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Ukraine Accuses Russia of Blackmail With Plan to Halt Gas to Poland

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Kyiv accused Russia of blackmailing Europe by cutting off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria as the crisis in Ukraine deepened, with tensions surging in nearby Moldova and Moscow warning the West to back off.

NATO member and staunch Kremlin opponent Poland is among the European countries seeking the toughest possible sanctions against Russia for its invasion. Fellow alliance member Bulgaria is almost completely reliant on Russian gas imports.

Poland’s state-owned PGNiG (PGN.WA) said supplies from energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) via Ukraine and Belarus will be cut at 0800CET (0600GMT) on Wednesday, but Warsaw said it did not need to draw on reserves and its gas storage was 76% full.

“The gas system in Poland is balanced and customers can feel safe,” Minister in Charge of Energy Security Piotr Naimski said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on “unfriendly” countries to pay for gas imports in roubles, a move only a few buyers have implemented so far. (Read more from “Ukraine Accuses Russia of Blackmail With Plan to Halt Gas to Poland” HERE)

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Newly Obtained Emails Raise Questions About Department of Defense Involvement in Spygate

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After spending weeks dismissing concerns about its work with Russia hoax-connected researchers, a newly discovered email from The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to a Georgia Tech researcher with the subject line “Mueller case” casts doubt on DARPA’s denials.

Last month, The Federalist first reported that an email exchange obtained from Georgia Tech pursuant to a Right-to-Know request indicated that Special Counsel John Durham’s office was investigating the Democrat National Committee hack. Manos Antonakakis, the Georgia Tech researcher branded “Researcher-1” in the special counsel’s indictment of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, penned the email shortly after being questioned by one of Durham’s top prosecutors.

The special counsel’s office charged Sussmann last fall with lying to the FBI’s general counsel, James Baker, when Sussmann provided Baker with data and white papers supposedly showing the existence of a secret communications network between the Donald Trump campaign and the Russian-based Alfa Bank. The Sussmann indictment also revealed that the Georgia Tech researchers, since identified as Antonakakis and David Dagon, “were receiving and analyzing Internet data in connection with a pending federal government cybersecurity research contract.”

The then-unidentified government contract originated with DARPA, with DARPA eventually awarding Georgia Tech more than $17 million for the project dubbed “Rhamnousia,” after the mythical Greek goddess of divine retribution, Rhamnous. (Read more from “Newly Obtained Emails Raise Questions About Department of Defense Involvement in Spygate” HERE)

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US a ‘Co-Belligerent’ in Ukraine War, Legal Expert Says

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Conversations over the past week with current and former US officials about whether, to their knowledge, there is any real debate inside President Joe Biden’s administration over the approach it is taking in Ukraine has produced only slight variations of the same answer: “Not really.”

As of now, what the Biden policy amounts to is a replay along the lines of president Franklin D Roosevelt’s policy toward the war in Europe from 1939 to December 1941, during which the US was a co-belligerent all but in name.

In their public statements, Biden and his Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin seem intent on obfuscating the true extent of American involvement. A story in the defense-industry-sponsored Politico quoted unnamed US officials as saying “military options in Ukraine aren’t on the table – echoing Biden’s repeated position of not wanting to spark World War III.” . . .

But US involvement goes deeper than arms sales and intelligence sharing. A Pentagon official who requested anonymity told me it is “likely we have a limited footprint on the ground in Ukraine, but under Title 50, not Title 10,” meaning US intelligence operatives and paramilitaries – but not regular military.

Bruce Fein, a constitutional expert and former associate attorney general in the Ronald Reagan administration, told me this week that in his view, “the United States and several NATO members have become co-belligerents with Ukraine against Russia by systematic and massive assistance to its military forces to defeat Russia.” (Read more from “Us a ‘Co-Belligerent’ in Ukraine War, Legal Expert Says” HERE)

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‘Food for Thought’: Putin’s Chilling Message as Russia Conducts Test of New Nuclear Weapon

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Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Wednesday that it has conducted the first test launch of its new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile – a nuclear weapon that President Vladimir Putin says will “provide food for thought for those who… try to threaten our country.”

The ministry said the missile was launched Wednesday from the Plesetsk launch facility in northern Russia and its practice warheads hit designated targets at the Kura firing range on the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.

“This truly unique weapon will strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure Russia’s security from external threats and provide food for thought for those who, in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country,” Putin said, according to Reuters. . .

Putin and his officials said it’s capable of penetrating any prospective missile defense.

“It has no analogues in the world and won’t have for a long time to come,” Reuters quoted him as saying. (Read more from “‘Food for Thought’: Putin’s Chilling Message as Russia Conducts Test of New Nuclear Weapon” HERE)

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Ukraine Used Cluster Munitions — Which Many Countries Have Banned — To Force Russian Troops Out of a Village, Report Says

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Ukraine fired cluster munition rockets, which have been banned in more than 100 countries under an international treaty, to drive Russian troops out of a village last month, The New York Times reported.

Ukrainian forces retook the villager of Husarivka, a rural hamlet located 60 miles south of the city of Kharkiv, on March 26, shortly after it was seized by invading Russian forces.

The Times said its reporters identified a 220-millimeter Uragan artillery rocket that had been fired at Russian troops by Ukrainian forces on either March 6 or March 7.

The Uragan is a cluster munition. Cluster bombs were banned by more than 100 countries as part of the 2010 Convention on Cluster Munitions. However, Russia, Ukraine, and the US were among the countries that didn’t sign the agreement.

