State Department official Victoria Nuland admitted on Tuesday that the US government is funding biological laboratories in Ukraine. But what happens behind closed doors? Correspondent Dan Cohen interviews journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, who has investigated these facilities in Eastern Europe. Read Dilyana Gaytandzhieva’s reporting on Pentagon-funded biological laboratories here:
As the article below states, these documents released by the Russian government have not yet been independently verified, but it’s important for us to know about them. Also, it’s useful to know that, as Clint Ehrlich said last night (he’s been following Russian domestic media): “It’s impossible to overstate how much press this story is currently getting in Russia. I’m hearing massive chatter from my contacts there about how Ukraine was planning a giant offensive to retake the Donbas – and how the DNR & LNR would have been crushed.” – Natylie
Secret Ukrainian documents captured by the Russian military allegedly prove that Kiev was planning a major offensive against its breakaway eastern regions in March, which Moscow preempted with its own attack. Russia’s Ministry of Defense published the purported evidence on Wednesday.
The release includes images of six pages, which are claimed to have been captured in Ukraine. Written in Ukrainian and bearing the traits of official paperwork, they appear to be classified communications of the Ukrainian National Guard. RT is unable to independently verify the documents.
According to the papers, in late January, National Guard Commander Colonel General Mykola Balan ordered at least some units under his command to boost their capabilities for warfighting against the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.
Various parts of the preparation had to be completed throughout February, with a final deadline of February 28, according to the documents. The measures were ordered based on an instruction purportedly issued by President Volodymyr Zelensky on January 18. The presidential website does not list a document that the papers released by Moscow refer to.
The Russian military claimed the documents provide clear indication that Kiev was planning to launch a major offensive against the rebels sometime in March. It pointed out that the commander apparently stressed the need to screen soldiers based on their mental state, including the capacity to take risks when carrying out orders.
“We remember well the statements by the Kiev regime, which the Western media disseminated in February, claiming there were no plans for a military takeover of [the breakaway republics], their determination to resolve all issues through diplomacy,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said during a briefing on Wednesday.
“But the originals of the secret combat documents of the National Guard of Ukraine conclusively prove that those statements were false,” he stated.
The official said the Russian military operation preempted a major Ukrainian attack against Donetsk and Lugansk, which the ministry believes would have started in March.
He added the only question that remains to be answered is to what degree, if any, Western nations participated in the planning. NATO nations have been training and arming the Ukrainian National Guard for years, Konashenkov said.
Russia attacked Ukraine in late February, days after recognizing the two breakaway regions as sovereign nations and pledging to defend them with force. Among other things, Moscow claimed the invasion was necessary to stop hostilities between government and rebel forces, which have continued since 2014, and the deaths of civilians amid the fighting.
Kiev and its foreign backers called the Russian attack unprovoked. The US and its allies imposed crippling economic sanctions against Russia, stating that the damage that their own economies would suffer as a result was a price worth paying to defend Ukraine.
Note: I have no opinion on whether what the Russian military spokesman said in his recent remarks, discussed by Doctorow below, are true or untrue. But I think it’s important that we know what he said. – Natylie
In recent days, in what is surely a coordinated action by NATO and European authorities acting hand in glove, Russian news broadcasters have been taken off servers in Europe and effectively made inaccessible to the entire European public. This modern day “jamming” concerns not just RT or Sputnik, the best known state owned voices of Russia because they broadcast in English and other languages that we all know, but virtually every news outlet based in Russia, public and privately owned, and broadcasting in the Russian language.
In this regard, EU Member States are waging an Information War of greatest significance that is absolutely not mentioned, let alone discussed in Western media, whether mainstream or otherwise. The victim is the European public, which, if bad turns to worse, will not know what hit them and why when cruise or hypersonic missiles descend on NATO bases or infrastructure. This enforced silence prevents Western civil society from taking any steps to save its own neck in what have become wartime conditions on the Continent.
The blockage is not uniformly enforced at all times, so that some Russian print and video producers can be accessed at one moment or another before going black.
In particular, one vitally important 3.30 minute video of Russian military spokesman Igor Konoshenkov yesterday and this morning remains accessible on youtube. I will detail below what he was saying, because the messenger and the message concern whether you and I will live to see another day.
