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Berlin’s first reaction to Friday’s revelations that several German generals discussed helping Ukraine attack Russia was to launch an investigation into how the recording got out.

RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan first published a transcript of the conversation between senior Luftwaffe officers discussing the matter, followed by a 38-minute audio recording.

“We are checking whether communications within the Air Force were intercepted,” a spokesperson for the German Ministry of Defense told the outlet Bild. “We cannot say anything about the content of the communications that were apparently intercepted.”

The Federal Office for Military Counterintelligence (BAMAD) has “initiated all necessary measures,” the ministry said in response to an inquiry from the state news agency DPA.

Meanwhile, the Bundeswehr has also resorted to censorship. Multiple accounts on X (formerly Twitter) that distributed the recording were blocked in Germany as of Friday evening.

Bild claimed that “it seems obvious” Russian spies “or one of their partners” were behind the recording.

The 38-minute audio was dated February 19 and features four officers of the German air force (Luftwaffe), including its head General Ingo Gerhartz and deputy chief of staff for operations, Brigadier-General Frank Graefe.

The officers assumed that Germany would send up to 50 Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine and the ways in which the Luftwaffe could provide the Ukrainians with targeting information without appearing to be directly involved in the conflict with Russia.

They also noted the Ukrainians’ obsession with targeting the Kerch Strait bridge, noting its significance was primarily political rather than military. At one point, Gerhartz admitted that the missiles “won’t change the course of the war,” while another officer expressed doubt that even 20 Taurus hits could actually destroy the bridge.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and parliament have both announced they would demand an explanation from Berlin. The government of Chancellor Olaf Sholz has not officially commented on the intercepted call.

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https://www.rt.com/news/593569-germany-crimea-leak-probe/

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Testimony given to the US Congress by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is evidence that Washington clearly has plans for direct NATO involvement in a conflict with Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed on Friday.

During a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Austin said that “if Ukraine falls, I genuinely believe NATO will be fighting Russia.”

Lavrov was asked about Austin’s remarks during an interview at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Türkiye.

“He simply made a Freudian slip to reveal what they [the US] had in mind,” the Russian diplomat said. “They used to say they can’t allow Ukraine to lose, because Russia won’t be satisfied and would attack the Baltic states, Poland, [and] Finland next. It turns out, according to Mr. Austin’s frank words, that everything is exactly the opposite. We do not and cannot have such plans, but the Americans do.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has already commented on Austin’s remarks, wondering if they were a direct threat to Russia or an attempt to generate excuses for Ukraine.

“Either way, it’s madness,” she said. “But now everyone sees that Washington is the aggressor.”

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Austin’s testimony proved that “NATO regards Ukraine as its own territory,” which proves that Russia’s military operation is “absolutely justified and correct.”

Austin’s testimony was part of a push by the White House to get congressional approval for a $95 billion foreign aid bill, which includes more than $60 billion in funding for Kiev. The US and its allies have already sent Ukraine over $200 billion in military, economic, and financial aid for the conflict against Russia – disregarding Moscow’s warnings and objections, while insisting they are not directly involved.

The idea that Moscow will not stop with Kiev and move to attack the Baltic states or Poland next is the latest talking point of the US administration. Previously it has tried to sell the indefinite funding of Kiev by claiming Ukraine is defeating Russia on a fraction of the US military budget, and that most of the money would end up going to the American military industry anyway.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/593553-lavrov-austin-ukraine-nato-plans/

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Moscow will demand an explanation from Berlin about alleged plans to provide Taurus missiles to Ukraine and help the Ukrainians strike the Crimean Bridge and other targets, senior Russian officials said on Friday. 

RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan published a transcript of the conversation between senior Bundeswehr officers discussing the matter, followed by a 38-minute audio recording. The German government has yet to respond. 

Here is what we know so far.

A transcript and an audio recording, made public

Simonyan posted the transcript of the February 19 phone call on her VK page, identifying the participants as the head of the German air force (Luftwaffe), General Ingo Gerhartz, the branch’s deputy chief of staff for operations, Brigadier-General Frank Graefe, and two others.

Soon afterward, Simonyan published the audio recording of the discussion as well, in German, on her Telegram channel.

What was said in the call

The officers discussed the operational and targeting details of Taurus long-range missiles that Germany was debating sending to Ukraine, as if this had already been agreed upon – and how to maintain plausible deniability so that Germany could avoid crossing the “red line” of direct involvement.

Gerhartz brought up various “tricks” that the Luftwaffe could use, including relying on “many people [in Ukraine] in civilian clothes who speak with an American accent,” but Graefe insisted that “there is no language that makes us a party to the conflict.” 

Other officers spoke about providing the Ukrainians with both the missiles and the training to use them, as well as the satellite targeting information, possibly via Poland.

Obsession with the Kerch Strait Bridge

The Germans noted the Ukrainians’ fixation on the Crimean Bridge, mainly for political reasons. They noted that the bridge was sturdy enough that not even 20 missiles would be able to destroy it. The 50 or so missiles Berlin could provide Kiev – in batches – “won’t change the course of the war,” Gerhartz himself admitted.

Russian reactions

“We demand an explanation from Germany. Official Berlin must provide it immediately. Attempts to dodge the question will be considered an admission of guilt,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that NATO had “egg on its face”due to the recording. He also noted that the German officers knew perfectly well that they were discussing direct involvement, as evidenced by attempts to disguise or hide it, and highlighted the part about Americans operating in Ukraine.

Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said the legislature will address the recording when it reconvenes on March 11. The matter “deserves the most serious discussion” and Moscow certainly needs to “send a demand to the Bundestag to conduct an investigation,” he added.

Germans have “once again turned into our archenemies,” said former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. “Just take a look at how thoroughly and in what detail the Krauts are discussing long-range missile strikes on Russia’s territory, and are picking out targets and the most workable ways to harm our Motherland and our people.” He ended his post with the WWII-era slogan, “Death to the Fascists!”

Western reactions

When asked about the recording and the transcript on Friday, the Pentagon declined to comment, telling American reporters to reach out to the German military instead.

