Russian official issues stark threats to the West
Source: AP
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
MOSCOW (AP) Moscow may respond to Western sanctions by opting out of the last nuclear arms deal with the U.S., cutting diplomatic ties with Western nations and freezing their assets, a senior Russian official warned Saturday as Russias ties with the West dived to new lows over its invasion of Ukraine.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russias Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, also warned that Moscow could restore the death penalty after Russia was removed from Europes top rights group a chilling statement that shocked human rights activists in a country that hasnt had capital punishment for a quarter-century.
The sanctions placed new tight restrictions on Russian financial operations, imposed a draconian ban on technology exports to Russia and froze the assets of Putin and his foreign minister, a harsh response that dwarfed earlier Western restrictions. Washington and its allies say that even tougher sanctions are possible, including kicking Russia out of SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions.
In sarcastic comments posted on a Russian social platform, Medvedev dismissed the sanctions as a show of Western political impotence that will only consolidate the Russian leadership and foment anti-Western feelings.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman and the head of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev speaks, in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022. Medvedev warned that Moscow could react to Western sanctions over Russia's attack on Ukraine by opting out of the last remaining nuclear arms pact, freezing Western assets and citting diplomatic ties with nations in the West. (Yekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-vladimir-putin-business-dmitry-medvedev-global-trade-858a23b058209e5662ee59d768b615bd
Tomconroy
(7,611 posts)Likely to adhere to them anyway.
Don't give a damn about the other stuff.
Scrivener7
(50,955 posts)of California's.
Which indicates that Western assets in the country might not amount to much, and their freezing of those assets is pretty lame.
Also, it indicates that our financial sanctions are devastating to them.
BumRushDaShow
(129,080 posts)(from here - https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-94-trillion-world-economy-in-one-chart/)
Russia is over in the green section along the edge of the circle next to the word "Europe".
Scrivener7
(50,955 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,080 posts)Luckily the org that created that image put them in an easy place to find them by having the green section's text identifier of "Europe" right next to where the Russia section is carved out.
Grokenstein
(5,723 posts)I just immediately started playing "Where's Vlado?" and was starting to get frustrated. What a fearsome powerhouse!
BumRushDaShow
(129,080 posts)but luckily there is a geographic category label for each colored section, and in this case, the "Europe" text on the outside of the circle by the green section, is right next to where the Russia carve-out is.
bucolic_frolic
(43,176 posts)shit, and they believe the west, particularly America, is divided and cannot sustain the pressure. They think Tucker-MAGA will divide and weaken us to the point of inaction. And it might not be until 2025.
TheBlackAdder
(28,208 posts).
They already violated their agreement not to invade Ukraine.
.
machoneman
(4,007 posts)Wuddles440
(1,123 posts)both middle fingers every time they flash Pootie's beady eyed puss on the screen and follow it up with finger gun shots to his nasty, little head.
ProudMNDemocrat
(16,786 posts)The Russian Former Guy thinks he can threaten the West?
The numbers are not in your favor, Dmitry! Get a grip on reality.
EarlG
(21,949 posts)You North Koread yourself.
mitch96
(13,911 posts)DallasNE
(7,403 posts)And the brave people taking to the streets in Moscow are sending a contrarian message as well, not to mention the 2 paratrooper aircraft shot down and the column of Russian equipment completely destroyed. How many body bags will be enough?
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,002 posts)MarineCombatEngineer
(12,393 posts)orwell
(7,773 posts)...we are getting our asses kicked.
We are being exposed for the impotent tyrants we are.
They already played the nuclear weapons card...a sign of impotence.
Now they are threatening sanctions with an economy smaller than California and a massive economic and social uprising against them worldwide.
YOU ARE NOW TOXIC MOTHERFUCKERS! Put a concrete dome over yourselves. You and Chernobyl can join the world when you are no longer radioactive.
Go back to your fucking bunker...
FakeNoose
(32,645 posts)... or maybe they're telling us they're on a suicide mission?
