Putin
Trump: I’m disappointed with Putin, will add tariffs if ceasefire not reached in 50 days
President Trump met with NATO’s Secretary General in the Oval Office. Trump announced a new deal to sell weapons to NATO for distribution inside Ukraine and said he is « not happy » with Russia.
‘No Peace Without Me’: Trump Dismisses Istanbul Talks
Midway through his Middle East tour, Donald Trump dismissed ongoing Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul, claiming nothing will move forward without his direct talks with Putin. As Russian and Ukrainian delegations met without their leaders, Trump, speaking from Air Force One, declared himself the only path to peace. With Kyiv demanding a ceasefire and Moscow sidestepping conditions, the Istanbul talks are losing steam — and Trump’s message is clear: Only he can end the war.
Trump LIVE | ‘Peace Is Up To Russia Now’: Trump’s Huge Claim Amid Putin’s Surprise Kursk Visit
U.S. President Donald Trump said that the ball is now in Putin’s court as American representatives headed to Russia “right now as we speak,” to discuss the ceasefire proposal. “We’re going to have to see. It’s up to Russia now,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He declined to comment on whether he has a meeting scheduled with the Russian leader. His comments came as Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Kursk region on Wednesday.
Guerre en Ukraine : 2024 année décisive ? Point de vue militaire
Dominique Trinquand, Général spécialiste des relations internationales, était l’invité d’Anne-Emmanuelle Isaac dans « Points de Vue »
Why NATO may have to stop a Russian invasion – without the US
Davos LIVE: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy addresses World Economic Forum 2024
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where top officials from the United States, the European Union, China, the Middle East have gathered for the annual meeting.
« Although at war, Ukrainian Economy is still boasting a 5% plus growth », says its president Zelensky.
UN chief proposes deal to Putin – Reuters
The West reportedly may loosen anti-Russia sanctions on SWIFT inter-state payments in exchange for a grain-deal extension
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow agree to extend the grain-movement deal in exchange for partial access to the SWIFT international payment system, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing its sources.
The UN-facilitated agreement that provides for the safe export of grain via the Black Sea is set to expire on Monday. Russia said last week that it saw “no grounds” to prolong the deal as it has failed to meet its original goals of steering grain towards poor nations, and as Moscow’s entitlements under the deal have not been met.
Russia wanted its agricultural bank, Rosselkhozbank, reconnected to SWIFT, but an EU spokesperson said in May that lifting the restrictions against the country’s banks was not on the agenda.
Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanctions. Moscow, however, has pointed out that restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance effectively present a barrier to the shipments.
To resolve the situation the EU is now considering connecting a subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT to allow specifically for grain and fertilizer transactions, Reuters has said.
According to the agency’s sources, Guterres suggested to President Putin that Moscow extend the Black Sea grain deal for several months, to give Brussels time to connect the Rosselkhozbank subsidiary to SWIFT.
A UN spokesman said on Wednesday that the Secretary-General had sent a letter to Putin proposing a way to facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports and to ensure the continued shipments of Ukrainian grain, though no further details were provided.
The grain deal was originally signed on July 22, 2022 and intended to last three months. It was then prolonged numerous times over the past year, despite growing concerns repeatedly voiced by Moscow over its failure to provide any of the agreed benefits for Russia.
(source: rt.com)
Patriarch Kirill A Former KGB Spy & Spiritual Guru Is The Driving Force Behind Putin’s Ukraine War
The Spiritual guru of the all-powerful Russian president Vladimir Putin is Patriarch Kirill. He is the archbishop of the Patriarch of Moscow and he heads the Russian Orthodox Church. Besides being his spiritual Guru, Patriarch and Putin are lockstep in politics. As patriarch, Kirill has said that Putin’s rule is a miracle. Putin often turns to him for advice not just on matters of spirituality but also politics. Both Putin and Kirill share the same world view, that of restoring Russia to its imperial glory. In this episode of Crux Decode, we look at the association between the Russian President and the Moscow Patriarch.
The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill has supported Putin’s war in Ukraine from the start. He described those opposing the invasion as the ‘forces of evil’. This has angered many Ukrainians who say Kirill has given his blessings to Putin to kill his fellow Slavs and people of the same faith.
Le patriarche russe Kirill travaillait pour le KGB pendant la Guerre froide
Il ne s’est pas toujours contenté de dire la messe. Dans les années 70, Kirill, devenu patriarche orthodoxe russe, puis proche soutien de Vladimir Poutine, a travaillé pour le KGB, le service de renseignement extérieur de l’Union soviétique, révèlent les quotidiens suisses Le Matin Dimanche et la Sonntagszeitung , qui citent des archives déclassifiées. Une fiche, établie par la police fédérale, «confirme que »Monsignor Kirill », comme il est appelé dans ce document, appartient au KGB», le service de renseignement extérieur du temps de l’Union soviétiques deux médias ont pu consulter la fiche auprès des archives fédérales suisses. Au début des années 70, le patriarche, qui soutient avec ferveur l’invasion de l’Ukraine par la Russie, vivait à Genève pour officiellement représenter le patriarcat de Moscou auprès du Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE). La mission de Kirill, dont le nom de code était «Mikhaïlov», était aussi d’influencer ce conseil, infiltré par le KGB dans les années 70 et 80.
