Putin : Multipolar world order evolving globally, process irreversible

Dhaka July 02 2022 :

Inside Russia : Outside Russia : News Digest by the Embassy of Russian Federation in Bangladesh on July 02 2022. 

INSIDE RUSSIA

Multipolar world order evolving globally, process irreversible — Putin

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. A multipolar world order is evolving globally now, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

“A multipolar system of international relations has been actively evolving. The process is irreversible, it has been unfolding in front of our eyes and it is objective in its nature,” Putin said, addressing the 10th St. Petersburg International Legal Forum (SPBILF).

“The position of Russia and many other countries is that this democratic, more just world order should be built on the basis of mutual respect and trust, and, of course, on the generally accepted principles of international law and the UN Charter,” he emphasized.

Putin’s video address “was recently recorded during his working trip to St. Petersburg,” the Kremlin said on its website.

Putin lauded the in-person forum, saying that “even the most advanced communication technologies cannot replace a direct dialogue and face-to-face meetings”.

Russia’s operation in Ukraine going to plan, no need to squeeze it into deadlines — Putin

ASHGABAT, June 30. /TASS/. Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine is going according to plan, and there is no need to meet any deadlines for ending it, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday wrapping up his visit to Ashgabat.

According to Putin, the goal of the special military operation is to liberate Donbass, to defend the people living there, and “to create conditions that will guarantee the security of Russia itself.”

“The work is proceeding in a calm and rhythmic way. The troops are advancing and reaching those endpoints that are assigned as a task at a certain stage of this combat work. Everything is going according to plan,” Putin stressed.

When asked about a possible deadline for finishing the operation, the Russian president said, “There is no need to talk about any deadlines. I never talk about it, since this is life and these are real things. It is not right to squeeze that into any deadlines.”

“It is linked to the intensity of combat operations, which is directly linked to potential casualties, and we must think above all things about protecting our guys’ lives,” the president emphasized.

Putin: If NATO Infrastructure is Deployed to Finland & Sweden, Russia Will Respond in ‘Mirror Way’

Amid the ongoing events in Ukraine, on May 18, Finland and Sweden submitted applications to join NATO. Although Turkey initially blocked the initiatives, the three nations signed a memorandum on Tuesday addressing Ankara’s concerns, paving the way for the two Northern European countries to join the military bloc.

Russian President Vladimir Putin underscored Wednesday that Moscow’s relations with Sweden and Finland are nowhere near as conflicting as Russia’s standing is with Ukraine, and that it would not object to its NATO membership. However, should the block’s military infrastructure be deployed to the two nordic countries, Russia would be forced to respond in a ‘mirror way.’

Speaking at the Sixth Caspian Summit held in Turkmenistan this week, Putin emphasized the Kremlin has “nothing that could worry us in terms of Finland or Sweden’s membership in NATO,” and both countries are free to become members of the alliance.

He pointed out, however, that “there was no threat before,” but if military equipment or troops are deployed along the border, Moscow will have to “respond in a mirror manner and create the same threats in the territories from which they threaten us.”

The Russian president further rejected claims that Moscow’s move to push NATO forces away from its border and object to Ukraine’s NATO membership are having the opposite effect, stressing that allegations were “having nothing to do with reality.”

“For us, the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO is not at all the same as the membership of Ukraine, these are completely different things. They understand this very well. […] No. This is a completely different thing,” Putin said, per the translation.

Putin stressed that, unlike Ukraine, Sweden and Finland do not persecute people who culturally identify as Russian.

West’s Stubbornness in Pushing Ukraine’s Fight Not Surprising

Putin said it was no surprise to Russia that the West had been preparing for active action against it since 2014.

“We must treat this as a fact. The fact that they have been preparing for some kind of actions against us since 2014 is not news to us. This is precisely what explains our decisive actions to protect our own interests,” he explained.

The president asserted the US had long declared Russia a foreign enemy, alleging a threat from which it would be possible to unite allies around itself. Putin argued that Iran “was not very suitable for this,” while Russia is more convenient.

Then, Putin stated that the current events and the state of the relationship confirm what Moscow has been discussing “all the time,” namely that NATO is “a vestige of a past era, the era of the Cold War.”

“We were constantly told that NATO has changed, that this is now most likely a political union. But everyone was looking for a reason and an opportunity to give them a new impetus precisely as a military organization. Well, please, they are doing it. There is nothing new for us here,” Putin said.

Furthermore, calls for Ukraine to continue the hostilities indicate that for the West, Ukraine is only a means to achieve its own interests, as there is no concern for what is good for the country, the president suggested.

According to him, “with the hands of the Ukrainian people,” NATO members “simply want to assert themselves additionally, assert their role in the world, confirm not their leadership, but their hegemonism in the truest sense of the word, their imperial ambitions.”

What the bloc has long said about their exclusiveness, and the claims that “whoever is not with us is against us,” is all a manifestation of the same policy, Putin claimed.

No Terrorist Attack Has Taken Place in Kremenchug

Answering a question about the recent missile attack in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchug, Poltava region, which resulted in a shopping mall suffering some heavy damage, Putin said that no terrorist attack took place there, adding that that “no one shoots in the fields just like that.”

Putin stressed that the missile strikes on Ukrainian soil are based on the results of reconnaissance, and the Russian military does not fire at civilian targets.

Russia ready to meet fertilizer demand of friendly states — Putin

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Russia is ready to fully meet the fertilizer demand of agricultural producers from friendly countries, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday after talks with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo.

“We talked on issues of interest for the time being for the whole world, all countries. I mean supplies of foodstuffs, other agricultural goods, including mineral fertilizers, to global markets,” the Russian leader said.

