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‘We Need Peace’: Oligarch Close to Putin Shares Video Critical of Invasion

A Russian billionaire with ties to President Vladimir Putin called for peace and shared a video harshly critical of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine following a U.S. crackdown on oligarchs.

Oleg Deripaska, known for his prior business relationships with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and British ex-spy Christopher Steele, and who is accused of assisting the Russian government’s influence operations worldwide, repeatedly tweeted Monday that “we need peace” and shared a lengthy video from Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, who criticized Putin and his invasion.

“I don’t always agree with [Harari] … But here I do agree with him, and I am sure most Russian people do — we need peace,” Deripaska tweeted. “We need peace as soon as possible, as we have already passed the point of no return — and this is the second point I agree with. The entire world will be different, Russia will be different as well.”

Deripaska’s comments are notable, in part because the Senate Intelligence Committee said in August 2020 that he had aided Kremlin election interference efforts in Ukraine and was involved in an alleged attempted coup attempt in Montenegro in 2016, with the Baltic nation joining NATO the next year. (Read more from “‘We Need Peace’: Oligarch Close to Putin Shares Video Critical of Invasion” HERE)

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Trump Jokes US Should ‘Bomb the S***’ Out of Russia and Blame China; Former US Envoy Says Russian Invasion Won’t End With Negotiations

By Breitbart. Former President Donald Trump joked that the United States should send F-22 fighter jets with Chinese flags to “bomb the shit” out of Russia to inspire a hot war between both countries.

Speaking to top Republican National Committee (RNC) donors at a retreat in New Orleans, the former president prompted scores of laughter when he appeared to parody talking points from Fox News host Sean Hannity by suggesting that the U.S. bomb Russia and blame it on another country.

“And then we say, ‘China did it,’” Trump said, according to an unidentified source for CBS News. “Then they start fighting with each other, and we sit back and watch.”

The former president also scolded his successor, Joe Biden, for his handling of Russia.

“We have to have Biden stop saying that — and this is for everyone to hear — that we will not attack Russia ever because they are a nuclear power, right?” Trump said. “You know who is saying this? Okay, whether it’s fact or fiction, ‘We will not attack Russia. You see, they are a nuclear power.’ Oh, thanks for telling us.” (Read more from “Trump Jokes U.S. Should ‘Bomb the S***’ Out of Russia and Blame China” HERE)

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Former US Envoy Says Russian Invasion Won’t End With Negotiations

By The Hill. Kurt Volker, former U.S. envoy to Ukraine, said on Sunday that the Russian invasion will not end through negotiations, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “bent” on destroying the country.

“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked Volker on CBS if he could see any countries being able to negotiate an end to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

“Not at all. No, we have to understand that Putin is bent on a military victory. He wants to destroy Ukraine, decapitate the leadership. He doesn’t care about how many casualties this causes, what happens to the civilian population. This is a messianic mission that he is on. This is why he has to be stopped,” said Volker. (Read more from “Former US Envoy Says Russian Invasion Won’t End With Negotiations” HERE)

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China Changed Supply Chain Strategy With Russia 3 Months Ahead of Ukraine Invasion, Suggesting It Had Foreknowledge: Analyst

Around three months ago, China changed how it ordered goods from Russia in a way that would insulate Beijing in the event of Western sanctions on Moscow, according to a supply chain analyst citing insider information.

This move suggested that China had foreknowledge of Russia’s plan to invade Ukraine, and had made contingencies to ensure it could still import Russian commodities amid sanctions, he said.

In about November or December, China began buying all of their Russia-origin cargoes—grains, crude oil, and petrochemical products—on a “free on board origin” basis, meaning that China would hold claim to the goods as soon as they were loaded onto the ship, said Ross Kennedy, founder of Fortis Analysis. . .

In large shipments by sea, sellers, rather than buyers, would commonly assume responsibility for the goods until they are delivered to the purchaser, he said. They also typically cover the cost of shipping and insurance, and warrant that the goods will safely reach the destination. . .

