Putin: The West Wants To Destroy Russia

West wants to destroy Russia – Putin

RT

The West intends to do to Russia what it has done to Ukraine and many other nations – turn it into a dying, failed state, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed in a keynote speech on Thursday.

”The West, which has colonial habits and is used to igniting national conflicts all over the world, has intentions that go beyond stalling our development,” the Russian leader told the Federal Assembly, a gathering of leading Russian officials and public figures.

”In place of Russia, they want a dependent, withering, dying space, where they can do whatever they want,” he added.

The Russian people and its national unity in the face of foreign threats is what protects the nation, according to Putin. Meanwhile, the government has the job of protecting institutions at the foundation of national sovereignty.

”We will not allow anyone to interfere in our domestic affairs,” the president vowed.

Moscow has accused the US and its allies of waging a proxy war on Russia, in which the Ukraine conflict is but one element. 

Western elites, according to the Russian leadership, cannot accept that a new multipolar world is emerging, in which multiple sovereign power centers will decide the fate of humanity. The West is seeking to contain rising powers, including Russia, by all means at its disposal, from economic restrictions to outright use of military force, according to the Kremlin.

Putin has previously argued that his country was left with “no other choice” but to take action against Ukraine as a result of Kiev’s persecution and violence against ethnic Russian citizens. Meanwhile, NATO members have obstructed Moscow’s calls to resolve their differences over European security. The US-led military bloc has continued to expand towards Russian borders, ignoring its objections, Putin said.

UK ‘directly involved’ in Ukraine conflict – Kremlin

NATO Policy Should Be Urgently Reevaluated: Russian Warns Of Nuclear War

NATO NEEDS TO PULL ITS SOLDIERS FROM UKRAINE

STEPHEN BRYEN

If NATO is so much against sending troops to Ukraine why doesn't NATO demand that the soldiers already there be sent home?

On Monday, February 26, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany would not provide its Taurus long range cruise missiles to Ukraine because doing so would require German troops to be sent there to operate them, just like the British are operating the Storm Shadow air launched cruise missiles.

The British cried foul and accused Scholz of a "flagrant abuse of intelligence" meaning that Scholz confirmed what everyone already knows, that NATO officers and trained personnel are in Ukraine operating weapons such as the Patriot and NASAM air defense system, the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, the British-French Storm Shadow cruise missile (SCALP-EG in France), and many other complex weapons provided to Ukraine.

The actual number of personnel from NATO countries in Ukraine isn't known, but there is no doubt they are there in large numbers and they come from the United States, the UK, France, Poland, and others.  

When these "volunteers" are wounded or killed what happened to them is obscured and their role, often, is listed as medical or social. More recently combat status, at least in the US, is being recognized.

On February 29 Putin gave his annual two-hour long State of the Nation address.  He warned in his address that NATO's sending troops to Ukraine could risk nuclear war.  In part Putin was responding to French President Macron's statement about NATO sending troops to Ukraine to head off a Russian victory.  While Macron's statement gained no traction among EU leaders, the fact that sending troops openly was discussed at an EU forum obviously ratcheted-up NATO-Russia tensions.

For some time NATO has been escalating the Ukraine conflict supposedly to help Ukraine drive the Russians out of Ukrainian territory.  However, most of the evidence is that NATO has been seeking bases for NATO forces and weapons aimed at Russia. According to the New York Times, the US already has 12 CIA bases in Ukraine on Russia's border.

At the same time, NATO has energetically been promoting regime change in Moscow.  Wired Magazine has now revealed that the US developed special technology to track the cell-phones of Putin's staff and colleagues in order to pinpoint Putin's location.  This information would be of minimal value unless its intent was to assassinate Putin. 

The fact that the US and NATO, with the help of the Ukrainians, was deeply involved in liquidating Russian leaders (as well as military commanders) indicates without any doubt regime change was even more important than battlefield defeat of Russia.  Victoria Nuland this week said that Putin's Russia "is not the Russia we wanted."

There is little doubt that Putin understands that he is the target of NATO-led operators.  There have been a number of attempts to kill Putin.  One of them was a kamikaze drone attack on his office in the Kremlin.  It is probable, given the revelations on pinpointing Putin's location, that the attack was meant to kill him (with attribution on Ukraine, not on NATO).  In another incident, six years before the Special Military Operation in Ukraine, Putin's limo was on Moscow's Ring Road where it was hit head on.  Putin's driver was killed, but Putin himself was not in the car.  Not all intelligence is reliable.

