The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Ukraine has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Ukraine should pick the least bad option now.
And NATO should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Ukraine believes the West will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Russia has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Russia should pick the least bad option now.
And China should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Russia believes the East will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
The difference is that the war is being fought in Ukraine.
It is Ukraine that is being razed to the ground. It is Ukrainians who are fleeing their country (and of course many will never return).
For sure, Russia faces serious problems.
But, it is Ukraine that is being turned into a charnel house.
The sanctions will be killing Russians already - the state support setup there is quite thin.
If the sanctions are carried on for a period of months, they will kill quite a lot of people.
I don't regard the deaths of ordinary Russians as a good thing. Just as I don't regard the deaths of ordinary Ukrainians as a good thing.
Crimea is Russian, they would win a plebiscite.
Donetsk was found by a Welshman.
"The city of Donetsk was founded in 1869 when the Welsh businessman John Hughes operated a steel plant and several coal mines at Aleksandrovka." [Wiki]
If Ukraine and Russia want a compromise for the Donbas, let Donetsk return to its original name of Hughesovka & be given to Mark Drakeford to look after.
Your fear of Putin allows him to roll up Ukraine. Next Finland, Sweden, Moldova and Georgia. At some stage Putin will have to be stopped. If you are not prepared to will the military means to do so then we are lost. You have no red lines just appeasing the Russian dictator.
You senile old twat.
Or are you auditioning for the village hall production of Dr Strangelove.
Why do I have the urge to watch a load of films this weekend? Dr Strangelove, Fail Safe, By Dawn's Early Light, The Day After, Threads, When the Wind Blows etc.
Sound of Music or the Great Escape would be better or even the Railway Children
Oddly I watched the railway children (at Christmas). Amazed to discover that the children stop the train with underwear scene was NOT the climax of the film, as I'd remembered, but happened fairly early on. Also a bit creeped out by the doctor giving the eldest daughter a ride on his cart.*
Today’s YouGov: Labour 39 Tories 33 LibDems 10 Greens 7 Reform 4 SNP 4
Conservative fall - refugee visas impacting opinion?
Only a 2% fall, not major in the Conservative vote and the Green vote also down. LDs slightly up as well as Labour
Could all be noise. However, there's not much sign of a massive Falklands-like Crisis Hero Bounce for the PM. The government has recovered from the worst of Partygate, as it has been pushed off the front pages. But that's about it, which is probably fair enough.
This is important as it signals a split between Lukashenko and Putin
Lukashenko orders Belarusian specialists to ensure power supply to Chernobyl plant
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has instructed Belarusian specialists to ensure power supply to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the BelTA news agency has reported.
Yesterday, Ukraine warned there was a danger of a radiation leak at Chernobyl after electricity was cut off, but the UN nuclear watchdog saw "no critical impact on security".
Russia accused Ukrainian forces of attacking power lines and a substation feeding the power plant.
Certain self interest: if Chernobyl blows, Minsk gets the fall-out...
Totally off-topic but had an odd one on our online store. Complaining that we had sent totally the wrong order. Lists what he ordered and what he received. Check web store and what he thinks he ordered is totally different to what he claimed he ordered. Send a screen grab.
Another email back with yet another list of what was received. So I'm going to have to open an investigation into what exactly was on the pick sheet, whether the picker made a mistake etc. Eugh. Oh, he asks for a full refund. Which I have given him.
As with my other posts on customer service it is more costly to get into an argument - time, money and reputational cost - than to operate no quibble and issue a refund a move on.
It's worth repeating how Amazon does customer service
1) the customer is always right Up to the point we don't want them as a customer anymore...
This is important as it signals a split between Lukashenko and Putin
Lukashenko orders Belarusian specialists to ensure power supply to Chernobyl plant
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has instructed Belarusian specialists to ensure power supply to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the BelTA news agency has reported.
Yesterday, Ukraine warned there was a danger of a radiation leak at Chernobyl after electricity was cut off, but the UN nuclear watchdog saw "no critical impact on security".
Russia accused Ukrainian forces of attacking power lines and a substation feeding the power plant.
Perhaps the threat of having a large part of his country rendered uninhabitable - again - by a radiation leak from Chernobyl, might be encouraging Lukashenko to ensure there are sufficient generators and fuel available at the site to keep the power on?
NATO protects only NATO - well, that was the whole point in the original design. Not to extend commitments beyond the core territory* of the member states. So that people would know what they were getting into.
As to defending NATO states - the US, UK and others are continuously reinforcing and increasing troop numbers in the Baltics States and Poland. That means that if the Russians attack, they will automatically be fighting them.
1990's Yugoslavia says hello.
Yes - perhaps the exception that proves the rule. The Serbs had some vague backing from the Soviet Union, but nothing definite. Some argue, though that the Pristina Airport thing was a pivotal moment in Russian Greater Nationalism and it's revival....
The difference is we were prepared to confront and defeat the Serbian bully but the bigger Russian bully not so much. We prod him, we take his pocket money away, we say horrible things to him. But the bully still attacks our friend and will continue to do so and other friends until we put the Russian bully on his arse.
Nice idea. How?
I noted my views last night and there was a lively debate Essentially :
1. No fly zone with immediate effect 2. Admit Ukraine into NATO with immediate effect and Finland, Sweden, Moldova and Georgia should they wish. 3. Immediate ceasefire and Russian forces to begin withdraw within 12 hours.
You were then eased into a straitjacket with two stout keepers to make sure you did not set the place on fire ?
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
Today’s YouGov: Labour 39 Tories 33 LibDems 10 Greens 7 Reform 4 SNP 4
Conservative fall - refugee visas impacting opinion?
Only a 2% fall, not major in the Conservative vote and the Green vote also down. LDs slightly up as well as Labour
Could all be noise. However, there's not much sign of a massive Falklands-like Crisis Hero Bounce for the PM. The government has recovered from the worst of Partygate, as it has been pushed off the front pages. But that's about it, which is probably fair enough.
I think this may be as good as it gets for Boris now. With a decent new leader the tories would be 5 or more points ahead in the light of this crisis.
5Live saying that the government is doing what it can to keep Chelsea playing.