“And the reason you would see that happening is because there is a fear that sanctions on products coming from a certain country, in this case, Russia, would impact those country’s ability to buy those products.” (Read more from “China Changed Supply Chain Strategy With Russia 3 Months Ahead of Ukraine Invasion, Suggesting It Had Foreknowledge: Analyst” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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No Surprise: As War Rages, Joe Biden Has Weekend Plans; WATCH: Biden’s Working With Russia ‘to Bring Iranian Oil Back in’ With Iran Deal

By Townhall. As Russian President Vladimir Putin continues his unrelenting assault on Ukrainian citizens, committing war crimes through the use of cluster bombs and attacking nuclear sites in the country, President Joe Biden is headed home to Delaware for the weekend.

“In the evening, the President will travel to Wilmington, Delaware, where he will remain over the weekend,” the White House daily schedule states.

Biden also went to Delaware last weekend for a family funeral. He has spent 35 weekends at home since taking office in January 2021. (Read more from “No Surprise: As War Rages, Biden Has Weekend Plans” HERE)

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Biden’s Working With Russia ‘to Bring Iranian Oil Back in’ With Iran Deal

By Fox News. On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) stated that he believes the Biden administration is trying “to bring Iranian oil back in” with the Iran deal negotiations.

McCarthy said, [relevant remarks begin around 2:30] “I just sent a letter to Secretary Blinken about the Iran agreement. What I believe they’re really trying to do — and why don’t we know what’s in it, but we have Russia and China knowing what’s in it — to bring Iranian oil back in. Why would you fund another country that funds terrorism, that wants to have a nuclear weapon, give it to them, and then give them billions of dollars?”

(Read more from “Biden’s Working With Russia ‘to Bring Iranian Oil Back in’ With Iran Deal” HERE)

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Former Iranian President Praises Ukraine’s ‘Resistance,’ Rebukes Islamic Republic’s Support for Russia

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has expressed his support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Ahmadinejad tweeted yesterday to the “great nation of #Ukraine” and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Your honorable and almost unrivalled resistance uncovered the Satanic plots of enemies of mankind,” wrote Ahmadinejad on the social media site.

“Trust that the great nation of #Iran is standing by you, while admiring this heroic persistence,” he added. . .

The comments by Ahmadinejad, who was president of Iran from 2005 to 2013, directly contradicted the Islamic Republic’s stance on the conflict, which supports Russia. Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian blamed the war on “provocations” by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance. (Read more from “Former Iranian President Praises Ukraine’s ‘Resistance,’ Rebukes Islamic Republic’s Support for Russia” HERE)

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Inside the Extreme Ways Putin Protects Himself From Assassins, Coup Plots

Bodyguards with bulletproof briefcases and high-powered pistols, look-alike stand-ins and food tasters are just some of the ways Russian President Vladimir reportedly protects himself from would-be assassins and coup plotters.

The potential threats against Putin, 69, were thrust into the spotlight Thursday when US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called on “somebody in Russia to take this guy out” for ordering the deadly invasion of Ukraine.

But Putin, a former KGB agent who’s been in power since rising to power in 2000, is apparently obsessed with both his security and his health – protecting himself from assassins and avoiding COVID-19 at all costs, as demonstrated by the lengths to which he’s gone to avoid catching the virus.

Recent photos show him meeting with world leaders and even his own advisers at opposite ends of extremely long tables to maintain at least 20 feet of distance between them, and he donned a hazmat suit — complete with a full face respirator — before visiting a Moscow hospital treating coronavirus patients in April 2020.

Putin’s bodyguards — who call themselves his “Musketeers” — comprise a special unit within Russia’s Federal Protective Service, or FSO, which traces its roots to 1881, when Czar Alexander III surrounded himself with guards following the assassination of his father by a bomb-throwing revolutionary, according to The Economist. (Read more from “Inside the Extreme Ways Putin Protects Himself From Assassins, Coup Plots” HERE)

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Two More Russian Commanders Reportedly Killed in Ukraine

Two top Russian military officials have been killed in Ukraine in addition to the general already taken out by snipers, Western intelligence officials claimed Friday.

A divisional commander and regimental commander died as a convoy of Russian tanks and other vehicles continued to struggle while heading for the capital city of Kyiv, multiple reports said, citing the Western sources.

The announcement came a day after the revelation that a Ukrainian forces sniper killed Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, deputy commander of the Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District and an appointee of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“My assessment would be that those commanders have been killed because they’ve had to go further and closer to the front,” an unnamed Western official told Sky News.

