🇷🇺🇧🇾 Russian Defence Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu meets President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksander Lukaskenko

@mod_russia_en

Ukraine is preparing a provocation to disrupt the transit of Russian ammonia from Togliatti to Odessa

MOSCOW, December 4 - RIA Novosti. The Kiev regime is preparing a provocation to disrupt the UN initiative to resume the transit of ammonia through the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline, a military-diplomatic source told RIA Novosti.
According to him, it is planned to arrange explosions on the domed roofs of ammonia storage facilities on the territory of the Odessa port plant in order to destroy suspended ceilings, as well as the infrastructure of the reloading shop. All this is supposed to be presented under the legend of a missile strike allegedly inflicted by the Russian army.

"The provocation was planned and is being implemented under the control of representatives of the British special services located in Odessa. Contract soldiers of the Canadian PMC GardaWorld are also involved in the implementation of this provocation, who, under an agreement with the Ukrainian seaports administration, perform the functions of protecting the port infrastructure in the Odessa region," the agency's interlocutor said.
He added that the main goal of the provocation, by analogy with the sabotage at Nord Stream, would be to deprive Russia of the opportunity to supply ammonia, which is necessary for the production of nitrogen fertilizers, to various regions of the world, primarily to developing countries.
"The planned destruction of storage facilities for ammonia in Odessa will lead to a further increase in its value on the world market. This will increase the volume, as well as the profitability of the production and export of ammonia by UK and US enterprises to the European Union and developing countries in the face of high natural gas prices," he said.
The Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline was built in the late 1970s. About 2.5 million tons of raw materials are pumped through it annually. Since February 24, after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the transit was stopped.
The resumption of exports of Russian fertilizers is provided for by the grain deal signed by representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN at the end of July. This week, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths called it close to reaching an agreement to resume supplies of ammonia, which could begin within a week or two.

Follow 👉@TrFormer 💤

Ukraine aid and stealth bombers: Pentagon lays out consequences if Congress can’t pass a budget deal
A yearlong continuing resolution would hit weapons programs across the board, an internal document says.

By LARA SELIGMAN for POLITICO
...
A yearlong continuing resolution, or CR, would slash funding for DoD by $29 billion, or 3.7 percent, compared to President Joe Biden’s request for fiscal 2023, according to conversations with senior DoD officials and internal documents exclusively obtained by POLITICO.

Operating under a short-term spending bill is nothing new to the Pentagon, which has seen CRs 13 out of the last 14 years. Every year, DoD leaders warn that the stopgap measure — which limits funding to the previous year’s levels and bars the department from starting most new programs — erodes military readiness and puts key programs at risk. It’s a common tactic to pressure lawmakers to come to an agreement before any significant damage is done, and it’s typically successful.

But this year is different, officials said: A longer, one-year CR would be a major crisis for DoD.
...
In that case, McCord said his top priorities would be the nuclear triad, particularly the B-21, hypersonic programs, and potentially a multiyear contract for Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. In addition, DoD would have to “look hard” at industrial base concerns for munitions needed for the Ukraine conflict and a possible Indo-Pacific contingency, he said.

Senior DoD officials are also concerned that a yearlong CR could halt military aid to Ukraine that comes from the department’s base budget, including replacing munitions expended in the fight. The bulk of the funding for Ukraine has been through supplemental funding bills, which could be attached to a CR. But if lawmakers can’t get a deal on a funding bill or a Ukraine supplemental, DoD will run out of money for Kyiv in the spring, McCord said.

“Ukraine is in a kinetic fight, and we are their No. 1 helper,” McCord said. “If they run out of ammo, they’re in a bad place.”

A yearlong CR could also delay industrial base improvements for several key systems, including the Abrams tank and the M777 towed howitzer, which is among the weapons the U.S. military is donating to Ukraine.