Surely the time is here for a Billy the Fish style punishment. Throw Chelski out and transfer the players to 4th Division no-hopers Peddleworth Albion / Leyton Orient / Wimbledon
The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Ukraine has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Ukraine should pick the least bad option now.
And NATO should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Ukraine believes the West will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
While I agree with the general gist, I have to take issue with "This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com)."
Who are the twattish 20% who don't believe that? Aside from the silly attempt to use hyperbolic language, this is exactly what it is. Or do you think that bombing civilians and brutal repression of dissent can somehow be justified?
Today’s YouGov: Labour 39 Tories 33 LibDems 10 Greens 7 Reform 4 SNP 4
Conservative fall - refugee visas impacting opinion?
Only a 2% fall, not major in the Conservative vote and the Green vote also down. LDs slightly up as well as Labour
Could all be noise. However, there's not much sign of a massive Falklands-like Crisis Hero Bounce for the PM. The government has recovered from the worst of Partygate, as it has been pushed off the front pages. But that's about it, which is probably fair enough.
I think this may be as good as it gets for Boris now. With a decent new leader the tories would be 5 or more points ahead in the light of this crisis.
Totally off-topic but had an odd one on our online store. Complaining that we had sent totally the wrong order. Lists what he ordered and what he received. Check web store and what he thinks he ordered is totally different to what he claimed he ordered. Send a screen grab.
Another email back with yet another list of what was received. So I'm going to have to open an investigation into what exactly was on the pick sheet, whether the picker made a mistake etc. Eugh. Oh, he asks for a full refund. Which I have given him.
As with my other posts on customer service it is more costly to get into an argument - time, money and reputational cost - than to operate no quibble and issue a refund a move on.
It's worth repeating how Amazon does customer service
1) the customer is always right Up to the point we don't want them as a customer anymore...
I have a free chainsaw waiting to on Ebay. Amazon shipped it, the courier lost it, Amazon issued a no-quibble refund, then the courier delivered it.
People worried about the whole of civilisation being evaporated if we confront Prestupnik Putin..
What's our "civilisation" worth if we don't?
Send your replies to Ukraine.
I don't know, I reckon billions of lives and the continuity of the species is worth a fair bit, but what the fuck do I know? Better send in the tanks so in 100 million years the successor civilisation of intelligent frogs can marvel at the moral integrity of our irradiated skeletons.
There are several billion too many of us. The specie is unimportant. It will be destroyed at some stage. Every atrocity we witness, perpetrate and allow to be repeated as an action of ghe human specie devalues us and goes towards proving we are are not worthy of continued survival.
So I presume you supported military intervention in Rwanda, in Bosnia, in Syra, in northern Nigeria, in Chechnya, in Yemen too, conflicts which were often just as brutal as Ukraine if not worse with terrible atrocities and where we did nothing militarily in most of them?
Your comment 'the species is unimportant' is so ludicrous as to be barely worthy of comment, however going to war with Russia over Ukraine if it leads to WW3, nuclear war and the death of hundreds of millions or even billions rather than the thousands so far in Ukraine would not have been worth doing on any definition.
Yes in a few billion years time the Sun may explode but by then we may be living on a different planet or even a different galaxy anyway, however that is no excuse for a possible third world war or even nuclear war which is still avoidable
The upside to the Earth being engulfed in the fiery nuclear plasma of the Sun is that the place that elected you, and all its people, will be completely ionised and lost in heaving sea of fire. There's always a positive.
5Live saying that the government is doing what it can to keep Chelsea playing.
Asking around in Cabinet if anyone has brought their boots.
Priti Patel bites yer legs?
She's no Norman Hunter although, as was demonstrated when Leeds played Derby and Frannie Lee absolutely battered Hunter he was just a man of straw. So maybe she is.
The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Ukraine has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Ukraine should pick the least bad option now.
And NATO should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Ukraine believes the West will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
While I agree with the general gist, I have to take issue with "This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com)."
Who are the twattish 20% who don't believe that? Aside from the silly attempt to use hyperbolic language, this is exactly what it is. Or do you think that bombing civilians and brutal repression of dissent can somehow be justified?
The Ukrainians need to understand their place in this, say thank you nicely and give enough of their country to Putin to make him happy.
we need to purposefully rearm and re-equip armed forces that are fit for the modern age. The PM won't do that as witnessed by his astonishing row with Tobias Ellwood at the select committee meeting about tanks.
Interesting. A(nother) strategic defence review. Where do you see the UK in terms of its global military role and where would your focus be for this rearmament.
If we face a new cold war then our "cold war is over lets be ready for The War Against Terror" stance is no longer fit for the future. I listen to people like Tobias Ellwood who know first hand what we need. He told the PM and the Big Dog just mocked the Lieutenant Colonel.
Since when are Lieutenant Colonels masters of military strategy. They get a battalion; hardly the big picture at Sevastopol.
And if he came straight from a coffee with CGS of course he is agitating for a new cold war approach. It is a General's dream. As much money as they want and all for a war they will never fight.
He clearly know more than the Big Dog.
About what? Polishing 1 RGJ mess silver? Johnson has to weigh the competing elements and interests of the country to determine whether he thinks we should expand our military and for what purposes and what role HMF should or is likely to occupy in the years ahead. It's MLRS vs new hospitals.
If Ellwood is simply a channel for the General Staff to lobby Johnson for more spending on tanks and guns then that's fine. But it is a small part of the big picture. It might be right "today" (and might not be) but so what.
The other daft thing about any ‘re-arming’ debate is that in terms of conventional force (tanks troops missiles planes etc) Russia has proved itself woefully inadequate vs Ukraine. So if ‘re-arming’ means increasing our spend on those things, it does seem like just a way to funnel money to pet projects with no real value.
Cheap drones, better cyberwarfare capabilities, and of course even more investment in human intelligence all seem like better priorities.
Indeed, I am not an expert by any means, but it seems clear to me that tanks are nowadays not that useful versus drones, missiles etc that can destroy them. Russian tanks seem to be the proverbial knife to a gunfight.
Are we interested in vanity projects and jobs for the lads, or what actually works?
