Russia insisted on package settlement of Russia, Ukraine grain issues : Lavrov

Dhaka July 25 2022 :

Inside Russia : Outside Russia : News Digest by the Embassy of Russian federation in Bangladesh on July 25 2022.

INSIDE RUSSIA

Russia insisted on package settlement of Russia, Ukraine grain issues – Lavrov

CAIRO, July 24./TASS/. Russia has insisted that the issues of Ukrainian grain exports and Russian agricultural exports be resolved in a package, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday following talks with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.

“In the end, we insisted on having both issues resolved exactly in a package. The Ukrainian grain issues will be resolved through the establishment of a coordination center in Istanbul, guarantees will be given that the Ukrainians will clear of mines their territorial waters and allow ships to leave, and during their passage in the open sea, Russia and Turkey will be ensuring their safety with their naval forces,” Lavrov said.

Russia has reiterated that its grain exporters are committed to their contract liabilities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday after talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry.

“We reiterated the commitment of Russian grain exporters to all of their liabilities,” he said.

Some Western countries were seeking to postpone the issue of exporting Russian grain, Russian Foreign Minister said.

“Several days ago, a corresponding document was signed in Istanbul. Notably, when the work was nearing completion, some of our Western colleagues began to try to resolve only the problem of Ukrainian grain and postpone the issues linked with Russian grain supplies to world markets, which are much bigger than Ukraine’s,” he said. “We even felt that the UN delegation, which was working in Istanbul, was about to embark on this path, i.e. to postpone issues linked with Russian grain to a later date. It was a blatant violation of the idea voiced by the secretary general himself. And, in th long run, we insisted on tackling both issues as a package.”.

Problem of sanctions

Russia hopes that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will succeed in resolving the problem of sanctions, which hinder grain operations from Russia, Lavrov said.

“Those illegitimate sanctions that were imposed [against Russia] and that prevented operations with Russian grain, including insurance, including the calling of our ships at foreign ports and foreign ships at Russian ports,” Lavrov said. Now, after the signing of the agreements in Istanbul, the UN secretary-general “has volunteered to seek the removal of these illegitimate restrictions. Let’s hope he will succeed,” the top diplomat said.

Interests of all parties

Egypt understands what is happening in Ukraine, including the motives of the West, and it stands for an early settlement in Ukraine that would take into account the legitimate interests of all parties, Lavrov said.

“Our Egyptian colleagues understand what is happening (in Ukraine – TASS), they understand the context, which is connected with geopolitics, which is connected with the West’s policy to ensure its dominance in international affairs, and they stand, which we appreciate, for the soonest search for a peaceful settlement taking into account the fundamental, legitimate interests of all participants in this process within the context of building a sustainable European security architecture on a fair basis,” Lavrov said.

Russia has no prejudice as to the resumption of talks with Kiev on issues other than food settlement, but Kiev insists on its military victory over Russia, Foreign Minister said.

“We do not have any prejudices against resuming negotiations on a wider range of issues [with Ukraine], but it is not up to us, since the Ukrainian authorities, starting with the president and ending with his numerous advisers, say that there will be no negotiations until Ukraine defeats Russia on the battlefield,” Lavrov explained.

OUTSIDE RUSSIA

Lavrov: Moscow Not Asking to Lift Sanctions, But West Must Resolve Self-Created Food Supply Issues

Kremlin repeatedly denied West’s claims that Moscow was somehow limiting grain exports from Ukraine or Russia itself. Russia stressed that Kiev’s mining of own waters and western anti-Russia sanctions are the main culprits behind the risk of famine in the world.

Moscow is not asking for the lifting of sanctions, but, in order to resolve the existing issues with global food supplies, the West must take steps to eliminate obstacles that it had created itself, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated following a meeting with his counterpart from Egypt.

“We will simply be developing our own economy now, relying on reliable partners, and not on those who once again have proven their complete inability to negotiate,” Lavrov commented on Moscow’s unwillingness to fight for western sanctions’ relief.