Konoshenkov’s points in this video were the following:
1) Russia has now destroyed the entire Ukrainian air force that remained within the confines of Ukraine
2) There are also Ukrainian fighter jets that left the country and are now parked in Romania and other neighboring countries. If these planes are allowed by local authorities to take off from Romania, etc. and enter Ukrainian air space, Russia will consider the country from which they took off as a co-belligerent and will take appropriate action against them. The subtext is that Russia is ready to make missile strikes against NATO airfields that transgress the rules of war.
3) Russia is now about to destroy all military industrial complex factories in Ukraine and has formally warned all employees of these factories to leave the premises and stay away
4) Russia has received documentation from Ukrainian health authorities on the production of biological weapons (anthrax, Siberian plague and much more) by Ukrainian labs in Kharkiv and elsewhere in cooperation with the United States. Stocks of such weapons were being stored in direct violation of international conventions. On 24 February, in advance of the start of Russia’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, the Ukrainian health authorities destroyed these illicit biological weapons. However, Russia has obtained the official documentation certifying this destruction of what should never have been there. Moscow is now studying this documentation, which indicates United States participation in the development of the biological weapons and will publish the incriminating documents, starting from yesterday.
(Note: Victoria Nuland of the State Department testified about this yesterday before congress, acknowledging that biolabs did/do exist in Ukraine)
U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland says Washington is working with Ukraine to prevent biological research facilities from falling into Russian hands. She just confirmed every conspiracy theory about the existence of those labs. pic.twitter.com/ynkd7hW6iK
5) Russia has also obtained documentation proving that Ukraine, in cooperation with the United States, was since the presidency of Petro Petrushenko, actively developing nuclear weapons, including “dirty” nuclear devices using readily available fuel from its reactors. Such activity was going on in the Zaporozhye nuclear plants, and it is very likely that the fire reported at a ‘training unit’ adjacent to an active reactor two days ago related to destruction of incriminating papers, if it was not otherwise a ‘false flag’ operation to allege a Russian attack on the power station, in violation of international law.
From this list, the most threatening to European peace in the immediate days ahead is point 2, regarding Ukrainian aircraft based outside of Ukraine and being assigned missions to fly back into Ukrainian air space to thwart Russia’s ongoing military offensive. This bears directly on the patently insane plans of Secretary of State Blinken to allow the Poles to transfer to Kiev, its stock of Soviet era MIGs for missions into Ukraine.
As regards American involvement in the illicit production of biological weapons and of dirty or other types of nuclear arms, we may expect very heated discussions in the United Nations and other forums in coming days.
In the context of the Russian recovery of incriminating documentation that exposes foreign aiders and abetters of Ukraine’s hoped for but not yet achieved production of weapons of mass destruction, it is entirely possible that this explains the sudden and unanticipated flight to Moscow of Israel’s President Bennett two days ago for urgent consultations with President Putin. So far accusations of foreign participation are directed solely against the United States.
The link to Konoshenkov’s briefing yesterday afternoon (only in Russian language):
An article in the Jerusalem Post is reporting that sources familiar with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s recent visit with Putin say that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are more difficult for Ukraine than president Zelensky is letting on even to his western handlers. Reportedly, Zelensky has been given essentially an ultimatum from Russia and if its terms are not met soon, then an intensified military assault will proceed:
Three days after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, the details are beginning to emerge. According to people who were privy to details about the meeting, the current situation is that Russia has offered a “final” version of its offer to end the crisis, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky needs to accept or decline.
The proposal was deemed “difficult” but not “impossible,” the sources said. It is worse than what Zelensky would have gotten before the invasion but “the gaps between the sides are not great.”
Putin ordered his forces to halt – and the command for a ceasefire to be enacted was given – in order to wait for Zelensky’s decision, the sources said.
If Ukraine’s president rejects the proposal, French President Emmanuel Macron’s assumption that “the worst is before us” is prone to happen. In that scenario, Putin will order his army to put the pedal to the metal and change the face of Ukraine.
Zelensky is torn, the sources said. On the one hand, he is enjoying immense popularity and has become the perfect Che Guevara. On the other hand, he knows full well what the Argentinian revolutionary and guerrilla leader’s end was.
Zelensky can fortify Ukraine’s independence but will have to pay a heavy price, the sources said. Assumptions are that he will be forced to give up the contested Donbas region, officially recognize the pro-Russian dissidents in Ukraine, pledge that Ukraine will not join NATO, shrink his army and declare neutrality. If he declines the proposal, the outcome may be terrible: thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of Ukrainians will die and there is a high probability that his country will completely lose its independence.