L’objectif des Soviétiques était alors d’amener l’institution genevoise à dénoncer les États-Unis et leurs alliés, et de modérer ses critiques contre le manque de liberté religieuse en URSS, rappellent les quotidiens, qui soulignent que l’Église russe «refuse tout commentaire sur l’activité d’espionnage de Kirill à Genève».
Pas agents, mais «soumis au contrôle du KGB»
Pour sa part, le Conseil œcuménique des églises leur a indiqué ne «pas avoir d’informations» à ce sujet. Le Matin Dimanche a interrogé le neveu du patriarche, Mikhail Goundiaev, qui lui a succédé en tant que représentant du patriarcat de Moscou à Genève, qui affirme que son oncle «n’était pas un agent, même s’il était soumis au ‘contrôle strict’ du KGB».
Et cela n’a «pas affecté la sincérité de son engagement dans le travail œcuménique auprès des autres Églises», souligne-t-il auprès du journal. Celui-ci raconte aussi que le patriarche Kirill apprécie particulièrement la Suisse. «Il s’est rendu au moins 43 fois en Suisse», selon le journal, qui ajoute qu’«outre sa passion du ski – en 2007, il se serait même cassé la jambe sur une piste helvétique -, la diplomatie religieuse, l’espionnage ou les finances n’ont cessé de ramener Kirill Ier dans les Alpes ou au bord du Léman».
«J’ai des sentiments spéciaux envers votre pays. De tous les pays du monde, c’est peut-être celui que j’ai visité le plus souvent», expliquait le patriarche en 2019 en recevant à Moscou le président du Conseil des États suisse, Jean-René Fournier.
(source: lefigaro.fr)
US urges Putin to ‘acknowledge reality’ after ‘war’ reference
The United States has called on Vladimir Putin to acknowledge reality and withdraw troops from Ukraine after the Russian president finally called the conflict a “war”.
Agence France-Presse reported that since Putin ordered the invasion in February, Russia has officially spoken of a “special military operation” and imposed a law that criminalises what authorities call misleading terminology.
But at a news conference on Thursday, Putin used the word “war” as he said that he hoped to end it as soon as possible.
A State Department spokesperson said on Friday:
Since February 24, the United States and rest of the world knew that Putin’s ‘special military operation’ was an unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine. Finally, after 300 days, Putin called the war what it is.
As a next step in acknowledging reality, we urge him to end this war by withdrawing his forces from Ukraine.
The State Department said that, whatever Putin’s terminology, “Russia’s aggression against its sovereign neighbour has resulted in death, destruction and displacement”.
The people of Ukraine no doubt find little consolation in Putin stating the obvious, nor do the tens of thousands of Russian families whose relatives have been killed fighting Putin’s war.
A Russian court earlier this month sentenced an opposition politician, Ilya Yashin, to eight-and-a-half years in prison under the new law over his “false information” about the war.
Yashin had spoken of a “massacre” in Bucha, the town near Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv where the bullet-ridden bodies of Ukrainians in civilian clothes with hands tied behind their backs were discovered after Russian forces retreated.
An opposition legislator critical of the invasion, Nikita Yuferev, on Friday said he was seeking legal action against Putin for spreading “fake news” over his “war” reference.
(source: theguardian.com)
UN Guterres to Putin: « In the name of humanity, stop this war ! »
UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned Russia’s actions in an impassioned appeal. “In the name of humanity bring your troops back to Russia,” he said. “In the name of humanity, do not allow a war to start in Europe which could be worst war since the beginning of the century with consequences not only devastating for Ukraine, not only tragic for the Russian Federation but with an impact cannot even foresee.”
A call between Biden and Putin
During a 50-minute phone call, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, warned President Biden that new sanctions over Ukraine would result in a “complete rupture” between the superpowers, a Russian official said. It is unclear whether Putin intends to invade Ukraine, despite having massed 100,000 or so troops at its border.
Biden, according to a terse White House statement, “made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.” American officials declined to discuss the substance of the conversation, insisting that, unlike the Russians, they would not negotiate in public.
Intelligence officials from several Western countries in Ukraine said there has been no significant pullback of Russian troops or equipment from the border, and low-level cyberattacks — many seemingly intended to penetrate Ukrainian infrastructure — are continuing.
Delegations from the U.S. and Russia will meet on Jan. 10, most likely in Geneva.
(source: nytimes.com)
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