“We are ready to fully satisfy the demand of agricultural producers from Indonesia and other friendly states for nitrogen, phosphate, potash fertilizers and raw materials for their production,” Putin said.

“We certainly intend to continue performing in good faith our contractual commitments on supplies of foodstuffs, fertilizers, along with energy resources and other critical goods,” the President said. This is exactly why it is critical to restore chains of supplies disrupted by sanctions, Putin added.

Medvedev comments on West’s ‘War Crimes’ threat

Former Russian leader says any attempt to threaten a nuclear nation is a risky business

The West should be wary of Russia’s nuclear arsenal when talking about holding a “War Crimes” tribunal against Moscow, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has urged. He made the statement during a speech at the Saint Petersburg international legal forum on Thursday.

“Do these countries and politicians really believe in the possibility of holding a criminal tribunal against a country that possesses the world’s largest nuclear arsenal?” asked Medvedev during the forum, adding that “I’m not even talking about the practical benefits of such steps. It’s just nonsense, let’s face it.”

He went on to question why the US, for example, has never faced the condemnation of the international community over its own military interventions. “I can’t recall a single successful attempt to hold such a trial for the numerous military campaigns conducted by the USA in the 20th and 21st century,” he said.

Although the International Criminal Court has officially launched criminal probes into alleged war crimes committed on the territory of Afghanistan, including by the US and its allies, those efforts have ultimately failed to result in any sort of trial. Moreover, after years of obstruction by the US, the lead ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, announced last year that his investigation will focus solely on crimes committed by the Taliban and the Islamic State.

The former president insisted that Washington’s “to put it mildly, illegal actions” have served to build an “Anglo-Saxon-style democracy on the bones of the civilian populations of Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, noted that Russia is a country that “stood at the origins of building the current world order and forming the legal foundation for the establishment of international organizations” such as the ones who have called for a tribunal to judge the Russian government.

His response comes after a heated session of the UN security council earlier this week, where Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky appeared via video link and accused Russia of targeting civilians amid the ongoing military conflict between Moscow and Kiev.

Zelensky called for Russia to be declared a “terrorist state” and expelled from both the council and the UN outright. He also insisted that an international tribunal be set up to try the Russian government over what he called a “full-scale war of conquest.”

Zelensky’s calls were supported by representatives of Poland, Estonia and the UK, however expelling Russia from the Security council or the UN is virtually impossible as it is a permanent member of the organization and has the power to veto such a decision.

Moscow has vehemently denied targeting civilians during the course of its special operation in the country, and has accused Kiev of waging a propaganda war in order to obtain more weapons and financial aid from the West.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.

Madrid summit proved that NATO expects unconditional obedience from all states — Lavrov

MINSK, June 30. /TASS/. The NATO summit in Madrid once again indicated that NATO member states expect unconditional obedience to their will from all states, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a joint press conference with his Belarusian counterpart Vladimir Makei Thursday.

“I believe that it is obvious to everyone what they expect. They do not shy away from talking about it, and they said it once again yesterday during the NATO summit in Madrid. They expect unconditional obedience from all states to their will, which reflects their egoistic interests – primarily, the US’ interests,” Lavrov said.

He underscored that the modern Europe, represented by the EU, is losing its independence or those signs of independence that it used to have, and completely submits to the positions, imposed by the US.

“Including in the area of economic sanctions, by rejecting Russian import, and by destroying logistical and financial chains that took decades to establish,” Lavrov added.

“If we look at the existing list of sanctions – it’s an interesting analysis, I recommend doing it – if you compare the sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus by European states and those imposed by the US, the n the US, basically, try to go easy on themselves and remain not too active in the areas that will seriously damage their economy,” the Foreign Minister said. “Still, they also get a negative effect from their actions, but Europe suffers much more.”

According to Lavrov, Washington seeks “not only to weaken Russia, but to also weaken the EU as a competitor to the US”.

Russia ready to export tens of millions of tonnes of grain if West lifts bans — MFA

MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. Russia is not preventing the export of grain from the territory of Ukraine and is ready to export tens of millions of tonnes of its own grain if the West stops blocking food supplies, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Wednesday.

“Russia is ready to export tens of millions of tonnes of its own grain if Western bans are lifted from its export,” she said. The diplomat stressed that Russia is not preventing the export of grain from Ukraine and provides safe corridors for this every day.

According to her, if the West is worried about the onset of world famine it should “stop blocking food supplies.”

Zakharova stressed that “it is Washington, Brussels and London that are doing everything to really artificially escalate the situation” with the export of grain. The diplomat also noted that the blame for blocking the export of grain from Ukraine also lies with the Kiev regime, which is responsible for demining ports.

The Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman also criticized German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s words that Russia uses hunger as a weapon.

“Just look at the statement of the German Foreign Minister [Annalena Baerbock], which is absolutely outrageous and unacceptable for a politician, a statesman and just a person with little or no knowledge of the history of its own country, Europe and the world as a whole. She stated that Russia is quite deliberately weaponizing hunger and taking the whole world hostage. Baerbock is not only lying, she is lying brazenly and cynically,” Zakharova said.

According to the diplomat, the German Foreign Minister is doing everything “to forget that it was her country that historically used hunger as a weapon and took people as hostages, destroying the civilian population.”

Exports of Ukrainian grain, which turned out to be blocked in the country due to the ongoing conflict, has been on the international agenda for more than two months. Although several options of its transportation were proposed, the final decision has not yet been made. According to various estimates, from 20 to 25 million tonnes of wheat were blocked in Ukraine.

