"Wagner" handed over Ukrainian prisoners of war home before Easter

Before Easter, Ukrainian prisoners of war who fell into the hands of Wagner PMC in the battles were sent home. The footage published by the press service of Yevgeny Prigozhin shows that at least 50 people went to their families.

All prisoners of war were fed and those who were wounded were examined by doctors. Many of them, leaving, thanked the fighters of the Wagner PMC and congratulated the band members on the holiday. The location of the action is unknown, but, most likely, it was those UAF soldiers who were captured in Artemovsk (Bakhmut), most of which are controlled by the "musicians", who returned home.

Translated from ReadovkaNews
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Russian forces are fighting for the railway junction in the western part of Artemovsk

The fighters of the Wagner Group are fighting for the main railway junction of Artemovsk in the western part of the city, a fighter of the group told RIA Novosti.
"They have moved towards the railroad. They are pulling back. They are running, and we are catching up with them. The city is almost under our control," he said.

According to him, the Russian military has already occupied the centre of Artemovsk, the fighters of the group are moving in other directions, pushing the Armed Forces to the western part of the city.
#FPVW (First Person View War)
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MLRS "Tornado" destroy the artillery of Ukrainian troops in the Zaporozhye direction

Crews of the MLRS "Tornado" of the Russian Armed Forces are destroying the artillery of the Ukrainian troops during the counter-battery fight in the Zaporozhye direction, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported.

“The enemy used artillery units on our front line. With the help of our sound reconnaissance units, we determined the coordinates and immediately inflicted a fire defeat,” said the commander of the MLRS unit. He noted that the Russian military suppressed the target.

"The enemy is no longer firing from those points," the source said.

#FPVW (First Person View War)
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Two planes with Russian nuclear fuel took off from Finland

HELSINKI, April 16 — RIA Novosti. Two planes carrying Russian nuclear fuel took off from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Petteri Tiippana, spokesman for the STUK Radiation Safety Center, said on Twitter.

"Two planes with Russian nuclear fuel left the Helsinki-Vantaa airport on Saturday late in the evening," he wrote.

According to Finnish media, Tiippana did not specify where exactly the cargo was sent.

This is at least the third time that Russian nuclear fuel has been sent to customers via Finnish airports. This operation was first reported on November 6, 2022, when the cargo was sent to customers in other countries by plane from Lappeenranta, Finland. The next flight took off on March 18, 2023 from the capital's airport.

Finland is used as a transit country due to the lack of air communication between Russia and Europe, the Finnish authorities specified earlier.
In early March, the Finnish energy concern Fortum announced that it continues to purchase nuclear fuel for its Loviisa nuclear power plant from the Russian company TVEL (the fuel company of Rosatom).
#Finland
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The Russian division of Henkel began to Russify brands before the completion of the sale of assets

MOSCOW, April 16 — RIA Novosti. Henkel Russia, which has been operating in the country since the beginning of the year as an independent company called Lab Industries, began to Russify brands from its portfolio, a RIA Novosti correspondent was convinced.

So, in domestic stores and marketplaces, brand products began to appear in the same design, but with names in Russian. For example, Vernel fabric softener has become Вернель, Persil laundry detergent is now Персил, and Bref toilet blocks are Бреф. Also in one of the product cards on Ozon it says — "We changed the letters, but nothing has changed."

Lab Industries itself confirmed to the agency that since January this year, Henkel Russia has been operating as an independent company under a new commercial name, while the transaction for the sale of assets in the country, according to them, is at the final stage.

“Prior to the signing, we cannot provide any additional information: neither about the deal, nor about business plans for the product portfolio or individual brands. At the same time, we can confirm that Vernel is produced by Lab Industries,” added there.
Ozon said that "the names of some Henkel brands were Russified by the manufacturer itself." They emphasized that in fact nothing has changed, except for writing in Cyrillic instead of Latin, and the goods are produced at the same enterprises and are also checked before sale, as before the change in spelling of the name.

