Ukrainian forces regularly make unsuccessful attempts to cross River Dnieper, but the entire floodplain of the left bank is being controlled by Russian forces, Acting Governor of the Kherson Region Vladimir Saldo said Tuesday.
"Ukrainian attempts to cross Dnieper, to ferry from the right bank to the left, are being made regularly, but also fail regularly. Because almost the entire Dnieper floodplain, the entire territory is being tightly controlled by our armed forces," he said on Russian TV.
He underscored that these attempts are completely pointless and lead to casualties among Ukrainian forces.
"The commanders who give such orders are mainly [foreign] handlers and mercenaries; they do that, because they are ‘professionals of war,’ they need war, it is their job," the official said.
On Tuesday, a representative of Kherson Region emergency services told reporters that Russian forces thwarted another Ukrainian attempt to cross Dnieper. A total of three Ukrainian speedboats and a concentration of vehicles and personnel were eliminated.
Russia’s MoD latest statements on the Ukraine crisis:
Russia’s aviation and artillery inflicted fire damage on the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kharkov region, which resulted in the elimination of over 40 Ukrainian servicemen, an armored fighting vehicle, and a motor vehicle.
Russia’s artillery fire hit units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the LPR and DPR. Over 30 Ukrainian troops, five armored combat vehicles, an M-777 artillery system, and two US-made AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar stations were destroyed.
Russian troops continue their offensive in the DPR. Army Aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery engaged the 25th Airborne Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the DPR.
Near Zaporozhye, during the day, artillery fire and Eastern Military District units have destroyed more than 25 Ukrainian servicemen, as well as an Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer, two D-20 and D-30 howitzers, and three motor vehicles.
Airborne Troops artillery has destroyed a US-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar station in Kherson region.
The Operational-Tactical Aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation hit the command post of the 57th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a dump of artillery munition in the DPR.
Russian Aerospace Forces obliterated a self-propelled fire unit of the Ukrainian Buk-M1 SAM system.
Ten Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down by anti-aircraft defense forces over the past 24 hours.
Some 376 airplanes and 203 helicopters, 2,944 unmanned aerial vehicles, 402 anti-aircraft missile systems, 7,614 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 988 combat vehicles equipped with multiple rocket-launching systems, 3,898 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 8,159 units of special military hardware have been destroyed during the special military operation.
Charles McGonigal, then a counterintelligence chief for the FBI in New York, is interviewed by Leonardo Reis in 2018. (Courtesy of Leonardo Reis)
Charles McGonigal, a former counterintelligence chief, is also accused of taking $225,000 from a former Albanian intelligence worker while still at the FBI
The FBI’s former top spyhunter in New York was charged Monday with taking secret cash payments of more than $225,000 while overseeing highly sensitive cases, and breaking the law by trying to get Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska removed from a U.S. sanctions list, accusations that shocked the cloistered world of his fellow high-ranking intelligence officials.
Charles McGonigal, 54, who retired from the FBI in September 2018, was indicted in federal court in Manhattan on charges of money laundering, violating U.S. sanctions and other counts stemming from his alleged ties to Deripaska, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his role at the FBI, McGonigal had been tasked with investigating Deripaska, whose own indictment on sanctions-violation charges was unsealed in September.
A second indictment, filed in Washington, accused McGonigal of hiding payments totaling $225,000 that he allegedly received from a New Jersey man employed decades ago by an Albanian intelligence agency. The indictment also accussed him of acting to advance that person’s interests.
McGonigal’s alleged crimes may undercut Justice Department efforts to ramp up economic sanctions on wealthy Russians after last year’s invasion of Ukraine. The twin indictments are also a black eye for the FBI, alleging that one of its most senior and trusted intelligence officials accepted large sums of money and undermined the bureau’s overall intelligence-gathering mission.
McGonigal was arrested by agents from the bureau where he had worked for 22 years and where he rose to one of the most important counter-espionage positions in the U.S. government. Given his former role, the investigation was run by FBI agents in Los Angeles and D.C. rather than in New York.
