The information contained no “serious proposals,” the Russian foreign minister said
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has conveyed a fresh message to Moscow on the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, although the statement offered nothing of value, according to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia’s top diplomat made the remarks on Tuesday following talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry.
While Moscow has been always ready to hear a “serious proposal” from Washington “aimed at resolving the current situation,” the message from Blinken contained no such information, Lavrov stated.
“Minister [Shoukry] said that he conveyed a certain message from Secretary of State Blinken, who was recently on a visit to Cairo. I can confirm that,” Lavrov said. The Russian diplomat added that the message once again urged Moscow to “stop” and “leave,” and “then everything will be fine.”
The real goals of the US and the collective West, however, have been articulated much more clearly by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Lavrov continued.
“In one of his speeches, he said that Russia must lose, Russia must be defeated, and the West cannot allow Ukraine to lose, because then the West will lose. And the whole world will lose,” Lavrov explained, referring to the NATO chief’s comments. “That is, he took it upon himself to speak not only on behalf of three-dozen NATO members, but also on behalf of all other countries of the world, [including] Asia, Africa, and Latin America.”
Multiple senior US officials have repeatedly urged Moscow to end its military campaign in Ukraine, as well as to cede the former Ukrainian territories which were incorporated into Russia following referendums. US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland signaled last week that doing so might prompt Washington to consider easing anti-Russian sanctions. The proposal, however, was dismissed in Moscow.
“We still don’t see anything [new] in Madame Nuland’s words. We are absolutely not inclined to exaggerate their importance,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at the time, adding that the remarks once again showed “the lack of flexibility in the position of the US.”
Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, which were designed to give Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the agreement to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.” The idea was confirmed by then-Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and then-President of France Francois Hollande.
Any moment now I am expecting John Cleese (a veteran of Monty Python) to jump out of the bushes and announce the creation of the Ministry of Silly Wars, with Donald Trump as the deranged leader. For you youngsters out there, Monty Python’s skit, The Ministry of Silly Walks, helped make the members of MP legends. I had to reference Monty Python because the line of bullshit the Trump administration is feeding the American people and the world about the amazing, obliterating US attack on Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday morning, is more ridiculous that all of the silly walks pictured in the following video:
My hopes that Donald Trump would finally act like a responsible adult are dashed. He’s a dangerous buffoon. While the team around him are working frantically to maintain the fiction that Trump has a vision and is calling the shots on the foreign policy front, he is careening around the globe like an out-of-control cue ball on a billiards table. It started a week ago… first, he claimed...
Tuesday marks the third anniversary of the launch of the Fujian, China's first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults. Official media said China is about to enter a three-aircraft-carrier era, with the Fujian expected to enter service by 2025.
After the launch of the Fujian on June 17, 2022, it carried out its first sea trial from May 1 to 8 in 2024. Since then, the Fujian has completed multiple sea trials, accumulating more than 100 days of sea trial, China Central Television (CCTV) News reported on Tuesday.
Wei Dongxu, a Chinese military affairs commentator, said that the aircraft carrier Fujian has been making steady progress in sea trials, and is expected to be commissioned within this year, CCTV News reported.
With a full displacement of more than 80,000 tons, the Fujian is the world's first conventionally powered aircraft carrier to feature electromagnetic catapult technologies, according to CCTV News. The report noted that it will carry a wide variety of carrier-borne...
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China and Central Asian countries have explored and formed the China-Central Asia Spirit, which features mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, mutual assistance, and the pursuit of common modernization through high-quality development.
Xi made the remarks in his speech at the second China-Central Asia Summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
Xi said that the Chinese side has decided to establish three cooperation centers and a trade facilitation platform within the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism.
When addressing the summit, Xi said these institutions include the China-Central Asia poverty reduction cooperation center, the China-Central Asia education exchange cooperation center, the China-Central Asia desertification control cooperation center, as well as the China-Central Asia trade facilitation cooperation....more below
