US providing Kiev with intelligence on targets : Moscow

Dhaka July 15 2022 :

Inside Russia : Outside Russia : News Digest by the Embassy of Russian Federation in Bangladesh on July 15 2022.

INSIDE RUSSIA

New Russian law obliges domestic firms to support military

Some companies have reportedly avoided defense contracts out of fear of falling under Western sanctions

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a law introducing special provisions in the economy during counter-terrorism and other operations by the country’s military abroad.

According to the legislation, Russian companies are now banned from refusing military contracts while such operations are ongoing. Mentioned in the document as covered under the provision are contracts for the purchase of goods and services for army use, as well as those aimed at creating stockpiles of products, raw materials and semi-finished goods for defense orders.

The measure is likely necessary due to the reluctance of some Russian companies to accept defense contracts. Western sanctions have targeted firms that were seen as aiding Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. Previously sanctioned companies include Russian Railways, the country’s shipping and transport firms, military suppliers and banks.

When the special measures are introduced in the economy, the government will also have the right to temporarily reactivate mobilization capacities and facilities, as well as tap into the material assets of the state reserve.

The law is aimed at ensuring that the Russian Armed Forces are sufficiently equipped to carry out counter-terrorism and other operations outside of Russia.

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

Russia ready to boost food, fertilizer exports — deputy foreign minister

UNITED NATIONS, July 15. /TASS/. Being a reliable supplier, Russia is ready to significantly increase its exports of food and fertilizers to the global market, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin has said.

“On the subject of food security, we would like to note that Russia can significantly increase exports of corresponding goods and fertilizers,” he told the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York.

“At the same time, we are directing supplies to African countries, to the Middle East region, and assist in solving the issue of famine,” he added.

Russia is working with the UN Secretariat in that regard, the deputy minister added.

OUTSIDE RUSSIA

Referendum on Zaporozhye Region joining Russia to be held early this fall, says official

MELITOPOL, July 14. /TASS/. A referendum on the Zaporozhye Region’s accession to Russia will be organized in early autumn this year, Yevgeny Balitsky, the head of the region’s military-civilian administration, told journalists on Thursday.

“The referendum will be organized in early autumn,” he said. “I have received numerous requests from labor forces, trade union organizations and public activists requesting to determine the status of our region as soon as possible.”

“Speaking with them we realize that they want to become a territorial entity within Russia, which will be the Zaporozhye Region,” he continued. “Being in charge of the military-civilian administration, I made a decision to organize a referendum in early autumn. All [organizational] mechanisms are currently being finalized.”

Balitsky stated earlier that preparations for a referendum about the region’s joining Russia could be held within the next few months. He said the referendum was likely to take place in the fall.

At the moment, about 70% of the Zaporozhye Region has been liberated, but the region’s capital, the city of Zaporozhye, remains under Kiev’s control, and Melitopol has temporarily assumed the authority of the region’s capital.

On Monday, Putin signed a decree fast-tracking the procedure for Russian citizenship for all Ukrainians. The previous version of the decree only covered residents of the DPR and the LPR as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions of Ukraine.

Under the simplified procedure, Ukrainians can apply for Russian citizenship without having to meet the requirement of residing in Russia for five years, possessing a source of income and having their knowledge of Russian tested.

A member of the main council of the Zaporozhye Region’s military-civilian administration said on Wednesday that more than 80 social infrastructure facilities in the zone of the Zaporozhye Region controlled by Kiev, including schools and shopping centers, have been turned into military bases and arms depots.

He also stated that all the territories of the Zaporozhye Region, controlled by the Kiev regime, and all bridges were booby-trapped with mines, “including the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station.”

Russia’s military operation

On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would recognize the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Russia signed agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with their leaders. Russia recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions within the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions as of the beginning of 2014.

Russian President Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had decided to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.

Subsequently, the DPR and the LPR launched an operation to liberate their territories under Kiev’s control.

SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE

RT visits neo-Nazi torture dungeon in Ukraine

Set up at a local school, the base had been used by the Tornado battalion for mass torture, rape and murder

RT’s Murad Gazdiev has visited the former base of the notorious but now disbanded Ukrainian neo-Nazi Tornado battalion. It is located in the village of Privolye near the Lugansk People’s Republic city of Lisichansk, which was recently liberated by Russian and allied forces.

