Politics
Friday 15 December 2017
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![Margarita Simonyan]()
Margarita Simonyan
Sputnik and RT chief-in-editor
“I propose moving the celebration of World Press Freedom Day to November 10” [the day RT-America filed as a foreign agent]
Read more...Despite Simonyan’s constant criticism of the U.S. for violating press freedom, Polygraph.info’s fact-check of RT’s FARA documents found that the U.S. Intelligence community assessment -- “RT has positioned itself as a domestic US channel and has deliberately sought to obscure any legal ties to the Russian Government” – is accurate and fact-based. -
![Sergei Aksyonov]()
Sergei Aksyonov
prime minister of Crimea
“Crimea did not have any foreign investors when it was part of Ukraine, in connection with the exceptional corruption of the Ukrainian government; you could count them [foreign investors] on your fingers.”
Read more...Corruption in Ukraine indeed impeded foreign direct investment in Crimea prior to Russia’s annexation, but the peninsula did have foreign investors. Still, Russia’s annexation, continued corruption, and the sanctions imposed on Moscow for its actions in Crimea have undercut foreign investment. -
![Defense Ministry]()
Defense Ministry
Russian Federation
“#RusMoD shows irrefutable evidence that US are actually covering ISIS combat units to recover their combat capabilities, redeploy, and use them to promote the American interests in the Middle East.
Read more...The original social media post contained an image from the video game AC-130 Gunship Simulator. Other photos came from airstrikes in Iraq from last year. -
![RT]()
RT
Russian media company
“NGO …designed merely to inform not influence. Programs… reflect balance… and are not aimed to primarily benefit any foreign government or political party.”
Read more...RT has registered under FARA as T&R Production, a limited liability company; listed as its “foreign principal” ANO TV-Novosti, an “NGO organized under Russian Federal Law”; and claimed that the registrant (RT) “exercises independent editorial control.” None of that is true. -
![Sergei Lavrov]()
Sergei Lavrov
Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation
“The established facts show that not a single Russian connection has been found. All the connections that have been found are internal, including at the Democratic National Committee, where an insider interfered with the process and leaked information to the rivals.”
Read more...A report from the Director of National Intelligence Office states that there is “high confidence” among US intelligence agencies that the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, the Russian military intelligence agency also known as the GRU, was involved in illegally obtaining and disseminating data that was turned over to and published by WikiLeaks. -
![Frants Klintsevich]()
Frants Klintsevich
First deputy chairman of the defense and security committee of the Russian Federation Council
“Japan, in violation of international agreements, makes a decision on the purchase of U.S. weapons. By doing so, it creates full-fledged armed forces, which is prohibited by the agreements reached following on from the results of World War II.”
Read more...No international treaty or domestic legislation bans Japan from buying weapons for self-defense. And while the Japanese forces are highly capable of pursuing offensive operations, they are legally and operationally constrained as “Self-Defense Forces.” -
![Margarita Simonyan]()
Margarita Simonyan
Editor and Chief of RT
" This Ofcom, which looks at us under a magnifying glass and writes us warnings, for the previous year wrote more to Fox News than to us."
Read more...While it is true that RT received fewer warnings in 2016 from the UK’s communication regulator Ofcom than Fox News, it was only one fewer, and RT has received a total of 14 warnings while Fox has received nine. -
![Alexey Pushkov]()
Alexey Pushkov
chairman of the commission on information policy of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of Russia’s parliament
“100 million killed by communist regimes -- these numbers are pulled out of a hat. Besides, imperialist regimes, including Hitler, killed just as many. Propaganda.”
Read more...A top Russian lawmaker calls the commemoration in the United States of a National Day for the Victims of Communism “propaganda” and dismisses the figure of 100 million victims of communist regimes as a number “pulled out of a hat.” In fact, that estimate is based on thorough research and archival documents. -
![Dmitry Kiselyov]()
Dmitry Kiselyov
head of Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today), the state-owned international media conglomerate
“The network Twitter demonstratively banned the accounts of RT and Sputnik from advertising. The decision can be only be explained by pressure from the [U.S.] government and intelligence services.”
Read more...Twitter’s decision was partially influenced by reports from U.S. intelligence services regarding Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but no pressure was exerted on the companies. RT and Sputnik still have functioning Twitter accounts. -
![Vladimir Anokhin]()
Vladimir Anokhin
Vice president of the Russia-based Academy of Geopolitical Challenges
“The reason is the creation of a legal framework enabling the Americans to do what they have done for decades invading one or another country and using national security issues to justify their actions.”
Read more...It is the U.S. Congress that seeks to reinforce its authority to authorize war. The U.S. administration is merely asking that the existing war authorization not be repealed or that any new one has no geographic or time constraints, given the nature of counter-terrorist operations. -
![Julian Assange]()
Julian Assange
Founder of WikiLeaks
“If you listen to Barack Obama, the head of the U.S. intelligence agency and James Comey, the FBI director, they say quite the opposite: they say that there is no trace of a conspiracy between WikiLeaks and Russia. The same is said by the most hawkish people in the U.S. intelligence community.”
Read more...The U.S. top officials Assange claims have denied a Russia-WikiLeaks link either never spoke publicly on the topic or said U.S. intelligence agencies have established a connection. -
![Igor Konashenkov]()
Igor Konashenkov
Major General, Russian Army
“Raqqa’s fate calls to mind that of Dresden in 1945, leveled by the US-British bombings.”
Read more...While Raqqa has suffered severe damage, it was not indiscriminately bombed as the Russian Defense Ministry alleges. Raqqa, the last “capital” of the so-called Islamic State, was the site of a major battle involving the Syrian Democratic Forces with air support from the U.S. and other coalition member countries.
