the stand.
"What tears????? I didn't see one. Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads before walking into court," wrote James, suggesting that Rittenhouse's emotional breakdown wasn't authentic but designed instead to draw sympathy from the jurors.
Rittenhouse subsequently said that he had renounced his support for James and the Lakers, telling The BlazeTV in December: "I liked LeBron. And, then I'm like, 'You know what, f*ck you, LeBron.' I was a Lakers' fan too, before he said that."
TUCKER: "Will you be suing any news organizations?"
KYLE RITTENHOUSE: "We're looking at quite a few, politicians, athletes, celebrities, Whoppi Goldberg is on the list, she called me a murderer after I was acquitted... So is Cenk [Uyhur] from the Young Turks." pic.twitter.com/MULZf38Vkf
And speaking on a web broadcast hosted by Turning Point USA this week, Rittenhouse elaborated on the list of celebrities he plans on targeting with lawsuits - again suggesting that James could be hit with legal action.
"Whoopi Goldberg, after I was acquitted by a jury of my peers, she called me a murderer," he said, echoing comments made on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show.
"Cenk [Uygur] continued to tall me a murderer with the Young Turks. Tiffany Cross called me ‘a little, murderous, white supremacist’ after I was acquitted.
"These People are going to be held accountable, and we’re gonna sue them."
And when pressed if NBA star James' name is still among his spree of legal targets, Rittenhouse responded in the affirmative.
"He’ll be getting a letter, too," Rittenhouse promised.
"We are looking at quite a few politicians, celebrities, athletes, Whoopi Goldberg is on the list. She called me a murderer after I was acquitted by a jury of my peers. She went on to still say that, and there's others," Rittenhouse said earlier this week to Tucker Carlson.
"We're going to hold everybody who lied about me accountable, such as everybody who lied called me a white supremacist.
"They're all going to be held accountable. And we're going to handle them in a courtroom."
Russian forces entered Ukrainian territory on Thursday morning after an order from President Vladimir Putin
Eyewitnesses across Ukraine have shared footage of Russian forces reportedly attacking locations including airports and power stations, after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to cross the border on Thursday morning.
One video, shared on Telegram, apparently shows a large explosion at the airport in Melitopol, in southeastern Ukraine.
Another brief clip, shared on the same messaging app, purports to show a missile strike near the Tripolskaya power station near Ukraine’s capital, Kiev.
A video confirmed as authentic by the Ukrainian authorities shows helicopters heading towards Antonov International Airport in Hostomel, also near Kiev. A large plume of smoke can be seen billowing in the distance.
Confirmed by Ukrainian authorities. A large air assault operation with Mi-8 helicopters on Antonov International Airport in Hostomel. Interior Ministry says Russia has seized control. Very dangerous; it’s just 15 minutes west of the capital ring road. pic.twitter.com/JhlyVktVRC
Another clip was shared on Telegram with the caption “Chuguev region, 30km from Kharkov. There were casualties.” The footage shows decimated apartment buildings with smoke and flames coming out of some of the windows.
Russian forces entered Ukraine after Putin announced the launch of a mission to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the country. The night before, the leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics – separatist states in eastern Ukraine that, on Monday, Putin had officially recognized as independent – had formally asked the Russian leader for military assistance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has imposed martial law, and has asked citizens to remain calm and stay at home. In a statement, he called on the Russian people to oppose the war, saying, “Russians will choose personally which path each of them will take. For all who have not yet lost their conscience, it is time to go the streets and protest against this war.”
His foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, announced that Russia was not only advancing on the east of the country, but that there was a “full-scale attack from multiple directions.”
Western leaders have condemned the operation, with NATO calling it “entirely unjustified and unprovoked.” American and European officials have promised massive economic sanctions as retaliation against Moscow, but the US and the US-led military bloc have confirmed that they will not be sending soldiers in to fight against Russia.
The Russian authorities have warned that some media outlets and social network users have been spreading “unverified and unreliable” information about Moscow’s military actions in Ukraine, and claimed that forces have struck only military infrastructure, not civilian targets.
Moscow says the current situation is the result of years of failed talks to end the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine after the 2014 coup in Kiev
Russia began striking military targets in Ukraine early on Thursday morning, days after recognizing the independence of the two breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Moscow insists it is protecting the people of the Donbass from Kiev’s aggression, and that it was forced to resort to military means after Ukraine abandoned diplomacy in its civil conflict in the east.
The escalation follows years of unsuccessful talks, broken ceasefire agreements, and a standoff between Russia and the West linked to the 2014 coup that overthrew the government in Kiev.
Here are the key events of the past eight years that led to this conflict.
Multiple countries have called for crucial World Cup qualifying games to be moved from Russia
FIFA plan to reconsider whether Russia should host crucial World Cup 2022 matches in March "as a matter of urgency" after a petition by Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic, the organization's President, Gianni Infantino, has said.
Russia are set to host Poland in their World Cup qualifying semifinal on March 24, followed by a final against the winner of the game between the Czech Republic and Sweden on home soil again five days later if they win.
In a joint statement to FIFA's General Secretary before Infantino spoke to reporters, Poland and the two potential final opponents for Valeri Karpin's side demanded that the games should be held outside of Russia, citing safety fears because of the military offensive in Ukraine.
The statement asked for immediate action from FIFA and UEFA, who are widely reported to be holding an emergency meeting about switching the Champions League final in May away from St. Petersburg.
Losing home advantage would be a blow for Russia in their bid to feature at a fourth successive finals.
Only a late defeat to Croatia in Zagreb denied them automatic qualification for the tournament in November and December after an unbeaten group campaign at home.
Russian leaders say that the country's national security has been compromised by NATO encroachment in Ukraine.
Moscow added that it has a duty to protect the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, which it recognized as sovereign states earlier this week, from more attacks by Ukrainian forces.
Matt Hutchins, husband of the late Halyna, rejected Alec Baldwin’s declaration that he is “not responsible” for the shooting
Matt Hutchins, husband of the late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who was accidentally shot by Alec Baldwin and fatally wounded on a New Mexico film set last year, on Thursday said he was “so angry” after seeing the actor describing the events leading up to his wife’s death.
In his first interview on the tragedy, Hutchins pointed to Baldwin as largely responsible for Halyna’s death, calling the actor’s own TV interview following the shooting “absurd.”
Speaking to ABC following the shooting, Baldwin said he did not feel responsible for the death of Halyna and claimed he had never pulled the trigger of the gun that killed her and injured director Joel Souza.
Responding to those comments, Hutchins told NBC’s ‘The Today Show’ that “the idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me.”
Do you think that the majority of the blame lays on Alec Baldwin? -@hodakotb
Every individual who touches a firearm has a responsibility for gun safety. But gun safety was not the only problem on that set. -Matt Hutchins, husband of Halyna Hutchins https://t.co/8R7odSo6WCpic.twitter.com/u3PKFr96vv
Hutchins also accused the ‘Rust’ movie production, on which Baldwin was also serving as a producer, of cutting corners on safety guidelines and industry standards, something that has been previously suggested in reports about the set where guns were allegedly not well-guarded.
“Gun safety was not the only problem on that set. There were a number of industry standards that were not practiced and there’s multiple responsible parties,” he said.
The Hutchins family has filed suit against Baldwin and others connected to the production over the safety standards on the set. It is one of multiple lawsuits stemming from the shooting.
The actor has received backlash for his tearful ABC interview, and Hutchins said that Baldwin’s behavior during it made him angry.
“I was just so angry to see him talk about her death so publicly in such a detailed way and then to not accept any responsibility after having just described killing her,” he said.
Hutchins had been married to his wife for 16 years and the two had a son together.
A group of parliamentarians insists all diplomatic options should be explored to stop the bloodshed
A group of Ukrainian MPs have called on their president to start negotiations with Moscow. Any further escalation of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine might turn into a “real catastrophe” for all sides that would see “no winners,” seven MPs said in an open letter to Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.
“Millions of our fellow citizens strive for a peaceful … life,”said the group, led by Vadim Novinsky – a Ukrainian billionaire and one of the co-leaders of the Opposition Bloc – an association of more than a dozen political parties. The MPs have said they “insist on [Zelensky] using all options” to protect human life and de-escalate the situation.
The lawmakers called on their leader to start talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and “reach an agreement” on “stopping the bloodshed.” They urged Ukraine’s parliament to form a delegation to hold “strategic consultations” with the Russian parliament.
“We believe that a new compromise is still possible,” the MPs have said, adding that a diplomatic option should still be explored even if it has “one chance in a hundred” to be successful. The MPs have not outlined any specific ideas for a potential agreement with Russia.
Novinsky is said to be close to Viktor Medvedchuk, another Ukrainian MP and one of the leaders of the Opposition Platform – For Life party. Medvedchuk is known for his anti-NATO views and for siding with Moscow when Crimea rejoined Russia back in 2014.
Medvedchuk met with senior Russian officials on various occasions long after relations between Moscow and Kiev soured over the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In May 2021, he was accused of state treason. The politician, who is currently under house arrest, has claimed that all the charges against him are politically motivated.
Early on Thursday, Putin announced a “special operation” in Ukraine, with the aim of “securing the peace” in the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in the Donbass region, which were officially recognized by Russia earlier this week.
Later, Moscow said it was ready to discuss terms of surrender with Kiev. Putin was particularly willing to talk to Zelensky about obtaining a guarantee of Ukraine’s neutral status and a promise of no weapons being deployed on its territory. The Ukrainian president has so far not responded to Russia’s proposal or the MPs’ letter.
Daniil Medvedev ended Novak Djokovic's latest long reign as tennis world number one without even playing a match – going top of the rankings for the first time in his career
Novak Djokovic has been dethroned by Daniil Medvedev as the world number one male tennis player after suffering a shock defeat to Jiri Vesely at the Dubai Open, where the Serb superstar was playing for the first time since he was deported from Melbourne following his failed bid to play at the Australian Open.
Medvedev's progress to the quarterfinals of the Mexican Open, where he is expected to beat world number 103 Yoshihito Nishioka next, means he became officially the best tennis player in the world without even playing as a result of a change in the ranking points caused by Djokovic's loss.
World number 123 Vesely's 6-4, 7-6 win over Djokovic marked an abrupt end to a promising early campaign for the 20-time Grand Slam champion in his first tournament of the year.
LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE ⚡️ ⚡️@jiri_vesely stuns Djokovic for the 2nd time in his career, ending his reign at No. 1 with a 6-4 7-6 victory! pic.twitter.com/YXVuWHCuxq
The icon had not dropped a set in his first two matches, easing past 2020 Olympic Games silver medalist Karen Khachanov in the round of 16.
Former Dubai champion Djokovic's return to the tournament had been much-anticipated after his agony in Australia, where he was grilled by border force officials, detained in a hotel and ousted before the first Grand Slam of the year began following the second of two court hearings as the country's government ultimately succeeded in canceling his visa.
Unvaccinated Djokovic had flown to Australia on the understanding that he would be allowed an exemption to enter the country and compete because he had recovered from Covid in December.
The 34-year-old has said he is not against Covid shots but will remain unvaccinated for the time being.
Players were not required to have taken vaccines to enter Dubai and play in the ATP 500 event, although there have been widespread reports that Djokovic may face greater difficulties in entering events with tighter restrictions later in the year, and the star has admitted he would be willing to consider foregoing tournaments in order to remain unvaccinated.
Vesely, who beat Djokovic on the only previous occasion when they have met each other, served for the match at 5-3 in the second set, only for his opponent to break back in a response that some viewers believed would signal a conclusive comeback.
The man who has never gone past the fourth round of a Grand Slam then won the crucial tie-break 7-4 in a victory that knocked Djokovic off the top of the rankings for the first time since January 2020.
Medvedev is yet to lose a set in Acapulco and could face a showdown with Rafael Nadal, who he lost the Australian Open final to in a five-set thriller.
Nadal has made his best ever start to a season, winning his 12th successive match with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Stefan Kozlov that lasted just 47 minutes.
He could meet Medvedev in the semifinals of the tournament, which continues until Saturday.
The crippled plant came under Russian control after a “fierce battle,” a senior Ukrainian official said
Russian forces have seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Ukrainian president’s office said on Thursday. The claim comes hours after Kiev said fighting was raging at the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed earlier on Thursday that Kiev’s troops were trying to repel a Russian attack in Chernobyl.
“After a fierce battle, our control over the Chernobyl site was lost. The condition of the facilities of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, confinement unit, and storage of nuclear waste is unknown,” Mikhail Podolyak, an aide to the head of the president’s office, told the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN late on Thursday.
The official branded the attack on the site “completely pointless,” claiming it represented “one of the most serious threats for Europe today.” Podolyak also alleged that the Russians might be engaged in unspecified “provocative” actions at the site, which saw one of the worst-ever nuclear accidents back in 1986.
Unverified footage circulating online shows a tank, as well as other armored vehicles parked outside the plant. Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied the events underway in Chernobyl at the time of writing. Belarus earlier denied its troops were taking part in the Russian assault.
Ukrainians should remain calm and trust their army, the military chief said amid Russian offensive
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has said the national army is “holding defense” and “fending off Russian troops,” hours after Moscow announced a military operation against Ukraine. “Our troops are doing everything to protect you and not allow the aggressor to break through,” he said on Thursday in a statement.