The Tornado battalion was formed in 2014 from the remnants of another volunteer unit called Shakhtersk. Despite the unit’s designation as a volunteer police battalion, it was led by a career criminal named Ruslan Onishchenko and the core of the group also consisted of ex-cons.

Tornado was disbanded in 2015 after it faced an array of allegations of kidnapping, rape, torture and unlawful killings. The ‘policemen’ committed many of their grisly deeds at their headquarters, which had been set up in a local school. While the battalion is long gone, the memory of its actions lives on among the locals.

Tornado fighters routinely grabbed people in the streets while searching for ‘separatists’ and inquiring why villagers were not in the army, a local man recalls. He showed the RT crew a dark room with no windows in the school’s basement, which was said to be the torture dungeon of Tornado.

“People came out with bruises, beaten, and some were not found at all. My friend’s son disappeared, he still has not been found,” the man said, adding that some 5-6 people from his village alone vanished without a trace after their ‘stay’ at the battalion’s headquarters.

I don’t know why they were like that. Maybe because they are Bandera followers and Nazis.

The exact number of Tornado’s victims remains unknown – locals are still searching for their graves. “They were doing something in the basements, they were walking around dressed like Nazis, they were shooting at the cemetery, they had a shooting range there. People disappeared, we’ve dug up everything around there – no one knows where they have gone,” a local woman said.

Onishchenko was sentenced to 11 years in prison for kidnapping and torture back in 2015. Several of his associates also received jail terms for kidnapping, torture, rape, and looting.

However, shortly after Moscow launched its large-scale operation against Ukraine in late February, Kiev began releasing inmates who wanted to serve on the frontline – regardless of the seriousness of their crimes. Onishchenko was turned loose earlier this week, despite not having served his term in full, and as he awaited a new trial for his alleged involvement in a 2018 prison riot. Moreover, nearly all of the jailed fighters with the notorious battalion are now said to have been set free.

According to the Ukrainian media, Onishchenko’s original sentence had been commuted in accordance with a 2015 law that says one day spent in pre-trial detention counts as two days in jail. However, the former commander had remained behind bars while awaiting trial for the prison riot.

“Nearly all of the battalion’s members are now back on the frontline, fighting in various units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Viktor Pandzhakidze, the ex-spokesman for Tornado, told Ukrainian media.

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.

Civilians killed as Ukraine shells Donetsk

The Donbass republic’s leader says a US-made M777 howitzer was used in the attack

Two civilians have lost their lives, with another six sustaining injuries, as a result of Ukrainian shelling of the city of Donetsk, local authorities reported on Thursday.

The leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, said in a Telegram post that the Ukrainian military had hit a bus terminal.  

Among the victims are a young woman “who was going home from work” and a bus driver, the official revealed.  

Pushilin went on to claim that a US-supplied М777 howitzer had been used in the attack against an area where there are no military installations.  

He described the attack as “yet another deliberate shelling of civilians in the republic.”

Also on Thursday, the authorities in Kiev claimed Moscow hit the city of Vinnitsa with missiles, allegedly killing 20 people, including three children, with 52 more injured.

The Russian military would not immediately comment on the attack. 

However, RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan cited a Russian defense official as confirming the strike and claiming that it targeted a building which had been used as a temporary shelter for “Nazi” fighters.

Both Kiev and Moscow have repeatedly accused each other of hitting civilian targets. Russia insists that only military objects are targeted.

US providing Kiev with intelligence on targets – Moscow

Washington also sent instructors to Ukraine to help with US-supplied rocket systems, the Russian Foreign Ministry says

Washington has not only supplied long-range High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to Kiev, but is  providing intelligence on targets in Donbass and has even “unofficially” sent instructors to Ukraine to help with the hardware, the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed on Thursday.

Moscow alleges that the Ukrainian government has ordered troops to shell civilians in the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics with the help of the US-made weapons.

Speaking at a media briefing in Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said that Ukrainian forces “have used US-supplied multiple-launch rocket systems HIMARS on all fronts” of late. She added that Washington has been actively sharing intelligence on targets with Kiev, and has even “unofficially dispatched instructors, who were helping representatives of the Kiev regime to aim correctly.”