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https://www.rt.com/news/593561-german-audio-crimea-bridge/

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Claims that Russia is planning to deploy nuclear weapons in space are merely an attempt by Washington to push Moscow into negotiations on terms set by the US, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

Delivering his annual address to the Federal Assembly, Russia’s national legislature, Putin insisted that statements by American officials about their supposed willingness to reach an agreement with Moscow on nuclear weapons controls are nothing but “demagogy” ahead of the US presidential election.

Putin accused the US of “hypocrisy” over recent “unfounded accusations” that Russia plans to deploy strategic weapons in space, and insisted that such falsehoods are nothing but an attempt by Washington to drag Moscow into negotiations that are exclusively beneficial to the US.

The president noted that Russia offered the US a draft treaty on preventing the deployment of nuclear weapons in space back in 2008, but pointed out that Washington has blocked the proposal ever since.

“They want to show their citizens that they still rule the world. The US will only hold talks with Russia on issues where it is beneficial for America to find an agreement. On issues that are not profitable for them, they will say there is ‘nothing to discuss’ … and will try to inflict a defeat on [Moscow],” Putin stated.

The president stressed that this approach is unacceptable, and that any discussions about global security and stability can only be held if Russia’s national interests and security are taken into account.

“Russia is ready for dialogue with the US on issues of strategic stability. But… we are dealing with a country whose leaders are openly taking hostile actions against us,” Putin said. He questioned how Washington can expect to discuss strategic stability with Moscow while simultaneously trying to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia in the Ukraine conflict.

Citing a press release from the US House of Representatives, several American media outlets claimed earlier this month that Russia may have undisclosed anti-satellite capabilities, and that it supposedly plans to deploy nuclear weapons into space.

Moscow has vehemently denied the claims. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has suggested that the rumors were spread in the US media with the goal of pushing Republicans in Congress to approve President Joe Biden’s $60 billion military aid bill for Ukraine.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/593375-putin-us-nuclear-lies/

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Lawmakers in Ghana have unanimously approved a bill criminalizing homosexual activity, despite warnings from Western governments including the US and France.

The Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, also known as the Anti-Gay Bill, was passed by parliament on Wednesday, three years after it was first introduced in 2021, and now requires the signature of President Nana Akufo-Addo.

If the head of state approves the law, anyone identifying as LGBTQ will face up to three years in prison. The measure also criminalizes gay rights advocacy, with a maximum five-year jail term for establishing or funding LGBTQ groups.

“After three long years, we have finally passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Act,” member of parliament Sam George, one of the lead sponsors of the bill, wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“Our values would be protected and defended so long as we have a voice,” he added.

Critics of the bill, including Audrey Gadzekpo, the Board Chair of the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), claim it violates human rights guaranteed under the country’s constitution.

The legislation has also drawn condemnation from abroad. In a statement on Wednesday, the US said it is “deeply troubled” by the lawmakers’ decision, which “would threaten all Ghanaians’ constitutionally protected freedoms of speech, press, and assembly.”

The anti-gay bill is “inconsistent” with the former British colony’s tradition of tolerance, peace, and respect for human rights, which has long served as a model for countries around the world, Washington said.

“The United States echoes the call by those Ghanaians who have urged a review of the constitutionality of the bill to protect the rights of all individuals in Ghana,” the statement added.

A similar law was passed in Uganda last May, making it illegal to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. In response, Washington imposed travel restrictions on the East African country’s officials, and expelled the country from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a duty-free program that had allowed Kampala to export goods to the US for many years.

Ghanaian MP Sam George has previously warned Washington not to interfere with efforts to pass the anti-gay bill. He has said that unlike Uganda, Ghana will retaliate if the US imposes sanctions on lawmakers.

Ghana is one of more than 30 African countries that have prohibited same-sex relationships. Last year, French Minister of International Partnerships Chrysoula Zacharopoulou asked the continent to follow the lead of the West in protecting gay rights.

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https://www.rt.com/africa/593403-ghana-lawmakers-pass-anti-lgbtq-law/

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The TATA Institute in Mumbai has developed a pill that could prevent the recurrence of cancer and reduce the side effects of treatment by 50%, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday. The development comes after a decade of research.

The new drug, ‘R+Cu’, contains pro-oxidants such as resveratrol and copper which could generate cancer-fighting ‘oxygen radicals’. They prevent dying cells from turning healthy ones cancerous, while also restraining the movement of cancer cells from one part of the body to another, known as ‘metastasis’.

The drug could be effective in treating pancreatic, lung, and oral cancers, researchers have suggested.

The medicine is expected to cost a mere 100 rupees ($1.2) at a time when the price of cancer treatment is soaring. The R+Cu is awaiting approval from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), and is likely to be released to the market in June-July.

“The side-effects were tested on both rats and humans, but the prevention test was done only on rats. It will take about five years to complete the human trials for this,” surgeon Dr Rajendra Badve from the Tata Memorial Hospital revealed in the interview with NDTV. He added “there were challenges during the research” but eventually it is “a big success.”

The Tata Memorial Center is amongst the world’s oldest and largest cancer research facilities, and is funded and controlled by India’s Department of Atomic Energy.

The development was reported weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that his country is on the cusp of developing anti-cancer vaccines. “We have reached a significant milestone in the development of cancer vaccines and next-generation immunomodulatory drugs,” the Russian leader stated.

India has added 30 new cancer hospitals in the last nine years, and work is underway on ten more, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said last month. The government has also developed 150,000 wellness centers, called ‘Ayushman Arogya Mandirs’, to help the early detection of cancer among rural populations.

India, the most populous nation in the world, has some of the highest cancer rates in Asia, and the disease is seen as a major cause of worry by the government. The number of cases in the country is projected to rise from 1.46 million in 2022 to 1.57 million in 2025, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Cancer Registry Programme.

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https://www.rt.com/india/593318-india-cancer-medicine-research/

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A source audio file containing what is claimed to be a discussion of a potential German operation to bomb the Crimean Bridge in Russia has been posted online.

The almost 40-minute-long recording features a conversation in German between four people who allegedly hold high-ranking positions within the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces. One of the people recorded in the audio file is supposedly Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz – the commander of the national air force.

The military officials appear to be discussing the efficiency of the Franco-British cruise missile, called Storm Shadow in the UK and Scalp in France. Such weapons were previously donated to Kiev by its Western backers.

RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said earlier on Friday that she had obtained the file from Russian security officials. A Russian transcript of the source file was also published earlier in the day.

Link to audio in article.

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https://www.rt.com/news/593555-audio-german-crimean-bridge-attack/

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The Wall Street Journal has published what it says are details of a draft peace agreement discussed by Russia and Ukraine shortly after the outbreak of the conflict between the two neighbors in February 2022. According to the outlet, Kiev’s neutrality was among the key concessions demanded by Moscow.

The alleged terms of the draft agreement that the US outlet mentioned in its article on Friday haven’t been officially confirmed by either Russian or Ukrainian officials.

The WSJ claimed that the 17-page document dated April 15, 2022 allowed Ukraine to seek membership of the EU, but not NATO. It also limited the size of Kiev’s military and confirmed Crimea as part of Russia, the outlet said.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov reacted to the report by saying that Moscow and Kiev did agree on a draft peace treaty several weeks after the start of the fighting, but Russia does not want this document to be published.

“The entire negotiation process was terminated by the decision of the Ukrainian side on the order received from the UK,” Peskov claimed.

Moscow and Kiev held talks in Istanbul in late March 2022, with the Russian side initially expressing optimism on the peace process. However, Russia later accused Ukraine of backtracking on all progress achieved in Türkiye, saying it had lost trust in Kiev’s negotiators.

Media reports that then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to Kiev specifically to persuade President Vladimir Zelensky’s government to withdraw from the talks with Moscow were confirmed by Ukraine’s top negotiator in Istanbul, David Arakhamia, in November. Johnson has denied any role in derailing the peace talks.

Peskov stressed that “in March 2022 there were certain conditions on ground, but now there are different conditions and a different legal status of the territories that became regions of Russia – that’s written in the Constitution of our country.”

The spokesman was referring to the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, which were officially incorporated into the Russian state in the fall of 2022, following referendums held in those areas. Kiev and its backers in the West have refused to recognize the results of the votes, labeling them a “sham.”

The Wall Street Journal claimed that the draft peace deal did not address the issue of those territories. Their future was due to be discussed in direct talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky, which never materialized, the outlet said.

The report said states such as the US, UK, France, China and Russia were intended to become the guarantors of the peace agreement.

Moscow also reportedly wanted the Russian language to be used by the Ukrainian government and courts on par with Ukrainian. However, Kiev’s negotiators declined to sign this clause, the outlet claimed.

Russia and Ukraine haven’t sat at the negotiating table since the talks in Istanbul. Russian officials have repeatedly voiced their readiness to settle the crisis through diplomacy. Moscow has blamed Kiev and its backers in the West for refusing any meaningful dialogue, saying this left it with no choice but to continue pursuing its goals on the battlefield.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/593502-ukraine-peace-deal-kremlin/

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The full text of what is claimed to be a discussion by senior German military officers on how to attack the Crimean Bridge in Russia was published by RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan on Friday. She reported that Russian security officials had leaked the recording hours earlier and has pledged to release the original audio shortly.

Simonyan identified the officers as General Ingo Gerhartz, the German Air Force commander, and senior leaders responsible for mission planning. The alleged conversation took place on February 19, according to the source of the leak.

The transcript reveals the officials discussed the efficiency of the Franco-British cruise missile called Storm Shadow by the UK and SCALP by France. Both nations donated some of their stockpile to Ukraine.

Kiev has called on Germany to provide some of its Taurus missiles. The officers in the leaked recording debate whether the weapon system was adequate for hitting the Crimean Bridge in Russia, which connects eastern Crimea to Krasnodar Region across the Kerch Strait.

According to the transcript, the officers discussed how a successful attack on a key piece of Russian infrastructure would require additional satellite data, possible deployment of missiles from French Dassault Rafale fighter jets, and at least a month of preparation.

One participant observed that due to the size of the bridge, which is the longest in Europe, even 20 missiles may not be enough to cause significant damage. It is comparable to a runway in that regard, he noted.

”They want to destroy the bridge… because it has not only military strategic importance, but also political significance,” Gerhartz is quoted as saying, apparently referring to officials in Kiev. “It would be concerning if we have direct connection with the Ukrainian armed forces.”

The officers went on to discuss how close the German military should be working on the proposed operation so as not to cross the ‘red line’ of being involved directly. Secretly training Ukrainians in the use of German weapons and helping them plan the operation were deemed acceptable. Concerns about the press learning about such cooperation were also raised, the transcript reveals.

Senior officials in Berlin have repeatedly made public statements explaining their reservations about sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this week that the Germany’s military cannot do for Ukraine what “was done on the part of the British and French in terms of target-control and target-control assistance.” The remark was rebuked by London and Paris, for allegedly distracting public attention from German unwillingness to donate arms to Kiev.

According to the released text, a large segment of the conversation was about practical aspects of preparing Kiev’s forces for deploying Taurus missiles, from training its military personnel, to adapting hardpoints of Ukrainian military jets for Berlin's weapons, to providing technical support remotely via a safe link. The officers were concerned that speeding up the proposed handover may result in civilians being killed “again” in a weapons mishap.

When assessing the intelligence necessary for targeting the missiles, Gerhartz allegedly mused that, to provide such information, there are plenty of “people in civilian clothes with American accents” in Kiev that would cover up for the Germans.

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https://www.rt.com/news/593511-transcript-german-attack-crimean-bridge/

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The CIA has “many” bases in Ukraine, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Aleksandr Bortnikov told Russian television on Thursday, when asked about a New York Times report on the spy network.

The US newspaper described a decade-long record of cooperation between the American spy agency and Ukrainian special services.

According to the article, which was published last Sunday, the CIA has 12 secret bases on Ukrainian soil which are actively working against Russia. The paper wrote that over the past eight years, the CIA has trained and equipped Kiev’s intelligence officers in underground bunkers, some of which are nestled deep in the forests of Ukraine.

“They [US intelligence] had entered there a long time ago and are using this resource to do the dirty work, on their own and with the hands of the Ukrainian special services,” Bortnikov told Channel 1.

He said “work is ongoing,” when asked whether Russia can get to the CIA sites.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested that the Americans have far more outposts in Ukraine than the 12 bases reported by the NYT. Russia was not oblivious to the clandestine Western activities within the borders of its hostile neighbor, officials in Moscow have said.

