RT News - January 11th 2023 (early)

Soledar city now under Russia's Wagner Group control with minor fights continuing - updates
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South Africa launches an investigation after a video circulates online apparently showing a group of its soldiers throwing corpses into a fire in neighboring Mozambique.
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Amid efforts to promote a more multipolar world, China's new foreign minister begins his term with a substantial trip to several African countries, as Beijing strengthens economic ties with the continent.
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Basic only post from QS this morning, more details in late post
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Below, via RT website 1) --- Wagner group claims full control of Soledar
2) --- Zelensky strips opposition leader of Ukrainian citizenship
3) --- EU parliament fund invested in cluster munitions industry – media
4) --- US stocks face massive drop – Morgan Stanley
5) --- UK job market tumbles as economy slows – survey
6) --- Wagner group releases video from contested Soledar
7) --- Details emerge of classified docs found in Biden think tank – CNN - The papers reportedly contain sensitive information on Ukraine, Iran and the UK
8) --- EU and NATO to further strengthen ties
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10 Jan, 2023 21:54

1) --- Wagner group claims full control of Soledar

Ukrainian troops are reportedly trapped in the key Donbass town

Units of Wagner Group have taken control of the “entire territory” of Soledar, the head of the private military company Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed on Tuesday evening. Fighting is still going on in the centre of town, where an unknown number of Ukrainian soldiers has been encircled.

“There is a cauldron in the center of town, where urban fighting is taking place,” Prigozhin said in a statement released to the media. “We’ll announce the number of prisoners tomorrow.”

He added that only Wagner “and no other units” had taken part in the storming of Soledar.

A video showing two Wagner fighters standing calmly outside the town administration building was released on social media earlier in the day. Such recordings, usually accompanied with geospatial coordinates, have commonly been used during the conflict to announce territorial control.

Named after its salt mines, Soledar had around 10,000 residents before the conflict. The Ukrainian army turned it into a strongpoint after being pushed out of Popasnaya in mid-2022. Russian control over the town creates problems for Kiev’s forces in the embattled bastion of Artyomovsk, which Ukraine has renamed Bakhmut.

Prigozhin said last week that his objective was not necessarily to take the towns, but “the destruction of the Ukrainian army and the reduction of its combat potential.”

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky acknowledged that the situation in Soledar was “very difficult” and called it “one of the bloodiest spots along the front line,” but vowed that Ukrainian troops would continue to hold “no matter what.”

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

Moscow demands that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.
https://www.rt.com/russia/569673-wagner-soledar-control-donbass/
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supplemental - 10 Jan, 2023 19:17

Wagner group releases video from contested Soledar

Recording shows the centre of key Donbass town under Russian control

https://t.me/brussinf/5521

https://www.rt.com/russia/569669-wagner-soledar-video-center/
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11 Jan, 2023 07:47

2) --- Zelensky strips opposition leader of Ukrainian citizenship

The president accused Viktor Medvedchuk and several other MPs of “serving” Russia

President Vladimir Zelensky has announced that the Ukrainian passports of Viktor Medvedchuk, the leader of the banned Opposition Platform – For Life party, and several other current and former opposition MPs have been revoked.

Medvedchuk, Andrey Derkach, Taras Kozak and Renat Kuzmin have been stripped of their Ukrainian citizenship based on the materials prepared by the country’s Security Service (SBU) and migration authorities, and in line with the constitution, Zelensky said on Tuesday.

“If the parliamentarian chooses to serve not to the people of Ukraine, but the killers who came to Ukraine, then we’re going to act accordingly,” he explained, implying that the politicians stripped of their citizenship had been working with Russia.

“Those aren’t the last such decisions. The special services are working,” Zelensky added.

All of the sanctioned individuals left Ukraine amid a crackdown on the opposition by Zelensky’s government following Russia’s military operation in the country, which started in February last year.

Medvedchuk spent months in detention in Ukraine after being arrested in April, shortly after his party – the second largest in the country – was branded illegal, along with a dozen other groups that opposed the Kiev authorities.

