Author: Steven Sahiounie

Moscow recalls embassy personnel amid rising tensions Russia has started to evacuate employees working at the country’s diplomatic missions in Ukraine, just one day after the Foreign Ministry in Moscow announced it was concerned for the safety of personnel, it has been reported. Citing a source at the embassy in Kiev, Russian news agency TASS revealed that the evacuation has “already begun.” Moscow currently has four diplomatic missions in Ukraine, located in the cities of Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, and Lviv. According to the Ministry, the buildings have been the targets of aggression since 2014. “In the current circumstances, our primary task…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Yesterday, Russia officially recognised the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) as independent states, becoming the first UN member state to do so. Russia had formerly already recognised identity documents, diplomas, birth- and marriage-certificates, and vehicle registration plates issued by the DPR since February 2017. Both the DPR and LPR are at the center of the 2021–2022 Russian-Ukrainian crisis. Ukraine regards both the DPR and the LPR as terrorist organizations. Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Alexander Markovics to gain insight to this conflict between the US and Russia.  Alexander…

The warning comes after Germany suspended Nord Stream 2 pipeline certification Europeans will soon have to pay €2,000 ($2,200) per thousand cubic meters of natural gas, former Russian president and current deputy chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev tweeted on Tuesday. The warning comes after Germany ordered a halt to Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline certification. “German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ordered to stop the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Well, welcome to the new world, in which Europeans will soon pay €2,000 per thousand cubic meters of gas!” Medvedev wrote in a half-ironic Twitter post. Earlier…

Russian President Vladimir Putin refuted all claims of alleged plans of restoring Russia’s “empire”, saying it “does not correspond to reality.” Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he does not plan to restore “Russia’s empire”, refuting all claims of an alleged Russian invasion of Ukraine. “We predicted speculation that Russia plans to restore (its) “empire” within imperial borders,” Putin said at a meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in the Kremlin, adding: “This absolutely does not correspond with reality”. On Monday, Putin recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics. He announced the decision after an hour-long speech heavy with historical…

The situation in Donbass remains tense, with Ukrainian forces shelling the territories of DPR and LPR, prompting evacuations of people to Russia. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Donbass has confirmed that Ukrainian militants violated international humanitarian law by shelling residential buildings in the region, according to the Lugansk People’s Republic Militia. “In its report dated 21 February 2022, the OSCE Mission confirmed the violation of international humanitarian law by Ukrainian militants and recorded damage to residential buildings, as well as heavy damage to the production premises of an oil workshop, which were caused by a shelling…

The imposition of sanctions comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that Moscow has recognised the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the UK is imposing sanctions on Russian banks and individuals that the British government “has already prepared”. “Today, the UK is sanctioning the following five Russian banks: Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank, and the Black Sea Bank, and we’re sanctioning three very high net worth individuals”, Johnson told parliament on Tuesday. According to him, the individuals include Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg, and Igor Rotenberg, who will will…

Russia’s parliament voted overwhelmingly to recognize the breakaway republics last week The EU is planning to bring sanctions against the more than 350 Russian MPs who voted to recognize the two breakaway Donbass republics, German media has reported, one day after President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would affirm the states’ independence. In a report on Tuesday, Hamburg’s Der Spiegel cited anonymous European officials who said that they were preparing measures that would hit every single lawmaker who voted to recognize the territories’ independence. The sanctions would also go after banks located in Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and…

By Andrew Korybko Kiev’s continued shelling of those newly independent republics as part of its ongoing genocide against their indigenous Russian people and its occupation of their territory that the Kremlin officially recognizes as falling within their sovereign borders could very likely provoke Moscow to militarily respond in self-defense. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky predicted on the day after Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) as independent states that “We believe there will be no war against Ukraine, and there will be no broad escalation on the part of the Russian Federation.” This suggests that he’s trying to avert…

In May 2018, the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Tehran, who responded by abandoning its commitments under the agreement. Since April 2021, Vienna has been hosting talks to restore the accord. The US and other world powers are nearing an agreement to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, The Wall Street Journal has cited unnamed officials involved in the Vienna talks as saying. They claimed that the agreement “could be finalised in Vienna within the next couple of days” despite negotiators still…

The breakaway republics in Donetsk and Lugansk have ratified a friendship and assistance treaty with Moscow, formally opening the door to receiving military and financial support, after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing their independence. In statements released simultaneously on Tuesday, the parliament of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk’s People’s Council declared that the decision to ratify the ‘Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Russian Federation’ had been passed unanimously by both assemblies. The day before, Putin held a televised national address in which he said “I deem it necessary to make a decision that should have been made…