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Depopulation & WW3
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Russia vows retaliation after Poland seizes embassy school

Russia says it will retaliate after Polish authorities seized the Russian Embassy school in Warsaw, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Russia says it will retaliate after Polish authorities seized the Russian Embassy school in Warsaw, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Polish police and staff from the Warsaw city hall entered the campus Saturday morning, asking employees to leave the premises, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The ministry described the action as "controversial, illegal and provocative."

CNN has reached out to the Polish authorities for comment.

But a Polish foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters that while Russia had a right to protest, they were acting within the law.

"Our opinion, which has been confirmed by the courts, is that this property belongs to the Polish state and was taken by Russia illegally," Lukasz Jasina said.

The school will continue to operate from a different part of the Russian embassy, RIA added, quoting Russia's ambassador to Poland Sergei Andreev.

Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has been a staunch ally to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia vows retaliation after Poland seizes embassy school - WENY News

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BREAKING NEWS - DID UKRAINE TRY TO KILL PUTIN ?

Russia says Ukraine tried to kill Putin with drone attack on Kremlin

Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of attacking the Kremlin with drones overnight in a failed attempt to kill President Vladimir Putin.

A senior Ukrainian presidential official said Kyiv had nothing to do with the purported incident, the most dramatic accusation Russia has levelled against Ukraine since invading its neighbour more than 14 months ago.

The Kremlin said two drones had been used in the alleged attack on Putin's residence in the walled Kremlin citadel, but had been disabled by electronic defences.

It said Russia reserved the right to retaliate - a comment that suggested that Moscow might use the alleged incident to justify a further escalation in its war with Ukraine.

"Two unmanned aerial vehicles were aimed at the Kremlin. As a result of timely actions taken by the military and special services with the use of radar warfare systems, the devices were put out of action," the Kremlin said in a statement.

"We regard these actions as a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the president's life, carried out on the eve of Victory Day, the May 9 Parade, at which the presence of foreign guests is also planned ...

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“It’s a very unacceptable and a very, very dirty game,” the Turkish analyst warned. Casin also said Kiev may not have been alone in planning and organizing the strike. “This is an organized international attack,” he said.

West cannot stay silent on Kremlin drone attack but won’t admit anything – experts

The strike breaks an unofficial deal between Moscow, Kiev and the West not to target political leaders, analysts warn.

https://www.rt.com/russia/575718-west-kremlin-drone-attack-experts/

A Ukrainian drone attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s working residences in the Kremlin has shaken the status quo in the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev, a group of experts told RT following the incident. It could also lead to a dangerous escalation possibly involving the use of nuclear weapons, they warned, adding that Russia is bound to retaliate.

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VICTORY DAY IN RUSSIA: PUTIN DELIVERS ADDRESS TO NATION FROM THE RED SQUARE

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Huge Military Victory Day Parade Conducted Across Red Square, Putin Calls For...

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Russian General Claims To Have Killed U.S. Soldier In Ukraine

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had exhibited what he claimed to be the body and identifying documents of a deceased former United States Army Green Beret who had been slain in Bakhmut while fighting for Ukraine

The Wagner Group identified the deceased American as Nicholas Dwain Maimer, a resident of Boise, Idaho, and posted pictures of his driver’s license, a U.S. Army identity card with his staff sergeant level, and a VA card in a second Telegram post.

The identity was confirmed by an article published on Tuesday by The Idaho Statesman, who added that the 45-year-old Army Special Forces veteran had just returned after a year of training volunteers in Ukraine.

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This article was originally published on August 20, 2018 as “Nuclear De-Escalation: Russia’s Deterrence Strategy.” Last updated Mar 7, 2022

Escalate To De-Escalate: Russia’s Nuclear Deterrence Strategy

Russia’s military doctrine dictates the use of nuclear weapons in response to any non-nuclear assault on Russian territory.

Russia’s military doctrine encompasses a broad range of potential national security threats, including local, or small-scale wars, regional, or large-scale wars, internal and foreign military threats, the Russian military’s budget, and a host of military-related technical, political, social, and economic issues. Additionally, the doctrine defines the circumstances under which nuclear weapons are to be used by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in response to a threat to Russia’s national security.

In 2000, Russia released an updated military doctrine in which it outlined the concept of de-escalation through a limited nuclear strike. This idea put forth the notion that if Russia were subjected to a major non-nuclear assault that exceeded its capacity for conventional defense, it would “de-escalate” the conflict by launching a limited—or tactical—nuclear strike. While this policy has never been publicly discussed with relation to any particular conflict, the concept of nuclear de-escalation undoubtedly was on the minds of Western leaders during Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, and in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.

