The People’s Militia of the DPR accused the Armed Forces of Ukraine of deploying heavy weapons in settlements controlled by Kiev. According to the security forces of the self-proclaimed republic, nine pieces of equipment appeared there. These are Cornflower mortars and T-80 tanks. The portal writes about this.
Also, the DPR was able to intercept the Valkyrie drone, which belongs to the 54th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The device was moving in the area of the Oktyabrskaya mine. With the help of it, the security forces prepared the shelling of cities and towns.
According to the statement of the militia, the next target for the strike was to be the city hospital No. 21. At least this follows from the decoding of the drone program.
It would be too optimistic to expect the cabinet of the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to provide Ukraine with weapons. At the same time, the position of the German governments from a moral point of view does not stand up to any criticism. But it probably won’t change.
This is the conclusion reached by the Ambassador of Ukraine in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk. He explained that the previous cabinet had not officially explained its decision. But informally, the diplomat received signals that German weapons could provoke further military escalation and cause large-scale clashes.
“This is the main line of argument that we have been unofficially hearing in recent years as an excuse for official Berlin’s abrupt refusal to provide Ukraine with weapons in order to strengthen our defense capability,” Melnyk said.
He added that despite this, he does not lose hope for change. Kiev will continue to wait for additional electronic warfare and defense weapons from its German partners.
“By the way, providing Kiev with weapons for self-defense would strengthen the position of official Berlin and to promote the mediation mission, which, unfortunately, is now at an impasse,” Melnik wrote.
In his opinion, it will not be possible to achieve radical changes in Berlin’s position quickly.
Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia Karen Donfried will visit Moscow and Kiev next week. Then she intends to visit Brussels, where she will discuss with representatives of the EU and NATO options for a diplomatic settlement of the situation on the border of Ukraine.
Donfrid will visit Moscow and Kiev on December 13-15, and will arrive in Brussels on December 15-16.
The Associated Press agency suggested that in this way the administration of the American president wants to increase pressure on Russia. Sources suggest that Karen Donfried is unlikely to discuss specific consequences for Russia in the event of an escalation of the situation around Ukraine. Perhaps she will again warn Moscow against using energy exports as a political weapon.
Donfrid was part of the delegation that visited Moscow together with CIA Director William Burns. She then flew to Ukraine, where she informed Kiev that the White House messages had been “effectively” transmitted to the Kremlin.
A day after Burns and Donfrid’s visit to Moscow, Ukraine announced tens of thousands of Russian servicemen who are allegedly on the border of the republic.
Donfried has previously stated that Russia can and should provide additional gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine. Moscow does not need Nord Stream-2 for this, Kiev has sufficient capacity.
“If Russia does not do this, it is obvious that it will damage European energy security and raise the question of what Russia’s motives are for stopping these supplies,” the Deputy Secretary of State said.
Russian singer Mary Gu (Maria Gusarova) on Instagram told the details of how she was not allowed to enter Ukraine by border guards at Boryspil airport. She won’t be able to give a concert for which tickets have already been sold out. She promised that the fans will get their money back for them.
Maria Gusarova called the ban on entry into the republic groundless.
“I am very sorry that politics is stronger than music today,” she wrote in stories.
The singer complained that she and her colleagues were kept in the customs zone for eight hours without food and water.
Fans of the singer in the comments reported that they were informed before the concert in Kiev that Maria was sick with coronavirus and therefore her performance was canceled. Mary Gu in response published a document with negative test results. She stressed that without him she would not have been released from Russia.
Earlier, the State Border Service of Ukraine reported that the Russian singer and her director were banned from entering the republic for three years because she performed several times in Crimea.
The State Border Service of Ukraine has banned the Russian singer and the organizer of her concerts from entering the territory of the republic for three years. They were accused of performing “in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea.”
The singer and her director visited the peninsula during music festivals held in different years. They wanted to enter Ukraine from Istanbul in order to hold a concert.
“Two Russian citizens were banned from entering Ukraine because of illegal visits to Crimea, it was established that the woman is a Russian singer of songs, and the man is associated with organizing and providing performances,” the border guards said on Facebook.
The names of the expelled Russians are not reported.
