Shogui briefs Putin on Mariupol - Seal them in

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu provided a briefing to president Vladimir Putin about the status of the operation in Mariupol. The briefing was televised and presented for public consumption and contained a surprise development. Having trapped the Azov and mercenary troops within the network of tunnels under the Azovstahl plant, Putin called a halt to the operation. Instead, all exits - and the Russians know where all the exits are - will be blocked and the mercenaries left to their fate. They are effectively neutralized so there is no need for Russian soldiers to risk their lives. The mercenaries will either die or surrender.

Sergei Shoigu: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!

Mariupol was liberated by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the people's militia of the Donetsk People's Republic. The remnants of the formation of nationalists took refuge in the industrial zone of the Azovstal plant.

Mariupol is a major industrial and main transport hub on the Sea of Azov. In 2014, the Kyiv regime declared the city the de facto temporary capital of the Donetsk region, turning it into a powerful fortified area and a haven for radical Ukrainian nationalists in eight years. This is actually the capital of "Azov" - the "Azov" battalion.

A large number of heavy weapons, military equipment, including tanks, MLRS "Smerch", "Hurricane", artillery systems of high power, missile systems "Tochka-U" were pulled into the city. Tochka-U has a range of 120 kilometers, and our Taganrog is 94 kilometers from Mariupol, the capital of the Southern Federal District, Rostov, is approximately at this distance.

Reserves of missiles, ammunition, fuels and lubricants, food for long-term combat operations have been created. The main objects of urban infrastructure, including the seaport and fairway, were mined and not only mined, but also blocked by floating cranes. The ships that were there were mostly foreign ships.

In total, if we talk about armored vehicles - tanks, armored combat vehicles, there were 179 of them, 170 different guns and mortars, including multiple rocket launchers, I already spoke about them, "Tornados" and "Hurricanes". At the time of the encirclement on March 11, the total number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and nationalist formations, as well as foreign mercenaries, who were also enough, was more than 8100 people. During the liberation of the city, more than four thousand were destroyed, 1478 surrendered, the remaining group - more than two thousand - was blocked in the industrial zone of the Azovstal plant.

Offering resistance, the nationalists turned almost all residential buildings into long-term firing points. Armored vehicles and artillery were installed on the ground floors, and snipers were installed on the upper floors. Separate detachments - with ATGMs. On the middle floors and in the basements, they gathered all the inhabitants, turning them into a human shield. They were kept both on the middle floors and in the basements. It was in fact in every home.

Retreating, the Ukrainian army, nationalist battalions in Mariupol, as well as in other Ukrainian cities, were covered by the civilian population. Here we have many cases when, retreating to cover their retreat, in any case, we recorded four such cases, covering their retreat, they drove people out of the basements. By the way, this was literally four days ago, when the port area was liberated and they drove almost everyone from high-rise buildings to the streets in order to hide themselves, leaving behind continuous destruction, including socially significant, cultural objects.

While liberating Mariupol, the Russian army and units of the people's militia of the DPR took all measures to save the lives of civilians. Here, on your instruction, Vladimir Vladimirovich, humanitarian corridors have been opened daily since March 21 for the evacuation of civilians and foreign citizens.

Servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and militants of nationalist battalions were asked to lay down their arms. They were guaranteed, of course, life, safety and medical care.

As for the planned humanitarian actions - I call them “actions”, they combined both corridors and the supply of transport, these were both ambulances and buses, we had days when there were up to 100 such buses, and 25 30 ambulances – we notified and were in contact with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Ukraine [Irina] Vereshchuk daily.

Diplomatic missions of foreign states that appealed in one way or another, since [their] citizens were there – by the way, many were released and taken out of Mariupol during these humanitarian actions – the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, specialized structures of the OSCE, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international organizations, they were officially notified of the time and place. And, of course, at some point we even demanded their presence, in order, of course, to comply with all humanitarian rules in this regard, as far as it was possible with the constant, uninterrupted conduct and non-cessation of fire from Mariupol by the National Battalions and the armed forces of Ukraine.

Despite their opposition - both militants and everyone else - we managed to evacuate 142,711 civilians from Mariupol after your instruction. All the hostages who were in the commercial seaport were released, including the crews of the sea vessels, whose communication systems were destroyed by those who captured them so that they could not contact anyone. The port is mined. The sea area is closed. I hope that now they will have the opportunity to leave this port.