Western intelligence agencies, think tanks and Ukraine itself are reporting that the Ukrainian situation is very bad and Ukraine could, in the next three months, face defeat.  This has alarmed the Europeans, and it is the real reason Macron helped organize an EU emergency meeting in Paris.  In that meeting, seemingly the Europeans pledged they would supply long range weapons to Kiev, but the Germans did not agree when it came to the Taurus missile.  It is reasonable to consider that the Germans feared Russia's reaction, or even that the Russian explicitly warned the German government that they were crossing over into a danger zone, without any good exit.

NATO policy should be urgently reevaluated.  If NATO is actually against sending troops to Ukraine, it no longer has plausible deniability over the troops already on the ground in Ukraine.  The British are right that Scholz let the cat out of the bag with his declaration about UK troops operating Storm Shadow missiles in Ukraine.  What was hidden in intelligence channels is now out in the open.

Russian anxiety over these deployments and over the weapons sent to Ukraine, some of them aimed only at Russian towns and cities, is growing.  Putin's reminder that Russia has nuclear weapons, his warning that NATO is preparing to attack Russia, and his declaration that Russia is willing to use nuclear weapons is an indication that the political acceptability of NATO threats to Russia has crossed a critical red line.

Secret Russian planning papers from 2008 to 2014 reveal that Russian planning includes a low threshold for the use of tactical nuclear weapons. The papers, that dealt with an attack by China, suggest Russian willingness to go to nuclear weapons early in such a conflict. How this might apply to Ukraine is purely speculation, but the more NATO jacks up the threat to Russian territory, or even plans provocations and an invasion, is a subject clearly on the minds of Russian leaders.

NATO itself is in no way prepared for war with Russia.  It is in far worse shape today than it was before the Ukraine war because NATO has shipped vital weapons off to Ukraine, depriving itself of key defense assets such as ammunition, armor and missiles. 

Worse still, NATO leaders and former leaders (such as Boris Johnson) continue to bait the Russians, building tension on tension.  NATO can't defend itself against a conventional attack, and certainly not against so-called tactical nuclear weapons. 

Putin makes direct threat to NUKE the West as he accuses NATO and the US of 'preparing to strike' Russia in his annual address to the nation

Putin makes direct threat to NUKE the West as he accuses NATO and the US of 'preparing to strike' Russia in his annual address to the nation - and warns of 'the destruction of civilisation'

MIRIAM KUEPPER

Vladimir Putin has made a direct threat to nuke the West as he accused NATO and the US of 'preparing to strike' Russia in his annual address to the nation.

The Russian president, 71, said: 'They, NATO and America, are active in other parts of the world, of course, and they continue to lie there, to deceive. 

'They are preparing to strike our territory and, using the best possible forces, the most effective forces to do so.

'But we remember the fate of those who try to invade our territory and of course their fate will be much more tragic than anything we could face.'

Putin repeatedly lauded Russia's vastly modernised nuclear arsenal in his speech and added as a warning to the West: 'They have to understand that we also have weapons, weapons that can defeat them on their own territory. 

'Of course all this is very dangerous, because it could actually trigger the use of nuclear weapons. Do they not understand that?' 

The Russian despot also chillingly assured that 'strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness for guaranteed use', but warned the use of nuclear weapons would equal the 'destruction of civilisation'.

He also told NATO countries that their threats have created a 'real' risk of nuclear war if they sent troops to Ukraine, adding that Russia must strengthen its western military district after Finland and Sweden's admission to the Atlantic alliance as Finland has a long land border with northwest Russia.

'They should eventually realise that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. 

Everything that the West comes up with creates the real threat of a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and thus the destruction of civilisation,' Putin added. 

The United States and key European allies this week said they had no plans to send ground troops to Ukraine, after France hinted at the possibility.

He also claimed that the West was trying to 'drag' Russia into an arms race. 'They are trying to wear us down, to repeat the trick they succeeded (in pulling off) with the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

'Therefore, our task is to develop the defence-industrial complex in such a way as to increase the scientific, technological and industrial potential of the country.

In terms of allies, Putin said he believes it is important for Russia to strengthen ties with Arab countries and Latin American countries.

He also praised policies from allied countries such as the 'One Belt, One Road' initiative in China - a global infrastructure strategy.

