Press review: NATO holds back on jets for Kiev and EU adds Russia to tax haven blacklist
Top stories from the Russian press on Wednesday, February 15th

Lavrov: "Our foreign policy concept for diplomacy contains the main goal – to create the most favorable conditions for the development of the country, improving its security and improving the welfare of citizens. Some critical voices, which are heard inside the country, but mostly abroad, where the leadership of the non-systemic opposition has gone, tell us that you have set a goal to create favorable external conditions, but these conditions have destroyed and created the most unfavorable conditions for our development. This is from their point of view, from the point of view of comfort, Western goods in the form of Starbucks and McDonald's, yes, probably their life has become less carefree. But the overwhelming majority of our citizens do not want to rejoice in external conditions that deprive us of independence."

🗓 The 1st ASEAN-Russia Ministerial Meeting on Science, Technology and Innovation was held virtually on 14 February, 2023 under Brunei's 🇧🇳 and Russia's 🇷🇺 co-chairmanship. It became the first event of such a high level in 26 years in the area of scientific and technical cooperation between Russia and ASEAN.

💬 Airat Gatiyatov, Acting Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia: “The development of the sphere of science, technology and innovation is an important vector of Russian state policy. <...> We are convinced that it will become not only a new large-scale stage in the scientific and technological development of our country, but also a platform for building up cooperation between Russia and ASEAN.”

H.E. Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Shamhari Mustafa, Brunei's Minister of Transport and Infocommunications, addressed delegates with a welcoming speech. ASEAN Secretary General Dr. Kao Kim Hourn and Russia's Ambassador to ASEAN Alexander Ivanov also spoke at the meeting. They recalled the milestones and achievements of ASEAN-Russia Dialogue Relations, including the 5th Anniversary of the ASEAN-Russia Strategic Partnership in 2023.

The Ministers summed up the results of the Russia-ASEAN Year of Scientific and Technical Cooperation-2022 and outlined priority areas for cooperation under the framework of the ASEAN-Russia Plan of Action on Science, Technology and Innovation for 2016-2025.

🤝 As part of the Russia-ASEAN Year of Scientific and Technical Cooperation, 52 initiatives have been successfully implemented, covering biotechnology; food security and sustainable agriculture; microelectronics and information technology; environmental management; energy technology and renewal energy; space technology and application; nuclear technology; high-tech health care and many more.

The Ministerial Meeting was the final event of the Russia-ASEAN Year of Scientific and Technical Cooperation, which was announced at the initiative of the Russian Side during the Commemorative 4th ASEAN-Russia Summit in 2021.

📂 We've gathered a brief dossier with some of the hard facts of manifestations of neo-Nazism and Russophobia in Ukraine and Western countries.

The dossier comprises:

◽️ Reaction of the Russian Side to manifestations of neo-Nazism, anti-Semitism and Russophobia.
◽️ Examples of statements by Ukrainian officials in support of the Nazis, OUN-UPA, collaborationism, anti-Russian and Russophobic remarks.
◽️ Examples of glorification of Nazism and the war on monuments in Ukraine.
◽️ Cases of destruction of Soviet memorial heritage in Europe.
◽️ Examples of Western politicians comparing Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler.
◽️ Instances of Russophobic statements by members of the Western political establishment and evidence of Russophobia in the digital environment.
◽️ Cases of Russophobia involving Russians and their foreign-based property since March 2022.

👉 Read in full

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh criticized US mainstream media for not running a word about his investigative piece on the Biden administration's alleged sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

💬 "Neither paper has run a word at this point about the pipeline story, not even to quote the White House’s denial of my reporting. Similarly, public calls by officials in Russia and China for a full investigation of the pipeline story have been ignored by the US media," Hersh said.

Still, the pieces he wrote eventually found their way to mainstream media in the US and around the world, the journalist noted. Hersh worked as a long-time reporter for The New York Times, and The Washington Post ran a long magazine profile of him more than two decades ago.

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⚡️Documents proving USAID’s involvement in destabilization of Ukraine found in LPR
"It particularly concerns the US Agency for International Development (USAID)," the statement reads

The US is trying to divert attention from the terrorist attack on the "Northern Streams"

The so-called UFOs were used 🎈

Cartoon China Daily.

Russia Will Not Allow Silencing Issue of Nord Stream Explosions: Embassy in US

"The Russian side will not allow to simply turn the page on blowing up the critical energy infrastructure. Especially given the fact that nothing is known about the several remaining explosives, apparently located on the bottom of the sea," the Russian embassy in the US said on Thursday.

Embassy spokesman Igor Girenko added that Moscow qualified the incident as "an act of international terrorism" that requires a "comprehensive and independent investigation."

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Press review: NATO wants Sweden, Finland in by fall and Russian MPs seek Nord Stream probe
Top stories from the Russian press on Thursday, February 16th

More Nord Stream ‘Bombshells’ To Come – Seymour Hersh

Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh has promised to reveal more incriminating information linking the US to the demolition of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Last week, he released a report blaming the US for the attack and detailing how the Biden administration and the CIA planned the operation.

In a post to his Substack page on Wednesday, Hersh slammed the mainstream media – singling out the New York Times and Washington Post – for refusing to “run a word” on the pipeline story, and for ignoring Russia and China’s calls for an international investigation.

Both papers, he said, published his exposés on the US military’s war crimes in Vietnam, but are now seemingly uninterested in “national security or matters of war and peace.”

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‘The United States is the World’s Terrorist’: Jimmy Dore tells RT’s ‘Going Underground'

In the latest episode of 'Going Underground', Afshin Rattansi welcomes American comedian and political commentator Jimmy Dore to discuss a number of subjects, including the Nord Stream pipeline blasts.

Dore says Washington never hid its intentions and used similar methods it employed in Iraq and Syria.

Watch the full interview this Saturday on RT! Follow Going Underground’s Rumble channel HERE so you don’t miss the full episode.

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Press review: Russia-China-S. Africa navy drills to begin and Nord Steam probe unlikely
Top stories from the Russian press on Friday, February 17th