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Zelensky Threatens Putin With Death; Two Russians Arrive in Alaska by Boat Amid War in Ukraine

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Putin Will Die if Russia Uses Nuclear Weapons Against Ukraine: Zelensky

By Washington Examiner. Russian President Vladimir Putin will be unable “to preserve his own life” if he uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who insisted that such an attack would not defeat his country.

A series of Ukrainian battlefield successes prompted Putin to imply that Russia could use nuclear weapons pursuant to a so-called precedent set by the United States at the end of the Second World War. That threat prompted President Joe Biden to suggest that Putin’s use of even a relatively small nuclear weapon could “end up with Armageddon,” while Zelensky and other central European leaders formed a confident chorus in rebuffing Putin’s threats.

“I believe that this [president] of Russia, I think he loves his own life,” Zelensky told the Lowy Institute, an Australia-based think tank, through an interpreter. “And I think he clearly understands that after the use of the weapons, he would be unable anymore to preserve, so to say, his life. And I’m confident of that.”

The specter of a nuclear strike has hovered over the war in Ukraine due to a combination of Kremlin rhetoric and Russia’s development of an “escalate to de-escalate” doctrine — the theory that a “low-yield” nuclear weapon might allow Russian forces to win a nuclear war in Europe without provoking a major U.S. response. Biden challenged that theory during a Democratic fundraiser Thursday evening, but his assessment that Putin is “not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons” gave more credence to Putin’s threats than some European leaders would advise. (Read more from “Putin Will Die if Russia Uses Nuclear Weapons Against Ukraine: Zelensky” HERE)

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Two Russians Arrive in Alaska by Boat Amid Putin’s War in Ukraine

By Darryl Coote. Two Russian nationals who traveled to Alaska by boat from their native country earlier this week have requested asylum in the United States, sparking concerns over border security amid the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.

Alaskan Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan said in a joint statement Thursday that the pair of Russians had landed in a boat Tuesday on the northwestern tip of Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island, which is located in the Bering Strait about 60 miles east from the Russian mainland. . .

The senators did not explicitly say that the Russians were feeling the war, but that the situation in their country does raise concerns about border safety in the Last Frontier.

Murkowski said local officials and law enforcement were the only people who responded immediately to the asylum seekers while U.S. Customs and Border Protection had to dispatch a Coast Guard aircraft from more than 750 miles away. (Read more from “Two Russians Arrive in Alaska by Boat Amid Putin’s War in Ukraine” HERE)

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‘Precipice of Collapse’: Putin Facing ‘Irreversible’ Defeat as Troops Abandon Ship

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PREDICTION: PUTIN FACES ‘IRREVERSIBLE’ DEFEAT: Russia’s retreat from a key logistics hub in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in the face of advancing Ukrainian forces is not only another embarrassing defeat for Russian President Vladimir Putin but may also mark a fundamental shift in momentum in favor of Ukraine, say former U.S. commanders.

“No amount of shambolic mobilization, which is the only way to describe it, no amount of annexation, no amount of even veiled nuclear threats can actually get [Putin] out of this particular situation,” said retired Army Gen. David Petraeus on ABC on Sunday. “He is losing, and the battlefield reality he faces is, I think, irreversible.” . . .

The liberation rail hub of Lyman (pron: lee-MON) came as Russian forces melted away without a fight, taking up what the Russian Defense Ministry called “more advantageous positions.”

“This is a tremendous victory for the Ukrainians. And it’s a victory that I think that they could turn into a cascading series of defeats of Russian forces,” said retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster on CBS. “What we might be at here is really at the precipice of really the collapse of the Russian army in Ukraine, a moral collapse.”

“They must really be at a breaking point, if you look at just the numbers of casualties, the vast area that they’re trying to defend,” said McMaster, former President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser. “I think it’s very important also to understand that these forces that are in full retreat now out of Lyman were really the first round of mobilization. … Those forces were hastily trained, thrown into that front, and these are the forces that are collapsing right now.” (Read more from “‘Precipice of Collapse’: Putin Facing ‘Irreversible’ Defeat as Troops Abandon Ship” HERE)

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‘Outright Satanism’: Putin Goes on Lengthy Rant Condemning the West Over ‘Apartheid’, Child Sex Changes

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said the West had fallen for a “reverse religion of real Satanism” in forcing sex changes on children and committing “apartheid” against “savage” populations in a speech on Friday.

He called transgender ideology a “denial of humanity” and “overthrow of traditional values,” marketing Russia’s war in Ukraine as a necessary correction to Western deviance in a lengthy speech after signing decrees to annex parts of Ukraine, Defense One reported. The “racist” West has instrumentalized the war in Ukraine to accomplish “totalitarianism, despotism and apartheid,” he added.