Today, the entire Mariupol is under the control of the Russian army, the people's militia of the Donetsk People's Republic, and the territory of the Azovstal plant with the remnants of nationalists and foreign mercenaries located is securely blocked. Over the past two days, again on your instructions, we have declared a silence regime from 14:00 to 16:00, all hostilities have completely ceased, and humanitarian corridors have been opened for the exit of civilians who may be on the territory of the Azovstal plant.

We have prepared about 90 buses and 25 ambulances for them. Naturally, bearing in mind that all this is constantly distorted, we installed videoconferencing cameras, and there was almost a live broadcast here, in our control center. No one left Azovstal. But other civilians, more than 100 people, were able to leave. During these days, this is, perhaps, a lot of work that we have been doing with all international organizations.

At present, the situation in the city is calm, allowing us to start restoring order, returning the population and establishing a peaceful life. As for those who fled at the Azovstal plant and were thoroughly blocked there and around the entire perimeter, it takes us about three or four days to complete this work at Azovstal.

The report is finished.

Vladimir Putin: I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone inappropriate. I order you to cancel.

Sergei Shoigu: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: This is the case when we must think – that is, we must always think, but even more so in this case – about preserving the life and health of our soldiers and officers. There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities. Block off this industrial area so that even a fly does not escape.

Sergei Shoigu: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: Once again invite everyone who has not yet laid down their arms to do so. The Russian side guarantees their lives and decent treatment in accordance with the relevant international legal acts. All those who are injured will receive qualified medical assistance.

The completion of combat work to liberate Mariupol is a success. Congratulations. Send your thanks to the troops. Please submit proposals for awarding our distinguished soldiers for state awards. It is clear that in such cases it cannot be otherwise, these are different awards, but I want them all to know: in our understanding, they are all heroes, in the understanding of all of Russia. They are all heroes.

In this regard, in addition to fulfilling all social obligations to our military personnel, especially to those who were injured, to the families of our dead comrades, it is necessary to ensure the unconditional fulfillment of all social guarantees.

But it seems to me that this is not enough. We need to think about additional support measures, and in some cases think about perpetuating the memory of those of our comrades who really showed heroism and sacrificed their lives for the peaceful life of our people in the Donbass and to ensure the peaceful life and existence of Russia itself, the peaceful existence of our country. These people deserve it with their actions and their attitude to the oath.

On the line of the Ministry of Defense, please work it out. I will give the relevant instructions to the Presidential Administration, I will talk with colleagues in the regions, and they will carry out the corresponding work in the municipalities of Russia. Of course, putting such an important center in the south as Mariupol under control is a success. Congratulations.

Sergei Shoigu: Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Western and Ukrainian commentators are already claiming that Shoigu is lying to Putin to hide the 'disaster' of the Ukrainian operation. It's an idiotic argument. Of course none of this is unscripted; it's a performance for the public. None of this was news to Putin. There is no point in pursuing the mercenaries underground. It would be a waste of effort and lives so calling an end to the assault makes strategic sense. However, it needs to be explained to the public, who are not as stupud as the west likes to believe. Shoigu presents his report and Putin makes the hard call. This is what accountability looks like. The buck stops with Putin and he makes the decision. No bullshitting and splitting hairs like western politicians.

The original in Russian http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/68254

The Ukrainian De-Nazification Operation - Panic in Mariupol

While the Russians were reconstituting their forces and things were 'quiet', I took a week off from the war. The pause allowed the western narrative of substantive Russian defeat to be escalated among media drones. Very shortly, the facts of Ukrainian defeat will no longer be able to be hidden. I foresee that it will shortly become very dangerous to be a narrative sceptic in the free west. There is a real risk that a significant false flag event will occur that will be used to justify draconian censorship and suppression of dissenters.

Briefly on the topic of false flags, a week ago the Ukrainians fired a Toschka U ballistic missile into the crowded train station at Kramatorsk, killing a dozen or so Ukrainians attempting to flee the battle zone. This attrocity was predictably blamed on the Russians as an Iskander missile strike, even though the missile is clearly a Toschka U, a weapons system that the Russians no longer have in their arsenal.

