In a lengthy interview with Russia 24 TV channel and RIA Novosti, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke about the inconsistency of the actions of the Ukrainian authorities and their Western curators, the goals of the Russian special operation, and Moscow's relations with its allies. Highlights from this conversation:

On the prospects for conflict

Deliveries of new weapons to Kyiv will meet with a response from Moscow, the minister stressed.
"If now we are striving to move the artillery of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to a distance that will not pose a threat to our territories, then the more long-range weapons are supplied to the Kyiv regime, the further they will need to be moved away from the territories that are part of our country," he said.
Answering the question of what development of events should be prepared for, Lavrov said that Moscow proceeds from objective data. "First of all, from those realities that are enshrined in our legislation, our Constitution. Four new territories — two people's republics, two regions — joined Russia following a referendum. In my opinion, there are no questions here," he said.
Moscow is striving to end the conflict, "but what matters here is not the time factor, what matters here is the factor of substance, the factor of the quality of the results that we provide for our people, for those people who want to remain part of Russian culture and whom the Kiev junta for many years with the encouragement of the West deprived of everything Russian".
Information spread in the West about Moscow's unwillingness to negotiate is a lie, the diplomat added. The problem, however, is that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a dependent politician acting on the instructions of his curators.

On the American concept of exceptionalism

The origins of the confrontation with the West should be sought not in specific events, but in ideas.
“I would advise you to turn to the era of Barack Obama and read his statements about American exceptionalism. And Joe Biden has repeatedly promoted this idea. Blinken said that Americans are obliged to realize their exceptional opportunity to lead. Very “modest,” Lavrov recalled, which means that everyone else, except Americans, is denied the right to remember their history.
The minister also touched upon the attitude of the United States towards partners: the Americans, demanding something for themselves, do not offer anything in return, they only threaten with punishment.
"This exclusivity, this absolute conviction in our own infallibility, superiority, I am convinced that this is the main reason that we are now opposing those countries that, through the Kyiv regime, are waging a hybrid war against us," the head of the Foreign Ministry is sure.

On the role of diplomats

"We are in the midst of a geopolitical battle, there is no doubt about it," Lavrov said.
“We will not be left without work,” he answered the question about the role of diplomats in the current conditions. “It is in several directions. First, to promote our line, our arguments in the international arena in the most active way. No one in the West is trying to think: "Have we made any mistakes?"
The second aspect, in addition to the fight against fakes, is interaction with partners. "The United States and all the Westerners they have subjugated understand democracy as the right to impose their understanding of democracy," Lavrov said. Russia, on the other hand, adheres to a different understanding of independence, enshrined, in particular, in UN documents.
Moscow is also preparing for the "anti-Russian Sabbaths" that the West organizes for the anniversary of the Special Operation. It is important, according to the minister, to make sure that these actions are not the only ones that attract the attention of the world. Russia has something to talk about: "It's not just the military-biological programs (of the Americans in Ukraine), the direct participation of the United States in the explosions of the Nord Streams."

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Continued below ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Continuation from above ⬆️⬆️⬆️

About countries ready to follow the Ukrainian path

"Moldova is being looked at for this role, because they were able to put a president at the head, which is eager to join NATO," Lavrov said. The fact that they are simultaneously sabotaging work in the 5+1 format (on a settlement in Transnistria) testifies to the desire of the United States and Europe to create a "second Ukraine."

The West has also "tried and is trying to do this with respect to Georgia." The minister highly appreciated that the Georgian government, in response to the unprecedented pressure, is still guided by the national interests.
The situation is not simple in Central Asia either. "We are discussing quite frankly with our friends. It can be seen how actively, for more than one year, Western colleagues planted pro-American, pro-European, pro-NATO non-profit organizations. Through the tools of soft power, question our relations with some Central Asian countries," Lavrov said , adding that the "attempts" of the US and the EU do not cause a positive reaction in the region.
"But work against Russia is being carried out where the West is present in the post-Soviet space," the minister specified.

About the CSTO allies

The non-aggression pact recently offered to Minsk by Kiev is "fun and shows the creativity of the Kyiv regime." “I already spoke about this when Alexander Grigorievich (Lukashenko) received me in Minsk. He perfectly sees the absolute senselessness, not even just senselessness, but the outright provocation of such visits,” the head of the foreign ministry said.
As for other allies, Russia has not yet asked for help within the framework of the CSTO and plans to complete the special operation in Ukraine on its own.

