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Vladimir Putin

March 18, 2023

International Authorities Issue Arrest Warrant for Vladimir Putin

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY…
1985: Capital Cities Communications Inc. acquires ABC for $3.5 billion — marking the first transfer of ownership of a TV network.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes.

The ICC’s warrant alleges that Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, another Russian official, violated the Geneva Convention by unlawfully deporting children from Ukraine to Russia.

A warrant was also issued for the arrest of Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for children’s rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. The ICC states that the official “bears individual criminal responsibility” for the alleged crimes.

“It is forbidden by international law for occupying powers to transfer civilians from the territory they live in to other territories. Children enjoy special protection under the Geneva Convention,” ICC President Judge Piotr Hofmański said Friday in a statement.

“The ICC is doing its part of work. As a court of law, the judges issued arrest warrants that execution depends on international cooperation,” he said.

Russia rejected both the warrants and the ICC’s authority.

“Russia does not cooperate with this body, and possible ‘recipes’ for arrest coming from the International Court of Justice will be legally null and void for us,” according to a statement made in Russian on the Foreign Ministry’s Telegram channel.

According to the ICC, it has the authority to bring charges against Russian officials because Ukraine accepted its jurisdiction to investigate crimes made by the country on Ukrainian territory.

The ICC said that it publicized the arrest warrants in the hopes that it “may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes,” as the forced deportation of children in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory is ongoing.

“This is an important moment in the process of justice before the ICC,” Hofmański said. “The judges have reviewed the information and evidence submitted by the prosecutor and determined that there are credible allegations against these persons for the alleged crimes.” 

The warrants come as Putin is set to have a high-profile meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping between March 20 and 22.

“From now on, the Russian president has the official status of a suspect in committing an international crime – illegal deportation and displacement of Ukrainian children,” Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said in a statement.

“This means that outside Russia, Putin should be arrested and brought to court. And world leaders will think three times before shaking his hand or sitting with him at the negotiating table. The world has received a signal that the Russian regime is criminal and its leadership and allies will be brought to justice.”

Source: The Hill

By T. Thompson
January 6, 2023

Another Russian Tycoon Dies After Criticizing Putin

Russian sausage tycoon Pavel Antov, a known critic of President Vladimir Putin, has died after reportedly falling out of a window. The oligarch is the second Putin critic to die in a similar manner.

Russian media outlet TASS reported that Antov fell from a hotel window in Rayagada, India, a few days after celebrating his 65th birthday.

According to the BBC, a Russian man traveling with Antov died of a stroke at the same hotel just two days earlier. Police said the death of the man, Vladimir Budanov, had “depressed” Antov, the outlet reported.

The BBC reported that Alexei Idamkin, the Russian consul in Kolkata, told TASS that police did not see a “criminal element in these tragic events.” 

A WhatsApp message on Antov’s account from late last June called a Russian missile attack on a residential block in Kyiv an act of “terror,” the BBC reported.

The message was deleted and Antov posted on social media that he was a Putin supporter, a “patriot” of his country, and he supported the war, according to the BBC.

Antov insisted that the WhatsApp message came from someone whose opinion he vehemently disagreed with, and it had been posted accidentally, the BBC reported.

Antov was the second known critic of Putin to die after falling from a window.

In September, Russian oil magnate Ravil Maganov, 67, died after falling from a hospital window. He died after his company, Lukoil, released a statement expressing “deepest concerns” about the war in Ukraine.

Sources: Insider | BBC

By T. Thompson
October 11, 2022

Biden Slammed Over “Reckless” Remarks

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY…
1986: Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev open talks at a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland.

President Joe Biden is facing severe criticism for raising “the prospect of Armageddon” amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s repeated threats of nuclear war.

On Thursday, Biden said Putin is “not joking” in his threats to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Biden said.

Former President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “saying exactly the wrong thing” when we should be urging for peace negotiations between the two nations.

“We have to be very smart and very nimble. We have to know what to say, what to do. And we are saying exactly the wrong thing. We’ll end up in a World War III,” Trump said during a rally in Mesa, Arizona.