Western and NATO sources continue to warn that Russia is a planning a chemical weapons strike in Ukraine, revealing that they are clearly planning a false flag attrocity to cover up the looming exposure of NATO and US war crimes and criminality in Ukraine. Russia continues to report and publish documents seized in Ukrainian bio-weapons labs in the east of the country. The Russians - rightly - will not let this go and will be building a case to present both at the UN and in the war crimes trials that will follow the Ukrainian operation. Senior figures in the US are implicated.

Also causing panic in US and NATO centres is the situation in Mariupol. Russian forces have driven the last vestiges of the Ukrainain and nationalist units into the enormous Azovstahl steel complex. This vast industrial facility was once the largest steel works in the Soviet Union. There is rumoured to be a nuclear bomb shelter beneath site and network of tunnels. Between 1500 and 3000 nationalists and foreign mercenaries are trapped in the plant and there have been desperate attempts by Ukrainian and NATO forces to evacuate them. Six helicopter evacs have been attempted. All have failed. Two helicopters managed to land and take off some troops but these were shot down killing most on board. Three survivors were captured and undoubtedly will be helping the Russians with their enquiries.

An attempt was made to evacuate the troops by ship. A Ukrainian coastal freighter attempted to run the gauntlet of Russian coastguard in the Sea of Azov. The ship refused all calls to stop and be boarded so the Russians opened fire, striking the ship on its stern. It hove to and was captured.

Russian radio intercepts have picked up frantic calls in multiple languages, including English, Polish, French and Spanish from the besieged troops, back to NATO command centres reporting on the desperate situation in Azovstahl. The troops are almost out of food, water and ammunition. All attempts to break out have failed with significant loss of life. A request to Kiev for permission to surrender was denied and the nationalist units were instructed to fight to the death and prevent any attempt by foreign mercenarnies of conscript soldiers to surrender. There have been desperate attempts by European leaders, notably French president Macron and the Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer, to negotiate with Vladimir Putin a 'humanitarian corridor' for Mariupol. These transparent moves have failed.

So why the panic in Washington and Brussels? Because among the troops trapped in Mariupol are a large number of active service NATP personnel, including senior military ranks. A US general is rumoured to be among them. The Russians will want to capture these assets alive. The Ukrainians and their sponsors cannot counternance that, even if it means killing their own people. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Two British mercenaries were among 1300 Ukrainian marines who surrendered at the Ilyich plant in Mariupol. Both are singing and denying they played an active role in the fighting. Their families are hoping there will be a prisoner exchange soon and their poor, wayward sons will be returned home. Fat chance. They were mercenaries fighting on behalf of a despicable regime. They can expect long prison sentences.

The flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva, was lost in mysterious circumstances over the easter weekend. The Russian defence ministry announced there was a fire aboard ship which resulted in a magazine explosion. The Moskva was taken under tow back to Crimea but sank in rough seas. The Ukrainians predictably claimed to have sunk the ship with anti-ship ballistic missiles, but have provided no evidence other than faked videos. I personally doubt the Ukrainian claim as the Moskva, although old (built in the 1970s) was an air-cover unit and would likely have been able to deal with two ground launched missiles. Although I have absolulely no evidence to base this on, it's possible the Moskva struck a loose mine. The Ukrainians sowed mines outside of Odessa in order to prevent a Russian amphibious landing. These were WW2 era mines and were poorly secured. Many have already broken from their moorings and washed back into Odessa, exploding on the beach or drifting off into the Black Sea. It could have been a fire. Ships do catch fire and magazines do explode. The Russians have already lost one transport ship to fire.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, the Russians are now pounding the 30-40,000 Ukrainian troops trapped in the cauldron west of the LDPR. Estimated Ukrainian troop losses to date are around 26,000. The troops that remain have been without fuel, ammunition, food or water for nearly a month now. The breaking point is nearing.


I'll close for today with two videos which are symptomatic of Ukraine's problems and why they were doomed to lose this war.