Your fear of Putin allows him to roll up Ukraine. Next Finland, Sweden, Moldova and Georgia. At some stage Putin will have to be stopped. If you are not prepared to will the military means to do so then we are lost. You have no red lines just appeasing the Russian dictator.
You senile old twat.
Or are you auditioning for the village hall production of Dr Strangelove.
Why do I have the urge to watch a load of films this weekend? Dr Strangelove, Fail Safe, By Dawn's Early Light, The Day After, Threads, When the Wind Blows etc.
The BFI DVD release of The War Game is also well worth a watch.
I watched that knowing I would wish that I hadn't but that I must. Truly horrifying and if I had god like powers I'd make all of the keyboard warriors on here watch it Clockwork Orange style.
The Japanese trolling this week about the Kuril Islands was a reminder that Russia is exposed on a number of axes, and surely now is a good time if you're a Syrian rebel, a Kazakh protester or a Chechen separatist to make a bit of trouble. Not to mention Belarussian opposition, which surely will come into play again sooner or later.
Most of the leaders of the latter are still in jail; even the band that entertained the protests are still locked up.
The Chelski thing - lets look beyond the football at the wider action. We have frozen - not confiscated - the assets of "seven Russian businessmen". These include many of dual or multi-nationality, and includes Dmitri Lebedev who is the nice KGB chap who Boris Johnson skipped security briefings to fly over and see in the immediate aftermath of the Salisbury poisoning.
we need to purposefully rearm and re-equip armed forces that are fit for the modern age. The PM won't do that as witnessed by his astonishing row with Tobias Ellwood at the select committee meeting about tanks.
Interesting. A(nother) strategic defence review. Where do you see the UK in terms of its global military role and where would your focus be for this rearmament.
If we face a new cold war then our "cold war is over lets be ready for The War Against Terror" stance is no longer fit for the future. I listen to people like Tobias Ellwood who know first hand what we need. He told the PM and the Big Dog just mocked the Lieutenant Colonel.
Since when are Lieutenant Colonels masters of military strategy. They get a battalion; hardly the big picture at Sevastopol.
And if he came straight from a coffee with CGS of course he is agitating for a new cold war approach. It is a General's dream. As much money as they want and all for a war they will never fight.
He clearly know more than the Big Dog.
About what? Polishing 1 RGJ mess silver? Johnson has to weigh the competing elements and interests of the country to determine whether he thinks we should expand our military and for what purposes and what role HMF should or is likely to occupy in the years ahead. It's MLRS vs new hospitals.
If Ellwood is simply a channel for the General Staff to lobby Johnson for more spending on tanks and guns then that's fine. But it is a small part of the big picture. It might be right "today" (and might not be) but so what.
Ellwood reeled off a list of areas where our forces have been run down. Big Dog kept foaming on about tank battles in Germany which was explicitly not what Ellwood was saying. I imagine that the PM gets his military advice from the military. Ellwood is military. Of course different branches argue for supremacy, but the idea that BJ knows the detail on this and Ellwood does not feels a bit fanciful.
Ellwood was a captain in 1 RGJ ffs. He knows a very limited amount of detail. And of course his parliamentary career has included being more involved in matters military. But he is not PM and doesn't need to consider the bigger picture. Johnson does.
Don't get me wrong - you know my views on Johnson being wholly unsuitable for any influential political role and dear god he is PM but on this, because Ellwood repeats what he has been told by CGS doesn't make it god's honest truth. Of course our forces have been run down. That is a choice (implicitly) that the country has made over the past few decades. We don't want a huge military for no one knows what purpose. The only people who want a huge military are on the General Staff. And it is their job to want a huge military. It is the PM's job to weigh up their demands vs other priorities.
Just as we don't want a health service that would cost a substantial amount more than we currently pay. We might say we want all sorts of things and puppy dog tails, but our actions at the ballot box show that we don't actually.
You also have to tease out the difference between the things the armed forces want to achieve and their capacity to achieve them if actually given the money.
Does anybody believe giving the army more cash would result in more defence capability coming out of the other end?
We all know what comes out of the other end when you feed something.
Quite. It's scary when Governments pledge 'increased spending' to solve something, especially 'by x percent'. We've seen it in foreign aid - it gets swallowed up by aid companies and new ipads for all. Decide what we need/want to be capable of, then work backwards in how much we need to spent to make it happen.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
Your fear of Putin allows him to roll up Ukraine. Next Finland, Sweden, Moldova and Georgia. At some stage Putin will have to be stopped. If you are not prepared to will the military means to do so then we are lost. You have no red lines just appeasing the Russian dictator.
NATO has exactly one clear red line. Article 5. Since 1948 it has never been crossed. The suggestion that their red line should be changed has lots of support from policy wonks, institutes and of course keyboard warriors. But I don't think there is a single major party in a NATO country who support it.
They may all be wrong, but they are not all dim. For example SKS 100% supports USA and Boris on this matter.
It is obvious (I think) that if the nuclear issue were not on the table we would have intervened. So I think we should draw clear inferences.
In Gulf War I the red line crossed was the sovereign international boundary of Kuwait.
Article 5 of the NATO charter is not the only red line in existence.
Yes but Russia has a veto on any UN Security Council resolution, Iraq did not.
The UN is effectively powerless to take any real action against the US, UK, Russia, China and France as they are all permanent members of the Security Council with a veto
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
The supporters chanting his name were the worst representation of football fans. Utter morons (and all sides regrettably have some).
The one thing I want to know though is how the approximately £1,500,000,000 that Chelsea owes to Abramovich in loans is dealt with if he's apparently not wanting/able to get it back? How does that fit with the notion of "Financial Fair Play" - Chelsea getting £1.5bn gifted to them doesn't remotely seem "fair" to anyone.
Your fear of Putin allows him to roll up Ukraine. Next Finland, Sweden, Moldova and Georgia. At some stage Putin will have to be stopped. If you are not prepared to will the military means to do so then we are lost. You have no red lines just appeasing the Russian dictator.
NATO has exactly one clear red line. Article 5. Since 1948 it has never been crossed. The suggestion that their red line should be changed has lots of support from policy wonks, institutes and of course keyboard warriors. But I don't think there is a single major party in a NATO country who support it.
They may all be wrong, but they are not all dim. For example SKS 100% supports USA and Boris on this matter.