The new report confirms that Ukrainian commando units involved in anti-Russian sabotage had received special training from American agents, who also helped them track Russian troop movements. Kiev was also behind the targeted assassination of several high-profile figures in Donbass over the years, the newspaper said.

Last year, The Washington Post published a similar expose on the CIA’s role in turning Ukraine into a tool against Russia. Unlike the NYT, the Post discussed Kiev’s state assassinations program in detail and Ukraine’s apparent role in the deaths of journalist and political activist Daria Dugina and military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, both of whom were murdered in bomb attacks on Russian soil.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/593495-many-cia-bases-ukraine/

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Some of the responses generated by Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence were “problematic” and have “shown bias,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in a company-wide email on Wednesday, vowing to address the issue.

Pichai’s email made its way to multiple media outlets, including Semafor and Pirate Wires, which published it in its entirety.

“I want to address the recent issues with problematic text and image responses in the Gemini app (formerly Bard),” Pichai wrote. “I know that some of its responses have offended our users and shown bias — to be clear, that’s completely unacceptable and we got it wrong.”

The company is “working around the clock to address these issues,” he added.

“Our mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful is sacrosanct,” Pichai continued. “We’ve always sought to give users helpful, accurate, and unbiased information in our products. That’s why people trust them.” This needs to be the case with the AI as well, he added.

Gemini launched earlier this month but quickly ran into problems with restrictive “safety” and “diversity” programming. The AI was widely panned for “inaccuracies” in showing a range of historical characters, from the US founding fathers and Russian emperors to Catholic popes and even Nazi German soldiers.

Gemini responded to any requests for images of white people by saying this “reinforces harmful stereotypes and generalizations about people based on their race.” Such images embodied “a stereotyped view of whiteness” that can be “damaging” to society as a whole and people who aren’t white, the AI added, according to an investigation by Fox Business.

As for Pichai’s claims about the sanctity of accuracy, Google has long censored and suppressed content its executives disapproved of, ostensibly in the name of combating “misinformation” and improving society.

Some Silicon Valley critics have already suggested that Pichai’s email was not for internal consumption but intended to be made public. Substack columnist Lulu Cheng Meservey noted that it contained “marketing taglines sprinkled throughout” as well as “word soup presumably designed to make the reader too tired and confused to be angry anymore.”

Meservey also blasted Pichai’s use of the term “problematic” and accused the Google CEO of fundamentally misunderstanding the problem with Gemini.

“Google focusing on not offending people instead of factual accuracy was what CAUSED the problem in the first place,” she wrote.

Citing insider sources at Google, PirateWires’ Mike Solana suggested that marketing and AI product executives believe the controversy over Gemini’s apparent racism was “largely invented by right-wing trolls” on X (formerly Twitter).

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https://www.rt.com/news/593325-google-ai-controversy-pichai/

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Moscow is unaware of any US tracking operations aimed at Russian President Vladimir Putin and described in a recent exposé, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has stated. Former Wall Street Journal reporter Byron Tau claims that a novel surveillance tool was used to harvest geolocation data from the cellphones of people close to the Russian head of state, and in this way to infer the president’s actual location.

Excerpts from Tau’s book, titled ‘Means of Control: How the Hidden Alliance of Tech and Government Is Creating a New American Surveillance State,’ were cited in a long read by Wired on Tuesday. The account describes how a researcher, specializing in “obtaining unique data sets for government agencies,” came up with a tool that enabled near real-time tracking of individual devices’ location within a given area.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Peskov said that the Kremlin was not aware of any such surveillance directed at the Russian president. The official also noted that Russian authorities do not know what the allegations made by Tau are based on.

Peskov reassured reporters that “of course, our special services do everything necessary to ensure the security of the head of state.” The Kremlin representative went on to point out that “any smartphone with any operational system is absolutely transparent for surveillance.”

According to the book, in the mid-2010s US researcher Mike Yeagley started exploring ways to harness the geolocation data routinely collected for advertising purposes. He allegedly worked for several firms bankrolled by the CIA and the Pentagon. The software, reportedly named Locomotive and later rebranded as VISR (Virtual Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance), is said to have enabled its developers to “track phones in the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s entourage.” The necessary data was being sourced from dating and weather apps, as well as games that require users’ location, Tau claims.

While none of the devices in question were owned by the Russian leader personally, PlanetRisk believed it had access to the smartphones that “belonged to the drivers, the security personnel, the political aides, and other support staff around the Russian president,” according to the account. This presumably meant that President Putin’s whereabouts could be identified, too.

The exposé alleges that Yeagley’s brainchild was received enthusiastically by the US intelligence community, and was adopted “as part of an interagency program.”

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https://www.rt.com/russia/593327-peskov-claims-putin-us-surveillance/

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A US tech firm with close ties to the CIA and the Pentagon used a powerful tool to try to track the movements of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Wired has claimed, citing a new book by former Wall Street Journal reporter Byron Tau.

The company, PlanetRisk, reportedly created the tool – originally named Locomotive but later rebranded as VISR (Virtual Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) – to tap into geolocation data used by digital advertisers, and was supposedly able to snoop on people close to the Russian president, thus gaining information on his whereabouts.

In its long-read on Tuesday, based on Tau’s ‘Means of Control: How the Hidden Alliance of Tech and Government Is Creating a New American Surveillance State’, Wired reported that researcher Mike Yeagley first became aware of the potential usefulness of large pools of data collected by certain apps in the mid-2010s. Tech companies were already routinely gathering the information and were willing to sell to any advertiser prepared to pay a relatively modest fee for the service, making it a particularly promising area, the report claimed.

According to the book, Yeagley, “who specialized in obtaining unique data sets for government agencies,” first experimented with geofences – virtual boundaries in geographical data sets – to track down employees of US government agencies. The method reportedly proved highly successful in terms of harvesting personal data on staff who used dating and weather apps, as well as games that require the user’s location.

In 2015, Yeagley was allegedly hired by PlaceIQ after the company received an “investment from the CIA’s venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel.” He then reportedly moved on to another obscure start-up, PlanetRisk.

“The CIA was interested in software that could analyze and understand the geographic movement of people and things,” the book explained.

