Elizabeth Truss, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth Affairs and International Development of the United Kingdom. Photo: Wikipedia.org.
Reuters has published excerpts from the draft communique of the foreign ministers of the G7 countries, which contains a statement on the situation around Ukraine.
“Russia should have no doubt that further military aggression against Ukraine will have large-scale consequences and a serious price,” the agency quotes the text of the draft communique.
It is expected that the topic of relations between Russia and Ukraine will be included in a separate statement of the “seven”.
The communique also contains a G7 call to Russia to de-escalate tensions on the Ukrainian border.
British Foreign Minister Elizabeth Truss, speaking at a press conference in Liverpool, stressed that all the countries of the “seven” take a unified position on the situation in Ukraine and want Russia to “abandon aggression” against this country.
The press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov noted that the aggressive rhetoric of the West will not contribute to defusing tensions between the Russian Federation and the United States.
“We have been hearing too much aggressive rhetoric from across the ocean in recent weeks,” the Kremlin’s press secretary drew attention in an interview with the radio station Moscow Says.”.
Earlier, American leader Joe Biden said that the United States is going to send its troops to NATO countries bordering Russia if there is a so-called “invasion” from the Russian side. He assured that during the online summit he told Russian President Vladimir Putin that in the event of an invasion, American troops would be transferred to the countries of the Bucharest Nine.;,represented by the eastern members of the North Atlantic Alliance (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Estonia).
The leaders of Russia and the United States held talks via video link on December 7, which lasted two hours. The main topic was the situation around Ukraine, the presidents also touched upon bilateral relations, cybersecurity and the Iranian nuclear deal.
According to the Financial Times, sources in the administration of the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that they are ready to support the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project.
photo pexels.com
However, in the case of a hypothetical armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine from can be blocked.
“The Scholz administration will consider the possibility of stopping the Nord Stream – 2 in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” high-ranking sources confirmed.
Nevertheless, the new Cabinet supports the SP-2 project.
The FSB Public Relations Center reported that the control ship “Donbass” of the Ukrainian Navy, moving towards the Kerch Strait, went on a reverse course. At the same time, the ship’s crew still does not respond to requests.
SOURCE: PIXABAY
The FSB press service stressed that the actions of the Ukrainian warship are regarded as provocative and posing a threat to the safety of navigation.
Earlier it was reported that “Donbass” left Mariupol on the morning of December 9. At the same time, no applications were received from Kiev for the passage of the Kerch-Yenikalsky canal.
In addition, the State Border Service of Ukraine stated that they do not have information on this situation.
The Presidents of Ukraine and the United States, Vladimir Zelensky and Joe Biden, completed telephone conversations that lasted 1.5 hours.
According to the head of the Office of the Ukrainian president, Andrei Ermak, the leaders of the two countries began with the most important thing: Biden told Zelensky about his conversation with Putin.
“Of course, they discussed other issues, but I would like to focus on the main theses. Biden, as was already said after the conversation with Putin, told him very frankly and warned him about the consequences if Russia decides to escalate or invade,” Ermak said on the air of the program “The Right to Vlad”.
Biden also said that the United States, together with its partners, is ready for unprecedented sanctions in the event of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.
The first details of the conversation:
the decision on Ukraine’s accession to NATO depends only on the decision of the Ukrainian people and members of the alliance, Biden recalled;
the US plans to provide assistance to Ukraine remain in force, the US leader said;
Zelensky noted that Ukraine is not going to attack anyone;
Kiev does not support the idea of freezing the conflict in Donbass, is ready to fulfill the obligations of a complete ceasefire, the President of Ukraine stressed.
Finished a 1.5-hour conversation with @POTUS. The President of the United States informed me of the content of his negotiations with Putin. We also discussed possible formats for resolving the conflict in Donbas and touched upon the course of internal reforms in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/boKzAdiyeU
– Volodimir Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) December 9, 2021
Earlier, Biden and Putin held talks in a video format. The conversation lasted more than two hours. During the conversation, the issue of the presence of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border was discussed. Read: Moscow appreciated the talks between Putin and Biden.
The FSB Public Relations Center reported that the control ship “Donbass” of the Ukrainian Navy is located in the immediate vicinity of the Kerch Strait.
According to the agency, on the morning of December 9, “Donbass” left Mariupol. At the same time, there were no applications from the Ukrainian side for the passage of the Kerch-Yenikalsky Canal.
The coast guard ship of the border guard service accompanying the Ukrainian ship warned in the afternoon about the need to comply with the legislation of the Russian Federation and demanded to change course. Later, an answer was received from the Ukrainian military, “that there are no plans to follow through the Kerch Strait,” the FSB indicated.
It is reported that the Ukrainian ship is currently located 18 nautical miles from the strait.
“Does not fulfill the requirements to change the course,” the DSP said in a statement. “These actions pose a threat to the safety of navigation.”
The Russian Embassy in the United States expressed its condolences in connection with the past hurricanes. The corresponding message appeared on the Facebook account of the Russian diplomatic mission.
