#Opinion by Maria Zakharova:

💬 The green agenda in the US and Europe has rung out in fresh colours.

“Environmentally friendly” Austria has launched a coal-fired power station in Mellach. The US has boosted its oil production to 12 million barrels per day. US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm boasted that this figure is higher than under the Bush, Obama or Trump administrations. So what about the energy transition and abandoning hydrocarbons?

Permission for Italian and Spanish energy companies to use Venezuelan oil is also among these steps.

At the same time, the US Supreme Court has rallied to defend the coal industry in West Virginia and ruled to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate the state’s coal mining industry.

What is happening? A green counter-revolution?

☝️ But it gets even more absurd. The green transition has turned into a transition to green camouflage given the amount of weapons supplied to Ukraine by those who only yesterday were environmental activists.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova:

💬 Yesterday, US National Security Advisor to the President Jacob Sullivan held a briefing for the media on President Biden’s upcoming visit to the Middle East. The main takeaway is that the Persian Gulf countries have the potential to significantly BOOST oil and gas production.

I understand this is an awkward question, but I will ask it anyway: so what about the green agenda and the very same administration’s calls for an energy transition?

As a refresher, in 2020, during the presidential election campaign, Joe Biden released nine key elements of his plan on a clean energy revolution that would eliminate carbon emissions from the electricity sector by 2035.

Is this the end of the plan? Then we are expecting the White House to announce that the proposed strategy is not relevant anymore.

How can the same people work on eliminating carbon emissions and boosting hydrocarbon production at the same time?

President Biden’s panicked attempts to bring down fuel prices are old news. Recently, he urged Congress to temporarily lift the fuel tax in order to combat petrol prices. American environmentalists immediately voiced scathing criticism.

It seems they will soon be even more disappointed…

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba claims that “talks with Russia are only possible after its defeat.” He said: “Russia must sit down at the negotiating table after it is defeated on the battlefield. Otherwise, it will be the language of ultimatums again."

💬 This is our reply to all those who reproach Russia for “not talking with the Kiev regime.” Kiev has rejected talks itself. Kuleba confirmed this again today. True, he forgot to mention that this is not the position of the state of Ukraine, but a song sung by Washington which Kiev is now performing. But the fact has been confirmed – Zelensky and Co (whatever is left of them) do not want peace.

#Opinion by Maria #Zakharova:

💬 On February 7, 2022, Joe Biden said that Nord Stream would be done for if Russia invades Ukraine: “If Russia invades, that means tanks or troops crossing the ... border of Ukraine again, then there will be ... no longer a Nord Stream 2. We, we will bring an end to it. <…> I promise you, we'll be able to do it.”

US President Joe Biden must answer whether the United States acted on its threat on September 25 and 26, 2022, when an incident occurred on three branches of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, preliminarily qualified as pipeline ruptures, possibly as a result of explosions.

The statement of intent was backed with a pledge. One must take responsibility for one’s words. Failing to understand the meaning of what one is saying does not release one from liability. Europe must know the truth.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

Read in full (Telegraph)

💬 Yesterday, the US Department of State congratulated me on International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace in a personal way – by publishing a detailed paper that was entirely devoted to me!

I believe I am probably the only head of the Foreign Ministry Press Service with a personal page on the websites of two nuclear superpowers – my homeland Russia and now the United States.

The US foreign policy office has not mastered this new genre for free. The Maria Zakharova profile was compiled by the Global Engagement Centre at the Department of State. Thanks to The New York Times, we know that $120 million were allocated for this, including my profile.

<...>

The Department of State claims that I spread a fake item about Osama Bin Laden’s reception at the White House. This is untrue. Any fake item is deliberate. Speaking on Rossiya Channel 1 on October 30, 2017, I made a mistake by mentioning the photos of Bin Laden and members of the Taliban, but I immediately wrote in my Facebook account about this. I clarified that I had two different historical facts in mind.

The first fact. Ronald Reagan’s meeting with the Mojahedin at the White House (this post was written in 2017 when the US was still fighting the Taliban (that included the Mojahedin) in Afghanistan. The US’s shameful flight took place four years later). Senator Rand Paul, Reagan’s reputable fellow party member admitted that the US was arming Bin Laden for fighting the USSR.

The second fact. Bin Laden’s photo in The Independent under the heading “Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road to peace.”

Based on the most stringent requirements for journalists and officials for spreading false information, I decided not to limit myself to one post and went to the studio of the same programme, “60 Minutes,” and talked about all this on November 9, 2017.

<...>

Further on, I’m accused of “lying” about “the Anglo-Saxons needing war at all costs, and their favourite method of resolving their own problems includes provocation, disinformation and threats.”

The fact that the United States needs a war at any cost is backed up... by the State Department and White House officials.

