Russian media have announced what will happen after the fake referendums in the occupied territories. Lavrov accuses the West of “grotesque” fear of Russia. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.
Monday. September 26, 6:44 a.m.: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) still refuses to deliver main battle tanks to Ukraine. He was criticized for this reluctance not only in Germany but also abroad. The criticism from the largest arms supplier to Ukraine, the USA, is particularly harsh. The renowned newspaper “New York Times” spoke to Scholz about it – and he reacted rudely, the newspaper writes. “Several times he scolded journalists for asking these questions,” it said.
When the author of the text quoted the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba and wanted to know, “What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?” Scholz reacted “irritatedly,” she writes. Then he said a sentence that was often heard to justify his strategy: “Leadership does not mean doing what others ask of you.” And further: “Leadership means making the right decisions and being very strong. And that’s what I do.”
The “robot-like” Scholz also responded “surprisingly emotionally” to the question of why Germany will still not spend 2 percent of gross domestic product on military spending in the next few years, as Scholz announced. At this question, Scholz “hissed”: “To ask this question is not serious, to be honest.”
The text goes on to say that Scholz dismissed any suggestion that the US would welcome Germany taking the lead in supplying main battle tanks. The journalist also notes that Scholz’ reluctance was also evident when he did not want to comment on a possible end to the war, but instead quoted President Biden.
10:19 p.m .: German intelligence services have informed the Chancellery about the nuclear danger in the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia. This is reported by the news portal t-online, citing internal documents from the Federal Office for Radiation Protection.
Accordingly, a risk analysis for the release of radioactivity in Zaporizhia was presented to the Chancellery in the so-called intelligence situation on September 6th. The emergency management system for Germany was also a topic in this context.
Participants in the round include the presidents of the German intelligence services and Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt.
6:28 p.m .: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has made it clear that he takes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats seriously. “Maybe it was a bluff yesterday. Now it could be a reality, ”Zelenskyj told the US broadcaster CBS News in an interview published on Sunday, according to the translation. Zelenskyy referred to the skirmishes around the Russian-occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia and said: “He (Putin) wants to scare the whole world. These are the first steps in his nuclear blackmail. I don’t think he’s bluffing.”
Putin announced on Wednesday the mobilization of 300,000 reservists for the war of aggression against Ukraine – he also said: “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will definitely use all available means to protect Russia and our people. That’s not a bluff.” Observers saw it as a threat to use nuclear weapons.
US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told the broadcaster on Sunday that the US government had told the Kremlin “directly, privately, at a very high level” that any use of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic consequences for Russia. Russia had also been warned that the US and its allies would respond decisively.
4:37 p.m .: British Prime Minister Liz Truss has asked Western countries not to be provoked by Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We shouldn’t listen to his saber-rattling and empty threats,” Truss told CNN in an interview broadcast on Sunday. “Instead, we must continue to sanction Russia and support the Ukrainians.”
If Putin were to succeed, it would not only send a terrible message to Europe and pose a major threat to the Ukrainian people themselves, Truss said. “It would also send a message to other authoritarian regimes around the world that it’s somehow acceptable to invade a sovereign country.” That’s why it’s so important that the West continues to act as one.
Putin has realized that he will not win the war, but that he made a strategic mistake by invading Ukraine. That is the reason for his actions.
3:15 p.m .: Despite Serbia’s good relations with Moscow, the government in Belgrade will not recognize the results of the sham referendums in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic said this at a press conference in Belgrade on Sunday, Serbian media reported. Recognizing these sham referendums “would be totally against our national and state interests, the preservation of sovereignty and territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders,” the minister said.
Selakovic was referring to the parallels between Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the Kosovo problem from the perspective of Belgrade. Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic recently pointed this out at the UN General Assembly in New York: “What is the difference between (sovereignty) Ukraine and Serbia? The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia have been grossly violated and you, or at least some of you, have legitimized and internationally recognized that,” Vucic said.
The former Serbian province of Kosovo declared its independence in 2008. This is not recognized by Serbia, but by most other countries. On the subject of the Ukraine conflict, Vucic maneuvers between Russia and the West. He accepted UN condemnation of Russia’s attack on Ukraine but opposed sanctions against Russia.
1:17 p.m .: According to the will of the federal government, EU citizens should no longer be allowed to sit on the supervisory boards or executive boards of Russian state-owned companies. According to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (online edition), this is provided for in a position paper by the federal government. It lists Berlin’s wishes for the new EU sanctions package against Russia and was sent to the other EU governments.
It would then no longer be possible for someone like former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) to have been the head of the supervisory board at the Russian oil company Rosneft for years. The EU recently announced a new round of sanctions after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered partial mobilization in the war against Ukraine.
The German government’s position paper justifies the proposal to ban EU citizens from posts in Russian state-owned companies by saying that this is “strategic corruption”. Offering supporters “well-paid posts in the management bodies” of state-owned companies has “long been an important element” of Moscow’s efforts to exert political influence in EU countries, according to the newspaper in the position paper.
Sunday, September 25, 8:50 a.m.: The political scientist Max Fras from the “European Institute” published a telegram message from several Russian media outlets, including “Meduza” on Twitter. This is intended to show how things will continue after the mock referendums in the occupied Ukrainian territories.
According to this, the result of the “referendum” is to be announced on September 27th. A day later the Russian borders close. On September 29, the occupied territories are to be officially declared Russian territory. On September 30th there will be a speech by Vladimir Putin.
The UN general debate this year is dominated by the Ukraine war, which escalated further this week due to partial Russian mobilization. The Russian Foreign Minister had already given a speech to the UN Security Council on Thursday, raising serious allegations against Ukraine – and left the room after his speech.
Lavrov accused the US on Saturday of trying to “turn the whole world into their backyard.” “After declaring itself victorious in the Cold War, Washington has almost risen to become an emissary of God on earth, with no obligations other than the sacred right to act with impunity anywhere, anytime,” he said.
He also defended the so-called referendums in four Russian-controlled areas in Ukraine for annexation by Russia. Only people claimed the land “on which their ancestors have lived for hundreds of years,” Lavrov said. “The West is now freaking out about the referendums.”
Kyiv and its western allies have criticized the referendums in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions as sham referendums. A connection of the four Ukrainian regions to Russia as a result of the “referendums” is condemned by the West as illegal. US President Joe Biden threatened Russia with tough sanctions in the event of annexations on Friday.
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