Russia warns of new ‘Iron Curtain’

It’s the West that’s putting it up this time, the foreign ministers of Russia and Belarus agreed

A new “Iron Curtain” is going up across Europe, this time put up by Western powers seeking to cut off Russia and Belarus over the conflict in Ukraine. Practically overnight, the EU destroyed all of the relations with Moscow it had been building for decades, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday in Minsk.

“The Iron Curtain is now being erected by Westerners themselves,” said Vladimir Makei, the foreign minister of Belarus. He clarified he was referring not just to the severance of political and economic contact, but to the physical barrier that just went up along the Poland-Belarus border.

Makei said the isolationism was one-sided, as Belarus continues to advocate for dialogue with the West and finding diplomatic solutions to problems.

“It is practically already up,” Lavrov agreed, adding that Western countries “are only doing it carefully, so as not to pinch anything off, but the process is underway.”

The Russian foreign minister, who was visiting Minsk, added that the EU had “destroyed” the entire relationship with Moscow that took decades to build.

“The summits that took place twice a year, and the meetings of the Russian government and the European Commission, and the common spaces along which the four ‘road maps’ were built, twenty sectoral dialogues, a visa-free dialogue … All this was brought down overnight,” Lavrov said, referring to the events of 2014, when Brussels condemned what it called the Russian “annexation” of Crimea. “Relations have been nonexistent since then.”

Moscow remains open to diplomacy and dialogue, but will make a decision on how to re-engage with its own interests in mind, the Russian diplomat said.

“I can only say that from now on, we will not trust neither the Americans nor the EU. We will do everything necessary so we don’t have to depend on them in critical sectors,” said Lavrov.

The phrase “Iron Curtain” originated with Winston Churchill, the British politician who led the UK through the Second World War but lost the election right afterward. The ousted PM accepted US President Harry Truman’s invitation to speak at a college in Fulton, Missouri in March 1946, and heralded the upcoming Cold War by declaring that “an iron curtain has descended across the continent,” in reference to the establishment of socialist governments in territories liberated by the Red Army in Eastern Europe.

Western historiography holds that the original “Iron Curtain” was destroyed in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany – followed by the collapse of the USSR two years later.

Protest expressed to UK ambassador over London’s boorish statements — Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. British ambassador in Moscow Deborah Bronnert was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday to hear a protest in connection with boorish statements by her country’s leadership about Russia and President Vladimir Putin, the Foreign Ministry said in a news release.

“On June 30, British Ambassador in Moscow Deborah Bronnert was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to hear a strong protest in connection with outspokenly boorish statements by the British leadership against Russia, its leader and official representatives of the authorities, as well as the Russian people,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The UK ambassador was handed a memorandum stating that offensive rhetoric by representatives of her country’s authorities was unacceptable.

“In a polite society, it is customary to apologize for such statements,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.

Also, Bronnert was notified of the impermissibility of spawning falsehoods to the effect Moscow was allegedly threatening to use nuclear weapons.

Belarus, Russia to continue protesting Western sanctions

MINSK. June 30 (Interfax) – Belarus and Russia will continue to protest Western sanctions together, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov said in a joint statement on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries following negotiations in Minsk on Thursday.

“The Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation will continue making consolidated efforts to protest the illegitimate sanction decisions in international organizations and to persuade its partners in multilateral mechanisms of ruinous effects that the ongoing processes might have both for the very principle of multilateralism and from the standpoint of damage to socioeconomic development of individual states,” the statement says.

Belarus and Russia will strengthen coordination “at all levels, including between the relevant agencies, to promptly work out a tactic and concrete countermeasures,” it said.

“The West’s growing sanction policy with regard to the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation is aimed at causing maximum damage to our states and economies, as well as infringing on the rights of Belarusian and Russian citizens,” it said.

“Those unprecedentedly tough sanctions are not only limited to financial and economic bans. They have been extended to the sports, cultural, tourism, and educational sectors and to contacts between people. Unprecedented informational aggression has been launched against the two countries and the Union State,” it said.

Russia has redirected most oil, petroleum products to Asia, able to meet region’s growing demand

MOSCOW. June 30 (Interfax) – Russia has redirected a large share of exports of oil and petroleum products to the Asia-Pacific countries, and has the potential to meet the growing demand in the region, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

“Today, we already have a fairly large share of oil and petroleum products redirected to the Asia-Pacific markets amid ‘unfriendly’ countries both announcing and taking practical actions to reduce the consumption of Russian oil and petroleum products. In general, we are meeting the growing Asian demand with our capabilities,” Novak said.

Novak noted that the Asian market has always been one of the key markets for Russia, saying that it is currently distinguished by a constant level and higher demand for oil and other energy resources, such as gas and coal.

New AK-12 rifle from Kalashnikov exceeds by far Defense Ministry’s non-stop fire standard

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. The AK-12 assault rifle, developed by the Kalashnikov concern, has exceeded by far the Russian Defense Ministry’s non-stop burst fire requirement, the concern said on its Telegram channel on Thursday.

“The AK-12 endured 680 shots fired in bursts non-stop, exceeding thrice the Defense Ministry’s standard,” the report says.

The newly-developed AK-12 assault rifle from Kalashnikov has a caliber of 5.45 mm. It boasts greater accuracy of fire and several Picatinny rails that provide platforms for installing additional accessories such as sights, the front handle, a flashlight and laser designator.

Also, the AK-12 is equipped with an easily detachable bayonet-type mount high-performance muzzle brake-compensator. The muzzle’s configuration allows for promptly installing noiseless and flameless fire devices.