Mr Putin has repeatedly said that he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to protect Russian interests and prevent Ukraine from posing a major security threat to Russia by joining Nato. 

'We did not start this war in Donbas. As I have said many times, we will do everything to end it, to eradicate Nazism. To fulfill all the tasks of the special military operation. To protect the sovereignty and security of our citizens.' 

Visibly angry, Putin, Russia's paramount leader for more than two decades, suggested Western politicians recall the fate of those, like Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler and France's Napoleon Bonaparte who unsuccessfully invaded his country in the past.

'But now the consequences will be far more tragic,' said Putin. 'They think it (war) is a cartoon,' he said.

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Russia Reveals Ties With Germany, France at Unprecedented Low

Russia Reveals Ties With Germany, France at Unprecedented Low

Sputnik

The signing of a security agreement between Paris, Berlin, and Kiev does not affect relations with Russia, which are at rock bottom, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

"Referring specifically to Russia-Germany and Russia-France relations, I would like to emphasize that, unfortunately, at this stage there is little that could affect them for the worse. They are already at an unprecedentedly low level," she said.

According to Zakharova, "the former partners [Germany and France] havediscarded the voluminous baggage of large-scale, mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation [with Russia] accumulated over several generations."

"This is not our decision. For two years we have been watching how NATO countries, including Germany and France playing a particularly active role (with Berlin ranking second after the United States in terms of supplying arms and military equipment to the Kiev regime), have been pumping Ukraine with modern lethal systems, training soldiers, supplying intelligence, and contributing to the escalation of hostilities," Zakharova noted.

"All this makes them direct accomplices in Ukraine's deeds," she emphasized.

The spokeswoman claimed "the elites of these countries still indulge themselves in illusions about the possibility of inflicting a 'strategic defeat' on Russia and consider Vladimir Zelensky's 'peace formula’ ultimatum – which, we reiterate, is unacceptable to us – as the only basis for resolving the Ukrainian crisis."

"In this context, the signing of new agreements is another – albeit symbolic – move in the West's hybrid war with Russia, a confirmation of the focus on long-term confrontation with our country and an unwillingness to go down the path of political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict," she concluded.

DC Think Tank: West Seeks to Seize Russia's Assets to Prolong Ukraine Conflict Indefinitely

DC Think Tank: West Seeks to Seize Russia's Assets to Prolong Ukraine Conflict Indefinitely

SPUTNIK

Any seizure will undermine what global faith is left in the US-led and Western-centric financial system, a US think tank warns.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged industrialized G7 economies to find a way to "unlock the value" of frozen Russian assets "to support Ukraine's continued resistance and long-term reconstruction" on February 27.

The EU, G7 nations and Australia have frozen around $300 billion in Russian assets since the start of the special military operation, with over two-thirds of that stored in the European Union.

Yellen was echoed on Wednesday by White House National Security Communications adviser John Kirby, who said: "We still need more legislative authorities from Congress for the President to be able to act on that [unlocking assets]," in a reference to the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act proposed in mid-June 2023 by a group of US lawmakers.

The REPO Act envisages confiscating assets that are directly or indirectly owned by the Russian government, the Central Bank, or the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

The legislation proposes creating a domestic "Ukraine Support Fund" consisting of Russian assets immobilized in the US. The act also offers to form an international "Common Ukraine Fund" which would use assets from the domestic Ukraine Support Fund and contributions from US allies – which would also "confiscate" Russian sovereign assets – for Ukraine's "reconstruction".

The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft has drawn attention to the fact that Team Biden appears to have broadened the scope of the use of any "confiscated" Russian assets from benefitting Ukraine's "recovery and welfare" to the Kiev regime's "continued resistance," i.e. its military effort.

The vague focus shift occurs as the Biden administration struggles to ram the $60 billion in military assistance to Ukraine through the US Congress. House Republicans have so far opposed passing the bill amid growing Ukraine fatigue in American society.

"Converting all of the Russian assets to assistance for Ukraine could in theory fully finance a continuing war in Ukraine for years to come," writes Marcus Stanley, an advocacy director of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. "As political support for open-ended Ukraine aid wanes in both the US and Europe, large-scale use of this financing method also holds the promise of an administrative end-run around the political system."

Moreover the renewed effort to confiscate Russia's assets to, potentially, arm Ukraine doesn't take into account the will of the US people or other G7 countries who are increasingly advocating negotiations instead of further militarization.