Key Consulting Group Managing Partner Anastasia Kucherena also noted that such changes were probably dictated by the company's decision, and not, for example, by current regulations, including the law on the state language. "There are other reasons for changing names, for example, rebranding of companies," she said.
The Henkel group of companies is one of the largest European chemical concerns producing household chemicals, cosmetics and construction products. The company's brands include Moment glue, Pemolux cleaning products, Persil, Pemos, Losk, Laska, Vernel; cosmetics and hygiene products Fa, Taft, Shamtu, Schwarzkopf, Syoss; finishing products Ceresit, Metylan and others. Last spring, the company announced that it was going out of business in Russia. Upon completion of the sale, Henkel intends to relinquish control over all activities of the sold Russian business.

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Sanctions... What sanctions? There are no sanctions, when big money are involved.
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Outrage In Kiev as the agricultural products from Ukraine are banned in Poland

MOSCOW, April 16 — RIA Novosti. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine has criticized Poland's decision to ban the import of its agricultural products, the ministry said in a statement.

Poland has banned the import of agricultural products from the neighbouring country until June 30. We are talking about a ban on the import of grain, sugar, dry feed, seeds, hops, flax and hemp, fruits and vegetables, products from processed fruits and vegetables, wine, beef and veal. In addition, until June 30, milk and dairy products, pork, lamb and goat meat, eggs, poultry meat, ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, as well as bee products cannot be imported into Poland. Hungary also banned the import of grain, oilseeds and a number of other agricultural products from Ukraine until June 30, 2023

"The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine regrets the adoption by the Polish colleagues of the decision to temporarily restrict the export through the territory of Poland (including in transit) of agricultural goods from Ukraine," the report says.

The ministry said it had always advocated "open, constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation." At the same time, the decision of Warsaw, according to Kyiv, contradicts the agreements reached earlier.

"At present, the solution of various kinds of issues by unilateral cardinal actions will not accelerate a positive solution to the situation. We emphasize that there should be no misunderstandings between our states and business entities," the ministry said, proposing to agree on a new memorandum of understanding with Poland in the near future.

Since the beginning of February, organizations uniting Polish farmers have protested due to the fact that grain imported from Ukraine is deposited and sold in the country for subsequent export through Poland to other states.

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Ukrainian refugees held a protest over poor living conditions at an army base in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands, local portal GLD.nl reports

"Lack of privacy, poor education of children and poor sanitary conditions. Discontent reigns in the reception centre for Ukrainian refugees in (village - ed.) Harskampe. It is so great that refugees today held a protest in front of the centre demanding better living conditions," stated in the material.

Dozens of Ukrainians took part in the protest action, they brought the flag of the country and several posters. “The food is terrible, the education is bad, the medical care is zero. We want a normal life. This shelter can only be a suitable place for a short time. But we have been here for more than a year, and it is very difficult,” said Ukrainian Tatyana Kapikyan. Another of her compatriots complained that people here live "like in the army", because of this they "have no personal life."

Also, many refugees are very worried about the children, as military exercises are held nearby, while the children go to school only twice a week.
At the same time, local authorities recognize the legitimacy of some of the complaints of Ukrainians. "Some of them have been in military barracks for more than a year, which are not very habitable. This is definitely not the best place to live," a municipal spokesman said. According to him, about 330 people currently live in the camp, but this number will grow by several dozen more in the near future.
The authorities are currently setting up kitchens for the refugees so that they can cook for themselves. In addition, local schools have "chosen a scenario" of work, thanks to which all children will receive an education, even if this will not be in person.
In early April, the Dutch government decided to allocate 274 million euros to Ukraine, including for the restoration of the country and its cooperation with NATO.

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Germany shut down its last nuclear power plant tonight

On the night of April 16, Germany closed the last of the three operating nuclear power plants in the country, completely abandoning its own nuclear energy after more than 60 years of its use.