OUTSIDE RUSSIA

China calls NATO ‘systemic challenge’ to global peace and stability

BEIJING, June 30. /TASS/. NATO itself is a systematic challenge to global peace and stability, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Thursday, commenting on the alliance’s new strategic concept.

“NATO itself is a systemic challenge to global peace and stability,” the Chinese diplomat said at a regular news conference. The US-led organization, while positioning itself as a defensive bloc, has sought to advance into new areas and domains, he added. He also said “NATO has the blood of the global population on its hands.”

“We want to state openly that NATO is exaggerating and inflating the so-called Chinese threat and this is an absolutely futile endeavor,” Zhao Lijian remarked. He urged the military bloc to immediately stop its baseless criticism and provocative statements against China and refrain from Cold War ideology and the zero-sum game concept.

At Wednesday’s summit in Madrid, NATO leaders agreed on a new strategic concept in which Russia was identified as “the most significant and direct threat to the alliance’s security.” NATO addressed China for the first time, pointing to the systemic challenges posed by the country.

Ukrainian refugee women traded for sexual services on the Internet — Readovka.world

Women are at risk: they are often lured into a sex trade. Throw in a crisis – and you have a recipe for increased demand of human trafficking

Human traffickers in social networks and messengers attract Ukrainian women, disguising themselves as volunteers and offering housing to refugees in an unfamiliar country. At the same time, experts note that companies do not care about the protection of Ukrainian women, says American newspaper The Hill.

Dramatic increase in demand for sexual featuring Ukrainian women is revealed by the analysis of Thomson Reuters: in the UK, the number of relevant search requests from February 27 to March 5 increased by 200% compared to the last six months. In Spain, the number of requests for pornographic videos with Ukrainians grew by 600%, and in Poland – by 130%. Similar trends can be observed in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France and Switzerland.

«European women, Eastern European women, Ukrainian women are at risk: they are often lured into a sex trade. Throw in a crisis – and you have a recipe for increased demand of human trafficking», – The Hill quotes Heather Fisher, senior advisor of Thomson Reuters on human rights crimes.

Thus, in the first days of special operation in Ukraine, human traffickers offered assistance to refugee women right at the border, impersonating as volunteers. Eventually police uncovered their schemes, and criminals moved to the Internet, where they began subscribing to online refugee assistance groups.

Chats and public pages in social networks are the main communication tool between volunteers and refugees, so identifying intruders becomes a concern of volunteers themselves.

According to The Hill, administrators manually view publications in groups, but the effectiveness of moderation is affected by the presence of spare time and skills to manage it «on the go». Administrators see signs of suspicious activity in some accounts: positioning themselves as a «rich family», offering access to «elite life» in exchange for «services».

President of Sri Lanka Asks Putin to Help With Oil Shortage, Report Says

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) – President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa has sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking for assistance in oil purchases, Sri Lankan newspaper The Daily Mirror reported on Thursday, citing a source close to the president’s administration.

The two presidents are expected to have a telephone call in the near future to discuss the details of the deal and arrangements of a possible official visit by Rajapaksa to Moscow, the source was cited as saying.

Rajapaksa also reportedly plans to visit the United Arab Emirates to discuss fuel imports.

Sri Lanka’s energy minister, Kanchana Wijesekera, announced on Monday that two cabinet ministers traveled to Russia for negotiations on fuel supplies. Later that day, the Sri Lankan authorities banned fuel sales to private individuals for two weeks, allowing refuel only to cars of essential services, such as doctors, police and firefighters.

Sri Lanka is experiencing the worst economic crisis in its independent history caused by a shortage of foreign currency due to a decline in tourism revenues during the pandemic. Many areas of Sri Lanka are badly lacking food and basic necessities and face power cuts due to a shortage of foreign currency for fuel imports.

In the middle of April, the Sri Lankan authorities declared default on external debt for an interim period in anticipation of restructuring these obligations in accordance with the IMF-supported economic restructuring program. The external debt of the island nation is estimated at $51 billion.

CIA Recruiting Daesh Militants to Be Sent to Ukraine, Source Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is recruiting militants of the Daesh* terror group, who are being held in Kurdish-controlled prisons and camps in Syria, to send them further to Ukraine, an informed source told Sputnik.

“According to available information, the US CIA is actively recruiting Daesh militants, held in Kurdish-controlled prisons and camps in northeast Syria. The Americans are transferring terrorists to their facilities under the pretext of conducting additional investigation with the prospect of [militants’] transfers to Europe,” the source said.

To date, the Kurds have already handed over to the United States several Daesh high-ranking leaders and about 90 fighters, mainly from among citizens of the EU countries, Iraq, Russia’s Chechen Republic and China’s Xinjiang, the source added. For now, the US plans to deploy the militants on the territory of its At-Tanf military base located in southern Syria.

“In the future, Washington intends to send these militants to Ukraine so that they take part in hostilities against the Russian armed forces,” the source said.

*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organiztaion banned in Russia.

Belarus, Russia studying potential of hydrogen energy – Belarusian ministry

MINSK. June 30 (Interfax) – Belarus and Russia are studying the potential of hydrogen energy within the context of the transition to a low-carbon energy system, Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Olga Prudnikova said on Thursday.

“Representatives of interested Belarusian and Russian agencies and organizations are cooperating in a working group on hydrogen energy under the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) advisory committee for industry. The joint work is aimed at studying the potential of hydrogen as an element of a low-carbon energy system,” Prudnikova was reported as saying by her ministry at a forum of Belarusian and Russian regions in Grodno.

The two countries already have mechanisms for adapting their economies to the global energy transition, she said. “Joint work with Russia on the construction of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant is particularly important,” Prudnikova said.