It is obvious (I think) that if the nuclear issue were not on the table we would have intervened. So I think we should draw clear inferences.
In Gulf War I the red line crossed was the sovereign international boundary of Kuwait.
Article 5 of the NATO charter is not the only red line in existence.
They make them up as they go along, if small bully who has oil and they can pulverise them it is gung ho red lines, if a big bully then they are very flexible red lines
Totally off-topic but had an odd one on our online store. Complaining that we had sent totally the wrong order. Lists what he ordered and what he received. Check web store and what he thinks he ordered is totally different to what he claimed he ordered. Send a screen grab.
Another email back with yet another list of what was received. So I'm going to have to open an investigation into what exactly was on the pick sheet, whether the picker made a mistake etc. Eugh. Oh, he asks for a full refund. Which I have given him.
As with my other posts on customer service it is more costly to get into an argument - time, money and reputational cost - than to operate no quibble and issue a refund a move on.
It's worth repeating how Amazon does customer service
1) the customer is always right Up to the point we don't want them as a customer anymore...
A friend of mine ran a family business. Pushy customers would demand refunds without sales receipts on items that he didn't even stock. He'd do so (the amounts were infrequent and minor) as it avoided bad word-of-mouth and he knew business was shifting more online where he'd be able to stop this. And always with a smile.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
That was his offer 10 days ago anyway. This is a deal cooked up with the govt, designed to look tough while doing him least damage.
we need to purposefully rearm and re-equip armed forces that are fit for the modern age. The PM won't do that as witnessed by his astonishing row with Tobias Ellwood at the select committee meeting about tanks.
Interesting. A(nother) strategic defence review. Where do you see the UK in terms of its global military role and where would your focus be for this rearmament.
If we face a new cold war then our "cold war is over lets be ready for The War Against Terror" stance is no longer fit for the future. I listen to people like Tobias Ellwood who know first hand what we need. He told the PM and the Big Dog just mocked the Lieutenant Colonel.
Since when are Lieutenant Colonels masters of military strategy. They get a battalion; hardly the big picture at Sevastopol.
And if he came straight from a coffee with CGS of course he is agitating for a new cold war approach. It is a General's dream. As much money as they want and all for a war they will never fight.
He clearly know more than the Big Dog.
About what? Polishing 1 RGJ mess silver? Johnson has to weigh the competing elements and interests of the country to determine whether he thinks we should expand our military and for what purposes and what role HMF should or is likely to occupy in the years ahead. It's MLRS vs new hospitals.
If Ellwood is simply a channel for the General Staff to lobby Johnson for more spending on tanks and guns then that's fine. But it is a small part of the big picture. It might be right "today" (and might not be) but so what.
The other daft thing about any ‘re-arming’ debate is that in terms of conventional force (tanks troops missiles planes etc) Russia has proved itself woefully inadequate vs Ukraine. So if ‘re-arming’ means increasing our spend on those things, it does seem like just a way to funnel money to pet projects with no real value.
Cheap drones, better cyberwarfare capabilities, and of course even more investment in human intelligence all seem like better priorities.
Indeed, I am not an expert by any means, but it seems clear to me that tanks are nowadays not that useful versus drones, missiles etc that can destroy them. Russian tanks seem to be the proverbial knife to a gunfight.
Are we interested in vanity projects and jobs for the lads, or what actually works?
IANAE, etc, etc. IMV there's an issue with that, though. It is not just tanks: there are a whole range of vehicles from armoured personnel carriers, through armoured fighting vehicles to the 'traditional' tanks. Russia have even brought an armoured train into the mix.
Armour developed for a reason. To take land, you need to get troops onto the ground - and you need to give them protection against small weapons, such as machine guns or mines. This means armour.
Also IMV, and again IANAE, but I wonder if the problem might be more how the Russians are using their tanks.
In the future we might see anti-drone tech (if such stuff exists and is practical) coming up with tanks, probably as yet another tank variant.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
The supporters chanting his name were the worst representation of football fans. Utter morons (and all sides regrettably have some).
The one thing I want to know though is how the approximately £1,500,000,000 that Chelsea owes to Abramovich in loans is dealt with if he's apparently not wanting/able to get it back? How does that fit with the notion of "Financial Fair Play" - Chelsea getting £1.5bn gifted to them doesn't remotely seem "fair" to anyone.
Assets are frozen, I believe, so the loan isn't going anywhere. Any repayments/interest will be going in a cash box, ownership to be decided later.
Incidentally, if the assets were seized, not frozen, then in theory, Chelsea would owe 1.5 billion to HMG. A loan like that is simply another asset.
The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Ukraine has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Ukraine should pick the least bad option now.
And NATO should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Ukraine believes the West will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
While I agree with the general gist, I have to take issue with "This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com)."
Who are the twattish 20% who don't believe that? Aside from the silly attempt to use hyperbolic language, this is exactly what it is. Or do you think that bombing civilians and brutal repression of dissent can somehow be justified?
The Ukrainians need to understand their place in this, say thank you nicely and give enough of their country to Putin to make him happy.
Not at all, but it's also fundamentally unfair to the Ukrainian defenders to try to make saints of them.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
That was his offer 10 days ago anyway. This is a deal cooked up with the govt, designed to look tough while doing him least damage.
No it isn't.
He was seeking to sell the club and that would give him the money from its sale. That's now completely frozen and under the terms of the sanction the club can not be sold anymore.
I don't recall their merchandise shop etc being closed being proposed earlier either.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
The supporters chanting his name were the worst representation of football fans. Utter morons (and all sides regrettably have some).
The one thing I want to know though is how the approximately £1,500,000,000 that Chelsea owes to Abramovich in loans is dealt with if he's apparently not wanting/able to get it back? How does that fit with the notion of "Financial Fair Play" - Chelsea getting £1.5bn gifted to them doesn't remotely seem "fair" to anyone.
Assets are frozen, I believe, so the loan isn't going anywhere. Any repayments/interest will be going in a cash box, ownership to be decided later.
Incidentally, if the assets were seized, not frozen, then in theory, Chelsea would owe 1.5 billion to HMG. A loan like that is simply another asset.