A February poll from the Harris Poll and the Quincy Institute indicated that roughly 70% of Americans want the Biden administration "to push Ukraine toward a negotiated peace with Russia as soon as possible."

Likewise, an EU-wide survey has recently indicated that barely 10% of Europeans believe Ukraine can defeat Russia, and consider some form of "compromise settlement" as the most likely way out.

The effort to grab Russia's assets to support "Ukraine's resistance" also coincided with French President Emmanuel Macron's call to put NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine. It is known that Western Special Ops, spies and NATO troops and consultants have long been covertly participating in the Ukraine conflict; however, making it official and enhancing the effort would open the door to a direct conflict with Russia, international observers have warned.

'Recipe For a National Security Disaster'

Ringing The Alarm Bell

TYLER DURDEN

Ahead of President Biden's visit to the southern border on Thursday, with former President Trump planning to visit simultaneously to slam the radicals in the White House for sparking the worst migrant invasion this nation has ever seen, a new graphic released by Bloomberg shows the locations of where illegals have ended up after being bussed through the nation via a shadowy network of taxpayer-funded non-governmental organizations. 

The latest figure from the US Customs and Border Protection shows a whopping 7.3 million illegals have flooded this nation under Biden's first term. 

It was already evident that illegals were being transported by bus to major Democratic cities such as New York City, Detroit, Los Angeles, Denver, and other urban centers. Now, according to Bloomberg data based on immigration court records, the cities listed above are, in fact, where these folks are being shipped: 

Much of the angst around the impact of newly arrived migrants to the US has focused on the biggest cities in New York, Illinois and Colorado, and immigration court records suggest that those states are indeed among the most affected by the surge. The data also signal that Texas and Florida, which have long complained about the costs of absorbing newcomers, are still among the top destinations of migrants.

More from Bloomberg:

The number of migrants listing an address in Illinois for their immigration court cases jumped nine-fold in 2023 compared with just two years earlier; the increase was 7-fold in Colorado and five times in New York—bigger than the increases seen in Texas and Florida. The data also suggest that New York state saw the highest number of migrant arrivals in 2023 on a per capita basis: 1 per 100 residents of the state. New Jersey and Florida were next at 0.9. Texas and Colorado had 0.8, and Illinois ranked eighth at 0.6.

The invasion is happening at such a grand scale that Elon Musk posted on X Tuesday night: "I am ringing the alarm bell, because the flood of illegals is crushing the country!" 

Dams are bursting all over the country.

America is only 4% of Earth’s population. If only 1% of the rest of Earth moves here, that would crush all essential services.

I am ringing the alarm bell, because the flood of illegals is crushing the country! https://t.co/1FoEUsTAw9

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 28, 2024

There has already been a flurry of headlines about migrants sparking crime waves nationwide (read: "I Hope Public Is Waking Up": Border Invasion Sparks Migrant Crime Crisis In Major Cities). 

Tragically, NYC is on a downward spiral. With unchecked migrant influx, rampant mental illness, and soaring crime rates, the city is bracing for even tougher times. It’s a harsh reality, but one we can’t ignore.

Over the past few weeks, New York has been overwhelmed by a wave of crimes committed by illegal immigrants The attack on the police in Times Square, the shooting in Manhattan, a series of thefts in Brooklyn - all this is the work of illegal immigrants. “What goes on in Third World countries is happening on the streets of New York — every day, any borough, with no consequences,” Vickie Paladino, a member of the New York City Council from Queens said.

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Report: US fears Israel will launch spring offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon

Report: US fears Israel will launch spring offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon

 TOI STAFF and AGENCIES

Officials close to US President Joe Biden are concerned that Israel is planning to launch a ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon in the coming months, US media reported Thursday.

According to the CNN report, the Biden administration has held intelligence briefings on the matter, preparing for the possibility that the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group cannot be made to retreat from the border through diplomatic measures.

Speaking to the network on the condition of anonymity, one senior official said that the Biden administration was “operating in the assumption” that a ground operation would occur in the coming months.

The official added that it does not expect an operation to be imminent “in the next few weeks” but “perhaps later this spring.”

“An Israeli military operation is a distinct possibility,” the official stated.

A US intelligence official said Washington feared deepening strikes in Lebanon will “grow to an expansive air campaign reaching much further north into populated areas of Lebanon and eventually grow to a ground component as well.”

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