While the U.S. and Europe have joined forces in an effort to target putting sanctions on Iranian-made drones that are being shipped to Russia, Iran and Russia have agreed to establish a joint drone manufacturing facility in Russia, according to a weekend report from Wall Street Journal.
The summit provoked a comprehensive response from Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. She told reporters, “The event that took place in Kiev on February 3 proved one more time that the European Union maintains its unreserved support for Kiev’s neo-Nazi regime for the sake of weakening Russia and pandering to the hegemonic aspirations of the United States and NATO.
The Ukrainian government has issued a warning that Russia is mustering troops along the border in preparation for a new large-scale assault that is likely to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the invasion on February 24. Multiple reports have also previously indicated that the Kremlin was planning a Spring offensive.
“Does the French president think that supplying the Kiev regime with arms, heavy weapons, and aircraft for combat operations will not escalate the situation? I refuse to believe that a grown man can have such logic,” the Russian diplomat added. “Such statements only increase the already insatiable appetite of Zelensky’s regime, which, by shelling hospitals and massacring civilians, has clearly demonstrated that injecting Western military equipment – how did Mr. Macron put it? – will not lead to an escalation of the conflict.
While the U.S. used the “domino theory” with success in order to gain support from the American public during the Vietnam War, former UK Defense Minister Sir Gerald Howarth is attempting to use the same argument to justify his reasoning for inserting NATO troops in Ukraine.
A Russian company is not happy that the U.S. and Germany have agreed to send M1 Abrams and the sophisticated Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The company is so disgruntled about it that it has issued a bounty for the destruction of the tanks.
Lynne Tracy, the United States’ new ambassador to Russia, arrived at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow for the first time to chants of “war is a U.S. business” and “America is a terrorist country.”
The Biden administration is refusing to say whether or not it intends to provide Ukraine with radioactive depleted uranium rounds to accompany the Bradley Fighting Vehicles the U.S. intends to provide Kyiv.
On Thursday, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen announced that the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner Group is among numerous Russian entities being sanctioned for their involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine. The most recent round of sanctions from both the Treasury and Department of State target the individuals and organizations supporting the infrastructure of Putin’s war in Ukraine.
In an effort to decrease Vladimir Putin’s ability to fund the war in Ukraine that Russia started in February 2022, the U.S. and other Western countries have imposed heavy sanctions on Russia. Since invading Ukraine, Russia has lost access to roughly half of its gold and foreign currency reserves.