“The launch of the plant is a good stimulus for the broad rollout of new technologies in industry, medicine, science and education. These are new opportunities for development of electric transport,” she said.

Russia is the largest supplier of phosphorus fertilizers to India — Readovka.world

Effi Stounem

The South Asian Republic has exported 350 thousand tons of diammonium phosphate over the past three months

Over the past three months, India has exported 350 thousand tons of diammonium phosphate, a fertilizer that provides phosphorus nutrition to agricultural crops for the entire period of their growth.

«The import came on time, when the crops were planted for the beginning of the rainy season, which will peak in July», – writes The Indian Express.

The Russian «PhosAgro» supplies the product to Indian companies at a significant discount, paying at the same time bank fees due to transfers under the new system, the Indian media reports. The cost of one ton of Russian fertilizers for India is $920-925, which is lower than the prices of fertilizers from China, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Jordan. For example, Bangladesh previously offered fertilizers at a price of $ 1020-1030 per ton, The Indian Express says.

Earlier, Readovka told that fertilizers may become Fertilizers may Russia’s new hidden weapon against EuropeThe Hill: The USA receives more than 20% of its fertilizers from Russia and Belarus. new Russian weapon against Europe.

Transnistria detects ‘military movement’ near its borders, says top diplomat

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. The Transnistrian authorities are closely monitoring the situation near its southern and western borders and register “certain military movements”, the foreign minister of the unrecognized republic, Vitaly Ignatiev, said during a Rossiya-24 TV broadcast on Thursday.

“We are monitoring the situation. <…> We’re working attentively on the entire perimeter of the border with Ukraine, we’re also keeping an eye on the processes on the western border of Transnistria, on the Moldovan side. Of course, we are observing certain military movements there, a concentration of certain units. Work is being done in order to ensure maximum security, to protect the interests of our state, our citizens,” he said.

Ignatiev noted that Tiraspol is ready for any scenarios of events. “But we would not want any provocations against Transnistria,” Ignatiev stressed.

The minister recalled that in April, a group of 25-30 people had planted about 200 kilograms of explosives with the purpose of blowing up the antennas of the Mayak radio and TV center in Transnistria. “We know who was preparing, what was the path of this drone and who is involved in this kind of action, because the traces lead to the Yavorovo training ground in western Ukraine,” Ignatiev pointed out.

According to him, the Transnistrian authorities are concerned and constantly call for “adequacy” from partners in Ukraine and Moldova.

Terrorist attacks in Transnistria

At the end of April, a series of terrorist attacks occurred in Transnistria: the State Security Ministry was shelled with grenade launchers and the antennas of one of the largest radio and television centers in the region in the village of Mayak were blown up. The military airfield near Tiraspol and the arsenal near the village of Kolbasna, where about 20,000 tons of ammunition were stored after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from European countries were under attack. The facility is guarded by the Operational Group of Russian Forces.

Transnistrian President Vadim Krasnoselsky said that the sabotage was organized from Ukrainian territory. According to him, employees of the Moldovan secret services were involved in the attempt to set fire to the military enlistment office in Tiraspol. After the terrorist attacks, the highest level of terrorist threat was introduced in the region and reinforced checkpoints were set up at the entrances to the cities. On May 25, the Transnistrian authorities lowered the terrorist threat level from red to yellow. Transnistrian authorities had repeatedly stated that Moldovan authorities were not cooperating in the investigation of these terrorist acts, although the Transnistrian side had provided them with relevant materials.

On June 27, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky declared his readiness to respond with a “blow” to a hypothetical threat from Transnistria.

US media admits: due to internal disagreements they are not a beacon of peace anymore — Readovka.world

People in the United States turned out to be so torn by contradictions between supporters of different political parties that it makes other countries worry about the «health of American democracy», the Chinese website «Guancha» reports.

On June 26 American newspaper The Hill published an article in which it acknowledged that the United States is no longer a «good role model», and according to the Observer Network News: «we are somewhat dim as a beacon of democracy, and cracks in the United States are visible».

Based on the last few years surveys, half of respondents in developed countries think that American democracy «used to be a role model for other countries, but nothing more». The coronavirus pandemic, the unsuccessful withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and inflation resulting from the Ukrainian conflict contributed to the decline in the prestige of the United States.

«Guancha» notes that on the day when The Hill newspaper recognized that the United States is no longer a beacon of democracy, America was gripped by protest demonstrations against the ban on abortion.

In the comments to the article on the «Guancha» website, users suggested waiting for the United States to advertise itself as a model of democracy again.

So, according to the user «Uncle Ben Sen»: «Don’t worry, just let Hollywood shoot a few more blockbusters about America saving the world and the universe to promote its image of a lighthouse». The user «Sea Rice» believes that «when America can calmly and imperceptibly suck blood, it is a beacon of democracy and the goddess of evasiveness, and when it can’t, it looks like a simple vampire». And the «Observer» advocates that the United States is still a beacon, but «it closed the world’s light with a web of lies and left only a narrow beam, claiming to be a lighthouse. How hypocritical it is».

User «Guan Layman» noted: «This news made me feel very good. Actually I never thought that America was ever a beacon of peace». And «Papa Yu» stated that «it was the Eye of Sauron disguised as a lighthouse»

It is worth noting that most users agree on the increasing role of China, eclipsing the United States. So the «Immortal» commented: «The morning sun has risen, what’s the use of a lighthouse?», and «The sword whistles in the cold Yishui» noticed: «When the sun rises in the east, the world will no longer need lighthouses».

SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE

Putin authorized massive POW swap – Russia

Russia has confirmed that 144 Ukrainian soldiers have been handed over to Kiev, in exchange for the same number of Russian prisoners, saying the decision was approved by President Vladimir Putin.

The exchange took place on Wednesday and was “organized and carried out on the direct orders of the Supreme Commander of the Russia Armed Forces,” Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, General Igor Konashenkov, said on Thursday.

The order was given by Putin because “the lives, the health, the release of our servicemen, the fighters of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, who make up the majority of those returned, is the most important task,” Konashenkov said.

All of those who took part in the POW exchange are “wounded or seriously wounded” and have already been provided with the necessary medical assistance, he added.

Yasynuvata under heavy fire of Ukrainian army — Readovka.world

29.06.2022

First strike by this American weapon was officially confirmed and recorded yesterday.The video shows the consequences of the HIMARS MLRS strike on the settlement of Perevalsk, the LPR. In the after-strike craters, fragments of American ammunition were found, which were shown by the JCCC yesterday. LPR People’s Militia officer Andrei Marochko, in a conversation with the military correspondent of Readovka, notes that the shelling from the American MLRS HIMARS was recorded and confirmed for the first time. According to him, Perevalsk is a rear area without military facilities.

Russia makes ‘goodwill gesture’ to alleviate food crisis

The Russian military has withdrawn from a Black Sea island it captured, claiming it was for the sake of grain freight traffic

Russian troops were withdrawn from Ukraine’s Snake Island on Thursday, the defense ministry announced during a daily briefing. The move was described as a goodwill gesture meant to alleviate concerns over Moscow allegedly blocking attempts to haul grain out of Ukraine.

“This demonstrated to the international community that the Russian Federation does not hinder the UN effort to organize a humanitarian corridor to ship agricultural products from the Ukrainian territory,” Col. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the spokesman for the ministry, said.

Konashenkov assessed that with no Russian presence on the island, Kiev would find it more difficult to accuse Russia of exacerbating the global food crisis by citing the Russian Navy’s control of the northwestern part of the Black Sea as a roadblock to the movement of grain.

“The ball is now in the court of the Ukrainian side, which would not remove mines from its Black Sea coast, including the areas near ports,” the Russian official said.

Western nations and Ukraine have been accusing Russia of blocking seaborne exports from Kiev-controlled ports like Odessa, claiming that it was a major factor of the global hike in food prices.

Moscow has denied the allegations, saying that its Navy offered safe passage to civilian ships. It’s Ukraine, Russia insists, which has prevented foreign ships from arriving and leaving its ports. Ukraine’s use of old sea mines, which are prone to coming untethered during storms, created a major problem for traffic, Moscow argued.

Russia captured Snake Island, which is located 35 kilometers off the Ukrainian shore near its border with Romania, in the early days of its attack on Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initially claimed that border guards defending the territory had all been killed after defying overwhelming Russian forces. It later turned out they’d actually surrendered.

Kiev reportedly launched at least two major attempts to retake the island from Russia. Russian troops reported inflicting serious damage on their opponents in both cases. Moscow rebuked the Ukrainian operations as senseless attempts by the Ukrainian government to score publicity points.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.

INSIGHTS

Indian Firms Signed Contracts To Receive Export Payments From Russia in Yuan: Pharma CEO

A large Indian pharmaceutical delegation will visit Russia in July. It looks to explore business opportunities, including investment options to establish Indian firms as reliable partners in the $20 billion Russian pharmaceutical market. Russia is the fourth-largest export destination for India’s pharma industry.

Sputnik spoke with Dr. D. B. Bhaaskara, CEO of the multinational company Roerich Healthcare, about the current state of pharma trade with Russia.

Sputnik: Can you explain the current state of pharma supplies to Russia?

1. B. Bhaaskara: Currently, pharmaceutical shipments of Indian firms to Russia are at the same level even after the sanctions. But, there are many proposals (supplies) that Russians are not getting from the European Union. Russians are looking for these materials (chemicals, excipients, APIs [Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients]) with several Indian manufacturers. They have to develop links with Indian firms. There are many proposals from Russia – these proposals are under consideration from the Indian side.

Sputnik: There were reports of delayed payments from Russia initially after sanctions. As we see, trade has jumped manifold in the energy and fertilizer sectors. Do you think payment issues have been resolved in other sectors as well?

1. B. Bhaaskara: Several Indian companies have signed contracts in yuan, which means they are ready to receive payment in China’s yuan. Still, the preferred mode of settlement is in the Indian rupee. As export procedures closed successfully in USD/euro/INR, Russians set aside yuan contracts.

My company is receiving regular payment without any delay in Indian rupees or USD or sometimes in euros.

Sputnik: What about logistical issues, as sanctions hit the shipping sector?

1. B. Bhaaskara: The logistical issues are still there because few airlines — namely Aeroflot, Emirates, Qatar, and Turkish — are available for transportation. Transportation costs are slightly high because of no regular cargo consignments. They vary between $8-12 per kg compared to $5 per kg in a normal situation.

Cargo sea shipment is still in a mess. The only port in Gujarat accepts Russian shipping. Here again, the container price is very, very high. We have to pay anything between $9,000 – 12,000 for a container. When there was no conflict or sanctions, it was $2,500 per container.

We have tried to send our shipments via Iran. So, from Gujarat port, the shipment reaches an Iranian port, and from there, it goes via road or rail to Moscow. But, it is taking a much longer time. In general, it is supposed to arrive in 30-40 days, but on an experimental basis, some companies sent their materials via the Iran route, [and they are] still on their way even after two months.

Shanghai is very crowded and has also been hit by the pandemic, making it unsuitable for us. So, the only problem right now is logistics; there is no payment issue.