At the same time, the minister expressed hope that the UN will succeed in lifting sanctions against Russia, which are hindering the export of Russian grain.

“The UN Secretary General volunteered to seek the removal of those illegitimate sanctions that were introduced and which prevented shipment operations involving Russian grain, including insurance, foreign port access for our ships and the access of foreign ships to Russian ports, after the signing of the agreements in Istanbul,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov recalled that the UN secretary general stood by the idea of eliminating obstacles to Ukrainian and Russian grain exports by means of one package deal – something that Russia itself insisted on. The minister noted, however, that the Western countries had tried to delay the resolution of the Russian grain exports issue for an indefinite period of time even though Russia’s grain stock is far greater than that of Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine signed a deal with mediation from the UN and Turkey, which established a framework for the two states resuming grain exports amid Russia’s special military operation. The document suggests that a safe corridor will be established to export grain via the Ukrainian port of Odessa. Exports will be coordinated through a dedicated center in Istanbul, and Ukrainian vessels will be checked by Turkey for any signs of smuggled weapons.

The deal, which was signed on July 22, also included provisions to ensure the flow of grain and fertilizer exports from Russia, which have been hindered by Western sanctions.

Leader of New Greek Party Says ‘Russia is Right’, Accuses US & NATO of ‘Raising Hell’ in Ukraine

Athens joined other EU countries in slapping sanctions on Russia over its special military operation in Ukraine, even as the country faces economic troubles alongside its European neighbors. EU sanctions have only exacerbated its economic woes by ramping up oil and gas prices and disrupting supply chains.

Greece’s former minister of productive reconstruction, environment and energy, Panagiotis Lafazanis, has unveiled the inaugural banner for his new Democratic Movement for National Liberation Party. The banner features captions including “Russia is right” and a large Z symbol closely associated with Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine.

Likewise, Lafazanis accused the US and NATO of “raising hell in Ukraine” on the banner, as well as “destroying Europe” and “crippling Greece and condemning it to poverty”.

The politician, who held the ministerial post during the government of former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, also called on the people to topple the “vicious, corrupt, oligarchic, slave political regime” and share the banner online.

“Send a signal that the US and NATO must be defeated in Ukraine. Say out loud that the American rule must end in our country, Europe and the world. Demand the establishment [of] a pluralistic world order, where even small states have the right to have a voice and a presence,” he said.

Lafazanis has previously claimed that his new party seeks to unite several political forces to win back “Greece independence” and end the so-called practice of Athens being used as a front for other western powers.

He also looks for Athens to impose an independent foreign policy, involving normalizing relations with all countries, including Russia. Lafazanis stressed that he rejects anti-Russia hysteric and believes that sanctions against Moscow must be lifted.

Since February, western countries have found themselves isolated in slapping Russia with sanctions over its special military operation in Ukraine. Most of their allies, including in the Middle East, abstained from jumping on board as sanctions ramped up global oil prices, gas costs in Europe and further disrupted global supply chains which were already heavily crippled by the pandemic.

Ukraine deal will help Russian exports – UN

While boosting Ukraine’s exports, the grain deal will also slash logistical costs for Russia, lowering food prices, according to a UN official

While Ukraine resumes crucial grain exports from its Black Sea ports following a deal with Moscow, Russia will also benefit from lower export costs, the secretary general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said on Saturday.

Rebeca Grynspan noted that the agreement, signed on Friday in Istanbul, will partially ease the sanctions pressure on Russia.

“There are delivery problems, insurance problems, payment problems, freight problems, and all these things make prices go up. So the main thing I foresee is that these difficulties will ease and transaction prices will come down,” she told RIA Novosti news agency.

The UN official said that according to UNCTAD calculations, half of the increase in global grain prices is a result of transportation and logistics costs, concluding that “if we facilitate trade, then trade flows will resume and prices will go down.”

Grynspan said the UN will create a working group aimed at facilitating trade flows in the region.

