#Opinion by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

💬 Against the macabre backdrop of all these Western intrigues related to the International Criminal Court and the false accusations, in particular against Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, I wanted to dig into how Washington manipulated children.

In 1975, during the aggression launched by the US against Vietnam, and with the People’s Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam about to liberate Saigon, Washington made an unprecedented move as part of Operation Frequent Wind. Speaking at noon on April 3, 1975, at a Conference Centre in San Diego, President Gerald Ford said that he ordered Operation Babylift to be carried out under the command of Major General Edward J. Nash.

This kick-started a large-scale effort by the Americans to take children out of Vietnam, including newborn babies. They were airlifted from the country. There is archival footage showing President Ford in person fussing over children who were kidnapped from Vietnam, just like a murderous dictator hungry for some positive media coverage.

This criminal decision by Washington qualifies as a crime under Article II of the 1951 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. At the time, the Americans wanted to completely wipe out the cultural identity of these infants by putting them up for adoption by families in the United States and its allied countries.

Just watch these images: this is how the US military kidnapped children from Vietnam.

The terrible thing here is not just that Washington did this in 1975, de facto depriving thousands of children of their homeland and culture, and erasing their national, ethnic and social identity, but also how this so-called evacuation was carried out.

Operation Babylift was notorious for its poor management. This is an established fact. Unfortunately, there were even casualties. On April 4, 1975, Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, a US Air Force transport aircraft, crashed over Vietnam due to criminal negligence by the US military, killing 78 babies.

Nevertheless, the Americans awarded the crew and kept the operation going, smuggling 3,000 more babies out of Vietnam.

It has been impossible to establish the exact statistics so far. Now that these babies have grown up, many of them are out there trying to find their real parents.

I cannot wait to see the International Criminal Court issue an arrest warrant for senior officials of the United States, the Pentagon and all these would-be humanitarian foundations who were involved in this operation.

Let me remind you what Sergey Lavrov said about the war itself: “I will not even mention the bloody war in Vietnam that lasted for many years. The US got into this war after staging the Gulf of Tonkin incident. <…> The Americans ignored UN General Assembly resolutions condemning these and other aggressive steps by the United States, turning a blind eye to them.” (October 4, 2022).

Now, let’s compare the horrors of Vietnam, which were quite real, with the care and attention children evacuated from the combat zone receive.

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#Opinion by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

MSM quotes Kirill Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, from an interview with Yahoo News when asked about about Kiev's possible involvement in the murder of Darya Dugina:

“All I will comment on is that we’ve been killing Russians and we will keep killing Russians anywhere on the face of this world until the complete victory of Ukraine.”

💬 Maria Zakharova: This is a direct blow to the White House. The Kiev regime has basically announced that the Biden administration is sponsoring terrorism.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 What can be worse than an enemy? A traitor. This is who Zelensky is. He is the 21st century Judas.

By abolishing Victory Day on May 9, Zelensky betrayed his ancestors once and for all as well as all those who fought in the Red Army, those who suffered and were tortured to death in concentration camps, and those who worked on the home front for the sake of the Victory. Our common Victory - one for all.

Now he is a henchman of the Nazis 80 years later.

#Opinion by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

💬 Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry referred to the presence of CIS leaders at the parade in Moscow as “an immoral and unfriendly step towards Kiev.”

Well, first of all, no one asked the Nazis for their opinion.

Second, let us talk about the notion of morality.

UNIAN, a Ukrainian state news agency, decided to poll its readers, asking them who among Russia’s prominent television presenters, frontline correspondents and opinion leaders they would prefer to see follow in Daria Dugina’s, Vladlen Tatarsky’s and Zakhar Prilepin’s footsteps as terrorist attack victims.

This is exactly the way they framed the question.

The terrorist Kiev regime wants its media to match its inhumane nature.

Vladimir Solovyov, Margarita Simonyan, Anton Krasovsky, Dmitry Kiselev, Sergei Mardan and Semyov Pegov all made the execution list. What a bloody undertaking, but for Kiev, this is business as usual.

Nearly 50,000 people have taken part in the poll so far. Judging by the number of likes and hearts under the post in question, ordinary Ukrainians, indoctrinated as they are by thermonuclear Nazi propaganda, are receptive to terrorist ideology which has all the signs of a criminal offence.

