RT News - February 28th 2023

War crimes, human shields, barbarous acts, cocaine and other hard drug use, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. RT speaks exclusively to a former US mercenary in Ukraine who defected to Russia to report on alleged war crimes by Kiev, also revealing the role of US intelligence in the conflict.

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250 Ukraine troops have been eliminated as Russian troops continue their advance. RT talks to Denis Pushilin.

Deadly landmines: Nearly a hundred civilians including children are injured just this year as Ukraine continues scattering banned landmines throughout residential areas in the Donetsk republic. They are illegal for use in civilian areas under every convention of war. Roman Kosarev reports

Africa/ France - Macron visit: France won't be made a scapegoat for Africa's problems, or drawn into a tug of war for influence. That's according to President Macron, ahead of his four-nation tour of the continent coming amid much recent opposition to Paris's presence there. Rachel Marsden reports

Basic RT + write-up - will give full edit later (dropped my speaker this morning at 6 a.m. shops don't open until 9 a.m. luckily long leader which needs no write up)
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Below via RT website

Breaking) --- 28 Feb, 2023 08:20 Airspace near St. Petersburg, Russia closed due to ‘UFO’
A) --- Moscow outlines conditions for unfreezing nuclear deal
B) --- NATO is de facto at war with Russia – Kremlin
C) --- Nord Stream blasts harmed Baltic wildlife – scientists
1) --- EU reveals cost of latest anti-Russia sanctions
1b) --- Washington reveals scope of Russia sanctions
2) --- EU nation backs Chinese peace plan
3) --- German debt skyrockets
4) ---- US treasury head pledges to fortify Ukrainian economy
5) --- Two very important videos which explain one heck of a lot of what's going on and why we are being robbed blind by our governments
6) --- Russia explains halt in oil exports to Poland
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Breaking) --- 28 Feb, 2023 08:20

Airspace near St. Petersburg, Russia closed due to ‘UFO’ – media

The local Pulkovo airport isn’t accepting civilian flights, the authorities say

The airspace near St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, has been closed off on Tuesday morning due to the appearance of an unidentified flying object in the area, media have reported.

The city authorities confirmed that Pulkovo International Airport has stopped accepting civilian flights, but didn’t reveal the reason for the move.

According to Baza news outlet, jets were scrambled in the air as the so-called Kover (carpet) plan was activated in St. Petersburg. The plan is initiated in the event of an illegal incursion by an aircraft or UFO into the country’s airspace, according to the outlet.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572177-saint-petersburg-ufo-jets/
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28 Feb, 2023 07:28

A) --- Moscow outlines conditions for unfreezing nuclear deal

The US must reconsider its anti-Russia policies before New START can be resumed, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said

Russia’s decision to suspend New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the US, was the right response to Washington’s anti-Russia policies and its violations of the deal, Moscow’s ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said on Monday.

Commenting on Washington’s criticism of the move, Antonov accused the US of shifting the blame. He noted that “Washington has launched and dragged its European allies into a large-scale hybrid war against Russia,” while openly stating that its goal is “to inflict a strategic defeat on our country.”

“At the same time, as if nothing has happened, it insists on the inspection of our bases, which store strategic nuclear weapons. These are the same bases that have been attacked by Ukraine with the help of the Pentagon,” the envoy stated.

Antonov accused Washington of substantially violating the central provisions of New START. He said the US had “illegitimately” withdrawn submarine-launched ballistic missile systems and heavy bombers from the deal’s counting rules after declaring them incapable of carrying out nuclear missions following “a procedure not agreed upon with Russia.”

“Our inspectors have never been given the opportunity to verify the results of the ‘conversion,’” Antonov explained.

Against this backdrop, the ambassador described the decision to suspend participation in New START as “the only right one under the circumstances,” adding that Moscow still complies with the quantitative limitations imposed by the treaty.

“To create the conditions for a return to full-scale operation of New START, Washington must reconsider its hostile anti-Russian policy,” he asserted.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow had “suspended its membership” of New START, saying the West had denied Moscow’s requests to inspect Western nuclear facilities in accordance with the treaty under formal pretexts.

The president also noted that NATO members were demanding access to Russia’s strategic facilities, despite the fact that the deal was signed only by Moscow and Washington.

