‘International insolence’ Lithuanian-style? MPs approve relocating Soviet soldiers’ remains

Lithuania’s parliament has approved amendments to the country’s laws that stipulate relocating the Soviet soldiers' burial places by including them in a list of public venues that promote banned ideology.

Under the amendments, the ban on the liquidation of graves and cemeteries included in the Register of Cultural Values can be lifted if the burial places are recognized as something that promotes “totalitarian and authoritarian regimes and their ideologies."

The amendments were initiated by residents of the Lithuanian city of Siauliai, who earlier called for relocating the remains of 52 Soviet soldiers buried at the entrance to the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said that the demolition of six steles to Soviet soldiers in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in December 2022 is nothing but an attempt by the Baltic states’ authorities to settle historical scores with Russia and erase the memory of the Soviet Union’s victory in the 1941—1945 Great Patriotic War.

Cases of vandalism against Soviet monuments in the Baltic states, including Latvia and Lithuania, ramped up after the beginning of the Russian special military operation. Commenting on the matter, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed the incidents as “international insolence."

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📹 Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov inspected the command post of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the Ministry of Defense reported. Belousov was informed that the duty shift of the command post controlled aviation, air defense and missile defense troops, as well as space forces.

The minister was also shown the work of the unmanned aerial vehicle control group of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which uses artificial intelligence to detect and recognize enemy objects.

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Europeans must prioritize establishing new Eurasian security architecture – analyst

It is evident that Eurasia serves as the ideal environment for Russia to thrive, and it is in Moscow’s interests “to have a pacified, harmonious and collaborative set of relations” on the continent, Paolo Raffone, strategic analyst and director of the Brussels-based CIPI Foundation, told Sputnik when commenting on today’s initiative by Russian President Vladimir Putin to develop a new security system in Eurasia.

Hammering out a new security architecture should become the main priority for Europeans, Raffone stressed, expressing regret that European leaders are so mean-spirited and insignificant intellectually and in terms of power, that “they are paralyzed by their self-fulfilling narratives.”

“Putin’s words and peace proposals are undoubtedly a kind gesture that Europeans should grasp to abandon the zealous standing and try to regain a ‘space’ in world affairs,” the analyst stressed.

He recalled that Putin’s security vision for Eurasia was outlined in the Russian president’s speech at the Munich conference in 2007.

“Today, 17 years later, those thoughts resound not as a prophecy but as an urgent need to deal with reality,” according to Raffone. “On the table remain a broken military alliance (NATO), the clear political defeat of European bellicose governments and political parties, and, more importantly, the absence of vision and a new security architecture for Europe and Eurasia,” the CIPI Foundation director said.

Russia believes that this “dangerous situation” should be urgently resolved, given “the reality of an irreversible multi-nodal and multi-centric world that requires harmonization in bilateral and collective actions,” Raffone concluded.

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Murderous mercs’ trail of misery in Ukraine: Georgian Legion’s* dark deeds unveiled

Part 1

A Russian military court has officially recognized the Georgian National Legion* as a terrorist organization. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has stated that the legion’s members have been involved in organizing acts of sabotage and terrorism on Russian soil, as well as torturing Russian military personnel and murdering civilians. President Putin, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, also noted that mercenaries from Georgia rank third in terms of numbers among those who have joined the Kiev regime’s ranks.

What other details are available regarding this mercenary unit's sinister activities in Ukraine?

🔸 The FSB disclosed that the organization had been established in 2014 with the backing of the State Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine. According to sources in Georgia, in 2014, the pro-Western Georgian NGO "Free Zone" and the opposition party "United National Movement" facilitated the funding and recruitment of mercenaries from Georgia to join the conflict in Donbass. This occurred when the party was in power under the presidency of Mikhail Saakashvili, who had already relocated to Ukraine at the time.

🔸 The Georgian Legion was founded and led by Mamuka Mamulashvili. In a 2015 interview with Ukrainian media, he said the legion was “resurrected” as “an analogue of Bandera's men” within Hitler’s Wehrmacht.

🔸 In another interview, Mamulashvili confirmed that the Georgian Legion* carried out hostilities against the people of Donbass as part of Ukraine’s 54th mechanized brigade, that later ended up in the now-infamous cauldron near Debaltsevo in 2016. The next year, its military personnel shelled the suburbs of Gorlovka in the Donetsk People's Republic.

* Georgian National Legion is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia

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Murderous mercs’ trail of misery in Ukraine: Georgian Legion’s* dark deeds unveiled

Part 2

🔹 In 2018, Georgian mercenaries left the ranks of the Ukrainian army. The official reason was “in protest against the new commander of the 54th Brigade’s actions.” What they were doing in Ukraine from that moment until February 2022 remains unknown.

🔹 With the onset of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the Mamulashvili-led Georgian Legion*, once again joined the ranks of the Ukrainian military. Initially, they fought under the Territorial Defense of the Ukrainian forces, and later became part of the International Legion of Budanov's Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine.

