Russia warns US over diplomatic 'point of no return'
Russia has warned the US that potentially placing Russia on the US State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism could be a diplomatic “point of no return”, and trigger a total breakdown of relations between the two countries.
Alexander Darchiev, director of the Russian foreign ministry’s North American Department, was asked in an interview with Russian news agency TASS whether the possibility of lowering diplomatic relations between Moscow and Washington was being considered.
The diplomat said:
I would not like to go into hypothetical speculation about what is possible and what is not possible in the current turbulent situation, when westerners led by the United States have trampled on international law and absolute taboos in diplomatic practice
In this context, I would like to mention the legislative initiative currently being discussed in Congress to declare Russia a ‘country sponsor of terrorism’. If passed, it would mean that Washington would have to cross the point of no return, with the most serious collateral damage to bilateral diplomatic relations, up to their lowering or even breaking them off. The US side has been warned.
Any possible seizure of Russian assets by the US would completely destroy Moscow’s bilateral relations with Washington, Darchiev added.
We warn the Americans of the detrimental consequences of such actions that will permanently damage bilateral relations, which is neither in their nor in our interests.
Darchiev also said: “Americans are increasingly becoming more and more a direct party in the conflict.”
Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol, posted on Telegram that “an explosion was heard in the northeastern part” of the city. “We’re waiting for good news about Russian losses,” he added. The city, which is east of the Dnipro river and north east of the Crimean peninsula, has been occupied since March.
The number of fatalities after a Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, has grown to three, the Kyiv Post reports, citing a report by Ukrinform giving the Kramatorsk mayor, Oleksandr Honcharenko, as the source.
The US has said it is concerned by reports of British, Swedish and Croatian nationals being charged by “illegitimate authorities” in eastern Ukraine. “Russia and its proxies have an obligation to respect international humanitarian law, including the right and protections afforded to prisoners of war,” the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said.
Russia has warned the US that potentially placing Russia on the US State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism could be a diplomatic “point of no return”, and trigger a total breakdown of relations between the two countries.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Saturday the war could only end with the return of the Crimea peninsula and the punishment of the Russian leaders who ordered the military invasion.
Russian forces have taken full control of Pisky, a village on the outskirts in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Interfax cited the Russian defence ministry as saying on Saturday
The two primary road bridges giving access to the pocket of Russian-occupied territory on the west bank of the Dnipro in Ukraine’s Kherson region are now probably out of use for the purposes of substantial Russian military resupply, British military intelligence said on Saturday, which has been described as a key vulnerability by the UK’s defence ministry.
Ukraine’s health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines and hospitals in occupied areas.
The Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, has again complained that the lack of comprehensive Schengen zone travel restrictions for Russians puts an “unfair” burden on countries neighbouring Russia, reiterating calls on the EU to introduce visa bans for Russian nationals.
The Ukrainian military has reportedly shot down a Russian fighter jet, as well as four Russian drones over the past 24 hours, according to Ukrainian media.
Across Europe, beaches and cities are filled with tourists. Among them, perhaps keeping their voices low, is a sprinkling of Russians. But if some politicians have their way, this may be the last summer Russian tourists can spend on a Mediterranean beach.
Countries including Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and the Czech Republic have called for the EU to limit or block short-term Schengen visas for Russians, in protest at their country’s invasion of Ukraine.
After six months of war, the proposal echoes widespread frustration with a Russian public that seems either unable or unwilling to mount a meaningful resistance to the war being waged in their name. The situation has been aggravated by high-profile incidents including a Russian woman harassing two Ukrainian refugees in Europe.
Ukraine’s defence intelligence agency warned of fresh “provocations” at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, as both sides again accused the other of shelling Europe’s largest nuclear facility, Reuters reports.
Ukraine’s military command said “fierce fighting” continued in Pisky, an eastern village which Russia had earlier in the day said it had full control over.
“The occupiers are trying to break through the defense of our troops in the directions of Oleksandropol, Krasnohorivka, Avdiivka, Maryinka, and Pisky,” Ukraine’s general staff said in its nightly briefing note on Facebook.
