RT News - January 14th 2023 Late

Reports of blasts and disruptions in infrastructure across Ukraine, as cities including the country's capital Kiev are on high alert.
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More than 170 civilians are taken to safety from the town of Soledar, in the Donetsk Republic after it comes under full control of the Russian military. RT hears from some of the evacuees who say Ukrainian troops prevented them from escaping.
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Russia pushes for a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict but warns it's prepared to maintain its military efforts, unless Kiev and its Western patrons agree to talk peace. RT speaks with Russia's deputy UN envoy. Important. United Nations and UNSC, Security Council.

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Below, via RT website 1) --- New wave of strikes reported against Ukrainian power grid
2) --- Iran executes former deputy defence minister
3) --- Trump Organization given maximum fine for fraud
4) ---- FEATURE Corruption scandal in Ukraine's 'International Legion: Why an Australian TV star is accused of stealing millions
5) --- CDC must investigate deadly vaccine side effects – lawmaker
6) --- Ex-Russian president shames Japan over nuclear remarks
7) --- Paris highlights risk from US cyber defence – Le Monde

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14 Jan, 2023 17:33

1) --- New wave of strikes reported against Ukrainian power grid

The country’s energy minister has warned that the “next few days will be difficult”

Multiple critical infrastructure facilities across Ukraine came under attack on Saturday, local officials and media outlets have reported. The strike has prompted emergency power outages in several regions of the country, Energy Minister German Galuschenko has said.

“There were hits in Kharkov, Lviv, Ivano-Frankovsk, Zaporozhye, Vinnytsia and Kiev regions,” Galuschenko wrote in a Facebook post, warning that the “next few days will be difficult.”

Ukraine’s largest private energy operator, DTEK, has reported damage to two thermal power stations (TPS) under its management. The facilities were targeted in previous attacks as well, the company noted, without specifying exactly which TPS have been affected. Unverified footage circulating online, however, suggests that a power station in Kiev Region was hit.

At least one residential building was allegedly damaged amid Saturday strikes, which happened in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnepr (previously known as Dnepropetrovsk). While the cause of the incident was not immediately clear, and Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses have previously inflicted damage on residential areas on numerous occasions, the local authorities have squarely blamed Russia for attacking the building.

Moscow drastically ramped up its strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure in early October of last year, citing repeated Ukrainian sabotage on Russian soil, including the bombing of the Crimean Bridge, which is blamed by Moscow on Kiev’s military intelligence and its Western handlers. Although the incident was widely cheered by top Ukrainian officials, Kiev has denied any involvement in the massive car bomb blast that heavily damaged the road section of the bridge and killed three civilians.
https://www.rt.com/russia/569878-ukraine-power-sites-hit/
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14 Jan, 2023 17:04

2) --- Iran executes former deputy defense minister

Alireza Akbari was working “for the British government’s intelligence service,” the Islamic Republic's judiciary has said

Iran has executed a dual British-Iranian national and former senior security official, Alireza Akbari, the country’s judiciary announced Saturday. Akbari, who served as Iran’s deputy defense minister between 2000 and 2008, was arrested back in 2019 and ultimately sentenced to death for spying on behalf of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency.

“Alireza Akbari, who was sentenced to death on charges of corruption on Earth and extensive action against the country’s internal and external security through espionage for the British government’s intelligence service...was executed,” Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency said. Akbari has received a total of €1,805,000 euros, £265,000 and $50,000 for his spying activities, the agency noted.

The execution was followed by hostile diplomatic steps by both sides. Hours after it took place, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador to express indignation over London’s alleged “acts of sabotage and acts against national security.”

“In response to Britain's unconventional interventions, including in the national security field of the Islamic Republic of Iran, today, Simon Shercliff, the ambassador of this country in Tehran, was summoned,” the ministry said in a statement.

The continuation of such illegal and criminal actions cannot be tolerated in any way; therefore, the British government must accept the consequences of the responsibility of continuing its unorthodox and interventionist approach.