Cluster bombs are a type of rocket that break apart into smaller bombs after it has been fired to cover as wide an impact area as possible. Arms campaigners and rights groups say that because of its indiscriminate design, the rockets place civilians in danger. (Read more from “Ukraine Used Cluster Munitions — Which Many Countries Have Banned — To Force Russian Troops Out of a Village, Report Says” HERE)

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Booby-Trapped Bridge Blows up as Russian Convoy Drives Over It: Ukrainian Forces

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Ukrainian special forces claim to have blown up a bridge in Ukraine as Russian troops drove military vehicles over it on Thursday.

The Ukrainian military said the Russian vehicles were traveling to Izyum in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops have been staging for assaults in the Donbas region. Photos shared by the Ukrainian special forces show that explosives had apparently been placed under the bridge in anticipation of a Russian column heading toward it.

“A group of SSO of Ukraine blew up a bridge with enemy technology heading to Izyum,” Ukrainian Special Operations Forces said in a Facebook post.

“Putting the explosive in a designated place, operators of the SSO of Ukraine waited for the enemy, who without any doubt drove to the death meeting.”

(Read more from “Booby-Trapped Bridge Blows up as Russian Convoy Drives Over It: Ukrainian Forces” HERE)

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Zelensky Warns the World to Prepare for Putin to Unleash a Nuclear Attack

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President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the world should “prepare” for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons in his invasion of Ukraine – and urged air-raid shelters and anti-radiation medicine to be readied for the potential calamity.

In an interview with CNN that aired Sunday, Zelensky was asked whether Putin would deploy chemical or nuclear tactical weapons to further his military goals in Ukraine.

“Not only me – all of the world, all of the countries have to be worried because it can be not real information, but it can be truth,” Zelensky told host Jake Tapper in an interview from his presidential office in Kyiv. . .

​In an interview with Ukrainian media Saturday night, Zelensky warned of the real possibility of a nuclear attack. ​

“We shouldn’t wait for the moment when Russia decides to use nuclear weapons​.​ … We must prepare for that​,” the Ukrainian leader said. ​(Read more from “Zelensky Warns the World to Prepare for Putin to Unleash a Nuclear Attack” HERE)

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Zelensky Calls on Biden to Visit Ukraine: ‘Come Here to See’

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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called on President Biden to visit Ukraine to “come here to see” the devastation caused by Russian forces.

In an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” that aired Sunday, Zelensky was asked if there were any plans for Biden to visit the country.

“I think he will. I mean, it’s his decision, of course,” Zelensky told anchor Jake Tapper on Friday. “And about the safety situation, it depends. I mean that. But I think he’s the leader of the United States, and that’s why he should come here to see.”

Biden previously told reporters during a visit to Poland last month that he wanted to visit the war-torn country but claimed others were preventing him.

“They will not let me, understandably, I guess, cross the border and take a look at what’s going on in Ukraine,” Biden said at a briefing on humanitarian operations in Rzeszow, southeastern Poland, without clarifying who was holding him back. (Read more from “Zelensky Calls on Biden to Visit Ukraine: ‘Come Here to See'” HERE)

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Biden Plays Role in Report on Ukraine War Propaganda

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Joe Biden has appeared prominently in an international organization’s new report on the “propaganda” being used in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He’s been dinged for trying to blame his own domestic inflation problem – it’s worse now for American consumers than it has been for more than 40 years – on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who made the decisions to send his army into Ukraine and kill innocent civilians.

The report comes from the Middle East Media Research Institute, which, under the title “The Latest Propaganda War,” talks about how the Ukrainians have been aided in their “messaging,” which encompasses legacy media, social media and more, “by a powerful and indisputable reality, that they were attacked and are defending themselves.”

“The Ukrainians have been very effective in doing the hard work of propaganda, churning out content, capturing the news cycle, carrying out ‘strategic communications, psychological operations,'” the report explained. “In a war, the best content is victory, but if that is not always available, anything will do: compelling anecdotal stories, the other side’s abuses and war crimes, dramatic statements, content that inspires, content that demonizes. All of it has a role to play.” . . .

But it noted a third player in the propaganda fracas: “A Biden administration that is deeply unpopular and fighting for its domestic political life has tried to shift blame for the American inflation building over the past year onto Putin,” the report said. (Read more from “Biden Plays Role in Report on Ukraine War Propaganda” HERE)

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Putin Shrugs off Financial Sanctions as Ruble Rebounds

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Vladimir Putin’s Russia is earning more from its energy exports than it was before it invaded Ukraine, and the ruble has bounced back to its prewar value. Tell us again about those “crippling” sanctions.

Yes, President Joe Biden on Friday signed two bills expanding US financial restrictions on Russia, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says, “We will keep working on additional ways to deny them revenue.”

But none of it can hit that hard as long as Western Europe, utterly dependent on Russia’s oil and gas, can’t stop buying it. And the war has roiled markets enough to spike prices, so Bloomberg Economics anticipates Russia will earn about $320 billion from energy exports this year, up more than a third from 2021.

The United States can’t force Germany et al to start exploiting their own energy resources (though European voters can, and should). But America can steal Russia’s export markets, if Washington is willing to stop suppressing US energy production and start supporting it. (Read more from “Putin Shrugs off Financial Sanctions as Ruble Rebounds” HERE)

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