He called on Ukrainian citizens to remain calm and preferably stay at home, reiterating the earlier advice of President Volodymyr Zelensky.“The situation is under control, but our army needs your support more than ever,” Reznikov said, adding that the best form of support was trusting the national armed forces.
Earlier in the day, President Vladimir Putin announced that he had ordered the Russian military to launch a special military operation in Ukraine. He said the goal was to “demilitarize” and “de-Nazify” the neighboring country, which, he stated, would otherwise pose a threat to its breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, and to Russia.
The Russian military later said it was conducting precision strikes on elements of Ukrainian military infrastructure throughout the country. It said Ukrainian civilians were not being targeted by the strikes.
Blasts have been reported in several Ukraine cities, as Moscow launched a "special operation" in Donbass
A series of explosions have been reported across Ukraine, with eyewitnesses saying blasts have occurred near a number of major cities as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order authorizing a "special military operation" in the Donbass region.
Speaking from a rooftop in central Kiev on Thursday morning, CNN reporter Matthew Chance said he heard “four or five explosions” erupt in the city, though stated “I can’t explain what they are.”
The report came moments after Putin announced the military operation on behalf of the newly recognized breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, where a military conflict has raged between separatist forces and the Ukrainian government for years.
Live on @CNN air- Matthew Chance hears loud explosions in the Capital City of Kyiv. Unclear where they came from- but they happened just minutes after Putin effectively declared war on Ukraine. Moments later Chance put a flack jacket on live on the air. pic.twitter.com/EQgsKPzlJQ
Some of explosions have struck Kiev’s international airport Borispol, TASS correspondent has reported. Unconfirmed claims on social media said a military section of the airport was hit by several cruise missiles. However, the mayor of Borispol, the city near Kiev that hosts the airport, said on Facebook that the blasts were the result of Ukrainian troops firing at an unidentified aircraft, “most likely a drone”. He called on residents to remain calm, saying there was no need for them to move to bomb shelters.
Blasts were also reportedly heard in Kharkiv, some 400km (250 miles) east of Kiev, closer to the border with the Donbass. AFP separately reported an explosion in the coastal city of Mariupol, a major port held by Kiev's forces in the Donetsk region.
Now hearing jets over Belgorod. Possibly flying towards the Kharkiv area. #CNN#Russia#Ukraine
An unnamed US official described the activity as “pre assault fire,” with a “land attack to follow,”according to Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin. The official reportedly added that blasts had been heard in the cities of Odessa, a major seaport at the Black Sea and Mariupol, a city on the north coast of the Sea of Azov, saying “it’s begun.”
US official tells me: Right now we are seeing the pre assault fires. Expect this to go on for a few hours. Land attack to follow with ALL of the full forces Putin has arrayed. Explosions heard in Kiev, Odessa, Mariupol. “It’s begun.”
Reuters journalist Idress Ali, citing a local witness, said a “series of explosions” could be heard in Belgorod, Russia, while CNN international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen claimed to hear “what sounds like outgoing artillery and rocket fire” from the same area. He later added that jets were heard over the city.
The New York Times reporter Michael Schwirtz said he witnessed a series of explosions coming from the direction of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. The city is part of the territory that the Donetsk People’s Republic claims as part of its territory. The Ukrainian government remained in control of it since the civil war broke out in the country in 2014.
The US House Speaker drew parallels between the recognition of Donbass by Russia and Nazi Germany’s annexation of Sudetenland
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has compared Russia’s decision to recognize the independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Lugansk People’s Republics (LPR) – which the US considers to be part of Ukraine – to Adolf Hitler’s policy of German expansion.
“This is a very evil move on the part of Vladimir Putin,” said Pelosi in a speech on Wednesday, describing Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a KGB guy who happens to be probably the richest man in the world because of his exploitation of his own people.”
“Every time you hear him say, ‘Well, they’re part of us, that’s who we are, they should be us.’ Now they’re saying, ‘We have to go in because they want to be part of NATO.’ This my friends is our moment,” Pelosi continued. “This is a Sudetenland and that’s what people were saying there.”
Pelosi’s mention of the Sudetenland appeared to be a reference to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s German annexation of the Sudetenland - native German-speaking regions of former Czechoslovakia - in 1938 as the result of the Munich agreement between Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy. Following the annexation, Nazi Germany went on to occupy much of the rest of Europe, including Poland – sparking World War 2.
The DPR and LPR formally requested military assistance from Russia in separate letters dated Wednesday, alleging that “the military aggression of the Ukrainian regime,” had been on the increase. In his letter, DPR head Denis Pushilin accused Ukraine of conducting a “genocide” of civilians in the region. In the run-up to the recognition of Donbass by Moscow, both the republics and Kiev had accused each other of intensified shelling alongside the contact lines, with the Ukrainian government denying that it was planning to take the areas by force.
The DPR and LPR declared independence from Ukraine in 2014. Moscow initially refused to recognize the republics, becoming one of the guarantors of the 2014 and 2015 Minsk ceasefire agreements that should have paved the way for a long-term settlement between Kiev and breakaway states.
Accusing Ukraine of failing to abide by the agreements, the Kremlin went on to declare “long overdue” recognition of the republics this week.
The special military operation will be aimed at "the defense of" the newly-recognized republics of Donetsk and Lugansk
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced he ordered his country's military to conduct a special operation in the Donbass region after the leaders of the breakaway republics asked Moscow for military assistance in response to what they claim is an increase in “Ukrainian aggression.”
“Circumstances require us to take decisive and immediate action," the order reads. “The People's Republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help. In this regard, in accordance with Article 51, part 7 of the UN Charter, with the sanction of the Federation Council and in pursuance of the friendship treaties ratified by the Federal Assembly and mutual assistance with the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, I have decided to conduct a special military operation,” Putin concludes.
At the same time, in address to the public, Putin said that he wanted to "demilitarize" and "de-Nazify" Ukraine. According to him, "we have no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory." Within moments of the speech, a series of explosions were reported in cities across Ukraine, with CNN, CBC and a number of Ukrainian media outlets reporting to hear a blast in the capital, Kiev.
In a statement, US President Joe Biden said that “the prayers of the world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by the Russian military forces.”
The decision comes days after Moscow recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk breakaway republics in the Donbass, alleging Kiev had not lived up to its obligations under the Minsk agreements struck in 2014 and 2015 to resolve conflict between separatists and the Ukrainian government.
Officials later authorized what they describe as a "peacekeeping operation" in the region. Western leaders for months had predicted a looming incursion, claiming Russia has amassed troops near its border with Ukraine and in neighboring Belarus, where Moscow has conducted joint drills in recent weeks.
Russia has so far denied plans for an attack, however, and maintains its actions in the Donbass will be defensive in nature. The US and its European partners have already imposed sanctions on a series of Russian financial institutions, officials and lawmakers following the recognition of the break-away states, vowing to bring more penalties should Moscow “further invade” Ukraine.
A newly-issued alert says flights are restricted “due to potential hazard for civil aviation’
Airspace all over Ukraine has been restricted for civil flights, according to a notice to airmen (NOTAM) distributed by government agencies and airport operators. The de-facto closure of the airspace went into effect at 01:56 local time on Thursday and is set to last till 23:59 the same day.
The notice cited “potential hazard for civil aviation” as the reason behind the alert.
Ukrainian airspace is now closed to civilian aircraft, per Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) just issued. Aircraft that were flying through have turned around, departures from Kyiv went back to their gates. https://t.co/mtSzsKJg89
Prior to the alert, the newly recognized Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) requested Russian military assistance against Ukrainian “aggression” and an alleged genocide of civilians.
Russian President Vladimir Putin subsequently announced on Thursday that a “special military operation” would take place in the Donbass region.
The country's top diplomat has called on the international community for support
War has broken out between Russia and Ukraine, Kiev’s foreign minister has declared, as Moscow confirms it has hit military targets in the country moments after the Kremlin issued an order for a “special operation” in the breakaway Donbass region.
In a statement issued early on Thursday morning, Dmitry Kuleba said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine."
"Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes," he added, with claims coming in of explosions near the capital, Kiev. "This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win," he insisted. "The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now."
His comments come after Putin signed a decree authorizing the use of military force following a request for support from the leaders of the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk regions. “Circumstances require us to take decisive and immediate action," the order reads. In a televised address to the nation, the Russian President said that that he wanted to "demilitarize" and "de-Nazify" Ukraine.
A number of Ukrainian military installations are believed to have been targeted by missile strikes, and there have been reports of large-scale Russian troop movements. Airports and landing strips also appear to have been destroyed. The country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has convened the National Security and Defense Council and Ukrainian airspace has been closed. "We are strong, we will win," he said in a video statement.
Blasts have been reported in cities close to the Donbass contact line, including Mariupol, a major port city in Donetsk region, as well as further afield. A CNN crew in Kiev has reported hearing explosions, while others have been reported in Odessa and Kharkov.
Speaking to RIA Novosti, Moscow's Defense Ministry confirmed that high-precision weapons have been used to hit infrastructure, air defense facilities, military airfields and planes belonging to the Ukrainian armed forces. Russia has also closed its airspace in much of the south to civilian planes, and suspended rail links between major cities in the area.
The international community has condemned Moscow after the Russian president announced a special operation in newly-recognized Donbass
Representatives of the United States, NATO, the UN, as well as several western states have decried Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of a "special military operation" in the Donbass region.
After President Putin responded to military assistance requests from the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People's Republics in the Donbass by launching a "special military operation" in the region early on Thursday, US President Joe Biden said he would hold Russia “responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring.”
"The United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable," President Biden said in a statement, adding that he would be "praying for the brave and proud people of Ukraine."
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned Moscow's "reckless and unprovoked attack on Ukraine" and accused Russia of risking "countless civilian lives."
"Once again, despite our repeated warnings and tireless efforts to engage in diplomacy, Russia has chosen the path of aggression against a sovereign and independent country," Stoltenberg claimed, calling Putin's special military operation "a grave breach of international law" and "a serious threat to Euro-Atlantic security."
Stoltenberg concluded by calling on Moscow to "cease its military action immediately and respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Putin to stop Russian "troops from attacking Ukraine" and said, "Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died."
Moscow also received heat from France, Canada, and Germany, with French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas De Riviere, declaring, "Russia has chosen war. France condemns in the strongest possible terms the initiation of these operations."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned"in the strongest possible terms Russia’s egregious attack on Ukraine" and claimed Moscow's "reckless and dangerous acts" would "not go unpunished."
The German Mission to the UN, meanwhile, called on its allies to "stand up for Ukraine and against a shameless breach of international law" and said"Russia's military aggression" would "come at an unprecedented price, politically, economically and morally."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also criticized "Russia's unjustified attack on Ukraine,"vowing to "hold the Kremlin accountable."
In his address on Thursday, Putin claimed that the operation was needed to “protect” the people of Donetsk and Lugansk republics, arguing that had been subjected to “genocide by the Kiev regime” for the past eight years.
Ukrainian military facilities are being hit by Russian precision weapons, the defense ministry said
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the Russian military is attacking Ukrainian military facilities as part of an ongoing operation in Ukraine. Precision weapons are used against military infrastructure, air defense sites, military airfields and aircraft, a statement cited by RIA Novosti said.
The military said that Russia was not attacking Ukrainian cities, contrary to claims that say otherwise. Ukrainian civilians are not under threat, the statement said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian military sites were under attack. Speaking in a video address on his social media, he announced martial law in the country.
He called on Ukrainians to stay calm and preferably not to leave their homes. He said Ukraine was “strong” and will “defeat anyone”.
Earlier on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had authorized a “special military operation” in Ukraine. He said the goal of the action was to “demilitarize” and “de-Nazify” Russia’s neighbor, claiming that it was the best option to protect the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and Russia.
Putin recognized the two regions as sovereign states on Monday and vowed to use Russian armed forces to protect them. The republics claim large chunks of territory controlled by Ukraine as under their sovereignty. Russia recognized those claims. On Wednesday, the two republics demanded that Ukraine pull back its troops to the border lines of what Kiev considers to be Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine, which Kiev refused to do. Leaders of the republics said Ukrainian troops continued to attack their positions and asked Russia’s help in repelling them.
Biden calls on the world to punish Russia for causing 'death and destruction' in Ukraine
Russia has declared a “premeditated war” that will cause a “catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” US President Joe Biden has said, following the announcement of a “military operation” against Ukraine.
In a statement published late on Wednesday evening, Biden called for the world to hold Moscow accountable for “the death and destruction”
“The prayers of the world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by the Russian military forces,” Biden said.
The US President's response follows a declaration by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow would take "decisive and immediate action," in order to "demilitarize" and "de-Nazify" Ukraine.
Biden's statement also follows reports from multiple media sources that explosions were heard in numerous Russian cities, including Kiev, Kharkov, and Kramatorsk.
"The United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable," Biden continued.
Putin's decision comes days after Moscow recognized the independence of the breakaway Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People's Republics in the Donbass, alleging Kiev had not lived up to its obligations under the Minsk agreements struck in 2014 and 2015 to resolve conflict between separatists and the Ukrainian government.