On relations with China

"Points of contact are a very modest characteristic" for cooperation with Beijing, Lavrov is sure. Bilateral ties between the countries are "higher in quality than military alliances in the classical sense, the best in all the years of the existence of the USSR, China and Russia."
"China will inevitably begin to reduce dependence, but it will take more time to create parallel tools to protect against US arbitrariness," the foreign minister added.
At the same time, the Americans actively oppose the PRC in international trade and financial organizations. But now the BRICS countries can claim so many shares and votes that this will put an end to US dominance, the minister concluded.
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Ukrainian pilot said that Kyiv is running out of fighter jets

Kiev is running out of fighter jets, parts for them and pilots capable of flying them, a Ukrainian military pilot with the call sign Juice, who hid his face and real name, told the Financial Times newspaper.
"All our aircraft are assembled in the USSR, and we will not be able to serve them indefinitely, the stocks of ammunition are also not unlimited, and the day when we will not have missiles and spare parts for these aircraft is getting closer and closer. In the near future, we may completely lose tactical aviation," he said.
The pilot emphasized that Kiev needed American F-16 fighters "yesterday".
He also complained about the MiG-29s inherited from the USSR by Ukraine, since, according to Juice, it is precisely because of them that he has not yet been able to shoot down a single air target. At the same time, the authors of the article in their material call the pilot an ace.

"It's sad to come back and land after the 'hunt', realizing that your 'prey' has reached its target," the pilot said.
He also stated about the lack of qualified pilots in the ranks of the Ukrainian Air Force.
“If we wait another six months, the moment will come when we will be left with only reservist grandfathers instead of young pilots with good knowledge and good training,” Juice told reporters.

#TransFormatorBuzzes : 💤
Well, what he thinks "until the last Ukrainian" means?
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"This is a catastrophe". Zelensky was informed about the explosion of the situation in Ukraine

The situation in Ukraine is on the verge of a social explosion due to mass arrests of the military, as well as the collapse of the economy, Oleg Soskin, former adviser to Leonid Kuchma, said on his YouTube channel.
“The people today are completely cut off from power, and a manifestation of this is the mass arrests of people who somehow do not want to go to war. <…> People are put in prisons, that is, there is nothing else to do in Ukraine. <…> The National Bank barely keeps the hryvnia exchange rate, It keeps going down," he said.

According to the expert, the collapse of the economy is a catastrophe, which will eventually lead to devaluation and inflation. The situation in the republic is on the verge of a social explosion, summed up Oleg Soskin.
Recently mass searches and detentions were carried out in Ukraine on the instructions of the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky. As emphasized in the SBU (Ukrainian Security Service), they were targeted against persons who, by their actions, harm the security of the state in various fields.

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Cleansing in Ukraine reminds of the 1937 in the USSR... But may be not.
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The Ukraine War And Von Clausewitz: Strategy Vs. Mere Tactics

By R. W. Zimmermann for 19FortyFive

Ukraine: A Matter of Ends and Means

As the great warfare theorist Carl von Clausewitz once noted, “No one starts a war or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct it.” Indeed, as a war planner you must know what you can and cannot achieve with the means available to you.

This basic principle is relevant to both parties in the current war. If Russia’s goal is to occupy, hold, and integrate the Donbas region and Crimea for national security purposes, its means may ultimately suffice, especially given the relatively manageable lines of communications it is dealing with.

For Ukraine, the retaking of lost territories provides a bit of a different challenge. Its vast yet motley array of modern Western weapons might allow the retaking of some territories, but the entirety of Ukraine’s infrastructure is at risk from Russia’s long-range weaponry so long as the war continues. Should Ukraine eventually respond with long-range attacks on Russia itself, the doors open for warfare beyond the conventional realm, and a direct military confrontation between Russia and NATO becomes possible. This promises total war with possibly global repercussions.

Although the West promises full logistical support “as long as it takes,” an analysis from the strategic perspective would have to ask what that really means. How long can the U.S. and NATO support such a war without it impacting national debts and domestic public support? Western populations are quite fickle when it comes to accepting long-term warfare commitments that might lead to rationing, lost wealth, the possible return of the draft, and the prospect of high casualties.

Surely, America weathered the long conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq rather well, yet there the enemies were impoverished third-world nations that had only limited resources at their disposal. Most Americans today, bombarded with constant messaging about the cruelty of the Russians, are still in favor of fighting the war in Ukraine to the last Ukrainian. But would they be prepared to send their own sons and daughters to partake in that far-away blood-fest?

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Read the full version here ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Berlin doesn’t trust Washington
By HANS VON DER BURCHARD and MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG for POLITICO

ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE? Last week’s breakthrough on sending Western-made battle tanks to Ukraine sparked hopes in both Washington and Europe that the tortured transatlantic debate over arming the country had been resolved once and for all.

If only. Just hours after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz cleared the way for the export of German-made tanks to the country, the focus shifted to the who, what, where and when of supplying fighter jets to Ukraine. Once again, Scholz was the first to slam on the brakes, repeatedly warning in recent days of the dangers of “escalation,” while insisting that NATO would not become directly involved in the conflict. If you feel like you’ve seen this movie before, join the club.