“Fierce fighting continues,” it added, Reuters reports.
Ukrainian soldiers and a city worker bury the coffin of Ukrainian serviceman Anton Savytskyi at Bucha's cemetery in Kyiv region. Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
A crater from a Russian rocket attack Friday night is seen next to damaged homes in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. The strike killed three people and wounded 13, according to the mayor. Photograph: David Goldman/AP
Russian troops and Kremlin-backed rebels are seeking to seize Ukrainian-held areas north and west of the city of Donetsk to expand the separatists’ self-proclaimed republic, the Associated Press reports.
But the Ukrainian military said on Saturday that its forces had prevented an overnight advance toward the smaller cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut.
The Ukrainian governor of the Luhansk province, which is part of the fight over the Donbas region and was overrun by Russian forces last month, claimed that Ukrainian troops still held a small area.
Writing on Telegram, Luhansk governor Serhii Haidai said the defending troops remained holed up inside an oil refinery on the edge of Lysychansk, a city that Moscow claimed to have captured, and also control areas near a village.
“The enemy is burning the ground at the entrances to the Luhansk region because it cannot overcome [Ukrainian resistance along] these few kilometers,” Haidai said.
“It is difficult to count how many thousands of shells this territory of the free Luhansk region has withstood over the past month and a half,” he added.
A local resident rides a bicycle past a fragment of a rocket embedded in the ground following a rocket attack in the town of Bakhmut on 12 August. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
The Ukrainian army’s Operational Command South posted a series of updates on its Facebook page on Saturday, saying that over night the Nikopol and Kryvorizky districts in the south of the Dnipropetrovsk region were shelled by Russian rocket salvo fire systems.
In the city of Nikopol, the update said, 11 high-rise buildings, 13 private buildings and a kindergarten were “mutilated”, while a gas pipeline and power line had been hit and currently “disabled”. Nobody was injured.
The update added:
In Kherson Oblast, in addition to physical and moral pressure, an information war continues on the occupied territory. Propaganda channels daily inform about the preparation and holding of the “referendum” and accession to Russia.
The update said another ship had arrived in a Black Sea port for loading with the help of the UN World Food Program, and would later leave for Ethiopia with 23,000 tons of grain.
My colleagues Luke Harding and Christopher Cherry wrote this report earlier about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is now on the frontline between Russian-occupied and Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Russia is readying itself for a prolonged war in Ukraine, according to the US-based analysts Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
A new budget is reportedly available that would boost industrial spending by $10bn and support war efforts.
The ISW reports the The Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) as saying that the Military-Industrial Commission of the Russian Federation, chaired by Russian president Vladimir Putin, is preparing to change the state defense order programme by early September to increase expenditures by 600-700 billion rubles (approximately $10bn).
Russian media outlet Ura reported that Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu likely visited the Uralvagonzavod factory, the largest tank manufacturer in Russia and the producer of Russia’s T-72 main battle tanks, on 12 August, the ISW said.
In this March 6, 2018, file photo, Russian president Vladimir Putin listens to employees of Uralvagonzavod factory in Nizhny Tagil, Russia. In 2011, Nizhny Tagil - an industrial city some 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) east of Moscow - was nicknamed “Putingrad” for its residents' fervent support of the president. Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP
The number of fatalities after a Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, has grown to three, the Kyiv Post reports, citing a report by Ukrinform giving the Kramatorsk mayor, Oleksandr Honcharenko, as the source.
According to him, 13 more people were injured and 20 houses were damaged in the attack on 12 August.
On 11 August, the Russian army hit the Donetsk region 37 times, the Kyiv Post reported, targeting a residential area and a coke and chemical plant. Civilians were reportedly killed and injured.
Children watch as workers clean up after a rocket strike on a house in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Friday, 12 August, 2022. There were no injuries reported in the strike. Photograph: David Goldman/AP
Ukraine has urged those disgruntled by Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s call to western countries to ban Russian tourists to “direct their complaints to the Kremlin”.