Officials later authorized what they describe as a "peacekeeping operation" in the region. Western leaders for months had predicted a looming incursion, claiming Russia has amassed troops near its border with Ukraine and in neighboring Belarus, where Moscow has conducted joint drills in recent weeks.
Zelensky summons the Security Council after Russia begins 'special operation'
Ukraine has declared martial law after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and the country's National Security and Defense Council early on Thursday morning.
The decision to impose martial law follows an announcement from Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow would be launching a "special operation" in Ukraine.
Following Putin's statement, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmitry Kuleba revealed on Twitter that Moscow had launched a "full-scale invasion."
"Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes," Kuleba wrote, on Twitter. "This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win."
Earlier on Thursday, Putin signed a decree authorizing the use of military force, following a request from the leaders of the newly-recognized Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People's Republics. The Russian President stated that current circumstances demand "decisive and immediate action," claiming that he wanted to "demilitarize" and "de-Nazify" Ukraine.
Shortly after convening the Security and Defense Council, Zelensky revealed that he had spoken to US President Joe Biden about the issue, and urged Ukrainians to stay calm and stay home.
Moscow said it does not intend to capture all of Ukraine, but would seek its “de-Nazification” and “demilitarization”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Russia had "no plans to occupy the Ukrainian territories" after announcing that a special operation was launched to defend the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics from “Ukrainian aggression.”
The operation’s ultimate goal is “to protect the people who have been subjected for 8 years to genocide by the Kiev regime,” Putin said in an adress on Thursday morning, adding that Moscow would “embark on a demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, and handing over to justice those who committed numerous atrocities against civilians.”
The Russian president noted, however, that Moscow harbors no far-reaching plans to take over the whole territory of Ukraine.
“We do not have plans to occupy Ukrainian territories. We are not going to impose anything on anyone by force,” he said.
Ukraine has been accusing Russia of illegally occupying Crimea, which was reabsorbed by Russia following a referendum in March 2014, following the US-backed coup that overthrew the elected government in Kiev.
Kiev has also repeatedly accused Russia of having a military presence in Donbass, although Moscow consistently denied this claim.
Crazy money is now spent at US elections by corporate America. Little wonder the two main parties are so unpopular
This article was originally published by Scheerpost
This past weekend, I was sitting in my hot tub, that’s really just a bathtub, that’s really just my neighbor’s bathtub that he lets me use when he’s out of town and doesn’t know I found his apartment key – and it occurred to me: I don’t think most Americans are happy with our political system. I don’t know why not.
I’ve got it! I just remembered. It’s because both mainstream parties are owned by corporate America, stand for the same shit, and they haven’t actually been face-to-face with a regular blue-collar human being since they fathered the first of their 14 children and the surrogate mother happened to bring her boyfriend to the birth (or as the rich call it, “the human baby transfer to its rightful owners”).
And sure enough, a new survey verifies that most Americans are not happy with the false choice between two political parties. The new poll from NBC News found that the Democrats and Republicans are about as popular as the horseback hemorrhoid clinic located near where I live.
The Hill reported, “According to the poll, 44 percent of participants said they viewed the Republican Party negatively, 34 percent that they viewed it positively and 21 percent said they were neutral. … The Democratic Party’s ratings in the poll were fairly similar, with 48 percent saying they viewed the party negatively, 33 percent saying they viewed it positively and 18 percent saying they were neutral.”
Plus, I imagine those positive numbers are actually higher than they should be, because anyone willing to take an NBC News phone poll is already not the sharpest tool in the insane asylum. That survey doesn’t count the vast number of respondents who did not answer, but instead graphicly described what the pollster could do to themselves given the right kind of genitalia, lubricant, and a Posturepedic adjustable bed (but you have to burn the bed afterwards).
There are a lot of reasons so many people hate the two corporate parties, but one of the biggest ones might be just how thoroughly they are bought off by the “One Percent.” (And no, I don’t mean the percentage of people who like Trident’s new Indian Curry Explosion™ chewing gum.) I’m referring to the One Percent who are disgustingly wealthy – people who own ponies for their children to play with and children for their ponies to play with. Those individuals essentially own all our politicians. (Also for their children to play with… Which explains why Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand were forced to dress up like Snorks for an entire month. Or maybe they just needed the snorkels to be able to breathe while under an avalanche of bullshit?)
But yes, our politicians are more bought-off than ever before. A new analysis from Americans For Tax Fairness found that total billionaire contributions have soared over the past few years. The cycle before the Citizens United decision only saw $16 million worth of donations from billionaires to campaigns. This past cycle saw $2.6 billion worth of donations.
And how does that much money impact our elections? Well, the candidate who spends the most wins in the Senate around 80% of the time and wins in the House close to 90% of the time. But the reality is actually worse than those two numbers illustrate, because they don’t cover the fact that the two parties who spend the most money win 100% of the time – a third-party (non-corporate) candidate basically wins 0% of the time. Only the puppets of corporate America get to fill the Senate chambers with their endangered species ragout spittle and high-end beer farts.
But I’m sure it’s just as bad in other countries, right? Some things are universal, like existential angst, or the awkwardness when your barber starts telling you about his botched prostate exam. But the multibillion-dollar purchasing of elections, it turns out, is not a global phenomenon.
In Britain, as the BBC reported, “In the 2017 general election, 75 parties and 18 campaign groups reported spending more than £41.6mn between them.” That’s roughly $54 million American dollars at the time.
Meanwhile, as OpenSecrets has noted, just two people – the late Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam Adelson – “set a new record for donations from individuals in a single election cycle [2020], giving $172.7 million.”
Just two casino magnates spent three times as much as all of Britain on their elections. (Sheldon Adelson is now dead. We don’t yet know if he was able to bring the politicians he purchased with him.)
Well, what about France? In France,“… the amount of money a presidential contestant is allowed to spend during the campaign for the first round is limited to 16.8 million euros. The limit is raised by an extra 5 million euros for the two finalists competing in the second round.”
So basically, French presidential candidates spend less on their entire campaigns than Bill Gates spent on the Mylar happy birthday balloons he bought for Jeffrey Epstein in 2016. Ironically, the balloons spelled out, “You’re not old. It’s just that everyone around you is underage!” (It was funny at the time, I’m sure.)
How about Germany? Do their oligarchs own the system as much as in the US? Deutsche Welle reported, “In 2017 … parties spent €92 million ($109.6 million) combined on their election campaigns, according to the Federal Statistical Office.” Only $109 million spent on their elections, and yet still a Zungenwurst with a bow tie won a seat in the Bundestag. (Zungenwurst is a form of tongue sausage, but arguably several tongue sausages also won US Senate seats during the last cycle.)
So, all of this begs the question: How much did the US spend? The 2020 election cost $14.4 billion. That’s more than the gross domestic product of Mozambique! And they have Makonde masks that help with fertility – so you know they’re bringing in some cash. (If I had wanted to go for the pun, I would’ve said “you know they’re movin’ some units.” But I would never do that.)
Point being – This. Is. A. Rigged. System.
No wonder the latest polls show both corporate parties are thoroughly disliked. It’s time to acknowledge that our system has been 100% purchased by the One Percent, and that even the best candidate on their best day is still no better than a Zungenwurst.
NEW: President Biden confirms US will sanction Nord Stream 2 parent company over Russian invasion of Ukraine
“Through his actions, President Putin has provided the world with an overwhelming incentive to move away from Russian gas and to other forms of energy,” Biden said. pic.twitter.com/k81HYKCnXC
According to the defense secretary, Putin has gone “full Tonto” over Ukraine
The British Army can deal a heavy blow to Moscow’s troops and kick Russia in the “backside” if push comes to shove, the UK’s defense secretary has declared amid an escalating standoff over Ukraine.
In a speech to military personnel on Wednesday, Ben Wallace insisted that history shows the UK’s soldiers would be able to take on the Eastern European nation’s forces if required, based on their defeat in the 19th century Crimean War.
According to the minister, the Scots Guards regiment “kicked the backside of Tsar Nicholas I in 1853 in Crimea,” and “can always do it again.”
“Tsar Nicholas I made the same mistake [President Vladimir] Putin did... he had no friends, no alliances,” he added.
Wallace also claimed that Britain’s army is going to be working overtime as tensions flare between Moscow and Kiev. “Unfortunately we’ve got a busy adversary now in Putin, who has gone full Tonto,” the minister claimed.
His remarks come after the Russian president announced that Moscow would recognize the two breakaway Donbass regions as independent states.
In recent days, both Kiev’s army and those loyal to the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have accused each other of aggression in the form of heavy fire across the contact line. Last Friday, the rebel leaders claimed they had intelligence suggesting that Ukraine is prepared to order an offensive to reclaim the two territories.
Kiev, however, has rejected allegations that it is positioning itself to strike, with the secretary of the country’s National Security and Defense Council, Alexey Danilov, claiming “there is an attempt to provoke our forces,” and that troops would open fire only “if there is a threat to the lives of our service members.”
Over the past few months, Western officials have sounded the alarm that Russia could order an offensive against Ukraine. US President Joe Biden said last week that the sharp spike in fighting may be the beginning of a “false flag” operation, giving Moscow’s troops an “excuse to go in” and invade. The Kremlin has consistently denied that it has any plans to attack, however.
In another fiery outburst in January, a Polish member of the European Parliament, Radosław Sikorski, threatened that Russia could “get a kick in the balls” if it tries to assert control of his country. He also claimed Moscow is a “serial rapist” in Eastern Europe.
Boris Johnson has urged lawmakers not to allow sanctions to spill over into judgment on the Russian people
British PM Boris Johnson has said that opposition to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine should not be allowed to turn into discrimination against the Russian people, after the UK government announced new sanctions against associates of President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to lawmakers on Tuesday, Johnson urged them not to slide into “casual Russophobia” as Western nations look to punish the Kremlin for its decision to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), breakaway states that most countries consider to be part of Ukraine.
In 2016, when Johnson was foreign minister, Moscow accused him of “Russophobic hysteria” after he claimed that the Kremlin had committed “war crimes” in Syria and warned that Russia could become a “pariah nation” if it continued “down its current path.”
On Tuesday, Johnson announced that he was using “new and unprecedented powers” to sanction five Russian banks and three “high net worth individuals” linked to President Putin. The PM also warned that Western nations must “brace ourselves” for Moscow’s next move, saying that Putin had “flagrantly violated” the Minsk agreements, treaties signed in 2014 and 2015 meant to bring an end to conflict in eastern Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden also announced on Monday that he was imposing heavy sanctions on the DPR and LPR. In a statement on its website, the White House wrote that Moscow’s recognition of the breakaway republics was an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
EU leaders are also reportedly considering a sanctions package that will target every single Russian MP who voted to recognize the Donbass republics, as well as going after banks located in the territories. However, Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, told journalists on Tuesday that while he believes Russian troops have entered Ukrainian territory, he does not consider it a “fully fledged invasion” at this point.
Moscow has reminded London about the Charge of the Light Brigade – one of the worst miscalculations in history by the British military
Responding to comments made on Wednesday by British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace in which he referenced the 19th-century Crimean War, the Russian Defense Ministry urged its UK counterparts to get their historical facts straight.
Commenting on the escalation of tensions in Ukraine, Wallace – a former member of the Scots Guards – evoked an episode of the Crimean War of 1853-56, when Britain and France allied with Ottoman Turkey to invade Crimea. He said the regiment in which he had served had “kicked the backside of Tsar Nicholas I” and “we can always do it again.”
The Battle of Balaklava in October 1854 entered the history books, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday, but “not at all thanks to the stubbornness of the Scottish 93rd regiment, about which Wallace spoke so enthusiastically.” The unit’s only heroic deed was that they didn’t run away from the Russian cavalry like everyone else, he added. They suffered bloody losses, but didn’t secure any victories, Konashenkov said, referring to an episode that became known as the Thin Red Line on account of the Scots Guards’ scarlet uniforms.
Konashenkov added that the reason the battle was memorable was instead down to “the legendary destruction on the same day by Russian artillerymen in just 20 minutes of an entire aristocratic English brigade of light cavalry under the command of Lord Cardigan” – the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade.
The concept of “cannon fodder” entered the lexicons and military textbooks of the world thanks to the British military that day, the Russian general said.
The suicidal frontal assault on Russian artillery positions by some 600 cavalrymen, which began with a misinterpreted order, resulted in 110 dead and another 161 wounded. Alfred Lord Tennyson memorialized the charge in a poem just six weeks later, and it went down in history as one of the worst blunders of the British military prior to the First World War.
Konashenkov also brought up last week’s gaffe by Wallace’s Foreign Office colleague Liz Truss, who answered a trick question about two regions that have always historically been in Russia by saying the UK would “never” recognize that fact.
“We recommend that British military personnel study closely not only the geography of Russia but also its history, in order not to enrich our common military history with theirlives for the sake of poorly educated British politicians,” Konashenkov concluded.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has described the action as a “disproportionate use of force,” according to state-run news agency Anadolu
The Greek authorities confirmed on Wednesday that one of their coast guard ships fired warning shots at a Turkish fishing boat they say had refused to leave Greek waters near the island of Chios.