The Ukrainian De-Nazification Operation - Game Plans Exposed

The problem with having a senile puppet as president is that he says things he shouldn't. He reads stage directions from scripts and repeats parts of private conversations held in his presence in public. "Come on, man,", he's 79 years old! On Saturday 26th March 2022, in a speech in Warsaw about the Russia-Ukrainian crisis, Joe Biden dropped a clanger, publicly revealing the US plan for regime change in Russia. Closing his speech, Biden passionately demanded "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power!" There was a sharp intake of breath across the punditsphere as the implications were understood and the White House instantly began walking back the claim. When questioned by reporters within hours of the speech, Biden had been given talking points backtracking on what he had said.

For all the western media's feined surprise that Biden would explicitely call for regime change in Russia, none of this was even slightly news. The US HAS been actively attempting to regime change Russia since Vladimir Putin stepped into Boris Yelstin's vodka-soaked slippers. US politics is performative. Politicians and pundits posture and blather on TV, exposing their plans and openly incriminating themselves. US intentions to invade Iraq were openly telegraphed to the world even before 911. The 'hate Russia' media campaign did not start in February 2022, it's been running at full tilt since 2000. Russia, resource rich and independent, cannot be allowed to exist in a world where the US is hegemon. It must be destroyed, broken up, split into warring regions and delivered into the hands of corrupt oligarchs and plundered for the benefit of international finance cartels.

The Russians know this. This is why Putin enjoys overwhelming popular support in Russia.

If the people behind the Biden regime were hoping that Biden's speech would rev up enthusiasm for war with Russia, they were badly mistaken. Biden's speech was recieved with horror and even the big media players, such as the New York Times, openly criticized Biden's ill considered foreign policy. Polls across the US show Biden's popularity has been consistently falling since his election with no recovery in sight. There are multiple, mainly domestic, reasons for this. The Biden regime openly expouses woke ideology and race grifting and aggressively pursues extremely harsh Covid mandates. And yet the regime's anti-freedom, radical agenda has been an abject failure. The Supreme Court has consistently struck down all Biden's Covid mandates, yet they duck and weave and try again. To even the most ignorant observer, the administration lurches from one self-created crisis to another, oblivious to its failures and resistent to reality.

The Hunter Biden laptop story, which was deep-sixed by the news media and social media giants before the 2020 election, has returned with a vengence. The laptop and its associated evidence of pervasive Democratic leadership corruption in Ukraine is now openly admitted by the newspaper of record. Republican representative Matt Gaetz entered the four laptop hard drives into the congressional record. Hunter Biden's name is not only associated with financial corruption, but he is also implicated in the US sponsored biolabs in Ukraine.

All polling suggests that the Democrats will be slaughtered in the mid-term elections later in the year. There seems to be no bright spot on the horizon to lift their prospects, not even war.  Historically, foreign wars have generally been a good distraction for politicians, as I explained here:
https://stolzuntermenschen.blogspot.com/2022/02/a-short-victorious-war.html The idiots driving the Democratic Party (and their Republican Party co-conspirators) desperately need war with Russia, but a war that stays 'over there', in Europe. They believe their own propaganda, believe Russia is weak and collapsing, on the ropes and waiting only for that 'one swift kick on the door' to bring the whole rotten structure crashing down. They do not understand that once a real war is started, it cannot be managed to suit their ends. Fake videos and wall-to-wall media messaging will not stop bombs falling on their heads.

The beating of the war drum has continued without let. If the west's media showed no enthusiasm for Biden's call to arms in Warsaw, then maybe they'll get on board with attrocity porn. In Syria, western intelligence agencies, in conjunction with their pet media and paid-for terrorists groups, manufactured attrocity after attrocity to rev the public up for war. It ultimately failed, but a great many people still believe the Syrian government was responsible for horrendous war crimes perpetrated by western proxies. Having no new ideas, the playbook is being repeated in Ukraine.

