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Tag: Russian President Vladmir Putin

  • Putin gives only condition for peace talks with Ukraine

    Putin gives only condition for peace talks with Ukraine

    Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin has given the only condition for peace talks with Ukraine.

    Putin noted that his country is open to negotiations with Ukraine but will never accept “any schemes that have nothing to do with reality”.

    Putin made the remark while mocking the scheduled round of Ukraine peace talks in Switzerland, warning that Moscow will not accept any enforced plans that ignore its interests.

    It would be recalled that the Switzerland’s government  announced plans to hold a high-level international conference in June to help chart a path toward peace in Ukraine.

    But Putin said a peace process can’t happen without Russia.

    Speaking with Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow, Putin said: “They aren’t inviting us there.

    “Moreover, they think there is nothing for us to do there, but at the same time they say that’s it’s impossible to decide anything without us. It would have been funny if it weren’t so sad.”

  • We’ll not congratulate Putin for his reelection – US

    We’ll not congratulate Putin for his reelection – US

    The United States on Monday described the election held in Russia as as “undemocratic” and said it will not congratulate President Vladimir Putin, who was declared winner by a sweeping margin.

    State Department spokesman Vedant Patel responded sarcastically, “I was on the edge of my seat. It was such a nail-biter.” when asked about Putin’s reelection.

    “This was an incredibly undemocratic process,” Patel told reporters.

    Asked if the United States was withholding recognition of the result, as urged by some dissidents, Patel said, “I think it is safe to say that there certainly won’t be congratulatory calls coming from the United States of America.”

    “He is likely to remain the president of Russia, but that does not excuse him of his autocracy,” Patel said.

    Patel has knocked Putin for disqualifying and jailing opponents, and for the death in prison before the vote of one of his most prominent challengers, Alexei Navalny.

    Russians “deserve free and fair elections and the ability to choose among a group of candidates representing a diverse set of expressions,” Patel said.

    Russians also “deserve access to impartial information to help them choose the leadership that they so desire and help them determine the future of their country,” he said.

    “That was clearly not the case in these elections, which were neither free nor fair.”

    The US and Russia have not been in good terms since Putin ordered the invasion and attack  of Ukraine in February 2022.

    Apart from the condemnation of the election by US, European allies have also questioned the conduct of the election in Russia.

     

  • Plane Crash: US President, Biden fingers Putin in Prigozhin’s death

    Plane Crash: US President, Biden fingers Putin in Prigozhin’s death

    US President, Joe Biden has reacted to the death of the leader of  Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin who died in a plane crash on Tuesday evening.

    According to Bidem,  “little happens in Russia without the knowledge of Vladimir Putin”.

    Biden made these remarks shortly after the announcement of the plane crash that killed Yevgeny Prigozhin.

    .Russia’s agency for air transport claimed that Prigozhin was among the passengers of a flight that crashed and burst into flames on Wednesday.

    All 10 passengers aboard the plane were reported dead.

    Speaking with CNN, Biden said: “You may recall, I was asked about this.”

    “I said I would be careful what I rode in. I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised,” CNN quoted Biden as saying.

    The US president added that there is “not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind but I don’t know enough to know the answer.”

  • Ukraine has lost about 1,300 troops as of Saturday- Zelensky

    Ukraine has lost about 1,300 troops as of Saturday- Zelensky

    Ukraine has lost approximately 1,300 troops as of Saturday, said Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.

     

    The Ukrainian President, in a briefing on Saturday, said “This war, a difficult war, has truly united our nation.

     

    “A few small towns just don’t exist anymore. And this is a tragedy. They are just gone.

     

    “And people are also gone. They are gone forever. So we are all on the front line.”

     

    He posited that people whose lives have been taken by this war died as heroes.

     

    According to him, negotiations to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “must begin with a ceasefire.”

     

    He described the ongoing war between his country and Russia as a very difficult one.

     

    Zelensky explained that Russia has succeeded in whipping out some small towns in the country and that those towns would never assist again.

  • EU sanctions Russia defence minister, military chief

    EU sanctions Russia defence minister, military chief

    The European Union has imposed sanctions on Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu, the country’s military chiefs, and other people close to the Kremlin in response to the escalating crisis in Ukraine.

    The 27-nation group says it is freezing assets and imposing visa bans on high-ranking officials that include not only the heads of Russia’s army, navy and air force, but President Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff, and the editor-in-chief of state-run English language television channel RT, according to the EU’s official journal.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/24/ukraine-eu-sanctions-russia-defence-minister-military-chief

    Western countries have toughened sanctions on Russia since the country announced it was recognising two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine as independent and would send troops there, a move that was condemned repeatedly in an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Monday night.