According to the Greek Shipping Ministry, the Turkish boat had attempted to ram a patrol vessel, and did not leave Athens’ territorial waters when requested to do so. The coast guard then proceeded to fire warning shots at the Turkish craft.
The incident reportedly took place near the island of Chios, which lies close to the Turkish mainland, in the eastern Aegean Sea.
Officials in Turkey said one person was injured in the affray. Greek diplomats were duly summoned by Turkey’s Foreign Ministry to explain the incident.
The Foreign Ministry formally protested what it described as the “disproportionate use of force,” according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, and demanded an end to “interventions and harassments” against Turkish fishing boats in the Aegean.
Greece and Turkey have been embroiled in a series of territorial disagreements for years, more recently relating to hydrocarbon reserves in the eastern Mediterranean. Ankara sent the seismic exploration vessel Oruc Reis to survey waters claimed by Greece and Cyprus, stoking tensions and drawing fierce condemnation from the EU. Ankara and Athens subsequently agreed to restart diplomatic efforts.
Russia’s foreign ministry has vowed to respond in a “strong, not necessarily symmetrical” manner
Russia’s foreign ministry warned in a statement on Wednesday that there will be “a strong response” to new US sanctions. President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that Washington would impose punitive measures on Russia for its formal recognition of two breakaway Ukrainian regions as independent nations.
“There shouldn’t be any doubt – there will be a strong response, not necessarily symmetrical, but a calculated one whose impact the US will feel,” Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned.
Russia’s response points out that Moscow sees Washington's latest move as a “continuation of America’s attempts to change Russia’s course.” It also notes that the US persists with sanctions “despite the obvious futility of the efforts undertaken for many years” in its bid to hinder Russia’s economic development.
The ministry pointed out that Russia has proven that it can “minimize the impact” of punitive measures. If the US expects its sanctions to “affect Russia’s determination to defend its interests,” it is in for a disappointment, as that will never happen, it added.
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden announced the imposition of economic sanctions on some of Russia’s largest financial institutions along with “Russia’s elite and [their] family members.” Washington also warned Moscow that it would face yet more punitive measures should it “go further” with what Biden claimed was an “invasion” of Ukraine.
Biden’s announcement came off the back of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision late on Monday to recognize the Donbass’ two breakaway republics as independent nations. On Tuesday, the Russian parliament granted Putin the authority to deploy Russian military personnel overseas; however, no decision regarding a peacekeeping mission in the Donbass has been announced yet.
The crisis in Ukraine began in 2014, following the events of the Maidan, when violent street protests toppled the democratically elected government. This led to a conflict in the east of the country, as two regions broke from Kiev’s control and declared themselves to be the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics.
According to Ofcom, the agency will not hesitate to take swift action if it deems necessary
The UK’s media watchdog has issued a response to calls to review RT’s broadcasting license in the country amid a growing backlash in the West to Moscow’s decision to recognize the two breakaway Donbass republics.
Replying to a request from Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries on Wednesday, Ofcom set out its stance on whether the network should be allowed to stream over the airways in the nation as tensions flare between Ukraine and Russia.
“Recognizing the serious nature of the crisis in Ukraine, we have been keeping the situation under close review and have already stepped up our oversight of coverage of these events by broadcasters in the UK,” the statement read.
According to the agency, “We are expediting complaints in this area as a matter of urgency and we will not hesitate to take swift action where necessary.”
“I am confident that we have the full range of enforcement tools at our disposal and our track record shows that when we find a breach of our rules, we can and do take action,” Ofcom’s Chief Executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, wrote, adding that the regulator would be “fully transparent” about any investigations it opens and their outcomes.
“It is acceptable for broadcasters to present issues from a particular perspective provided that alternative views and opinions are also represented,” the notice read. “It would not be acceptable for any of our licensees to broadcast one-sided propaganda.”
The media watchdog’s statement comes just hours after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed that the Culture Secretary had appealed to Ofcom, asking it to consider banning RT from being streamed on TVs in the country.
Dorries insisted in her statement that “RT is demonstrably part of Russia’s global disinformation campaign, as its own editor-in-chief has made clear in the past, who has called the network an ‘information weapon’ of the Russian state.”
RT’s deputy editor-in-chief and head of communications, Anna Belkina, hit out at the move, suggesting that MPs are exposing London’s “self-proclaimed commitment” to free speech as a “sham.”
“Even in the face of undue political pressure, [Ofcom] has continuously found RT to be in line with other UK broadcasters, without a single breach of broadcasting code to be found in the last four years – not something that can be said about many other channels in the country,” she said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also poured scorn on the move, stating that, if Britain goes ahead with its threats, it should expect a response in kind.
“British journalists can ask their German colleagues how it is,” she told reporters. Earlier this month, Moscow said the Russian office of the German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle was to be shut down in response to Berlin’s “unfriendly actions” against RT DE. The Russian foreign ministry added that it would also be blocked from broadcasting in Russia via a satellite or through other means, and that all staff members are to have their press credentials taken away from them.
The move came after Germany’s top media regulator upheld a ban on RT’s German language channel due to the absence of a locally-issued license. The channel previously obtained a valid pan-European permit in Serbia, but Berlin declared this as insufficient.
Network accused of attempting to “cover up” for US President Joe Biden by seemingly blaming numerous ongoing crises on Russia
American news outlet CBS has come under fire for a tweet and article that appeared to claim that several US crises which have been unfolding for months have been caused by the current “Ukraine crisis.”
“The US economy has been hit with increased gas prices, inflation, and supply-chain issues due to the Ukraine crisis,” the network tweeted on Tuesday.
The U.S. economy has been hit with increased gas prices, inflation, and supply-chain issues due to the Ukraine crisis. https://t.co/d9dwXWpcvf
The article asserts that tensions with Russia “are already hurting” Americans’ wallets, though the report primarily focuses on the potential future costs should the escalation of tensions between Russia and the US continue, especially on energy prices.
Escalation could also lead to further supply chain issues and rising inflation, the article adds.
Many have pushed back against the framing of the piece as the initial CBS tweet sharing the article blamed these economic woes on “the Ukraine crisis,” despite them having been issues Americans were dealing with months before Biden and other administration officials ever began pitching the potential of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza accused CBS in a tweet on Wednesday of trying to “cover up the failures” of the Biden administration. Other critics, primarily conservatives, claimed the network lacked integrity and was scapegoating Russia and the Ukraine crisis.
According to CBS, Americans were able to “weather” price hikes over the Covid pandemic due to tax credits, unemployment benefits, and stimulus payments from the government. White House officials, however, have previously blamed a multitude of factors for rising gas prices and supply chain snags, primarily pointing to a rise in demand as US cities moved away from Covid lockdowns.
In November, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki partly blamed increased online shopping, saying that increased volume is a “root cause” for both bottlenecked shipping ports and record inflation. “Maybe some of it is from habits that developed during the pandemic when people weren't leaving their homes,” she said. “Some of it is because we've seen an economic recovery that has been underway for the last nine months ... That is leading to a massive increase in volume.”
On gas prices, Psaki pointed to seasonal fluctuations last summer and later in November said the continuing rise in prices was proof the US needs to “double down” on investments in green energy to better control prices.
The Ukraine situation escalated for the Biden administration on Tuesday following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the breakaway territories the Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic, which the US claims belong to Ukraine. Biden announced the “first tranche” of economic sanctions against Russia in response, calling the recognition announcement the “beginning of an invasion.”
Inflation in the US hit a 40-year high earlier this month, before Putin’s announcement, whereas consumer prices jumped 7.5% over the same period the year before. Gas prices currently stand at $3.54 a gallon, according to AAA, which is a rise from an average of $2.65 a year ago, after Biden had been in office for approximately a month.
German tennis star Alexander Zverev has issued an apology after he was expelled from the Mexican Open for violently striking the umpire's chair
German tennis star Alexander Zverev says that he "regrets" his outburst during a doubles match at the Mexican Open in Acapulco on Tuesday which culminated in his hitting the umpire's chair several times, with one strike almost hitting the umpire's foot.
The irate Zverez was later expelled from the Mexican event for "unsportsmanlike conduct" shortly after he and his doubles partner, Brazilian player Marcelo Melo, were beaten in a third set tie break by Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain and Finland's Harri Heliovaara.
After first shaking hands with the winning team, Zverev approached the chair umpire and struck the chair he was sitting on three times with his racket.
He then went to sit in the players' area before again returning to the umpire and striking his chair one final time. He could also be heard angrily shouting at the official, while members of the crowd could also be heard jeering his aggressive actions.
It seems, though, that calmer heads have since prevailed and Zverev has taken to social media to release a statement in which he apologized for his actions.
"It is difficult to put into words how much I regret my behavior during and after the doubles match yesterday," the German world number three wrote.
"I have privately apologized to the chair umpire because my outburst towards him was wrong and unacceptable, and I am only disappointed in myself. It just should not have happened at there is no excuse.
"I would also like to apologize to my fans, the tournament, and the sport that I love.
"As you know, I leave everything on the court. Yesterday, I left too much. I am going to take the coming days to reflect - on my actions and how I can ensure that it will not happen again. I am sorry for letting you down."
Zverev's outburst was instigated by what he saw as poor calls from the umpire in the decisive third set and prompted Mexican Open organizers to release a statement to say that he has been "withdrawn" from the event.
"Due to unsportsmanlike conduct at the conclusion of his doubles match on Tuesday night, Alexander Zverev has been withdrawn from the tournament in Acapulco," a statement posted to Twitter read.
Zverev's scheduled opponent in the second round, Peter Gojowczyk, has been granted a bye to the third round.
Politician says Moscow will take over the entire ‘Russian world’
Russia will one day make its rightful claim to the entirety of Ukrainian territory as part of the country’s larger mission to take back the regions to which it is entitled, a controversial Russian MP declared on Tuesday.
Speaking on Monday, following the decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Alexey Zhuravlev recorded a video displaying his delight.
Zhuravlev is the chairman of the Rodina political party, a far-right ultra-nationalist movement.
“All of Ukraine will be Russian,” he said, speaking directly and insistently to the camera while gesticulating.
“They [Ukrainians] all understand that this will happen. It is just a question of when,” the MP continued, adding that Ukraine is part of a “Russian world” which Zhuravlev stressed “was and will be ours.”
By this remark, the MP could be referring to the lands that were previously inside Russia’s pre-Soviet imperial borders. During this time, the vast majority of Ukraine was ruled by Moscow, with just the extreme west of the country in the hands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Also, on Monday, at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Putin of “wanting to travel back in time” to restore the Russian Empire, declaring that such imperialism could never coexist with the UN’s principle of decolonization.
The Russian president has since denied speculation that he wishes to reclaim the empire, stating on Tuesday in a meeting with Ilham Aliyev, his Azerbaijani counterpart, that the allegation is “simply not true.”
Zhuravlev’s comments follow Monday’s decision by the Kremlin to declare Russia’s formal recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic. The two newly recognized states broke away from Kiev’s control in 2014, following the events of the Maidan, when violent street protests ousted the elected government
German newspaper Bild have faced accusations of hypocrisy after calling for FC Schalke to 'cover up' their sponsorship with Russian energy giant Gazprom
Bild, the German tabloid newspaper, has been hit with accusations of hypocrisy after making an editorial announcement calling for a football team's sponsorship by the Russian gas company Gazprom to be replaced with a slogan reading 'Freedom for Ukraine' - only for the publication to have Gazprom-branded shirts for public sale in their online store.
FC Schalke, who compete in the second tier of German football, have had Gazprom as a primary sponsor on their shirts since 2017, saying on Tuesday that the energy giant has been a “reliable partner” for 15 years, while also being a supplier of natural gas to the German market.
However, after it emerged this week that UEFA have come under external pressure due to their own Gazprom sponsorship in the wake of escalating tensions with Ukraine, the German club released a statement to say that they are in “dialogue” with their commercial partner.
German newspaper BILD have covered up pictures of Schalke's shirt sponsor Gazprom (the Russian company who've been partners since 2007) with the words “Freedom for Ukraine”. pic.twitter.com/UZ5o1e7TBj
“Those responsible for the club are in constant dialogue with the long-standing main sponsor,” the club said in a statement. They added that they are “committed to peace and peaceful coexistence.”
Bild, though, which is one of Germany's most read newspapers, said in an editorial penned by their sports director Walter M. Straten that it was difficult to watch the Gazprom-sponsored Champions League games and their ensuing advertisements while the specter of conflict looms.
Links: @BILD will Schalkes Trikot-Sponsor Gazprom ("Putins Werbung") in der eigenen Berichterstattung künftig mit "FREIHEIT für die UKRAINE" überkleben.
Rechts: @BILD will mit dem Verkauf von Schalke-Gazprom-Trikots weiter Geld verdienen.
“We will see Schalke in their Gazprom jerseys, as if the group had been a completely normal advertising partner since 2007 – and not a financier of the Russian state power.”
Straten also called for any Gazprom logos associated with German football and FC Schalke to be replaced with a 'Freedom for Ukraine' logo.
“No Schalke jersey with the Gazprom lettering. Just tape it off. That would be a powerful symbol,” he said, adding that Bild should take steps in this direction.
“Bild is putting an end to Putin's shirt advertising until further notice! We paste over the logo in the newspaper and on the Internet with the demand: Freedom for Ukraine!”