Putin commemorated the “heroes” who died for their right “to preserve their culture, traditions and religion” in what he called a “Nazi coup d’etat” in Ukraine in 2014, also known as the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He accused the West of fueling the war in Ukraine to achieve a “dream” of weakening Russia and pitting its people, whom the Kremlin envisions as including Ukrainian citizens, against one another “to condemn them to poverty and extinction.”

Western countries’ “insatiability and determination to preserve their unfettered dominance are the real causes of the hybrid war that the collective West is waging against Russia,” Putin said, construing his invasion of Ukraine as a concerted Western campaign to dominate Russia. (Read more from “‘Outright Satanism’: Putin Goes on Lengthy Rant Condemning the West Over ‘Apartheid’, Child Sex Changes” HERE)

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Vladimir Putin’s Guru Says ‘Nuclear Apocalypse Likely’ if Russia Faces Ukraine Defeat

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[One of President Putin’s closest advisers, Alexander] Dugin tweeted: “A very important decision has been taken and, it seems, not easily made. All our – unbearable, outrageous – sacrifices are not in vain. The state and the people are on the same side of the barricades.”

Dugin, who lost his daughter, Darya Dugina, 29, last month in a car bomb attack [sources in Ukraine and the United States have tried to blame Putin for the murder of Dugin’s daughter], tried to rally Russians to get behind Putin and the war effort.

He said: “After all, we are fighting on the side of God and heaven, on the side of earth and soul. That is why our native blood is donated, flowing directly from Russian hearts.”

While he said that the Ukraine conflict was turning into a world war he said that there were only three outcomes.

Looking at the possibility of defeat for Russia, he said: “It would mean not only the end of the regime, but the end of everything and everyone. It is essentially a scenario for the end of Russia, Finis Rossiae. If our retreat begins, everything will fall, for both external and internal causes.”

His second outcome was the “nuclear apocalypse”.

Dugin wrote: “The second scenario is a nuclear apocalypse. It is possible that Moscow, which is beginning to lose seriously, will decide to use nuclear weapons.

“Likely? Yes, probably. Is anyone in Russia considering this possibility? Undoubtedly. Russia could resort to nuclear weapons in other situations, since for Russia, both state and people, losing a war would mean total annihilation, and not just a severe but still tolerable defeat, which could be overcome, the nuclear scenario cannot be discarded.

“The West clearly underestimates this probability, considering it a bluff.”

Then his final outcome was for a Russian victory which would see the building of a “religious and spiritual” empire and the end of Western society.

He said: “The third scenario is the most important. In Russia, a revolution is taking place from above. Putin, who has already broken with the West, turns this total and irreversible rupture into an ideology, a course, a strategy and the sole guideline of existence.

“All compromises are abolished, Russia is openly becoming a people’s empire with a marked religious and social ethos. Liberalism and Westernism are banned.

“The state and the people regroup and the special military operation is transformed into a popular holy war. To be or not to be. That moment has arrived”. (Read more from “Vladimir Putin’s Guru Says ‘Nuclear Apocalypse Likely’ if Russia Faces Ukraine Defeat” HERE)

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Putin Bluster Is All Bluff — He’s Losing at Home and in Ukraine

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Make no mistake: Vladimir Putin is losing the war in Ukraine. The menacing speech, broadcasted mysteriously on Wednesday morning instead of the originally scheduled Tuesday night, might be the closest the Russian dictator will ever get to admitting defeat before his hold begins to crumble.

The address had several audiences. For one, it aimed to deter the West from supporting Ukraine by raising the specter of nuclear escalation in defense of annexed territories that will soon become part of the “Motherland.” At home, Putin tried to keep hardline nationalist critics of the conduct of Russia’s military operation at bay by showing that the Kremlin is doubling down on its efforts in the Donbas — while also scrupulously seeking to avoid alienating wider swathes of Russia’s population by pursuing only a “partial” mobilization. . .

If the special military operation was going according to plan, as the Russian officialdom was assuring Russians until today, why has it suddenly become “necessary to support the proposal of the Defense Ministry and the General Staff” to mobilize?

Mobilizing the wider population carries political risks, which is why the Kremlin hesitated until now and why only around 300,000 men will be called to serve, according to the government. Already on Wednesday night, Russian cities saw sizeable protests — at least as measured by standards of a country where public expressions of discontent with the war may land one in jail for 10 or more years. Meanwhile, prices of one-way tickets out of Russia skyrocketed (until 18- to 34-year-old men were banned from leaving the country) and “how to break an arm at home” became a top search term on Russian search engines.

Militarily, calling on the reservists is a desperate move, though congruent with reports of extraordinarily high attrition that Russia is suffering in Ukraine. Normally, months of specialized training would be needed for reservists to fight effectively. Even then, an army needs weapons, equipment, and supplies — all of which are in short supply in Russia. Inevitably, thousands of the undertrained, undermotivated, and undersupplied reservists are bound to die tragic deaths at their first contact with Ukraine’s experienced and well-equipped fighting force — a fact that is a matter of indifference to Putin and his circle, as long as the elite’s children remain exempt from service. (Read more from “Putin Bluster Is All Bluff — He’s Losing at Home and in Ukraine” HERE)

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Putin Using Nuke in Ukraine Would Bring ‘Consequential’ U.S. Response: Biden

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The United States has issued a stern warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the use of nuclear weapons in its continued invasion of Ukraine.

President Joe Biden was interviewed for this Sunday’s edition of 60 Minutes, his first appearance on the long-running news program since his election, where he was asked by Scott Pelley about the potential deployment of “chemical or tactical nuclear weapons” by Russia as it suffers embarrassing setbacks in its invasion. Biden’s response was blunt.

“Don’t. Don’t. Don’t,” the president said. “You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II.”

Pelley then pressed Biden for details about what the U.S. response would be to such actions, to which Biden said that he would not share any details if he knew them. He only stressed that the response would be “consequential.” (Read more from “Putin Using Nuke in Ukraine Would Bring ‘Consequential’ U.S. Response: Biden” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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More Than 30 Russian Officials Calling For Putin’s Resignation

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More than 30 Russian city officials have risked prison sentences to call for the resignation of Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday.

The petition, signed by dozens of officials after it was posted by Xenia Torstrem, a municipal deputy in St. Petersburg’s Semyonovsky District, condemned Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which has lasted for nearly seven months.

“We, the municipal deputies of Russia, believe that the actions of President Vladimir Putin harm the future of Russia and its citizens,” a translation of the petition reads. “We demand the resignation of Vladimir Putin from the post of President of the Russian Federation!”

The petition was mostly signed by municipal deputies in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but city officials from Samara and Yakutsk, among others, have also signed the petition. Approximately 84 additional signatures have been added to the petition, though they are still being verified, according to Torstrem. (Read more from “More Than 30 Russian Officials Calling For Putin’s Resignation” HERE)

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Russian Energy Exec Falls From Boat in Latest Mystery Death

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A high-level executive in Russia’s energy sector has died after apparently falling off a boat over the weekend, becoming the latest Russian powerbroker to perish under mysterious circumstances.

Ivan Pechorin, 39, managing director of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (ERDC), was sailing off the coast of Russky Island in the Sea of Japan on Saturday when he fell overboard from the speeding vessel.

His body was recovered from the water on Monday following an extended search.

Only days earlier, Pechorin had attended the Eastern Economic Forum, which was hosted by President Vladimir Putin in Valdivostok.

“Ivan’s death is an irreparable loss for friends and colleagues, a great loss for the corporation,” ERDC said in a statement posted on its website. (Read more from “Russian Energy Exec Falls From Boat in Latest Mystery Death” HERE)

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Putin Faces Backlash From Russian Bloggers Amid Retreat: ‘Horrible Failure’

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing backlash from pro-Kremlin bloggers amid his military’s “horrible failure” in Ukraine.

Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, banking on his vast military to propel him to a quick victory. However, Ukraine met his troops with a stronger-than-expected defense effort, bolstered by aid from allies including the United States. In recent days, Ukraine has ramped up counteroffensives in Russian-occupied territory, allowing Kyiv to make massive gains more than six months into the conflict.

Ukraine launched a surprise counteroffensive in the areas around Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city. In recent days, Ukrainian forces seized control of key cities such as Izyum and Kupyansk, forcing Russian soldiers to retreat as experts see Ukraine building momentum.

Despite worldwide condemnation due to alleged human-rights abuses committed by the Russian military and a lack of justification for the war, many in Russia rallied around Putin. However, these Ukrainian victories have seen some hardline pro-Russia bloggers, who for months cheered on the Russian leader’s invasion, turn on him. (Read more from “Putin Faces Backlash From Russian Bloggers Amid Retreat: ‘Horrible Failure'” HERE)

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Car Bomb Kills Daughter of Highly Influential Russian Known as ‘Putin’s Philosopher’

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The daughter of a highly influential Russian philosopher who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin was killed over the weekend by a car bomb. . .

[Daria] Dugina is the daughter of Aleksandr Dugin, 60, a self-educated philosopher who has a jingoistic mindset when it comes to foreign policy and his desire for Russia to expand its borders.

The New York Times reported that he is often referred to as “Putin’s philosopher” or “Putin’s brain.” Dugina shared her father’s views and was widely viewed as a propagandist working in the media. (Read more from “Car Bomb Kills Daughter of Highly Influential Russian Known as ‘Putin’s Philosopher’” HERE)

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