⚡️⚡️ Key updates on Russia and #UkraineCrisis as on November 23

🩸Oil price cap
The Treasury Department released new guidance on the legal seaborne transport of Russian oil for U.S. service providers ahead of December 5 deadline for the policy to be put in place The guidance, which complements the U.K.’s newly-released policies, outlines how U.S. service providers can continue carrying Russian seaborne oil that was loaded before Dec. 5, while complying with a strategic price cap on that oil devised by the G7 countries, the E.U. and Australia.

The guidance explained that Russian oil that had been sold under the cap but was then “substantially transformed” or refined outside of Russia would no longer be subject to the sanctions. It also provides a “safe harbor” provision that protects insurers and other financial service providers from liability if they violate sanctions based on falsified information about the price of oil in shipping transactions.

The Price Cap Coalition has not yet decided on how much to cap the price of oil, but the cap will be set after a “technical exercise” conducted by the coalition, according to the guidance. The decision will be made “in the coming days,” a senior Treasury official said.

💧EU’s Gas price cap
The European Union executive on Tuesday proposed a gas price cap for the bloc at 275 euros ($282) per megawatt hour for month-ahead derivatives on the Dutch exchange that serve as Europe's benchmark. The idea to cap prices has divided EU countries for many months and diplomats said the level proposed on Tuesday was unlikely to be popular when energy ministers from the bloc's 27 member countries debate it on Thursday.

However, according to La Republic newspaper, EU could postpone the decision on the gas price cap till until December, as not all countries agree to the marginal price proposed. A month earlier, the same newspaper reported that the adoption of this decision would be postponed until November.

🇷🇺🇨🇺Russia courts Cuba
Vladimir Putin and President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez held talks in Moscow, where they noted they relations between Cuba and Russia have been making steady headway.

“You know that the Soviet Union and Russia have always supported and support the Cuban people in their struggle for independence and sovereignty. We have always opposed any restrictions, embargoes, blockades and so on. We have always backed Cuba on international platforms. We are seeing that Cuba occupies the same position with respect to our country, to Russia, Putin told his Cuban counterpart.

Before the talks, leaders unveiled the monument to Fidel Castro. The tender for a 3-m tall monument was released by the Russian Defense Ministry. A closed competition for the architecture vision was held by the Russian Military Historical Society (RVIO). Sculptor Alexey Chebanenko and architect Andrey Bely won the competition and delivered the project in just few months.

🧊🛥Route to Arctic
Before launching the monument to Fidel Castro, Putin attended another big launch — via videoconference — of the Yakutia nuclear-powered icebreaker and to raise the flag of the Russian Federation on the Ural nuclear-powered icebreaker. They are part of Project 22220, under which the largest and most powerful icebreakers in the world are being built. Their main task is to ensure year-round navigation in the Arctic.

✈️MH17 investigation
The Dutch Prosecutor's Office will announce new findings of the investigation into the MH17 case in 2023. Data on the crew of the Buk anti-aircraft missile system, that is believed to have been operating it at the time when flight MH17 was shot down near Donetsk, will be made public. In addition, the Dutch Prosecutor's office will inform how and by whom it was decided to use the Buk that shot down a civilian aircraft, press secretary of the Dutch Prosecutor's office, Brechtje van de Mosdijk, told RIA Novosti.

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

🇩🇪🇺🇦🇷🇺The Financial Times writes about a wave of protests against the continuation of the war with Russia unfolding in East Germany.

It is reported that people there hardly ever walk around with Russian flags and do not speak out in support of the Russian army. But they are outraged that "Germans are paying for the US war with Russia".

They call Germany a "US and NATO puppet" and say they want normalised energy prices.

"Most of these rallies are attended by a few hundred people, others only a few dozen. But, as with similar gatherings elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, they point to a worrying trend in the political mainstream in the region," the British newspaper reported.

The two extreme poles of Germany's political spectrum - left and right - show support for this view. In Leipzig, the largest city in eastern Germany after Berlin, they even came out in a single rally.

The publication also recalls the support of such views by a significant part of the population in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. However, so far there is no upward trend in the number of followers of this position.