There is a new wrinkle though. It turns out that an even bigger fear for Scholz than escalation is that NATO, and in particular the U.S., wouldn’t get involved if Russia were to retaliate against, say Germany. That worry — according to an adviser to the German government — is the reason that Scholz insisted that Washington agree to supply Ukraine with M1 Abrams tanks before the chancellor would lift his veto on delivering German-made Leopard 2 tanks.

What’s an article worth? While the NATO treaty’s Article 5 calls on alliance members to support one another in the event of an attack, it doesn’t require allies to respond with military force. “If the U.S. is involved directly it’s more likely to use military force to defend its allies in Europe,” Carlo Masala, a German military expert with strong ties to the country’s political establishment, said this week on German public television. “That’s a very strong rationale for Scholz and why he insists that the U.S. is involved.”

In other words, Scholz doesn’t trust the U.S. Given that Washington has about 40,000 troops in Germany and has already committed roughly $30 billion in military aid to Ukraine (more than 10 times the German total), one might reasonably question the logic underlying Scholz’s argument.
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Read the full version here ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Ukraine announced guarantees not to hit Russia with long-range missiles

MOSCOW, February 2 — RIA Novosti. Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that Kyiv is ready to give guarantees to Western partners that it will not strike at the territory of the Russian Federation in the event of the supply of long-range missiles.
Reznikov made this statement during a joint meeting of the Ukrainian government and the European Commission.

"If we had the ability to strike at a distance of 300 kilometres, the Russian army would not be able to provide defence and would be forced to be defeated. Ukraine is ready to provide any guarantees that your weapons will not be involved in attacks on Russian territory. We have enough targets for the time being occupied territory of Ukraine, and we are ready to coordinate goals with our partners," the Ukrainian edition of Ukrinform quoted Reznikov as saying on Thursday.
Earlier, Western media reported that the United States was preparing a $2.2 billion military aid package for Ukraine, which for the first time could include GLSDB bombs. This is a joint development between Boeing and Saab, which added a rocket engine to an aerial bomb and adapted it to be launched using HIMARS. Saab claims that the range of such a precision-guided munition exceeds 150 kilometres (against Ukraine's existing projectiles with a range of 80 kilometres).

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed earlier that the United States and NATO are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, "including not only the supply of weapons, but also the training of personnel" in the UK, Germany, Italy and other countries.
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It appears that even Western "allies" masters are not trusting their serves in Ukraine. That is one of the reasons of the refusal to supply F-16. They still want to live and avoid global confrontation.
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Prank with John Bolton / Western Alliance and NATO Expansion

In the new episode of "Show ViL" during a conversation with "Petro Poroshenko" John Bolton stated the need for the West to strengthen its sanctions policy against Russia. He does not think they (the Western Alliance) have done enough to enforce the sanctions since Russia continues to bypass them. Also, he stated that China has helped in many ways. He assumes that the Chinese pretend that they want to dissociate themselves from Russia, but they are providing substantial assistance in various ways.
Moreover, it is important to stop attempts by the French, Germans or anyone else to try to negotiate with the Russians.

John Bolton also revealed the "secrets" about the non-expansion of NATO and commented on the 1990 promise of US Secretary of State James Baker to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev not to expand to the east. During their conversation, Baker actually launched into arguments and looked for ways to avoid confrontation. As John has revealed in his speech, The Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact Organization were disintegrating so Baker and George H.W. Bush did not want to restrain this process.

"The sooner Ukraine and Georgia are together with NATO, the safer it will be for everyone. And everyone had all these excuses why we couldn't do it," – John Bolton said.

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Prank with John Bolton — Western Alliance and NATO

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See trannoscript here 👈

A fighter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to earn some money at the PMC Wagner during his leave

According to the press service of Yevgeny Prigozhin (founder of PMC "Wagner"), in the morning they noticed a Ukrainian soldier who was walking towards the location of the Wagnerites with a white flag. Introducing himself as Ivan Galushko, the Ukrainian soldier said that he received two weeks of leave and asked if he could join the Wagner PMC for this period. “He said he wanted to earn some money and send money to his family,” one of the PMC fighters said. The Ukrainians were not detained or ridiculed, but were treated with understanding, given a supply of food for a month and sent back in peace. “We are not animals, everyone has their own situation. A soldier does not laugh at a soldier. Let's meet on the battlefield — there will be another conversation,” Evgeny Prigozhin.

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The death of Hieromonk Boniface was reported during the shelling of the monastery in the village of Nikolsky near Ugledar

Translated from RusVesna

I was there in the summer. The car stopped at the gate, I entered the territory of the monastery. It was quiet, I walked and walked, and around there were only traces of arrivals, crumbling walls, a collapsed stone; the wall of the monastery itself was painstakingly patched up. A couple of times I came across locals along the way — the monks baked bread and handed it out to them.