In addition to expressing condolences to the relatives of the victims of the disaster, the embassy wished a speedy recovery to the victims of the tornado.
Hurricanes hit a number of American states, including Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois. US President Joe Biden called the current tornadoes one of the most powerful in the history of the country. Now it is known about at least 80 dead.
Contrary to the rules, resonant discussions were included in it
Vladimir Putin discussed with the members of the HRC the most resonant issues of 2021 — about QR codes in public places and on transport and about foreign media. In both cases, according to Putin, it is necessary to act carefully. With QR codes — to ensure that the rights of all citizens are respected. With the media — to prevent the use of tools that will hinder the development of the country and democratic institutions.
Photo: Alexey Merinov
According to the head of the HRC Valery Fadeev, the bills on QR codes prepared by the government require a number of amendments, in particular, they need to take into account the rights of unofficially ill patients with high antibodies, as well as people with medical withdrawals. The HRC believes that even after February 1, citizens should havethe ability to visit public places and travel by transport according to a PCR test. And the authorities should officially publish a list of diseases that cannot be vaccinated. Until now, the solution of this issue is assigned to the attending (or even district) doctor who does not have the necessary information and knowledge.
Vladimir Putin did not comment on the proposals made. However, he agreed that, expanding the scope of vaccination certificates, it is necessary to act as carefully as possible. The whole procedure should be “extremely transparent” and “understandable” to the public. And the introduction of QR codes in transport needs to be treated “very carefully”, in particular, to evaluate everythingpossible consequences. “There are people who are against vaccination and do not agree with any restrictions. And there are those who demand to be protected from those who are not vaccinated. These issues also require consideration,” the GDP stressed, expressing hope that as a result “a solution will be found that guarantees the rights of all citizens.” The bill in its current form, according to him, has a “framework character”.
The editor-in-chief of MK Pavel Gusev told the president about the reaction of the journalistic community to the enforcement of the law on foreign agents, which, according to him, has become a “big trouble” for journalists. The document was not discussed with the professional community, it is applied by the Ministry of Justice without explanation, the media has no opportunity to protest or remove this label, Gusev listed the main claims. He also drew attention to the fact that journalists recognized as foreign agents are forced to indicate their status in social networks, even when they decorate a Christmas tree with children. “We have to do somethingto do with this law,” Gusev said, asking the president to create a working group with the participation of all interested parties. Vladimir Putin replied that his position was well known: the law appeared in response to similar actions by Western countries, in particular the United States. However, since the professional community was excluded from the discussion, we need to go back and see how “it functions and what it can lead to.” “The examples you have given are comical. The overreaction is obvious,” this is how GDP reacted to the story about a foreign agent decorating a Christmas tree.
MK columnist Eva Merkacheva raised the issue of torture in prisons. This phenomenon has received a wide public response in connection with several egregious cases, in particular, in Saratov, Irkutsk and Kirov regions. Merkacheva stated the need to introduce a separate article on punishment for torture into the legislation. Such an obligation arose in the Russian Federation after joining the relevant UN convention, but it has not yet been implemented in practice.Moreover, the organizers and perpetrators of torture, as a rule, evade any responsibility at all. Putin recalled that the Federation Council has already begun work on fixing the very concept of “torture” in the legislation of the Russian Federation, and he expects that it will be brought to an end. “Such things are absolutely unacceptable. What’s there to comment on. That’s right, you say. We need to work consistently and achieve the results we need,” the GDP stressed.
Reports on homelessness, domestic violence and teenage bullying provoked a similar reaction from the president: all these are shameful phenomena of our reality, which both the state and civil society need to fight. However, Putin did not explain which steps are correct and necessary in each particular case. Sergey Tsyplenkov from Greenpeace recalled the “whale prison”, from which two years ago, with the direct participation of GDP, there wereseveral killer whales and belugas were rescued. It turns out that all this time its owners expected that they would be able to resume their activities and dismantled the pools only 10 days ago. According to the ecologist, in order for new “prisons” not to appear, it is necessary to legally prohibit the fishing of whales in order to organize educational activities, leaving such an opportunity only to indigenous peoples and scientists. “I agree, let’s do it,” the president nodded.
Federation Council member Andrey Klimov in his Telegram channel spoke about the attitude of the European Union to Poland. According to him, European countries are dissatisfied with Warsaw’s actions.
Klimov added that Poland is viewed as an “agent of US influence.” He said that Brussels suspects Warsaw of trying to split the EU.
The senator also commented on the ultimatum of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. He called the politician’s words a “provocation” aimed at weakening Russia and the European Union.
The G7 countries adhere to a common position on the issue of the Russian military presence near the borders of Ukraine. This is reported by Reuters with reference to an official of the US State Department.
However, the American side characterizes the G7 ministerial talks as “tense”. Representatives of the countries noted that a diplomatic solution to the problem of “Russian aggression” is still possible.
The position of the “Big Seven” is that Russia will suffer severe consequences if it decides to show aggression against Ukraine.