That's a good point. Abramovich might say he doesn't need the £1.5bn to be repaid, but if its owed to HMG then I can not imagine HMRC being so generous.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
The supporters chanting his name were the worst representation of football fans. Utter morons (and all sides regrettably have some).
The one thing I want to know though is how the approximately £1,500,000,000 that Chelsea owes to Abramovich in loans is dealt with if he's apparently not wanting/able to get it back? How does that fit with the notion of "Financial Fair Play" - Chelsea getting £1.5bn gifted to them doesn't remotely seem "fair" to anyone.
I think "assets seized" is sloppy reporting. This isn't a confiscation, it just suspends RA's right to deal with his own property. But anyway if it *is* assets seized, a debt is a perfectly good asset, so the government acquires it. either way, no windfall for the kickballists
Mr. G, I never expressed support for a no fly zone.
I expressed dismay at discounting an argument based not on flaws within it, but by disparaging the one making said argument.
MD , ok I will let you off on that one.
Good morning Malc - I assume you support the rumour that Blackford is to stand down
Morning G, absolutely delighted but he will be replaced by one of the other posterior licking Sturgeon sychophants. Of the small handful of decent MP's none will be considered. All it needs is it to be Oswald who is completely talentless.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
That was his offer 10 days ago anyway. This is a deal cooked up with the govt, designed to look tough while doing him least damage.
No it isn't.
He was seeking to sell the club and that would give him the money from its sale. That's now completely frozen and under the terms of the sanction the club can not be sold anymore.
I don't recall their merchandise shop etc being closed being proposed earlier either.
But he wanted to give the dosh to charity. he was trying to look like he was voluntarily doing what he has now been forced to do
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
That was his offer 10 days ago anyway. This is a deal cooked up with the govt, designed to look tough while doing him least damage.
No it isn't.
He was seeking to sell the club and that would give him the money from its sale. That's now completely frozen and under the terms of the sanction the club can not be sold anymore.
I don't recall their merchandise shop etc being closed being proposed earlier either.
I would assume this has been done within the law including the new law this week
There is a hypocrisy of condemning Boris for law breaking then expecting HMG to do the same and just confiscate assets without the legal mandate
Your fear of Putin allows him to roll up Ukraine. Next Finland, Sweden, Moldova and Georgia. At some stage Putin will have to be stopped. If you are not prepared to will the military means to do so then we are lost. You have no red lines just appeasing the Russian dictator.
NATO has exactly one clear red line. Article 5. Since 1948 it has never been crossed. The suggestion that their red line should be changed has lots of support from policy wonks, institutes and of course keyboard warriors. But I don't think there is a single major party in a NATO country who support it.
They may all be wrong, but they are not all dim. For example SKS 100% supports USA and Boris on this matter.
It is obvious (I think) that if the nuclear issue were not on the table we would have intervened. So I think we should draw clear inferences.
In Gulf War I the red line crossed was the sovereign international boundary of Kuwait.
Article 5 of the NATO charter is not the only red line in existence.
They make them up as they go along, if small bully who has oil and they can pulverise them it is gung ho red lines, if a big bully then they are very flexible red lines
It's called protecting the national interest and it's the first duty of government. Where Article 5 is concerned we are bound by treaty to intervene regardless. Outside of that it's up to each national government to decide what it's own interest is. Risking a nuclear war by trying to enforce an unenforceable no fly zone is not in our interest and no government supports it
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
And in our legislature for that matter. what a silly woman she is.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
That was his offer 10 days ago anyway. This is a deal cooked up with the govt, designed to look tough while doing him least damage.
No it isn't.
He was seeking to sell the club and that would give him the money from its sale. That's now completely frozen and under the terms of the sanction the club can not be sold anymore.
I don't recall their merchandise shop etc being closed being proposed earlier either.
But he wanted to give the dosh to charity. he was trying to look like he was voluntarily doing what he has now been forced to do
He said he was going to, I think the notion that billions would go to charity without him getting a penny back is . . . interesting to say the least. I wouldn't put much faith in his word on that, would you?
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
That was his offer 10 days ago anyway. This is a deal cooked up with the govt, designed to look tough while doing him least damage.
No it isn't.
He was seeking to sell the club and that would give him the money from its sale. That's now completely frozen and under the terms of the sanction the club can not be sold anymore.
I don't recall their merchandise shop etc being closed being proposed earlier either.
But he wanted to give the dosh to charity. he was trying to look like he was voluntarily doing what he has now been forced to do
Unless he was planning to do it prior to all this kicking off there was nothing 'voluntary' about it, even if he announced something first.
Mr. G, I never expressed support for a no fly zone.
I expressed dismay at discounting an argument based not on flaws within it, but by disparaging the one making said argument.
MD , ok I will let you off on that one.
Good morning Malc - I assume you support the rumour that Blackford is to stand down
Morning G, absolutely delighted but he will b ereplaced by one of the other posterior lickers Sturgeon sychophants. Of the small handful of decent MP's none will be considered. All it needs is it to be Oswald who is completely talentless.
Nice to hear from you Malc - Hope you and your family are now fully recovered and enjoying the Spring Ayrshire air
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
That was his offer 10 days ago anyway. This is a deal cooked up with the govt, designed to look tough while doing him least damage.
No it isn't.
He was seeking to sell the club and that would give him the money from its sale. That's now completely frozen and under the terms of the sanction the club can not be sold anymore.
I don't recall their merchandise shop etc being closed being proposed earlier either.
But he wanted to give the dosh to charity. he was trying to look like he was voluntarily doing what he has now been forced to do
He said he was going to, I think the notion that billions would go to charity without him getting a penny back is . . . interesting to say the least. I wouldn't put much faith in his word on that, would you?
It would be interesting to know how this affects all their millions of loan players around various leagues.
Are those loan players paid directly by the clubs they are on loan to and that is all or do Chelsea pay their wages direct as employees of CFC and then receive a payment towards wages from the loan club.
If the latter then that business model is buggered for them as they will be having to pay for about 30 players who cannot play for them without receiving any compensation for their loan.
Your fear of Putin allows him to roll up Ukraine. Next Finland, Sweden, Moldova and Georgia. At some stage Putin will have to be stopped. If you are not prepared to will the military means to do so then we are lost. You have no red lines just appeasing the Russian dictator.
