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Vladimir Putin is trying to build a Russian empire stretching ‘from Vladivostok to Lisbon’, his attack dog Dmitry Medvedev warned on Tuesday amid Western fears that Moscow is planning a massive new military offensive in southern and eastern Ukraine.
Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council as well as a former president, said in a Telegram post that Putin had launched his brutal invasion of the former Soviet republic to bring peace to Ukraine, in further signs that the Russian warmonger has become increasingly deranged.
Accusing ‘Nazis, murderers and collaborators’ of stirring up ‘Russophobia’ in Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, he proclaimed that Putin’s ‘special military operation’ – launched in February to ‘demilitarise’ and ‘deNazify’ the country – ‘will not only be decided on the battlefields’.
‘To change the bloody and full of false myths consciousness of a part of today’s Ukrainians is the most important goal’, Medvedev said.
‘The goal is for the sake of the peace of future generations of Ukrainians themselves and the opportunity to finally build an open Eurasia – from Lisbon to Vladivostok.’
In a long video message to the Russian people broadcast early on February 24 after Kremlin forces started attacking Ukraine, Putin railed against NATO eastward expansion and vowed to ‘demilitarise’ and ‘deNazify’ Ukraine. Western observers regard the invasion as an attempt by Putin to rewrite Europe’s security framework in the post-Cold War period.
Announcing the ‘special military operation’, Putin boasted: ‘Its goal is to protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years. And for this we will strive for the demilitarisation and deNazification of Ukraine, as well as bringing to justice those who committed numerous, bloody crimes against civilians, including citizens of the Russian Federation.’
It comes as Western officials including NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned that the alliance expects a Russian push in ‘coming weeks’ to try to take Ukraine’s entire eastern region of Donbas, and create a land bridge to occupied Crimea.
Vladimir Putin is trying to build a Russian empire stretching ‘from Vladivostok to Lisbon’, his attack dog Dmitry Medvedev warned amid Western fears that Moscow is planning a massive new military offensive in southern and eastern Ukraine
A satellite image taken of a street in the city of Bucha on March 19 – when Russian forces were in full control of the city – shows dark objects in the road that exactly match where civilian corpses were later discovered by Ukrainian troops
Oleksii Shcherbo, 98, walks past his burnt out house and destroyed Russian tank in Sloboda, outside Chernihiv, April 5, 2022
Grisly images of what are claimed to be civilian massacres allegedly carried out by Russian forces in Bucha before they withdrew from the outskirts of Kyiv have stirred a global outcry in recent days, and prompted Western nations to expel dozens of Moscow’s diplomats and propose further sanctions, including a ban on coal imports from Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of committing ‘genocide’ in Ukraine, comparing Moscow’s military to the Islamic State terror group in a video address to the UN Security Council and demanding that Putin be brought to justice for his alleged atrocities.
The Kremlin claimed the images of civilians were ‘fake news’ and ‘a crude forgery’ staged by the Ukrainians themselves. Moscow’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia insisted that while Bucha was under Russian control, ‘not a single local person has suffered from any violent action’. He added: ‘You only saw what they showed you. The only ones who would fall for this are Western dilettantes.’
Zelensky accused the Russians of gruesome atrocities in Ukraine and told UN Security Council members that civilians had been shot in the back of the head after being tortured, blown up with grenades in their apartments and crushed to death by tanks while in cars.
‘They cut off limbs, cut their throats. Women were raped and killed in front of their children. Their tongues were pulled out only because their aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them,’ he said.
‘Anyone who has given criminal orders and carried them out by killing our people will be brought before the tribunal which should be similar to the Nuremberg tribunals.’
Making his first appearance before the UN’s highest body, Zelensky said the Russian troops are no different from other terrorists like the so-called Islamic State group. He showed the council brief video footage of bloody corpses that ended with the words ‘Stop Russian Aggression’.
He stressed that Bucha was only one place and there are more with similar horrors, and called for a tribunal similar to the one set up at Nuremberg to try war criminals after the Second World War.
The grisly scenes of battered and burned bodies and evidence that some of the dead were bound and shot in the head have led western nations to expel dozens more of Moscow’s diplomats and propose further sanctions, including a ban on coal imports from Russia.
The head of NATO warned that Russia is regrouping its forces to deploy them to eastern and southern Ukraine for a ‘crucial phase of the war’, and said more horrors may come to light as Russian troops continue to pull back in the north.
‘When and if they withdraw their troops and Ukrainian troops take over, I’m afraid they will see more mass graves, more atrocities and more examples of war crimes,’ Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
Ukrainian officials claim the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been found in towns around Kyiv that were recaptured from Russian forces and a ‘torture chamber’ was discovered in Bucha.
Zelensky told the Security Council there was ‘not a single crime’ that Russian troops had not committed in Bucha.
‘The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our country. They shot and killed women outside their houses when they just tried to call someone who is alive. They killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies,’ he said.
Police and other investigators walked the silent streets of Bucha on Tuesday, taking notes on bodies.