During its trial period, the Locomotive tool was used to follow in near real time the movements of people in Syria, which was in the midst of a civil war. That included some US special forces operatives secretly deployed to the country, Tau wrote.

“After acquiring a data set on Russia, the team realized they could track phones in the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s entourage,” the book claimed, as cited by Wired.

While none of the devices in question could be linked to the Russian leader personally, PlanetRisk believed it had access to the smart phones that “belonged to the drivers, the security personnel, the political aides, and other support staff around the Russian president,” according to the account. These people were allegedly “trackable in the advertising data,” supposedly meaning that Putin’s routes and locations could be identified.

According to the book, US government agencies were highly impressed with Yeagley’s work, with Locomotive – and later VISR – being adopted “as part of an interagency program.”

Tau claimed, however, that other entities, most notably Israeli ones, have since built their own tracking tools using the same principles. These are reportedly now available to a far wider range of clients globally, rather than just US intelligence agencies.

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https://www.rt.com/news/593313-wired-book-tracking-tool-cia-putin/

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US tech giant Apple has abandoned its decade-long effort to build an electric car, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The anonymous sources told the outlet that the announcement, which Apple made internally on Tuesday, came as a surprise to the nearly 2,000 employees working on the project. The decision was reportedly shared by Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, a vice president in charge of the effort. They told the employees the project would begin being phased out and that many of them would be shifted to the company’s artificial intelligence division.

Apple and CEO Tim Cook never acknowledged the car project publicly, instead referring to it as work on “autonomous systems.” That made it a source of intense speculation in the automotive and tech industries.

Since Apple started devoting resources to the concept in 2014, the plans to build an electric semi-autonomous vehicle have repeatedly shifted and attempts to bring a product to market have faced numerous setbacks. Apple axed dozens of employees connected to the project in a 2016 restructuring. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported the tech company’s estimated release date for the car had been delayed until at least 2028.

EV giant Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, responded to Apple’s decision to abandon the project by posting emojis of a salute and a cigarette on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

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https://www.rt.com/business/593298-apple-electric-car-plans-dead/

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Former US President Donald Trump is “likely” to launch sweeping reforms of the US intelligence community if he is re-elected in November, prompting concerns from the agencies that once baselessly accused him of ties to Russia.

Politico interviewed 18 intelligence officials – including several former Trump appointees who later came out as his outspoken critics – in an article published on Monday, warning that the possible purge could “undermine the credibility of American intelligence.”

“Trump intends to go after the intelligence community,” said one former senior intelligence official. “He started that process before and he’s going to do it again. Part of that process is to root out people and to punish people.”

The new president would replace “people perceived as hostile to his political agenda with inexperienced loyalists,” Politico summarized the claim by Trump critics.

The two people specifically named were former acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Richard Grenell and aide Kash Patel, who played a key role in declassifying materials about the origins of ‘Russiagate’.

Politico acknowledged that Trump’s hostility to the intelligence community was related to the infamous document claiming that Russia “interfered” in the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton. It quoted former FBI official Andrew McCabe defending the inclusion of the so-called Steele Dossier – produced by a former British spy paid by the Clinton campaign via cut-outs – in the appendix as merely due diligence.

Though the FBI quickly found out that the dossier was false and who funded it, they continued to use it to spy on Trump’s campaign and presidency.

When Trump challenged the intelligence assessment – authored not by all 17 agencies, but a hand-picked group of Obama administration loyalists – at the July 2018 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the spies felt that “never before had a commander in chief so publicly delegitimized their work.” Trump’s DNI Dan Coats told Politico that this prompted him to offer his resignation in February 2019 – which was eventually accepted that August.

Other Trump appointees turned critics interviewed in the article were former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Fiona Hill, a top Russia adviser on the National Security Council – and witness against Trump at his Ukraine impeachment trial.

“He wants to weaponize the intelligence community,” lamented Hill. “If he guts the intel on one thing, he’ll be partially blinding us.”

Several unnamed officials said Trump’s possible purges could jeopardize “sources and methods” used by US spies and undermine the trust American allies have in Washington, which the Biden administration has tried so hard to rebuild. Back in December, a diplomat from an unnamed NATO member country described Trump getting re-elected and actually purging the US administrative apparatus as a “doomsday option.”

Others worried that appointments of “controversial” figures could lead competent junior officials and staff to resign.

“There are thousands of people busting their ass, often in dangerous places, sacrificing a lot for the country. And to have their work just dismissed by a commander in chief, is really just discouraging,” Jon Darby, former director of operations at the National Security Agency (NSA), told Politico.

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https://www.rt.com/news/593275-cia-fbi-worried-trump/

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Tucker Carlson said on Tuesday that US spies had monitored him while he was in Russia earlier this month, and leaked to a ‘friendly’ outlet that he had met with Edward Snowden. This is despite the American journalist’s claim that he had tried to keep his meeting with the NSA whistleblower a secret.

Carlson went to Russia to interview President Vladimir Putin. During his eight days in Moscow, he also met with Snowden – and US spies found out about it, he told podcaser Lex Fridman in the course of a three-hour conversation.

“I was being intensely surveilled by the US government,” Carlson told Fridman, noting that US spies had thwarted his plans to interview Putin in 2021 and that he received confirmation that he was being intensely monitored ahead of his Moscow trip. “Then, I’m over there, and of course I want to see Snowden, whom I admire.”

Snowden allegedly accepted Carlson’s invitation to have dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel, but declined the interview as well as a photo request, saying that it would be better to tell no one.

“I didn’t tell anybody,” Carlson told Fridman, however the meeting was leaked. “Semafor runs this piece – reporting information they got from the US intel agencies, leaking against me, using my money, in my name, in a supposedly free country – they run this piece saying I met with Snowden, like it was a crime or something.”

“If you have a media establishment that acts as employees of the national security state, you don’t have a free country. And that’s where we are,” Carlson added.

Carlson revealed that he did not fear getting arrested in Russia at any point, but was warned by his lawyers that the US might arrest him depending on the content of the Putin interview.

“I felt not one twinge of concern for the 8 days that I was there,” he told Fridman about being in Moscow.