Some Russian companies have an account with European banks operating in Russia dealing in oil and gas payments. Those banks are being used to send money anywhere worldwide, even with sanctions.

Sputnik: Western firms intended to withdraw their operations in Russia in response to Moscow’s special military operation. Do you see some significant investments from Indian pharma companies in Russia to fill the vacuum created by the west?

1. B. Bhaaskara: There are long-pending proposals from a couple of governors, such as [in] Volgograd and Kazan, inviting India’s major pharma companies to set up manufacturing units in their region. But, due to the pandemic, nothing moved ahead.

A delegation will be going to Russia to explore the opportunities in Russia in July. A few Indian companies, such as Sun Pharma and Advance Pharma, have manufacturing units in Russia doing finished formulations.

Hopefully, some new companies are interested in setting up units there now. But, Russia is looking to scale up raw material manufacturing, e.g., API. For this, much homework related to regulation should be done between the two governments, especially under sanctions.

Also, big companies such as Sun Pharma, Aurbindo, and Dr. Reddy, all with significant exposure to the US market, may try to avoid investing in Russia because they are scared of the risk associated with sanctions.

Medium-scale companies can come forward to set up raw material (API) manufacturing in Russia. However, it is unclear whether Indian workers/professionals can go and work in Russia. Setting up a new unit in unknown topography with a different language and culture is a little complicated. A lot of these questions are unanswered.

‘Russian-speakers will be second-class citizens unless they give up their language’: A view on Ukraine’s future from Donbass

During his 2019 election campaign, Ukraine’s current President Volodymyr Zelensky constantly repeated that his mission was to unite the country and breach the ideological gap between the EU-leaning West and the Russian-speaking East.

This was the division that resulted in the declaration of independence by the Donbass republics, in 2014.

However, but the differences are so deep that even the present, and obvious, threat to the state’s territorial integrity has failed to fully unite Ukrainians. One of the principal issues is language, those in the West prefer to use Ukrainian and the east is mostly Russian speaking.

There is a historical reason, of course. Modern Ukraine was created – by the Soviet Union – as a result of sticking various territories together. Thus, parts of the south-west came from Hungary and Romania, a large chunk of the West is historically Polish land and places like Odessa and Kharkov have long been Russian.

Indeed, many soldiers from the western regions don’t want to risk their lives fighting in the East, but would happily defend their home regions.

RT spoke with Vladislav Ugolny, a journalist and expert on the history of Novorossiya, about the attitude of one group in Ukrainian society towards the other. We also asked Vladislav if there is any hope for reconciliation.

–We keep seeing videos online showing soldiers from western Ukraine refusing to fight in the East. It seems that they don’t want to risk their lives defending the eastern territories.

[Some of] the territorial defense units mobilized in western Ukraine have different objectives. They are not eager to die for Kharkov or Kiev; they don’t feel that it’s their land and they have no warm feelings towards the people living in these cities. We’ve seen the video showing the mother of a Ukrainian soldier from Dnepropetrovsk who tried to receive humanitarian aid in Lviv, where she had been evacuated, and she was refused because she spoke Russian. This is very typical.

They join the army in western Ukraine only because it gives them a chance to get their hands on a weapon. The territorial defense forces in Lviv have turned into the personal guard of Mayor Andrey Sadovoy and are well-equipped and well-trained. Instead of defending ‘the motherland’, this team serves as leverage in Sadovoy’s negotiations with Kiev.

Large shipments of humanitarian aid and weapons from Western Europe and the US get stuck in western Ukraine and never make their way to the frontline. This boosts the separatist potential of the West.

We can look at this in the context of the Donbass conflict. Just imagine Viktor Yanukovych winning after the 2014 political crisis. In that case, we could’ve expected an armed conflict in Galicia (a historical and geographical region that includes western Ukraine — RT). They could’ve also played out the Crimea scenario. Galicia has always been a separatist region, it’s just that right now separatism is not in their best interest.

– Why not?

They are dominating right now. The western [Ukrainian] elites have usurped power in the country. The same happened previously in Donbass. The Donbass ‘clan’ was very successful – especially under [President Viktor] Yanukovych. The Donetsk elites were powerful, and you don’t need separatism when you have power. The Donbass started pulling away from Ukraine when those elites began to lose power.

– So the soldiers from the southeastern regions are more motivated to defend the Ukrainian identity?

You have to understand that Ukrainian nationalism has various iterations. The western ‘strain’ is the classic one – with Stepan Bandera, the usual bogeyman of the Russian media. This is your ‘rural’ ideology based on deep hatred of Russians, Poles, and Jews. But there are more sophisticated varieties of Ukrainian nationalism that originated in the East.

Right Sector (banned in Russia), Azov and some other organizations represent this type of nationalism. You can see from the videos of Azov’s POWs that many of them come from the Russian-speaking regions in southeastern Ukraine – Novorossiya – mostly the Dnepropetrovsk area. These are the areas that fostered the ultra-right ideology that Russians are familiar with.

The nationalism in eastern Ukraine is more militaristic and employs Third Reich aesthetics, similar to many ultra-right groups in Western Europe and Russia for that matter.

Many international students, especially from Asia and Africa, attended universities in Kharkov. And they were always threatened by racist skinheads from football fan clubs. Similar things happened in Dnepropetrovsk and Odessa, although to a lesser degree. The people living in southeastern Ukraine also have more experience with formal military structures, because they have a history of fighting in all the major wars that Russia was involved in, whereas Galicia mostly draws on its tradition of fighting for its land in guerilla wars.