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said the case showed the FBI did its duty. “The way we maintain the trust and confidence of the American people is through our work—showing, when all the facts come out, that we stuck to the process and we treated everyone equally, even when it is one of our own,” Wray said in a statement. "We hold ourselves to the highest standard, and our focus will remain on our mission and on doing the right thing, in the right way, every time.”
Through his lawyer, Seth DuCharme, McGonigal pleaded not guilty to the New York charges at a brief court appearance Monday, where he was released on bond. DuCharme, a former Justice Department official who recently served as acting U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, said outside the courthouse that he looks forward to reviewing the evidence, “but we have a lot of confidence in Mr. McGonigal.”
“As you all know, Charlie’s had a long distinguished career with the FBI. He served the United States for decades,” DuCharme said. “This is obviously a distressing day for Mr. McGonigal and his family.”
How Jack Smith charged the president of Kosovo and blew up a Trump meeting.
McGonigal is scheduled to appear via video link in federal court in D.C. on Wednesday. In that case, prosecutors alleged that from at least August 2017 — and continuing after his retirement from the FBI — McGonigal failed to disclose to the FBI his relationship with the former Albanian intelligence worker, described as “Person A” in charging papers. He also allegedly failed to disclose that he had an “ongoing relationship with the Prime Minister of Albania,” the indictment said. Since 2013, Edi Rama has served as the prime minister of that country.
In late 2017, authorities charge, McGonigal received sums of cash totaling $225,000 from Person A — the first time in a parked car outside a New York City restaurant, and the next two times at the person’s New Jersey home. According to the indictment, McGonigal “indicated to Person A that the money would be paid back.”
>Months later, at McGonigal’s urging, the FBI opened an investigation into an American lobbyist for an Albanian political party that is a rival of Rama, an investigation that used Person A as a source of information, authorities said.
That was not the only instance in which the indictments suggest McGonigal used his job for the benefit of people with whom he had undisclosed financial or personal relationships.
On a 2017 trip to Austria, McGonigal and a Justice Department prosecutor interviewed an Albanian businessperson and politician who had previously told McGonigal that they wanted someone to investigate a death threat against them, according to the indictment in Washington. McGonigal had been introduced to that individual by “Person A,” the indictment charges.
The following year, McGonigal allegedly asked the FBI’s liaison to the United Nations to arrange a meeting with the then-U.S. ambassador, Nikki Haley, or another high ranking official, as well as a former Bosnian defense minister and founder of a Bosnian pharmaceutical company.
The indictment says McGonigal’s associates sought that meeting for political reasons that would have benefited Person A financially. At the time, the indictment charges, McGonigal allegedly suggested the pharmaceutical company pay half a million dollars to a company registered to Person A, as a fee for arranging the meeting.
Current and former U.S. officials who know and have worked with McGonigal said they were shocked by the indictments. As a senior FBI counterintelligence official, McGonigal had access to an extraordinary amount of sensitive information, potentially including investigations of foreign spies or U.S. citizens suspected of working on behalf of foreign governments, these people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the work McGonigal did. One former official said that McGonigal had worked with the CIA on counterintelligence matters.
According to the New York indictment, a law firm retained McGonigal to work as a consultant and investigator on the effort to get Deripaska removed from the sanctions list. He was listed as a consultant and arranged for $25,000 monthly payments to be sent to an account controlled by another person, an interpreter for the U.S. government who was a former Russian diplomat. The interpreter, Sergey Shestakov, was also charged.
McGonigal’s FBI role gave him access to classified information including a then-secret list of Russian prospects for sanctioning by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Justice Department said. That list included Deripaska before the sanctions were actually imposed.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that McGonigal and Shestakov “should have known better” given their experience in government service. Shestakov also pleaded not guilty.
U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves of D.C. called the alleged coverup of foreign contacts and financial relationships a “gateway to corruption” and credited the FBI with its handling of the “delicate and difficult” investigation of a former senior assistant director.
