Latest news, headlines and top stories you need to know RIGHT NOW about Russia, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Over the weekend, President Joe Biden departed Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to visit Ramstein Air Base in Germany before going to Kyiv for an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital on Monday. The visit comes a few days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivered his annual State of the State address on Saturday in which he told the nation that due to the escalation of the war in Ukraine and the disastrous sanctions policy pursued by the European Union, “2023 will be the most dangerous year since the fall of communism.”
Hundreds of anti-war protesters gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on Sunday to protest the war in Ukraine. The turnout of thousands that organizers had anticipated did not materialize. The event called “Rage Against the War Machine,” sponsored by the Libertarian Party and the People’s Party, was broadcast live stream on YouTube with a few thousand viewers. The event included an eclectic group of speakers, the most significant being Dennis Kucinich, Tulsi Gabbard, and Ron Paul.
At her weekly press briefing on Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blasted NATO for its role in escalating the war in Ukraine. Commenting on the NATO meetings in Brussels this week to increase military aid to Ukraine, she said “the main takeaway from this meeting was that Vladimir Zelensky’s regime was literally ordered to launch a counteroffensive this spring…. From a Euro-Atlantic perspective, the time has come to exterminate those who are still alive in this country.”
On Thursday, NORAD announced that in addition to the interception of 4 Russian aircraft on Monday, Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers were intercepted off the coast of Alaska on February 14 as well.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko issued a warning on Thursday saying that if Belarus is either threatened or comes under attack, the country’s army is ready to join the war in Ukraine and fight alongside the Russians.
As NATO warns that its stockpiles of artillery munitions are running low, the U.S. military is attempting to train Ukrainian forces to change how they fight in order to conserve shells. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, outlined the effort after a meeting in Brussels with the Ukraine Defense Contact group.
In an interview with the Russian publication Sputnik, Ukrainian whistleblower Andrii Telizhenko discussed the corrupt activities of the Biden family in Ukraine, as well as Washington’s hijacking of Ukrainian sovereignty.