Top British officials, in turn, have condemned the execution, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak branding it a “callous and cowardly act.”

London has also slapped personal sanctions on Iran’s prosecutor general over the execution of Akbari. Announcing the move, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said London was “holding the regime to account for its appalling human rights violations.”

“Sanctioning him today underlines our disgust at Alireza Akbari’s execution. The Prosecutor General is at the heart of Iran's use of the death penalty,” Cleverly stated.

The consistently cold ties between Tehran and London have seemingly deteriorated even further in recent months in the wake of mass protests in Iran, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. While critics of the Iranian authorities insisted she was killed by the police, Tehran maintains her death was a result of a pre-existing condition.

Iran has repeatedly accused foreign actors, including London, of stirring up unrest in the country. According to Tehran, the UK dismantled a whole “network” fueling the protests that had operated “under the direct guidance of elements from Britain.”
https://www.rt.com/news/569875-iran-executes-british-spy/
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14 Jan, 2023 15:53

3) --- Trump Organization given maximum fine for fraud

The ex-president’s real estate company was found guilty on 17 counts last month

Former President Donald Trump’s real estate corporation has been ordered to pay the maximum fine of $1.6 million by a New York judge. Trump’s namesake organization was convicted last month on 17 counts, including conspiracy, tax fraud, and falsifying business records.

The penalty was handed down by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Friday. In assigning the maximum fine allowable under the law, Merchan sided with the prosecution, who argued that the Trump Organization engaged in “far-reaching and brazen” fraud.

Two of the Trump Organization’s subsidiaries – Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation – were found guilty last month of helping executives avoid taxes between 2005 and 2021 by offering them “off the books” perks like luxury apartment rentals, private school tuition, and car leases, which were not declared to the tax authorities.

While the companies pleaded not guilty, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, took a plea deal in exchange for his testimony. Weisselberg claims that he dodged city, state, and federal tax on approximately $1.76 million in income, and that the Trump Organization paid his rent and utility bills with company money as “indirect compensation” for his work.

Donald Trump was not charged with any offenses, nor did the former president testify during the trial. Defense attorney Michael van der Veen said in his closing statement that the jury “heard no evidence in this case that Mr. Trump or any of his children were aware of anything improper.”

Nevertheless, Trump’s lawyers viewed the trial as an attempt to tarnish the name of the Republican candidate, who officially entered the 2024 race for the presidency in November.

“New York has become the crime and murder capital of the world, yet these politically motivated prosecutors will stop at nothing to get President Trump and continue the never ending witch-hunt which began the day he announced his presidency,” the Trump Organization said in a statement. “We did nothing wrong and we will appeal this verdict.”
https://www.rt.com/news/569874-trump-organization-sentenced-fine/
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14 Jan, 2023 12:44

4) ---- FEATURE Corruption scandal in Ukraine's 'International Legion: Why an Australian TV star is accused of stealing millions (By Felix Livshitz)

The organization's celebrity ‘conwoman’ has come under investigation for fraud

Few Russians or Ukrainians will likely have heard of ‘The Block’. It's an Australian reality show in which couples compete against each other to renovate homes and sell them at auction for the highest possible price. This may have provided the perfect cover for Emese Fajk, a participant who fled the land Down Under after she attempted to buy a renovated property at great expense using fake bank slips, to join Kiev’s International Legion as its official spokesperson.

Fajk was first publicly linked to the group in July 2022. To the extent the mainstream media has acknowledged its spokesperson’s criminal past before, it is in the context of her work for the armed forces offering her a chance at “redemption.” That opportunity, if it ever existed in the first place, seems well and truly spent, given that she – known in Kiev under the callsign ‘Mockingjay’ – is now being investigated for fraud by authorities in the East European city.

The essence of the accusations

Fajk is accused by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) of stealing millions of dollars worth of medical supplies intended for Ukrainian soldiers, and Legion funds, which she denies. She was reportedly involved in the disappearance of a “massive” $2.5 million US shipment of medical supplies, and siphoning international donations intended for Kiev’s war effort.

