Verdicts
Saturday 23 September 2017
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Aleksey Pushkov
Chairman of the Commission on Information Policy in Russia’s Federation Council
“There is no basis for the deployment of peacekeepers on the border between the DNR/LNR and Russia. It is a zone of peace and tranquility. So let them deal with the zone of tension.”
Read more...The Russian authorities’ insistence that the mandate of UN peacekeepers in Ukraine should be limited to the area along the “borders” between Ukraine and the conflict zone in the eastern part of the country is based on their claim that the region is a “zone of peace and tranquility.” That claim is neither true nor logical. Eastern Ukraine remains a war zone and the only internationally recognized borders are those between Ukraine and Russia. -
Margarita Simonyan and RT
RT's chief editor
“The American establishment’s war against our journalists is dedicated to all the starry-eyed who still believed in freedom of speech. It was killed by those who invented it."
Read more...The U.S. probe of RT and Sputnik to determine whether they must register as foreign agents is a lawful process befitting a functioning democracy. As registered foreign agents, the outlets would still be able to broadcast without censorship – a right protected under the U.S. Constitution and laws. -
Sergey Kislyak
Former Russian Ambassador to the U.S.
“I have worked for years in the American (relations) field, and I can responsibly say that we did everything, simply everything, to maintain normal cooperation.”
Read more...Russia’s own actions endangering global security caused the deterioration of relations with the United States as well as with other countries. The conditions for lifting sanctions and returning to “normal” cooperation have been clearly presented to Russia but Moscow ignores its obligation to help maintain global security. -
Aleksandr Khrolenko
Columnist for the Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today) international news agency
“…[A]ll these means [components of the U.S.-made, Japan-operated missile defense system] proved ineffective on August 29, when a DPRK ballistic missile flew over the territory of Japan and landed 1,180km off Cape Erimo in Hokkaido … No damage to aircraft or sea-craft was recorded, but the Japanese at least could have tried to shoot down the missile, purely for training purposes.”
Read more...Despite their arguable capability to hit the missile, Japan’s BMD systems were not designed specifically to shoot down the type of missile test-fired by Pyongyang or protect fully against all missiles. Nor was it necessary to do so, given a number of considerations that the author totally ignores. -
Dmitry Peskov
press secretary for Russian President
”This is not about any kind of censorship. But, of course, in providing grants, the state has the right to designate certain topics that are of particular interest to the state. But to call this some kind of manifestation of censorship would be wrong."
Read more...President Vladimir Putin and his press secretary Dmitry Peskov insist that the arrest of a famed director Kirill Serebrennikov has nothing to do with politics or censorship. The involvement of the FSB’s 2nd Service calls their claim into question. -
RT
Russian government-funded international broadcaster
“U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker stated that Russian authorities intend to ‘freeze’ the situation in Donbass.”
Read more...In fact, Volker said that Russia appears ready to “live with” the status quo in the region and that there are political and economic costs for its actions in Ukraine. -
Yuri Shvytkin
Deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma’s defense committee
“Today, unfortunately, it can be noted that the United States is trying to establish a loyal regime [in Afghanistan] under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Our country takes the position that the United States (should) withdraw its troops from Afghanistan; the legitimately elected government of Afghanistan takes principally the same position. U.S. success in the fight against terrorism, especially in Afghanistan, is not particularly discernible.”
Read more...U.S. and Afghan forces have, in fact, made major counterterrorism gains, and Afghanistan’s government supports fully the U.S. military presence and the newly unveiled U.S. strategy. -
Russian Embassy to the United Kingdom
“The civil war is over, that is between the Syrians. But foreign jihadists, who invaded Syria in 2012, still have to be defeated.”
Read more...Russia’s embassy to the United Kingdom claims that the Syrian civil war is over. So why do regime attacks on rebel-held areas continue? -
Andrey Klimov
Deputy Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee, Federation Council
“These sanctions are illegal in themselves, because the only thing recognized by international law is the sanctions of the UN Security Council.”
Read more...Despite Russia’s claims that U.S.-imposed sanctions are illegal under international law, the U.S. strictly follows its own legal procedures and international regulations under the World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) -
Vedomosti newspaper
Finastra, a global company that owns the copyright to software that works with SWIFT has refused to work with sanctioned Russian banks.
Read more...Finastra has confirmed that it has ceased to provide support to two Russian banks sanctioned by the EU and US. -
RT
Russia’s state-funded international network
“The UK will oppose a preemptive ban on ‘killer robots’, despite widespread calls in the UN to prohibit the use of ‘murder machines’.”
Read more...RT neglects to point out that Russia itself has developed such autonomous robots and has not supported a UN ban on them. -
Maria Zakharova
Spokeswoman, Foreign Ministry, Russia
“Linking the reduction in the number of [U.S. diplomatic] staff with the processing of [U.S.] visas does not stand up to scrutiny, since no one expelled the Americans, no one dictated or specified who to send home and who to leave. Accordingly, if Washington decides to reduce the number of people engaged in visa matters, it will be Washington’s decision -- sovereign, deliberate and by no means forced."
Read more...The Russian Foreign Ministry’s claim that Moscow’s demand that the U.S. reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia by more than 60% will not affect the mission’s workflow is illogical and untrue. The sudden and involuntary staff shortage is disrupting all normal proceedings, including consular services.