The last stations to close were Isar 2 in Bavaria, Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg and Emsland in Lower Saxony. The last of the three was the Neckarwestheim reactor. In Berlin and the Bavarian capital Munich, the Greens took to the streets to celebrate the shutdown of the reactors and their victory.

The majority of Germans (59%) consider this decision to be wrong, only a third (34%) support it, the Infratest poll showed.

Many respondents are seriously concerned that the transition to so-called green, renewable energy sources will lead to further price increases for the end consumer.

The nuclear era in Germany began in 1961 with the opening of the Kahl station in Bavaria.

Translated from Rusvesna
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Finland wanted to cancel the demilitarized status of the Åland Islands

After Finland joined NATO, the question arose about the relevance of the agreement with Russia on the demilitarization of the Åland Islands, writes the Finnish edition Ilta-Sanomat.

“After Finland became a member of NATO, the question arose whether the agreement on the demilitarization of the Åland Islands remains relevant,” the material says.

The Åland Islands have had the status of a demilitarized territory since 1856, which has since been repeatedly confirmed by various agreements. Nevertheless, as the author writes, a number of Finnish politicians support the idea of abolishing this status.

For example, this position was taken by the former commander of the Defense Forces, and now a member of the Finnish parliament, Jarmo Lindberg, who believes that NATO membership makes it possible to call into question the peaceful status of the islands. A similar opinion is shared by the former head of intelligence of the Defense Forces, the newly elected MP from the National Coalition party, Pekka Toveri, who said that the Åland Islands should be remilitarized because of Russia's allegedly aggressive policy.

At the same time, the authorities of the islands, represented by the head of the municipality, Veronika Törnros, believe that Aland should maintain its demilitarized status. The only deputy from the Åland Islands in the Finnish parliament, defending the idea of the status quo, pointed out that within the framework of NATO there may be demilitarized zones, citing the Norwegian Svalbard as an example.

Last week, a collection of signatures on the closure of the Russian consulate in the Åland Islands due to the country's entry into NATO was opened on the website of Finnish civil initiatives. As of 14:00 (Moscow time) Thursday, the proposal received 25,4 thousand signatures of citizens out of 50 thousand required for consideration by the country's parliament.

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed the hope that Helsinki will continue to adhere to international legal obligations regarding the status of the Åland Islands. The Russian embassy in Finland noted that the attempts of some activists to raise the issue of closing the representative office look like a desire to undermine the foundations of the international legal regime of the islands, which has long proved its effectiveness.

The diplomats noted that the consulate in the capital of the Aland Islands, the city of Mariehamn, operates on the basis of an agreement between the USSR and Finland of 1940, which, along with the Aland Convention of 1921, is an integral part of the international legal framework for the demilitarized status of the Alands.
#Finland
Translated from RusVesna
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Finland starts fence on Russian border amid migration, security concerns

IMATRA, Finland, April 14 (Reuters) — Finland is building the first stretch of a fence on its border with Russia on Friday, less than two weeks after it joined the NATO military alliance to complete a security U-turn taken in response to the war in Ukraine.

Fearing retaliation from the east following its NATO application, the government decided last year to construct the barrier, primarily in case Russia moved to flood the border with migrants.

Finland aims to guard against a repeat of events on the European Union's eastern frontier in Poland in winter 2021, when the bloc accused neighbouring Belarus - a staunch Russian ally - of engineering a crisis by flying in migrants from the Middle East, giving them visas and pushing them across the border.

Made of steel mesh, the Finnish fence is scheduled to cover some 200 kilometres (125 miles) of the most critical parts of its border by the end of 2026. Project manager Ismo Kurki said on Friday that, while it is not intended to stop any invasion attempt, the fence will have surveillance equipment.

Meanwhile, there has so far been little human activity along the border, which stretches to 1,300 km in all.

