The tensions around Ukraine have been escalating over the past several weeks, as the US and the UK keep flaming up the situation accusing Russia of the alleged “invasion”. Russia has repeatedly denied all the accusations saying it poses no threat to anyone. However, the Western powers crossed the line and started to claim they are aware of the exact date and time of the alleged “Russian invasion” of Ukraine.
The British tabloid The Sun on February 15 stated that the Russian invasion of Ukraine would take place in the morning on February 16, 4.00 am Moscow time. Though nothing had happened and the publication changed its mind.
“The cold clear sky over Kiev, where people prepared for an air raid, remained silent,” the updated article says.
At the same time, the publication still refers to data from intelligence sources, according to which “Russia can invade Ukraine at any moment with a massive missile attack and 200,000 troops.” The Mirror newspaper, citing intelligence sources, wrote that Moscow could order an attack on Ukraine “after noon on Wednesday.”
The press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, commenting on publications about the time of the alleged invasion, joked that Ukrainians can set alarms and “see for themselves” whether this happens or not, RBC reports.
USSR anthem in the middle of Kiev – good or bad sign?
Ukrainians themselves have already prepared to meet Russia and even put the anthem of the Soviet Union to create a suitable atmosphere – recall that in regular life Ukrainians harass all those symbols connected to Russia at least somehow, including the St. George’s ribbon that is a symbol of Victory Day (May 9), though now being interpreted as a symbol of Russia’s supporters against Ukraine.
The video shows the life of Kiev. At one of the moments, one can clearly hear the well-known anthem of the Soviet Union. It is worth noting that this happens against current Ukraine’s law prohibiting the propaganda of communist symbols.
West should take responsibility for war propaganda and slander, Russian officials say
After all, Western outlets not for the first time pretend to know what’s going to happen next better than those whom they describe in their articles – remember at least as on February 4, Bloomberg erroneously published the news of “Russia’s invasion” of Ukraine and kept the fake headline for around half an hour on its website. The news agency said that the headline was pre-made and that it was published by mistake.
According to Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, the US and the UK are currently engaging in the illegal war propaganda prohibited by the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“What the US and Britain are doing now is classic propaganda of war. It is prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted by General Assembly resolution 2200 A (XXI) on December 16, 1966. The first paragraph of the 20th article of this document states, ‘All propaganda of war must be prohibited by law’,” she cited the document.
Without a break, Russian authorities still keep trying to explain to the West there is no Russian threat except that one created by the media and Western propaganda. The Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the (EU), Vladimir Chizhov, said this to the Welt TV channel.
“I can assure you that there will be no attack this Wednesday. Next week, or after a week, or next month, an escalation is also not expected,” he said.
According to Chizhov, the statement about the imminent attack of Moscow on Kiev has no evidence, which allows calling such judgments slander.
“When you make accusations, especially very serious accusations against Russia, you also have to provide evidence. Otherwise, they are slander,” Chizhov stated.
In addition, the permanent representative called on Western countries to take urgent security issues seriously. He warned that the West should not count on provoking Russia for self-defence and calling it an attack afterwards.
“We will not invade Ukraine unless we are provoked to do that […] If the Ukrainians launch an attack against Russia, you shouldn’t be surprised if we counterattack,” he warned.
Russia’s troop withdrawal so much awaited by West turned out to be “not credible” enough
The fear of the West that Russia-Belarus military training was the pretext for an invasion collapsed as the Russian troops started the withdrawal and are returning back to their places of regular deployment. In addition, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other military equipment began to be withdrawn from Crimea after the exercises.
“The personnel of the unit loaded armoured vehicles on caterpillar tracks – tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery mounts onto railway platforms at loading stations,” the country’s Defence Ministry reported, as quoted by Lenta.
This was not enough for the Western powers, which started to say Russia has revamped its armed forces and is at its highest level of readiness in decades, both in terms of mobility and technical capabilities, so now the Russian army is “capable of conducting operations far from its borders while creating the next generation of weapons.”
This was also not enough for Joe Biden who claimed he doesn’t believe Russian troops move back to their bases until he gets verified information from his own sources.
“The Russian Ministry of Defense reported today that some units are leaving positions near Ukraine. That would be good, but we have not yet verified this. We have not yet verified that Russian military units are returning to their permanent bases,” he said.
And probably he has already started his checking of the situation or how can be otherwise explained that NATO frigates tried to conduct reconnaissance of Russian ships during manoeuvres in the Mediterranean, as an informed source told RIA Novosti.
“NATO frigates tried to conduct electronic reconnaissance of Russian ships during an episode of planned exercises by the Russian Navy grouping in the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday,” the source said.
According to him, “as a result, the crews of Russian missile cruisers detected radar emissions from the ships of the North Atlantic Alliance, determined the parameters of their movement and took them for escort.” As specified, in total, fifteen warships of the Pacific, Northern and Black Sea fleets, as well as over 30 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, were involved in the manoeuvres conducted to train “to defeat ship groups of a mock enemy.”
Earlier, the Ministry of Defence also announced the discovery of a US Virginia-class submarine in Russian waters near the Kuril island of Urup. Its crew was given a request to surface in Russian and English, but it was ignored. After that, the frigate “Marshal Shaposhnikov” used “appropriate means”, and the submarine “left the territorial waters of Russia with maximum speed.”
No matter what happens – Russia is the one to blame
As we see, no matter if Russia conducts military training in its own borders or just develops new weaponry – everything will be taken as a step forward to a conflict escalation, on the contrary to the US support of Ukraine with “lethal aid” that remains a blind spot for the whole Western world that remorselessly keep supplying the country with as much armour as possible.
And even though Western propaganda suffered a crushing defeat today having experienced the humiliating shame for slander, following media outlets, Western authorities still try to make the best of a bad bargain and pretend they were right in their accusations, claiming that 1) if Russia did not attack now, it will do it any other day, 2) Russian troops were not withdrawn away from the borderline till the information “verified” by the US, 3) Russia actually “attacked” and the actions start.
The latter was announced today in claims of the American newspaper The Washington Post that the Russian authorities conducted hacker attacks on military, energy, transportation, financial and other critical computer networks of Ukraine. The material reportedly referred to the data of American intelligence. The publication suggests that this is probably done in order to “support a military operation, or to sow panic in an attempt to destabilize the country.” At the same time, WP sources in the US could not accurately state that it was Russia that was behind the cyber attacks.
“We don’t know if it has the desire to go for it. But lately, we have been working in Ukraine to strengthen its cybersecurity,” the source said.
Failure in the work of Ukrainian government resources and banking systems occurred on the evening of February 15. Residents of the country complained about the inability to deposit or withdraw money from ATMs, Lenta reports.
And after all the accusations and aggressive rhetorics and steps, Russia still continues to try to establish a constructive dialogue with its Western counterparts. As Sputnik reports, in a phone call with the US State Secretary, Antony Blinken, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, called on the US and its allies “to engage in a pragmatic dialogue on the entire range of issues raised by Russia with an emphasis on the principle of indivisibility of security.”
Ru-Main, 16.02.2022