    “That illegal act further undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence and is a severe breach of international law and international agreements,” the EU said in announcing the latest sanctions, which were agreed to at a meeting in Paris on Tuesday.

    Flagging the plan alongside French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian then, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said: “The sanctions will hurt Russia and will hurt a lot.”

    The details were released as Moscow said the rebel areas had sought its “help” over alleged Ukrainian aggression while Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia could be on the brink of starting a “major war in Europe”.

    The EU said those on the blacklist had been involved in military aggression against Ukraine, taking key political decisions, or propaganda on the situation on behalf of the Kremlin.

    The Internet Research Agency (IRA) – accused of spearheading Kremlin-backed online disinformation campaigns – was targeted.

    “The company conducts disinformation campaigns targeting Ukraine’s agenda by influencing elections or perceptions of the annexation of Crimea or the conflict in Donbas,” the EU said. “The Internet Research Agency is responsible for actively supporting actions, which undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”

    It noted the IRA was funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close Putin ally who is thought to be the founder of Wagner, the mercenary group accused of sending fighters to Ukraine and other conflict zones. He has already been blacklisted by the EU – over Wagner’s involvement in Libya – but his wife and mother were added to the list.

    Others targeted for their alleged involvement in spreading Kremlin propaganda include RT’s Margarita Simonyan, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, and pro-Kremlin broadcasters Vladimir Solovyev and Pyotr Tolstoy.

    Three prominent banks VEB, Rossiya – described as the “personal bank of Senior Officials of the Russian Federation” – and Promsvyazbank were also sanctioned.

    The EU also moved to limit access to Moscow’s sovereign debt to European financial markets, and imposed a ban on imports from Donetsk and Luhansk territories.

    The EU has said the sanctions are just the first part of a package of “unprecedented” measures it has prepared against Russia and that it is holding the rest back in case the Kremlin launches a full-scale attack on Ukraine.

    The United States has also targeted Russia’s sovereign debt and certain banks in sanctions announced on Tuesday, while the United Kingdom targeted five banks and three oligarchs. Germany has suspended certification of the Russian-owned Nord Stream 2 pipeline, while Australia, Japan and Canada have also announced measures.

  • Nigerian Students to be evacuated from Ukraine if Russia attacks – NIDCOM

    Nigerian Students to be evacuated from Ukraine if Russia attacks – NIDCOM

    The world is watching as the drum beats of war intensify pitching the United States (US) and its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) allies in a grim faceoff with Russia over the alleged threat of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Although some Nigerian experts have dismissed the possibility of all out war, they however, advised the Federal Government and major stakeholders to begin to make arrangements for a possible evacuation of Nigerians from Ukraine.

    Russia has in the last three weeks massed nearly 100,000 troops around its borders with Ukraine, a move which the US and its NATO allies perceived as Russia’s intentions to invade Ukraine in much the same way it invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014.

    Although Russia has denied any plans for invasion and scaled down its troops presence in the disputed area, the US and allies have mobilized military contingents in Eastern Europe in readiness to counter Russia’s move as stated by US President Joe Biden.

    The trouble in Eastern Ukraine where Russia is said to be backing separatists’ agitation has killed over 14,000 since 2004 and perhaps constitutes major concerns for Nigerians especially students in the event of an outbreak of war.

    The Nigerian government through the Nigerians In the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) last week issued an advisory to Nigerians resident in Ukraine to remain calm and security conscious, but experts have called for evacuation now as many other countries have advised their nationals to leave the country.

    International Constitutional law expert, Livingstone Wechie said that “If very developed nations like the US have given their citizens an ultimatum to leave Ukraine within 48 hours, they have seen the red light that there is likelihood of attacks by Russia, which will affect the safety of every person. So, the safest thing is to ensure that citizens of nations like Nigeria which has a large population of students there are evacuated

    “Remember, Ukraine is like an education tourist centre for Nigerian students. Many Nigerian students are there and the borders of Ukraine have been shutdown, their airspaces are being monitored. So, it calls for concern and it is important for the Nigerian Government to make arrangements to evacuate its citizens as there is already a psychological war,” he added.

    He however, ruled out all out war, stressing that the US is possibly negotiating with Russia. He said that the shouts of war are pure propaganda by the US and allies to extract economic benefits from the Ukrainian debacle.

    “What you are seeing now is a pure economic war. Ukraine is looking at an ethnic battle to save itself but the intervening states are harping into economic opportunities to advance their control and influence in the region. The US has never intervened in anything that does not give her economic benefits. So, no gunshots will be fired.