“McGonigal is alleged to have committed the very violations he swore to investigate while he purported to lead a workforce of FBI employees who spend their careers protecting secrets and holding foreign adversaries accountable,” said FBI Los Angeles Field Office Director Donald Alway, who announced the charges along with Graves and the leaders of the Washington FBI and Justice Department National Security Division. Asked about the case Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland declined to comment.
McGonigal faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the two D.C. counts of falsification of records and documents, and up to five years in prison for each of seven counts of concealing material facts or making false statements. The most serious charge in the New York indictment also carries a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison.
McGonigal joined the FBI in 1996, working in New York, Washington, Baltimore and Cleveland. Along the way, he was involved in some of the most sensitive and high-profile intelligence cases in the U.S. government, including the conviction of former National Security Adviser Samuel Berger for knowingly removing classified documents from the National Archives. In 2010, he was tapped to lead the task force probing the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
The charges against McGonigal alarmed his former colleagues in part because of his depth of knowledge of so many elements of U.S. espionage. McGonigal was an expert on Russian intelligence activities targeting the United States, as well as U.S. efforts to recruit Russian spies, said several former intelligence officials who worked with him and spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive matters.
His position at the New York field office would have given him direct access to past and current recruitment efforts, work that was coordinated with the CIA, these people said. McGonigal was well-known at the CIA among officers who dealt with Russia and counterintelligence matters, and he knew the details of some intelligence operations targeting Russia, former officials said.
McGonigal has not been charged with espionage, but the former officials who worked with him said his knowledge and experience would have put him at high risk of being recruited by a foreign government.
One former official noted that McGonigal was in charge of an investigation into why numerous individuals in China who were spying for the United States were arrested and taken out of commission. As part of that investigation, McGonigal would have known details about the covert systems that the CIA used to communicate with its agents, the former official said. Those systems are believed to have played a central role in exposing the agents to government authorities.
Deripaska has been a focus of FBI investigative work for many years. In 2021, agents searched two homes linked to him, one in Washington and the other in New York. At the time, a spokeswoman for the aluminum tycoon said the properties were owned by his relatives.
A politically connected billionaire, his name came up repeatedly in recent U.S. investigations involving Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump. Deripaska did business for years with Paul Manafort, whose tenure as Trump’s campaign chairman became an intense focus of FBI investigations.
Manafort and Deripaska have both confirmed they had a business relationship in which Manafort was paid as an investment consultant. In 2014, Deripaska accused Manafort in a Cayman Islands court of taking nearly $19 million intended for investments without accounting for how it was used.
Hsu, Barrett and Harris reported from Washington. Rosalind S. Helderman and Perry Stein in Washington also contributed to this report.
Russian combat aircraft, missile troops and artillery struck over 60 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions in the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Monday.
"In the past 24 hours, operational-tactical aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Russian group of forces struck 63 artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 97 areas," the spokesman said.
Russian artillery struck amassed manpower of two Ukrainian army brigades in the Kupyansk area, eliminating over 40 militants in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
Ammunition for an American Mk47 automatic grenade launcher was captured near Avdiivka, Western weapons are becoming more and more, the fighter says
"In the Kupyansk area, artillery of the Western Military District inflicted damage on amassed manpower of the Ukrainian army’s 14th and 92nd mechanized brigades in areas near the settlements of Dvurechnaya and Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region and Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
The strikes "destroyed over 40 Ukrainian troops and one motor vehicle," the general said.
The Ukrainian military lost about 70 troops and two radars in the Krasny Liman area as a result of damage inflicted by Russian artillery and paratroopers over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Krasny Liman area, the fire delivered by artillery of the Central Military District and the Airborne Force inflicted damage on units of the Ukrainian army’s 80th and 95th air assault brigades in the area of the Serebryansky forestry. The enemy’s losses amounted to 70 personnel, four armored fighting vehicles and two US-made AN/TPQ-37 and AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radars," the spokesman said.