“We must demand immediate negotiation of a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine, or we will end up in World War III and there will never be a war like this,” he added. “We will never have had a war like this and that’s all because of stupid people that don’t have a clue. And it’s also because of the kind of weaponry that’s available today.”

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Biden’s warning of “Armageddon” was “reckless.”

“When you hear the president talking about ‘Armageddon’ as a random thought … at a fundraiser, that is a terrible risk for the American people,” said Pompeo, who served during the Trump administration. “He ought to be talking to us in a serious way.”

On Sunday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Biden was “accurately reflecting the fact that the stakes are very high right now.”

Source: The Hill

By T. Thompson
April 1, 2022

Trump Calls on Putin to Reveal Info on Hunter Biden

Former President Donald Trump called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release information on Hunter Biden’s business dealings with oligarchs in Eastern Europe.

Trump’s request came during an interview with the show Just the News on the Real America’s Voice network. The former president cited a 2020 Senate report that showed Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, the wife of Moscow’s late mayor Yury Luzhkov, provided millions of dollars to a company that Hunter Biden co-founded.

“She gave him $3.5 million so now I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it,” Trump said. “I think we should know that answer.”

The White House avoided most questions pertaining to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, but Communications Director Kate Bedingfield did address a question about Trump’s recent request.

“What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin and brag about his connections to Vladimir Putin?” Bedingfield said. “There is only one, and it’s Donald Trump.”

Source:

White House fires back at Trump’s request that Putin release dirt on Hunter Biden

By T. Thompson
March 15, 2022

Elon Musk Challenges Putin to Duel

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “single combat” for Ukraine.

“I hereby challenge Владимир Путин to single combat,” Musk tweeted, using Putin’s Russian name. 

“Stakes are Україна,” he added, using the Ukrainian spelling for Ukraine.

In a follow up tweet, Musk tagged the Kremlin’s official account and asked, “Do you agree to this fight?”

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, responded.

“You, little devil, are still young,” Rogozin wrote. “Compete with me weakling; It would only be a waste of time. Overtake my brother first.”

Source:

Musk challenges Putin to ‘single combat’ over Ukraine, Russia responds: ‘Weakling’

By T. Thompson
March 12, 2022

Bolton: ‘Putin Saw Trump Doing a Lot of His Work for Him’

John Bolton, who served as former President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, said Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t invade Ukraine while Trump was in office because “Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him.”

“I think one of the reasons that Putin did not move during Trump’s term in office was he saw the president’s hostility of NATO. It was widely reported in American media,” Bolton told SiriusXM’s Julie Mason. “And to Putin’s mind, it’s a binary proposition: a weaker NATO is a stronger Russia.”

“Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him, and thought, maybe in a second term, Trump would make good on his desire to get out of NATO, and then it would just ease Putin’s path just that much more,” Bolton added.

In 2018, Trump privately discussed the U.S. potentially withdrawing from NATO. Bolton said he believes Trump would have withdrawn from the alliance if he had won a second term.

“I thought he put his foot over it, but at least he didn’t withdraw then,” Bolton said during a virtual event with The Washington Post on Friday. “In a second Trump term, I think he may well have withdrawn from NATO. And I think Putin was waiting for that.”

Source:

Ex-Trump national security advisor John Bolton says ‘Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him,’ so he chose not to invade Ukraine

By T. Thompson
March 4, 2022

DeSantis: Putin is an ‘Authoritarian Gas Station Attendant’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) likened Russian President Vladimir Putin to an “authoritarian gas station attendant.”

“If you look at what’s going on with someone like Vladimir Putin, I analogize him to, basically, an authoritarian gas station attendant,” DeSantis said.

The Florida governor said Russia is a “hollowed out country” except for its energy.

“So, [Putin] is in a situation where his ideology, I think, is to try and reassemble some of the lost glory of what they had” during the days of the Soviet Union.

DeSantis said that while Russia is putting a tremendous amount of effort into its invasion of Ukraine, he believes that holding the nation down will be like swallowing a porcupine.

