Latest news with #Donbass
Russia Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Moscow calls for ‘International day against Russophobia'
The world needs an 'International Day against Russophobia,' Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said, adding that this 'extremist' ideology should not be allowed to take root in the international community. Anti-Russian propaganda spread by Western nations has already led to numerous tragedies, including the Ukraine conflict, the spokeswoman told an International Summer School for young public officials. 'Weapons are being supplied to the terrorist Kiev regime under the hellish banners of Russophobia,' she said. According to Zakharova, the hatred of everything Russian has become 'yet another extremist, Nazi… neo-Nazi ideology that kills people both literally and figuratively.' It should be combated just like any other racial or religious hatred, the spokeswoman maintained. Russophobia should have 'no place on Earth,' much less as a state ideology, she said, naming Ukraine as one of the prime examples of nations harboring the ideology and depriving millions of people of their native Russian language. The government in Kiev has waged a campaign to purge anything linked to Russia for years. The authorities have renamed streets and demolished monuments deemed linked to Russia, including some UNESCO World Heritage sites. Moscow has cited the protection of the Russian-speaking population of Donbass among the key reasons for the military operation it launched in 2022. The continued repression of the Russian-speaking population by the Ukrainian government has been consistently ignored by the US and the EU since the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, according to Russia. The Baltic states have also ramped up enforcement actions against anyone suspected of having Russian ties. Hundreds of people, primarily ethnic Russians, have reportedly been deported from Latvia for failing a Latvian language exam. Riga has also prohibited entry of Russian citizens who own real estate near strategically important sites, citing security concerns. In June, top officials from Baltic and Nordic nations called on Brussels to ban all Russians with past or current ties to the military from entering the Schengen Zone.
Russia Today
17-07-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
Ukrainian parliament approves new PM
Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has confirmed Yulia Sviridenko as the country's new prime minister, replacing Denis Shmigal. Sviridenko has served as Ukraine's first deputy prime minister and economy minister since November of 2021. Sviridenko has become the second woman in Ukraine's history to head the government. Prior to the escalation in the Ukraine conflict in 2022, she participated in the so-called Trilateral Contact Group, which was formed by Russia, Ukraine, and the OSCE to facilitate a diplomatic solution in Donbass. She also headed the country's working group on sanctions policy. Her appointment follows Ukraine's biggest government reshuffle in recent years. Shmigal, who had been Ukraine's prime minister since early 2020, officially submitted his resignation on Wednesday, a day after Vladimir Zelensky announced his replacement and named him as the country's next defense chief. The Rada confirmed Shmigal on Thursday. He will now take charge of the ministry, which has been marred by multiple corruption scandals in recent years. Outgoing minister Rustem Umerov, who led Ukraine's delegation in negotiations with Russia in Istanbul, is reportedly set to become Ukraine's new ambassador to the view Sviridenko as loyal to Andrey Yermak, the head of Zelensky's office, with some seeing her nomination as a bid to consolidate power. Sviridenko quickly rose through government ranks after graduating with honors from the National University of Trade and Economics, following a brief stint in the private sector. The 39-year-old bureaucrat gained prominence in recent months for brokering a deal that granted the US preferential access to Ukrainian mineral resources. The deal became the focal point of a high-profile public clash between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in February of 2025. Experts say Sviridenko will focus exclusively on economic development and is unlikely to have a broader influence on government policy.