–Strangely, after 2014 the southeastern part of Ukraine was very concerned about the nationalist ideology of the Kiev regime…

The southeast is very diverse. You have Odessa and Kharkov on the one hand, where there is still significant potential for separatism. Then there is Zaporozhe, where the separatist mindset is present but not as prevalent. This is why the pro-Russian civil-military administrations have been successful in places like Melitopol for example. Dnepropetrovsk, on the other hand, has always been the domain of Ukrainian nationalism. 

–Why Dnepropetrovsk?

The situation here is largely defined by the consequences of the fall of the Soviet Union. Dnepropetrovsk was a major industrial center, and many Communist Party leaders [such as Leonid Brezhnev historically] came from this city and remained in power after Ukraine gained independence. These elites had to find a new foundation for Ukrainian statehood. They were used to having ideological principles in the Soviet Union, and now they had to separate themselves from Russia, which was wealthier and more attractive.

The new authorities also understood that they would be ‘devoured’ by Russian elites if Ukraine decided to reintegrate. This was happening regardless. We are speaking here in central Donetsk, near the old office of Sberbank. This Russian bank was operating in Ukraine, whereas Ukrainian banks never managed to bring their businesses to Russia. Ukrainian nationalism was the only way for them to justify Ukraine’s independence.

–How come western Ukraine is now perceived as the cradle and citadel of Ukrainian nationalism?

Western Ukraine has never been a major industrial or wealthy region, but the elites there were always very good at capitalizing on their ideology and advancing their political and cultural agenda. They worked hard to spread this agenda using the finances of the elites of the southeast, who wanted to gain their independence from Russia by funding these processes.

– But didn’t the Ukrainian government try to do something after 2014 to include south-easterners in the country’s political life, to unite the nation, so to speak?

It was a purely economic thing. After the recession of 2014-2015, money began to pour into the eastern regions. But nothing concrete was done to incorporate them into the common Ukrainian national identity. We must remember, though, that the Ukrainian national state was the only political project in Ukraine after Euromaidan, with no alternatives. And people either faced pressure or chose a version of Ukrainian identity that they felt was the least nauseating. Some bought the story that Ukraine is Europe [in the EU sense], and Europe is where you can make money. In fact, most were offered economic incentives, while the most passionate could join the army. That was until Zelensky came along.

Zelensky’s presidency offered a different vision. In a nutshell, his ideology was that you can speak any language you want, as long as you fight for Ukraine against Russia. However, he was not a pioneer in this regard. Similar ideas had been put forward by former Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, and the leader of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, Yulia Tymoshenko. Unlike nationalists from western Ukraine, who had only deepened the rift inside the country, these people had a clear idea of what to do and how to do it – they were building a stable state.

– They don’t seem to have been particularly successful.

Here’s the problem. You have to understand that there are only two unique centers of urban culture in Ukraine: Lviv in the west and Odessa in the east. Lviv has touted itself as a piece of Europe, a fragment of the Habsburg Empire. Odessa has also drawn on imperial nostalgia, but in relation to the Russian Empire. However, after the two Maidans, Odessa found itself under great ideological pressure as the Lviv cultural paradigm became dominant.

Dnepr and Kharkov have nothing to offer the rest of Ukraine in terms of culture. But Galicia has an ideology, a ready package of Ukrainian identity. And even though Galicians have never been able to come to power in Ukraine – simply because the region doesn’t have that much money – they will impose their agenda on any Ukrainian government that tries to disassociate itself from Russia.

– Could the current conflict strengthen the ideological position of southeastern Ukraine?

Look, there is [former Ukrainian President] Petro Poroshenko with his ‘Armiya, Mova, Vira’ (‘Army, Language, Faith’, his slogan for the 2019 presidential campaign). This is a man who relied on western Ukraine and who embezzled huge sums of money in defense contracts. And then there is Zelensky, who didn’t use nationalist rhetoric and who didn’t embezzle money from the army, which seriously improved Ukraine’s defense capabilities, and generally did a lot to strengthen the Ukrainian identity and the Ukrainian national project. But guess who is loved and who is despised in western Ukraine.

– Yes, Zelensky has always had little support from western Ukraine. Even in the 2019 elections, when he garnered a record vote, people from the west supported Poroshenko.

Exactly. Eastern Ukrainians (“skhidnyaks” is the derogatory term used in the western parts of the country) may go to the front and die all they want. When no one has to die any longer, they will be put in their proper place. For Galicians, Russian-speaking people will always be second-class citizens. Their version of Ukrainian identity, which is about loyalty to the state, loyalty to the passport, and not what language you speak, has no chance of becoming dominant. However great the contribution of Russian-speaking southeasterners to Ukraine’s defense, Galicians will always dominate. And the Russian speakers will remain second-class citizens until they give up their language – at the very least.

Any attempts to end repressions against Russian speakers, to separate Ukrainian identity from ethnicity and language and to center it around the Ukrainian state will always be doomed to fail.

It is true that the elites currently in power in Ukraine come from the southeastern regions. But they have no other identity except what Galicians, with their cult of Bandera, have to offer. The collective Lviv will always maintain that as long as you speak Russian, you’re an “agent of the enemy,” that is, an agent of Russia – even despite the fact that Russian-speaking ‘skhidnyaks’ are bearing the brunt of the combat. All that common people from the southeast can hope for in the Ukrainian statehood project is to die for it. The only party that benefits from this situation in the southeast is the ‘big money,’ that is, those who own the means of production. And, as I’ve said, they will never have any other choice but to support Ukrainian nationalism.

By Dmitry Plotnikov, a political journalist exploring the history and current events of ex-Soviet states.

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