“You’re going to end up with like these Ukrainians engaging in guerrilla warfare, and I think it’s gonna be like death by a thousand cuts,” DeSantis said.

Source:

WATCH: DeSantis tears into ‘authoritarian gas station attendant’ Putin

By T. Thompson
March 4, 2022

Vindman Says Ukraine Invasion is ‘Beginning of the End of Vladimir Putin’

On Wednesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that close to 500 soldiers have died in Ukraine. However, Ukraine has said that thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed in the conflict thus far. 

Vindman, who fled Ukraine with his family at age 3, said he thinks “this is the beginning of the end of Vladimir Putin” during an interview on the New York Times’s podcast The Argument.

“What we haven’t started to bake in yet, and what the Russian public hasn’t start to bake in, is this devastating human toll. This is the fact that Ukrainian cities are being bombarded. Civilians are being killed,” Vindman said.

“And if, in fact, there are 4,500 Russian dead and those body bags start coming back, or mothers start to ask about their children, that’s going to be untenable.”

Vindman told podcast host Jane Coaston that Putin had a “deep misunderstanding” of the West’s willingness to defend its interests and a misunderstanding of the ability of Ukraine to defend itself. 

“And all of these things coming together into a huge, huge trap for Vladimir Putin. He’s consolidated the entire free world against him in condemnation and inaction,” he said. 

“So that’s the sanctions that are unfolding and these weapons provisions that are unfolding. And that’s something that, ultimately, he might be remembered for, both this horrendous war, but also for bringing the democratic world together in defense of our values,” Vindman added.

Source:

Vindman: This is the ‘beginning of the end’ for Putin

By T. Thompson
March 1, 2022

Joy Behar: Trump’s Support of Russia is ‘About White Supremacy’ [Video]

The View co-host Joy Behar said she believes former President Donald Trump’s public support of Russian President Vladimir Putin is rooted in white supremacy.

“What do you think is behind it, though?” Behar asked her co-hosts on the popular daytime talk show. “Because I was reading an article that a lot of it is about white supremacy. A lot of this support for Putin and Russia is about white supremacy.”

It’s not clear what article Behar was referencing. Behar didn’t specify which article she was citing, and none of the other panelists asked.

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg interjected, saying, “There are a lot of folks who think it would be a better country if it were more like Russia. I don’t agree, but that’s me.”

“None of us agree with that,” Behar responded.

During an appearance on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show last week, Trump said Putin’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics in eastern Ukraine was “smart” and “pretty savvy.”

“I said, ‘How smart is that?’ He’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper,” he said. “That’s the strongest peace force. We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re going to keep peace, all right.”

Source:

Joy Behar: Trump’s support for Russia is ‘about white supremacy’

By T. Thompson
February 28, 2022

Anonymous Goes After Putin

The international collective of hackers known as Anonymous has set its sights on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“[Anonymous] is currently involved in operations against the Russian Federation. Our operations are targeting the Russian government. There is an inevitability that the private sector will most likely be affected too,” the Anonymous Twitter account, @YourAnonNews, wrote.

“While this account cannot claim to speak for the whole of the Anonymous collective, we can in fact report the truths of Anonymous’ collective actions against the Russian Federation. We want the Russian people to understand that we know it’s hard for them to speak out against their dictator for fear of reprisals,” they wrote.

“We, as a collective want only peace in the world. We want a future for all of humanity. So, while people around the globe smash your internet providers to bits, understand that it’s entirely directed at the actions of the Russian government and Putin.”

“Put yourselves in the shoes of the Ukrainians being bombed right now. Together we can change the world, we can stand up against anything. It is time for the Russian people to stand together and say ‘NO’ to Vladimir Putin’s war. We are Anonymous. We are Legion,” they wrote, adding, “Expect us.”

RT.com, a Russian government-funded media outlet, said that it was targeted in what appears to be a widespread denial-of-service (DDoS) attack — a coordinated effort to knock a website offline by flooding it with traffic. 

Source:

Hacking collective Anonymous appears to declare war on Putin after Russia invades Ukraine

By T. Thompson
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