Zakharova linked the recent uptick in Ukrainian shelling with the delivery of the US-made rocket systems.

She noted that the Ukrainian military “has apparently been ordered by Kiev to use the said launchers against civilians without any hesitation.”

Also on Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement, that Moscow’s “operation will continue despite attempts by the US and its allies to ‘strengthen the security’ of Ukraine.”

Ukrainian militants forced mothers and newborns out of maternity wards – Russian MOD

Medical staff who tried to stop the soldiers were assaulted, head of Russia’s National Defense Control Center claims

The Ukrainian military has been accused, by the Russian Defence Ministry, of throwing mothers and their newborn babies out of maternity hospitals in the southern Odessa Region. Wednesday’s statement added that medical staff who tried to stop them were allegedly assaulted.

“In the settlements of Dobroslav and Krasnoselka of the Limansky district in Odessa Region, Ukrainian militants use hospitals and ambulance stations as command posts and barracks. At the same time, all the patients, regardless of their health condition, as well as maternity ward patients and their newborn children, were ruthlessly kicked out of medical institutions, while medical staff who tried to prevent the neo-Nazis’ cruelty suffered from physical violence,” Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia’s National Defense Control Center, outlined.

He added that the Ukrainian forces set up barracks, firing positions, and ammunition depots in a clinic in Ugledar (a city in the Donetsk People’s Republic), with heavy weaponry, artillery, and mortars stationed nearby.

Mizintsev urged international organizations, including the World Health Organization, to influence Kiev to put an end to the use of medical facilities for military purposes.

“Such actions of the criminal Ukrainian authorities show their complete indifference to the fate of their own citizens and absolute disregard for all moral norms and principles of international humanitarian law,” he said.

Mizintsev’s comments come in the wake of Ukrainian shelling in the Russian-controlled city of Novaya Kakhovka in Kherson Region, which reportedly killed two people and injured at least 90, with seven still missing after a fertilizer storage depot was hit. The explosion also damaged several civilian sites, including a market and a hospital.

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.

Russian Diplomat Responds to Ukraine Accusations About Vinnytsa Strike at UN Forum

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – The recent strike by Russian forces on a target in the city of Vinnytsa was directed against Ukrainian military officers, Russian diplomat from the country’s mission at the United Nations, Evgeny Varganov, said during a UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development on Thursday.

The comment came after Ukrainian representatives accused Russia of waging a war in Ukraine and allegedly indiscriminately targets civilians, including in Vinnytsa.

“The Russian Federation only strikes military objects in Ukraine and the strike in Vinnytsa was against the House of Officers where the armed forces of Ukraine were being trained,” Varganov said during the forum.

Varganov pointed out that the Ukrainian forces have indiscriminately shelled civilians in the Donbass region in the past eight years, killing some 14,000 people.

On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops.

Russia has said the special operation aims to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine and it solely targets the country’s military infrastructure.

Fake news:

The Russian Armed Forces have hit a maternity hospital and a medical center in Vinnytsia. Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian media claim this.

The fact:

The missiles struck the Officers’ Club, converted into a temporary military accommodation facility under martial law. The missiles struck two wings of the building and the landing points are clearly visible in the pictures (https://t.me/ASupersharij/10122) from different angles. The central part of the building, where the hall for entertainment events is located, was not damaged.

Damage to the medical center, which the Ukrainian side has positioned as one of the targets of the attack, was caused by the spread (https://t.me/rybar/35526?single) of the blast wave and flying shrapnel. The building contained MRI and X-ray equipment. Combined with disinfectants, they caused a major fire. A direct hit would have left the medical center with no walls. Photos show bent metal structures and pieces of mineral wool, that most certainly were a factor in the fire, can be seen in the car park next to the building.

The first videos and photos (https://t.me/bbbreaking/129896) clearly show a big crowd of people in military uniforms (https://t.me/belvestnik/28042), including men armed with automatic rifles. This serves evidence that refutes the Ukrainian side’s claim about the Officers’ Club being used solely as a civilian facility.