<...>

This report mentioned Bucha and “forcible deportations” separately. Where are the verified lists of the people who died in Bucha? We have been asking this question for months, but what we get instead of an answer is silence or aggressive mumbling.

With regard to forcible deportations, Russia is not moving anyone out by force. Millions of refugees from Donbass are fleeing from Ukrainian and the West’s bombs and missiles. They are not fleeing to Poland, but to a safe and secure place, Russia. As for the “children issue,” I think the recent Arria-Formula Meeting at the Security Council on this issue could well disavow all accusations. Or, the people behind this opus did not watch it, maybe because their NATO allies blocked the broadcast? It’s all right, I will share the recording, and even in English. And if that is not enough, here's the full video of Maria Lvova-Belova's news conference. Let them take a look.

<...>

Truth be told, they could have come up with something more serious for $120 million, or, maybe just wire the money to Zelensky for drugs.

☝️ Unfortunately, this shows once again that the motto of American foreign policy is hoaxes, fakes and insults. On top of that, it’s a mediocre job even though done for an inordinate amount of money.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

“The Russians are dying... it’s the best money we’ve ever spent,” US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said with a pleased smirk during his meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.

💬 During the Nuremberg trials, Reichsminister of Economics Hjalmar Schacht claimed that the Third Reich was sponsored, among others, from abroad, naming two major American corporations – Ford and General Motors. An unspoken deal was made with Schacht: freedom in exchange for keeping silent. Despite Soviet representatives’ protests, he was released and lived to the age of 93.

Just to remind: the man who embodied the American dream, the legendary Henry Ford, was a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle. His plants operating in Germany not only produced up to 70,000 lorries per year for the Wehrmacht, but also used prison labour to this end, including in Auschwitz.

Opel, the icon of the German automotive industry, was owned by General Motors. Researcher Bradford Snell described the corporation’s role as follows: “General Motors was far more important to the Nazi war machine than Switzerland. Switzerland was just a repository of looted funds. GM was an integral part of the German war effort. The Nazis could have invaded Poland and Russia without Switzerland. They could not have done so without GM.”

At its Germany-based plant, the Kodak company manufactured fuses for aerial bombs, without shunning the use of POW labour.

The Coca-Cola plant in Cologne, even before it was nationalised by the German government, regularly supplied German soldiers with drinks, while the famous Fanta was invented by the Nazis.

The oil giant Standard Oil, through its subsidiaries, supplied Hitler with petroleum products amid shortages, and was involved in the development of synthetic rubber and synthetic fuels. IBM, a company popular with IT specialists across the globe, manufactured accounting and monitoring devices for the Nazis, including those for oil production. The company's equipment was used, among other things, to monitor schedules for trains destined to extermination camps.

And, of course, how can we not mention banks: JPMorgan Chase & Co – Chase National Bank back then – was also involved, performing multibillion dollar transactions, while Berlin had the opportunity to purchase dollars and carry out transactions overseas. Chase National Bank even cooperated with the German bank Allianz in providing insurance for facilities and workers at concentration camps during the time of the Third Reich.

So, Senator Graham has something to make comparisons with. One of the US investments led to World War II and the Holocaust.

Now, billions of US dollars are pouring down the insatiable throat of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime. In this regard, I would like to remind the senators and all US beneficiaries how the previous venture ended.

https://teleg.eu/MariaVladimirovnaZakharova/5521

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 The "Big Bad Kuleba", the Foreign Minister of the Kiev regime, has rejected a proposal from international organisations to conduct an independent investigation into the Kakhovskya hydroelectric dam explosion. Only this time, he used rude language on air speaking to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had called Zelensky the day before and proposed creating an international commission to investigate the collapse of the Kakhovskya hydroelectric dam involving experts from Russia, Ukraine, the UN and Turkey.

Kiev’s odious Permanent Representative to the UN Sergey Kislitsa expressed the same idea in New York, saying that the investigation was “impossible.”

Why am I not surprised? Too obvious. The Kiev regime never even gave the UN the lists of persons it declared dead in Bucha. Fat chance they’ll want an investigation of the terrorist attack on a power plant!

Moreover, who are the terrorists and their sponsors, and who wants an investigation? Remember how the United States and their vassals blocked the Russian resolution at the UN, which called for an independent investigation into the explosions on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines?

An investigation would have stuck in Zelensky's throat. According to Kislitsa, the Kiev neo-Nazis need to reach the other side of the Dnieper. Preferably, it seems, on the Leopards and Abrams.

But I hasten to reassure the Kiev “diplomats”: don’t worry, this terrorist attack is already being investigated, and those who have stepped out of line won’t get to the other side.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

Many of us wondered what #highlylikely meant and where it came from.

I would like to remind everyone that this uncommon English phrase was turned into a meme by the "marvellous" Theresa May, who said in the House of Commons on March 12, 2018, that it was “highly likely” that Russia was responsible for the attack on Sergey Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

We have found the origin of the infamous expression.