“We will communicate with our partners in Europe, the US, with our Russian partners in order to understand the problems and obstacles they face as far as food and fertilizers are concerned,” she stated.

The Russia-Ukraine deal, brokered by Turkey and the UN, sets out a framework for resuming Ukrainian grain exports via Black Sea ports. In addition, Russia and the UN signed a memorandum implying UN involvement in lifting restrictions on the export of Russian grain and fertilizers to world markets. According to officials, the UN will broker the removal of obstacles created by US and EU sanctions on transactions, insurance, and logistics related to Russian agricultural exports.

The UN has repeatedly warned of the global threat posed by a grain and fertilizer shortage, and Friday’s agreement was seen as a way of averting a global food crisis.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section

Major foreign spy agency targeted me – minister of EU candidate state

Serbian interior minister claims foreign spies have been pressing him into taking anti-Russia stance

A major foreign intelligence service has been pressing Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin over his attitude towards Russia and China, the official revealed on Saturday. The minister expects a large media campaign against him to kick off next week.

“One of the largest intelligence services in the world, if not the largest, told me that my stance was unacceptable and that if I do not change [it] and do not abandon the policy that I am pursuing … then I will not be a member of the government and they will do absolutely everything to smear me,” Vulin told media outlet Pink.

A media campaign against him is expected to begin next week, Vulin claimed. Despite the pressure, the minister said he refused to cooperate in any way with the foreign spies. “I haven’t worked and won’t work for anyone except for the Serbian people, the Serbian state, and I won’t be completely loyal to anyone, except for the president of all Serbs, Aleksandar Vucic,” the minister said.

The condition was that I start working for this foreign intelligence service. I will not, even at the cost of my own life.

The minister also urged the country’s president to keep Serbia neutral, as well as to maintain good relations with Russia and China, regardless of external pressure.

Top Serbian officials have repeatedly said the country faced mounting foreign pressure amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Belgrade, however, has refused to join any anti-Russian sanctions or other hostile acts by the collective West, maintaining that Serbia will continue pursuing its own interests, while keeping its long-standing ties with Moscow.

Vulin has taken a particularly strong position amid the ongoing crisis. Early in July, the minister said the US and the EU have been openly pressing Serbia into becoming “a NATO foot soldier” in order to become “someone who wants to engage in a conflict with Russia.”

“We are very clear: We will not engage in a conflict with Russia, we will not engage in other people’s wars, we will not be someone else’s foot soldiers,” he declared back then.

SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE

Russian Aerospace Forces eliminate over 50 Ukraine troops in strike on depots – top brass

MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. The Russian Aerospace Forces struck weapons and ammunition depots of Ukraine’s 28th brigade and the 123rd territorial defense brigade in Nikolayev, eliminating more than 50 people, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov reported on Sunday.

“In the city of Nikolayev, high-precision weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out strikes on weapons and ammunition depots of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ 28th mechanized brigade and the 123rd territorial defense brigade on the territory of a locomotive repair plant. More than fifty personnel, over 3,000 pieces of artillery ammunition of various calibers and 10 armored vehicles were destroyed,” he told a briefing.

Russian air defense forces shot down five Ukrainian UAVs and intercepted ten rockets fired from Uragan and US-made HIMARS multiple rocket launchers in the past 24 hours, Konashenkov reported.

“In the past day, Russian air defense capabilities brought down five Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the area of the Korobki and Pyatikhatka settlements in the Kherson region, as well as Topolskoye in the Kharkov region, Shcherbaki in the Zaporozhye region and the city of Donetsk. In addition, ten rockets fired from Uragan and HIMARS multiple rocket launchers were intercepted in the area of Novonikolaevka (Zaporozhye region), Makeyevka of the Donetsk People’s Republic, and Alekseyevka, (Kherson region),” the spokesman told a briefing.

Russian forces have destroyed a joint command center of the Ukrainian army’s Kakhovka group of troops in the Nikolayev region, Defense Ministry Spokesman reported.