🔹 According to investigations by the Georgian press, the legion’s mercenaries receive a salary of 45,000 hrn (approximately $1,100 USD), with additional payments for participating in hostilities near the front line that made it possible to boost their total earnings to over $2,000.

🔹 In March 2022, the Georgian Legion* mercenaries committed a number of war crimes. Ukrainian media published a video of Ukrainian militants torturing captured Russian military personnel in the Kiev region. The mercenaries did not hide their faces. And subsequently, it was discovered that one of the executioners was Teimuraz Khinazishvili, formerly a bodyguard for Saakashvili during his presidency in Georgia and a member of the Georgian Legion*. Shortly after, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that Khinazishvili got his just desserts on the battlefield, succumbing to fatal injuries.

🔹 After the incident, in one of his interviews, Mamulashvili tried to refute the accusations against the Georgian Legion*, but noted that “no one should expect a different attitude towards Russian soldiers.” He also stated that he gave his militants an order not to take any Russian military prisoners.

* Georgian National Legion is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia

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Murderous mercs’ trail of misery in Ukraine: Georgian Legion’s* dark deeds unveiled

Part 3

▫️ Militants of the Georgian Legion* committed other war crimes. In particular, a captured Georgian mercenary admitted in a video interrogation that the legion’s commanders would engage in looting and would issue orders to shoot civilians because they allegedly were saboteurs.

▫️ The captured mercenary also noted that the Georgian mercenaries in Ukraine were trained by instructors from NATO countries and New Zealand.

▫️ The Russian Federal Security Service stated Georgian Legion* members had also engaged in organizing acts of sabotage and terrorism on Russian soil.

▫️ According to Georgian legislation, its citizens can face criminal charges for participating in illegal military formations outside the country. In 2023, the Georgian Security Service officially accused Mamulashvili, commander of the Georgian Legion, of plotting a political coup in Georgia. Intelligence officials claimed that Mamulashvili and his co-conspirators intended to carry out their plot with the assistance of a significant number of young Georgians fighting in Ukraine.

* Georgian National Legion is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia

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Participants in the conference on Ukraine in Switzerland will discuss how to include Russia in the negotiation process, the country's Federal Council said in a statement. It is noted that in order to develop a long-term solution to this situation, “the participation of both parties is necessary.”

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Ukraine's LNG deal is desperate attempt to prove usefulness to US

"I think the contract is purely for political purposes," Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst of the National Energy Security Fund and expert of the Financial University of the Government of Russian Federation, told Sputnik. "Buying gas from American producers is politically important for them. This way they demonstrate their political loyalty to the United States."

Ukraine's energy company DTEK Group announced on June 13 that it had struck an agreement with Venture Global to buy unspecified amounts of liquefied natural gas from the US gas firm's Plaquemines LNG facility in Louisiana throughout 2026.

DTEK also committed to purchasing up to 2 million tons of LNG per annum from Venture Global's new CP2 LNG plant for 20 years, once the facilities are built, according to the Financial Times.

Stanislav Mitrakhovich, a leading expert at the National Energy Security Fund and the Financial University with the Russian government, in turn noted that the declaration is "predominantly a PR move to demonstrate further alignment with America" for Ukraine.

On the other hand, for the US company, it may serve as a tactic to quickly overturn Biden's temporary, election-driven decision to halt new liquefied gas export licenses, a move that is intended to keep domestic gas prices low and satisfy the Democratic Party's left wing, which opposes fossil fuels.

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There are almost 700,000 Russian soldiers in the special military operation zone, Vladimir Putin said.

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Russia is forced to push back the front line in the Kharkov region in order to reduce terrorist attacks on the Russian city of Belgorod, Putin said at a meeting with special operation veterans.

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Ex-Pentagon analyst: Ukraine should heed Putin's offer to avoid new losses

"I think [US President Joe] Biden will resist it," Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the US Secretary of Defense, tells Sputnik, commenting on Moscow's new peace proposal for Kiev.

"They've put in so much into it already, and they just agreed to a new tranche of money and arms for Ukraine."

Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 14 made yet another proposal to settle the Ukrainian conflict, signaling that Moscow is ready to negotiate a peace agreement if the Kiev regime pulls out from the Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, which joined Russia in the result of referendums, and revokes its NATO membership bid.

Against the backdrop of Russia's proposal, the Swiss "Summit on Peace in Ukraine" scheduled for June 15-16 doesn't seem relevant due to its one-sided unrealistic approach to the crisis, according to the former Pentagon analyst.

"It's not a serious negotiation, because they haven't even invited the Russian side to this so-called peace conference," Maloof says. "The Chinese and increasingly a number of the BRICS countries pulled out. They don't want any part of this charade."

Encouraged by its Western partners, Ukraine rejected the Istanbul preliminary peace agreement with Russia and sustained huge manpower and territorial losses afterwards. The pundit expects that it could happen again if Kiev rejects Putin's new offer.