The building housed the barracks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Air Force command. Foreign mercenaries were also trained there. Journalist Oleksandr Stolyarov from Vinnytsia wrote about it. On his page in social networks, he asks a direct question (https://t.me/ASupersharij/10143) – why the Ukrainian media and Telegram channels write about the strikes in the medical center and consumer services center “Jubilee”, but overlook the information about the direct hit in two wings of the House of Officers. And he wonders why the military infrastructure is located directly in the center of the city, populated by civilians.

INSIGHTS

German journalist shares impressions about NATO — Readovka.world

Independent journalist and author Flo Osrainik: «Since when does more military equipment ensure peace in wartime?»

German author and journalist talks about Russophobia and its impact on the world.

In your opinion, how effective are the sanctions against Russia? Didn’t it backfire into the economy of Italy? In general, is it fair that Ukraine’s problems became a burden of Italy, and thus every Italian citizen?

First, the Western politicians’ sanctions against Russia are self-willed and hypocritical. They are negative for American Russophobic servants in the central EU, rather positive for various US industries that can help the disadvantaged Russians. However, the ruble exchange rate today is stronger than ever.

Yes, of course, the German economy and population suffer from the hypocritical anti-Russian and spineless policies of Germany and the EU. By the way, not only financially and materially, but also culturally. I just feel sorry for all those who support these pseudo-moral, one-sided sanctions against Russians and Belarusians within non-existent borders. This uncultured isolation, hypocrisy and neo-apartheid has already become fashionable in 2020, only this time it has already gone international.

In any case, it is fair that this is not in line with the geopolitics of the US Empire. Ask Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, or in Guantanamo. As a rule, the burden is borne by other people, not those who are truly guilty or benefit from wars and conflicts.

The war in Ukraine, which began with the Maidan coup in late 2013 and early 2014, is no different. Yet the citizens of Germany are so defenseless against yellow-and-blue campaigns and propaganda that it is partly to be assumed that the average citizen who has only a superficial interest in wars and their victims, or flaunts a fragmentary knowledge of it if the mainstream dictates, is only following this trend.

Distribution of weapons to Ukraine obviously is not the way to solve this conflict diplomatically. On the contrary, worsens it. In your opinion, is Italy’s involvement in the rearmament of Ukraine is a huge mistake?

Of course, I consider this a mistake. Although not fundamental, but still a mistake. In any case, if you arbitrarily promote and defend your own principles for the sake of supplying weapons and participating in the war. Let the German arms factory workers, suppliers and military leaders immediately go to the field, and not brandish loud Russophobic slogans full of double standards.

Since when does more military equipment ensure peace in wartime? This causes a glint in the eyes of employees in the military-industrial complex and some parasites, but the most importantly — continues the war. Eventually, there will be a winner and a loser on the battlefield, and especially a lot of suffering among the civilian population, which Russians clearly pay more attention to than the fascist forces in Ukraine.

Understanding, respect, awareness of the global scale for all and justice will lead to peace, no more, no less. However, the arrogant bloc of NATO in recent decades has not opposed any of this to the Russian Federation. On the contrary, the armed Russians came, deliberately suppressing the imperial attacking wars, occupations and splits by NATO, which mainly brought terror and destruction.

Ukrainian refugees consider Italy not as a temporary shelter, but as a permanent place of residence. How do you think, will there be negative consequences on Italy society. Maybe a decrease in public safety?

I do not know what is in the head of Ukrainian refugees from the east and west of the country, except for the war. In addition, I do not know what to say about the commonality or criminalization of any ethnic groups. Ukrainians, Russians and representatives of other nationalities, or stateless persons, for me in the first place mean only one thing — people. Point.

It is logical that the influx of people, regardless of where they come from and where they go, makes itself felt. Here and there. And, like any other phenomenon, there can be pros and cons here, and the cons here probably outweigh, if you do not go into details now. However, as a rule, one person here can do little.

Politics, the global oligarchy system, unscrupulous and greedy, power-obsessed gentlemen and some ladies are the one to blame for these circumstances, but this is only a small part. Where everything comes from and where the center is located is not so difficult to find out. On the other hand, the international community must stand in solidarity and act decisively if it does not want to continue to be shaken, disenfranchised and restrained, whether in Germany, Europe or elsewhere.

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