New START was originally signed in 2010 by then-US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev. It was aimed at halving the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers deployed around the world. Under the treaty, both countries were supposed to allow the other side a limited number of inspections per year to verify compliance with the agreement. Unless extended, the treaty was set to expire in 2026.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572168-russia-conditions-new-start-nuclear/
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28 Feb, 2023 05:33

B) --- NATO is de facto at war with Russia – Kremlin

Western states stubbornly rejected any security talks even before the Ukraine conflict, Dmitry Peskov said

The US-led collective West must change their approach to global security and finally take Moscow’s concerns into consideration, before talks on the New START nuclear agreement can be renewed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Speaking to the Izvestia newspaper for an interview published on Tuesday, Peskov said relations with the United States and Europe have “changed radically” since President Vladimir Putin formulated draft security treaties that were sent to Washington, Brussels and Vienna in late 2021, only to hear that “they were not ready to talk about anything with us.”

“If they wanted, they could have sat down at the negotiating table [back then, before the decision to launch a military operation in Ukraine],” he said. “There would have been very complex, positional, sometimes irreconcilable talks, but they would have been under way. But they refused.”

With the failed attempt at dialogue, tensions continued to soar between Moscow and the West in the lead up to the conflict in Ukraine. Peskov argued that NATO is now fully involved in the hostilities, noting “their intelligence is working against us 24 hours a day, their weapons… are supplied to Ukraine for free to shoot at our military, not to mention that they shoot at Ukrainian citizens.”

“The moment when NATO de facto became a participant in the conflict in Ukraine, the situation changed,” the spokesman continued. “In fact, the NATO bloc is no longer acting as our conditional opponent, but as our enemy.”

“President Putin was and remains open to any contacts that can help Russia achieve its goals in one way or another,” Peskov continued. “Preferably peacefully, at the negotiations table, but when this is not possible, also by military means, as we are seeing now.”

Peskov touched on the New START treaty, a US-Russian accord intended to limit both nations’ nuclear stockpiles and allow them to monitor each other’s military facilities to confirm compliance. Amid the conflict in Ukraine, however, Moscow and Washington have accused each other of failing to facilitate such inspections.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow intended to formally suspend its obligations under the pact, with Peskov explaining “the conditions must somehow change.” During the New START negotiations, the nuclear arsenals of France and Great Britain were left out of the equation, even though they are “significant enough for the entire system of European strategic security,” he said.

“These countries – France, Britain, the United States – are members of an organization which is de facto at war with us... you need to call a spade a spade,” Peskov added, noting how Western states nevertheless keep “repeating like a mantra that they do not want to be participants in the conflict.”

Putin has also accused NATO specialists of helping Kiev to launch drone attacks against Russian airfields hosting long-range bombers, which are part of Moscow’s system of nuclear deterrence. He blamed Washington and NATO’s proxy war against Russia for destroying the foundation of trust on which the treaty was initially built.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572165-nato-war-russia-peskov/
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27 Feb, 2023 21:55

C) --- Nord Stream blasts harmed Baltic wildlife – scientists

Researchers say the pipeline explosions stirred up chemical waste and threaten cod and porpoise populations

report: https://cphpost.dk/2023-02-27/news/nord-stream-explosions-severely-impacted-maritime-life-report/

The destruction of Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines did not just cut off the flow of Russian natural gas to western Europe, it killed and poisoned the already endangered fish and marine mammal species in the Baltic Sea, says a new report by Danish, Polish and German scientists.

Two pipes of Nord Stream 1 and one pipe of Nord Stream 2 were blown up in late September 2022, in what Moscow has called an act of international terrorism. The “four explosions” stirred up the surrounding seabed, including the area previously used to dump toxic waste, according to a study conducted by the Aarhus University in Denmark.

“This could mean that fish that have been exposed to substances [such as lead and TBT] will become ill. There are some of them who will die, and there are some of them who will have difficulty reproducing,” Hans Sanderson from the Department of Environmental Science at Aarhus told the Copenhagen Post on Monday.

The researchers estimated that a quarter million tons of contaminated seabed, an area “twice the size” of the island of Bornholm, may have been stirred up by the explosions. This has threatened the Baltic Sea cod and porpoise populations, which have breeding grounds nearby.

Explosions may have deafened all porpoises within 50 kilometers of the blasts, while those within 4 kilometers were “probably killed,” the researchers said.

“It really was in the worst imaginable place. It is a tragedy that this has happened right here, where nature is already completely on its knees,” Bo Oksnebjerg of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) told the Post. He urged the Danish and Swedish governments to come up with a “sea plan” to safeguard the Baltic from future incidents.