The Ukrainian president this week insisted a travel ban against Russian citizens would be more effective than sanctions, and warned Europe must not be “transformed into a supermarket” for anyone to enter.
“Russians who are upset with the prospect of being banned from tourist travel to Europe can direct their complaints to the Kremlin and over 70% of their compatriots who support the war,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said.
“No one proposes to ban those few Russians who may need an asylum or humanitarian entry.”
Russians who are upset with the prospect of being banned from tourist travel to Europe can direct their complaints to the Kremlin and over 70% of their compatriots who support the war. No one proposes to ban those few Russians who may need an asylum or humanitarian entry.
The US has said it is concerned by reports of British, Swedish and Croatian nationals being charged by “illegitimate authorities” in eastern Ukraine.
“Russia and its proxies have an obligation to respect international humanitarian law, including the right and protections afforded to prisoners of war,” the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said.
We are concerned by reports of British, Swedish & Croatian nationals being charged by illegitimate authorities in eastern Ukraine. Russia and its proxies have an obligation to respect international humanitarian law, including the rights & protections afforded to prisoners of war.
Russia has warned the US that potentially placing Russia on the US State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism could be a diplomatic “point of no return”, and trigger a total breakdown of relations between the two countries.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Saturday the war could only end with the return of the Crimea peninsula and the punishment of the Russian leaders who ordered the military invasion.
Russian forces have taken full control of Pisky, a village on the outskirts in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Interfax cited the Russian defence ministry as saying on Saturday
The two primary road bridges giving access to the pocket of Russian-occupied territory on the west bank of the Dnipro in Ukraine’s Kherson region are now probably out of use for the purposes of substantial Russian military resupply, British military intelligence said on Saturday, which has been described as a key vulnerability by the UK’s defence ministry.
Ukraine’s health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines and hospitals in occupied areas.
The Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, has again complained that the lack of comprehensive Schengen zone travel restrictions for Russians puts an “unfair” burden on countries neighbouring Russia, reiterating calls on the EU to introduce visa bans for Russian nationals.
The Ukrainian military has reportedly shot down a Russian fighter jet, as well as four Russian drones over the past 24 hours, according to Ukrainian media.
The US and Russia are discussing a prisoner exchange that would involve trading a notorious Russian arms trafficker for American basketball star Brittney Griner, a Russian diplomat said on Saturday.
“The discussions on the very sensitive topic of an exchange are proceeding via the channels chosen by our presidents,” Alexander Datchiev, the head the North America department at the Russian foreign ministry, was quoted as saying by the Russian state news agency TASS.
“Silent diplomacy continues and should bear fruit if Washington, of course, is careful not to fall into propaganda,” he said.
Griner, 31, who was was in Russia to play for the professional Yekaterinburg team during her off-season from the Phoenix Mercury, was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in February for possessing vape cartridges with a small amount of cannabis oil.
Bout, also dubbed the Bill Gates of Arms Dealing, was extradited to the US from Thailand in 2010, after a sting operation by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) two years earlier.
In 2012 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison after a New York jury found him guilty of conspiring to kill American citizens and US officials, delivering anti-aircraft missiles and aiding a terrorist organisation.
Russia has repeatedly attempted to negotiate his release via a prisoner swap.
Bout inspired the 2005 arms smuggling movie “Lord of War” starring Nicolas Cage and was dubbed the “Merchant of Death” by former British minister Peter Hain for supplying weapons to Angola and Liberia.
This combination of pictures shows a file photo taken on 16 February, 2010 of Russian Viktor Bout, in a cell at the Criminal Court in Bangkok and a file photo taken on 27 July 2022 of US WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner inside a defendants’ cage before a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow. Photograph: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images
Russian forces have taken full control of Pisky, a village on the outskirts in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Interfax cited the Russian defence ministry as saying on Saturday.
Russian and pro-Russian forces had reported that they had taken full control of Pisky more than a week ago.
The ministry also said that Russian forces had destroyed a US-supplied HIMARS rocket system near the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk and a depot with ammunition for the system, Interfax reported.