However it seems, temporarily at least, that this self-censorship didn't apply to the Bild shop accessible through their website - as Schalke jerseys, with Gazprom logos prominently displayed, were for sale with some of the proceeds presumably set to line the pockets of the same people scoffing at economic links to Russian companies.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has canceled a planned meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
The US has called off a meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, planned for Thursday in Geneva, citing what it said was the Russian “invasion” of Ukraine through the recognition of two rebel regions.
“Now that we see the invasion is beginning and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time,” Blinken said on Tuesday, in a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba at Foggy Bottom.
Russia had proposed the Lavrov-Blinken meeting last Wednesday, and the US accepted on Friday, at which point the time and date were set. However, the State Department made their acceptance conditional on Moscow not “invading” Ukraine – something the US now says has happened.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognized the breakaway Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent republics, accusing Kiev of refusing to live up to its commitments under the Minsk agreements, in particular granting autonomy to the two regions.
While the Russian legislature has authorized the use of troops, Putin stopped short of confirming whether any Russian forces have already been deployed to the republics. A number of videos shared online have purported to show Moscow's soldiers crossing the border in the hours after the decision was announced, but the Kremlin has refused to confirm or deny whether its personnel are in the region. The EU has, however, insisted that Russian forces have already been deployed.
Donetsk and Lugansk declared independence in 2014, after US-backed nationalists ousted the democratically elected government in Kiev in the so-called Maidan revolution. Moscow initially declined to grant their request for recognition, insisting that the conflict was an internal Ukrainian matter and taking part in the “Normandy Four” format to mediate the crisis alongside France and Germany.
Washington says a face-to-face meeting between the Russian and US leaders is off the table for now, but the ‘door to diplomacy’ remains open
Washington has nixed nascent plans for a meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin because of Russia’s recognition of Ukraine’s breakaway republics, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said. She added that the Biden administration still hopes for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
“We’re never going to completely close the door to diplomacy, and I don’t think the Secretary of State did that either,” Psaki said, referring to the comments of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who called off talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, earlier on Tuesday. Psaki noted that the meeting between Blinken and Lavrov should have paved the way for the summit.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, Blinken said that it “doesn’t make sense” to go forward with the meeting amid what the US sees as Russia’s “invasion” of Ukraine, and denounced the recognition of the two republics by Moscow as a “wholesale rejection of diplomacy.”
Asked by a reporter what it would take to bring the Biden-Putin summit back on the table, Psaki responded: “De-escalation,” further clarifying that “de-escalation means moving troops, it means de-escalating from what the steps they [Russia] are continuing to take on daily basis appear to be”
Psaki had said on Sunday that Biden agreed “in principle” to a meeting with Putin. That all apparently changed when Putin announced on Monday that Russia would immediately recognize the breakaway Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics as sovereign nations. The Russian leader on Tuesday won lawmaker approval to deploy troops abroad, possibly as peacekeepers in war-torn DPR and LPR.
Biden responded by announcing new sanctions against Moscow and US troop deployments in Baltic states on Russia’s borders.
“What we want to do is prevent a large-scale invasion, death and destruction across Ukraine, devastation to the Ukrainian people,” the press secretary said. She said Biden had “rallied the world” in standing up against Putin, and US sanctions would influence Moscow’s decision-making over time.
Psaki also took a shot at former President Donald Trump, who said in a radio interview that Putin had outmaneuvered Biden with a “genius” strategy in Ukraine’s Donbass region. Asked about Trump’s comments, Psaki said, “We try not to take advice from anyone who praises President Putin.”
Moscow has formalized its ties with the breakaway Ukrainian republics, sparking a flurry of sanctions from the West and a threat from Kiev
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision on Monday to recognize the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) as independent from Ukraine has elicited responses ranging from elation in the Donbass to condemnation in Kiev and Western capitals.
Putin’s recognition and his request to deploy the troops abroad received unanimous support in the Russian parliament on Tuesday, but also a near-universal condemnation in the collective West, with the US, the UK, and the EU swiftly moving to impose sanctions on Moscow.
Ottawa follows the US’ lead with sanctions against Russia and the deployment of more soldiers to Latvia
Canada is boosting its military presence at Russia’s border and sanctioning Russian sovereign debt, parliamentarians and companies, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday, citing what he said was an “invasion” of Ukraine.
Up to 460 members of the Canadian Armed Forces will head to the Baltic country of Latvia, which shares a border with Russia, to join the 540 Canadian troops already stationed there.
A frigate of the Royal Canadian Navy is also headed to the area, accompanied by one or more CP-140 Aurora spy planes, Ottawa has announced.
Trudeau’s government has banned Canadians from buying Russian sovereign debt and having any financial dealings with Donetsk or Lugansk, which Ottawa sees as part of Ukraine. Canada has also blacklisted Russian parliamentarians who voted in favor of recognizing the two Donbass republics as independent, as well as Russian banks, military contractors and companies.
“Canada and our allies will defend democracy. We are taking these actions today to stand against authoritarianism,” Trudeau said. “The people of Ukraine, like all people, must be free to determine their own future.”
He is currently governing under the Emergency Act, which he invoked last week – for the first time in Canadian history – in order to crack down on a trucker protest against his Covid-19 mandates.
Ottawa’s sanctions and troop deployments are following the lead of Washington, which announced both measures earlier on Tuesday. US President Joe Biden has ordered around 800 US troops currently in Italy to reposition in the Baltic states, while sending eight F-35 jets from Germany to Eastern Europe and 32 Apache attack helicopters to Poland from their bases in Germany and Greece.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the two breakaway regions as independent states, citing Kiev's purported refusal to implement the provisions of the Minsk agreements and accusing Ukraine of preferring violence to negotiating with them on autonomy.
Russia’s recognition of the Donbass has brought uncertainty, but also provided a possible way out of the Ukrainian crisis
Russia’s move to recognize the independence of the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics may spur negotiations that finally bring and end to the Ukrainian crisis, Vitaly Naumkin, president of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told RT.
“The recognition of the two republics by Russia can, in theory, lead the negotiations [between DPR, LPR and Kiev] out of the deadlock. For that, however, Ukrainian leadership needs to show political will,” Naumkin said in an interview, though added “So far, they have not shown it.”
Naumkin pointed out that Kiev had missed out on many chances to strike a deal with the breakaway republics in the past, noting that “When they had been told they needed to negotiate with Donetsk and Lugansk, they categorically refused to do so.”
Kiev’s consistent unwillingness to negotiate and its reluctance to implement the Minsk agreements – deals struck to mediate the conflict between separatist forces in the Donbass and the Ukrainian government – has ultimately become the reason behind Moscow's move, Naumkin suggested.
After they de-facto tried to regain control over the two republics by force, and after they effectively sabotaged the Minsk agreements – what else did they expect?
The analyst went on to argue that Russia’s decision to recognize the sovereignty of the break-off republics could also pave the way for some “serious negotiations” between Washington and Moscow, provided that the US “reconsiders” its rejection of Russia’s proposals on security guarantees in Europe. The Russian side envisions a ban on NATO’s expansion eastwards, citing repeated assurances from Western leaders about the military bloc following the fall of the Soviet Union. Real decision-making on Ukraine happens across the Atlantic, Naumkin claimed.
“Kiev is not the place where the decisions are made, it’s not the office of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, but the United States,” he stressed.
However, it “remains to be seen” what replaces the defunct Minsk agreements, said Fyodor Lukyanov, who chairs the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a non-governmental advisory body.
“I don’t think [the recognition of the Donbass republics] will bring us closer to the solution because now we should expect the reconfiguration of the whole process,” Lukyanov said.
While the 2014 and 2015 Minsk accords attempted to bring an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine and offered “a possibility for Donbass to have a widespread autonomy inside the Ukrainian state,” Russia’s formal recognition of the republics will likely entail an entirely new approach, he continued.
Now, since people in Donetsk and Lugansk decided to go for a full independence and the Russian Federation did recognize that, that means the Minsk framework is over.
Arguing that a potential deployment of the Russian military to the newly-recognized republics would make the situation “much more stable” in terms of security, he went on to say that “strategically,” it has become “much less predictable.”
The recognition of the republics triggered a wave of sanctions from the West, including against the embattled Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany. On Tuesday, Berlin put an indefinite hold to the pipeline’s certification, although the process has already been suspended for quite some time.
Oleg Barabanov, MGIMO University deputy director for research at the European Studies Institute and Valdai Discussion Club program director, told RT that the Nord Stream decision was “expected.” While Moscow is set to “lose some profits” from the sanctions against the pipeline, the losses “couldn't be terrible,” Barabanov said, arguing that Nord Stream 2 was “a lost project already for several years” following a series of delays and hold-ups.
“It’s not the case that will kill the Russian economy absolutely,” he said.
Barabanov went on to argue that restrictions imposed on the project would likely hurt the EU the most.
“Sanctions in the energy sphere against Russia are, in fact, against the European Union itself. That’s the fact that politics prevail over economics,” he said, echoing earlier comments from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who recently quipped that Europe may soon double its energy costs thanks to the scrapped Nord Stream project.
The aircraft was operated by a contractor and was acting in support of a US Navy training mission
Four people were killed in a helicopter crash near a US military missile range on an island in Hawaii, the navy said, noting that the contractor’s craft was part of a training operation in the area.
The helicopter went down on Tuesday morning on the north side of the navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, the military said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press. None on board survived the crash, and the Pentagon has yet to disclose the names of the victims.
The navy added that the helicopter was operated by the Croman Corporation – which specializes in flights on Sikorsky S-61 aircraft, according to the firm’s website – and was supporting a training drill at the time of the accident.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating a crash involving the same type of helicopter near the town of Kekaha, located on Kauai island, in a tweet later on Tuesday evening.
#BREAKING: Crews responding to crash involving contracted helicopter that was part of training operation on Kauai near Pacific Range Missile Facility at Barking Sands (Video: Lindsie Fratus-Thomas) — @KITV4 has crew on way >> https://t.co/17ZEN7a9t8pic.twitter.com/v184ilXArP
The Associated Press cited a representative for Kauai County who said local police and firefighters were assisting the military following the incident, including by helping to establish a security perimeter around the crash site.
The missile range is located on Kauai’s west coast, and regularly hosts weapons tests and other military drills.
Former US President ripped Biden’s handling of Ukraine crisis, calling Russia’s Donbass move ‘genius’
Former President Donald Trump has praised Russia’s Vladimir Putin for his strategy in eastern Ukraine, arguing that the Russian leader outmaneuvered Joe Biden by declaring the breakaway republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) to be sovereign states.
“I went in yesterday, and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius,’” Trump told radio host Buck Sexton in an interview on Tuesday. “Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine – of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent.” He added sardonically, “Oh, that’s wonderful.”
Trump was referring to President Putin’s announcement on Monday that Russia would immediately recognize the sovereignty of DPR and LPR, which declared their independence after a US-backed overthrow of Ukraine’s elected leadership in 2014. Putin followed up that decision by getting lawmaker approval on Tuesday to send Russian forces into the Donbass as peacekeepers for DPR and LPR. The Russian leader, however, later clarified that the authorization does not mean Russian troops would be deployed to the republics immediately.
The former US commander-in-chief said such a turn of events never would have happened if he were still in office, accusing his predecessor of incompetence while referring to Russia’s Donbass move, including Moscow’s potential peacekeeping mission as “smart.”
“That’s the strongest peace force -- we could use that on our southern border,” Trump quipped. “That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re going to keep peace all right.”
Biden on Tuesday announced economic sanctions against Moscow and deployments of US forces in the Baltic region in response to what he called “the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.” Trump argued that Russia is essentially grabbing territory without serious repercussions, which he said was due to Putin being a “savvy guy.”
“Here’s a guy who’s very savvy, I know him very well...,” Trump said. “Here’s a guy that says, ‘You know, I’m going declare a big portion of Ukraine independent’ he used the word ‘independent.’ ‘And we’re going to go out, and we’re going to go in, and we’re going to help keep peace.”
You’ve got to say, that’s pretty savvy. And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response. They didn’t have one for that. Now, it’s very sad.
Asked by Sexton how the US strategy has gone off course Ukraine, Trump said, “What went wrong was a rigged election, and what went wrong is a candidate that shouldn’t be there and a man that has no concept of what he’s doing.”
The Ukrainian president called for peace talks, no general mobilization and a tax holiday, after Russia recognized the Donbass republics
Kiev is open to bilateral and multilateral talks to resolve the current crisis, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, announcing a set of measures to respond to Russia’s recognition of two breakaway Donbass republics. The Ukrainian leader noted that he would hold off on general mobilization for now.
“For us, there is no alternative to ending the war,” Zelensky said in a televised address on Tuesday evening. “I am ready to do this either in a bilateral format or with the participation of other leaders.”
An initiative already underway would involve permanent members of the UN Security Council – including Russia – as well as Turkey and Germany, the Ukrainian president noted.
“Today there is no need for general mobilization,” Zelensky said, addressing the topic of defense and security. Instead, he has ordered the call-up of the operational reserve, for a limited time period, in order to increase the readiness of the Ukrainian Army. Exercises of the “territorial defense” forces will also take place sometime in the near future.