Before he left for Russia, his team of attorneys counseled him to “not do this… A lot will depend on the questions you ask of Putin. If you’re seen as too nice to him you could be arrested when you come back,” Carlson quoted the lead lawyer as saying, to which he said he replied, “You’re describing a fascist country, OK?”

In 2013, Snowden revealed that the NSA was systematically engaged in mass illegal spying on American citizens. Fearing for his safety, he fled to Hong Kong with the intent to reach Ecuador, which did not have an extradition treaty with the US, but was stopped during a layover in Moscow after Washington canceled his passport. Russia ended up granting him asylum and reportedly, eventual citizenship.

One of the founders of Semafor, the outlet to which Carlson claims US spies leaked his dinner with Snowden, is Ben Smith, a former editor-in-chief of the now defunct BuzzFeed newsroom. In 2017, Smith notoriously published the ‘Steele Dossier,’ a sham document leaked by US spies to discredit incoming President Donald Trump.

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https://www.rt.com/news/593283-tucker-carlson-snowden-spying/

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Russian operatives have prevented Kiev from staging a terrorist attack using chemical weapons in the southern part of the country not far from the frontline, the Federal Security Service (FSB) has said.

In a statement on Tuesday, the agency said it had prevented “an attempt by the Ukrainian special services to commit a terrorist act in Zaporozhye Region using an analog of the BZ chemical warfare agent, according to the NATO classification.”

BZ, also known as 3-Quinuclidinyl Benzilate, is an odorless bitter-tasting powder that can cause hallucinations, delirium, blindness, and inability to perform basic tasks. The Chemical Weapons Convention, which has been signed by virtually all countries in the world, including Ukraine, prohibits the use of BZ on the battlefield.

The FSB noted that the confiscated chemical agents are used for producing weapons of mass destruction and were developed in the US, adding that it had detained three Ukrainian citizens in the raid.

The agency released a video showing a group of its operatives bursting into a single-story building and arresting one of the suspects. It also showed several pictures of small vials filled with chemical agents.

The head of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces, Igor Kirillov, said last week that Kiev’s forces had used toxic agents against Russian troops on numerous occasions.

At the time, he said that an agent similar to BZ had been found in a stash in Melitopol in Russia’s Zaporozhye region. He added that Ukrainian troops were also using drones to drop US-made gas grenades containing CS compound, which could trigger respiratory paralysis when applied in high doses.

He noted at the time that the delivery of such munitions by the US to Ukraine was a direct violation of the rules of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

However, according to Kirillov, the OPCW did not react in any way to the evidence which he said proved that Ukraine was violating the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Zaporozhye Region, along with Kherson Region and the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, were integrated into Russia following referendums held there in September 2022.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/593250-ukrainian-chemical-terror-attack-thwarted/

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A senior staffer at the US Congress is facing an ethics probe over a public speech in which he boasted of delivering sniper scopes to the Ukrainian army, the New York Times reported on Monday.

The outlet described Kyle Parker as a “senior Senate adviser” for the US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, commonly known as the Helsinki Commission. Parker is one of the committee’s longest-serving aides, described by the times as “a driving force” behind the 2012 Magnitsky Act.

According to a confidential report by the commission’s director and general counsel, leaked to the Times, Parker is being investigated over concerns that his multiple trips to Ukraine and donations of military technology might make him an unregistered foreign agent.

Parker has been to Ukraine at least seven times since February 2022, according to his social media posts, podcasts and lectures reviewed by the Times. There are photographs of him on social networks wearing uniforms with the insignia of Ukrainian units. In one photo he posted on his own X (formerly Twitter) account, Parker said he was “plotting the liberation” of Lugansk.

In written responses to the Times, Parker’s representative – who insisted on staying anonymous – said the camouflage uniforms were a recommendation of “American and Ukrainian security experts,” that Parker never wore the insignia of the units he was “accompanying,” and that his trips were never official.

However, people who traveled with him have told the outlet that he spoke of the trips as if they had been government business. A photo of him in Kherson was even published by the Helsinki Commission.

Parker apparently had relatives in Ukraine, and told congressional officials that at least some of the trips were to persuade them to evacuate. One of these relatives apparently handed him $30,000 collected by Ukrainian volunteers to buy sights and other equipment for Ukrainian snipers, according to a lecture Parker gave in April 2023 at the University of Maine in Bangor.

According to the lecture, Parker bought the equipment in the US and turned it over to a contact in Kharkov in mid-April 2022. “You never go into wartime Ukraine with an empty suitcase,” he said.

This bothered congressional officials, who said Parker could have violated ethics rules and export restrictions. Their report also accused him of declaring the commission to be on a “war footing” and no longer having to follow rules about reporting travel or contacts with foreign officials.

The report objected to Parker hiring a Ukrainian parliamentary aide for a congressional fellowship, and alleged he was “wittingly or unwittingly being targeted and exploited by a foreign intelligence service,” recommending FBI involvement.

According to two anonymous officials who spoke to the Times, an outside law firm is handling the probe and it was unclear whether the FBI ever got involved.

Parker has denied any wrongdoing. His representative claimed the report was “retaliation” by two senior people Parker has accused of misconduct. He remains employed by the commission, even though its chairman – Republican Congressman Joe Wilson – demanded his “immediate resignation or termination” on national security grounds in November.

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https://www.rt.com/news/593206-senate-aide-ukraine-probe/

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The US has long been working in Ukraine to prepare operatives for subversive work against Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. His comments came after the New York Times claimed the CIA has been actively involved in Ukraine since the 2014 Maidan coup. 

 “The work of so-called American advisers, most of whom departmentally belonged to the CIA, is well known,” Peskov told TASS when asked to comment on the NYT article published on Sunday.   

These people “occupied jobs in the building of the presidential administration of Ukraine… this is not a secret,” the Kremlin spokesman added. 

According to Peskov, the CIA and other US agencies began operating in Ukraine long before 2014, actively recruiting people and preparing them for “subversive work against our country.” 

In its report, the NYT claimed that the CIA has turned Ukraine into a major asset to spy on Russia since the Maidan coup. It further alleged that the US has funded and organized a network of secret bases throughout Ukraine, making Kiev part of a “secret coalition” against Moscow. 

According to NYT journalists, Ukraine currently hosts at least 12 spy bases that actively gather information on Russia, eavesdrop on its military communications, coordinate drone strikes, hack into Russian, Belarusian and Chinese satellites, and manage a network of agents inside Russia itself. 

