‘Crimea Will Never Again Be Part of Ukraine’ — Croatian President

"It is clear that Crimea will never again be part of Ukraine," Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Monday.

During a visit to a military barracks in the eastern town of Petrinja, Milanovic spoke about the Russia-Ukraine conflict and his objection to Zagreb providing military aid to Kiev.

“What the West is doing about Ukraine is deeply immoral because there is no solution [to the war]," Milanovic told reporters, adding that Germany agreeing to provide tanks for Ukraine would only serve to drive Russia closer to China.

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❗️Latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️ The Kremlin is confident in the correctness of launching the special operation; it was necessary to save people in Donbass;

▪️ Poroshenko, Merkel, and Hollande confirmed that for their countries, the Minsk agreements were a front for preparing for a military scenario in Donbass;

▪️ Putin will visit Volgograd on February 2; there will be celebration dedicated to the anniversary of the victory at the Battle of Stalingrad;

▪️ The growing involvement of the West in the conflict in Ukraine is obvious; Russia takes it into account, but this will not change the course of events;

▪️ The Baltic countries and Poland are ready to do everything to provoke further confrontation with Russia, with little thought about the consequences.

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⚡Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation
(31 January 2023)

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.

💥In Kupyansk direction, artillery of the 'Zapad' Group of Forces hit manpower and hardware of the 114th and 104rd territorial defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) near the settlements of Masyutovka and Tabayevka (Kharkov region).

◻️The enemy's losses in this direction during the day amounted to 45 Ukrainian servicemen, one tank, four armoured fighting vehicles, a motor vehicle, and a D-20 howitzer.

💥In Krasny Liman direction, units of the 25th Airborne and 95th airborne assault brigades of the AFU close to Yampolovka (Donetsk People's Republic), as well as Serebryansky forest area, were hit by artillery and heavy flamethrower systems.

◻️More than 60 Ukrainian troops and four armoured fighting vehicles were neutralised.

💥In Donetsk direction, as a result of a successful offensive, volunteers of assault groups, supported by fire of Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the 'Yug' Group of Forces, have liberated the village of Blagodatnoye (Donetsk People's Republic).

◻️Up to 50 Ukrainian servicemen, a French Caesar self-propelled artillery system, a US-made M-777 artillery system, and an MSTA-B howitzer have been eliminated in this area during the day.

💥In South Donetsk direction, the 'Vostok' Group of Forces hit units of the 72nd Mechanised Brigade of the AFU near Ugledar and the 110th Territorial Defence Brigade Novopol (Donetsk People's Republic).

◻️Over 40 servicemen, one tank, two armoured fighting vehicles, and two pickup trucks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been neutralised in this direction.

◻️In addition, two artillery ammunition depots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been destroyed near the towns of Ugledar and Katerynovka in (Donetsk People's Republic).

💥In Kherson direction, two Gvozdika self-propelled artillery units and two ammunition depots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Mikhailovka and Zmiyevka (Kherson region) were destroyed as part of a counter-battery operation.

💥Operational-Tactical Aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised 84 AFU artillery units at their firing positions, enemy's manpower and hardware in 126 areas during the day.

💥Russian air defence facilities have shot down one Mi-8 helicopter of Ukrainian Air Force near Zolotaya Balka (Kherson region).

◻️Five UAVs were also intercepted in the areas of Kryvosheyevka, Oborotnovka, Krasnorechenskoye, Vladimirovka (Lugansk People's Republic) and Belogrudovo (Kherson region).
Moreover, three US-made HIMARS MLRS shells were intercepted near the settlements of Zlatoustovka (Donetsk People's Republic) and Skadovsk (Kherson region).

📊In total, 381 airplanes and 206 helicopters, 2,987 unmanned aerial vehicles, 402 anti-aircraft missile systems, 7,691 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 997 combat vehicles equipped with multiple launch rocket systems, 3,970 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 8,229 units of special military hardware have been destroyed during the special military operation.

#MoD #Russia #Ukraine #report
@mod_russia_en

⚡️Northern Fleet warships, led by the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, rescues a French citizen from a yacht in distress in the Atlantic Ocean

◽️ The medium tanker Kama, part of the Northern Fleet's warship detachment on a long-distance mission in the central Atlantic Ocean, received an emergency signal from a yacht in distress. To assist the crew, the Kama deviated from its route and headed towards the area of the accident.

◽️ An boarding team went aboard the yacht to get one man with his personal belongings and his dog on board of the Russian tanker

◽️ The rescued man is Lucas Monteux, a French resident, who was sailing solo in the Atlantic. During the storm, the boat's steering gear malfunctioned and water started flowing in. After an unsuccessful attempt to rectify the fault, he signalled a distress call.

