Russian Foreign Ministry statement on the Black Sea Grain Initiative for the export of Ukrainian grain

On October 29, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, under the cover of the humanitarian corridor set up for the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products, launched massive air and sea strikes using drones against the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s ships and infrastructure at the naval base in Sevastopol.

As a result of the actions (which cannot be qualified as anything other than a terrorist attack) by the Ukrainian armed forces, led by the British specialists, directed, in particular, against Russian ships ensuring the functioning of the humanitarian corridor, the Russian side can no longer guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea Grain Initiative and will suspend its implementation from today for an indefinite period. The corresponding instructions have been issued to Russian representatives in the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, which is in charge of the transportation of Ukrainian food products.

🔥Scott Ritter is back on Twitter! :) 💥💐

Former Marine Corps Intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter is back on Twitter, after being censored for dissenting views on the Ukraine proxy war.

#Scott_Ritter
#Twitter

#English 🇬🇧

InfoDefenseENGLISH,
InfoDefense

🇺🇸We are on the brink of nuclear war because the United States simply cannot keep its bloody nose out of anyone's backyards and we kept pushing for NATO expansion.

American Professor Jeffrey Sachs.

◾Russian soldier appeals to the Arab world and Muslims in general.

◾Follow:
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses

❗Reactions from leaders and country representatives to Russia's withdrawal from the grain deal:

🔹"Russia must export grain," UK Foreign Secretary Cleverley. "Russia must allow grain to be exported to the world's hungry."

🔹"This is blackmail," - Lithuanian Foreign Minister Landsbergis. "Military vessels from Western countries should be used to guard ships taking grain out of Ukraine."

🔹"Russia has no place in the G20," Ukrainian President Zelensky. "What's needed now is a tough international response both at the UN level and at other levels, particularly the G20."

🔹"This is outrageous," - US President Biden. "There is no reason for them to act in this way. The UN negotiated this deal and that should be the end of it."

🔹"Washington regrets," US Secretary of State Blinken. "We call on all parties to continue to pursue this critical life-saving initiative."

‼️🇺🇸🇺🇦US and Ukrainian interests diverge — The American Conservative

"Who controls Crimea and the Donbas has, in the history of U.S.-Russian relations, never been an issue to justify a war between us. America has never had a vital interest in who rules in Kiev. For us, the crucial concern in this Ukraine-Russia war is that the U.S. not be sucked into a war with Russia. It may soon clash with the strategic war goals of Ukraine—i.e., full retrieval of Crimea and the Donbas." - Patrick Buchanan, former advisor for three US Presidents.

‼️🇺🇸🇪🇺The West has very little insight into Ukraine’s aims, its losses or battlefield performance – The Hill

“The West, at least publicly, has very little insight into Kyiv’s aims and intentions, or indeed its losses or battlefield performance beyond that which is conveyed via social media and journalistic accounts,” - Joshua Huminski, the director of the Center for Intelligence & Global Affairs, USA
According to him, Kyiv has been rather successful in constructing a false perspective for the West.

⚡️🇷🇺Russian "Orchestre" fighters are advancing in the outskirts of Bakhmut.

❗️Exclusive❗️

Correspondents @anna_news together with the "Wagner" troop went to the clearing of the woodland.

🔹"We are moving slowly, but with great success. Onward, onward and only onward," says one of the fighters.

The Ukrainian armed forces are trying to stop the advance with the work of the guns, but the artillery of the "musicians" still outnumber their rivals in this section of the front.

🔹Working both day and night.

The liberation of Bakhmut will make it possible to create a bridgehead for further advance of Allied forces to Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.

About the situation at Bakhmut - in our report.

💥Source: @anna_news
💥Translation: @Node_of_Time_EN

⚡️⚡️ Some key updates on Russia and #UkraineCrisis as on October 31

Grain bypasses Moscow
The Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul that oversees implementation of the the so-called “grain deal” cleared 16 vessels carrying Ukrainian grain to leave the port via maritime humanitarian corridor, despite Russia suspending its participation in the pact. The Russian Federation delegation has been informed, JCC statement said. It added it will inspect further 40 ships.

Russia suspend its participation in the deal on Saturday for "indefinite term" after after Ukraine launched a major drone attack on the Black Sea Fleet and civilian vessels involved in securing safe passage for agricultural cargo from Ukrainian ports.

