Fighting off 'terrorist attack' in region bordering Ukraine: Putin

London, March 2

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia was fighting off a “terrorist attack” in the southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, and vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians.

Forced to suspend n-arms treaty

We were forced to suspend our participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty as the US was using gained information to help Ukraine attack our strategic sites. Sergei Ryabkov, russia deputy foreign minister

Tougher law on ‘discrediting’ army

• Russia on Thursday supported a law to bring in longer imprisonment for anyone deemed to have discredited the Russian army
• The lower house of parliament also backed the extension of legislation to cover the Wagner mercenary force
• “Discrediting” the army can currently be punished by up to five years in prison
• The changes would toughen laws with offenders risking a maximum imprisonment of 15 years, said an official
• The chamber confirmed the law had passed its “second reading” on Telegram
• The bill might reportedly be approved in its final parliamentary review on March 14

Ukraine accused Russia of staging a false “provocation”, but also appeared to imply some form of attack had indeed been carried out by Russian anti-government partisans.

Amid reports of shelling and sporadic sabotage, Russia’s border regions have become increasingly volatile since Moscow invaded Ukraine a year ago in what it called a “special military operation”.

Putin, in a televised address, accused the group of opening fire at civilians, including children. Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz had earlier said that the Ukrainians had shot and killed one person and injured a child.

“They won’t achieve anything. We will crush them,” said Putin, adding the group was made up of the kind of people who wanted to rob Russia of its history and language.

In two videos circulating online, armed men calling themselves the “Russian Volunteer Corps” said they had crossed the border to fight what they called “the bloody Putinite and Kremlin regime”.

Calling themselves Russian “liberators”, the armed men called on Russians to take up arms and rise up against the authorities. They said they did not open fire at civilians.

The authenticity of videos wasn’t reportedly verified.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that law enforcement agencies would determine who was responsible and Putin was being briefed by security chiefs on the situation.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter: “The story about a Ukrainian sabotage group in RF (Russian Federation) is a classic deliberate provocation.” He said Russia “wants to scare its people to justify the attack on another country & the growing poverty after the year of war”. — Reuters

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