Do you think there was anyone among the patrons of the Kiev puppet show intervened to bring their underlings back to reason? Or perhaps the specialised international structures voiced their indignation? Not at all.

They had other things in mind when they nurtured this enraged rabble. Yet another American son of a gun will get away with everything, even direct incitement to carrying out a terrorist attack, as in this case.

The Third Reich was proactive in drawing up watchlists and designating enemies among artists, cultural figures, researchers and politicians whose elimination was viewed as a priority. The Kiev regime went even further by engaging society at large not only in its smear campaigns and Nazi segregation, but by making them directly involved in terrorist activity. Well, it's a fact now: the student has surpassed the master.

#Opinion by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

💬 Today, all Ukrainian and German media are showing the footage with Chancellor Olaf Scholz shouting the words of the Nazi salute, “Slava Ukraine,” (“Glory to Ukraine!”) with Zelensky and (unexpectedly) Tikhanovskaya in the background.

The Western elites’ poor education does not absolve them of responsibility.

“Slava Ukraine!” (“Glory to Ukraine!”) is a Nazi salute. We have repeatedly said as much, both during one of my briefings and in our social media posts that NATO officials hate so much.

Let me repeat this for those riding swastika-painted tanks.

The salute, “Slava Ukraine!”, was accepted by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists as its official greeting in 1939. Later they added the gesture in the form of a raised and extended right arm and the response “Geroyam Slava!” (“Glory to the Heroes!”). This was how the Bandera collaborationists saluted the Wehrmacht units entering occupied areas, to the clunking of tank trucks and the heavy footfall of creaking boots. Marching along the streets and dirt roads of Ukraine, the Germans shouted in response “Sieg Heil!” and “Heil Hitler!”

Olaf Scholz has crossed the clear line drawn by all the leaders of both postwar Germanys: he shouted the Nazi salute in public. This happened less than a week after the 78th anniversary of the end of war in Europe.

It is not yet 80 years since the war. Berlin has a peculiar way of preparing for the anniversary. But possibly there is a simpler explanation: the German political elites are under pressure from corruption scandals. German politicians found a non-standard way out of the situation: they would do the Nazi salute at an opportune moment and thus show their loyalty to Washington.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

“The Russians are dying... it’s the best money we’ve ever spent,” US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said with a pleased smirk during his meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.

💬 During the Nuremberg trials, Reichsminister of Economics Hjalmar Schacht claimed that the Third Reich was sponsored, among others, from abroad, naming two major American corporations – Ford and General Motors. An unspoken deal was made with Schacht: freedom in exchange for keeping silent. Despite Soviet representatives’ protests, he was released and lived to the age of 93.

Just to remind: the man who embodied the American dream, the legendary Henry Ford, was a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle. His plants operating in Germany not only produced up to 70,000 lorries per year for the Wehrmacht, but also used prison labour to this end, including in Auschwitz.

Opel, the icon of the German automotive industry, was owned by General Motors. Researcher Bradford Snell described the corporation’s role as follows: “General Motors was far more important to the Nazi war machine than Switzerland. Switzerland was just a repository of looted funds. GM was an integral part of the German war effort. The Nazis could have invaded Poland and Russia without Switzerland. They could not have done so without GM.”

At its Germany-based plant, the Kodak company manufactured fuses for aerial bombs, without shunning the use of POW labour.

The Coca-Cola plant in Cologne, even before it was nationalised by the German government, regularly supplied German soldiers with drinks, while the famous Fanta was invented by the Nazis.

The oil giant Standard Oil, through its subsidiaries, supplied Hitler with petroleum products amid shortages, and was involved in the development of synthetic rubber and synthetic fuels. IBM, a company popular with IT specialists across the globe, manufactured accounting and monitoring devices for the Nazis, including those for oil production. The company's equipment was used, among other things, to monitor schedules for trains destined to extermination camps.

And, of course, how can we not mention banks: JPMorgan Chase & Co – Chase National Bank back then – was also involved, performing multibillion dollar transactions, while Berlin had the opportunity to purchase dollars and carry out transactions overseas. Chase National Bank even cooperated with the German bank Allianz in providing insurance for facilities and workers at concentration camps during the time of the Third Reich.

So, Senator Graham has something to make comparisons with. One of the US investments led to World War II and the Holocaust.