Ukrainian politicians, especially in the Ukrainian parliament - the Verkhovna Rada – "need to take some initiative and try to sue for peace for what they have left," Maloof stresses.

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❗️There is no deadline for the proposals outlined by Putin, but the situation at the front is changing dynamically, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

Zelensky’s illegitimacy, according to him, is not an obstacle to negotiations between the Russian Federation and Ukraine: it is not so important who conducts the negotiations, the main thing is that their results are recorded by legitimate representatives.

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Elon Musk “outsources” Starlink to Pentagon: principles vs. actions

The businessman has extended SpaceX's contract with the Pentagon for six months to continue providing Starlink mobile internet to Ukraine, which is frequently used by Ukraine's Armed Forces. Bonnie Poindexter, Pentagon spokeswoman, stated that the $14.1 million contract requires extending by November 30, 2024.

Initially, Musk provided Starlink’s services to Ukraine after the beginning of the Russian special operation at his own expense with the bill exceeding $100 million by the end of 2022. Then, the Pentagon came to help, signing the contract in June 2023.

However, providing Starlink’s services to the Ukrainian military does not jive with some lofty statements from Musk.

▪️In October 2022 Musk turned off Starlink over the Crimean peninsula so the Ukrainians could not use it to target Russia’s Black Sea Fleet with drones. This story became public thanks to Musk’s authorized biography, written by Walter Isaacson;

▪️The belated cracking of this story in 2023 led to threats and insults from Kiev, but Musk stood by his decision, saying that helping Kiev to strike Crimea would have “escalated tensions”;

▪️In his interviews and statements, Musk said that “Crimea belongs to Russia and Ukraine isn’t likely to win,” as WSJ reported in one of its many critical articles about Musk. The billionaire also suggested “ending the conflict immediately” in February 2024.

So, why is Musk’s “peace talk” not always accompanied by action? Critique from media and statements of US officials indicate a certain pressure to which Musk is subjected by the US military and their lobbyists.

For example, Business Insider reports that he is “facing pressure to provide SpaceX’s Starshield satellite network to US defense personnel in Taiwan,” similar to it's use in Ukraine. Citing a letter to Musk by GOP congressman Mike Gallagher, BI writes that Musk has a “contractual commitment” to give the Pentagon access to his networks.

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▪️Key points of Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for peaceful settlement in Ukraine

▪️Scott Ritter on Russia's peace move: ‘The ball is now in the West’s court’

▪️Ex-Pentagon analyst: Ukraine should heed Putin's offer to avoid new losses

▪️Europeans must prioritize establishing new Eurasian security architecture – analyst

▪️Murderous mercs’ trail of misery in Ukraine: Georgian Legion’s dark deeds unveiled

▪️Ukraine's LNG deal is desperate attempt to prove usefulness to US

▪️Why Biden's 10-year security pact with Ukraine is nothing but a PR stunt

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Indiscriminate shelling by Ukrainian forces continues, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the recent attack on the town of Shebekino in Russia's Belgorod Region.

"Hostilities continue, indiscriminate shelling of civilian infrastructure by the Ukrainian armed forces continues," the spokesman told Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin.

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If Ukraine and its Western partners decline Russia’s peaceful settlement proposal, they will bear the political and moral responsibility for the continuation of bloodshed, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia stressed at the UN Security Council meeting.

If Kiev rejects Moscow’s peace proposal, the conditions for starting negotiations will change in the future, Nebenzia noted at the UNSC meeting discussing possible strikes inside Russian territory using weapons supplied to Ukraine by Western countries.

The Kiev regime and its sponsors defiantly ignore peace efforts to resolve the crisis and refuse to discuss them, Nebenzia added.

Western armed personnel are almost "manually" directing Ukraine's use of high-precision weapons as the Ukrainian armed forces cannot operate them themselves, the Russian representative said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 14 made yet another proposal to settle the Ukrainian conflict, signaling that Moscow is ready to negotiate a peace agreement if the Kiev regime pulls out from the Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, which joined Russia as a result of referendums, and revokes its NATO membership bid.

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Russia urges UN member states and the UN Secretariat not to participate in the "provocations" of the Swiss conference on Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzia emphasized.

"We call on UN member states and the secretariat to not partake in these provocations ... in Burgenstock," Nebenzia said at a UN Security Council meeting. "Do not let yourself be used as extras in these ham-fisted anti-Russian intrigues the West is concocting."

Proposals that could lay the groundwork for negotiations have been put forward recently by African countries, the League of Arab States, and Brazil. A "deep understanding" of the conflict has also been demonstrated by China, the diplomat added.

However, all these peace efforts have been defiantly ignored by the Kiev regime and its Western sponsors, Nebenzia stressed.

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The Biden administration does not know whether future US authorities will maintain the signed security agreement between Washington and Kiev, a senior White House official said.

Previously, The New York Times reported that Ukraine was concerned about a clause in the security agreement between Kiev and Washington under which the US might terminate the arrangement.

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