Denmark’s Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke promised that the government would “continuously monitor and share the information with our neighboring countries around the Baltic Sea, so that we have an overall picture of the consequences and can follow up to the relevant extent.”

Denmark, Sweden and Germany have refused to release any information about their investigations into the Nord Stream sabotage, despite Russia’s repeated requests. Last week Moscow asked the UN to open a probe into the act of international terrorism.

Earlier this month, American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an article blaming the US and Norway for blowing up the pipelines. While the US government brushed off his claims as “completely false,” President Joe Biden had threatened Nord Stream 2 last January and multiple State Department officials spoke approvingly about its destruction.
https://www.rt.com/news/572159-nord-stream-blasts-wildlife/
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27 Feb, 2023 15:50

1) --- EU reveals cost of latest anti-Russia sanctions

The restrictions target exports of advanced technologies and imports of high-revenue goods

The European Commission (EC) has estimated the cost of penalties imposed on Russia as part of its tenth sanctions package at a total of €12.7 billion ($13.4 billion), according to a press release published on Saturday.

The EU rolled out its latest raft of sanctions a day after the one-year anniversary of the start of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. The new bans cover EU exports worth €11.4 billion ($12 billion), they come on top of the €32.5 billion ($34.3 billion) worth of goods already sanctioned in the previous packages, and account for nearly half (49%) of its exports in 2021, the EC said.

The new restrictions target exports of assorted dual-use goods, namely "electronics, specialized vehicles, machine parts, spare parts for trucks and jet engines, as well as goods for the construction sector."

The sanctions also ban Russian exports to the bloc worth €1.3 billion ($1.37 billion) in addition to €90 billion ($95 billion) previously sanctioned, representing altogether 58% of the EU's 2021 imports. The imports black list includes high-revenue goods such as bitumen and related materials like asphalt, synthetic rubber and carbon black.

These goods can be delivered to the EU until May 27, 2023 under contracts signed before February 26, except for carbon and synthetic rubber, for which import quotas have been issued until mid-2024.

According to Politico, Italy, with its leading tire manufacturer Pirelli, has lobbied for high quotas for imports of synthetic rubber which is used in tires.

The bloc has also broadened the scope of restrictions on Russia’s banking sector, blacklisting three large private lenders, Alfa-bank, Tinkoff and Rosbank.

The tenth package of EU sanctions also bans Russian residents from holding top posts at critical European infrastructure companies and restricts the provision of gas storage capacity to Russian entities, excluding liquefied natural gas (LNG). It also requires European banks to report on funds that belong to Russia’s central bank and on those linked to sanctioned Russian companies and individuals.
https://www.rt.com/business/572124-eu-new-sanctions-russia-cost/
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25 Feb, 2023 08:00

1b) --- Washington reveals scope of Russia sanctions

The restrictions affect over 80% of the country’s banking sector, according to officials

Washington added around 15 additional Russian financial institutions to its sanctions blacklist on February 24, the first anniversary of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. It broadens the scope of restrictions that already target more than 80% of Russia’s banking sector in asset value, the US Treasury has announced.

According to the department, it has implemented more than 2,500 sanctions since the beginning of the conflict in February 2022.

“Russian banks representing over 80% of total Russian banking sector assets are already subject to US and international sanctions. OFAC today is designating over a dozen financial institutions in Russia, including one of the top ten largest banks by asset value,” the Treasury said in a statement.

It noted that many of the newly sanctioned entities are smaller banks and wealth-management firms allegedly helping previously blacklisted organizations to evade restrictions. They include Credit Bank of Moscow, Lanta Bank, MTS Bank, Bank Saint-Petersburg, Bank Primorye and Uralsib, as well as wealth-management-related entities CONFIDERI and Veles Capital. Overall, the new sanctions target 22 Russian individuals and 83 entities.

The Treasury also noted that, over the past year, Washington had “designated over 200 targets associated with Russian sanctions evasion” in Europe, Africa, and Asia, “including key transshipment jurisdictions in the Middle East, the Eurasian Economic Union, and East Asia.” Sanctions also targeted nearly a fifth of the Belarusian financial sector for its support for neighboring Russia.

Pressured by sanctions, “more than 1,000 foreign companies reportedly have ceased or curtailed their operations in Russia” since the start of the military operation, the Treasury said.