Last year, Finland detected only 30 illegal crossings there, while Russian border guards stopped some 800 attempts to enter Finland, the Finnish Border Guard said.

"The situation at the Finnish-Russian border has been stable and is stable at the moment," said Border Guard Brigadier General Jari Tolppanen, as one of his teams worked on the first 3-kilometre (1.9-miles) stage of the fence at Imatra, some 250km (155 miles) northeast of Helsinki.

"But in this totally changed (security) situation, Finland must have more credible and more independent border control. And Finland needs to be less dependent on the Russian border control," he added.
...
The new fence will be 3 metres (10ft) high, topped with razor-wire and tracked by a road, and cost an estimated 380 million euros ($417 million).

#Finland
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Crimea Has Become a Frankenstein’s Monster
The Ukrainian government is now trapped by its own uncompromising—and increasingly indefensible—policy.

Foreign Policy

Clear differences are emerging within the Ukrainian government as to whether Ukraine should make the reconquest of Crimea a nonnegotiable goal of its war effort or be prepared to trade at least provisional Russian control of the peninsula for Russian concessions elsewhere. This issue also has the potential to create a deep split between Kyiv and Western governments, which fear that Crimea and control of the strategically vital military base of Sevastopol might be the point on which Moscow would be willing to escalate toward nuclear war. The question is becoming more urgent as Ukraine prepares for an offensive that could potentially allow it to cut the land route between Russia and Crimea.

My own research in Ukraine last month suggests that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would have very great domestic difficulty in supporting a cease-fire leaving Crimea in Russian hands. Not only would this face strong opposition from hard-line nationalists and the Ukrainian military, but the Ukrainian government has helped foster a general public mood that Crimea must be recovered at all costs.

In a departure from the previous government line, Andriy Sybiha, the deputy head of the presidential staff and a veteran Ukrainian diplomat, told the Financial Times last week: “If we succeed in achieving our strategic goals on the battlefield, and when we are on the administrative border of Crimea, we are ready to open a diplomatic page to discuss this issue … [though] this doesn’t mean that we exclude the way of liberation [of Crimea] by our army.”

In a recent interview rebroadcast by Radio Liberty, another advisor to Zelensky, former journalist and hard-line nationalist politician Mykhailo Podolyak, took a very different line from Sybiha, ruling out any compromise with Russia:

Could there be talks about a diplomatic way out of Crimea? … Yes, of course, if [Moscow] starts withdrawing those troops today, then we can wait a day, two or three, while those troops leave together with the [Russian] inhabitants.

Podolyak said that after Russia leaves all Ukrainian territory, negotiations should be about Russian compensation to Ukraine and punishment for war crimes, together with the creation of a 100-kilometer (62-mile) demilitarized zone on the Russian side of the border. He also raised another issue of crucial importance to the issue of Ukraine’s recovery of the territories controlled by Russia since 2014: that of the fate of their populations, much of which have historically identified with Russia. Referring to pro-Russian Crimeans as mankurts (roughly, “brain-dead slaves”), he said:

We have to completely close everything related to the Russian cultural space there. We have to eradicate everything Russian. There should be only Ukrainian cultural space or global cultural space. We should not have a dialogue about whether a person has the right to use the Russian language or not. … There shouldn’t be this line: “Maybe these are our people, maybe we need to talk about something with them.” I was constantly surprised by this concept of reintegration in 2014-2015 and [the argument that] let’s reintegrate the occupied territories with a smile. Gangsters live there, criminals live there, occupying armies and administrations live there, but let’s reintegrate them with a smile. … They should be expelled, and some should be imprisoned.

This vision (which many in the world would likely see as tantamount to ethnic cleansing) was not shared by most of the Ukrainians with whom I spoke during three weeks in the country last month. A clear majority said Crimea should be returned to Ukraine—but with some (usually unspecified) measures for the peaceful reintegration of its population.