The medical supplies – which included painkillers, such as the deadly opioid fentanyl – arrived in late October, but never made it to the frontline. “Considerable efforts” to locate the missing shipment were conducted, to no avail. Fajk claimed to know nothing of the shipment’s existence in the first place, but testimony by the individuals who delivered it places her at the scene where it arrived.

The lack of supplies meant countless injured Ukrainian soldiers on the frontlines were left in agony for hours or even days while awaiting help. The SBU’s report on the incident notes that when further questions were asked of Fajk, and it became obvious to her she was under suspicion, some of the supplies miraculously turned up at long last.

The same cannot be said for the “large amounts” of money donated to the Legion, which were “confiscated by Mockingjay and sent to places unknown.” Since Fajk joined in April 2022, the group has relied on two fundraising organizations, both set up and solely controlled by her, including the Civil Front, which is based in Norway.

The SBU has documented how many legionnaires complained of a lack of transparency regarding these entities. Fajk is also said to have been caught on a secret recording admitting she “routinely utilized the funds in this account for personal profit.”

While Western journalists failed to ask serious questions about whether she could be trusted in her role, both public and private donors overseas were apparently extremely wary of her presence, and failed to provide pledged funds, in the millions, due to fears she would embezzle the money, and a general perception that the Legion was “plagued by corruption, incompetence and abuse,” which had “a chilling effect on fundraising, logistical support and recruitment.”

By the time she was placed under official investigation for fraud, Fajk had already been internally judged to be a security threat. She responded by threatening to release damaging information about the Legion, or expel legionnaires from the Armed Forces, “unless they did her bidding” and/or remained silent about their concerns over her leadership.

“In every aspect of her job she has proven to be an abject failure. She does not have the confidence of the rank and file of the soldiers, local or international press or even those who work directly with her,” an SBU report obtained by the London's Daily Mail reveals. “It is a nearly unanimously held belief within the legion that she is a cancer on the organization that must be excised lest she destroy the entire body of the organization itself.”

This assessment was sent to the US Embassy in Kiev, which subsequently refused to have anything to do with Fajk, and asked for a different liaison with the Legion.

Symptom of a major disease

The Mail’s disclosures mark an exceedingly rare example of a Western news outlet acknowledging rampant corruption and criminality at all levels in Ukraine’s International Legion. Set up by President Vladimir Zelensky days after the Russian offensive began, it received so many applications from foreign volunteers that recruitment had to be paused in April, mere days after Fajk herself joined.

Many of those enlisting were young, impressionable males taken in by media tales of Ukrainian heroism, who had little or no experience in the military, let alone of direct combat, and a growing number have paid for that decision with their lives. Those who survive frequently leave within mere days or weeks, as they are sent straight to the frontline to serve as cannon fodder, facing a relentless, and highly deadly, Russian artillery onslaught.

As RT has previously documented in detail, several foreign fighters from English-speaking countries have testified publicly to how poorly trained, undisciplined new recruits and veteran mercenaries alike buckle under the hopeless realities of the conflict, a situation greatly exacerbated by a lack of supplies, air support, artillery cover, or extraction teams.

These are frequent features of interviews with Legion veterans, but they most commonly report unbridled corruption and theft. For example, a former legionnaire who joined from the US Marines has spoken of a thriving black market for Western weapons, such as anti-tank missiles, which are stolen in a highly professionalized, systematic manner. Upon reaching the frontline, an unmarked van would subsequently arrive to ferry the arsenal away to places unknown.

Another former Legion fighter claims NATO anti-aircraft guns constantly disappeared from his unit’s armory within days, but despite the disappearances being reported to the SBU, no action was taken, and Legion commanders implicated in the crime weren’t punished. Meanwhile, anyone raising the alarm internally was threatened with being sent on suicide missions if they didn’t keep their mouths shut.

To date, all this bombshell testimony has been universally ignored by the Western media. Fajk’s story is the rare case that is not only reported on by a major news outlet, but also provided with extensive details. It is possible that the celebrity status of the suspect had an influence on the coverage of the conflict – as well as her previous criminal activity.