In response to the new sanctions package, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov called the measures “thoughtless.”

“Does anyone really think that this is the way to get our country to abandon its independent policies, to force it off its chosen path towards building a multipolar world based on the principle of indivisible security, on international law and the UN Charter?” he said, according to a post on the embassy’s Facebook page.
https://www.rt.com/business/572045-washington-reveals-scope-russia-sanctions/
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27 Feb, 2023 22:04

2) --- EU nation backs Chinese peace plan

The ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev is bad for both Russia and Ukraine, as well as “the whole world,” Budapest believes

Hungary’s government supports Beijing’s peace plan for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told parliament on Monday. The 12-point plan released by China last week calls for resuming peace talks and respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations while condemning unilateral sanctions.

“We also consider China’s peace plan important and support it,” Orban told the lawmakers. In his half-hour-long speech, Orban insisted that the ongoing conflict was “bad for Ukrainians, Russians, Hungarians, Europe, and it is becoming increasingly clear [that] it is bad for the whole world.” The prime minister then maintained that Budapest should stay out of the conflict, as was decided through a “national consultation.”

The prime minister also criticized some opposition parties for being seemingly overzealous in their support for Kiev to the point where they barely “differentiated” between Ukraine and Hungary, but said that he agreed there should be a country between Russia and Hungary. “We respect the Ukrainians, we help the Ukrainians,” Orban said, adding, however, that “the interests of Ukraine can never precede the interests of Hungary.”

He also admitted that Ukraine was likely to eventually join NATO “sooner or later” while arguing that the bloc’s further expansion to the east “must be reconsidered ten thousand times.”

At the same time, Orban supported the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO. He also described the military bloc as a guarantor of security, while admitting that he was not enthusiastic about everything that happens within NATO.

Meanwhile, Kiev’s backers in the West have brushed off Beijing’s proposals. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that China didn’t “have much credibility” in this issue as it refused to condemn Russia’s actions and join the Western sanctions.

Moscow earlier welcomed Chinese efforts aimed at resolving the ongoing conflict through peaceful means. Last Sunday, the Kremlin said, however, that it saw no opportunity for a political resolution of the conflict at the moment.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky recently maintained that there was “nothing to talk about” with Russia and “no one” in Moscow Kiev could talk to. His words came amid reported attempts by his Western backers, including France, Germany and the UK, to encourage Ukraine to engage in talks with Russia.
https://www.rt.com/news/572160-eu-nation-china-peace-plan/
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28 Feb, 2023 06:15

3) --- German debt skyrockets

Interest charges have jumped tenfold in two years, according to the Finance Ministry

Interest owed on Germany’s public debt has soared from €4 billion ($4.2 billion) in 2021 to €40 billion (over $42 billion) currently, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner revealed on Monday.

“This is the money that we will not have enough of for other purposes in the future: education, digitalization and investment in climate protection. Thus, it makes economic sense to contain the growth of debt,” he wrote on Twitter.

At the same time, the minister noted that Germany would continue to strengthen its energy security, increase assistance to Ukraine and strengthen the national armed forces.

Germany’s public debt exceeds €2.3 trillion ($2.4 trillion) and, according to the International Monetary Fund, is 68.3% of the country’s GDP.

Last week, Lindner said in an interview with T-Online news portal that the increase in debt was due to emergency measures during the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy crisis. In this regard, he insisted that the government needed to limit its spending, and therefore the state would not be able to solve current economic problems such as falling wealth.

The EU’s biggest economy has been struggling to cope with skyrocketing energy costs. The nation, which relies mainly on natural gas to power its industry, has vowed to replace imports from its once major supplier – Russia – by as early as mid-2024. However, attempts to diversify gas supplies have contributed to the energy crunch. EU sanctions pressure, maintenance issues, and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines have further exacerbated the problem.

This year, the German government plans to issue record debt to counter the deepening energy crisis.

According to the Federal Finance Agency, overall federal debt issuance will balloon to about €539 billion ($570 billion), sending servicing costs higher to €42.2 billion ($45 billion) from €15.3 billion ($16 billion).
https://www.rt.com/business/572133-german-government-debt-skyrockets/
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28 Feb, 2023 02:36

4) ---- US treasury head pledges to fortify Ukrainian economy

Janet Yellen took a surprise trip to Kiev amid rising inflation and recession fears back at home

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has traveled to Ukraine to meet with President Vladimir Zelensky and other top officials, vowing indefinite support for Kiev despite a lagging US economy and trillions in government debt.