Back in October, the Washington Post also reported that the CIA had invested “tens of millions” of dollars in Ukraine since 2014 to transform Kiev’s spy agencies into “potent allies against Moscow.” The outlet stated that US intelligence services maintain a “significant presence” in Kiev to this day, even as the Ukrainian Security Service has carried out “dozens of assassinations against Russian officials, alleged collaborators, military officers and prominent war supporters,”such as journalist Daria Dugina, who was killed in August 2022. 

Moscow, meanwhile, has repeatedly described increased US activity on Ukrainian territory, as well as Kiev’s NATO aspirations, as threats to its national security and one of the key reasons for launching its military operation in February 2022.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/593199-kremlin-cia-ukraine-revelations/

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The outcome of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev will be felt in every corner of the globe, the top Russian senator, Valentina Matvienko, said on Saturday. The standoff has long surpassed the scale of a simple dispute between two neighbors and evolved into a “large-scale confrontation” with the “collective West,” she said in a statement on the second anniversary of the start of Russia’s military campaign.

“The fate of the future world order is being decided on the battlefields of the special military operation,” said the head of Russia’s Federation Council – the upper house of the national parliament. The struggle has made it clear that Washington and its allies seek global dominance, she said. The US and other Western nations want to “impose a new version of colonialism on the world” and build an international system based on the “rule of force,” the senator warned.

The West treats people as “dust,” Matvienko maintained, adding that the US and its allies care neither about the people of Donbass, who suffered persecution at the hands of Kiev for years, nor for Ukrainians themselves, who were blindly lured into a conflict with Russia by the West, she argued.

Russia had sought to resolve the conflict between Kiev and Donbass through peaceful means for eight years, the senator said, adding that the Ukrainian government responded to those efforts with “anti-Russian policies, sabotage of the Minsk Agreements and terror against the Donbass population.”

Moscow is still ready to reach a peaceful settlement and is open to dialogue if its national security and the safety of its people are guaranteed, Matvienko said. Russia does not expect “any honesty, [or] decency” from the West, she stated, adding that the Russian government would now focus on protecting the Russian people and the “Russian world.”

The two years of conflict have clearly demonstrated that “Ukraine, together with the West or any other coalition is unable to inflict a strategic defeat on [Russia] on the battlefield,” she maintained.

The crisis has sped up the establishment of a multipolar world, the senator believes. Over the past few years, the role of such international groups as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has significantly increased, she said.

“We call on the world, on all friendly nations, to remember their sovereignty and to not hesitate to defend their interests, because it is something that needs to be really fought for nowadays,” Matvienko added.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/593089-future-world-order-ukraine-conflict/

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The US economy is based on the “farce” of printing unlimited amounts of money, and Western civilization will collapse when that bubble “inevitably bursts,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele warned American conservatives on Thursday.

Fresh from winning a second term in office with 84% of the vote, Bukele arrived at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland to a hero’s welcome. Hailed by American right-wingers for his adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender and his iron-fisted crackdown on gang crime, Bukele closed his speech with a call for massive structural changes to the US economy.

Conservatives, he said, “always tell me that the problem is high taxes, but they are wrong.”

“The real problem is that you pay high taxes only to uphold the illusion that you are funding the government, which you are not,” he claimed, before describing how the government is financed by Treasury bonds, which are purchased by the Federal Reserve with printed money backed by the bonds themselves.

“The government is funded by money printing, paper backed by paper. A bubble that will inevitably burst,” he said, adding that “the situation is even worse than it seems, because if most Americans and the rest of the world were to become aware of this farce, confidence in your currency would be lost. The dollar will fall, and Western civilization with it.”

“If the next president of the US does not make the necessary policies and structural changes, sooner or later that bubble will burst,” he concluded. “It will take a total re-engineering of the government from top to bottom.”

Gold backing of the dollar was removed in 1971 when President Richard Nixon reneged on the Bretton Woods system set up after World War II that provided for convertibility of the dollar into gold at a fixed rate. The US’ national debt has since exploded, soaring from $232 billion in 1971 to $34 trillion at the beginning of this year.

Republican lawmakers and the White House agreed last June to temporarily lift the nation’s debt ceiling, postponing what would otherwise have been a cataclysmic default. The agreement will last until 2025 when it will likely be renewed.

Bukele is best known for reducing El Salvador’s homicide rate from 38 per 100,000 when he was elected in 2019 to 2.4 at the end of last year. He achieved this feat by declaring a state of emergency in 2022 and jailing more than 75,000 suspected gang members, a crackdown that was harshly condemned by liberal NGOs and human rights organizations.

“The people of El Salvador have woken up, and so can you,” he told the crowd at CPAC. Pointing to rising crime and drug use on the streets of American cities, he called on conservatives to “put up a fight because in the end it will be worth it. You will have your country back.”

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https://www.rt.com/news/593090-nayib-bukele-dollar-collapse/

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The Pentagon’s inspector general has opened more than 50 cases into the alleged “theft, fraud or corruption, and diversion” of military aid to Ukraine, he said this week. Allegations of graft surfaced almost immediately after the aid began flowing to Kiev, and the inspector general said that more investigations are likely to follow.

Speaking at a briefing on Thursday, Inspector General Robert Storch said that no allegations have been substantiated yet, “though that may well change in the future,” according to Bloomberg. Additional investigations into the abuse or theft of US equipment will be opened in the near future “given the quantity and speed” of weapons being sent to Ukraine, he noted.

One case highlighted by Storch involved unidentified items arriving in Poland as part of a wider weapons shipment, before disappearing from a shipping manifest when they were sent across the border into Ukraine in June. While the case of the disappearing equipment was highlighted in a report by Storch’s office last year, the inspector did not say at the time whether the items had been lost or stolen. Instead, his office stated that Pentagon personnel “did not have required visibility and accountability of all types of equipment during the transfer process.”

None of Storch’s reports to date have identified any outright criminality. However, Thursday’s announcement marks the first time he has acknowledged that his office is probing potential cases of “procurement fraud, product substitution, theft, fraud or corruption, and diversion.”