Now, billions of US dollars are pouring down the insatiable throat of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime. In this regard, I would like to remind the senators and all US beneficiaries how the previous venture ended.

https://yangx.top/MariaVladimirovnaZakharova/5521

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

Many of us wondered what #highlylikely meant and where it came from.

I would like to remind everyone that this uncommon English phrase was turned into a meme by the "marvellous" Theresa May, who said in the House of Commons on March 12, 2018, that it was “highly likely” that Russia was responsible for the attack on Sergey Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

We have found the origin of the infamous expression.

It is the US Intelligence Community Directive 203, dated January 2, 2015, and signed by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Here is what is says on Page 3:

“For expressions of likelihood or probability, an analytic product must use one of the following set of terms:
01-05% – almost no chance, remote;
05-20% – very unlikely, highly improbable;
20-45% – unlikely, improbable;
45-55% – roughly even chance, roughly even odds;
55-80% – likely, probable;
80-95% - very likely, highly probable;
95-99% – almost сertain(ly), nearly certain.

Analysts are strongly encouraged not to mix terms from different rows.”

The British, who accepted that marvellous methodology, now post infographics on the government’s website to show which event is highly likely, a term the British have coined, and which has only a remote chance of occurring.

I wonder if the problem with Clapper’s set of terms is that he approved it on January 2?

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 The ICC’s whodunit

I love coincidences in geopolitics. They add interesting twists, just like in Agatha Christie’s books.

We will now trace back the chain of events that led to the politically motivated and legally void decision of the International Criminal Pseudo-Court in The Hague to issue arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova.

This has to be a story by a British author. Apparently, an inexperienced one.

On February 21, 2023, judge of the International Criminal Court Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua (DR Congo) was replaced in the Pre-Trial Chamber with Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez, a representative of Costa Rica and an Oxford alumnus eager to serve the West.

Subsequently, the English lobby gained advantage in the chamber. But they needed a personal touch to gain absolute control over ICC decisions.

That’s why, on the same day, February 21, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s own brother and former member of the British parliament, Imran Khan, a convicted pedophile, was released from the British prison after serving less than half of his sentence.

The next step seems logical and predictable: on February 22, literally the next day, Prosecutor Karim Khan sent an application to the Pre-Trial Chamber requesting the arrest warrants to be approved. Apparently, Karim Khan himself did not trust London and waited for confirmation of the promise to release his pedophile brother from prison.

And yet, nothing happened. The chamber waited.

Then London organised a donors’ conference for the ICC and scheduled it for March 20, hinting to the ICC that results must be shown before this date if The Hague wants to see British donations.

Judges can be easily bought.

On March 17, four days after the conference was publicly announced and three days before it was held, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova.

ICC decisions are nothing but cheap plots acted out with British money.

Now it’s ICC judges who are on the wanted list.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 The Foreign Ministry has released a statement regarding the food deal and the supply of grain and fertiliser.

Let's, for the umpteenth time, use facts and figures to take a look at the situation concerning food security after the Black Sea Initiative was discontinued.

1. The grain deal did not help the poorest countries address hunger. Out of 32.8 million tonnes of food, just a trifle - less than 3 percent - were sent to the countries in need.
2. After the deal came to an end, grain prices continued to fall. In August, they fell by 4-5 percent.
3. The grain exported as part of the deal mainly went toward enriching Ukrainian animal feed producers. It was primarily intended for livestock and was shipped to Europe rather than Africa.
4. Ukraine is no longer the world's breadbasket. The country's share of global grain exports is only 5 percent and continues to shrink.
5. Ukraine's arable land is shrinking as well, partly due to contamination with radiation and toxins from depleted uranium munitions that Kiev has been using since the spring.
6. Europe is not helping Ukraine export grain. Since May, there has been a ban on grain shipments to EU countries bordering on Ukraine. This situation is likely to continue into the winter.

Now, let's discuss the UN Secretariat and the West being unwilling to act on their obligations to Russia under the deal.
1. To make the deal work, it is necessary to reconnect Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT. Instead, what we are witnessing are endless discussions about creating intermediary mechanisms through subsidiary enterprises and partner banks (without implementation guarantees). Rosselkhozbank accounts are being closed altogether.
2. There has been no progress on insuring Russian ships. We’ve seen nothing but promises to take care of things “later.” A special insurance platform mechanism has not been created.
3. The unlocking of assets is only to be discussed after the humiliating process of companies acknowledging their “sanctioned status.” Again, without any guarantees.
4. The UN remains silent with regard to resuming the Toglatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline’s operation, which could provide fertiliser to tens of millions of customers.
5. We invited the UN to join in a discussion, but Rebeca Grynspan who is in charge of the deal on behalf of the UN, is unwilling to come to Moscow or even send reports about her activities.