The basic outlines of this article seem to be reinforced by a change in Zelensky’s tone about NATO membership and his willingness to engage in “compromise” as well as other developments. In an interview with ABC News, Zelensky said he’d cooled on NATO: “I have cooled over the issue a long time ago after we understood that NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said.
With respect to Russia’s currently stated demands, in addition to neutrality regarding NATO, Zelensky voiced a new willingness to discuss the acceptance of Crimea in Russia and the Donbas as independent:
“I think that items regarding temporarily occupied territories and pseudo-republics not recognized by anyone but Russia, we can discuss and find a compromise on how these territories will live on… What’s important to me is how the people in those territories who want to be part of Ukraine are going to live.”
Prior to Zelensky’s interview, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had publicly reiterated that Ukraine has no prospects of NATO membership in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, some EU nations – such as Germany and the Netherlands – are balking at the idea of Ukraine even joining the economic bloc. I’m not sure what else Zelensky needs to sober up and realize that the west doesn’t see Ukraine as a good risk for them outside of throwing weapons at them to prolong the killing with no real chance of victory.
It appears that nothing substantive came out of yesterday’s third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine. However, it was reported by Reuters yesterday that the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine will be meeting on Thursday for talks hosted by Turkey.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress has agreed on a $14 billion aid package for Ukraine that will entail funds for both military and humanitarian assistance. Amazing how quickly they can get this out the door while Americans are still waiting on a public option for healthcare and an increase in the minimum wage that has been sitting at a measly $7.25 an hour for 13 years. Priorities.
No-Fly Zone Maniacs
Hopefully the Ukraine conflict will get resolved quickly one way or another before the crazies have their way. My earlier post regarding the consequences of a no-fly zone were the result of alarming polls coming out in recent days in which a majority of Americans support a US/NATO no-fly zone over Ukraine. I think most of these people don’t really understand what that is. The reason they are supporting it is no doubt because the mainstream media is whipping up war frenzy and not educating readers/viewers on what exactly a no-fly zone is and means. Now we have a letter from “foreign policy experts” to the Biden administration requesting a “limited” no fly zone but that qualifier is virtually meaningless. Here is the key wording in their letter:
What we seek is the deployment of American and NATO aircraft not in search of confrontation with Russia but to avert and deter Russian bombardment that would result in massive loss of Ukrainian lives. This is in addition to the request from Ukrainian leaders for A-10 and MiG-29 aircraft to help Ukrainians defend themselves, which we also strongly support.
The signatories are composed of the usual ideological extremists on foreign policy in general and Russia policy in particular: Anders Aslund, Evelyn Farkas, Melinda Haring (Atlantic Council), Ret. Gen. Phillip Breedlove, Ian Brzezinski (son of Zbig) et al. Let’s hope the Biden administration ignores these lunatics and that mainstream media refrains from giving them a platform to push their insanity.
For what it’s worth, the Pentagon seems to be showing some sense. As I mentioned last week, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ruled out a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Today Pentagon spokesman John Kirby tweeted that the US did not think Poland’s idea to send fighter jets to Ukraine via the German Rammstein air base was a good idea at this time:
The prospect of fighter jets “at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America” departing from a U.S./NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance. (3/4)
It is simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for it. We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one. (4/4)
The CIA, on the other hand, may not be so cautious. According to Scott Ritter’s posting within the past few hours, fighter jets are being funneled to Ukraine from an airfield in Romania:
Ukraine has established a “safe haven” airfield in Romania, probably in concert with CIA assistance. Ukrainian SU-27’s have taken refuge here, and sortie out, entering Ukraine through radar gaps over the Carpathian Mountains. The Polish Mig-29’s will likely deploy to Romania.
…Russia already has [become aware of this], and has warned Romania accordingly.
Russia’s Economic Measures
Meanwhile, Putin has signed a decree to ban the export out of Russia of certain products and raw materials – to be specified later – until December 31st. He also signed into law the proposed legislation for dealing with sanctions that I reported on last week, which included the ability to raise pensions and minimum wages, suspension of government inspections of small/medium businesses, and the regulation of pharmaceuticals, among other provisions.
This comes as WTO members are conferring to discuss the possibility of rescinding Russia’s favored nation status in the organization.
Pepsi, McDonalds, and Starbucks are the latest western companies to suspend operations in Russia. It was reported by Sagaar Enjeti at Breaking Points that many western companies are suspending operations, not for moral reasons or virtue signaling, but because sanctions have made it logistically impossible to continue operating at this time.