It is difficult to draw conclusions in this context, but with the proxy war’s Western donors increasingly questioning the wisdom of sending so much unaccountable money and materiel to Kiev, someone needed to be thrown under the bus.

https://www.rt.com/russia/569796-ukrainian-foreign-legions-celebrity-conwoman/

see also https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/01/what-have-we-bargained-for-in-ukraine/ - it's a paywall but you get 3 free views a month
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14 Jan, 2023 14:08

5) --- CDC must investigate deadly vaccine side effects – lawmaker

The US health agency had earlier acknowledged that Pfizer’s shots could adversely affect the elderly

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the House Commerce Committee chair, has called on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to “rapidly investigate” a potential link between Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine and strokes among elderly people. The CDC acknowledged the risk, but continues to recommend that everyone over six months of age receive booster shots.

The CDC announced on Friday that reports suggested a link between Pfizer’s bivalent booster shots and an uptick in strokes among adults over 65 who had received them. The agency said that it would investigate these reports, but claimed that it “is very unlikely” that there is a “true clinical risk,” and that everyone over the age of six months should take the vaccine regardless.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week authorized the use of these bivalent booster shots in infants over six months old, despite the fact that Pfizer never conducted human trials before bringing the shots to market.

The lack of transparency over the past three years has broken Americans’ trust in our public health agencies,” McMorris Rodgers said in a statement on Friday. “CDC and FDA have systems in place to monitor vaccine safety that have identified this preliminary signal,” she continued. “Now these agencies must rapidly investigate, in an open and transparent manner, whether or not the vaccine may have contributed to the reported strokes.”

McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, added that both the CDC and FDA will be called to testify before her committee “so we can begin the long road of helping to restore Americans’ trust in our public health agencies.”

More than two years have passed since the FDA first issued an emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s vaccine. Formal approval was granted in late 2021, but reports of adverse effects have since surfaced. The vaccine has been linked to an increased risk of cardiac arrest, particularly in young males, and a number of European countries have halted their booster programs in response to these concerns.

Furthermore, coronavirus vaccines have been found ineffective at stopping the transmission of Covid-19, despite Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla’s insistence in 2021 that his product was “100% effective in preventing Covid-19 cases.”
https://www.rt.com/news/569867-cdc-pfizer-vaccine-strokes/
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14 Jan, 2023 14:45

6) --- Almost all Hungarians oppose sanctions on Russia – survey

A nationwide poll shows 97% believe the restrictions cause serious economic harm

The overwhelming majority of Hungarians are opposed to sanctions the West has imposed on Russia over Ukraine and believe that they are detrimental to the country's economy, the government in Budapest announced on Saturday, citing the results of a countrywide questionnaire, or “consultation.”

In a Facebook post, the Hungarian government revealed that “97% of Hungarians reject sanctions that cause serious damage,“ adding that “The message is clear: the Brussels sanctions policy must be reviewed.”

Szentkiralyi Alexandra, a government spokeswoman, said that the restrictions the EU had imposed on Russia over Ukraine had failed to stop the conflict, but caused a lot of economic problems for Europe. In this vein, Hungarians tend to reject oil restrictions and planned gas sanctions, she noted.

“The people taking part in the consultation say a clear ‘no’ to sanctions that further increase food prices or place additional burdens on European tourism,” Szentkiralyi added.

The spokeswoman pointed out that Hungary is the first EU country to poll its citizens about the sanctions’ impact. She also described the consultation as “a guideline for Hungarian public actors,” with the results set to be delivered to EU authorities in Brussels. “This is quite necessary because they want to introduce new sanctions instead of revising the sanctions policy,” Szentkiralyi explained.

She went on to thank about 1.4 million people that took part in the survey, noting that detailed results would be released in the near future. The consultation on the matter was launched in mid-October and included seven questions about sanctions on the oil, gas, raw materials export, and nuclear and tourism spheres.