The unannounced trip to the Ukrainian capital kicked off on Monday, with Yellen saying she wanted to highlight the White House’s “close partnership in providing economic and budgetary support” for Kiev during her meeting with Zelensky.

“Our support is not ‘charity,’ it’s an ‘investment in global security and democracy,’” she said – echoing Zelensky’s own words to US lawmakers during his trip to Washington, DC in December. The official added that US assistance would continue “for as long as it takes” amid the conflict with Russia.

Yellen’s visit comes days after Washington announced $12 billion in additional aid for Kiev, including a $2 billion arms package and $10 billion more to support energy costs and the Ukrainian government’s budget. She noted on Monday that the US has provided nearly $50 billion in support since last year, much of it devoted to weapons.

In an op-ed published during her junket to Kiev, Yellen acknowledged that Ukraine still has “vast unmet economic needs,” arguing that Washington must continue “fortifying” Kiev’s “home front” to enable “Ukraine’s stalwart frontline defense against Russia.”

However, despite her vocal support for American largesse to Kiev, the Treasury chief also noted economic troubles back in the United States, telling CNN on Monday that inflation remains “too high” while pointing to massive debt held by the US government. With Congress nearly reaching its $31.4 trillion debt limit, Yellen said the Treasury has been forced to take “extraordinary measures” in order to avoid a disastrous default, which, in a worst-case scenario, could mean suspended welfare payments to Americans and chaos in the financial markets. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/27/economy/yellen-inflation-debt-ceiling-ukraine/index.html

The US is a “country with the deepest most liquid financial markets where Treasuries are the ultimate safe asset,” she said, adding “It’s utterly essential to preserve that to avoid economic and financial catastrophe.”

Throughout the year-long conflict with Russia, Kiev has demanded increasingly heavy weapons from its foreign backers, with Washington agreeing to supply a long list of advanced arms, vehicles and ammunition. Though recent polls indicate that support for continued aid is falling among Americans, Ukrainian officials have nonetheless continued to press for additional weapons and cash. When asked about the lagging enthusiasm during a briefing last week, President Zelensky warned the US would “lose [its] leadership position” in the world should it cease the flow of weapons.
https://www.rt.com/news/572163-yellen-ukraine-financial-support/

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5) --- Two very important videos which explain one heck of a lot of what's going on and why we are being robbed blind by our governments

1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYkQO5fOXH8

2) https://youtu.be/CkQCSPM2QUY

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27 Feb, 2023 14:31

6) --- Russia explains halt in oil exports to Poland

Warsaw didn't pay for the crude supply to its refineries, according to Transneft

Russian oil flows to Poland have been halted due to the stoppage of payment for deliveries, Russia’s state-owned pipeline transport company Transneft announced on Monday.

Transneft, which operates Russia’s section of the Druzhba pipeline, explained that it transfers oil to other countries in line with the export schedule approved by the Russian Ministry of Energy, as well as routing orders processed by freight forwarders.

"Transneft is not currently transporting oil to Poland," the company’s spokesman Igor Demin said. He noted that pumping to Polish refineries was scheduled for “the third ten-day interval” of February. However, “routing orders with confirmed resource and transit payments were not processed," he explained, adding that "operational changes were made to the schedule, excluding supplies for Polish consumers."

On Saturday, Poland’s largest oil company PKN Orlen said it had stopped receiving oil via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia. While the EU banned seaborne oil imports from the country last December, pipeline deliveries were exempted from the sanctions package in order to secure supplies to landlocked members of the bloc.

According to Orlen’s CEO Daniel Obajtek, Russian oil currently accounts for 10% of Poland’s imports, after Warsaw slashed shipments from the sanctioned country. The current contract with Tatneft provides 200,000 tons of oil per month to Polish refineries and expires in December 2024.

The northern part of the Druzhba pipeline system feeds two refineries in eastern Germany as well as plants operated by Orlen in Poland. Warsaw has repeatedly pledged to replace Russian oil with crude from the US, the Middle East and other sources.

Oil shipments via the pipeline’s southern branch to Slovakia and the Czech Republic, where Orlen operates two refineries, remained unchanged.
https://www.rt.com/business/572128-poland-russian-oil-exports-halt/
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