Soldiers and investigators look at charred bodies lying on the ground in Bucha where Russia has been accused of war crimes
Serhii Lahovskyi, 26, and other residents carry the body of Ihor Lytvynenko to bury him in Bucha, April 5, 2022
People light candles as they hold a vigil for those killed in Bucha and the surrounding areas on April 5, 2022 in Lviv
Nina, 74, reacts as she walks past buildings that were destroyed by Russian shelling in Borodyanka, in the Kyiv region
Associated Press journalists in the town counted dozens of corpses in civilian clothes. Many appeared to have been shot at close range, and some had their hands bound or their flesh burned. A mass grave in a churchyard held bodies wrapped in plastic.
The Kremlin denounced the images as fake and suggested the scenes were staged by the Ukrainians, but high-resolution satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showed that many of the bodies had been lying in the open for weeks, during the time Russian forces were in the town.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed the images from Bucha revealed ‘a deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities’. He said the reports were ‘more than credible’ and the US and other countries will seek to hold the culprits accountable.
As western leaders condemned the killings in Bucha, Italy, Spain and Denmark expelled dozens of Russian diplomats, following moves by Germany and France. Hundreds of Russian diplomats have been sent home since the start of the invasion, many accused of being spies.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the expulsions a ‘short-sighted’ measure that would complicate communication and warned they would be met with ‘reciprocal steps’.
In another show of support, the European Union’s executive branch proposed a ban on coal imports from Russia, in what would be the first sanctions from the bloc targeting the country’s lucrative energy industry over the war. The coal imports amount to an estimated 4 billion euros (£3.3billion) per year.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the EU needed to increase the pressure on Putin after what she described as ‘heinous crimes’ carried out around Kyiv, with evidence that Russian troops may have deliberately killed Ukrainian civilians.
She did not mention natural gas, with consensus among the 27 EU member countries on targeting the fuel used to generate electricity and heat homes more difficult to secure.
The EU gets about 40% of its natural gas from Russia, and many EU countries, including Germany – the bloc’s largest economy – are opposed to cutting off gas imports.
So far, Europe had not been willing to target Russian energy over fears that it would plunge the European economy into recession but the recent reports of civilian killings have increased pressure for tougher EU sanctions.
The US and the UK previously announced they were cutting off Russian oil, Poland said it plans to block imports of coal and oil from Russia, while Lithuania said it is no longer using Russian natural gas.
‘To take a clear stand is not only crucial for us in Europe but also for the rest of the world,’ Von der Leyen said. ‘A clear stand against Putin’s war of choice. A clear stand against the massacre of civilians. And a clear stand against the violation of the fundamental principles of the world order.’
Other measures proposed by the EU’s executive arm include sanctions on more individuals and four key Russian banks, including the second-largest, VTB.
‘These four banks, which we now totally cut off from the markets, represent 23% of market share in the Russian banking sector,’ Von der Leyen said. ‘This will further weaken Russia’s financial system.’
If the proposal is adopted unanimously by all 27 EU countries, the new package of sanctions would also ban Russian vessels and Russian-operated vessels from EU ports, with exceptions for essentials such as agricultural and food products, and humanitarian aid and energy.
Further targeted export bans worth 10 billion euros (£8.3 billion) have been proposed in sectors covering quantum computers, advanced semiconductors, sensitive machinery and transportation equipment.
Serhii Lahovskyi, 26, hugs Ludmyla Verginska, 51, as they mourn their common friend Ihor Lytvynenko, following his burial at the garden of a residential building in Bucha, April 5, 2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appears on a screen as he addresses the United Nations Security Council via video link during a meeting in Manhattan, New York City
Field engineers of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine stand next to destroyed armoured vehicles on a street in the town of Bucha, on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, April 5, 2022
A resident looks for belongings in the ruins of an apartment building destroyed during fighting in Borodyanka, April 5, 2022
Von der Leyen said: ‘With this, we will continue to degrade Russia’s technological base and industrial capacity.’
According to EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, 62% of Russia’s exports to the EU were hydrocarbons last year.
‘If we really want to affect Russia’s economy, that’s where we need to look,’ he said. ‘And that’s exactly what is subject to discussions concerning this sanctions package.’
Because of its climate ambitions, the EU has been moving away from coal. Coal use fell from 1.2 billion tons a year to 427 million tons between 1990 and 2020, but imports rose from 30% to 60% of coal use.
The European Union gets about 25% of its oil from Russia, while the EU imported 53% of hard coal from the country in 2020, which accounted for 30% of the EU’s hard coal consumption.
Russian coal would be easier to replace than Russian gas because coal comes by ship and there are multiple global suppliers. Germany’s association of coal importers said in March that Russian coal could be replaced ‘in a few months’.
Analysts at the Bruegel think tank said in March that Germany and Poland were particularly reliant on Russian coal for power generation and that ‘Russian coal can be replaced because global markets are well supplied and flexible’.
But they added that ‘replacing Russian coal imports will require the lightspeed deployment of new supply chains to bring the right type of coal where it is needed. Most European coal users already source from different suppliers and should be able to build on existing relationships’.
But the switch would mean more import demand from Europe and higher global coal prices, with significant effects on emerging and developed economies that also rely on coal.
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