“Operational-tactical and army aviation, aircraft, missile and artillery troops continue delivering strikes against military facilities in Ukraine,” Konashenkov said. Namely, in the past day they destroyed nine command centers, including the command center of Kakhovka in the Nikolayev region, two control posts of the 54th and 65th mechanized brigades in the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Zaporozye region, he added. Also, seven ammunition and fuel depots were destroyed in the area of DPR settlements, Nikolayev and the Nikolayev region.

Using precision weapons, Russian troops also hit Ukrainian army’s aircraft equipment at military airfield Kanatovo in the Kirovograd region, he added.

The Russian Armed Forces have eliminated in the Donetsk People’s Republic more than 70% of the personnel of two battalions of Ukraine’s 10th Mountain Assault Brigade, Konashenkov reported.

Russian troops fired for effect, “to hit the positions of the 108th and 109th battalions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ 10th Mountain Assault Brigade in the area of Verkhnekamenskoye settlement in the Donetsk People’s Republic, with more than 70% of the personnel eliminated, ” Konashenkov noted.

Besides, Russian aircraft in the DPR eliminated two Ukrainian army units, destroyed two M777 howitzers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces as well as a Bukovel electronic warfare system in the city of Nikolayev, the lieutenant general told the briefing.

Russian troops also neutralized three platoons of Grad multiple rocket launchers near the settlements of Grigorovka, Verkhnekamenskoye and Seversk, Konashenkov reported on Sunday.

Politico newspaper reports elimination of mercenaries from US, Canada, Sweden in Donbass

WASHINGTON, July 24. /TASS/. Two Americans, a Canadian and a Swedish citizen who fought in Donbass on the side of Kiev, were killed this week, the Politico newspaper reported on Saturday.

The newspaper cites Ruslan Miroshnichenko, the foreign fighters’ commander, who said on Saturday that “the Americans killed were Luke “Skywalker” Lucyszyn and Bryan Young. He said they were killed alongside Emile-Antoine Roy-Sirois of Canada and Edvard Selander Patrignani of Sweden on July 18.”

“The men were part of a special operations force within the Territorial Defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Miroshnichenko said. Their unit has been based near Siversk, a town in eastern Donetsk oblast,” the newspaper said.

On Friday, a US State Department spokesman confirmed to reporters that two Americans had recently died in the Donbass. The department did not release their names. The US authorities have repeatedly urged Americans to refrain from visiting Ukraine, including from traveling there to participate in hostilities.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation following a request for help from the leaders of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow’s plans did not include an occupation of Ukrainian territories. In response, the US, the UK and the European Union along with some other countries imposed sweeping sanctions against Russian individuals and entities. Moreover, the Western countries began funneling weapons and military equipment to Kiev, currently estimated at billions of dollars.

Russian air defense systems in Melitopol repulse attack from Ukrainian military — official

The air target was destroyed, said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the military-civilian administration of the Zaporozhye region

MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. Russian air defense systems repelled a strike from the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Melitopol, said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the military-civilian administration of the Zaporozhye region.

“Melitopol – very loud! Air defense responded. They [the Ukrainian military] send missiles and attack drones to the sleeping city. The lives of Melitopol residents are reliably protected by Russian air defense. The air target was destroyed,” he wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday.

INSIGHTS

War as a Purpose: Young Ukrainians in Neo-Nazi Training Camps

Thousands of Ukrainian children have been poisoned by the neo-Nazi ideology in the years since the Maidan Uprising. Grown-ups have consistently taught them hatred, calling it patriotism. To that end, the country established a whole network of children’s camps, whose instructors had served as punishers in the Donbass.

‘Let Moscow Lie in Ruins!’

In 2017, the American TV network NBC aired a story about the Azovets children’s summer camp near Kiev. Children living in the Ukrainian capital and nearby districts spent their vacations there.