Сonscripts promises
Regular conscript soldiers will not be sent to the Donetsk & Luhansk republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye, they will not be involved in the “special operation”, said the head of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Yevgeny Burdinsky. The statement comes as many regions in Russia announced they had “completed” mobilisation program.

Russia’s annual drafting campaign that aims to summon around 120 000 people for regular one year army service, will begin on November 1 (one month later that usually, since the military enlistment offices are busy with mobilising civilians for the war), and should be completed by the New Year.

Conscript soldiers have participated in Russia’s campaign in Ukraine since its very beginning, even though Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly denied it.

Nord Stream saga
Investigations into September’s attacks on Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines are testing levels of trust among nearby EU states as they weigh whether to share intelligence in efforts to establish the culprit, Politico writes. Key evidence is likely to come from the type of sensitive intelligence that EU members have traditionally been reluctant to share. Allegations last year that intelligence agencies in Denmark had allowed the U.S. to spy on senior Swedish and German lawmakers deepened mistrust.

Remembering political prisoners
Thousands of people honoured the memory of those executed in the Soviet Union during the period from 1937 (known as The Great Purge) to 1950s on Sunday across Russian cities. October 30 is celebrated in Russia as a Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression.

In St. Petersburg, hundreds of residents came to Levashovskaya wasteland that was found to be a former special firing range of the KGB, where about 45 000 people were assassinated. The burial ground It was discovered in 1989 by a search group of the Memorial — since 2015 the Levashovskaya Wasteland memorial cemetery has been included in the register of cultural heritage sites of regional significance. The names of those buried on the Levashovskaya wasteland are unknown, but many Petersburgers come to this mass grave on October 30, believing that their relatives repressed by firing squad rest there.

👉Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

Here is what we know about the Ukrainian drone attack on Sevastopol on 29 October.

🔹 The Kiev regime deployed 16 drones in its attack on Sevastopol.

🔹Russian warships and naval aviation helicopters destroyed four vehicles in the outer raid, three more in the inner raid.

🔹The "Ivan Golubets" minesweeper and the boom in Yuzhnaya Bay were damaged.

🔹The attacked vessels of the Russian Black Sea Fleet had been deployed in securing the "grain corridor".

🔹 The British were in Ochakov to prepare the attack and train the forces of the 73rd Special Sea Operations Centre of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

🔸 Russia suspended participation in the grain deal after Ukrainian drones attacked the Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol.

💥Source: @anna_news
💥Translated by @node_of_time_en

❗️Russia attacked several regions of Ukraine Monday morning, including:

🔺 The power facility in Kiev (the city is again facing electricity and water supply issues)
🔺 Energy facility in Kirovograd region (area where Kremenchug HPP is located).
🔺Zaporozhye region
🔺 Chernivtsi region — The authorities reported damage to critical infrastructure (it could be Novodnistrovskaya HPP near the border with Moldova)
🔺 Khmelnitsky region.

The authorities of Zhytomyr, Lviv, Rivne, and Mykolaiv regions also reported explosions at the infrastructure cites

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (SKR) has revealed the name of the AFU general who ordered the use of Mariupol residents as a human shield.

[...] "The investigation has established the identity of Lieutenant-General Oleksandr Pavlyuk, commander of the South and East group of forces, who gave orders to block humanitarian corridors in order to prevent civilians from leaving the city and to use residents as human shields," the report said.

This data was obtained during interrogations with the Azov militants who had been carrying out overall coordination of actions in Mariupol before its liberation by Russia.

[...] "The defense headquarters under Pavlyuk was instructed to eliminate all persons moving through Mariupol, including women and children who did not pose a threat to Ukrainian soldiers. Pavlyuk has now been put on the wanted list".

💥Source: @epoddubny
💥Translated by @node_of_time_en

Scott Ritter’s "test" on Twitter showed negative

Scott wrote an article about it.

“I had been expecting to be called out for making a new account in violation of Twitter policy, which prohibits anyone who has been permanently suspended from doing so. I was surprised, however, to discover that the Twitter police had identified my “test” tweet as the culprit, once again accusing me of violating rules against abuse and harassment.

Musk was right—Twitter was just as oppressive under the “free speech absolutist” as it had been under l'ancien regime.”

