Putin's Russia
Doctors in Germany confirm that the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny was the victim of a deliberate poisoning attack.
Read the full report via the link below to The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/24/alexei-navalny-was-probably-poisoned-says-germany
Tests indicate Alexei Navalny was poisoned, says German clinic
Kremlin critic being treated with same antidote used after 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury
By Andrew Roth - The Guardian
Tests indicate that Alexei Navalny was the victim of a poisoning and he is being treated with atropine, the same antidote used after the 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury, the German clinic where the Kremlin critic is a patient said on Monday.
While Berlin’s Charité hospital did not identify the specific poison responsible for Navalny’s sudden illness on an internal Russian flight last Thursday, the substance was part of a group that affects the central nervous system, and includes nerve agents and pesticides, as well as some drugs.
The statement was the first medical corroboration of a poisoning attack on Navalny and marked him as likely the latest Kremlin opponent to face an attempt on his life.
In a statement, the hospital said Navalny had fallen ill because of contamination from a cholinesterase inhibitor, adding that the specific substance was not known and analysis was ongoing. Cholinesterase inhibitors block an enzyme that is necessary for the proper function of the nervous system.
Putin's Russia (27/05/18)
The BBC reports that a Joint Investigating Team (JIT) representing the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine has concluded that Russia was responsible for the murder of 298 innocent people when Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
At the time President Putin denied all responsibility and no doubt will continue to doing so even though there is a clear pattern of Russia's culpability on the world stage:
- The murder of Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive Polonium in 2006
- Team Russia's systematic cheating in the Sochi Winter Olympics 2014
- Large-scale, organised Russian interference in America's presidential election in 2016
- The attempted assassination of a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia on UK soil in 2018 with a military grade nerve agent
No wonder Russia is widely regarded as a rogue state these days, even if Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn are both badly out of step with public opinion.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44235402
MH17 missile owned by Russian brigade, investigators say
Media caption - Investigators said they had evidence of the route taken by a Russian missile convoy
The missile that downed a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine in 2014 belonged to a Russian brigade, international investigators say.
For the first time, the Dutch-led team said the missile had come from a unit based in western Russia.
All 298 people on board the Boeing 777 died when it broke apart in mid-air flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
It was hit by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in Ukraine. Russia says none of its weapons was used.
But on Thursday Wilbert Paulissen, a Dutch official from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), told reporters: "All the vehicles in a convoy carrying the missile were part of the Russian armed forces."
He restated the JIT's conclusion that the plane had been destroyed by a Russian-made Buk missile, adding that it had been supplied by the country's 53rd anti-aircraft brigade in Kursk.
At a news conference in the Dutch city of Utrecht, the investigators also showed social media pictures which they said traced the route the missile convoy had taken to reach eastern Ukraine.
What happened to MH17?
The incident occurred at the height of the conflict between government troops and pro-Russian separatists.
The plane left Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on 17 July 2014 and was due to arrive at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on the following day.
Malaysia plane crash: What we know
MH17: Our special report
Who were the victims?
The plane lost contact with air traffic control about 50km (30 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.
Media captionIn 2015, the Dutch Safety Board released an animated video showing the flight path of the plane
It crashed in the Donetsk area, in territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
Footage was later released by the Ukrainian government suggesting that a Buk missile had been brought in from Russia on the day of the crash, and then taken back across the border the next day.
What has been said about the incident?
In October 2015 the Dutch Safety Board concluded that the plane had indeed been hit by a Buk missile.
How does a Buk missile system work?
While Russia continues to pour out disinformation about the chemical weapon attack in Salisbury, here's how the Kremlin responded to the independent investigation into the biggest doping scandal in world sport - there's ever been.
If you ask me, Jeremy Corbyn supporters and their fellow conspiracy theorists are being had - big time!
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44235402
MH17 missile owned by Russian brigade, investigators say
Media caption - Investigators said they had evidence of the route taken by a Russian missile convoy
The missile that downed a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine in 2014 belonged to a Russian brigade, international investigators say.
For the first time, the Dutch-led team said the missile had come from a unit based in western Russia.
All 298 people on board the Boeing 777 died when it broke apart in mid-air flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
It was hit by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in Ukraine. Russia says none of its weapons was used.
But on Thursday Wilbert Paulissen, a Dutch official from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), told reporters: "All the vehicles in a convoy carrying the missile were part of the Russian armed forces."
He restated the JIT's conclusion that the plane had been destroyed by a Russian-made Buk missile, adding that it had been supplied by the country's 53rd anti-aircraft brigade in Kursk.
At a news conference in the Dutch city of Utrecht, the investigators also showed social media pictures which they said traced the route the missile convoy had taken to reach eastern Ukraine.
What happened to MH17?
The incident occurred at the height of the conflict between government troops and pro-Russian separatists.
The plane left Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on 17 July 2014 and was due to arrive at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on the following day.
Malaysia plane crash: What we know
MH17: Our special report
Who were the victims?
The plane lost contact with air traffic control about 50km (30 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.
Media captionIn 2015, the Dutch Safety Board released an animated video showing the flight path of the plane
It crashed in the Donetsk area, in territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
Footage was later released by the Ukrainian government suggesting that a Buk missile had been brought in from Russia on the day of the crash, and then taken back across the border the next day.
What has been said about the incident?
In October 2015 the Dutch Safety Board concluded that the plane had indeed been hit by a Buk missile.
How does a Buk missile system work?
In September 2016, the JIT - which includes officials from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine - reached a similar conclusion in a preliminary report.
It said it had "irrefutable evidence" that the missile had been brought in from Russian territory and fired from a field controlled by pro-Russian fighters.
The investigators simulated various trajectories of the warhead. They showed it had exploded metres above the aeroplane's nose, showering the aircraft with fragments.
On Thursday Russia restated its position that none of its forces had been involved. "Not a single anti-aircraft missile system from the Russian Federation has ever crossed the Russia-Ukraine border," the defence ministry in Moscow said.
Meanwhile Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised in a Facebook post (in Ukrainian) that he would "spare no effort to ensure that the actions of the Russian Federation as a state which supports terrorism get an appropriate assessment" in the International Court of Justice.
It said it had "irrefutable evidence" that the missile had been brought in from Russian territory and fired from a field controlled by pro-Russian fighters.
The investigators simulated various trajectories of the warhead. They showed it had exploded metres above the aeroplane's nose, showering the aircraft with fragments.
On Thursday Russia restated its position that none of its forces had been involved. "Not a single anti-aircraft missile system from the Russian Federation has ever crossed the Russia-Ukraine border," the defence ministry in Moscow said.
Meanwhile Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised in a Facebook post (in Ukrainian) that he would "spare no effort to ensure that the actions of the Russian Federation as a state which supports terrorism get an appropriate assessment" in the International Court of Justice.
Putin's Russia and 'Disinformation' (07/04/18)
While Russia continues to pour out disinformation about the chemical weapon attack in Salisbury, here's how the Kremlin responded to the independent investigation into the biggest doping scandal in world sport - there's ever been.
If you ask me, Jeremy Corbyn supporters and their fellow conspiracy theorists are being had - big time!