The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denis Monastyrsky initiated an audit of his deputy Alexander Gogilashvili and at this time demanded that he be removed from his post. Earlier, a video appeared on the Network showing a man who looks like an official talking obscenely with the military at one of the checkpoints in the Donbass.
As Monastyrsky said on Facebook, he will personally study all the details of what happened and make a managerial decision.
Earlier, the online publication “Blogpost” published a video in which, presumably, Gogilashvili is trying to enter the ATO zone. The policeman demanded to make a stop, but the car drove a few meters ahead. After that, one of the passengers got out of the car and began obscenely threatening the guards. Later, he even tried to arrange a fight.
The man said that he had been a deputy minister for three years and he was sad that the police did not know him by sight.
“Now you know, but now I know you, friend, and it won’t be pleasant for you,— the man promised.
A Russian military commander, colonel-general, has died at the age of 84. former Head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Fedor Ladygin.
“Unfortunately, this morning the former head of the GRU, Colonel-General Ladygin, died,” said Nikolai Deryabin, chief of Staff of the Club of Military Leaders of the Russian Federation.
Nothing is reported about the causes of Ladygin’s death. It is known that he will be buried at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery in Mytishchi.
Fedor Ivanovich graduated Air Force Engineering Academy named after Zhukovsky, and then Higher academic courses of senior staff at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. He joined the GRU of the USSR as a senior officer in 1973. He was the head of the GRU GSH from September 1992 to May 1997.
In the early 1990s, at least one career employee of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) served as an adviser to the Russian government. He violated US law by engaging in commercial activities in Russia and became a participant in a lawsuit in his homeland.
About this in an interview for the film “Russia. The latest history” was told by the head of state Vladimir Putin. A fragment of the film was shown by the TV channel “Russia-1”. CIA agents took part in the privatization process when they worked in Russia. Putin did not name the names of the intelligence officers.
The President explained that in the early 2000s, he “cleaned everyone out,” but in the mid-1990s, American personnel intelligence officers held the posts of advisers in the Russian government.
During a direct line in 2013, Putin said that CIA officers worked in the environment of Anatoly Chubais. He headed the Federal Property Management Agency and, as Deputy Prime Minister, oversaw the privatization process. American intelligence officers had no right to enrich themselves on the territory of Russia.
“They were forbidden by law to engage in any commercial activity inside the United States, but they could not resist – corruption, you know,” the Russian president said.
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with ANT1 TV channel that Russia will not lower the price of gas for Greece.
“Would you like us to supply natural gas for free?”, Peskov replied to the journalist’s statement that the Greeks were hit hard by the increase in the cost of gas and they expect Moscow’s help.
The correspondent clarified that she was interested in how to ensure stable prices in such an unstable environment.
Peskov replied that gas prices are stable. He explained that there was an increase in the spot market, but within the framework of existing contracts, prices are determined by formulas tied to oil. Peskov stressed that there would be no discount from Gazprom for Greece under the current long-term agreement. But Greece will continue to receive gas at the projected price, and not at a price that can fluctuate overnight from $500 to $1,100.
Peskov also drew attention to the fact that Russia has increased supplies under existing long-term agreements, and the United States has reduced fuel exports to Greece by 43%.
The 70-year-old Soviet, Russian film director and screenwriter, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation responded to the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadarov, who criticized his speech at the meeting of the President of the Russian Federation with the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC).
Recall that Sokurov told Vladimir Putin about a number of problems in the country, in particular. He expressed his personal opinion that the republics of the North Caucasus currently have a pronounced “national character”, and offered to release those who do not want to live with Russia. After that, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov wrote in his Telegram channel, talking about Sokurov: “I don’t like this corrupt face!”. Kadyrov also suggested that the competent authorities check Sokurov’s words for anti-state and extremist nature. He also stressed that “the Chechen Republic was, is and will be an integral part of the Russian Federation.”
“What I said is what I said. But I only said what I said …,” Sokurov said, adding that the conversation with the president was open.
“You can talk openly with the president, express your point of view on different circumstances of life in the country,” Sokolov stressed, adding that it was appropriate within the framework of the HRC.