We depend on Russia more than Russia depends on us.

Sarah Wagenknecht, the new star of German politics, puts German national interests first and is not afraid to call things by their proper names. In a new interview she states openly that the government has not yet found an alternative to Russian energy resources. According to Sarah, boycotting energy resources from Russia because of the military confrontation with Ukraine does not fit in with the logic of buying energy resources from Azerbaijan, which has shown aggression against Armenia, or the UAE, which has been bombing Yemen for years, and the US, despite the "impeccable democracy" often violates the international law.

A politician who says in plain language that there is no alternative to Germany's partnership with Russia.

The voice of reason, which sounds amidst the populist clamor of old politicians.

💥Translation and subtitles: @Node_of_Time_EN
🇫🇷French
🇩🇪German
🇷🇺Russian

🇺🇸🇺🇦A corrupt Ukraine whose democracy is already dead is worthless - The American Conservative

It is unlikely that the stranded Europeans will be willing to back the extremely bellicose Stoltenberg, who recently declared that "moral responsibility" for Ukraine lies with them. For that, he said, the European population will have to endure a cold winter and "very difficult times".

"Corrupt, increasingly authoritarian Ukraine is not worth anything approaching the level of sacrifice now being demanded of the European people. Many European elites are still apparently willing to blindly follow Washington’s anti-Russian policies, but populations in several countries are defecting. If they wish to survive politically, leaders in Central and Western Europe will have to do the same. Even the pro-war elites in the Baltics and other East European countries could discover that maintaining a stance of knee-jerk support for Kiev is not a winning political strategy. As Europe’s dark, cold winter arrives, the NATO unity that the Biden administration loves to tout may be nothing more than a faint memory".

For the future of Ukraine, Europeans will have to pay the price of even minimally satisfactory living conditions, if not the very possibility of living. The only question is whether European politicians are smart enough to stop spinning the death spiral on which they, through their own shortsightedness, put the people who once voted for them.

Based on the Ukrainian authorities' statements, today 44 out of 50 Russian rockets were downed by Ukraine's air defense systems, but (!) the remaining 6 have hit 18 targets in 10 regions!💪

Probably the best promo ever for Russian weapons! 😁

💥 Source: https://t.me/epoddubny

But back to the grain deal." Eight million tons of corn and wheat were transported through Turkey. Of these, there were five million tons of corn and about two and a half million tons of wheat. The corn went to Spain, Italy and the Netherlands for animal feed. Wheat was mainly in western European countries. It's actually terrible. Turkey sent only a fraction of the grain to the poorest countries. "But" it kept low prices for bread within its country. After all, most of the wheat settled in supermarkets, on the shelves of stores in quite prosperous countries.
This is how countries like the Netherlands and Turkey do business. They are both not very reliable partners. This is how Western countries show their position on the issue of solving the problem of hunger in the world, which is an agenda for the UN, which also takes part in these "affairs". If anything, we can safely say that all international organizations have played a very bad role in major conflicts, including the special military operation they call war. All these institutions and advocates of "peace" do not try to solve the problem and do not resort to real greater diplomacy. Instead, they immediately blame Russia.

💥Source: https://riafan.ru/23726593-sonya_van_den_ende_pochemu
💥English text: Sonya van den Ende
💥Our channel: @Node_of_Time_EN

⚡️⚡️ Key updates on Russia and #UkraineCrisis as on November 1

✍️Last summon
President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that partial mobilization in Russia has been completed. He claims that he did not think about the need to sign the relevant decree and will consult with lawyers on this matter.

“I will talk to lawyers about whether it is necessary to announce by decree that it is completed. But it is complete. The point has been set," the president said. He also noted that 260000 of the 300 000 mobilized are being trained, and are not sent to the frontline.

His statement came hours after Russian Defense Ministry said that all military commanders across country were sent instructions on the completion of partial mobilization activities by November 1. “
In accordance with these instructions, all activities related to conscription by military offices have been discontinued. Drafting and delivering of summons are terminated,” the statement said. Now, the offices will only accept volunteers and contract soldiers and officers who’d like to take part in the military campaign.

💡And first bill
Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers representing pro-Putin “United Russia” political party have drafted a bill on criminal punishment for draft evaders. They propose to introduce a fine of 200 000 to 500 000 rubles, forced labor or imprisonment for up to five years, Kommersant writes.