At first glance, there was nothing “criminal” about the camp’s program: drills, military training, the reconstruction of battles, and survival skills. However, the main purpose of the program was to instil an aggressive ideological narrative among these young Ukrainian patriots. A video shot by an NBC journalist showed children chanting inspirationally:

“What is our motto? We are the children of Ukraine! Let Moscow lie in ruins, we don’t care! We will conquer the whole world! Death to Russkies!”

This was their motto. This is what their “big brothers”, instructors from the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, taught them.

The purpose of their mission was clearly designated: to wage war on Russians, to destroy the Russians as their main and worst enemy. This is how they were indoctrinated with a sense of belonging to the “great cause”.

NBC presented an interview with the camp instructors. They discuss their mission: “The children don’t know what war is, and we have to tell them what it is, because retaking Crimea and taking over Kuban are ahead of us.” Kuban is a historical and geographical region of Southern Russia located mostly in the Krasnodar region. Their plans were clearly outlined.

“Their instructor gives advice: don’t think of your target as a person. Therefore, when these boys and girls shoot, they will shoot to kill. Most of them are teenagers, but some are as young as 8 years old. They are in a summer camp set up by one of Ukraine’s radical nationalist groups, hidden in a forest in the west of the country,” thus begins a piece by the Associated Press, whose journalists visited the Zakalka voli (Gart voli, Ukr.), a children’s military camp.

“We never point weapons at people. But we don’t consider the Donetsk people, separatists, the Novorossians, the green men, and the Moscow occupants to be people. So we can and should aim at them,” instructor Yury “Chernota” Cherkashin instructs the children shamelessly on camera.

Even the biased report by Radio Liberty (a media outlet functioning as a foreign agent) about Azovets and the facts presented in it leave no room for discussion. There is only one association that comes to mind, the Hitler-Jugend (Hitler Youth):

“The morning in the camp begins with a roll call and a Ukrainian nationalist prayer. ‘Ukraine, holy mother of heroes, descend into my heart. Holy! Mighty! United! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!’, the children yell in fervor. In this camp, those who have a cold are mockingly called ‘three-hundredth’ or ‘WIA’ (Cargo 300 is a military term for transporting a wounded soldier – ed. note Sputnik), and children often use call signs instead of names. At the beginning of the shift, each child is handed a wooden machine gun. The older children go to the island, where they receive mock-ups of ‘real’ guns. This sniper rifle shoots using a laser scope. This is the first such game for 13-year-old Vladimir. ‘I like quiet engagement, so I’m a sniper,’ the boy explains.”

None of this is new. Here is a quote from German journalist and writer Guido Knopp on the education of youth in the Third Reich in the 1930s:

“They (members of the Hitler-Jugend. – ed. note Sputnik) slept in tent camps and haystacks. Each year about 2,000 members of the Hitler Youth enthusiastically answered the call of Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach: ‘We march towards the Führer. If he wishes, we will march for him.’”

The Azov Battalion’s punishers are perfectly suited for the role of instructors to train the Ukrainian Hitler Youth. Dedicated Nazis form the backbone of the regiment, and their symbols and methods correspond to their beliefs. Torture, rape, murder, kidnapping and secret prisons where prisoners and dissidents were maimed – Azov has done it all.

During the summer vacations, hundreds of Ukrainian children passed through the Azovets camp and were shaped into patriots charged with hatred.

‘I Really Enjoy Shooting’

Many journalists have written about Ukraine becoming a hotbed of neo-Nazism. The media has also raised the topic of the militarization of Ukrainian children more than once.

In 2019, Spanish correspondent Ethel Bonet from El Confidencial shared her impressions of the paramilitary children’s camp “Leader” near Kiev.

“Eight-year-old Victoria seems like an ordinary girl. And her dreams for the future can hardly be called very different from those of her peers: she dreams of becoming a fashion designer. Or maybe a model when she grows up. But the little girl already feels like a soldier. And one does not preclude her future in the ranks of combatants of Ukrainian army. At war with whom? But her instructors explain this to her. Those either who have been in battles against the ‘pro-Russian separatists’ or who have taken part in sabotage operations by the Ukrainian armed forces in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics.”

