Author: Steven Sahiounie

Business between countries was booming before Western sanctions South Korea plans to open temporary settlement lines between domestic banks and their units in Russia in order to help local firms finance trade that’s been made difficult by international sanctions against the country over its military operation in Ukraine, Yonhap News Agency reported on Friday. The measure – to be introduced at the end of this month – is aimed at minimizing the use of global intermediary banks that avoid dealing with Russia due to sanctions, causing the transactions to be delayed or rejected. “The method is expected to enable swift…

On 24 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of Moscow’s special military operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine, stressing that Russia is not seeking to occupy the territory of its immediate neighbour. With Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to Italian MPs slated for 22 March, several members from Italy’s ruling coalition of the 5 Star Movement and the League “would like to hear” Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Italian Parliament “as well” in order “to counterbalance” the Ukrainian president, according to La Repubblica.The newspaper recalled that it was previously announced that Zelensky would speak before the Chamber of Deputies,…

The country has sent thousands of rocket launchers, grenades, and kit to assist Ukraine amid its conflict with Russia Canada has depleted its own stock of weapons in its bid to support Ukraine amid Russia’s military operation in the country, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand has acknowledged. “I believe that we have exhausted our inventory … to the extent that we are able to provide [more] weapons,” Anand said during a live appearance on CBC on Friday. “There are capacity issues we need to make sure we are on top of for the purposes of ensuring the Canadian Armed Forces are…

The head of US Central Command admits he’s worried about losing troops after Iran and Israel traded missile strikes No Americans were killed in a recent Iranian missile strike in northern Iraq, but the top US general in the Middle East said on Friday he was concerned how long that will remain the case as Tehran and Tel Aviv keep targeting each other. “I do worry about these exchanges between Iran and Israel, because many times our forces are at risk, whether in Iraq or in Syria. So that, in fact, does concern me,” Marine General Frank McKenzie told reporters at…

Polish Prime Minister Mateus Morawiecki urges EU to add trade blockade to new package of anti-Russian penalties Russia should face a complete ban on trade with the members of the EU as part of the tougher sanctions over the military operation in the neighboring Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Mateus Morawiecki has said. “Poland is proposing to add a trade blockade to this package of sanctions as soon as possible, [including] both of its seaports… but also a ban on land trade,” the PM said, as quoted by Reuters. “Fully cutting off Russia’s trade would further force Russia to consider whether it…

The US Marine Corps’ MV-22B Osprey was taking part in NATO drills in Norway and went down on Friday All four crew members on board an MV-22B Osprey aircraft belonging to the US Marine Corps that crashed in Norway on Friday died in the accident, local police reported on Saturday. The aircraft, which is a cross between a regular helicopter and a turboprop plane, was taking part in NATO’s Cold Response military exercise in the Scandinavian country. According to a statement issued by the Norwegian military, the V-22 Osprey was conducting a training flight, and was supposed to arrive at…

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Defence Ministry on Saturday released video footage showing the destruction of a Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage unit with precision weapons. “The video shows a strike on a reconnaissance and sabotage unit of Ukrainian armed formations, carrying out reconnaissance and search operations on four US-made all terrain military vehicles. After the strike with precision missile weaponry, the group was destroyed”, the Defence Ministry said. The sabotage group was transported in US-made Humvee military vehicles, the ministry added. The filming was carried out from a drone. Source: Sputnik

Moscow has deployed Kinzhal missiles for the first time since the start of its military operation The Russian military has said it used its state-of-the-art Kinzhal hypersonic missiles to destroy an arms depot near the city of Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine. The strike with the air-launched missile system took place on Friday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said during a briefing. It targeted “a large underground depot of missiles and aerial munitions of the Ukrainian forces” in the village of Deliatyn, he added. Kinzhal, which means ‘dagger’ in English, was used by the Russian military for the first time since the…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator In an effort to understand the events in Ukraine, Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Shahzada Rahim, a geopolitical analyst based in Islamabad with specialization in Eurasian politics, Middle East and Russian Foreign Policy. He is the founder and CEO of think tank and news website the Eurasian Post. He is a close confidante of the former special representative to Kremlin, Professor Alexander Dugin. #1. Steven Sahiounie (SS): The Azov battalion is one of the Nazi groups in Ukraine, and has been integrated into the national army. How are these Nazis perceived by the Ukrainian population? Shahzada Rahim…

London says the move will protect Warsaw against “Russian aggression” UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has announced that London will deploy Sky Sabre air defense missile systems in Poland in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. “We are going to deploy the Sky Sabre medium-range, anti-air missile system to Poland with about 100 personnel,” Wallace said on Thursday, during a news conference with his Polish counterpart, Mariusz Blaszczak, in Warsaw. Wallace added that the move would help Poland in “protecting her airspace from any further aggression by Russia.” Blaszczak thanked London, noting that 350 British soldiers had already arrived in the country…