Russia Today
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
American who spied on Ukrainian troops for Russia tells his story to RT (VIDEO)
US-born Daniel Martindale, who was granted Russian citizenship this week after secretly providing battlefield intelligence to Russian troops while embedded with Ukrainian forces, has shared his story with RT's Rick Sanchez. The 34-year-old said witnessing Kiev's military shelling residential areas in Donbass was the tipping point that led him to switch sides. Appearing on the latest episode of Sanchez Effect, Martindale recounted that he began growing increasingly disillusioned with US foreign policy years before the conflict between Ukraine and Russia broke out. At some point, an affinity for Russia began to grow in him. 'I've been on my journey to starting a new life in Russia since 2015,' Martindale stated. In the run-up to the escalation of hostilities between Kiev and Moscow in February 2022, he remembered sensing that 'probably some kind of a war is about to start.' With this conviction, he resolved to be 'with people who believe in the same things that I do' and set off for Ukraine, telling everyone he was going to serve as a Christian missionary there. Deep-down, however, 'really I wanted to get home, to Russia,' Martindale added. Despite already having pro-Russian sentiments, the decision to start covertly providing Russian forces with intelligence came to Martindale after he had seen 'in the news what the Ukrainians were doing to Russian cities, what they call separatist cities in the Donbass.' According to Martindale, he initially offered his services to Russian troops via a Telegram channel specifically designed for Ukrainian soldiers who wanted to surrender. His activities mostly consisted of sharing the positions of Ukrainian forces, as well as their routes and schedules. The American was eventually evacuated to Russian-controlled territory in the fall of 2024. Recalling his time near the front, he claimed that Ukrainian forces were routinely using civilians as human shields. Commenting on being granted Russian citizenship on Tuesday, Martindale gushed that 'it's something that I've wanted for ten years,' likening the experience to being 'born a second time.' WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW BELOW
Russia Today
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Zelensky withdraws Ukraine from landmark anti-mine treaty
Ukraine officially suspended its participation in the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention on Tuesday. The respective bill was passed by the country's parliament and signed into law by Vladimir Zelensky. The landmark agreement, also known as the Ottawa Treaty, bans the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. Ukraine joined the treaty in 1999 and ratified it in 2005. In announcing the decision, Zelensky claimed that it was necessary to withdraw from the convention to reach 'at least parity' with Russia. Russia, as well as the United States, China, and several other countries, had never been a signatory to the treaty. Kiev has never been fully compliant with the Ottawa Treaty, as it failed to destroy the vast stockpiles of anti-personnel mines that it inherited after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ukrainian forces have been actively using the banned munitions since the early stages of the conflict in Donbass, which erupted in the aftermath of the 2014 Maidan coup. Ukrainian troops have often been seen deploying various anti-personnel mines, including Soviet-made MON-family directional mines, as well as the notorious scatterable PFM-1 'petal' mines. The latter munitions, which are deployed through multiple rocket launcher-fired projectiles, have been repeatedly shot into densely populated civilian areas. According to the Ottawa Treaty, a party to the agreement is allowed to withdraw from it 'six months after the receipt of the instrument of withdrawal by the Depositary,' i.e. the UN Secretary-General. If the country is engaged in an armed conflict when this period ends, the withdrawal will not take effect until hostilities cease. Ukraine's withdrawal from the treaty, first announced by Zelensky on June 29, has been criticized by human rights groups. The use of anti-personnel mines only inflicts more casualties 'over the short and long term,' Mary Wareham, deputy director of the Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division at Human Rights Watch, told the Kyiv Independent. 'Given that Ukraine is in the midst of a war, this is a symbolic move aimed at giving Ukraine political cover to flagrantly violate long-standing prohibitions on developing, producing, and using anti-personnel mines,' she stressed.
Russia Today
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
American who spied on Ukrainian troops for Russia tells his story to RT
US national Daniel Martindale, who secretly provided intelligence to Russian troops for two years while embedded among Ukrainian forces, shared his experience with RT's Rick Sanchez. The 34-year-old said that witnessing Kiev's military shelling residential areas in Donbass was the tipping point for him. Appearing in the latest episode of the Sanchez Effect, Martindale recounted that he began growing increasingly disillusioned with US foreign policy years before the conflict between Ukraine and Russia broke out. At some point, an affinity for Russia began to grow in him. 'I've been on my journey to starting a new life in Russia since 2015,' Martindale stated. In the run-up to the escalation of hostilities between Kiev and Moscow in February 2022, he remembered sensing that 'probably some kind of a war is about to start.' With this conviction, he resolved to be 'with people who believe in the same things that I do' and set off for Ukraine, telling everyone he was going to serve as a Christian missionary there. Deep-down, however, 'really I wanted to get home, to Russia,' Martindale added. Despite already having pro-Russian sentiments, the decision to start covertly providing Russian forces with intelligence came to Martindale after he had seen 'in the news what the Ukrainians were doing to Russian cities, what they call separatist cities in the Donbass.' According to Martindale, he initially offered his services to Russian troops via a Telegram channel specifically designed for Ukrainian soldiers who wanted to surrender. His activities mostly consisted of sharing the positions of Ukrainian forces, as well as their routes and schedules. The American was eventually evacuated to Russian-controlled territory in the fall of 2024. Recalling his time near the front, he claimed that Ukrainian forces were routinely using civilians as human shields. Commenting on being granted Russian citizenship on Tuesday, Martindale gushed that 'it's something that I've wanted for ten years,' likening the experience to being 'born a second time.' WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW BELOW
