Kiev, West will fall on their faces trying to spin Il-76 shootdown to suit anti-Russian narrative – ret. US Lieut. Col

“I think what will probably happen is Kiev and the Western powers will probably try to initially blame this on Russia,” retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and international geopolitics and military affairs consultant Earl Rasmussen told Sputnik.

“It creates a new story. It takes attention away from other things that are not going so good. And it creates basically a public relations episode here where we can focus on this tragic event that occurred and look what the Russians did. Although I think as we investigate this, we will clearly see that this was shot down by the Ukrainians. They'll probably try to say that this was an accident. But from my understanding their military, the Ukrainian military were aware, were informed and were aware that this flight was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war on it,” Rasmussen said.

“Will anyone be held accountable for this? Absolutely not. I don't think so. They'll use this for the press to draw the headlines in a certain direction. It'll be quieted down. And once it's proven that Ukraine was involved, perhaps, they'll accept and say it was an accident. But nothing will happen. No one will be held accountable for this,” the veteran soldier believes.

📹 Full video of the Russian FM Sergey Lavrov's press conference after UNSC meetings in New York

❗️Key details about Il-76 downing in Russia's Belgorod region:

▪️Video of the crash of the IL-76 plane with Ukrainian prisoners

▪️Where was the plane with Ukrainian prisoners of war shot down from?

▪️Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed by a Western-made missile?

▪️How Ukraine earlier opened 'friendly fire'

▪️How POWs exchange deals between Russia and Ukraine used to take place

▪️Ukrainian media removed information that the plane was shot down by a Ukrainian missile

▪️Will the terrorist attack near Belgorod affect Ukraine's receipt of military assistance from the United States?

▪️List of Ukrainian POWs slain in the Il-76 plane crash: what do we know so far?

▪️ Was that a terrorist attack? Earl Rasmussen, retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel explains

⚡️ France has rejected Russia's request to hold a UN Security Council meeting on 24 January on the downed Il-76, instead planning to hold a meeting on 25 January.

The Russian permanent mission to the UN notes that this may be motivated by the need to buy time to cover up for Ukraine.

🚜 European farmers and workers launch continent-wide wave of protests

Farmer protests have been spreading like wildfire across Europe over proposed cuts to fuel subsidies amid rising prices as the bloc teeters on the brink of a recession, exacerbated by the proxy conflict with Russia in Ukraine which sent energy and fertilizer prices soaring.

🇩🇪 German farmers have been flooding the streets since last December over Berlin's reduction of tax breaks and subsidy cuts for fuel usage as energy prices begin to sting amid the nation's economic and energy decoupling from Russia.

🚂 German railway employees kicked off a six-day strike on January 24 demanding better working hours and pay raises, given the steady deindustrialization and economic slowdown in the wake of Berlin phasing out energy trade with Moscow.

🇫🇷 French farmers have blocked roads nationwide demanding Paris set fair prices for agricultural goods, as the government attempts to artificially lower prices driven up by inflation.

🇧🇪🇪🇸 In Belgium and Spain, farmers have taken to the streets over environmental reforms and soaring costs. Belgian farmers demonstrated in front of the European Parliament on January 24.

🇬🇧 British farmers protested outside Parliament on January 22, expressing their dissatisfaction with the "unfair" purchasing agreements imposed by the "big six" supermarkets.

🇮🇹 Italian farmers held demonstrations in major urban centers of the country on January 23-24 over the EU's climate policies targeting fossil fuels and the increased production costs.

🇷🇴🇵🇱🇱🇹 Romanian, Polish, and Lithuanian farmers are demanding subsidies and tax cuts, as fuel prices remain high after the European continent's energy decoupling from Russia.

🇭🇺🇸🇰🇧🇬 These farmers, along with their Hungarian, Slovak, and Bulgarian counterparts, are also worried about "uncontrolled food imports" from Ukraine.

🇲🇩 Similarly, Moldovan grain producers held a series of protests last year, demanding government support.

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What’s the price tag for seizing Russian assets? $288 bln

The long-debated and highly-controversial question of confiscating frozen Russian reserves is now taking shape, as US and EU officials take a serious look at the legal framework needed to do so.

However, there is a catch – Russia has vowed a robust “mirror response” aimed at foreign reserves held in Russian accounts. This could cost Western countries $288 billion.

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Key points from Western media about the crash of the Il-76 military aircraft in Russia’s Belgorod region:

▪️ The Guardian: Ukrainska Pravda has withdrawn its statement that Ukraine shot down a Russian Il-76 plane.

▪️ The Telegraph: The Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War refused to comment on the information about the crash of the Il-76.

▪️ The Washington Post: Immediately after the crash of the Russian Il-76 military aircraft at 11 a.m., conflicting reports appeared.

