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Russia And NATO Agree – The War In Ukraine Will Continue
NATO chief says Ukraine’s ‘rightful place’ is in the alliance – AP – Apr 20, 2023
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg defiantly declared Thursday that Ukraine’s “rightful place” is in the military alliance and pledged more support for the country on his first visit to Kyiv since Russia’s invasion just over a year ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Stoltenberg, who has been instrumental in marshaling support from NATO members, to push for even more from them, including warplanes, artillery and armored equipment.
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Prevention of Ukraine’s accession to NATO remains one of special op’s goals — Kremlin – Tass – Apr 20, 2023
MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Prevention of Ukraine’s accession to NATO remains one of the special military operation’s goals, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday.
"Of course, because, otherwise, this will pose a serious, significant threat for our country’s security," the spokesman said, answering a question.
Russia’s MFA has issued a statement about Ukraine in lieu of Zakharova’s Weekly Briefing, which isn’t happening this week. On the grain issue, Lavrov provided an explanation at his presser in Cuba, which I’ll provide after the Ukraine update:
April 19 marked the 240th anniversary of the adoption of Crimea into the Russian Empire. The highest manifesto of Catherine II on this occasion spoke of “a happy transformation from rebellion and disorder into peace, silence and legal order.” The words of the Empress are still relevant today. The conscious choice made by the Crimeans in March 2014 in favor of reunification with their historical homeland is nothing more than a return to the origins – the Russian status of the peninsula, which was proclaimed in 1783. Any attempts by Kiev and its Western masters to challenge this status are doomed to failure, Crimea was, is and will be an integral part of Russia.
The United States and its NATO allies do not stop pumping weapons into the Kyiv regime, insisting on continuing hostilities and demonstrating the effectiveness of Western military assistance “on the battlefield”. The Anglo-Saxons are openly talking about the upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive. They even call the timing of its start. All this confirms their direct involvement in the conflict and participation in the planning of military operations.
At the same time, Zelensky’s military appetites are growing. He does not get tired of demanding new and modern types of weapons from the West, incl. for striking deep into the territory of Russia. Today, at the next meeting of the contact group on Ukraine in the Ramstein format, Kiev intends to request urgent deliveries of air defense systems and long-range missiles.
However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the United States and Europe to satisfy Kiev’s requests. A lot of publications appeared in the Western media about the depletion of NATO weapons stocks in key European states. So, the lack of military equipment, uniforms and ammunition in the German army complained to the Bundestag. The British press reported that the British government has already begun to promise Kyiv weapons from its stocks “for a rainy day”. But the West is not going to stop deliveries yet. They understand that the refusal to help Ukraine, as German Defence Minister Benjamin Pistorius put it the other day, could lead to its immediate end.
Recently, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba actually presented an ultimatum to NATO, demanding that its leadership “take a step towards membership” of Ukraine in the alliance at the July summit in Vilnius. According to him, it is no longer enough for Kiev to confirm “for the 130th time” the open door policy and deepen cooperation without clear guarantees of the country’s accession to the bloc. And Ukraine’s ambassador to London, V. Prystaiko, believes that NATO should “beg” his country to join a military alliance. Apparently, the unconditional support of the West has corrupted the already arrogant and unprincipled Zelensky regime so much that it is losing its sense of reality before our eyes and will soon completely believe in its own exclusivity.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s economy continues to degrade, sinking deeper into debt. In 2022, its external debt rose to a record $132 billion. or 89% of GDP. According to forecasts, at the end of 2023 it will exceed 100% and may reach $173 billion.
At the same time, the Zelensky regime continues to live in debt: military spending, the social sphere, medicine, education and other vital areas are sponsored by the West. Of course, not free of charge. Most of the financial aid comes in the form of repayable loans, while the proportion of grants is small. And although Ukraine has been granted a deferral of external debt payments until 2027, no one is going to forgive it to Kiev. The country’s draft budget for 2023 provides for a doubling of the number of payments for servicing external debt. The main burden of its repayment, of course, will fall on the shoulders of Ukrainian inhabitants, since there is nowhere else to get money in Ukraine. In such a situation, the Kiev authorities cynically see their only salvation in the continuation of hostilities.
The situation in the financial and economic sector of the country is aggravated by corruption scandals in the Ministry of Defense and the theft of humanitarian supplies supplied to Ukraine. As a result, according to US Agency for International Development (USAID) Stephen Power, the West began to doubt the ability of the Kiev regime to control the spending of financial aid. Washington sees the solution to the problem in increasing the transparency of the Ukrainian budget, for which they intend to check all its spending.