The 68-year-old had earlier been charged with treason for his alleged collaboration with Russia. Derkach, Kozak and Kuzmin have all faced similar accusations.

Medvedchuk’s opponents accuse him of being a pro-Russian politician, which he denies. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously labeled him a “Ukrainian nationalist.”

Medvedchuk was freed in September as part of a major prisoner exchange between Kiev and Moscow. The swap also saw 55 Russian and Donbass soldiers return home, while Ukraine got back 150 of its troops, including many fighters attached to the infamous nationalist Azov Battalion, who surrendered to the Russian forces during the battle of Mariupol.

In previous years, Medvedchuk himself played an active role in organizing prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Media reports claimed last week that Zelensky revoked the citizenship of 13 priests from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in December. The church had been subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate.
https://www.rt.com/russia/569678-zelensky-medvedchuk-ukrainian-citizenship/
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10 Jan, 2023 12:34

3) --- EU parliament fund invested in cluster munitions industry – media

The body's pension managers also bought shares in tobacco and mining firms, EUobserver reports

A heavily indebted pension fund serving the European Parliament has been found to have used taxpayer money to purchase shares in various arms, tobacco, mining and fossil fuel companies, EUobserver reported on Tuesday.

The news outlet claims to have obtained “a detailed breakdown” of the fund’s investments between 1994 and 2010. According to the documents, MEPs held tens of thousands of shares in several arms manufacturers known for producing cluster munitions, which have been banned by the EU since 2008.

Those companies included US giants Raytheon, Honeywell International and Textron, all of which were known to produce the deadly weapons, considered dangerous to civilians.

All three firms claim to have ceased production of cluster munitions in recent years. Additionally, it is unclear if the fund still holds shares in any of them, as no recent investment information has been made available.

What is publicly known, however, is that the pension scheme has been bleeding money, and some fear the European Parliament may end up using as much as €400 million of taxpayer money to bail it out. According to experts, the fund is expected to go bust within the next three years as it continues to experience a sharp deficit due to the rapid increase in the number of MEPs reaching retirement age.

Several MEPs have insisted that the deficient fund should be allowed to go under, and that “not a cent” should go into bailing it out. In a letter to EU parliament president Roberta Metsola last year, several MEPs also warned that the fund posed “potential devastating reputational risks for the European Parliament.”

The fund was initially set up in 1990 and was open to MEPs until 2009. For every €1,000 paid into the scheme by lawmakers, parliament contributed €2,000 of taxpayer money. Nearly 900 people are expected to draw a pension from the fund by 2024. The list of contributors and beneficiaries includes EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, French National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter Marine Le Pen, as well as UKIP founder Nigel Farage.
https://www.rt.com/news/569647-europan-parliament-pension-fund/
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11 Jan, 2023 07:01

4) --- US stocks face massive drop – Morgan Stanley

The Wall Street bank’s chief strategist says equities may fall another 22% from current levels

US stocks are expected to undergo much sharper declines than most of the pessimistic projections outlined, according to Michael Wilson, Morgan Stanley’s chief US equity strategist, as quoted by Bloomberg.

In a research note seen by the agency, the analyst said that the recession would exacerbate the biggest annual decline in the equity market since the global financial crisis. Wilson added that the S&P 500 could drop much lower than the 3,500 to 3,600 points that the market is currently estimating, in the event of a mild recession.

“The consensus could be right directionally, but wrong in terms of magnitude,” he said, adding that the benchmark could bottom around 3,000 points, or some 22% as against current levels.

The analyst warned, however, that while a peak in inflation would bolster bond markets, “it’s also very negative for profitability.” Margins will continue to disappoint through 2023, he added.

Meanwhile, analysts at Goldman Sachs reportedly expect the positive impact from China’s post-Covid economic reopening to get overshadowed by pressure on profit margins, changes to US corporate tax policies, along with looming recession.