▪️ Reuters: Russia accused Ukraine of intentionally shooting down a Russian military transport plane. If the details are confirmed, it would be the deadliest incident of its kind within Russia's borders during the nearly two-year conflict.

▪️ BBC: Evidence indicates that a Russian plane was shot down. We showed the video of the Belgorod plane crash to two military experts, and both of them said it was consistent with the plane being shot down.

▪️ The Financial Times: In a cryptic statement issued after the crash, Ukraine's general staff said it would continue to attack Russian military transport planes in the Belgorod region as they delivered missiles used to hit the Ukrainian city of Kharkov.

US Immigration Crisis: Mexico’s AMLO Provides Diplomatic Masterclass

Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley (@TXDPR) writes that US President Joe Biden has been decisively outmanuevered by his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).

On the one hand, the Biden administration desperately wants Mexico’s help in solving the growing crisis on America’s southern border. However, AMLO has presented Biden with his own set of demands — $20 billion in aid, removal of US sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela, and 10 million visas for Hispanic immigrants in the US.

“This is a brilliant and very powerful move by AMLO. He's got the Biden regime by the short hairs, and knows that if the border crisis is not solved, it will not only jeopardize the election, but the federal relationship with Texas, which is the second largest US state in terms of geography (268,000 square miles) population (30 million) and economy ($2+ Trillion).

AMLO's demands not only help Mexico and strengthen ties between Mexico and all the countries his demands will help. If they are met, it will change the entire power dynamics of Central America and the Caribbean regions.”

Read full analysis here

The Ukraine aid-border security supplemental bill is a train wreck and has no chance of passing the US House of Representatives, said US Senator Ted Cruz

The White House and Senate have been involved in weeks-long negotiations to reach a deal on President Joe Biden's national security supplemental request that includes more than $60 billion for Ukraine. Republican lawmakers want the supplemental bill to include meaningful policy changes that will end the crisis on the US southern border.

"This supplemental bill is a kamikaze plane in a box canyon, with no exit headed for a train wreck," Cruz said during a press conference. "The chances of this bill passing the house are 0.000%. It ain't gonna pass."

Senator Rick Scott also said at the press conference that the supplemental bill will be "dead on arrival" if it reaches the House of Representatives.

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🎙 Check out AfroVerdict's latest podcast to take a mind-blowing trip into the heart of Sierra Leone's frightening novelty of adding human bones to "Kush" – a potent synthetic drug rampaging through the streets of Freetown.

Western claims that Russia is allegedly planning to attack NATO is an information warfare to justify the West's current hybrid warfare against Russia, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin has told Sputnik.

"This is indeed an information warfare waged by the Western bloc against Russia and the population of its own countries to justify the existing hybrid aggression of the West against Russia," Naryshkin said.

In January, German newspaper Bild reported that it had obtained a "secret document" prepared by the German armed forces alleging that Russia has a plan to attack NATO's eastern flank after a successful counteroffensive against Ukraine and pushback of the Ukrainian army by June. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later that media reports about Russia's alleged plan for the attack are nothing but fake news.

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Are EU elites funding Ukraine at the expense of their own people?

"You have these European elites who pursue policies that are fundamentally unpopular," Dr. George Szamuely, a senior research fellow at Global Policy Institute, told Sputnik's Final Countdown podcast.

"And then they pursue war policy, which is costing an enormous amount. I mean in terms of energy and sanctions. And then they just transfer in, no questions asked, €50 billion for Ukraine."

The bloc's controversial policies are fanning public discontent, Szamuely said, citing the wave of protests rocking Europe this month, with European farmers protesting energy subsidy cuts and unfair pricing for agricultural products.

"They've withdrawn these subsidies that they've been having and this on top of the exorbitant energy prices in Europe, you know, many ways, due to the sanctions policy on Russia has led to this explosive mix," Szamuely pointed out, referring to Europe's economic decoupling from Russia, as demanded by Washington.

North Korea carried out the first test-fire of the still under-development "new-type strategic cruise missile Pulhwasal-3-31", the North's state-run news agency KCNA reported.

The launch of the cruise missile "had no impact on the security of neighboring countries and has nothing to do with the regional situation," the report said.

The launch of the missile is "a process of constant updating of the weapon system," which is "a regular and obligatory activity of the administration and its affiliated defence science institutes," KCNA cited the sate's Missile Administration as saying.

Last week, a spokesman for the North Korean National Defense Ministry said in a statement carried by KCNA that Pyongyang had tested the still under-development "underwater nuclear weapon system Haeil-5-23" in the Sea of Japan in response to joint three-day naval exercises by the United States, South Korea and Japan involving a US nuclear carrier and other warships.

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