NATO has exactly one clear red line. Article 5. Since 1948 it has never been crossed. The suggestion that their red line should be changed has lots of support from policy wonks, institutes and of course keyboard warriors. But I don't think there is a single major party in a NATO country who support it.
They may all be wrong, but they are not all dim. For example SKS 100% supports USA and Boris on this matter.
It is obvious (I think) that if the nuclear issue were not on the table we would have intervened. So I think we should draw clear inferences.
In Gulf War I the red line crossed was the sovereign international boundary of Kuwait.
Article 5 of the NATO charter is not the only red line in existence.
They make them up as they go along, if small bully who has oil and they can pulverise them it is gung ho red lines, if a big bully then they are very flexible red lines
It's called protecting the national interest and it's the first duty of government. Where Article 5 is concerned we are bound by treaty to intervene regardless. Outside of that it's up to each national government to decide what it's own interest is. Risking a nuclear war by trying to enforce an unenforceable no fly zone is not in our interest and no government supports it
I know it well but thanks for the revision , they make out it is down to being helpful and justice rather than just admitting they only intervene when it is in their interests, otherwise you are well and truly on your own and can have the crap bombed out of you.
Fans of Leeds, Everton and Burnley all saying a little prayer that Chelski get relagated?
And fans of Arsenal and Tottenham no doubt; and probably fans of Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd, West Ham, Wolves, Southampton etc will all be quite happy if that happened too I suspect. 🤣
Mr. G, I never expressed support for a no fly zone.
I expressed dismay at discounting an argument based not on flaws within it, but by disparaging the one making said argument.
MD , ok I will let you off on that one.
Good morning Malc - I assume you support the rumour that Blackford is to stand down
Morning G, absolutely delighted but he will b ereplaced by one of the other posterior lickers Sturgeon sychophants. Of the small handful of decent MP's none will be considered. All it needs is it to be Oswald who is completely talentless.
Nice to hear from you Malc - Hope you and your family are now fully recovered and enjoying the Spring Ayrshire air
Thanks G , my wife is probably as good as she will get now , her lungs will never be 100% again , but she is well and we are doing ok. Has been lovely spell of weather but near end now according to forecasts. Hope you and family are all well.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
That was his offer 10 days ago anyway. This is a deal cooked up with the govt, designed to look tough while doing him least damage.
No it isn't.
He was seeking to sell the club and that would give him the money from its sale. That's now completely frozen and under the terms of the sanction the club can not be sold anymore.
I don't recall their merchandise shop etc being closed being proposed earlier either.
But he wanted to give the dosh to charity. he was trying to look like he was voluntarily doing what he has now been forced to do
Unless he was planning to do it prior to all this kicking off there was nothing 'voluntary' about it, even if he announced something first.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Not a lie, it is once again, since its not the first set of sanctions since this conflict began.
What happened before the conflict began is completely moot. You keep bringing up historical things that happened while we had peace, but surely you fully understand that you act differently in peacetime and times of conflict?
Just as Germany paying for Russian gas during peacetime, but not doing so during conflict is the right thing to do - the UK treating oligarchs differently during peace time and during conflict is equally appropriate too.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
That was his offer 10 days ago anyway. This is a deal cooked up with the govt, designed to look tough while doing him least damage.
No it isn't.
He was seeking to sell the club and that would give him the money from its sale. That's now completely frozen and under the terms of the sanction the club can not be sold anymore.
I don't recall their merchandise shop etc being closed being proposed earlier either.
But he wanted to give the dosh to charity. he was trying to look like he was voluntarily doing what he has now been forced to do
He said he was going to, I think the notion that billions would go to charity without him getting a penny back is . . . interesting to say the least. I wouldn't put much faith in his word on that, would you?
It would be interesting to know how this affects all their millions of loan players around various leagues.
Are those loan players paid directly by the clubs they are on loan to and that is all or do Chelsea pay their wages direct as employees of CFC and then receive a payment towards wages from the loan club.
If the latter then that business model is buggered for them as they will be having to pay for about 30 players who cannot play for them without receiving any compensation for their loan.
Not as many these days and loan rules coming in (they have 21 or 22 out on loan ATM). I believe their wages always paid by CFC, but happy to be corrected.
The Home Office seems to be a longstanding disaster area, and beyond the ability of any minister to put right. Not helped that the minister presently in charge is Ms Patel.
Very interesting article in ConHome by Andrew Gimson here:
"The appointment on Tuesday of Richard Harrington as Minister for Refugees, working for the Department for Levelling Up as well as the Home Office, suggests a well-founded lack of confidence in the latter department, and indeed is humiliating for the ministers already there.
"On Wednesday morning, Harrington was seen having breakfast with Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up.
"An adviser who until recently worked in the Home Office agreed that its ministers are at present quite unable to exercise proper oversight of the department’s multifarious responsibilities. There is almost no oversight of the security services, while the police are expert lobbyists who run rings round civil servants in their mid to late twenties.
"This adviser said the department is so overtaxed by its present responsibilities that it ought to be split in two. One department would deal with national security and policing, while the other would concentrate on borders and immigration."
Fans of Leeds, Everton and Burnley all saying a little prayer that Chelski get relagated?
And fans of Arsenal and Tottenham no doubt; and probably fans of Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd, West Ham, Wolves, Southampton etc will all be quite happy if that happened too I suspect. 🤣
I'm sure Southampton fans will be very interested in how this impacts on Broja (on loan from Chelsea, Southampton want to extend it or buy him) and Livramento (owned by Southampton, but Chelsea have a buy back clause)
This must becoming acutely embarrassing to RU military command.
As it’s so muddy they’ve got to stick to the roads. I’m sure in years to come “The role of the Winter Olympics in Putin’s Ukraine Failure*” will be much discussed.
Mr. G, I never expressed support for a no fly zone.
I expressed dismay at discounting an argument based not on flaws within it, but by disparaging the one making said argument.
MD , ok I will let you off on that one.
Good morning Malc - I assume you support the rumour that Blackford is to stand down
Morning G, absolutely delighted but he will b ereplaced by one of the other posterior lickers Sturgeon sychophants. Of the small handful of decent MP's none will be considered. All it needs is it to be Oswald who is completely talentless.
