Report Russia

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has weighed into the row concerning Russian ambassador Kislyak’s conversations with Jeff Sessions and General Flynn.

Russian President Putin, in comments made in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk where he oversaw preparation for the 2019 World Winter Universiade (a student sports meet), set out the Russian response to the admission – reported in a leaked IOC letter – that the claims in the McLaren report are insufficient as evidence against any individual athlete and that Professor McLaren seems to be retreating from his claim that there was a massive state sponsored conspiracy to carry out doping in Russian sport.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariya Zakharova has, like her bosses Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov, built up a reputation for carrying a straight-talk no-BS zone with her everywhere she goes.
She’s been termed the “anti-Psaki” – a reference to Washington’s last State Department spokesgirl who was famous for her zealous promotion of logical absurdities and verbal obfuscation.

I agree with the main thrust of Alexander Mercouris’ analysis of the counterproductive nature of Kiev’s blockade of the Donbass.
The blockade severs lingering economic links with Ukraine while raising the impetus to accelerate integration with Russia, puts at risk the recent strong Ukrainian economic recovery, and as Mercouris emphasizes, and top off all the zradas, it doesn’t even attract the Western attention that it once did in the pre-Trump era

Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Putin’s spokesman, has reported that Russian Defence Shoigu has informed President Putin that Palmyra has been fully liberated from ISIS and is once more under the control of the Syrian army.
This follows reports yesterday that the Syrian army was in the process of storming Palmyra and that the ISIS fighters in the ancient city were fleeing.

With the coal blockade still underway, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have acted on their threat and have effectively nationalised all remaining Ukrainian owned factories and economic facilities on their territories, though it is being described as a taking of the enterprises into ‘temporary administration’.

Donald Trump’s first Speech to Congress focused mainly on domestic policy, with the President using the speech to set out the broad contours of his highly ambitious programme for re-industrialising America.
The speech nonetheless did make some important points on foreign policy, and in this article it will be those which I shall discuss.

As promised Russia voted against the latest attempt by the Western powers to use the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Syria, this time in connection with Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons.
This is the seventh occasion that Russia has wielded its veto on Syria’s behalf.
China also voted against the resolution, the sixth time China has voted against a Western sponsored resolution concerning Syria.

The Russian Interfax news agency is reporting that Boris Gryzlov, Russia’s point man in the Ukrainian conflict, has today issued a warning to Kiev that Russia will take unspecified action unless the coal blockade is lifted.
This follows warnings from Moscow that Russia will not allow a humanitarian catastrophe in the Donbass and from the authorities of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics that they will enact a wholesale nationalisation of all Ukrainian owned plants and businesses within the Republics’ territories on 1st March 2017 unless the blockade is lifted.

President Putin has just announced that he will oppose any new efforts by western governments to impose further sanctions on Syria.
In a clear indication that the Russian led peace process will not involve any measures which weaken the legitimate government of Syria, Putin said,