Military
Saturday 24 June 2017
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Vladimir Putin
Russian President
“The Ukrainian government is insisting that the section of the border in the area of the unrecognized republics must be closed. And indeed, the Minsk protocols require that the border with Russia be closed by Ukrainian border guards, but only after the key political decisions are adopted.”
Read more...Putin is right about the timetable of the Minsk peace agreements, but he ignores his own responsibility for the ongoing war in Ukraine. -
Kiselyov’s legal defense team
“Dmitry Kiselyov has never expressed support for the directing of Russian forces to Ukraine... The EU Council did not provide information necessary to ensure [his] legal right to defense, since the accusations leveled were formulated in an unduly vague way.”
Read more...Lawyers for pro-Kremlin media figure Dmitry Kiselyov claim their client never expressed support for sending Russian troops into Ukraine, and that the European Council has denied him the right to legal defense. In fact, Kiselyov is notorious for provocative comments about Ukraine and the court followed regular procedures in adjudicating his case. -
Gen. Sergei Surovikin
Commander of Russian forces in Syria
"Instead of eliminating terrorists guilty of killing hundreds and thousands of Syrian civilians, the U.S.-led coalition together with the Democratic Forces Union [Syrian Democratic Forces] controlled by it, enters into collusion with ringleaders of the ISIL, who give up the settlements they had seized without fighting and head to the provinces where the Syrian government forces are active."
Read more...The commander of Russian forces in Syria said the U.S.-led coalition and the Syrian Democratic Forces have entered “into collusion” with Islamic State “ringleaders” and given them safe passage “south of Raqqah,” and that IS left the city “without fighting.” However, the territory south of Raqqah is controlled by IS, which means they do not need a safe corridor to travel there, while IS is reportedly fighting U.S.-backed forces for every street inside the city. -
Vladimir Putin
President of Russia
“Nowadays, NATO is a mere instrument of U.S. foreign policy. It has no allies, it has only vassals. When a country becomes a NATO member, it is very hard for it to resist pressure from a big country … like the United States.”
Read more...NATO is a consensus-based organization, in which every member, regardless of its size, has an equal say in decisions taken. NATO’s political unity makes it the most successful alliance in history. -
Vladimir Putin
President, Russia
“We are aware of the accusations of the use of chemical weapons. There is no proof whatsoever! We offered right after it happened to conduct an inspection exactly at the airport from where President Assad’s aircraft allegedly took off with chemical weapons. They refused – nobody wants that. …because they were afraid that this falsification would be exposed – it’s as simple as that. Regarding the people who were killed or suffered from the use of weapons, including chemical weapons – that is false information.”
Read more...Vladimir Putin said the United States and its allies refused to investigate chemical attacks that took place in Syria in April because they feared the probe would reveal that the attacks were “falsified” and there was no proof the regime of Bashar al-Assad possesses and has used chemical weapons. Putin also claimed that reports about the victims of such attacks is “false information.” However, France, Turkey and the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have each conducted an independent investigation and produced detailed reports showing the Assad regime carried out sarin gas attacks. -
Sergei Shoigu
Russian Defense Minister
“With this level of funding we succeeded last year in not only increasing our Armed forces’ combat capability by 14%, but also ensuring strategic parity with the countries of NATO.”
Read more...While the exact numbers may be debatable, Shoigu is mostly correct that Russia spends much less than the United States on defense. His claim that Russia has reached 'strategic parity' with NATO is much shakier. Russia's military technology is largely behind the U.S.'s, but Russia has some advantages, including ability to quickly deploy forces in Eastern Europe. -
Russian Foreign Ministry
“The Afghan website Payam Aftab carried an article about the detention of three U.S. servicemen with a consignment of arms in the Kokistanat District of the northern province of Sar-e Pol last January. ISIS commandos who were going to buy these arms from the Americans were caught at the same time with a huge sum of money.”
Read more...Russia’s Foreign Ministry released a statement accusing American troops in Afghanistan of selling weapons to IS commanders. A fact-check suggests the story was fabricated. -
Izvestia
pro-government Russian daily
"More than 150,000 people have signed a petition calling on the government to organize a referendum to leave NATO. [...] Moreover, residents of the country are expressing their dissatisfaction over the deployment of NATO bases on Slovak territory at the latest rally on May 18. Support of NATO by the population has markedly dropped. Slovakia may become the first country to announce its departure from the Alliance by 2020."
Read more...Izvestia appears to have exaggerated the extent of anti-NATO sentiment in Slovakia, as polls indicate only 20% of the population are for leaving the alliance. Protests have been small in number and the petition effort, begun last year, has less than half the signatures required. Experts believe an exit is not likely. -
Leonid Slutsky
Chairman of the Russian State Duma’s Foreign Relations Committee
“While Russia is making enormous efforts to support the reconciliation process in Syria, the United States, with its actions, is weakening the position of forces carrying out the fight against Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra (terrorist organizations banned in the Russian Federation) and actually ‘playing into the hands’ of those terrorist groups.”
Read more...A prominent member of Russia’s parliament said the U.S. was “playing into the hands” of Islamic State and other terrorists by launching an airstrike against forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The U.S. strike was in fact part of an effort to stop repeated violations of the deconfliction zone by Syrian government forces that have endangered the lives of American troops. -
Alexander Vorontsov
Head of the Department of Korea and Mongolia at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies
“He [Kim Jong-un] has no other choice, he still hopes that sooner or later there will be some conditions for normal negotiations, [where Pyongyang will be able to speak] not from a weak position, but as an equal participant. For this reason it demonstrates its military capabilities.”
Read more...Russia’s state-owned Sputnik media network quoted a Russian academic who claimed that North Korea has constantly been denied “conditions for normal negotiations,” which has pushed Pyongyang to demonstrate its nuclear weapons. Experts and the history of negotiations with North Korea show that statement to be false. -
Channel One
Russian state television broadcaster
Russian industry has practically not suffered from the introduction of Western sanctions. Moreover, American companies, especially oil companies have suffered serious losses.
Read more...While some U.S. oil companies, notably Exxon, have experienced setbacks due to Russian sanctions, others have not been affected and President Vladimir Putin himself has admitted that sanctions have hurt the Russian economy.