“That’s an indication of some degree of frustration and some degree of lack of progress, and they’re trying to impose their sort of personality on the battlefield and putting themselves at personal risk.” (Read more from “Two More Russian Commanders Reportedly Killed in Ukraine” HERE)

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TV News Team Shot by Russians in Harrowing Ambush Caught on Camera (VIDEO)

A Sky News journalist was wounded in a terrifying gunfire ambush while covering Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, he said in a report Friday.

Chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay and his team came under fire by Russian attackers near a Kyiv checkpoint as they tried to leave the city Monday.

“Our world turned upside down,” Ramsay wrote in a first-person account of the attack. “I do recall wondering if my death was going to be painful.”

He said he first heard a small explosion and felt a tire on the vehicle he was riding in pop, causing it to roll to a stop on a desolate street.

Suddenly, bullets began pelting the windshield of the vehicle, forcing the team of five to duck for cover.

(Read more from “TV News Team Shot by Russians in Harrowing Ambush Caught on Camera” HERE)

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Report: Chechen Jihadis in Syria Long to Join Ukraine War

Reports of Chechen involvement in Russia’s war on Ukraine are allegedly piquing interest among Chechens opposed to Moscow-supported warlord Ramzan Kadyrov to sign up on the Ukrainian side. Some of the vigorously anti-Russian Chechens are reportedly battle-hardened jihadi fighters from the Syrian civil war.

Kadyrov, an eccentric strongman and close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin who has cheerfully described himself as “Putin’s foot soldier,” announced Saturday his fighters had been dispatched to assist the Russian invasion of Ukraine and had already seen action.

Russian state television broadcast images that it claimed showed at least 12,000 Chechen fighters assembled in the regional capital of Grozny, supposedly mustering for their march to Ukraine.

Kadyrov said Putin “took the right decision” to attack Ukraine, and “we will carry out his orders under any circumstances.”

“As of today, as of this minute, we do not have one single casualty, or wounded, not a single man has even had a runny nose,” he boasted Saturday, although he admitted Tuesday that at least two of his troops had been killed, with “six more injured to various degrees.” (Read more from “Report: Chechen Jihadis in Syria Long to Join Ukraine War” HERE)

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Top Russian General Reportedly Killed by Ukrainian Sniper; Russia Threatens to Execute Western Volunteers

By Washington Examiner. One of Russia’s top generals was reportedly killed this week by a Ukrainian sniper.

Maj. Gen. Andrey Sukhovetsky, the deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of Russia’s Central Military District, was reportedly killed during a heated fight between Russian and Ukrainian forces, according to the Daily Mail. The report talks of a military source who said Sukhovetsky was killed “by a sniper,” noting a funeral is planned for Saturday.

Russia’s military has not confirmed the death, but Sergei Chipilyov of the Union Airborne Forces Union of Russian Paratroopers reacted to the news on social media.

“With great pain, we received the tragic news about the death of our friend, Major-General Andrey Aleksandrovich Sukhovetsky, in Ukraine during a special operation,” the post said, according to Newsweek. “We express our deepest condolences to his family.” (Read more from “Top Russian General Reportedly Killed by Ukrainian Sniper” HERE)

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Russia Threatens to Execute Western Volunteers

By Washington Examiner. An influx of thousands of Western volunteers to fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine has heartened Ukrainian officials while simultaneously spurring the Kremlin to issue a dire threat against the members of this growing force.

“None of the mercenaries the West is sending to Ukraine to fight for the nationalist regime in Kyiv can be considered as combatants in accordance with international humanitarian law or enjoy the status of prisoners of war,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov on Thursday, per Russian state media.

That threat represented an emphatic effort to discourage the growing force, which has taken shape in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for combat veterans from European countries to join the fight. About 16,000 people have volunteered, the Ukrainian leader announced as he touted their aid as a vivid example of the Western support against the Russian invasion.

“Ukraine receives weapons from its partners on a daily basis,” Zelensky said Thursday, according to an official translation. “From real friends. More and more powerful weapons every day. Ukraine is already meeting foreign volunteers who are going to our country. The first of 16,000. They are going to defend freedom. Defend life. For us. For all. And it will be successful. I’m sure.” (Read more from “Russia Threatens to Execute Western Volunteers” HERE)

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