It is the US Intelligence Community Directive 203, dated January 2, 2015, and signed by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Here is what is says on Page 3:

“For expressions of likelihood or probability, an analytic product must use one of the following set of terms:
01-05% – almost no chance, remote;
05-20% – very unlikely, highly improbable;
20-45% – unlikely, improbable;
45-55% – roughly even chance, roughly even odds;
55-80% – likely, probable;
80-95% - very likely, highly probable;
95-99% – almost сertain(ly), nearly certain.

Analysts are strongly encouraged not to mix terms from different rows.”

The British, who accepted that marvellous methodology, now post infographics on the government’s website to show which event is highly likely, a term the British have coined, and which has only a remote chance of occurring.

I wonder if the problem with Clapper’s set of terms is that he approved it on January 2?

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 The ICC’s whodunit

I love coincidences in geopolitics. They add interesting twists, just like in Agatha Christie’s books.

We will now trace back the chain of events that led to the politically motivated and legally void decision of the International Criminal Pseudo-Court in The Hague to issue arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova.

This has to be a story by a British author. Apparently, an inexperienced one.

On February 21, 2023, judge of the International Criminal Court Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua (DR Congo) was replaced in the Pre-Trial Chamber with Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez, a representative of Costa Rica and an Oxford alumnus eager to serve the West.

Subsequently, the English lobby gained advantage in the chamber. But they needed a personal touch to gain absolute control over ICC decisions.

That’s why, on the same day, February 21, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s own brother and former member of the British parliament, Imran Khan, a convicted pedophile, was released from the British prison after serving less than half of his sentence.

The next step seems logical and predictable: on February 22, literally the next day, Prosecutor Karim Khan sent an application to the Pre-Trial Chamber requesting the arrest warrants to be approved. Apparently, Karim Khan himself did not trust London and waited for confirmation of the promise to release his pedophile brother from prison.

And yet, nothing happened. The chamber waited.

Then London organised a donors’ conference for the ICC and scheduled it for March 20, hinting to the ICC that results must be shown before this date if The Hague wants to see British donations.

Judges can be easily bought.

On March 17, four days after the conference was publicly announced and three days before it was held, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova.

ICC decisions are nothing but cheap plots acted out with British money.

Now it’s ICC judges who are on the wanted list.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 Ask this newspaper: Is the pacifism we are seeing today a result of its excessive ruthlessness in the past?

Especially for those in doubt, below is a selection of articles from The New York Times, one of the most powerful US media outlets, which openly call for aggression against sovereign countries in the Middle East and East Asia.

You don’t believe it? See for yourself:

👉 How to Choke Iraq (December 7, 1990)
👉 Bombing Iraq Isn’t Enough (January 30, 1998)
👉 Bomb North Korea Before It’s Too Late (April 12, 2013)
👉 Bomb Syria Even If It Is Illegal (August 27, 2013)
👉 To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran (March 26, 2015)

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 Yesterday, The New York Times published a truly sensational investigation, at least by the standards of today’s US media. “Evidence Suggests Ukrainian Missile Caused Market Tragedy.” For me, the only unnecessary thing in this headline is the quotation marks because the Kiev regime has always done this, and continues to do so.

They use the Buk air defence missile system. At least 16 Ukrainians in Konstantinovka died in an explosion of a 9M38 missile fired from a Buk system on September 6. This is the same type of an air defence system that was involved in the incident with the Malaysian Boeing in 2014.

John Ismay and his team of investigators from The New York Times write: “Witness accounts and an analysis of video and weapon fragments suggest a Ukrainian missile failed to hit its intended target and landed in a bustling street, with devastating consequences…The Sept. 6 missile strike on Konstantinovka in eastern Ukraine was one of the deadliest in the country in months. Zelensky blamed Russian “terrorists” for the attack, and many media outlets followed suit. But evidence collected and analysed by The New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of an errant Ukrainian air defence missile fired by a Buk launch system.”

But there is more to it.

The New York Times journalists found that Ukrainian authorities attempted an all-out information operation. Apparently, being well aware of who was responsible for the deaths in the Konstantinovka market, the Kiev regime denied journalists access to missile fragments and the area affected by the strike. However, the analysed data, including camera recordings, photos of the explosion crater, the sounds of launching the surface-to-air missiles, and eyewitness accounts – all literally point to the obvious responsibility of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The Kiev authorities acted in the same way after the Malaysian Boeing tragedy. They didn't allow Malaysians access to the wreck site, didn't include Kuala Lumpur in the investigation group, and the United States didn't share materials from its satellites.

Back in 2014, Kiev didn't close the sky above the active combat zone, which led to the downing of a civilian aircraft. It's well known, though, that the Ukrainian Buk systems were in the vicinity at that time. Now, with the help of the Buk air defence missile system, Kiev has bombed its own market.