I don't believe the Russian people have any interest in that, but Pootie might be crazier than we all know.
orwell
(7,773 posts)...we are all dead.
But then again, we are all dead anyway...so...
Lonestarblue
(10,011 posts)in that last speech. Sanctions need to include cutoff from SWIFT. Russian oligarchs will then have a decision to makego down with Putin or get rid of him and restore Russia to their usual playground of stealing Russian assets (though there may be none left to steal by now) but more importantly to them continuing their international drug and sex trafficking rackets and their ability to launder the profits in other countries.
chowder66
(9,073 posts)Lovie777
(12,276 posts)Eff off.
paleotn
(17,930 posts)The alternative is they become a wholly owned subsidiary of "corporate China." And the last arms race worked out so well for them. NOT. Putin is talking out of his ass again.
Obvious85
(259 posts)If the entire world 'ghosts' you as a country, your f*cked
PortTack
(32,773 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,080 posts)because they have their sites on Taiwan and have been "practicing" a similar invasion of that island for years (even though Taiwan lists themselves as "ROC" ).
Which is probably why they abstained from the Security Council vote (basically invoking their oft - "We don't want to get involved in the internal affairs of other countries" thought process).
Obvious85
(259 posts)So Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, S T F U
yaesu
(8,020 posts)"all three lines" of advance: senior U.S. defense official.
Putin has called up reserves for the fighting, official
Link to tweet
PortTack
(32,773 posts)oldsoftie
(12,553 posts)yaesu
(8,020 posts)running out of enough boots on the ground for a continual fight.
toopers
(1,224 posts)and is basically implementing a draft.
MarcA
(2,195 posts)Overthrow Zelensky and democracy by the use of assorted
criminals, authoritarians and oligarchs already in Ukraine and
making it another oligarchic client state. Putin gets another
buffer and the oligarchs get another enslaved population. Too
many elsewhere will accept this "peace".
Justice matters.
(6,930 posts)Better prepare themselves for street guerrilla 24/7. Ukrainians kicked the previous puppet regime's butts out of government and they will make the new puppets' life a bloody nightmare (until they'll either get the shaft or opt to run away like the previous thugs did).
It's easy to foresee the end result there. Sadly, too much blood will have to be spent to get back the democracy they enjoyed for too short a period.
Putin's thugs can't murder 44 million Ukrainians (approx.). He's delusional.
relayerbob
(6,544 posts)IronLionZion
(45,450 posts)unless China is joining them, they don't have much to punish the west. Europe can find alternative energy for their heat. Spring is coming soon anyway.
louis-t
(23,295 posts)dalton99a
(81,515 posts)or feeding them poison
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,080 posts)by surrounding Chernobyl.
Radioactive material that lingers near Chernobyl could cause further calamity.
By Julia Jacobo
February 24, 2022, 5:22 PM
As Russian troops continue to inch their way through its invasion of Ukraine, a secondary catastrophe to the fighting between the ex-Soviet neighbors is possible: another nuclear reaction at Chernobyl.
On Thursday afternoon, Russian armed forces entered the deserted exclusion zone around the Chernobyl power plant, where the world's worst nuclear accident took place in 1986. By night, Russian forces had taken full control of the area, including the plant itself, according to Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The heavy fighting inside the "exclusion zone," a vast and empty land surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear plant that includes the ghost city of Pripyat, is causing concern that it could spark another nuclear disaster. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano is watching the situation with "grave concern, appealing for "maximum restraint" amid the conflict to avoid putting the nuclear facility at risk.
"It is of vital importance that the safe and secure operations of the nuclear facilities in that zone should not be affected or disrupted in any way," Mariano said in a statement. On April 26, 1986, reactor No. 4 at the power plant, about 65 miles north of the capital Kyiv, exploded, spewing enormous amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere and causing more than 100,000 people in a 1,000-square-mile radius to evacuate.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/concerns-mount-fighting-chernobyl-exclusion-zone/story?id=83085943
By Victoria Gill
Science correspondent, BBC News
1 day ago
The Chernobyl site contains several nuclear waste containment facilities to prevent radioactive materials spreading
A radiation spike has been recorded near Chernobyl's nuclear power plant which has been seized by Russian forces, monitoring data shows. Invading Russian troops took control of the plant - the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986 - on Thursday, Ukraine said. Radiation levels increased about 20-fold on Thursday, monitoring stations there reported.