The pattern of false flag war crimes by the Ukrainians has escalated to the orchestrated massacre in Bucha reported over the weekend. The story as portrayed in western media is clealy false, but this does not mean that innocent people were not killed. Neither ISIS nor the Ukro-Nazis have any compunction over slaughtering civilians for a good video. Bucha, a town on the outskirts of Kiev, was occupied by Russian forces in early March. During the month long Russian occupation the Russians shipped in food and supplies and life continued largely as normal. Russian forces left the town on 30 March 2022 as part of the repositioning of forces ahead of the impending Donbas campaign. The following day, 31 March 2022, the mayor of Bucha tweeted that the town had been liberated by Ukrainian forces. There was no mention of battles or attrocities. Ukrainian forces officially moved into the town from 1st April, but video of the carnage was only published on 3rd April on the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense website. Are we to believe the massacre perpetrated on 30 March at the latest was only noticed four days later? B from Moon of Alabama covers the incident in more detail:
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/04/the-bucha-provocation.html#more

There will be endless debate whether the whole affair was staged with fake bodies - as has been observed in several other attrocity videos - or was a real massacre of 'traitors.' A Ukrainian report on 2 April would suggest the later - "In the liberated Bucha, the territory was cleared of saboteurs and Russian accomplices" https://www.unian.ua/war/bucha-u-zvilnenomu-misti-rozpochali-zachistku-teritoriji-vid-diversantiv-ta-rosiyskih-posobnikiv-novini-kiyeva-11770498.html Exterminating defeatists and traitors entirely fits the Ukrainian MO. Western media and politicians exploded with outrage at the 'Russian war crime' and called for action, but a Russian call in the UN Security Council for an investigation into the incident was vetoed by Britain. We are unlikely to know what really happened in Bucha for some time to come, but the truth will out. The truth will always come out in the end. I don't doubt Russian intelligence has a list of names.

Bucha is just another escalation aimed at expanding the war. It hasn't succeeded. The long promised chemical provocation is likely next.

And in other news... Hungarian prime minister, Victor Orban, wins in a landslide. Orban has always pursued Hungary's national interest and follows an independent path from the centralised EU administration. Since the beginning of the crisis, Orban has said Hungary will not participate in anti-Russian sanctions and will continue to purchase Russian gas and other resources. Hungarian energy company MVM is in discussions with Gazprom on the details of new trade arrangements. Neighbouring Slovakia has also stated the same. Both countries stand to gain as conduits for Europe-Russian trade.

Speaking of bypassing Russian sanctions, both Germany and the United States have quitely removed several Russians exports from the sanctioned list. Despite all of its rhetoric and pressure on other nations, the US has hypocritically increased Russian oil imports by 45% in the last month. Nevertheless, as of April Russia will only accept payment into Russian-controlled bank accounts through specific non-sanctioned finanical institutions. Resources will be priced in rubles and as Russia sets the exchange rate, the price in hostile currencies will only increase.

Germany faces a huge energy crisis. It has no reserve gas storage and Chancellor Sholz has stated catagorically Germany will not pay for gas in rubles, declaring that the contracts Germany has with Gazprom specify payment in Euros. Germany's gas supply contract however is not with Gazprom itself but a German registered subsidiary, Gazprom Germania. Gazprom Germania does not supply gas. It operates as a gas storage company. As political tensions rose between Russia and Germany over the past year due to issues with the certification and completion of Nordstream II, Gazprom began reducing supply to Gazprom Germania so that if matters came to a head, it would not be facing a massive loss of stored Russian gas on German soil. The German gas reserves were allowed to fall to the point where Gazprom Germania is only holding 0.5% of its storage capacity. When the Ukraine crisis hit at the end of February, Gazprom sold it's Germania subsidiary to an undisclosed buyer. If the gas isn't paid for in accordance with the new arrangements, Gazprom can shut off the supply and avoid any financial loss. This move has only just been understood by the German government and it immediately intervened to seize Gazprom Germania from its new owner. Such an illegal move smacks of desperation on Germany's part. They now have the seized without warrant or compensation a privately owned but empty gas storage facility. Germany's gas reserves are basically gone. German industry representatives have warned the government that there is no alternative to Russian energy and that economic collapse looms if the crisis is not resolved quickly. Andrei Martyanov lays it out: https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2022/04/for-financists.html

The ruble has almost recovered its pre-crisis exchange rate.

The battle for Mariupol is nearing completion. Several large contingents of Ukrainian marines surrendered to Russian forces. The remains of Azov are trapped in the Azovstahl plant which is being blasted and cleared. There will be no escape for these guys. Several desperate attempts were made by the Ukrainians to evacuate important assets, among them some western intelligence officials (likely French). Over two nights, at least four helicopters attempted a landing at the Azovstahl plant. One was shot down over the sea on the first night with the loss of all crew. The other helicopter escaped. The following night a second attempt was made, this time from the landward side. Both were shot down after they'd managed to take on their passengers and were attempting to escape. One was destroyed with the loss of all onboard. There were three survivors from the second helicopter, who were all captured and are being interrogated about their mission. The identities of those aboard are being looked into.