To support the military, Ukraine needs a strong economy, Zelensky argued, announcing “a program of economic patriotism.” The idea is to encourage manufacturing and other industries to stay in Ukrainian territory by reducing taxes and scaling back inspections. To reduce the price of gas at the pump, Kiev will lower fuel tax.
“Our goal is to gain economic independence, especially in energy,” the president said.
To further economic independence, Zelensky said he would meet on Wednesday with representatives of Ukraine’s top 50 corporations, who he said “must remain” on the territory protected by the Ukrainian military.
Zelensky called for all political parties to give up their ambitions “for the sake of Ukraine” and join some sort of unity government. “Today, all politicians and parties are of the same color – blue and yellow,” he said, referring to the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
The president thanked outside powers for supporting Kiev, starting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and followed by US President Joe Biden, British PM Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Zelensky’s speech comes after Russia on Monday recognized the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent states, citing Kiev’s purported refusal to implement its obligations under the Minsk peace process. While Putin stopped short of revealing if any Russian troops have already been sent to the republics, the Kremlin did specify they were recognized within their boundaries as Ukrainian regions. A significant portion of both Donetsk and Lugansk regions is currently still under Kiev’s control.
The scope of the army’s involvement fully depends on the ongoing situation in Donbass, the Russian president has said
The extent of the Russian military’s action in the breakaway eastern Ukrainian republics of Donetsk and Lugansk hinges on the developing situation on the ground, President Vladimir Putin told reporters on Tuesday, after the country’s Senate granted him the right to deploy troops abroad.
Speaking to the media minutes after the upper chamber of the Russian parliament backed his request for military deployments, Putin received a question from a journalist on just how far Moscow’s troops are prepared to go.
In his response, Putin stopped short of confirming whether any Russian forces have already been ordered to the Donbass, despite Western claims that they are already in teh region. The Senate speaker, Valentina Matvienko, earlier suggested that the troops could take on the role of peacekeepers there.
“I’m not saying that the troops will be deployed there right after our meeting,” the president said.
It is effectively impossible to predict any specific scope of potential actions. It depends on the specific situation that is developing there, on the ground.
Russia’s Federation Council granted Putin the right to use the country’s military abroad earlier on Tuesday, with Matvienko backing the unanimous vote with the suggestion the troops would “create normal conditions for people’s lives and ensure security” in the Donbass.
The wording of the legislature’s resolution is non-specific, saying the troops can be used “in accordance with the Constitution,” with the “areas of their activity, their goals, length of stay outside Russia” to be decided by the president.
The permission came a day after Moscow opted for recognition of the breakaway Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics in Ukraine’s east. The DPR and the LPR broke away from Kiev in 2014 after the Maidan events and the West-backed coup. The Kremlin insists the move is necessary to protect the civilian population, accusing Kiev of showing no willingness to end the years-long civil conflict through negotiations and instead opting to retake the republics by force.
Kiev maintains it has not been seeking to attack its own regions, while top western officials and media have repeatedly claimed that Russia has been preparing an all-out ‘invasion’ of Ukraine, a charge Moscow has rejected as “fake news.”
The penalties came in response to Moscow’s decision to recognize two breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine
The United States has slapped sanctions on Russia’s CSKA football club, part of a raft of retaliatory measures targeting dozens of entities and individuals in the country after Moscow recognized a pair of breakaway republics in Ukraine as sovereign states.
The US Treasury Department announced the move on Tuesday, alongside penalties designed to hit “Russia’s entire financial system,” noting that the CSKA sports firm is a subsidiary of the newly sanctioned Vnesheconombank (VEB), a state-run development and investment agency.
“Today, we are implementing full blocking sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters during a joint presser with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba. He added that the Promsvyazbank Public Joint Stock Company (PSB) would also be targeted, while claiming both firms “have close links to the Kremlin and the Russian military.”
CSKA originally stood for the “Army Central Sports Club.” Founded in 1911 and part of the broader CSKA sporting organization, the football club was once the official team of the Soviet Army, but has since come under private ownership. In 2020, the VEB bought a majority stake of the club, taking a more than 77% share in the outfit.
The new US penalties targeted around 50 Russian companies, subsidiaries, shipping vessels and individuals, including “members of the Russian elite and their family members.” They come as part of President Joe Biden’s “first tranche of swift and severe” sanctions in response to Moscow’s decision to recognize the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in eastern Ukraine, which declared secession from the Kiev government following the country’s 2014 EuroMaidan coup.
The sanctions follow another round of measures imposed on Monday by executive order, in which the White House barred Americans from most financial activity in the newly recognized republics, including investments, as well as imports and exports of “any goods, services, or technology.”
In its Tuesday announcement, the Treasury Department noted that the US administration “remains fully prepared to impose further, expansive economic costs” on Moscow, while Biden declared that additional action would be taken “if Russia goes further,” again suggesting that it could launch an “invasion” of Ukraine.
Tatiana Navka commented on the teenage figure skating sensation after her Olympic heartbreak
Figure skater Kamila Valieva has become even more beloved in her Russian homeland after her Olympic ordeal and now has popularity on a par with President Vladimir Putin, ice dancing queen Tatiana Navka has said.
Valieva saw her Olympic dream turn into a nightmare in Beijing after she won gold in the team event only to be caught up in the middle of a doping case based on a sample taken back in December.
The drama surrounding the 15-year-old became the biggest talking of the Beijing Games, and although the star returned home distraught after missing out on a medal in the individual event, she was welcomed warmly by her compatriots upon arriving in Moscow last week.
On Monday, Valieva joined other Russian Olympians in a celebration of their Beijing success at a glitzy concert at the VTB Arena in downtown Moscow, after the final contingent of athletes arrived home from China.
Valieva was seen smiling as she greeted fellow stars, including figure skating teammate Anna Shcherbakova, who won the women’s individual gold.
Valieva and other Russian figure skaters were not awarded their gold medals for the team event in Beijing after the ceremony was postponed following the news of Valieva’s positive sample.
But on Monday, Valieva and fellow stars Mark Kondratiuk, Victoria Sinitsina, Nikita Katsalapov, Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov were all given necklaces bearing hearts in the same alignment as the Olympic rings.
The gifts were presented by 2006 Olympic ice dance champion Navka, who sympathized with how tough it must have been for Valieva in Beijing.
“I can’t even imagine how she felt. All night they tormented her [at her doping case hearing]... How she worried, how her parents worried, who couldn’t help her, [or] simply hold her hand. It’s all very sad,”said the 46-year-old.
“I just spoke to her and said that in the whole country today, the two most quoted and most popular people are her and Vladimir Putin,” added Navka, who is married to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Valieva addressed her Olympic experience in two emotional Instagram posts earlier on Monday, thanking her coaching team which includes trainer Eteri Tutberidze, who has faced added scrutiny and criticism from the likes of International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach in the wake of the Beijing scandal.
Valieva’s Beijing Games turned sour after it was reported she had tested positive for banned heart drug trimetazidine, in a sample taken on December 25 but which was only reported on February 8.
A Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel declined to impose a suspension on the teenager, freeing her to continue to compete although the pressure from the ordeal proved too much as she faltered in her routine performance.
Russian officials and Valieva’s team have maintained that she is innocent, noting that the star – who is a multiple world record holder for scores for her routines – repeatedly tested negative before and after the positive sample.
It has been suggested that the result may have come due to contamination from heart medicine Valieva’s grandfather was taking, although the case seems set to drag on.
Britney Spears has landed a book deal with publisher Simon & Schuster, reportedly worth $15 million, according to multiple sources. The pop singer is expected to write a tell-all memoir detailing her rise to fame, her musical career as well as her relationship with her family and her personal life.
The book deal comes months after a judge formally ended Spears’ 13-year conservatorship under her father Jamie Spears, whom she has accused of having abusively controlled all aspects of her life over the years and exploiting her for monetary gain.
Britney argued that her father, who had been in control of her personal, professional and financial life since 2007, was forcing her to work despite her pleading for a break in touring.
Since her conservatorship ended, Britney’s story has drawn a lot of attention and become central to a debate about conservatorship reform in the United States. She has recently received an invitation to the US Congress to share her experience and take part in discussions about how conservatorship laws should be changed.
Britney’s younger sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, has also recently published a memoir titled ‘Things I Should Have Said’, in which she talked about her life and detailed some of the interactions she had with her sister when they were younger. While promoting the book, the siblings had a heated public dispute, with Britney accusing her sister of trying to sell the memoir at her expense and taking issue with being described as “out of control.”
The republics have Moscow’s backing under pacts inked with the two regional leaders, the country’s foreign minister says
Moscow will act as a guarantor of the security and integrity of the two breakaway Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk, Russia’s top diplomat has said, after the Kremlin affirmed their status as sovereign states amid a worsening standoff with Ukraine.
Speaking as part of an appearance on TV channel Russia 24 on Tuesday, Sergey Lavrov stressed that the two regions will be independent, with that status enshrined in pacts inked by President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the two republics, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, the day before.
“Treaties of friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance have been signed between Russia and these new states, in which we promise to safeguard their security,” the foreign minister said. “I think everyone understands that,” he added.
His remarks come after Putin signed a decree officially declaring the two territories to be sovereign states. Announcing the move to the nation in a televised address, the Russian leader said that he deemed “it necessary to make a decision that should have been made a long time ago” and to “immediately” recognize both as independent.
Putin said that the decision was in response to years of conflict in war-torn eastern Ukraine and accused Kiev of not being “interested in peaceful solutions,” claiming that its officials “want to start Blitzkreig.”
Pushilin and Pasechnik formally called for Putin to grant recognition as the two breakaway regions and Ukraine’s armed forces accused each other of heavy shelling. Last week, the heads of the two regions announced that they had begun evacuating civilians to Russia, citing a sharp spike in hostilities, and ordered the mobilization of all able-bodied men to be ready to take up arms in a potential conflict.
Kiev rejects claims it is preparing to attack, with Aleksey Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, insisting that “there is an attempt to provoke our forces,” and that the Eastern European nation’s troops “can only open fire if there will be a threat to the lives of our service members.”
Donetsk and Lugansk declared their autonomy from Kiev in 2014 following the events of the Maidan, when violent demonstrations served as an ouster for Ukraine’s elected government. Until Monday, Russia had not recognized their status as sovereign entities.
Western officials have been sounding the alarm for months of an impending Russian invasion of Ukraine, and have warned that Moscow could use “false flag” operations to justify ordering the armed forces in. The Kremlin has repeatedly insisted that it has no plans to wage a war, blasting British and American intelligence reports as “hysteria.”
Juwan Howard was fined $40,000 and will miss the rest of the season
Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard has been suspended for five games and hit with a $40,000 fine for striking his opposite number's assistant in the face during a college game on Sunday.
Former NBA professional Howard will now miss the rest of the season due to the incident following Sunday's Big Team meeting with Wisconsin, which saw him lash out at their assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft.
Though Krabbenhoft is expected to evade punishment, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard received a $10,000 fine for violating the conference's sportsmanship policy but wasn't suspended.
As for the players, Michigan's forwards Terrance Williams and Moussa Diabate, plus Wisconsin guard Jahcobi Neath, have all been suspended for one game each after appearing to throw punches in the heated confrontation.
Juwan Howard strikes Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft after Michigan-Wisconsin game pic.twitter.com/fbv0WKzbT6
"Big Ten Conference coaches and student-athletes are expected to display the highest level of sportsmanship conduct," stated the conference's commissioner Kevin Warren, who was "grateful for the partnership with Michigan athletics director, Warde Manuel, and Wisconsin athletics director, Chris McIntosh."
"Our expectation is that the incident yesterday will provide our coaches and student-athletes with the opportunity to reflect, learn and move forward in a manner that demonstrates decorum and leadership on and off of the court," Warren added on Monday.
Ex-Washington Wizards power forward Howard said that "after taking time to reflect on all that happened, I realize how unacceptable both my actions and words were, and how they affected so many". "I am truly sorry," Howard groveled in his own statement.
"I am offering my sincerest apology to my players and their families, my staff, my family and the Michigan fans around the world. I would like to personally apologize to Wisconsin's Assistant Coach Joe Krabbenhoft and his family, too.
"Lastly, I speak a lot about being a Michigan man and representing the University of Michigan with class and pride, I did not do that, nor did I set the right example in the right way for my student-athletes. I will learn from my mistake and this mistake will never happen again. No excuses!" Howard concluded.
In a separate statement from Michigan, Manuel said that "today's disciplinary actions underscore the seriousness with which we take the incident that unfolded on Sunday".
"Simply put, there is no room at U-M for the behavior we saw. We will learn from this incident as a department, work to improve ourselves while operating under a spotlight, and move forward in a positive light."
Juwan Howard releases a statement apologizing for his actions in the altercation after Michigan's game against Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/if4ZyPRvYd
The incident was sparked during the last minute of home team Wisconsin's 77-63 win when Gard substituted his walk-ons into the action.
Michigan were pressing full-court with their regulars still in the action, which prompted Gard to call a timeout to get his team settled and give them a chance to get past half court without suffering a turnover.