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The Russian Defense Ministry said into the night of May 21 that the town in Donbass had been fully liberated.

IN BRIEF: What we know so far about Ukrainian sabotage attack on Belgorod Region

According to the latest data, the Russian military and security forces are taking measures to eliminate the enemy and are driving it away from the Russian territory.

https://tass.com/politics/1621243

A Ukrainian sabotage group infiltrated the Grayvoron District of the Belgorod Region on Monday, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

According to the latest data, the Russian military and security forces are taking measures to eliminate the enemy and are driving it away from the Russian territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been briefed about the situation.

TASS has put together the highlights of what has been reported about the attack as of now.

The circumstances of the attack

  • The infiltration by Ukrainian saboteurs was reported by Gladkov. He said the Russian military, border guards and the servicemen of the National Guard and the Federal Security Service are taking "necessary measures to eliminate the enemy."

  • Before that, the governor said two people were injured in a shelling of the village of Glotovo of the Grayvoron District. He said one of the casualties, a woman, who suffered wounds from a mine explosion, had been taken to a hospital in serious condition. The other person, a man, was in a condition of medium gravity.

  • The Kremlin later confirmed that a Ukrainian sabotage group had tried to force its way into the Belgorod Region, and the group is now being driven away from the Russian territory and eliminated.

  • Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there are sufficient forces and equipment on the scene to combat the saboteurs. He said Putin had been briefed about the incident.

The Kremlin’s assessment

  • Peskov said the goal of the sabotage attack is "to divert attention from the Bakhmut area and reduce to a minimum the political effect from the loss of Artyomovsk by the Ukrainian side." The Russian Defense Ministry said into the night of May 21 that the town in Donbass had been fully liberated.

Previous attacks

  • The Russian Defense Ministry has regularly reported stopping Ukrainian sabotage attacks in Russia’s new regions: The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

  • The previous sabotage attack took place in the Bryansk Region on March 2. Two people were killed, and a boy with the date of birth in 2012 was wounded at the time. The boy was able to lead two girls that were nearby out of harm’s way.

  • Putin then called the attack on villages outside Bryansk a terrorist attack.

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Wagner to leave Bakhmut by June 1, transfer control to Russian army

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said on Monday his fighters would leave Bakhmut by June 1 and transfer control to the Russian army, after claiming to have fully captured the city.

Both Wagner and the regular Russian army have said Bakhmut had fallen to them but Kyiv denies this, saying it is hanging on to a corner of the eastern Ukrainian city and that battles are ongoing.

“Wagner will leave Artemovsk from May 25 to June 1,” Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio recording on Telegram.

Bakhmut was previously known as Artemovsk, in honour of a Soviet revolutionary, before Ukraine renamed it.

Prigozhin said the mercenaries had set up “defence lines” on the western outskirts of the city before a planned transfer of control to the Russian army.

“If the ministry of defence does not have enough personnel, we have thousands of generals,” said Prigozhin, who has been embroiled in an increasingly public spat with the Russian military leadership.

Prigozhin has poured scathing criticism on Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and army chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, accusing them of being incompetent and causing Moscow’s large-scale losses in the conflict in Ukraine.

Wagner fighters have spearheaded Russia’s storming of Bakhmut and Prigozhin’s influence has risen hugely during Moscow’s Ukraine offensive.

On Saturday, he announced that Bakhmut had fallen to his fighters, speaking in a video against the backdrop of the ruined city.

He said then that Wagner fighters would pull out by May 25.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner and the Russian army on the alleged conquest.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the G7 summit on Sunday that Bakhmut was “not occupied” by Russia.

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The Donbass Zugzwang | The Russian Victory. Military Summary For 2023.05.20

Elon Musk to visit Bakhmut after Russian victory? Putin ally's 'invite' to...

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Many drone attacks overnight in Russian border region: governor

A Russian official in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine said Wednesday that the territory was targeted by numerous drones overnight, following an armed incursion into the territory from Ukraine.

“The night was not entirely calm. There were a large number of drone attacks. Air defence systems handled most of them,” governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post on social media.

“The most important thing is that there are no casualties,” he added.

The statement came a day after Moscow announced it had deployed jets and artillery to destroy the armed group that penetrated its border from Ukraine and the Kremlin ordered its military to prevent any repeat attack.

Members of two anti-Kremlin groups, the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, claimed responsibility while Kyiv denied official Ukrainian involvement.

The border region of Belgorod has been targeted by attacks since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but the days-long skirmish was the most significant since Russian began large-scale hostilities in Ukraine last year.