Follow 👉@TrFormer 💤
Read the full version here ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Dump of elements of the hull of used rockets in Kharkov

https://t.me/infantmilitario/88721



@Slavyangrad
Follow 👉 @TrFormer💤

#RussianHistory

➖ The Brandenburg Gate Ballerina - The Ukrainian Soviet soldier who became a WW2 star.

➖ Lydia Spivak join the Red army after the liberation of her village in Donetsk Oblast and reached Berlin with the liberators Army, she spent the rest of her life as a teacher of Ukrainan Language in her native Donetsk. (Yes, a teacher of Ukrainian language, contrary to the Nazi propaganda spread in the west today, in the USSR Ukrainian culture was promoted in schools).

https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses
Follow 👉@TrFormer💤

https://t.me/new_militarycolumnist/97244
The center of Donetsk and the Donbass Arena were hit by Ukrainian hail today.

#Donbass
Follow 👉@TrFormer💤

Zelensky was dissatisfied with the decision to set an adjustable ceiling on Russian oil prices at $60 per barrel

The diesel paradox of Ukraine
Due to the power outage, Ukraine needs diesel fuel for generators, it needs a lot. But the EU imposes sanctions on oil from Russia and on petroleum products, that is, diesel. And the EU gave Ukraine diesel fuel from Russian supplies.
Therefore, now the Europeans have apologized and warned Kiev that they will sharply reduce the supply of diesel to Ukraine because of sanctions — sanctions that Kiev asked for Russia.
So anti-Russian sanctions will make the lives of millions of residents of Ukraine colder, darker and more hopeless,unfortunately... But as Olena Zeneskaya said "people of Ukraine can hold without heat for 2-3 years"...
Follow 👉@TrFormer 💤

The government of the Russian Federation plans to prepare a mechanism that will ban trading on the condition of the oil price ceiling.

Now we are working on mechanisms to prohibit the use of the price cap tool, regardless of what level will be set. Such interference, we believe, could lead to even greater destabilization, a shortage of energy resources and a decrease in investment. It can affect not only oil, but also other products that are on the market, affect not only Russia but also other countries. Therefore, we will sell oil and oil products to those countries that will work with us on market terms. Even if we have to cut production a little.
Follow 👉@TrFormer💤

OPEC+ countries decide on oil production volumes
04.12.2022 - 16:45

The OPEC+ countries decided to keep the current agreements on oil production volumes.

As RV reported, representatives of 23 oil-producing countries, led by Russia and Saudi Arabia, gathered to discuss this issue today. The discussion was initiated against the backdrop of the introduction of a "cap" on prices for Russian raw materials.

The next meeting of the alliance will take place on June 4, but OPEC + confirms its readiness to meet at any time to take additional measures to stabilize the market, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in a statement.

Production will continue to be reduced by 2 million barrels per day.

#TransFormatorBuzzes : 💤
Apparently, it will increase spot prices for crude oil, and no "caps" will help. "This is market capitalism, baby..."(C)
Follow 👉@TrFormer 💤

Two Words That Could End The War In Ukraine

By Jack Buckby for 19FortyFive

Security Guarantees: How to End the Ukraine War?
Speaking to French television network TF1 in an interview recorded during his recent trip to the United States, Macron argued that Europe needs to begin preparing future security architecture with a view to making some guarantees for Russia.

“This means that one of the essential points we must address – as President Putin has always said – is the fear that NATO comes right up to its doors, and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia,” the French president said.

“That topic will be part of the topics for peace, so we need to prepare what we are ready to do, how we protect our allies and member states, and how to give guarantees to Russia the day it returns to the negotiating table.”

It’s a suggestion that Macron has made before.

In February, the Russian and French presidents met to discuss security guarantees for Russia.