Even if this was done unintentionally, everyone is clear that the complete demilitarisation of the Kiev regime is not just a demand but an absolute and vital necessity. No matter how much all those pseudo-independent international investigative groups try to cover for their underlings.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova
 
💬 We will remember the Russian peacekeepers who, as always, absorbed the blow for the sake of peace in the region.
 
The miserable ingratitude with which the unscrupulous tried to question their activities will not overshadow their heroic efforts, but will mark the slanderers with eternal shame.
 
And now for the facts.
 
As of the beginning of 2022, Yerevan had three trilateral statements made by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, dated November 9, 2020, January 11, 2021 and November 26, 2021, which served as a political and practical roadmap for how to completely organise life in the region in a peaceful and mutually respectful way that considers the interests of all parties.
 
Yerevan chose not to implement what it signed, but to try its luck with NATO/EU. It was through the mediation of Brussels and the main adviser, Paris, that on October 6, 2022, at the summit in Prague, a Statement was adopted following the results of a quadrilateral meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, France and the EU. It reads:
 
“Azerbaijan and Armenia reaffirm their commitment to the UN Charter and the 1991 Alma-Ata Protocols, through which they recognise each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.” That is, Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan. At the same time, the text says nothing about the need to ensure the rights and safety of the people living in the region.

It was officially published on October 7, 2022.

It was Yerevan’s final solution to the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh. Why Nikol Pashinyan and the Armenian authorities chose to do this and why Paris and Brussels pushed official Yerevan to do so: these questions must be addressed to them.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

The Canadian authorities continue to make a spectacle of themselves over the celebration of Ukrainian Nazi veteran Yaroslav Hunka (Gunko) in their parliament. To deflect public attention from themselves, they decided to put the blame on ex-speaker Anthony Rota. Prime Minister Trudeau has presented “unreserved apologies” for “unknowingly recognising” the man.

It is a lie, of course. Everyone knew who he was.

Do you believe that Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, a long-time devotee of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) and the granddaughter of a Nazi accomplice Michael Chomiak, didn’t know about the inglorious past of Hunka, a “friend” and a long-time sponsor of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress? Really?

A viral photograph shows Hunka waiting for a meeting with... Trudeau and Zelensky. It was posted by the Nazi criminal’s granddaughter, Theresa Hunka. She wrote under the picture: “Dedo (i.e. - grandpa) is waiting in the reception hall for Trudeau and Zelensky.” She has deleted the entry and closed the account, of course, but it was too late: the screenshot of the photograph is gathering views on the internet.

Everyone who is invited as a guest of honour to an event that Zelensky plans to attend is thoroughly checked by the security services of not just Ukraine and, in this case, Canada but also by the special services of the US, Britain and several other countries.

According to available information, a meeting with Hunka was listed as a special issue on the agenda of Zelensky’s visit, and Hunka is well known in Kiev. His name is being hastily removed from all ledgers, publications and websites. Even the video of the House of Commons applauding the Nazi has been altered. But the Internet rarely forgets.

It is notable that the foreign ministries of Western countries, including of the once members of the anti-Hitler coalition, have not condemned that orgy of Nazi glorification. The Foreign Ministry of Germany has said that the German Ambassador, who attended the event, knew nothing. It is shocking that the Foreign Ministry of Israel is keeping silent about the international celebration of the Nazi veteran. We can only hope that it is a mere misunderstanding and that it will be corrected soon.

It is the most glaring example of contempt for the memory of the Holocaust victims.

We will judge the real attitude towards this issue by the vote on the UN General Assembly’s annual resolution on combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Last year, Canada and the EU joined the US and Ukraine in voting against the resolution. In this context, the embarrassment feigned by the Western political establishment over Hunka’s Nazi past is difficult to believe.

After World War II, Canada and some other countries offered shelter to many Nazi accomplices, OUN-UPA thugs, and members of Wehrmacht and SS units. A cemetery in Oakville, Ontario, has a monument to SS Galician, in which Hunka served. Standing on either side of it are the Ukrainian and Canadian flags, just like in the hall where Hunka waited for the reception. The monument was unveiled in 1988 in the largest Ukrainian cemetery in Canada, which shows that OUN-UPA fighters and their descendants have a powerful lobby in the country.

Does anyone think that phrases like “I didn’t know” and “I’m not to blame, he did it himself” will work?

Absolutely everyone knew about Hunka’s past, including the Canadian government, which organised Zelensky’s visit, the Canadian parliament, and the executive office of the Ukrainian president. They knew, and they waited proudly for the effect Hunka’s appearance would produce, reinforcing Ukraine’s new identity as a NATO-centric state in public consciousness. But the effect turned out to be more than they bargained for.