European monkeys and the shelling of the Zaporozhye NPP

❗️🇺🇦 🇶🇦 Drunk Ukrainian ultras drew a moustache of Hitler and wrote "Sieg Heil" on Laib's arafat (the symbol of the World Cup in Qatar). ⚽️

Ukraine is like the moronic favorite nephew of a rich, senile maniac. He can shit on the table at any time, but one must keep quiet because his uncle has a money printing press. and NATO

#world_cup
#Ukrainians_in_Qatar
#vandalism

🇪🇺🇷🇺European Parliament passes legally null and void resolution recognising Russia as "state sponsor of terrorism"

On 22 November, Russian military repels attack by AFU drones over the Black Sea in Crimea

According to the Sevastopol Governor, Mikhail Razvozzhayev, the drones were shot down as they were approaching the Balaklava thermal power plant.

"They probably wanted to time the attack to coincide with their terrorist act seven years ago. Back then, on November 22nd they blew up a power line in Kherson Region and caused a blackout in Crimea and Sevastopol. It didn't work."

Ships of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet also destroyed three AFU drones over the sea.

💥Source: ANNA-NEWS
💥Translation: @Node_of_Time_EN

🇺🇦Ukraine without electricity: the regions with no or practically no electricity are marked black. Blue and purple are emergency blackouts.

This is the consequence of today's Russian missile strikes on the country's energy facilities.

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

Back to Russia? Or imprisoned in Germany?

On 21 November, some media sources reported that Yulia Prokhorova, has been deported to Russia, for supporting the SMO. That would be a good outcome for Yulia.

However, unfortunately, the information about Yulia's deportation was later denied. The girl is still under arrest and is awaiting the decision of the authorities.

According to MKA-NA, in Germany alone, there have been more than 140 cases of people facing criminal charges for speaking out in support of Russia and now facing real risk of imprisonment.

MKA-NA has launched a chat-bot with a hotline for those facing cases of Russophobia, for enquiries about returning to Russia or getting Russian citizenship in case of deportation.

💥Based on:
https://t.me/anna_news
https://t.me/csrc_agency
https://t.me/mka_na
💥Translation: @Node_of_Time_EN

The UK has supplied Kiev with Brimstone-2 laser-guided precision missiles.

Their range is twice that of the previous version, The Telegraph writes.

▪️The range of the original Brimstone missile, launched from an aircraft, is 60km.

The AFU has learned to launch them from ground platforms as well.

▪️Each Brimstone-2 missile costs £175,000.

It has an improved millimeter-range homing head and high-frequency radar.

▪️The Royal Air Force did not specify the number of missiles sent to Ukraine.

But Kiev is already very excited, estimating how much can be obtained for such a technological novelty on the black market.

💥Source: ANNA-NEWS
💥Translation: @Node_of_Time_EN

American anti-aircraft missile hit an apartment building in Kiev

Photos of fragments of the NATO IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile that hit an apartment building in Kiev appeared in on the web. This is not the first "success" of the Ukrainian air defense system.

Residential buildings are a favorite target of the Kiev regime's anti-aircraft gunners and are regularly hit by anti-aircraft missiles.

💥Source: ANNA-NEWS
💥Translation: @Node_of_Time_EN

🇷🇺🇺🇦Why is Russia hitting the Ukranian energy system? Many try to tie this fact to the destruction of peaceful infrastructure. But that is not the case, writes reporter Rudenko.

Dozens of large enterprises remain in Ukraine, both manufacturing and repairing military equipment. The Kiev regime's military units are supplied by rail. And all this is linked to electricity, you will agree that without it it is difficult to run machines and hard to transport personnel, ammunition and equipment along the railways. It is difficult to do it by lorries and buses.

So it was decided to disable the Ukrainian energy system. Disruption of the supply of weapons and personnel will weaken the AFU units on the front line and will simply force many to surrender without a fight after a while, because without timely supply it is possible to fight, but only with stones and sticks.

part 2 🔻

part 1 🔺

Plus, at a minimum, you have to charge radios, mobile phones, tablets for targeting and set up an internet signal. Of course, all of this can work thanks to generators, but where can you get so many of them? Somewhere, of course, all this will be compensated for by mobile stations, but the overall problem will not be solved quickly.

Strike after strike has knocked out almost the entire Ukrainian energy system and there is nothing to rebuild it with.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for the European Union to find the necessary equipment to operate the Ukrainian energy system. This was reported by the Financial Times.