Gladkov said the drone barrage overnight had damaged several private homes, offices and vehicles but that the full extent of the damage was still being assessed.

He added that a gas pipeline was damaged in the Graivoron district and that “a small fire is burning”.

Gladkov said that several settlements that lost power as a result of fighting between the armed incursion group and the Russian security forces, would be reconnect by the end of Wednesday.

“Nine people are hospitalised: three are in intensive care in a serious condition and six people are already in wards,” he added, as a result of the border assault.

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Zelensky’s penthouse seized in Crimea

The luxury apartment is on Russia’s list of nationalized assets.

The Crimean parliament has unanimously voted to nationalize the assets of Ukrainian oligarchs and politicians on the peninsula, RIA Novosti news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the State Council’s press service.

Among the assets is an apartment belonging to Elena Zelenskaya, the wife of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Crimean Governor Sergey Aksyonov announced on Telegram.

More than 130 properties have reportedly been confiscated, among them a cinema, factories, shopping malls, wineries, and banking structures.

Last February the Crimean parliament also voted to nationalize about 500 properties belonging to Ukrainian politicians and businessmen.

Zelenskaya’s three-room penthouse on the Black Sea coast near the resort city of Yalta is estimated to be worth $800,000. It was bought from a business tycoon in 2013 for just under $164,000. After Zelensky won the presidential election in April 2019, Reuters reported that the price paid for the property was at least 50% lower than the market rate.

The seizures come in response to a law introduced in Ukraine last year making it legal to confiscate the assets of Russian citizens and businesses without compensation. In August, Kiev approved confiscations of more than 900 Russian-owned properties in the country, reportedly worth $765 million.

Russia has seen its state and private assets worth billions of dollars frozen or confiscated in Western countries since the start the military operation in Ukraine. The US and its EU allies have since been looking for ways to give the assets to Ukraine for reconstruction.

The Crimean Peninsula was part of Ukraine until 2014, when it voted in a referendum to join Russia after the Maidan coup resulted in the overthrow of the democratically elected government in Kiev.

Profits from the sales of the nationalized assets, including Zelensky’s apartment, will be used to help the families of soldiers killed in the military operation in Ukraine, the speaker of the Crimean Parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency.

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Plenary session of the Eurasian Economic Forum

Vladimir Putin took part in the plenary session of the Eurasian Economic Forum.

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/71198

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Hundreds of German civil servants forced to leave Russia: govt source

Hundreds of German civil servants working in the education and cultural sectors will need to leave Russia following a request by Moscow, a German government source told AFP Saturday.

It follows a decision by the Russian authorities to force Germany to slash its diplomatic staff and presence at public institutions such as the Goethe Institute cultural organisation and the German school in Moscow by the beginning of June, the source said.

A close economic partner with Russia before Moscow invaded Ukraine, Germany has since moved away from Moscow, financially and militarily supporting Kyiv in the conflict.

Since the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, Russian espionage in Germany has grown at a rate rarely equalled in recent years, according to German security services.

In mid-April, Germany expelled a number of Russian diplomats “to reduce the presence of intelligence services” which prompted a tit-for-tat response from Moscow which booted out some 20 German embassy staff.

In spring 2022, Germany already expelled some 40 Russian diplomats who Berlin believed to represent a threat to its security.

Last October, the head of German’s cybersecurity agency, Arne Schoenbohm, was fired after news reports revealed his proximity to a cybersecurity consultancy believed to have contacts with Russian intelligence services.

A month later, a German reserve officer was handed a suspended prison sentence of a year and nine months for spying for Russia.

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Simultaneously, the same people in Washington, Brussels and London who talk about the need to fight hunger and help the destitute, continue introducing sanctions against Russian agricultural exports, among other things. They are not hiding the fact that they have no intention to help the UN Secretary-General in his comprehensive efforts aimed at “designing and coordinating global measures for a food crisis response programme under the leadership of the Secretary-General of the United Nations,” to quote the UN-Russia Memorandum on promoting Russian food products and fertilisers to the world markets.

Press release on the situation around the Istanbul Agreements

https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1872365/

Russia has consented to extend the Black Sea Initiative on Ukrainian food exports by two months. As a result, the agreement will remain in effect until the end of the planned 120-day cycle (through July 17), whereupon, as it is stipulated in the document, it can be terminated by an objecting party (Russia, Türkiye, or Ukraine).