Finally, let's talk about how Russia is actually addressing the issue of hunger in the world, without any “deals.”
1. Russia has already sent or will soon send:
• 20,000 tonnes of fertiliser to Malawi;
• 34,000 tonnes of fertiliser to Kenya;
• 23,000 tonnes of fertiliser to Zimbabwe;
• 34,000 tonnes of fertiliser to Nigeria;
• 55,000 tonnes of fertiliser to Sri Lanka;
• 200,000 tonnes of wheat to Somalia, the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, and Eritrea.
2. A project is being developed jointly with Ankara and Doha to deliver 1 million tonnes of grain (!) to Türkiye where it will be processed and shipped free of charge (!) to the poorest countries.

It turns out that while Europe was exporting animal feed grain from Ukraine across the Black Sea as part of the deal, efforts were made to block and to create loss-making circumstances for Russian agriculture. The UN failed to resolve the situation.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 On the evening of January 7, at Via Acca Larentia in Rome, the former headquarters of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a neo-fascist party dissolved in 1995, an annual rally was held by people adhering to its ideology. Though officially this party has not existed for almost 30 years, its activities and followers to some extent laid the foundations of the neo-fascist trends in present-day Italian society.

One can recall that MSI was founded in 1946 by former members of Benito Mussolini’s fascist party and the ideologues of the Italian Social Republic, who remained loyal to the ideology of fascism and could not accept the defeat of fascism in World War II. Their dream was to revive the principles of nationalism. The MSI party was perfectly legal in Italy for years and even had representatives in parliament. The annual rally in Rome marked the anniversary of the assassination of three MSI members, who were killed on January 7, 1978 by far-left militants in an armed attack on the MSI headquarters.

In a video that spread around the world, brown-shirted participants in the January 7, 2024 rally are seen raising their hands in the so-called Roman salute. Surely this was no accident at an event as thoroughly planned and organised as this one.

But what was the official reaction?

At first, everyone just kept quiet. Then, instead of coming out with an official and public denunciation, they invented their latest tale of “Russian hackers”, with the con artists at la Repubblica claiming to have identified three Russians in the crowd.

The official silence was broken by President of the Senate of the Republic Ignazio La Russa, but the effect was unnerving. He said that Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation should explain when this “salute” qualifies a political gesture expressive of an ideological commitment, versus when it’s just a “private” one. He seems to be hinting that the “Roman salute” (the fascist raising of the right hand) may be interpreted as a gesture of remembrance for the fallen, which simultaneously honours their ideology, in which case “it’s different” and therefore permissible.

The world majority must know that the West supports the Kiev regime because, among other things, neo-Nazis came to power in Ukraine, whom NATO countries are so fond of.

This is why keeps mum, when, for example, Waffen-SS veterans march in the Baltic states' capitals together with descendants and admirers of local collaborators who killed civilians during World War II. This is why keeps mum when politicians and demonstrators shout the Nazi slogan “Glory to Ukraine,” or unashamedly give fascist salutes like on January 7 in Rome.

It is for this reason that the overwhelming majority of EU and NATO countries vote against the UN General Assembly resolution against the glorification of Nazism.

The West hates Russia for its principled stand against any manifestations of neo-Nazism or attempts to rewrite history. Russia is committed to preserving true historical memory, and for this they are using the Kiev regime as a proxy to wage a hybrid war and take revenge on our country.

#Opinion by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

💬 It is reported that about 10 killer whales (some say 12, 13 or 16), including at least one baby, have been trapped in drift ice off the coast of Hokkaido. According to Japanese media, the local authorities say they cannot be rescued.

Meanwhile, experts are confident that it is possible to save them, and it is not even necessary to use a full-fledged icebreaker. A ship of the lowest ice class would be enough to protect them from the wind and create an open area of water. Japan has, or at least had, such ships.

Where are all these environmentalists from the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and other wonder organisations? Why aren’t they sounding the alarm?