Mercenary recruit numbers have substantially fallen away since the training and logistic camp at Yarovosky. Other mercenary camps and concentrations around the country are being systematically destroyed in an equally decisive manner. Naval launched Calibre missiles took out the headquarters of special operations forces in Ochakiv.

For those who don't understand the Russian strategy and the nature of this war, I recommend this interview with Scott Ritter by Alexander Mercuris and Alex Christoforou of the Duran.

Another good video resource is Andrei Martyanov, very highly recommended - https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/

Yemen Ceasefire Announced

 

There are major moves afoot as the world repositions itself away from the US-centric 'unipolar' moment and reverts to a more natural multi-dimensional, multi=polar world. The significant indicator of the US' collapsing authority occurred at the beginning of the Ukraine crisis when the Saudi authorities refused to take a telephone call from US president Joe Biden. For a US satrapy to openly snub the reigning president was unheard of in and of itself. Saudi Arabia however doubled down and publicly announced it would not participate in the anti-Russian sanctions the US was pushing. This was then followed by an even more significant announcement - Saudi Arabia would sell oil to China in yuan priced contracts. Everyone should already understand the importance of Saudi Arabia and the pricing of oil in US dollars so I won't belabour the point.

What was interesting at the time was the geopolitical effect that this open defection to the China-Russia camp would have. Saudi Arabia has been a US protectorate since 1975. For a long time this arrangement benefitted both parties. Saudi Arabia was able to expand its influence in the Muslim world under US protection, exporting radical Islam into the Soviet borderlands. The Saudi's bankrolled the mujahaddin's war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, caused unrest in the former Soviet 'stans' and sponsored Chechen terrorists in the Caucusus. It would be fair to say that the Saudi's and the Russians were firm enemies. This proxy war would continue in the Syrian conflict and in Saudi and Iranian rivalry.

In response to Russia's intervention in the Syrian war, the US pushed the Saudi's to undertake a series of actions which ultimately undermined the Kingdom's economic and politicial security. Saudi Arabia had already poured billions of dollars in weapons, money and men into the Syria project, which the Syrians and Russians had destroyed. The Saudi's then ramped up oil production in an effort to crash the oil market. In the 1980s, this move had seriously weakened the Soviet Union, hastening its collapse, but repeating the same move again would only work if the Russian's had not learned from the past. Despite the claims of US strategists, Russia is not dependent on oil exports and proved far more resilient to lower oil prices than the Saudis. For the first time in its history, Saudi Arabia faced a budget deficit.

Saudi Arabia's next moves were closely aligned to American plans for military action against Iran. Geography is king and Iran holds the strategic position controling the Straits of Hormuz. In the event of a western war against Iran, the Iranians could easily close the Straits and cut off Saudi oil exports, blowing up the oil market and setting off a chain reaction of collapse through the futures market, stock market, etc. It was therefore essential for the US to secure an alternative, secure route for Saudi oil exports. With the Syrian overland route blocked (seizing control of the oil pipelines across Syria was a key goal of the war on Syria), there was only one route left - southwest through Yemen to the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia had often interfered in the affairs of their poor, southern neighbor and in 2015 militarily intervened in the Yemen civil war in support of the Saudi puppet president, Hadi. Backed by US intelligence and resources, the Saudi's expected to quickly subdue impoverished Yemen, but the Yemeni's proved to be far more resilient fighters than anticipated. This war should have been a lesson for all military strategists - a technically advanced military can be fought to a standstill by a technically inferior foe, if that foe is appropriately motivated. Unfortunately, learning things is not something US strategists do. It took the Yemeni's a long time to expose Saudi Arabia's fundamental weakness - it's oil infrastructure - but once exposed, it was only a matter of time.