In recent months, the sanctions the West imposed on Russia over the Ukraine conflict have exacerbated Europe’s energy crisis, causing fuel prices and costs of living to surge.

Hungary, which is heavily dependent on Russian energy, has long been critical of the EU's sanctions policy. On Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that by promoting sanctions in the bloc, German politicians had “miscalculated,” but do not have the courage to admit that.

Last month, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the sanctions were taking a heavy toll on the European economy. He also claimed the US was the only nation benefiting from them, since it has been selling liquified natural gas to Europe at lucrative prices.
https://www.rt.com/news/569866-survey-hungary-sanctions-reject/
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14 Jan, 2023 11:59

6) --- Ex-Russian president shames Japan over nuclear remarks

Tokyo is “talking nonsense” by joining with Washington's warnings against Moscow, Dmitry Medvedev has said

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has defiled the memories of the hundreds of thousands who perished in the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev claimed on Saturday.

The comments are in response to a warning issued by Kishida and US President Joe Biden, that if Russia uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine it would be an “act of hostility against humanity and unjustifiable.” The two leaders issued the statement after talks in Washington, DC on Friday.

Writing on Telegram, Medvedev, who serves as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, described the statement as “hideous cringe.”

“I will not even comment on the paranoia over the nuclear plans of our country,” he added.

Russian officials have repeatedly stated that Moscow does not intend to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that doing so “would make neither political, nor military sense.” Under its official nuclear doctrine, Russia would only use the weapons in response to an attack with weapons of mass destruction or when there is “a threat to the existence of the state as a whole.”

Medvedev also said that Kishida was “talking nonsense about Russia in a degrading loyalist frenzy” which has led to him “betraying the memory of hundreds of thousands of Japanese who were burned in the nuclear fire of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

The former president went on to say that the Japanese PM “does not care one bit that the only country that effectively used nuclear weapons was the United States,” and “their only victim was his motherland.” He added that Kishida should demand that the US president repent for the attack, but he is just “attending personnel for Americans. And servants cannot be courageous.”

The atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively, at the end of WWII, and remains the only instance in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. The death toll in the two blasts is estimated at 70,000 to 135,000 in Hiroshima, and 60,000 to 80,000 in Nagasaki.
https://www.rt.com/russia/569864-medvedev-shames-japan-nuclear/
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14 Jan, 2023 15:09

7) --- Paris highlights risk from US cyber defense – Le Monde

European countries are making themselves susceptible to Washington’s intelligence gathering, a French general has warned

Countries in Europe risk exposing themselves to US espionage by allowing Washington's cyber defense teams monitor their networks. That's according to General Aymeric Bonnemaison, the head of France’s Cyber Defense Command, as cited by the Le Monde newspaper on Friday. The concern comes as the US boosts its cyber forces abroad, in light of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the newspaper reported.

Bonnemaison reportedly told a weekly press briefing on Thursday that the increased activities of US cyber defense teams on European networks “raise questions.” The general was said to have described American operations as “relatively aggressive” during a closed-door hearing at the National Assembly’s Defense Committee last month.

He added that by allowing US cyber experts into their sensitive networks, Washington’s allies were exposing themselves to possible espionage, according to Le Monde. He warned that US teams “go quite far” in terms of intrusion. “They protect, but their presence is marked by their service to diplomacy,” the French cyber defense commander was quoted as saying.

According to the US Cyber Command, a partner nation can request that its teams deploy “strictly defensive” hunt forward operations (HFOs) on the host country’s network. The Cyber Command has conducted 35 such operations in 18 countries as of August 2022, including Estonia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Ukraine, according to a statement on its website.

The Cyber Command said in November that it had deployed “its largest hunt forward team yet” to help Ukraine track “malicious” activities. “Although the hunt forward team is no longer deployed to Ukraine, Cybercom remains committed and continues to provide support to Ukraine, other allies and partner nations, with US joint forces aligned and supporting the European Theater,” the statement read.
https://www.rt.com/news/569869-paris-risk-us-cyber-defense-teams/
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