In the two years since Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began, the US has spent roughly $113 billion on military, economic, and humanitarian aid for Kiev. Around $45 billion of that amount has been spent on weapons, ammo, and other military support for Kiev’s forces.

In the summer of 2022, a CBS News report suggested that only around 30% of the weapons sent by the West actually made it to the front lines in Ukraine. Around the same time, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu warned that weapons intended for Ukraine were showing up in Middle Eastern arms bazaars. 

Storch’s office has since deployed more than two dozen people to Ukraine to track US arms shipments. However, allegations of corruption have continued to surface, with the graft often beginning before supplies even enter the country. Last month, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced the uncovering of a major embezzlement ring at the country’s Defense Ministry. According to the SBU, five suspects attempted to steal 1.5 billion hryvnia (around $39.6 million) in state funds intended for the purchase of mortar shells. 

Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov was dismissed from his post over graft allegations in September. His successor, Rustem Umerov, announced in January that an audit had revealed $262 million in theft-related costs in weapons procurement.

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https://www.rt.com/news/593080-pentagon-ukraine-aid-fraud/

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French farmers stormed into a major Paris farm fair on Saturday ahead of a visit by President Emmanuel Macron, and ended up scuffling with riot police. They have been protesting restrictive EU environmental regulations, as well as rising costs and taxes.

Videos shared on social media show farmers chanting: “Macron, resign!” as they attempt to push through the riot police lines while already inside the pavilion of the fair. “This is our home!” they were also heard shouting while facing off against officers in riot gear.

At one point, a violent fight broke out, with the farmers, fair staff members, and police pushing and kicking each other. The protesters managed to break through the police lines. One clip shows the demonstrators demolishing what is claimed to be an EU stand prepared for the exhibition.

It is unclear if anyone was injured in the standoff. According to Reuters, at least one person was arrested following the clashes. French police have so far not commented on the developments. The incident took place ahead of a scheduled visit to the fair by Macron.

The French leader had breakfast with farmers’ union leaders earlier on Saturday and was also expected to hold a debate with the farmers and other agriculture sector stakeholders at the fair. The debate was canceled amid the violent protests.

“I’m saying this for all farmers: you’re not helping any of your colleagues by smashing up stands, you’re not helping any of your colleagues by making the show impossible, and in a way scaring families away from coming,” Macron told journalists. According to Reuters, the storming of the exhibition by farmers delayed the opening for the public by at least an hour.

Macron nevertheless promised to meet with farmers’ union representatives in three weeks to discuss the situation.

Farmers’ protests began in several EU nations in late January in response to strict EU policies and environmental regulations, which included cuts in subsidies. They argued that Brussels’ plans would put them out of business and threaten their livelihoods.

Demonstrations were held in Germany, France, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria at the time. Paris scrapped plans to reduce subsidies on diesel for farmers in late January after protesters used tractors and other agricultural machines to block a major highway out of Paris and a road linking France to Spain. The rallies were largely suspended but resumed earlier this week.

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https://www.rt.com/news/593083-farmers-storm-paris-fair-clash/

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US President Joe Biden’s recent insulting remarks are proof that it would be better for Russia if he stayed in office, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

Speaking at a fundraiser in California on Wednesday, Biden had called Putin a “crazy son of a b*tch.” Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin asked the Russian president to comment on this.

“When you asked me our preference for the next US president, I said we would work with any, but for us, for Russia, Biden was better,” Putin replied. “Judging by what he said, I was absolutely right.”

“That’s the appropriate reaction to what I said,” Putin continued. “It’s not like he could say ‘Good job, Volodya, thank you for the helping hand’. We understand what is going on there, in terms of internal politics.”

Biden’s insulting comments “mean I was right,” Putin said. In terms of who Moscow would like to see in the White House, he added, “I can say it again: Biden.”

In an interview with Zarubin last week, Putin described Biden as “a more experienced and predictable person…a politician of the old sort” and waved off claims of the US president’s much-discussed apparent dementia.

Putin is visiting Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan. Zarubin caught up with him after the Russian president took a Tu-160M strategic bomber for a spin.

Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned Biden’s comments as “shameful” and said he had brought “great disgrace” to the US.

Ahead of the 2016 US presidential election, Putin had complimented Republican candidate Donald Trump, who had campaigned on “getting along” with Russia. After Trump defeated their candidate Hillary Clinton, the Democrats invented a conspiracy theory about “Russian meddling” in the election and accused Trump of “Kremlin ties,” using both to sabotage Trump’s presidency.

The Russian president recently commented on the 2020 US election – which Biden officially won with the most votes ever – by describing it as questionable in terms of legitimacy.

The Biden White House has already denounced Putin’s “endorsement” of their commander-in-chief, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby insisting that Russia “should just stay out of our elections.”

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https://www.rt.com/russia/592972-putin-biden-insult/

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The International Monetary Fund could agree to unlock $900 million for Ukraine as soon as Thursday, Bloomberg has reported, citing officials with knowledge of the talks.

The disbursement would be part of a four-year $15.6 billion loan that the Washington-based institution approved for Ukraine last year, and would come as a $60 billion US aid package remains stalled in Congress.

Staff at the IMF have assessed whether Ukraine has met the conditions for the payment, and are expected to wrap up their work and make a statement in Washington on Thursday, Bloomberg wrote, citing the officials.

The reported agreement would follow two weeks of discussions on how the Ukrainian government will be able to continue to function if the US funding does not come through, Bloomberg wrote. Tax hikes, spending cuts, and increased domestic bond sales are reportedly among the measures designed to convince the IMF that Ukraine will be able to service the loan if the US fails to provide aid.

Members of the US House of Representatives have so far refused to refused to pass a bill requested by US President Joe Biden, which includes a new aid package for Kiev worth $60 billion, most of which is earmarked for weapons.

In December, Ukraine’s Finance Ministry estimated Kiev’s fiscal needs for 2024 at $37.3 billion, after more than $42 billion in foreign aid was received in 2023.

RIA Novosti news agency reported on Wednesday that an IMF representative had denied that the fund and Kiev were close to an agreement. A dedicated team is still reviewing the funding programme and studying whether Kiev has fulfilled the conditions for receiving the tranche, RIA Novosti wrote.

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https://www.rt.com/news/592933-imf-close-unlocking-funds-ukraine/

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