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Continued here ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Continued from above ⬆️⬆️⬆️

A substantial minority, however, said Ukraine should be prepared to give up Crimea in return for peace and the return of the territory taken by Russia since last February. The reasons they gave differed, but the three principal ones were that “otherwise this war will go on forever”; that Crimea (which was transferred from the Russian to the Ukrainian Soviet republics in 1954 by Soviet decree) “was never really part of Ukraine”; and that the pro-Russian population of Crimea would be a perpetual internal problem for Ukraine. According to an opinion survey conducted last July, 58 percent of the Ukrainians who responded said Crimea must return to Ukraine—a majority but not a huge one.

There was one striking difference between the two positions on Crimea and a negotiated peace with Russia. The people with whom I spoke who stated that the return of Crimea to Ukraine was essential and nonnegotiable mostly spoke on the record. Not one of the advocates of compromise was willing to do so.

As a former dissident from the Soviet days (and leading supporter of the 2004 Orange Revolution) told me:

Certainly, a great many people do believe that we have to fight on indefinitely to reconquer Crimea, irrespective of losses; but at heart, most sensible people know that it is not possible. The problem is that it has become almost impossible to say this in public without losing your job and perhaps worse. You know that under the Soviet Union people were afraid to say what they thought. Well, I have to say that a similar situation exists in Ukraine today. This is due to the anger and hatred in the population caused by the Russian invasion but also to repression by the state. Anyone who advocates compromise with Russia is immediately publicly branded a traitor and targeted by the SBU [the Ukrainian security service], no matter if they have always supported Ukrainian freedom and independence.

As in most recent wars, this public atmosphere is greatly reinforced by state control of television, which since the suppression of allegedly pro-Russian channels has become almost absolute as far as news and analysis are concerned. Voices on television now speak overwhelmingly in support of the government line (or perhaps, the previous government line) that the return of Crimea and the eastern Donbas is nonnegotiable. This is backed up by pressure on the print media. As a journalist in the city of Dnipro told me, “The biggest problem is the atmosphere of censorship. Nobody gives a direct order, but everyone knows that if you write certain things, you will have bad problems, from your employers and the security services. So discussion now takes place only within very narrow limits.”

As Ukrainian analyst Volodymyr Ishchenko has stated, the result is a “spiral of silence” in which views held by many in private are wholly absent in public.

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Why Ukraine turned out to be defenceless against the demons of Nazism
...
The question that does not leave you alone and makes you ask yourself again and again: where does it come from in Ukraine? Where, from what depths and abyss did the evil come out, which has now taken root in the crowds, ready to tear everyone to pieces for the pagan chimera of "glory to Ukraine". Let's be honest - after all, we did not think to what extent Ukrainian society is infected with this ideology. And how dangerous and contagious it is. And then they saw the pagan temples in the premises of the Nazis "Azov". So what is it in general, possession or Nazism? And what kind of medicine will help here in principle - denazification or exorcism? And is it possible to confuse the medicines here, or is it better to mix them for fidelity?
...
The famous psychologist Carl Jung gave a profound answer to this question in one of his interviews: “Under National Socialism, the pressure of demons increased so much that human beings, falling under their power, turned into somnambulistic superhumans, the first among which was Hitler, who infected everyone else with this. All Nazi leaders are possessed in the literal sense of the word, and it is no doubt no coincidence that their minister of propaganda was marked with the mark of a demonized man - a limp."
...
Strange as it may seem, the Nuremberg trials give us a vivid example of such intoxication with Nazism. During the tribunal, no one could have imagined that this would end.

Douglas Kelly, who worked as a psychiatrist at the Nuremberg trials, examining criminals and studying their behaviour, eventually became a victim of the Nazis: after the process, he committed suicide in the same way as Hermann Goering, taking poison in a capsule. Kelly, who studied the Nazis and tried to understand how they, while remaining medically sane people, could do such evil, unbearable for any person, did not find an answer in the course of his research.
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