Kremlin's strategic aim in Ukraine is 'new world order'
Moscow wants any Ukraine peace talks to focus on creating a “new world order”, the French press agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) quotes Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.
Any negotiation needs to be based on taking into account Russian interests, Russian concerns. It should be about the principles on which the new world order will be based.
According to the agency, he added that Russia rejects a “unipolar world order led by ‘one hegemon’.”
Russia has long said it was leading a struggle against US dominance over the international stage, and argues the Ukraine offensive is part of that fight. The Kremlin said this week it had no choice but to continue its offensive, seeing no diplomatic solution.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...t-macron-and-von-der-leyens-last-day-in-china
Summary of the day so far …
Ukraine said on Friday that Russia was concentrating all its efforts on capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut where it described the situation as “difficult” but said it was holding out despite Russia’s numerical superiority. Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi said that Ukraine controlled the situation in Bakhmut, understood Russian intentions and that Moscow had tactical success in some places, but was paying a high price for it.
Earlier the UK Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence briefing that Russian forces have “highly likely advanced into the [Bakhmut] town centre, and has seized the West Bank of the Bakhmutka River. Ukraine’s key supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened.”
The Pentagon is investigating a reported security breach that saw documents that provide details of US and Nato plans to help prepare Ukraine for a spring offensive against Russia have leaked to social media platforms, the New York Times reports. The documents were spread on Twitter and Telegram, and reportedly contain charts and details about weapons deliveries, battalion strengths and other sensitive information, the Times said. Information in the documents is at least five weeks old, with the most recent dated 1 March, the report said.
Information in the documents also details expenditure rates for munitions under Ukraine military control, including for the Himars rocket systems, the US-made artillery rocket systems that have proven highly effective against Russian forces. The New York Times report quotes military analysts who warn that some documents appear to have been altered in a disinformation campaign by Russia. In one document Ukrainian troop deaths are inflated and Russian battlefield losses are minimised.
The Ukrainian headquarters of the armed forces supreme command has discussed measures to prevent leaks of military information at a meeting. The presidential statement made no mention of a leak having occurred. Kyiv also dismissed the leaked documents as a Russian disinformation effort.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday during a news conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu that obstacles to Russian agricultural exports were getting tougher, and that they had discussed what Lavrov described as a “failure” to implement the terms of the Black Sea grain initiative. Çavuşoğlu said he agreed with Russia on the need to lift restrictions on Russian grain and fertiliser exports before the deal could be extended further.
Imports of Ukrainian grain to Poland will be temporarily halted to mitigate impact on prices, but transit will still be allowed, the new Polish agriculture minister Robert Telus said on Friday. The move comes as thousands of farmers protested across Romania over the impact of Ukrainian grain imports on prices, blocking traffic and border checkpoints with tractors and trucks and urging the European Commission to intervene.
Russian state-owned news agency Tass reports that Russian security forces claim to have “detained an agent of the security service of Ukraine and his accomplice in the Kherson region, who were collecting data on the deployment and movement of troops”.
Ukraine has rejected the suggestion from the Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that it give up Crimea to end the war with Russia, which annexed the peninsula in 2014.
For his part, Xi has said a political settlement is the only “correct” way out of the Ukraine crisis, Reuter reports, citing the foreign ministry. All parties should meet each other halfway to create conditions for a political settlement, Xi told Macron during a dinner, the statement said.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...t-macron-and-von-der-leyens-last-day-in-china