The journalist noted that “Victoria’s determination frightens even adults,” and cited the child’s words:

“There is only one Ukraine, and we have to protect it. That’s why I came here. I want to learn how to fight. I really enjoy shooting a pistol and walking around in military camouflage.”

In 2018, the Leader paramilitary camp hosted up to 200 children aged 7 to 16 during a 20-day shift. The camp ran for three summer months. Full board was $18 a day. The camp’s regimen was rigorous, packed to the brim with drills. Moving between facilities was strictly in formation.

The daily physical training “menu” included swimming, running, physical exercises, obstacle courses, climbing rope. Children were taught to handle firearms: seven-year-olds easily disassembled and assembled automatic rifles blindfolded. They mastered shooting from pneumatic weapons.

The background sounds were ultra-nationalist anthems. The marching in formation and the chanting of the slogans “Ukraine Is Above All!”, “Heroes Are Immortal, Enemies Must Die!”, “Leader Opens the Path! Ukraine Is United! Victory or Death!”

There are dozens of such children’s military camps in Ukraine. In the years since the so-called Revolution of Dignity, thousands of young Ukrainians have gone through this school of radicalism and hatred. If the goals of the ideologists of neo-Nazism were quite obvious, what did the parents hope for and what did they want to achieve by sending their children voluntarily to a place where they were trained to be aggressive ethnic nationalists?

Family psychologist Yekaterina Sivanova explained the dangers facing children who attend such “patriotic” camps and how it can affect their psyche:

“In this example, the accents placed by adults are important. Children are being indoctrinated to believe that those people are not human, that they must be killed. The child has no right to doubt; he takes it on faith that those are not people, relying on the opinion of the adults in charge.

A person who is so instilled with hatred cannot see another human being as a person, he lacks that ability. This is very close to racism, hatred for the fact that the other is something different. Children who are brought up with hatred subsequently have no opportunity to develop, to become versatile, to see different points of view simply because they won’t accept an opinion (they won’t hear it or see it) different from the paradigm in which they were raised.

In fact, to be fair, we can remember the patriotic military game “Zarnitsa”. In the early ’80s I went to school, we all went out into the fields, ran, the girls were taught first aid, the boys were taught to be scouts and commanders, to read maps and so on. But I don’t remember there being any aggression in that. And we had basic military training in school, we used to take apart machine guns for a while. I still use the general medical training that was given in those classes and then in high school. But it was always a story about life, about help and interaction.

Here we see a tremendous effort to create an ‘enemy’, so that there is a clear understanding of who to fight. An external enemy is always needed to control those people who have been convinced that there is an aggressor who will come to kill them.

The basis of such upbringing is fear. People raise their children with the goal of raising them to be controlled. If I keep you in fear, accordingly, I can manipulate you, I can control you, and you will do what I want.”

Some parents were sincerely convinced, as journalist Pavel Volkov noted in an article for Ukraina.ru, that such camps teach “patriotism” and that there was nothing wrong there. This was what the bunchuzhnyi (a “staff of Cossack hetman”, what they call the instructors in Ukraine – ed. note Sputnik) of the Kiev camp with the call sign “Burik”, bearing the“black sun” symbol of occult fascism on his elbow, was trying to lure children with:

“One squad can include from 8 to 14 children. The program is as follows: over the 12 days of the camp, the children go through 10 disciplines: the history of Ukraine, disassembling/assembling a machine gun, tactics, medicine, rope park, climbing wall, self-defense, an obstacle course, a survival course, and robotics. There are many attacks about us training kids to be like the Hitler Youth. That is not true. We are not preparing kids for war. We are trying to bring them together, to teach them to love people so they don’t want war.”

That is the peculiar and unique understanding of the Ukrainian nationalists’ love for people.

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