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FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEY LAVROV’S ANSWER TO A QUESTION ON MAY 26, 2023

Question: Washington. What on earth are they doing? Is their self-preservation instinct failing? Such an escalation…

Sergey Lavrov: Washington believes that its self-preservation is ensured by the Atlantic Ocean. It is a big delusion if they try to bring the world to the brink of the third world war. But so far Washington is stirring up its satellites against the Russian Federation believing that it will get away with it.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answer to a question on the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin programme, May 26, 2023

https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1872504/

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Russia ready for peace talks with Ukraine, but on its conditions – ambassador

https://tass.com/politics/1624041

Russia is ready for peace talks with Ukraine but it will not give up its conditions, Russian Ambassador to Great Britain Andrey Kelin said in an interview with the BBC on Sunday.

"We want peace, but on certain conditions, of course. For us, two things are important. That there will be no threat from Ukraine to Russia - this is one thing. And second, that Russians in Ukraine will be treated like all other nations in the world. Like French people are being treated in Belgium, or like Italians and Germans are being treated in Switzerland, not differently. <…> That’s a grave violation of the Human Rights Declaration and of all documentation," Kelin said, as he described the developments in Ukraine in recent years as "extreme nationalism."

According to Kelin, Russia’s current military purpose is to liberate the Donbass from the occupation. He dismissed thinking that Ukraine may prevail as "a big idealistic mistake."

"We can make peace tomorrow, if the Ukrainian side is prepared to negotiate, but at the moment there are no preconditions for that, I am afraid, because the president of Ukraine has prohibited any negotiations," the Russian diplomat maintained, adding that he didn’t believe that simply freezing the conflict was a good idea. "It will not make a platform for a stable and long-term peace in Europe," Kelin explained.

The envoy reiterated the Russian nuclear doctrine does not envisage using nukes in the conflict in Ukraine. However, Kelin said that he was worried about a continued escalation of the conflict as he referred to weapons supplies to Kiev currently being ramped up.

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Don't Think That Your Geographical Location Will Save You: Lavrov Shocked the US with His Statement

Don't Think That Your Geographical Location Will Save You: Lavrov Shocked the...

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DRONES ATTACK MOSCOW, EXPLOSIONS ROCK KYIV, RUSSIAN GUIDED BOMB ATTACK KILLS TWO IN DONETSK

Several buildings in Moscow have been hit by drones, causing "minor" damage and forcing some residents to evacuate, as per the Moscow mayor. Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region said several drones were shot down on their approach to Moscow. A series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in the early hours of May 30. The Russian Volunteer Corps, one of the anti-Kremlin militia fighting on Ukraine's side, claims to have reentered Russian territory.

Moscow was targeted by a swarm of drones early Tuesday morning, marking the first time that unmanned aerial vehicles have struck residential areas of the Russian capital since the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

The attack on Moscow, located more than 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine, came as Kyiv was hit by another barrage of Russian drone strikes which left at least one person dead.

"This morning, at dawn, a drone attack caused minor damage to several buildings. All the city's emergency services are on the scene,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

No casualties were reported.

War comes to Putin's doorstep: Wealthy Moscow region is hit by kamikaze drones 'with blasts within earshot of Vladimir's official residence' 'in revenge for attacks on Ukrainian capital'

  • Moscow was under siege early today from suspected Ukrainian drone attacks
  • It came just hours after Putin unleashed a volley of suicide drones at Kyiv
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RUSSIA 2-3 DAYS AGO HIT UKRAINE’S MILITARY INTELLIGENCE CENTER — PUTIN

Russia 2-3 days ago hit Ukraine’s military intelligence center — Putin

"We have already mentioned the possibility of strikes against decision-making headquarters and centers. Of course, the Ukrainian military intelligence headquarters, which was hit two or three days ago, also falls into this category," the President said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said the Russian military had hit Ukraine's military intelligence center.

"We have already mentioned the possibility of strikes against decision-making headquarters and centers. Of course, the Ukrainian military intelligence headquarters, which was hit two or three days ago, also falls into this category," Putin said during a visit to the Zotov Center, while answering a question from the head of the non-commercial organization Agency of Strategic Initiatives Svetlana Chupsheva regarding Tuesday’s UAV attack on Moscow.

Ukrainian UAVs attacked Moscow and the Moscow Region on Tuesday morning. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the attack involved eight drones, five of which were shot down and another three disabled by electronic warfare means. Two people in Moscow turned to medics for assistance. Neither required hospital treatment. A number of buildings suffered minor damage.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that the Russian Armed Forces had carried out high accuracy strikes on the central decision-making facilities of the Ukrainian army, where terrorist attacks against Russian territory had been planned under the guidance of Western secret services.