Earlier,Moscow authorities were reported as using the city’s video surveillance system with facial recognition technology to track down and detain draftees seeking to evade mobilization.

🇷🇺🇦🇲🇦🇿Sochi talks
Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to refrain from the use of force in Karabakh following the top-level talks in Sochi. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there is no peace treaty yet and it is “too early” to talk about its components.

“Today we have agreed on a joint statement. I must say frankly, not everything was agreed upon, some things had to be removed from the text previously worked out at the level of specialists. Nevertheless, I agree with the general assessment that the meeting was useful, and this creates conditions for further steps towards resolving the situation as a whole,” Vladimir Putin said.

The joint statement praised Russia’s contribution to mitigate the conflict: “The leaders of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan praised the readiness of the Russian Federation to continue contributing in every possible way to the normalization of relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, to ensuring stability and prosperity in the South Caucasus."

📈Sanctions antidote
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has praised the set of measures his ministry developed to respond to sanctions pressure on Russia in a documentary on the history of Russian financial system. "We have already learned to respond to the restrictions we have to live with. We have found an antidote against these sanctions," Siluanov said. It is difficult to say whether he elaborates on the components of “the antidote” as the documentary is yet to be made public — it will screened later today on the website of Start cinema.

👉Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

Consequences of Russian strikes on the energy system of Ukraine October 31 -preliminary analysis 🇺🇦

On Oct 31 strikes were made on the Dnieper and Dniester cascades of hydroelectric power stations, part of the capacity was at least temporarily disabled. It was, apparently, the most powerful blow to the Ukrainian energy system of all time.

"UkrZaliznytsya" began to put diesel locomotives on the line instead of electric locomotives. This suggests that the leadership of Ukraine doesn't expect a quick elimination of problems with electric traction. There are very few mainline diesel locomotives in the country. And the European ones are not suitable for the Ukrainian gauge, and therefore the EU can’t help Kiev here.

In Ukraine, stocks of equipment for the repair of power systems have been depleted. There are already difficulties with the purchase of this equipment, because it is very expensive. This was announced by CEO of DTEK (the largest energy company in Ukraine) Dmitry Sakharuk.

It is not customary to cherish soldiers in the Ukrainian Army. There are a number of examples, and last week's story about fighting between "Pravy Sector" and Polish mercenaries is a vivid illustration that the command of the AFU will always sacrifice "less valuable staff".

All that began when the Poles, who had unsuccessfully attacked the Russian positions near Kremenaya, where they lost several compatriots, refused to try again. That, in turn, outraged the local guys: "You are paid for the job, go and do it" members of "Pravy Sector" probably thought. After a war of words automatic weapons were used. The final score was not in the Ukrainians' favor.

Despite the unit command's efforts to suppress news of the conflict, information is spreading fast through the network. There are rumours, that Ukrainian commanders are planning to withdraw mercenaries from mixed units and even to build new brigades based on nationality to avoid such incidents.

There are many examples of a disrespectful attitude to foreigners from the Ukrainian command in the 8 months of the Special Military Operation (SMO).

So far, none of the "soldiers of fortune" has managed to become a hero and make his "Russian safari" a success.

Back in the spring, the American mercenary Henry Hoeft spoke of such unfulfilled dreams:
'They’re trying to send us to Kyiv with no weapons,' he claimed. 'No kit. No plates. The people who are lucky enough to get weapons are only getting magazines with like 10 rounds.
When they wanted to send us to Kyiv we said no – the whole group. A bunch of Americans, Canadians, British. So they told us we have to get out of there or they were going to shoot us in the back, alright. So me, this British guy and another American, we hid in the back of an Ambulance to get out.'

One can only imagine the surprise of the likes of Hoeft when they realised that the Ukrainians they had come to fight for, against the Russians, were keeping them as expendable material. Those who realised this got away long ago, those who didn't - continue to tempt fate.

💥 Source: https://t.me/epoddubny
💥 Translated by @node_of_time_en

🇬🇧🇺🇸🇷🇺Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss sent US Secretary of State Blinken a "It's done" message after the North Streams explosion. This was reported by the Daily Mail.

The same is claimed by Kim Dotcom, founder of file-sharing sites Megaupload and Mega.