◽️ On board the Kama tanker, the rescued traveller was given first aid. At his request, he will be taken to the nearest port.

◽️ Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, thanked the crew of the Northern Fleet warships and the crew of the tanker Kama for their professional actions in helping a yacht in distress on the high seas.

@mod_russia_en

🇫🇷 "We must condemn the lies of the West about Russia" — grandson of Charles de Gaulle

The ban on the broadcasting of Russian media goes against the values that France stands for, politician and public figure Pierre de Gaulle said in an interview with Sputnik.

"France is basically a democratic country where everyone can express their opinion. Silencing certain media outlets, whatever their position and whatever their role, is not in the order of things."

De Gaulle also spoke about relations between Russia and the West.

"The West does not know Russia, the Russian people and their culture well. And I think that's what we have to work on to get closer to the world. And we must also condemn the lies about Russia and the West's incorrect perception of it."

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OPINION: US Trying to Sell Own Weapons Under Guise of Convincing India to Shun Russian Arms

💭 Sputnik contacted Retired Major-General PK Sehgal and Dr Rajorshi Roy, an expert on India-Russia relations at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) - India's premier defense think-tank - to discuss the real meaning of Nuland's statement regarding Moscow-Delhi ties.

Check it out 👉

Sergey Lavrov - about the message delivered to him from Blinken by the Egyptian Foreign Minister: We have always said that Russia is ready to listen to any serious proposal that aims to resolve the current situation in a comprehensive context. Once again, we heard in this message that Russia must stop, Russia must leave, - and then everything will be fine. The second part of that call was not conveyed by Blinken, but this true U.S. and Western interest was laid out by NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg in South Korea. He said there that Russia must be defeated, and the West cannot allow Ukraine to lose, because that would be a defeat for the West and the whole world. So he took the liberty to speak on behalf of all countries in the world. And further, he said, "That's why NATO will realize its global responsibility." In my opinion, everything is clear here, we are not talking about Ukraine at all. The Kiev regime is carrying out the will of the United States, whose main goal is to prevent any events on the international scene that would call into question U.S. hegemony in today's world. So the message was incomplete, and I have now tried to add for Blinken what the U.S. is trying to achieve when it calls on Russia to stop and withdraw from Ukraine.

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Mr. Medvedev:

Enemy countries do not have the courage to admit that their "hellish" sanctions have failed miserably. They don't work. The vast majority of industrial products and consumer goods have been replaced by our own, Russian ones, and the missing ones by Asian brands. Parallel import also works, from which we get the same Western brands and their owners get nothing. So it's the same as always: Americans make money on a humiliated Europe. Crushed Europe suffers and loses money. At the same time, even the IMF predicts economic growth in Russia this year.

The only thing left to do is to adopt rules on the use of their intellectual property. Without any licenses and payment of royalties. This, among other things, will be our retaliatory sanctions on their property rights. On everything from movies to industrial software. Thanks, by the way, also to those who have developed various programs for license-free use of their expensive intellectual products. In short, for pirate use in the mode of personal sanctions. What do you want, à la guerre comme à la guerre...

Press review: Why Blinken set off to Middle East and NATO, Pentagon leaders tour Asia
Top stories from the Russian press on Tuesday, January 31st

Minsk Agreements Allowed Kiev To Rebuild Army — Former President

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the Minsk agreements allowed Kiev to rebuild the army in an interview for the BBC film "Putin Against The West.”

"This document gave Ukraine eight years to build an army, an economy, and a global pro-Ukrainian anti-Putin coalition," he claims.

His comments follow former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who also said that the agreements allowed Kiev to "buy time,” and former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who called the Normandy format discussions a "diplomatic imitation.”

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West Begins to Understand That US Provocation Lies at Heart of Ukrainian Conflict: Moscow

Western countries are gradually beginning to understand that the Ukraine crisis stems from Washington's provocative policy, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.

The spokeswoman added that those states that did not intend to comply with the Minsk agreements from the very beginning should be held accountable for that.

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📹 Pierre de Gaulle, grandson of revered French statesman Charles de Gaulle, has slammed the West’s dangerous decision to deploy heavy weapons in Ukraine.

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🥶The ice apocalypse: a video of frozen Yakutsk, Russian Far East, where temperatures have dropped to -60°C, has gone viral. The streets are deserted and houses and cars are iced over. Footage from the frosty city is in our post. We publish it on Hell is Freezing Over Day.

In the Arctic, this type of weather is not a reason for staying home. Despite the harsh conditions, work goes on there all year round. The city's gas platforms are being built, and tourism is being developed in the North.

Watch Arctic Family: In Love With Cold (2015) to find out how people live in the Arctic.