The discussions ultimately led to nothing.
#TransFormatorBuzzes : 💤
It appears, that certain smarties in the West eventually starts to understand something, but with a delay of about a year. Those "offerings" could have changed something when Russia about a year ago addressed US, EU and NATO with requests to ensure security guaranties as a legally binding document, which was arrogantly rejected.
Follow 👉@TrFormer 💤
Read the full version here ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Scott Ritter - Ukraine Russia War Update with Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom
"Russians will achieve military victory by the end of the next summer," Scott Ritter.
Follow 👉@TrFormer💤

With the Ukrainian crisis beginning the second cold war, the West and Russia must conclude a new deal, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in an interview with the English version of the al-Jazeera channel (from 19:59).
Follow 👉@TrFormer💤

Protesters in Milan demanded to stop arming Ukraine
A rally against anti-Russian sanctions and sending weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine was held in Milan

ROME, December 4 - RIA Novosti. A procession was held in the centre of Milan to protest against the sending of Italian weapons to the Ukrainian authorities and the expansion of anti-Russian sanctions, Amedeo Avondet, one of the organizers of the action, a representative of the United Italy political organization, told RIA Novosti.
The march was organized by the former mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, who a week ago created the Stop the War Committee, advocating Italy's non-participation in the conflict in Ukraine.

The protesters stretched a multi-meter banner with the inscription "Enough weapons for Kyiv and sanctions against Russia" and walked through the streets with Italian flags and flares.
"Our country, due to the policy of the government, pays for the consequences of the crisis by paying the rich, multinational corporations and the United States <...> There were also Russian flags at the demonstration, but the main thing is that it had Italian flags, which show that, first of all, we are patriots, who love their people," Avondet said.
According to him, he used to support the Brothers of Italy party, which after winning the September elections raised the price of gasoline.

“The main interest should be the unity of the nation, regardless of political differences. Now Italy is occupied by the US and NATO bases, and one cannot be afraid to say that 17,000 soldiers are in Italy and keep our government at gunpoint,” the activist said.
He added that at the end of December he was going to visit Russia as part of a United Italy delegation, where he intended to meet with representatives of United Russia, and in early January to register his movement as a party.

Follow 👉@TrFormer 💤

The Russian oil debacle
by Peter Doran for The Hill

The looming Russian oil price “cap” has all the hallmarks of a historic debacle in the making. For months, the United States and the G-7 have haggled over a complex plan to constrain the money that the Kremlin makes from some of its oil exports. With a looming deadline to loosen oil sanctions just days away, policymakers should dump the plan — as it will do little to hasten an end to the war in Ukraine.
...
The most obvious flaw in this scheme was Russian participation. What if the Kremlin refused to abide by the arrangement, as Russia recently hinted? A second snag was the price cap itself. If it was too high, Moscow would generate outsized petrol profits to fund its war against Ukraine. Technocrats from participating G-7 countries were tasked with determining a “capped” price for Russian crude and, at least in theory, updating it to follow changing market conditions.

Inside the European Union, however, this process created a diplomatic trench war. Poland initially blocked the EU’s proposed price, saying that a cap of $65 per barrel was too high. The EU countered with a price of $60 per barrel. However, this too is very lucrative for the Kremlin, since the cost of producing a barrel of Russian crude is between $20-$40 (depending on the well). The EU’s plan will still leave piles of money on the table for Putin to spend on his war.

Finally, there is a historic precedent. A previous international price-fixing scheme failed — spectacularly. In the 1990s, the UN’s disastrous Oil for Food Program inadvertently created a corrupt patronage system for artificially cheap barrels of Iraqi crude.
...
If the Russian oil price cap fails to materialize or work as officials intend, the United States and its allies should drop the scheme and keep to their previous, more aggressive sanctions policy. Washington should likewise prioritize efforts to fully open the taps of U.S. domestic energy production while holding together the coalition of countries that signed up for America’s sanctions regime on Russia in the first place.
#TransFormatorBuzzes : 💤
How naïve those experts are, thinking only for one side of a conflict...
Follow 👉@TrFormer 💤
Read the full version here ⬇️⬇️⬇️

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are sending reinforcements to Artemovsk/Bakhmut.

More cannon fodder.

Follow 👉@TrFormer 💤