Nice to hear from you Malc - Hope you and your family are now fully recovered and enjoying the Spring Ayrshire air
Thanks G , my wife is probably as good as she will get now , her lungs will never be 100% again , but she is well and we are doing ok. Has been lovely spell of weather but near end now according to forecasts. Hope you and family are all well.
Yes though we do keep taking our daily pills !!!
Our daughter in law recently announced she is expecting her third on the 1st September, so while all this appalling and horrific news dominates our daily news, we have many reasons to be very grateful
Why do I have the urge to watch a load of films this weekend? Dr Strangelove, Fail Safe, By Dawn's Early Light, The Day After, Threads, When the Wind Blows etc.
You want the Russian film Pis'ma Myortvogo Cheloveka (Letters From a Dead Person). It's about a nuclear war caused by accident when somebody couldn't run fast enough to cancel the launch order because they were carrying a cup of tea (Russian humour). It features a suicidal physics professor and a squad of partially irradiated orphans. It used to show up on the A level Russian syllabus occasionally and was guaranteed to instill profound depression in the more delicate students.
The only practical way of ending the conflict quickly is to give Russia a way to climb down.
This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com).
Ukraine has a number of options: they are either unpalatable, or disastrous, or cataclysmic, or world-ending.
The correct thing to do is to choose the unpalatable (as the Czechs did in 1968).
Ukraine should pick the least bad option now.
And NATO should make it clear that it will not intervene militarily. If Ukraine believes the West will come to their aid, they will never make the unpalatable choice & more of their country will be destroyed.
Because nothing lasts forever, and eventually Putin will be gone. And the unpalatable choice can be re-visited.
Because Prague finally did get its spring and its summer in 1989.
While I agree with the general gist, I have to take issue with "This is not attractive to those who see the war as a titanic battle between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Darkness (which is almost 80 per cent of pb.com)."
Who are the twattish 20% who don't believe that? Aside from the silly attempt to use hyperbolic language, this is exactly what it is. Or do you think that bombing civilians and brutal repression of dissent can somehow be justified?
Don't know about Good v Evil but it's certainly a Right v Wrong matter. And the actual invasion IS evil, I don't think that's hyperbole or simplistic.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
What you are missing, is straightforward morality. Why don't we make London the paedophile brothel capital of the world, so then we can release footage of the sizeable minority of state-leading bad actors who are paedophiles in their spare time when we want to?
And if you think that sounds fanciful it's probably exactly what mossad were doing with Epstein.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
The part where she says "once again". You are right in what you post - we have let Russian money wash through London and buy its way into Parliament. But when she says "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society" I scratch my head.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
Not a lie, it is once again, since its not the first set of sanctions since this conflict began.
What happened before the conflict began is completely moot. You keep bringing up historical things that happened while we had peace, but surely you fully understand that you act differently in peacetime and times of conflict?
Just as Germany paying for Russian gas during peacetime, but not doing so during conflict is the right thing to do - the UK treating oligarchs differently during peace time and during conflict is equally appropriate too.
You have had an interesting defensive position to protect the oligarchs so I doubt we are arguing different sides here. Oligarchs and Kleptocrats have been welcomed into the UK so saying they haven't as Truss did is just stupid.
The Home Office seems to be a longstanding disaster area, and beyond the ability of any minister to put right. Not helped that the minister presently in charge is Ms Patel.
Very interesting article in ConHome by Andrew Gimson here:
"The appointment on Tuesday of Richard Harrington as Minister for Refugees, working for the Department for Levelling Up as well as the Home Office, suggests a well-founded lack of confidence in the latter department, and indeed is humiliating for the ministers already there.
"On Wednesday morning, Harrington was seen having breakfast with Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up.
"An adviser who until recently worked in the Home Office agreed that its ministers are at present quite unable to exercise proper oversight of the department’s multifarious responsibilities. There is almost no oversight of the security services, while the police are expert lobbyists who run rings round civil servants in their mid to late twenties.
"This adviser said the department is so overtaxed by its present responsibilities that it ought to be split in two. One department would deal with national security and policing, while the other would concentrate on borders and immigration."
I agree totally with that and not only should it be spilt up but Patel should be on the back benches
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
What you are missing, is straightforward morality. Why don't we make London the paedophile brothel capital of the world, so then we can release footage of the sizeable minority of state-leading bad actors who are paedophiles in their spare time when we want to?
And if you think that sounds fanciful it's probably exactly what mossad were doing with GE.
I thought that was Epstein's gig too, just with famous/rich people.
They can take it. Be more concerned about any smaller clubs who are expecting roubles to support loan players or performance payments on past transfers etc.
Still, Chelski folding before Oldham do would be a turn up.
Lavrov's comments getting increasingly detached from reality.
If they've 'not attacked' Ukraine then I'm a bit worried that they are planning to 'not attack' other countries, too
This is how TASS is reporting it, in between making a big fuss about supposedly US-funded biolabs they are finding inside Ukraine:
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories and the operation was aimed at demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine.
When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.
Other oligarchs have been sanctioned alongside Roman Abramovich today, including Oleg Deripaska - an industrialist worth £2bn who has had close links with the British political establishment.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel; Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group; Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank; Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom; Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft; Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
What does she mean "once again"? Oligarchs and kleptocrats absolutely have a place in our economy and society and her party have done all they can to promote the interests of these people.
Its 100% in our interests to have everyone having a place in our economy yes, in peacetime. The fact that the UK is a financial superpower and that our potential enemies harbour their money in our country is a very welcome fact.
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
What you are missing, is straightforward morality. Why don't we make London the paedophile brothel capital of the world, so then we can release footage of the sizeable minority of state-leading bad actors who are paedophiles in their spare time when we want to?
And if you think that sounds fanciful it's probably exactly what mossad were doing with GE.
I thought that was Epstein's gig too, just with famous/rich people.
Comments
Crimea is Russian, they would win a plebiscite.
Donetsk was found by a Welshman.