#Yakutsk

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🇷🇺🇺🇸Ambassador Anatoly Antonov’s answer to a RIA Novosti’s question

❓: Dear Anatoly Ivanovich, how would you comment on the State Department’s report published on January 31, accusing Russia of failing to comply with the New START Treaty?

💬Anatoly Antonov: First of all, it is noteworthy how quickly this annual report has been prepared. Its previous versions which did not contain “sensational” accusations were usually published in April or even later.

This year, against the backdrop of a frenzied confrontation with Russia initiated by the West, the Administration has been clearly eager to throw at us yet another set of unfounded claims in the area of arms control. And for the first time ever - regarding New START which our country has been irreproachably observing for all these years. Unlike, by the way, Washington, on whose conscience lies the illegitimate removal of more than a hundred strategic weapons from the accountability under the Treaty. Let me stress that these actions concern the central limits of New START, undermining the key goal of the agreement – to maintain the balance of the parties’ strategic offensive arms.

☝️As for the substance of the accusations regarding the temporary exemption of the Russian strategic facilities from the Treaty inspection regime and the postponed session of the Bilateral Consultative Commission, they follow the traditional US pattern. Washington refuses to see the root causes of the problem, shifting the blame to others.

We have repeatedly pointed out to the Administration that the situation with New START is a direct result of the hybrid war unleashed by the West against our country. We have warned that arms control cannot be isolated from geopolitical realities. In the current circumstances we consider it unjustified, untimely and inappropriate to invite the US military to our strategic facilities.

At the same time, Russia remains committed to the goals of the New START Treaty and continues to regard it as a useful instrument for maintaining strategic stability and ensuring predictability in relations between the major nuclear powers. We intend to continue observing the central limits of the Treaty and exchanging notifications and relevant data.

Responsibility for the escalation of the New START issues lies entirely with Washington. There can be no progress on arms control without the United States reconsidering its policy of inflicting strategic defeat on Russia.

Press review: US, UK, Berlin balk at warplanes for Kiev and why Scholz toured S. America
Top stories from the Russian press on Wednesday, February 1st

❗️West Willing To Embrace ‘Ideas Of Neo-Nazism’ — Maria Zakharova

During her weekly press conference, Ministry of Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized Meta’s decision to remove the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion from the list of dangerous organizations.

Zakharova noted that “freedom of expression” and neoliberal values are highly flexible and surrounded by self-justification of openly extremist ideology.

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❗️ Check out Sputnik's video about US bio-labs in Ukraine

What are the "peaceful" laboratories hiding behind them and what did they really do?

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🎙 Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov’s interview with RIA Novosti (January 30, 2023)

Read in full

Key points:

• Multiple problems have piled up in our bilateral relations. As you might imagine, the root cause lies in the US policy towards Russia.

• Unfortunately, during all recent years, Washington was guided by the principle that its egoistic interest is all that matters, while all the rest can be ignored. This is why we were seeing a deliberate dismantling of the entire arms control structure.

• The New START treaty may also fall victim to this approach. We are ready for this scenario. However, we are not hiding that this is not our choice.

• It would be rational to take a different path – to resume the discussion of strategic stability and start working on a new security equation that would consider all factors affecting strategic stability.

• Obviously, the United States is not only the main driver of this entire crisis in Ukraine but also its biggest beneficiary. In part, Washington views Ukraine as a testing ground for the products of its defence manufacturers.

• Sadly, the level of US expertise on Russian issues has declined precipitously during the past decade. If not for that, Washington would have pursued a much more sensible and adequate policy towards Russia.

• We consider Russian-US consultations useful for comparing our positions. We hope the tactics of small steps will allow us to eventually find mutually acceptable solutions to the most important issues on our bilateral agenda.

#RussiaUS

A Russian representative at the 152-nd session of the WHO Executive Board:

🏥 In total, since April 2014, more than 150 medical institutions in DPR and 45 in LPR have been damaged by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

❌ Unfortunately, Western colleagues once again distort facts or use blatant disinformation. It's no secret that the long–term goal of the US and its allies in Ukraine is "victory over Russia on the battlefield by any means".

❗️ Meanwhile, the Kiev regime resorts to war crimes like:

1⃣ Use of civilians as "human shields";

2⃣ Placement of military equipment and establishing firing positions in residential buildings and civilian infrastructure;

3⃣ Transportation of military personnel and military cargo on medical and other non-specialized vehicles with "non-combatant" markings;

4⃣ Use of prohibited inhumane types of weapons, i.a. cluster and unguided ammunition with wide-area impact;

5⃣ Preventing evacuation of civilians;

6⃣ Murders and tortures of Russian POWs.

📄 Full text (🇷🇺)