Deutsche Bank Group strategists also say that US earnings would decline during the current year, adding that stocks could rally through the fourth-quarter reporting season due to a year-end selloff and to low investor positioning.
https://www.rt.com/business/569609-us-stocks-crash-morgans-stanley/
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11 Jan, 2023 06:33

5) --- UK job market tumbles as economy slows – survey

Vacancies and wages grew at the slowest pace since the pandemic lockdowns of early 2021, the report said

Recession fears in the UK are forcing businesses to mothball hiring plans to keep costs at a minimum, a survey by auditing company KPMG and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) released on Tuesday showed.

Hiring for permanent staff in the UK slumped for a third month in December, falling at the quickest pace since the pandemic lockdowns of early 2021. Vacancies grew at the slowest rate since February 2021 and were accompanied by the weakest pay raise in 20 months, the report said.

“The jobs market looks less than rosy at the start of 2023,” a partner in skills and productivity at KPMG UK, Claire Warnes said, adding that “vacancy growth rates are trending down again this month from a historically high peak in July 2021.”

According to REC CEO Neil Carberry, a slowdown in permanent placements is not unusual in December but “this one comes as part of a wider softening trend in the permanent market.”

Starting salaries for permanent staff and pay rates for temporary workers grew at the slowest rate since April 2021, the survey showed, indicating that employers have grown more cautious about hiring and halted plans to take on workers until January, awaiting the next report on this year’s outlook.

“Industrial relations turmoil in many sectors, along with the scarcity of available staff in all sectors, means that wage inflation may soften only slightly in the near term,” Warnes said.

Inflation remains one of the biggest concerns of recruitment companies in the UK amid forecasts that the British economy looks set to contract in 2023. The Bank of England has lifted its key rate nine times since December 2021 in an effort to rein in spiraling price growth.
https://www.rt.com/business/569651-uk-job-market-slump/
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10 Jan, 2023 19:17 (posted briefly in "late news" yesterday)

6) --- Wagner group releases video from contested Soledar

Recording shows the center of key Donbass town under Russian control

Russian troops are in control of downtown Soledar, the private military company Wagner has claimed, posting a video filmed outside the town’s administration building on Tuesday afternoon. The salt-mining town is a crucial link in Ukraine’s Donbass fortifications and commands the northern approach to the strategic hub of Bakhmut.

The video making rounds on social media shows two members of the PMC, which has been storming the town block-by-block over the past several weeks, outside the battle-scarred building.

“We are at the center of town right now, outside the administration building,” the soldiers say. “PMC Wagner is carrying out the mission, clearing the town.”

According to some frontline reports, Russian forces north and south of Soledar have linked up outside a salt mine west of the town, cutting off any Ukrainian soldiers that did not manage to retreat.

telegram address video : https://t.me/brussinf/5521

Named after its salt mines, Soledar had around 10,000 residents before the conflict. The Ukrainian army turned it into a strongpoint after being pushed out of Popasnaya in mid-2022.

Russian control of the town creates a problem for Ukrainian forces both to the north and to the south, in the embattled bastion of Artyomovsk, which Kiev has renamed Bakhmut.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky acknowledged on Sunday that the situation in Soledar was “very difficult” and called it “one of the bloodiest spots along the front line,” but vowed that Ukrainian troops would continue to hold “no matter what.”

While capturing Artyomovsk would open the road to Slavyansk, where the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) was proclaimed in 2014, Kiev’s determination to hold the town has presented the Russian forces with the opportunity to catch Ukrainian forces in a “meat grinder,” according to Russian war correspondents.

As Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin told local media last week, the objective is not the city itself, but “the destruction of the Ukrainian army and the reduction of its combat potential.”

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

Moscow demands that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.
https://www.rt.com/russia/569669-wagner-soledar-video-center/
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11 Jan, 2023 08:00

7) --- Details emerge of classified docs found in Biden think tank – CNN - The papers reportedly contain sensitive information on Ukraine, Iran and the UK

Obama-era sensitive documents discovered at a think tank closely tied to US President Joe Biden include materials covering such topics as Ukraine, Iran and the UK, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing sources.