In the moments after the final buzzer, Gard grabbed Howard's arm in an attempt to talk to him. The two men shared words, but Howard put his finger in Gard's face and grabbed Gard's shirt before several players and coaches surrounded the pair. As Krabbenhoft came over to the middle of the group and argued with Howard, Howard then hit Krabbenhoft in the face.
"I didn't like the timeout they called, and I'm being totally honest with you," Howard confessed. "I thought it was not necessary at that moment, especially with it being a large lead... I thought that wasn't fair to our guys. And so that's what happened."
Howard also said that someone from the Wisconsin camp made contact with him, though he didn't specify who.
"Someone touched me, and I think it was very uncalled for, for them to touch me, as we were verbalizing and communicating with one another. That's what escalated it," Howard claimed.
Gard explained his logic behind his timeouts, and in particular the one when there were just 15 seconds remaining, in his postgame interview.
"Apparently, he didn't like that I called the timeout to reset the 10-second call. Because we only had four seconds to get the ball over half court," Gard said.
"I didn't want to put my backups – I had all my bench guys in the game – I didn't want to put them in that position of scrambling with only four seconds. So I took a timeout and got us a new 10 seconds, and it helped them get organized and get the ball in. And he did not like that when he came through the handshake line. I'll leave it at that, and the tape will show the rest," Gard finished.
As both teams started pushing and shoving one another, the suspended players seemed to throw punches with McIntosh also condemning the debacle in Wisconsin's statement.
"Needless to say, there is no place in college athletics for what happened at the end of Sunday's game," McIntosh stressed. "Neither Coach Gard nor his staff had any intent to provoke or incite any of what took place. I want to commend those on our staff – and student-athletes – who were trying to de-escalate the situation.
"Our staff has my complete support, as do our student-athletes. I consider the $10,000 fine from the Big Ten to be a 'Wisconsin fine' and not a 'Greg Gard fine.' Wisconsin Athletics will assume the responsibility for paying the fine," McIntosh revealed.
Without their coach, Howard, Michigan have four straight home games before they play away at Ohio State in the last game of the season. Nursing a 14-11 overall record and an 8-7 record in the Big Ten, Michigan might be taken over by associate head coach Phil Martelli who led them when Howard was ejected during last year's Big Ten tournament.
Drafted in 1994 by the Wizards, Howard was an All-Star in 1996 and passed through a number of franchises before finding his greatest success with the Miami Heat.
Finishing his career there in 2013 after back-to-back NBA championships from 2012 onwards, he then served as the Heat's assistant coach before taking over head coach duties in Michigan where he has been since 2019.
Washington reacts to Moscow’s decision to recognize the DPR and LPR
US President Joe Biden has announced sweeping new sanctions on the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, following the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize them as independent and sovereign states.
The text, published to the White House’s website on Monday evening, seeks to economically stifle the two Donbass republics.
“The Russian Federation’s purported recognition of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) or Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) regions of Ukraine contradicts Russia’s commitments under the Minsk agreements and further threatens the peace, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” the official White House statement says, calling it an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
The new sanctions will include a ban on investments in the DPR and LPR, as well as any import of the region’s goods, services, or technology to the United States. America is also banned from exporting anything to the republics. Furthermore, Washington has made it completely illegal for any American citizens to conduct financial transactions with the breakaway states, and it has also frozen DPR and LPR assets currently in US banks.
From now on, any individual involved in business or politics on the territory of the newly recognized republics may be subject to personal sanctions from the US.
The crisis in the Donbass began in 2014, following the events of the Maidan, when violent street protests toppled the democratically elected government in Kiev. Shortly after, two regions in the east of the country declared themselves to be independent states.
In the past, Moscow had refused to recognize the breakaway states as sovereign, instead calling for them to be reintegrated into Ukraine with a special status under the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements.
However, on Monday, after almost a decade of stalemate in the peace process, Putin declared them to be independent nations, something he had previously ruled out.
The ability to set up military installations is included in a deal signed with the breakaway republics
While Russia has struck a deal that enables it to deploy troops and military hardware on a long-term basis to sites across the Donbass, at present it has no concrete plans to establish installations in the newly recognized Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Moscow has revealed.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko explained what moves his country’s armed forces are considering taking in the region.
“So far, there hasn’t been any talk about setting up bases” he said. “But if necessary, we will do everything that needs to be done. The agreement stipulates that,” he said.
His comments come shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree officially recognizing the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as sovereign nations. Following the Kremlin’s affirmation of their independence, Putin ordered the Russian armed forces to “secure the peace” in the newly recognized Donbass republics. Within hours, unconfirmed reports and videos emerged purporting to show Russian troops moving across the border.
Under the terms of a friendship and co-operation deal ratified by the parliaments of the two breakaway regions on Tuesday, Moscow can establish military bases on their territory.
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, formally appealed to Putin for recognition amid reports of heavy shelling between the two breakaway regions and Ukraine’s armed forces. Last week, the two regional chiefs announced that they had begun evacuating civilians to Russia, citing a sharp spike in hostilities, and ordered the mobilization of all able-bodied men to be ready to take up arms in a potential conflict.
Ukraine rejects claims it is preparing to attack, with Aleksey Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, claiming that “there is an attempt to provoke our forces,” and that Kiev’s troops “can only open fire if there will be a threat to the lives of our service members.”
Donetsk and Lugansk broke away from Kiev in 2014 following the events of the Maidan, when violent rallies toppled Ukraine’s elected government. However, until this week, neither Russia nor any other UN member nation had recognized their bid for independence.
Western officials have been warning for months of an impending Russian invasion of Ukraine, and have suggested that Moscow could use “false flag” operations against the two territories to justify bringing the army in. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied that it has any aggressive intentions and has expressed concern about the events taking place in the separatist republics.
In Putin’s address on Monday, the Russian leader said that affirming their sovereignty came as a direct result of the failure of the Minsk agreements, inked to put an end to the long-standing conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Kiev’s top diplomat has also previously warned that Moscow affirming the autonomy of the Donbass republics would undermine existing peace accords, signed in the Belarusian capital in 2014. “If a decision is made… Russia will de facto and de jure withdraw from the Minsk agreements with all the accompanying consequences,” Dmitry Kuleba said earlier this month. However, in his address to the nation, Putin claimed that Ukraine had abandoned the deal, insisting that “they are not interested in peaceful solutions.”
The worsening armed standoff has put pressure on investor sentiment
Global stock markets tumbled on Tuesday on concerns of a possible military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, after President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would “immediately” recognize the two republics in the breakaway Donbass region and send a military peacekeeping force to the area.
European shares hit a seven-month low, with Germany’s DAX and the CAC 40 in Paris sliding around 2%. The benchmark index of Britain’s leading companies, the FTSE 100, fell by 1.5% in early trading in London.
The plunge in Europe followed a shares nosedive in Asia overnight, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index dropping 1.7% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong sinking 2.8% in the biggest daily loss in five months.
During premarket trading in the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost nearly 500 points, or 1.4%. S&P 500 futures slid 1.74%, and the Nasdaq futures were off by 2.6%. American stock markets were closed on Monday due to the President’s Day holiday.
In currency markets, the Japanese yen rose as much as 0.2% in Asia to a nearly three-week high of 114.50 per dollar, before paring its gains. The Swiss franc, another safe-haven, hit a one-month high overnight. The euro declined 0.1% to a one-week low of $1.1296, while the US dollar index stood at 96.083.
The prospect of economic sanctions against Russia has also spooked investors, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index plummeting 1.7% on Tuesday, entering its fourth straight session of losses. The benchmark has shed nearly 10% from its all-time high in early January.
“Financial market participants now wait for a response from the United States and Europe,” said analysts at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Washington and European capitals have already threatened tough sanctions against Moscow in response, with US President Joe Biden signing an executive order that prohibits Americans from investing, financing or trading in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.
The Tesla CEO claims the financial watchdog leaked data about a federal investigation in response to his public criticism
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has accused the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of leaking information about a federal investigation in order to get back at him for his public criticism of the financial regulator.
In a letter sent on Monday to a US district judge, Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, said: “It has become clearer and clearer that the Commission is out to retaliate against my clients for exercising their First Amendment rights – most recently by criticizing the Commission on the public docket and by petitioning this Court for relief.”
The letter did not specify which investigation or what type of information the SEC – an independent government oversight agency responsible for regulating the securities markets and protecting investors – may have leaked and to whom. It claimed only that at least one of its members had leaked “certain information regarding its investigation.”
Musk and the regulator have been at odds since September 2018, when the SEC charged the billionaire with making “false and misleading” statements on social media in order to lure investors, leading to the volatility of Tesla stock.
Last week, Musk accused the SEC of harassment in continually investigating him, and of trying to “muzzle” him and stop him exercising his right to free speech. He claimed it had neglected to distribute among Tesla shareholders the $40 million that the company and he himself had paid in fines.
Josep Borrell doesn’t deem a presumed Russian military presence to be a “fully fledged invasion” at this point though
“Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil,” the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borrell, has warned, speaking ahead of the Ministerial Forum for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in Paris.
When asked by a journalist on Tuesday how he assessed the “situation right now,” Borrell responded by saying that the “Russian troops has [sic] entered in Donbass,” adding that the EU considers the area to be “part of Ukraine.” The diplomat went on to conclude that, while “Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil,” it was not something he would describe as a “fully fledged invasion” at this point.
The EU official also revealed that the bloc’s foreign ministers are expected to adopt a fresh batch of sanctions against Russia by the end of Tuesday, following Moscow’s decision to recognize the two Donbass republics. Borrell refused to go into detail regarding the nature of the punitive measures, but he added that he was sure a “unanimous decision” would be reached, which is required for the imposition of sanctions.
The US has already slapped sanctions on the two Donbass breakaway regions. Joe Biden signed an executive order late on Monday, which, as White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained, prohibits “new investment, trade and financing by US persons to, from, or in” the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), both recognized as independent countries by Russia.
According to the order, Washington also reserves the right to impose sanctions on “any person determined to operate in those areas of Ukraine,” with “additional measures” expected to be announced later on.
Psaki stressed that the latest punitive measures were distinct from the “swift and severe economic measures we have been preparing in coordination with allies and partners should Russia further invade Ukraine.”
Late on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made the decision to recognize the two Donbass republics as independent states. The move followed calls from the DPR and LPR leaderships to do so in the face of what they described as an imminent Ukrainian invasion.
Following the announcement, Putin also floated the idea of sending Russian peacekeepers to the Donbass to prevent a military aggression presumably planned by Ukraine. Moreover, friendship treaties between Russia and the two Donbass republics which are waiting to be fully ratified could pave the way for Russian military bases in the DPR and LPR, as well as military assistance for Lugansk and Donetsk. The treaties have already been ratified by the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma. Now the upper chamber, the Federation Council, has to make the call.
The situation in the region has dramatically escalated in recent days, with the Donbass republics reporting heavy shelling by the Ukrainian army. Two projectiles apparently fired by the Kiev military even flew over the border and landed on Russian territory on Saturday, according to Russia’s FSB security service. Ukraine, however, strongly denied that it was behind the bombardment.
The alleged shelling of Russian land was followed by a further incident on Monday morning which, according to Russian authorities, saw five Ukrainian troops cross the border. When the group was spotted by border guards, two armored vehicles came to its rescue from Ukrainian territory, the FSB claims. In the ensuing firefight, all five intruders were killed, and both vehicles destroyed. Moscow later released a video purportedly showing the two armored personnel carriers’ burning wreckage.
Ukraine, for its part, has dismissed the reports as “fake news,” and insisted that none of its troops had crossed into Russian territory.
Politicians debate what the new boundaries of the DPR and LPR should look like on the map
Russian officials have openly disagreed over the new borders of Ukraine as the debate over the recognition of the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics turns to discussion over how much territory the two breakaway states should control.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the DPR and LPR as independent and sovereign. The two regions broke away from Kiev in 2014, following the events of the Maidan revolution, when violent street protests toppled the government.
The territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions before their breakaway from Ukraine in 2014 was much larger. The majority of land is currently controlled by Kiev. Now, in Moscow, a debate has begun over whether Russia should recognize the entirety of the 2014 territory, or just the borders currently under the control of the DPR and LPR.
According to Andrey Klimov, who is the current deputy chair of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Russia will recognize the republics in their current form.
“We are talking, of course, about those territories that are within the boundaries established today. Everything else is outside the scope of legal action,” Klimov told the Rossiya 24 TV news channel on Monday. “How these borders will be restored is not provided for in this agreement. What the LPR and DPR will do for this is no longer our competence,” he explained.
Earlier on Monday, during a Security Council meeting, Minister of the Interior Vladimir Kolokoltsev also declared that Moscow should recognize the republics within their old broader borders.
“It is unequivocally necessary to recognize these republics, their legal status,” he told Putin. “But I would like to make an amendment: recognize those administrative entities in which these republics and the peoples of these republics were before the occupation by the armed forces of Ukraine.”
Another member of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Nikonov, went even further, suggesting Moscow might assist the newly recognized republics in reclaiming their old borders.
“Russia may make an urgent request to Ukrainian troops to leave these borders. And then they will actually have a very difficult choice.”