The Yemeni's, using a combination of short range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones, struck at vulnerable Saudi facilities - the capital Riyad, airports, oil terminals, refineries and most vulnerable of all, oil pipelines. Even small, cheap drones carrying a small explosive charge could be crashed into a pipeline and cost the Saudi's tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. To protect themselves, the Saudi's purchased US built Patriot anti-air, anti-missile systems, but discovered to their horror that the Patriot is ineffective. In desperation, they realised the only effective anti-missile systems belong to....Russia. If the mountain won't come to Muhammad.... On 27 March 2022, Yemeni drones penetrated again penetrated the Saudi's ineffective Patriot shield and destroyed the oil refinery and storage tanks at Jeddah.

Russia's foreign policy is often described as seeking to turn enemies into neutrals, neutrals into supporters, and supporters into allies, so Saudi Arabia's suprise announcement, indicates that Russian diplomacy must have been going on behind the scenes for an extended period. Russia talks to all sides and, unlike the US, negotiates in good faith. Russia undoubtedly used its influence on the Iranians, to influence the Yemenis, and used its influence on the Saudis to bring all the parties to acceptance of a ceasefire. The UN negotiating team, which has for years spun its wheels and failed to achieve anything, can claim success. Admitting any role for Russia would only have muddied the waters. The important thing is that the fighting has stopped and talking recommenced. Saudi Arabia may find that from this side of the table, it will be more beneficial to stop this pointless war. https://en.abna24.com/news//yemens-ansarullah-saudi-led-coalition-welcome-un-brokered-truce_1243906.html

Russian Foreign Ministry Statement on Response to Anti-Russian Sanctions Decisions of the European Union

The sanctions policy of the European Union towards Russia goes beyond all boundaries. After the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, Brussels massively and arbitrarily subjected Russian citizens and domestic companies to unilateral restrictions. Ignoring all applicable international legal norms, they post their personal data in the public domain. On the go, they invent absurd extra-legal "criteria" for further replenishment of this list.

In trying to portray our country as the culprit of a systemic European security crisis, Brussels European officials refuse to admit that over the years they have condoned the strengthening of Russophobic and neo-Nazi sentiment in Ukraine, its militarization and integration into NATO efforts to contain Russia militarily. Despite our repeated appeals, they indulged the sabotage by the Kiev regime of the Minsk “Package of Measures” and the strangulation of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine. They turned a blind eye to the systematic extermination of civilians in Donbass.

Now, instead of drawing lessons from what happened, in Brussels, out of inertia, they are following a dead end path of introducing restrictive measures against Russia. Moreover, they are trying to involve other sovereign countries in these senseless and illegitimate efforts from the international legal point of view, which are fraught with a further escalation of tension in Europe and the world, contrary to their national interests. They are subjected to unprecedented pressure and blackmail.

As in the case of other manifestations of the “hybrid war” declared by the West against Russia, Russian citizens and Russian-speaking residents of foreign countries, as well as the leading companies of our country, the EU’s calculation is obvious - to force us to retreat from our vital interests. All this is part of the policy of the collective West to contain Russia, attempts to subordinate its development to the goal of restoring its undivided global dominance, to deny our country the provision of its own security, the protection of national interests and the right to build an independent and creative agenda on the world stage.

The events of recent weeks prove that these efforts are futile.

By its actions, the European Union not only leads to a dead end in relations with Russia, but also endangers the well-being and security of its own citizens, as well as the stability of the global financial and economic system.

In response to the massive unilateral sanctions of the European Union, in accordance with the principle of reciprocity, which is basic for international law, the Russian side has significantly expanded the list of representatives of EU member states and European structures, which, in accordance with the Federal Law "On the procedure for leaving the Russian Federation and entering the Russian Federation" from August 15, 1996 No. 114-FZ entry into the territory of our country is prohibited.

The restrictions apply to the top leadership of the European Union, incl. a number of European commissioners and heads of EU military structures, as well as the vast majority of deputies of the European Parliament promoting anti-Russian policies. The response Russian "blacklist" also includes high-ranking officials, including representatives of the governments and parliaments of some EU member states, as well as public figures and media workers who are personally responsible for promoting illegal anti-Russian sanctions, inciting Russophobic sentiments, infringing on the rights and freedoms of the Russian-speaking population.

The corresponding note verbale of the Russian Foreign Ministry, informing about this step, was submitted to the EU Delegation in Moscow.

We reaffirm that any hostile actions on the part of the EU and its member states will continue to be inevitably met with a harsh response.