"The city of Donetsk was founded in 1869 when the Welsh businessman John Hughes operated a steel plant and several coal mines at Aleksandrovka." [Wiki]
If Ukraine and Russia want a compromise for the Donbas, let Donetsk return to its original name of Hughesovka & be given to Mark Drakeford to look after.
Priti Patel bites yer legs?
Also a bit creeped out by the doctor giving the eldest daughter a ride on his cart.*
*More innocent times I think!
1) the customer is always right
Up to the point we don't want them as a customer anymore...
Dan Roan
BBC Sports editor
How does Abramovich sanction affect Chelsea?
Assets seized includes Chelsea FC.
Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced.
The Government are putting in place a licence to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders can still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
And to think their supporters were chanting Abramovich's name at their last match
I'm guessing Alyn Smith is most likely.
Who are the twattish 20% who don't believe that? Aside from the silly attempt to use hyperbolic language, this is exactly what it is. Or do you think that bombing civilians and brutal repression of dissent can somehow be justified?
Are we interested in vanity projects and jobs for the lads, or what actually works?
So we're acting. Finally.
The list includes:
Roman Abramovich: owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel;
Oleg Deripaska: has stakes in En+ Group;
Igor Sechin: chief executive of Rosneft;
Andrey Kostin: chairman of VTB bank;
Alexei Miller: chief executive of energy company Gazprom;
Nikolai Tokarev: president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft;
Dmitri Lebedev: chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
The UN is effectively powerless to take any real action against the US, UK, Russia, China and France as they are all permanent members of the Security Council with a veto
The one thing I want to know though is how the approximately £1,500,000,000 that Chelsea owes to Abramovich in loans is dealt with if he's apparently not wanting/able to get it back? How does that fit with the notion of "Financial Fair Play" - Chelsea getting £1.5bn gifted to them doesn't remotely seem "fair" to anyone.
They're still terrified about upsetting oligarchs - not Russian ones in this case but Chinese, Arab and any others.
But I suspect there would be widespread laughter among the voters if Chelsea were automatically relegated.
As to the other element, doesn't the football club owe RA a billion or two. What happens to that.
Armour developed for a reason. To take land, you need to get troops onto the ground - and you need to give them protection against small weapons, such as machine guns or mines. This means armour.
Also IMV, and again IANAE, but I wonder if the problem might be more how the Russians are using their tanks.
In the future we might see anti-drone tech (if such stuff exists and is practical) coming up with tanks, probably as yet another tank variant.
Incidentally, if the assets were seized, not frozen, then in theory, Chelsea would owe 1.5 billion to HMG. A loan like that is simply another asset.
He was seeking to sell the club and that would give him the money from its sale. That's now completely frozen and under the terms of the sanction the club can not be sold anymore.
I don't recall their merchandise shop etc being closed being proposed earlier either.
POCWAS.
But pipped by Boost who wins the first round, a second and a half faster and clear.
All it needs is it to be Oswald who is completely talentless.
Chelsea cannot engage in player transfers.
It cannot offer new contracts to existing playing staff.
It cannot be sold while under sanction (certainly no incentive for Roman to do so).
Ergo, if the war lasts three years they have no players left. Or am I missing something?
There is a hypocrisy of condemning Boris for law breaking then expecting HMG to do the same and just confiscate assets without the legal mandate
*whatever the correct term is for not being permitted to prance around in your honourary military get-up any more
It means that when we have a conflict, like this, their cash is in our jurisdiction in order to sanction it. That's a powerful weapon.
No cash in our jurisdiction in peacetime, and we have nothing we can sanction during conflicts.
What part of that do you struggle to understand?
I reckon if Volodymyr Wallacensky donned a kilt, painted himself blue and yellow and roared "FREEEDOM", no true Scotsman could avoid the call.
Are those loan players paid directly by the clubs they are on loan to and that is all or do Chelsea pay their wages direct as employees of CFC and then receive a payment towards wages from the loan club.
If the latter then that business model is buggered for them as they will be having to pay for about 30 players who cannot play for them without receiving any compensation for their loan.
They earnt this.
Oligarchs and kleptocrats have absolutely been welcomed as you point out. At the highest levels - Conservative Friends of Russia, Johnson skips JIC security briefing on Salisbury to go see his friend Lebedev, Johnson has JIC security concerns about Lebedev Jnr dropped so he can be ennobled etc etc
So "once again" is a lie. A stupid lie. Told because they think people believe everything they say.
What happened before the conflict began is completely moot. You keep bringing up historical things that happened while we had peace, but surely you fully understand that you act differently in peacetime and times of conflict?
Just as Germany paying for Russian gas during peacetime, but not doing so during conflict is the right thing to do - the UK treating oligarchs differently during peace time and during conflict is equally appropriate too.
"We have not attacked #Ukraine and we are not planning to attack other countries," Lavrov said"
Lavrov's comments getting increasingly detached from reality.
Very interesting article in ConHome by Andrew Gimson here:
https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2022/03/the-home-office-is-flying-blind-in-the-ukrainian-refugee-crisis-pretending-as-usual-that-there-is-no-real-problem.html
"The appointment on Tuesday of Richard Harrington as Minister for Refugees, working for the Department for Levelling Up as well as the Home Office, suggests a well-founded lack of confidence in the latter department, and indeed is humiliating for the ministers already there.
"On Wednesday morning, Harrington was seen having breakfast with Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up.
"An adviser who until recently worked in the Home Office agreed that its ministers are at present quite unable to exercise proper oversight of the department’s multifarious responsibilities. There is almost no oversight of the security services, while the police are expert lobbyists who run rings round civil servants in their mid to late twenties.
"This adviser said the department is so overtaxed by its present responsibilities that it ought to be split in two. One department would deal with national security and policing, while the other would concentrate on borders and immigration."
* We can but hope.
Our daughter in law recently announced she is expecting her third on the 1st September, so while all this appalling and horrific news dominates our daily news, we have many reasons to be very grateful
If they wanted a smart talented politician on top of her brief they’d pick Cherry - but she’s out of favour with the Sturgeon regime for wrong think*
* Also known as “thinking for yourself”.
And if you think that sounds fanciful it's probably exactly what mossad were doing with Epstein.
Still, Chelski folding before Oldham do would be a turn up.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories and the operation was aimed at demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine.
When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.