Putin’s decision to recognize the breakaway states came after eight years of Moscow calling for them to be reintegrated into Ukraine with a special status, as agreed in the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements. However, after almost a decade of stalemate in the peace process, Putin declared them to be independent nations – something he had previously ruled out.
Moscow is fuming over the US embassy’s warning that American citizens may be under threat from terrorist attacks
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has called on Washington to explain its intentions after the US embassy in Moscow published a terrorism alert without letting the Kremlin know about what threats it may be facing.
Writing on her Telegram channel, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova asked for clarification regarding the security warning published by the US embassy on Sunday.
“A question to the US embassy in Moscow: did you transmit the relevant information to your Russian colleagues through partner channels? If not, how is this to be understood?” Zakharova inquired shortly after the American statement.
On Sunday evening, the US embassy posted a security alert on its website, warning of a high terrorist threat in Russia, referring to unidentified “media sources.”
“There have been threats of attacks against shopping centers, railway and metro stations, and other public gathering places in major urban areas, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in areas of heightened tension along the Russian border with Ukraine,” the statement said.
The embassy also recommended American citizens in Russia monitor local and international media for updates, while avoiding crowds and locations frequented by foreigners.
Last month, US authorities advised Americans against traveling to Russia due to ongoing tension along the border with Ukraine. To those US citizens who still chose to travel to Russia, Washington recommended they get ready to be “harassed by Russian government security officials.”
“Due to Russia’s heightened military presence and ongoing military exercises along the border region with Ukraine, US citizens located in or considering travel to the districts of the Russian Federation immediately bordering Ukraine should be aware that the situation along the border is unpredictable and there is heightened tension,” the US embassy wrote on its website.
These latest announcements come amid rising tensions in eastern Ukraine, with hundreds of ceasefire violations now being recorded daily.
At the same time, Russia stands accused of amassing more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, with some Western officials suggesting it is plotting an invasion. The Kremlin has repeatedly stated that it has no plans to invade, claiming that the troops will depart from the border once the planned military drills are over.
FanCentro has launched legal action against the owner of the adult website
OnlyFans has been accused of blacklisting the social media accounts of performers who promote its rivals by having them placed on the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) database, it was reported on Tuesday.
FanCentro, an alternative adult website, launched the legal action against the owner of OnlyFans, Leonid Radvinsky, and the company which facilitates its payments, Fenix Internet LLC, back in November.
In documents filed in a Florida court, FanCentro alleges adult performers who promoted rival websites to OnlyFans were placed on the GIFCT’s international database, which uses technology to stop the spread of terrorist images by recording a unique digital signature for them, called ‘hashes.’
The database is shared across the forum’s 18 members, including Facebook and Twitter. If one company hashes content, it is then flagged too all the other members, allowing them to moderate similar content.
Claiming the database has been “manipulated,” FanCentro states that adult performers had social media content removed and accounts disabled, even though they did not contain terrorism content that would elicit such a response.
FanCentro is seeking financial damages over the use of the database, arguing it led to a decline in traffic to rivals of OnlyFans.
OnlyFans has not yet filed a legal response to FanCentro’s allegations but a spokesperson for the company claimed the accusations have “no merit.”
The UK’s national broadcaster, the BBC, stated on Tuesday that, while not named in the legal filing, Facebook has been issued with a subpoena in the case, compelling it to turn over records.
The subpoena reportedly seeks copies of internal documents from the social media company showing that rivals to OnlyFans were added to its list of so-called Dangerous Individuals or Organizations, as well as any payments from OnlyFans to Facebook’s parent company Meta.
Meta released a statement claiming that “these allegations are without merit and we will address them in the context of the litigation as needed.”
"We are not aware of any evidence to support the theories presented in this lawsuit between two parties with no connection to GIFCT,” a representative for GIFCT said in response to the lawsuit’s claims, adding it is working “to enhance transparency and oversight” of its “hash-sharing database.”
The move comes amid a sharp spike in fighting in the war-torn Donbass region
Ukraine has effectively sealed a deal on establishing an EU military training mission in the country, Kiev’s top diplomat has revealed, amid an increasingly tense situation on its shared border with Russia.
Speaking to reporters on Monday in Brussels, Dmitry Kuleba revealed that the bloc could soon take measures to assist Kiev’s armed forces.
“We reached an agreement with the EU in principle that the EU will roll out advisory training in Ukraine,” he said. However, he went on to say such a deal would not include combat forces.
Brussels will also “offer a set of proposals on strengthening our cyber security,” the diplomat added.
Kuleba’s remarks come amid worsening tensions on the Russian-Ukrainian border, which have escalated in the past few days. Kiev’s soldiers and those loyal to the two self-declared separatist republics in the Donbass have accused one another of heavy shelling, and international observers have warned that the situation could spill over into a resumption of full-scale hostilities.
The leaders of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk announced on Friday that they had begun evacuating civilians to Russia and ordered the mobilization of all able-bodied men to be ready to take arms in a potential conflict.
Donetsk and Lugansk declared their autonomy from Kiev in 2014, following the events of the Maidan, when the government was toppled as a result of violent street protests. Russia announced it would recognize their independence on Tuesday evening, with Vladimir Putin signing an agreement into force with local leaders, and instructing his country's armed forces to begin a 'peacekeeping' mission in the region.
American and European officials have been warning for months that Russia’s armed forces are preparing an invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly insisted that it has no aggressive intentions toward its neighboring country and has hit out at Western military presence close to its borders.
In November, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that “more and more forces and equipment are being accumulated on the line of contact in the Donbass, supported by an increasing number of Western instructors.”
FSB posts video of two BMP armored vehicles, destroyed after entering Russian territory
Moscow has published video evidence of what it says was an incursion by Ukrainian troops into Russian territory. A video from the Russian security service shows two BMP armored vehicles in the woods east of the disputed Donbass region, destroyed during Monday morning’s incident.
Black smoke can be seen rising from the wreck of a BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle. An internal explosion appears to have blown off the turret and the rear hatches of the other vehicle, a BMP-1, which the video showed burning intensely.
While Russia has previously issued a statement about the firefight, this is the first video evidence of its aftermath – and the first reference to its location, a forest near the village of Mityakinskaya in the Rostov region, due east of Lugansk city.
According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russian border guards in the Rostov region, due east of the self-proclaimed Lugansk republic, spotted a group of five Ukrainian saboteurs crossing the border around 6am local time on Monday. They requested support from the Southern Military District troops in order to capture the intruders.
After a firefight broke out, two Ukrainian BMPs crossed the border to extract the group, FSB said. Russian soldiers destroyed both vehicles and killed five saboteurs. There were no casualties among the border troops.
In another incident in the Rostov region on Monday, FSB border guards actually captured a Ukrainian saboteur, the agency’s director, Alexander Bortnikov, revealed during the televised national security council meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine’s military has said that Russian claims of an attempted incursion of saboteurs were false, while the top official at Kiev’s Ministry of Internal Affairs branded them “fake news.”
The two incidents come as both Kiev and the two self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine accused each other of heavy shelling along the armistice line. The US and its NATO allies have accused Russia of planning to stage a pretext for “invading” Ukraine. The Kremlin has consistently denied having any plans to invade and called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis that goes back to 2014, when US-backed nationalists overthrew the elected government in Kiev.
Russia needs a substantial response to its proposal on security guarantees, President Putin has said
Russia still expects the US and its NATO allies to provide Moscow with a substantive and concrete response to its demand for security guarantees, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron on Sunday.
According to the Kremlin, Putin stressed the necessity for US-led military bloc NATO to give serious consideration to Moscow’s demands.
“Putin once again emphasized the need for the US and NATO to take Russia’s demands to ensure its security guarantees as seriously as possible and to respond specifically and to the point,” the Kremlin statement said.
In December last year, Moscow appealed to Washington with a list of proposals on how to deescalate the situation in Europe. First and foremost, the Kremlin demanded that NATO respect its commitment not to expand “one inch eastward,” which was given to Moscow at the end of the Cold War. In particular, Russia categorically opposes the accession of its immediate neighbors, Ukraine and Georgia, to the bloc. NATO, however, has thus far refused to amend its ‘open door policy’.
Washington has also rejected some of Moscow’s other proposals, such as the demand that the US-led bloc stop placing military hardware near the Russian border.
After the phone call, the Élysée Palace revealed that both Putin and his US counterpart, Joe Biden had accepted a proposal by Macron to conduct a Russian-American summit. Washington specified that the meeting would be possible solely on the condition that Moscow does not invade Ukraine. Russian and American officials are due to meet on February 24 to prepare the substance of the summit.
Earlier this month, Putin and Macron met in Moscow to discuss the rising tensions at the Ukrainian border, where Russia is accused of amassing over 100,000 of its troops, with some believing that it is planning to launch an invasion. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied the allegation.
Rents average a 20% increase across the largest US cities since last year, new research shows
Rents in the largest 50 cities of the US have risen an average of 20% over the last year, according to a recent study conducted by apartment-finding site Zumper. Another recent study, by Realtor.com, appeared to confirm those numbers – median rents on apartments with two or fewer bedrooms spiked 19.3% from December 2020 to 2021.
A number of American cities even exceeded that rate, with rents in Miami reportedly skyrocketing by 49.8% since last year, according to Realtor.com’s figures. Meanwhile, Zumper’s analysis shows that Boston nearly overtook historically-pricey San Francisco to become the country’s second most expensive rental market, with average prices rising 27%, while the Californian city itself barely budged north of 6.3%. The priciest city, however, remains New York, where rents have surged 22.8% year on year.
Analysts blame the hike on a number of factors, from adults who moved in with their parents during the pandemic striking back out on their own, to the costs of an ever-more-bloated housing bubble shutting many young people out of being able to buy a home.
Labor Department statistics, which include existing rents as well as newly-posted listings, show a decidedly smaller increase of 0.5% between December and January. However, that increase represents the largest the department has measured in over two decades, and it is expected to grow.
Some economists are concerned because soaring rents contribute to the US consumer price index, which is used to calculate inflation – a marker which jumped 7.5% since January 2021, the largest yearly gain in 40 years.
Landlords can then feel compelled to raise the rent further with the dollar worth less, forcing the consumer price index and inflation to become higher still.
The Federal Reserve recently announced it plans to raise interest rates multiple times this year in order to prevent further runaway inflation, after repeatedly previously describing rising prices as a “transitory” situation. However, the impact of that policy shift is not expected to be felt by ordinary Americans for months.
The president has signed a decree pledging cooperation between Russia and the two breakaway regions
President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to “secure the peace” in the newly recognized Donetsk and Lugansk republics, which were formerly considered to be part of Ukraine.
Moscow officially recognized the independence of the two breakaway regions on Monday.
Putin has instructed the Defense Ministry to send peacekeepers into the Donbass, while telling the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish diplomatic relations with the states.
The Kremlin’s official move comes shortly after Putin’s lengthy address to the nation on Monday evening. In it, he explaiened the step as a long overdue response to what he described as the “brotherly” Ukrainian nation becoming a “colony” of the West and falling under the rule of a “russophobic” government both hostile to Moscow and denying ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers basic human rights.
Donetsk and Lugansk declared independence from Kiev in 2014, after US-backed nationalists overthrew the democratically elected government in the Maidan coup. However, Moscow has refused to recognize them until now, saying the problem is an internal affair of Ukraine and needs to be resolved according to the Minsk agreements, which established an uneasy armistice in 2015.
Earlier on Monday, however, the Donetsk leader Denis Pushilin and Lugansk leader Leonid Pasechnik formally requested recognition from Moscow once again, as both Donbass regions and Ukraine claimed intensive artillery exchanges along the armistice line.
In his speech, Putin said that the Minsk process had failed and that Ukraine is “not interested in peaceful solutions – they want to start a Blitzkrieg.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia’s decision “undermines” Ukraine’s sovereignty
The chief of NATO has condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the “self-proclaimed” Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic in the Donbass region of Ukraine.
“This further undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, erodes efforts towards a resolution of the conflict, and violates the Minsk Agreements, to which Russia is a party,” NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote in a Monday statement following Putin’s announcement. He added that Donetsk and Lugansk are “part of Ukraine.”
Stoltenberg further claimed Putin’s announcement is an attempt to “stage a pretext to invade Ukraine once again.”
In his announcement, Putin said Ukraine is “amassing troops in the Donbass” in violation of the 2015 Minsk agreements. The Russian president also accused Ukraine’s leadership of supporting “Russophobia” and “extreme nationalism.”
“Let me stress once again that Ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us. It is an integral part of our own history, culture, and spiritual world,” he declared.
Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO, Putin said, would equate to an “immediate threat of an attack against our country.”
Putin said proposals from Moscow sent to NATO and Washington were “rejected,” including the assurance that Ukraine would never join NATO. The president also revealed for the first time in public that he had even discussed the possibility of Russia itself joining in 2000 with then-US President Bill Clinton, but the West has since distanced itself from Moscow significantly. Other requests included a stop to the US-led military bloc’s expansion, as well as for current bloc members to renounce military activity in Ukraine.
“Some NATO member states are concerned about Ukraine joining, and we have gotten signals from European capitals saying, ‘What are you worried about, it won't join NATO tomorrow’ – but what about the day after tomorrow? And the day after that?” he said.
