Yes, Russia is Escalating the War with Ukraine

I apologize for not posting on Monday, but the schedule of events surrounding my visit to Moscow made it impossible for me to park myself in front of my computer. I did get to spend some time with Errol Musk (father of Elon), George Galloway, Pepe Escobar and Alexander Duggin. On Monday, I was part of a panel that hosted Foreign Minister Lavrov, who made some news with his comments about Tony Blinken, Biden’s Secretary of State:

The mouth was a cliff. CIA Director W. Burns was coming. He tried (in the presentation of the Americans) to pull us away from the “impartable” decision to attack Ukraine. We told them that our concern was not to attack someone, but to protect our legitimate security interests. Then the draft agreement between Russia and NATO was presented, as well as a draft treaty between Russia and the United States, which clearly outlined the interests of Russia’s security, but not to the detriment of the security of our neighbors. On both documents, we met in January 2022 with the then US Secretary of State E. Blinken in Geneva. We were actually ignored. The tasks that have been put forward and that we are now solving in the framework of a special military operation have been called unacceptable. No guarantee of Ukraine’s non-accession to NATO. Don’t even think about it.

U.S. Secretary of State E. Blinken told me that the maximum is that we are creating medium- and shorter-range ground missiles. This is a class that was banned by the INF Treaty, where the United States came out. They have not responded or to respond to our call in the absence of a treaty to make two parallel, non-related moratoriums. Blinken proposed to agree that the United States in a certain amount will deploy ground RIAC in Ukraine. And Russia, they say, will also make such a commitment near the Ukrainian border. The “ceiling” will be provided. A week later, at the Munich Security Conference, V.A. Zelensky was hysterically shouting that no one would ban Ukraine from joining NATO. He was applauded. A week later, in a gross violation of the Minsk agreements, the shelling of Donbass increased by 10-15 times. When the “plan B” was ready to implement – not through the Minsk agreements to end that war, but through the violent seizure of small territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, which were not under the control of Kiev, we have no choice.

Lavrov also had some choice words for the Brits in response to my question. I asked:

What problems or obstacles or challenges do you envision as Russia now shifts from a special military operation to a counter-terrorism operation?

Mr. Lavrov responded as follows:

This concerns us not only because of what happened earlier this month but also because the Kiev regime has used these methods in one form or another (perhaps not so bluntly as it was done in the Bryansk and Kursk regions) since the very beginning. I can name any territory where hostilities occurred, and the outcome will be the same. I believe the Kursk Region is the most telling example. The Russian armed forces clarify which sites on Ukrainian territory they targeted. These are the sites associated with the military, such as military units, locations where equipment is concentrated, or former civilian sites used by the armed forces or the Security Service of Ukraine.

As concerns the Kursk Region, we have all seen what the Ukrainian Nazis did there. There is not a single site that could be presented to the “audience” as a site associated with combat activity. Therefore, it is not surprising for us. During his last meeting with the Government, President of Russia Vladimir Putin clearly said what conclusion we have reached. We will proceed from that.

This is a rather serious threat. Obviously, Ukraine is responsible for all that but it would be helpless without the support of the Anglo-Saxons. We can omit the Saxons now and just say, without the support of the English. It is possible that, by inertia, US intelligence services are still involved, but the British are involved 100 percent. Measures should be taken not only by Russia’s Federal Security Service (it has a load of work) but also the Interior Ministry, the National Guard, and other security services. It is important to enhance what we used to call public vigilance. This is being taken care of. You are right when you say that there are higher risks of terrorist acts. We can see it. We will do anything to suppress these threats and prevent harm to the Russian public.

Today, I interviewed retired Lt. General Evgeny Buzhinsky, who served in the International Treaty Department of the Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Defense. I asked him specifically about the importance, or lack thereof, of the Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian airfields that host some of Russia’s strategic bombers. He said that people should not read too much into his public silence on the matter because Putin viewed this act as a betrayal by London and Washington of the New Start Agreement. The General specifically said, “Putin was furious.” The General went on to say that this moment marked the closest that the United States and Russia have come to the brink of nuclear war since the Cuban missile crisis. I hope to post the video on Thursday and you can watch him yourself.

I talking to the General I also gleaned some other important insights into Russia’s military strategy. When I asked, “Why hasn’t Russia destroyed the bridges over the Dnieper River, which would cutoff the Ukrainian army from its vital logistics needs?” he laughed and said, “I have wondered that myself.”

But then he went on to explain what he believed was the reason (some of this conversation happened off camera), “If Russia had destroyed the bridges early on in the Special Military Operation, it would have left the bulk of Ukraine’s army intact on the west side of the river.” So, now? Destroying the bridges may now make sense. It will cut off what is left of Ukraine’s army and facilitate Russia gaining control of all of Eastern Ukraine.

I did mange to squeeze in my regular Monday appearances with Nima and with Judge Napolitano: