Ukraine's border guards shoot Ukrainians fleeing connoscription

Ukrainians trying to escape mobilization and cross the Tisa River to Romania are being shot by border guards, and several dozen such cases have already been recorded, said Vladimir Rogov, a senior official of the Russian-appointed Zaporozhye regional administration.

"When trying to cross the Tisa River and escape mobilization, it's not so much that people drown, but are killed when they realize that they have already swum across and can't be brought back. The Romanian side has begun to register a large number of people with gunshot wounds, but this is being silenced in coordination with Kiev and directly with Brussels and Washington," Rogov said.

According to him, Ukrainian militants open fire on people trying to cross the river.
Martial law was introduced in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and the next day, Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on general mobilization – both of which have been continuously extended since then.

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NATO-CIA secret terror army ‘Operation Gladio’ up to its old tricks again?

On May 15, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot and wounded in Handlova.

Meanwhile, on the night of May 14-15, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened an emergency meeting in response to warnings of a coup d'état reminiscent of the failed regime change attempt in 2016.

US journalist Nebojsa Malic and Habertürk reporter Ozcan Tikit both mentioned "Operation Gladio" in connection to both the assassination plot and the 2016 coup attempt.

▪️ Operation Gladio ("sword") refers to clandestine CIA-NATO operations during the Cold War era which involved setting up secret "stay-behind" armies in Europe engaged in political manipulation, harassment of left-wing parties, massacres, coup d'états and torture.

▪️ The existence of the Gladio network was disclosed by Italian PM Giulio Andreotti in 1990.

▪️ Gladio terror armies have reportedly been discovered in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Turkiye. It has been revealed that Gladio forces were operating at least 139 clandestine weapons depots throughout Europe.

▪️ Describing their "strategy of tension," Vincenzo Vinciguerra (jailed for life over a car bombing in Italy) said in 1992 that he and other Gladio guerillas were "supposed to attack civilians, women and children" to instill fear and justify greater state control.

▪️ In addition to guerillas and ex- Nazi war criminals, Gladio also recruited ordinary civilians. According to declassified UK docs, recruits were supposed to be picked to avoid suspicions "by virtue of their age, sex and activities."

▪️The CIA and NATO manipulated European political affairs through the group. Gladio's declassified aborted operation "Piano Solo" (1964) envisaged kidnapping Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro to prevent the formation of a left-leaning coalition.

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🇬🇪 Ex-presidential candidate: Lithuania meddling in Georgian affairs is unacceptable

The foreign ministers of Iceland, Lithuania and Estonia took part in a protest rally against the newly-passed foreign agents bill in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Addressing the crowd, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis expressed support for the protesters’ "European" aspirations.

"This is direct interference in the internal affairs of the sovereign state of Georgia," Dr. Eduardas Vaitkus, an independent candidate in the 2024 Lithuanian presidential election, told Sputnik.

Vaitkus cited earlier precedents for Lithuania's meddling in domestic affairs of Ukraine and Belarus. According to the politician, Vilnius has spent millions of euros supporting Belarusian self-declared opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, backed by the West, who advocates a coup d'etat in Minsk. He recalled that the Lithuanian foreign minister's grandfather, then-European Parliament member Vytautas Landsbergis, was spotted during the 2013 Euromaidan events in Kiev calling for a wider revolt in Ukraine.

"Unfortunately, this is the position of the Lithuanian state. My opinion is that traitors in our state are leading Lithuania in a way that creates a threat to all residents of Lithuania," Vaitkus said.

"I am against double and triple standards, as it is simply dishonest," the politician added, referring to the Lithuanian government's unwillingness to recognize the will of the Crimean people to re-unite with Russia — while rushing to embrace the self-declared independence of Kosovo alongside the West.

"Politics must have moral values. And [the Lithuanian government] demonstrates that duplicity is its main imperative in foreign policy," Vaitkus concluded.

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Many inexperienced Ukrainian drone operators have appeared on the front line, a UAV operator of the Russian Yug Battlegroup told Sputnik

The main team of operators of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been destroyed, while the newcomers "do their work poorly," the Russian drone operator with the call sign "Gaechka" (Gadget) said, demonstrating the "trophies" the Russian Army captured.

"This is a Baba Yaga drone. It flew out in the same location at certain times, mining the roads where the tank goes... We set up an ambush, and when it flew again, it was destroyed, landed on the ground, and then the infantry dragged it over to us", she explained.