The Zelensky regime received another blow from its closest Eastern European “friends” – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria, who, due to the protests of their own farmers and falling domestic prices, temporarily stopped the export of Ukrainian grain and are going to include other agricultural products in the “black list”. Romania intends to follow their example. According to Polish Radio, the European Commission is almost ready to impose a ban on Ukrainian imports of wheat, corn and oilseeds.
It seems that the system of export of agricultural products from Ukraine by “corridors of solidarity” is cracking in the EU. The Western media note that the unconditional support of Kyiv by the states of Eastern Europe is becoming obsolete, and this threatens the Zelensky regime with tangible financial losses.
On April 15, Zelensky issued a decree imposing sanctions on a number of Russian IT companies, their management and foreign partners in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Cyprus and Ukraine. In addition, over the next 50 years, restrictive measures will be imposed against President of the Russian Triathlon Federation Konstantin Shoigu, Minister of Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus Sergey Kovalchuk, as well as 80 domestic athletes and representatives of sports organizations. Among them are I. Averbukh, I. Akinfeev, D. Bilyaletdinov, N. Katsalapov, S. Ovchinnikov, E. Tuktamysheva, S. Khorkina. In total, 692 individuals and legal entities were blacklisted.
The decision taken on April 18 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine to deprive Ukrainian sports federations of national status for the participation of their athletes in competitions together with Russian and Belarusian athletes is fully consistent with Nazi logic. Obviously, such a ban will only harm Ukrainian sports and deprive its representatives of the opportunity to show high sports results.
We have taken note of yet another batch of extremist statements by some Ukrainian officials.
Advisor to the head of the President’s Office M.Podolyak distinguished himself again. Speaking about the situation around the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, he openly stated that today the Kiev regime has a unique chance to quickly and painlessly physically “clean up” a large number of pro-Russian people. M. Podolyak promised to punish the residents of Crimea and Donbass for their desire to link their future with Russia.
He is echoed by the mayor of Dnipropetrovsk, renamed Dnipro, B. Filatov, who says that Ukraine does not forgive insults.
Such rhetoric and criminal actions of the Kyiv regime confirm the need to continue the special military operation until the tasks of denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine are fully completed, and the elimination of threats to Russia’s security emanating from its territory.
Lavrov’s Grain Q&A:
Question: A number of European countries (Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary) have announced a ban on the import of Ukrainian grain. Their number is expanding. Now they are talking about a ban on the import of other agricultural products from Ukraine. Although these are direct, “ideological” partners of Kiev. What do these decisions say?
What happens to the grain “deal”? What are its prospects? Is it possible to increase Russian grain supplies to Latin America?
Sergey Lavrov: What is happening confirms our well-known principled assessments. Unlike the announced initiatives of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the need to help the poorest countries, the grain “deal” in its Ukrainian part is predominantly commercial in nature. As such, it hardly helps the countries of the Third World.
Ukrainian grain, in fact, at dumping prices and zero tariffs, invades European markets, bypassing all phytosanitary requirements. This leads to huge losses for traditional grain producers in Europe itself.
I heard that the European Commission proposes to compensate for these losses, allocates 100 million euros. It would be more honest to buy cheap Ukrainian grain at bargain prices and supply it free of charge to the poorest countries in need of food. The European Union, as well as the Americans, are not interested in this. They are interested in further commercialization of grain exports from Ukraine, including within the framework of the Black Sea initiative.
The lion’s share of the supply of grain and other agricultural products across the Black Sea from Ukrainian ports was sent not to the poorest countries, but to Western countries or to fairly wealthy countries on other continents.
Taking into account that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ initiative concerned poor countries, we began to insist on ships leaving Ukrainian ports to provide information on where they are carrying the relevant cargo within the framework of the mechanisms provided for by the Black Sea Initiative. The goal is absolutely clear – to make ships bound for poor developing countries, primarily Africa, a priority on the list for passage through the straits.
The Ukrainian members of the inspection team in Istanbul tried to prevent the provision of such information. All this does not add optimism as to what the true goal of those who so actively defended the conclusion of this deal within the framework of the “Black Sea initiative” is.
As for the second integral part of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ initiative, namely the removal of any obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers and grain, almost nothing has been done.
We are finding opportunities (and quite actively) to direct our products and fertilizers to world markets. But all this is being done not within the framework of, but contrary to the initiative of the Secretary-General. To all our reminders and requests, we are told that the UN members are trying, doing their best and will continue to try. But soon, one of these days, it will be nine months since the initiative has been in effect, and they are still “trying”. This is somehow not very clear.
We meet the needs of our Latin American colleagues in grain and other types of food. I haven’t heard any complaints from anyone. We are negotiating a special loan with our Cuban friends for an additional supply of wheat.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 21 2023 15:39 utc | 245
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