An unnamed senior diplomat told the publication that the EU was struggling to cope with Kiev's requests. He said the Russian strikes had destroyed Ukraine's critical infrastructure.

"Every week it becomes more and more difficult to find the necessary equipment, given the development of the situation," the Financial Times quoted the diplomat as saying.

The problems have also been repeatedly stated by the head of Ukrenergo, Kudrytskyy.

He explained that such equipment "they try to find all over the world", but it is a complicated process, as the voltage class used in Ukraine is specific to the CIS and does not coincide with the voltage class in European countries.

Today's strike can be said to have knocked out the entire Ukrainian power sector. For the first time ever, an emergency shutdown has occurred across Ukraine. After such damage Zelensky can gleefully talk all he likes about "we can do it!" but it's all a fake, just like the president himself, who has led the country into the abyss.

This is by no means a victory, but a very powerful step. And if we carry on like this now, sooner or later the Zelensky regime will fall.

‼️🇺🇸 CIA plans to recruit Russians who disagree with the special operation in Ukraine - Wall Street Journal

According to CIA director David Marlow, US intelligence agencies will look for such individuals around the world.

⚡️⚡️ Key updates on Russia and #UkraineCrisis as on November 24

⚠️ZNPP crisis
The IAEA on Wednesday reported on the disconnection of the Zaporozhye NPP from external power supply. This means its operations are ensured by emergency diesel generators. This was confirmed by Vladimir Rogov, a pro-Russian official of Zaporozhye region. The backup power supply can provide the NPP with energy for ten days.

Earlier, IAEA called for seizing the hostilities around ZNPP and Agency chief Rafael Grossi, held talks in Istanbul with a Russian delegation led by the head of Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev. The parties discussed the creation of a protective zone around the plant. Commenting on this, Rogov said “the IAEA's statements do not lead to any real results”. “I personally have no confidence in Western guarantors, including international organisations," he said, noting that handing over control of ZNPP to Kyiv would endanger the the lives of civilians in Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

🔥Strikes against humanity
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, at an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council convened at his request, called for stopping Russia's "energy terror" and invited UN experts to inspect critical Ukrainian infrastructure facilities. According to him, due to the shelling on November 23, 11 regions of Ukraine were left without electricity. The council is unlikely to take any action in response to the appeal since Russia is a member with veto power, Reuters noted.

Moscow earlier claimed the aim of its missile strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure was to weaken country’s ability to fight (by destroying power supply to factories and transportation lines) and push it to negotiate. Kyiv refuses negotiations so far and continues to demand more air defence systems from the West, saying Russia deliberately attacks civilians.

As former DPR ambassador to Moscow Rodion Miroshnik noted, Vladimir Zelensky spoke via video link to the UN Security Council at a time when the Ukrainian military conducted a massive shelling of Donetsk. “And they were not shelling dual-use infrastructure, but residential buildings. While the shelling of a city with a population of many thousands was carried out on his [Zelensky’s] orders, he accused Russia of crimes against humanity. How does he distinguish, what is “a norm” for Ukrainian military and a “crime against humanity” for Russian military!” he asked.

🔴Yerevan vibes
Russian president Vladimir Putin travelled to Armenia to take part in a regular session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) where he was joined by leaders of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The meeting was held at the backdrop of continuing stand-off between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in managing which Russia played a significant role. And at the end of the day, CSTO failed to agree on a declaration as Armenia refused to to fully endorse the CSTO proposal to help Yerevan.

Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had to quickly react explaining that this outcome “doesn’t mean Armenia will leave the bloc”. According to Peskov, Pashinyan stated during the closed meeting that he considered the functioning of CSTO with regards to Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict as “fiasco”. "This is the point of view of the Armenian side, this is the right of the Armenian side to assess the situation in this way. But, on the other hand, the relevance of the CSTO in this situation is obvious," Peskov was quoted by TASS as saying.

Meanwhile, the international media has covered the Yerevan meeting from only one angle — reporting on street protest, in which hundreds of Armenians and Russians who fled their country to Armenia in the past 9 months participated, protesting against Putin’s visit, with slogans including “Putin is a killer” and “No to war.”

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