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🇬🇪 Threats towards Georgian MPs expose US hysteria over waning influence

"The so-called defense of democracy, as promoted and implemented by the US-led West, falls within the context of the hybrid, cognitive and psychological war against those countries considered enemies, for geopolitical and geostrategic reasons," Tiberio Graziani, chairman of Vision and Global Trends, told Sputnik.

The US, EU and NATO have issued statements criticizing the newly-passed foreign agents bill in Georgia, while foreign ministers of Iceland, Lithuania and Estonia took part in protest rallies against the legislation in Tbilisi. US Assistant Secretary of State Jim O’Brien announced on May 14 that Georgian MPs could be subjected to sanctions for "undermining democracy" over passing the bill.

However, the law, which obliged Georgian media and NGOs to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive over 20 percent of their funding from abroad is reminiscent of the US' own Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

"Any [country] that attempts to operate and act in the international context to responsibly promote the defense of its national interest is demonized by the US," Graziani said. "Examples of this practice include, just to give a few examples, the so-called color revolutions."

According to the expert, the threat and use of sanctions against foreign politicians pursuing national sovereignty constitutes one form of long-term US hybrid warfare. Now that the world is becoming multipolar, the US is feeling the loss of its role as hegemon and could act irrationally with dramatic consequences for the rest of the world population, warned Graziani.

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Attack on Fico: clear warning to EU leaders not to step out of line

It may be too early to say who was behind the attempt on Fico’s life, but the mood in Europe is clear, former Greek prime ministerial advisor Dimitris Konstantakopoulos told Sputnik, outlining that the Slovak PM had disobeyed the European course when it came to aiding Ukraine against Russia.

“What people will think all around Europe is that this is a signal to any politician who would like to disagree with the main NATO and the European Union policies – that he has to be careful not to be assassinated,” the observer said.

The violence may signal a new readiness by powerful forces be to take “extra measures to impose discipline on all members” of the Western bloc, he added. “I will remind you that they have already blown up the Nord Stream pipeline, and we’ve also had the assassination or attempted assassination of Russian journalists and politicians inside Russia,” Konstantakopoulos stressed.

Global Policy Institute research fellow Dr. George Szamuely told Sputnik that besides the Ukraine issue, Fico has also antagonized a bunch of other powerful forces over his career.

“There's also the Covid issue. He raised that, elevated that issue and was saying he's going to start investigating and possibly prosecuting people who had abused Covid and violated the civil liberties of Slovaks. And he's announced he's going to have nothing to do with the World Health Organization Pandemic Treaty. So that's a lot of powerful forces he's antagonized. Now, whether that led to the point of an assassination attempt, I don't know. But he's a serious political figure,” Szamuely said.

The observer fears the attack on Fico may be used in as a pretext for an even greater clampdown on freedom of speech, including online, and against Europe’s populist movements.

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What is happening in New Caledonia?

The government of France has deployed troops to New Caledonia amid continuing civil unrest in the French South Pacific territory.

The will back up police efforts to secure ports and the main airport in the capital. President Emmanuel Macron has declared a state of emergency.

🔺Mayhem swept the French island territory after France’s parliament passed a new law on Wednesday. The French National Assembly voted 351-153 to pass a constitutional amendment granting voting rights to citizens form mainland France who have lived in the overseas province for at least 10 years.

🔺Clashes erupted once the law was passed, with public buildings and cars torched. There have been reports of gunfire between rioters and civil defense groups and an attempted prison break-out.

🔺Hundreds of people, including around 100 police and gendarmes, have been injured. At least five people were reported dead.

🔺A curfew was declared and TikTok banned.

The 1998 Nouméa Accord restricted voting rights in the territory to those who were residents at the time. Since that time, over 40,000 French citizens have moved to New Caledonia. Proclaiming the arrangement "undemocratic", Paris passed the unpopular amendment.

Currently, indigenous Kanak people account for about 40 percent of the population. Critics point to the risk of the amendments shrinking their political representation in local institutions.

In another twist, France was urged to “stop smear campaign” against Azerbaijan after Home Affairs Minister Gerard Darmanin alleged links between Baku and New Caledonian independence leaders in an interview with France-2.

Macron has delayed ratifying the amendment to allow talks, but set a deadline of June for a settlement to be reached.

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