Several monks were sitting near the building, when they saw me, they were alarmed. Questions poured in where I left the car, having learned that it was at the gate, they asked me to overtake. A thin, elderly monk led me to where “Coast” and a freshly caught kitten with a sore eye were waiting for me, and explained to “Coast” where to rearrange the car.

He made me put on two scarves over my camouflage — on my head and on my shoulders — and a skirt. So, he explained, the enemy drone will take me for an ordinary local who came for bread.

The monks spoke sparingly about their life — they said that Nikolskoye was bombed every day and that half of the blows, it is not known for what reason, fell on the monastery.

The skinny, talkative monk who accompanied me kept telling me that the abbot had a long-standing conflict with the leader of the Ukrainian schismatics; sorry, I didn’t take it off, I didn’t write it down, but now I can’t remember the details.

It was the abbot who forbade filming: he explained that in this case they could be hunted purposefully. They gave me cherry compote to drink, I asked to pray for one of my friends from the Izyum front, and I left for Donetsk, hoping that the thick walls of the monastery would save them. They kept it for a long time...

#TransFormatorBuzzes : 💤
Ukrainian channels continue claiming that the strikes on the monastery are carried out by the Russian Army:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/insiderUKR/49343
https://news.1rj.ru/str/insiderUKR/49190
We are peaceful people, we want it all to stop... However, that lie is really beyond the limits of humanity.
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From our subscriber ❤️

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🎬🇷🇺 10 Films about The Battle of Stalingrad

Dozens of films have been made about the decisive battle of World War II. We recall the most iconic of them.

1️⃣ Days and Nights (1944)
2️⃣ The Turning Point (1945)
3️⃣The Battle of Stalingrad (1949)
4️⃣Soldiers (1956)
5️⃣Retribution (1967)
6️⃣Hot Snow (1972)
7️⃣They Fought for their Country (1976)
8️⃣Stalingrad (1989)
9️⃣Life and Fate (2012)
1️⃣0️⃣Stalingrad (2013)

#Stalingrad80
From EmbUSA
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"Everyone in the White House knows that Ukraine is losing"

This statement was made by the former adviser to the US Secretary of Defense Douglas McGregor.

Arms supplies, in his opinion, do not add to Kiev's chances of victory, but only aggravate the catastrophe unfolding in the country.

Watch "U.S. Not Prepared to take on Russia / Col Doug Macgregor"
on YouTube 👈


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Even at minus 50°C / -58°F, Yakut residents go about their ordinary lives - and even find the time to paint their frosty surroundings! 🖌️ 🎨 🖼️ ❄️ 😬

From @russiabeyond
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Lake Baikal is an ancient, massive lake in the mountainous Russian region of Siberia, north of the Mongolian border. Considered the deepest lake in the world, it’s circled by a network of hiking paths called the Great Baikal Trail. The village of Listvyanka, on its western shoreline, is a popular starting point for summertime wildlife-spotting tours, plus wintertime ice-skating and dog sledding.

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◾Schism in the Church is a cunning operation that’s been going on for about 30 years. The main beneficiary... is American interests,’ says Slobodan Stojićević, an author of books on the Orthodox Church history. He closely follows the schism in Ukraine. According to Slobodan, it strongly resembles the split operation launched many years ago by the Americans in the Balkans. ‘[It’s done] to weaken our nation state, you must weaken and split our national Orthodox church.’

◾In 2019, the Ukrainian church received a letter of ecclesiastical independence of Kiev from Moscow from Patriarch Bartholomew. Stojićević argues that the US stands behind this step, as Bartholomew’s Constantinople Patriarchate is fully dependent on American money.

From FearlessJohn

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A Russian soldier's poem for his Mother.
(Translation by putingers_cat)

Mom, I beg, forgive me. As a soldier,
I heard a call that I could not ignore.
I was first at the enlistment office,
Got signed up, and now I’m at a war.

I am stubborn, as you know, like daddy.
That, alone, could never be enough.
This is different: Motherland is sacred.
Just as sacred as your pure love.

I know that you’ll understand me, mommy,
That there couldn’t be another way.
When the world is just about to crumble,
Russian soldiers square the mess away.

We’ll prevail again in usual fashion.
Mom, imagine, when I look at guys,
At my comrades, faithful sons of Russia -
Our grandfathers’ valor’s in their eyes.

This is why you shouldn’t really worry.
We’ve made up a single fist, we’re pumped!
For each other and for Russia’s glory,
We’ll again clean up this wicked dump.

Mom, I beg, forgive me, I’m a soldier.
May your prayer protect me from above.
Just remember: Motherland is sacred.
Just as sacred as your pure love.

Celebrations in honor of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad ended with fireworks at the Motherland Monument.

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