A day earlier, CBS News reported that on November 2 Biden’s personal attorneys found a number of classified documents at the former office of the US President. The discovery was said to have happened at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement of the University of Pennsylvania, with the attorneys reporting it to the US National Archives.

The White House has acknowledged the incident, with Biden himself saying that he was “surprised,” reiterating that his team is “fully cooperating with the review” being conducted by the Justice Department.

According to a CNN source, the sensitive documents were dated between 2013 and 2016 and included intelligence memos and briefing materials on a number of foreign countries. Most of the discovered items were of personal significance to the Biden family, including papers about the funeral arrangements of Beau Biden, the president’s late son, as well as condolence letters.

The US Justice Department has assigned the US attorney in Chicago to look into the matter, several US outlets reported. Meanwhile, according to a CNN source, Attorney General Merrick Garland has received a preliminary report on the inquiry and now has to decide what action to take, which could include opening a full-blown criminal investigation.

The controversy surrounding the classified docs has put Biden in a tough spot, given that just several months ago he chastised former President Donald Trump for irresponsibly hoarding sensitive papers at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago. In August, the FBI raided the property in search of the materials, which the ex-president had refused to hand over to the National Archives after leaving office. At the time, the agency reportedly seized 300 sensitive documents.

Following the revelation, Trump drew parallels between the two incidents, arguing that the FBI should now also raid the White House. However, the White House argues that the circumstances of the two cases are completely different, given that Biden had not been notified that he had the documents, nor was he asked to return them. The president’s team also swiftly revealed the discovery to the National Archives and handed in the papers, it said.
https://www.rt.com/news/569676-details-biden-classified-documents/
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10 Jan, 2023 15:53

8) --- EU and NATO to futher strengthen ties

Transatlantic security demands “further mobilization,” according to a joint statement

The European Union and NATO on Tuesday signed a declaration on cooperation, vowing to take their partnership “to the next level” and promising continued support to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.

The declaration was signed by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, President of the European Council Charles Michel, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at a ceremony in the US-led military bloc’s headquarters in Brussels.

Asserting that “NATO and the EU play complementary, coherent and mutually reinforcing roles,” the document says they “will further mobilize the combined set of instruments at our disposal, be they political, economic or military, to pursue our common objectives to the benefit of our one billion citizens.”

The two organizations claimed that their “interests, values and democratic principles” were being challenged by “authoritarian actors,” singling out Russia and China as the biggest threats they supposedly face. The conflict in Ukraine “undermines European and global security and stability” and thus warrants increased NATO involvement on the continent, the document said.

NATO was founded in 1949 as a US-led military alliance aimed against the Soviet Union. The EU’s forerunner, the European Coal and Steel Community, was established two years later. The Warsaw Treaty Organization, a Soviet-led response to NATO, was created in 1955 and dissolved in 1991. In the 1990s, the EU became a political bloc, while NATO started expanding into Eastern Europe in what Moscow regarded as an existential threat and a violation of promises it was given when the Cold War ended.

The Russian government has said NATO’s creeping expansion into Ukraine following the 2014 coup was a key reason for the current military operation. Russian officials have also lamented the EU’s transformation from an economic and political organization into an extension of NATO.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued last month that NATO had returned to its original purpose of keeping “Russia out, the Americans in, and the Germans down,” as formulated by its first secretary general, Lord Ismay.

“Nothing has changed. They want to keep the Russians out of Europe, the Americans … have enslaved the entire Europe, and not only Germany, but the entire EU is kept under control,” Lavrov said in an interview.

European membership in the two blocs largely overlaps. Austria, Ireland, Finland and Sweden are in the EU but not in NATO – though the latter two have applied for membership. Meanwhile, Albania, Norway, the UK, Türkiye, and two former Yugoslav republics – Montenegro and North Macedonia – are in NATO but not in the EU.
https://www.rt.com/news/569652-nato-eu-joint-declaration/
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