But experts say another major nuclear disaster there is "extremely unlikely". The rise was caused by heavy military vehicles stirring contaminated soil in the 4,000-sq-km (2,485 sq-mile) exclusion zone surrounding the abandoned plant, Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate reported .
The biggest spike was recorded close to the damaged reactor. Radiation levels are continuously monitored there - measured as a dose that you would receive per hour in a location.
Close to the reactor, you would normally receive a dose of about three units - called microsieverts - every hour. But on Thursday, that jumped to 65 microSv/hrs - about five times more than you would get on one transatlantic flight.
(snip)
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60528828
Early on, there was some dismissal of what had happened in Fukushima Daiichi after the earthquake and tsunami (and that was 11 years ago)... and we saw what happened after that. In the case of Chernobyl, the core is still burning within its containment.
Justice matters.
(6,930 posts)I don't think Belarussians would appreciate if 'something' bad happens...
BumRushDaShow
(129,080 posts)is kicking up all that old radiation-infused soil. The area was finally starting to recover some vegetation and animal life that weren't mutated beyond recognition and now this happens.
oldsoftie
(12,553 posts)I think the winds went that way first
Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)Ziggysmom
(3,408 posts)scared to death for their friends and family in Ukraine & Russia. They say nobody wants war; people living there don't want any conflict. They tell me very few real people in Russia support Putin, but they fear him. They all feel he wants to reestablish the former Soviet Union,
What kind of delusional pariah is he?
Midnight Writer
(21,768 posts)Martin68
(22,813 posts)Go for it, dudes!
anamnua
(1,113 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,022 posts)You're drunk again.
Grokenstein
(5,723 posts)Better play nice or his master will unite his broken country against the (checks notes) rest of the planet! ...Except that a huge portion of his own people also openly oppose this invasion, but never mind! He'll make us all sorry!
This is how you can tell the invasion has faceplanted. Tragically there will be thousands of casualties yet to come because thickheads never know when to stop (or not start), but he's throwing this tantrum out of desperation.
Bayard
(22,090 posts)And blow our own house down!
The nukes worry me. Putin is just crazy enough to drop them, or even shoot them over here, if it looks like he's going to lose. Like TFG, his ego can't take it. Consequences for the world be damned.
Happy Hoosier
(7,313 posts)So good luck with that you murdering assholes.
Justice matters.
(6,930 posts)/GFYemoticon putin's lapdog
oldsoftie
(12,553 posts)Matthew28
(1,798 posts)I hope if Putin chooses to attack nato that we're ready to go all the way to Moscow and overthrow putin! Nothing less will stop this bastard. We don't let a rabid dog walk around freely in our neighborhoods and we shouldn't accept this either.
AnnetteChaffee
(1,979 posts)They will fold. It may cost us at the gas pump, but you know what? The last two years have taught us that there is more to life. Many of us have decided that we want to work from home, that our world is worth saving and have opted for vanpooling - there are ways to live while reducing our carbon footprint and its about damn time that we all step up and start taking responsibility for our planet. We have an abundance of wind, sunlight - its time to invest in our resources and stop depending on what is beneath the earth.
If not us, then who?
If not now, then when?
The past two years have changed us. We have learned that life is precious and can be gone or changed in the blink of an eye. I stand with Ukraine - protect your home! We are with you in spirit all the way!
I love seeing nearly the entire WORLD standing against the forces of evil inside Russia. When we all stand together we will win.
Namaste, annette
SWBTATTReg
(22,130 posts)current leaders dig a deeper and deeper hole for themselves, against the rest of the world (it's looking more and more like this).
Russia has stepped big time, in doggie poo.