Russian assault units supported by combat aircraft and missile troops liberated the community of Krasnopolye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Donetsk area, volunteers of assault teams supported by operational-tactical and army aviation aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Southern Military District liberated the community of Krasnopolye in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
Russian forces eliminated over 60 Ukrainian troops, two armored vehicles and two howitzers in the Donetsk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the past 24 hours, over 60 servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, three motor vehicles, two howitzers (Msta-B and D-30) and also a US-made AN/TPQ-50 counter battery radar were destroyed in that (Donetsk]) area," the spokesman said.
Russian forces eliminated about 30 Ukrainian troops and a Grad rocket system in the Zaporozhye area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Zaporozhye area, up to 30 Ukrainian servicemen, three motor vehicles and also a Grad multiple rocket launcher were destroyed as a result of damage inflicted by troops of the Eastern Military District on the Ukrainian army units by combined firepower over the past 24 hours," the spokesman said.
Russian forces struck the deployment site of the Ukrainian army’s 107th artillery brigade in the Dnieper area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Dnieper area, a ground-based high-precision weapon hit the temporary deployment site of the 107th rocket artillery brigade in the area of the settlement of Marganets in the Dnepropetrovsk Region," the spokesman said.
Russian forces destroyed a US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system together with its crew in the Dnieper area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"An American HIMARS multiple launch rocket system was destroyed together with its crew as a result of the strike against an uncovered firing position," the spokesman said.
Russian air defense systems intercepted 14 HIMARS rockets over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities shot down three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Kremennaya in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Zhovtnevoye in the Kharkov Region. They also intercepted 14 rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system in the areas of the city of Donetsk, the communities of Avdeyevka and Pilipchatino in the Donetsk People’s Republic, and also Chervonopopovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 376 Ukrainian warplanes, 203 helicopters, 2,934 unmanned aerial vehicles, 401 surface-to-air missile systems, 7,607 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 987 multiple rocket launchers, 3,893 field artillery guns and mortars and 8,153 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation, Konashenkov reported.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stresses that the US, along with the UK, is crossing red lines by threatening the assets of families of foreign politicians, which is a "perfect example" of their attitude toward democracy
Special operation, January 23. The main thing:
▪️ The settlement of Krasnopolye was liberated in the DPR, the RF Ministry of Defense reported;
▪️ Ukrainian troops were driven out of the village of Kamenskoye in the Zaporozhye region, local authorities said;
▪️ Fights are going on in the eastern and southern parts of Artemovsk, soon it will be possible to talk about the operational encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the city, said Akhmat commander Alaudinov;
▪️ Russian units practically control important heights in the vicinity of the liberated village of Kleshcheevka, this gives additional opportunities to attack Artemovsk, Pushilin said;
▪️ The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Naryshkin, said that the Ukrainian army is stockpiling Western weapons and ammunition on the territories of nuclear power plants;
▪️ Russia does not refuse negotiations on Ukraine, but the longer the West avoids them, the more difficult the situation, Lavrov said;
▪️ There are no conditions for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine now, either de facto or de jure, Peskov said;
▪️ The next 2-3 weeks will be decisive in the situation in Ukraine, says the head of the European Council Michel;
▪️ Ex-Foreign Minister of Poland Sikorsky said that at the initial stage of the Russian special operation, Warsaw considered the option of dividing Ukraine;
▪️ Germany will be in international isolation if it does not agree to the supply of Leopard tanks to Ukraine, said the deputy head of the Polish Foreign Ministry;
▪️ Estonia will give Ukraine all its 155-mm howitzers, said the Estonian ambassador in Kyiv;
▪️ The Pentagon said it expects to deliver the Bradley BMP to Ukraine in the coming weeks.
The former CEO of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, told Sputnik that satellite imagery had helped spot the howitzer from which he was attacked in Donetsk.
"Since I worked for four years in our state corporation Roscosmos, I have good friends, partners and comrades there. I had requested an accurate map, a picture that was taken that day, that evening, by one of our spacecraft. I believe that we have established exactly the weapon from which the shot was fired, which was at the optimal distance and position for shots. We continue to monitor this combat crew, which fired at us, and I hope, when I return, they will be found and destroyed," Rogozin said.
Servicemen from the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have managed to seize subscriber terminals of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite communication system, which were used by the Ukrainian military, as trophies, Dmitry Rogozin said.
"Space communications are a special topic. We know what benefit... and harm the Starlink space communication systems used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine have brought to us, and these devices, the subscriber equipment itself. By the way, we have it trophied," Rogozin said.
Starlink has reportedly provided Ukraine with an estimated 22,000 devices since the start of Russia's special military operation in February of last year.
Russia has deployed satellite communication terminals to a military unit in the Donetsk People's Republic for testing, Rogozin said.
"We have created the first compact sets (of satcom equipment). They have been placed with an artillery brigade and are performing well," the former head of Roscosmos told Sputnik in an interview.
The military technology is based off civilian solutions marketed by Russian companies, Rogozin said. The former official, who is on a military advisory panel, said the tech was tailored for use "along the frontline when the enemy is jamming this sort of communication channels."
In December of last year, the hotel where Rogozin and a group of Russian military advisers were staying in Donetsk came under fire. The ex-space official was wounded in the spine by a shell fragment, while one of the military advisers was killed.
Since November 2022, the former Roscosmos CEO has been heading an inspection group of military advisers in the zone of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, which provides technical support to units in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
In December of last year, the hotel where Rogozin and a group of Russian military advisers were staying in Donetsk came under fire. The ex-space official was wounded in the spine by a shell fragment, while one of the military advisers was killed.
Since November 2022, the former Roscosmos CEO has been heading an inspection group of military advisers in the zone of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, which provides technical support to units in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
Russian forces strike over 60 Ukrainian artillery units in past day, top brass reports
Russian combat aircraft, missile troops and artillery struck over 60 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions in the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Monday.
"In the past 24 hours, operational-tactical aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Russian group of forces struck 63 artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 97 areas," the spokesman said.
Russian artillery struck amassed manpower of two Ukrainian army brigades in the Kupyansk area, eliminating over 40 militants in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Kupyansk area, artillery of the Western Military District inflicted damage on amassed manpower of the Ukrainian army’s 14th and 92nd mechanized brigades in areas near the settlements of Dvurechnaya and Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region and Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
The strikes "destroyed over 40 Ukrainian troops and one motor vehicle," the general said.
The Ukrainian military lost about 70 troops and two radars in the Krasny Liman area as a result of damage inflicted by Russian artillery and paratroopers over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Krasny Liman area, the fire delivered by artillery of the Central Military District and the Airborne Force inflicted damage on units of the Ukrainian army’s 80th and 95th air assault brigades in the area of the Serebryansky forestry. The enemy’s losses amounted to 70 personnel, four armored fighting vehicles and two US-made AN/TPQ-37 and AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radars," the spokesman said.
Russian assault units supported by combat aircraft and missile troops liberated the community of Krasnopolye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Donetsk area, volunteers of assault teams supported by operational-tactical and army aviation aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Southern Military District liberated the community of Krasnopolye in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
Russian forces eliminated over 60 Ukrainian troops, two armored vehicles and two howitzers in the Donetsk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the past 24 hours, over 60 servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, three motor vehicles, two howitzers (Msta-B and D-30) and also a US-made AN/TPQ-50 counter battery radar were destroyed in that (Donetsk) area," the spokesman said.
Russian forces eliminated about 30 Ukrainian troops and a Grad rocket system in the Zaporozhye area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Zaporozhye area, up to 30 Ukrainian servicemen, three motor vehicles and also a Grad multiple rocket launcher were destroyed as a result of damage inflicted by troops of the Eastern Military District on the Ukrainian army units by combined firepower over the past 24 hours," the spokesman said.
Russian forces struck the deployment site of the Ukrainian army’s 107th artillery brigade in the Dnieper area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Dnieper area, a ground-based high-precision weapon hit the temporary deployment site of the 107th rocket artillery brigade in the area of the settlement of Marganets in the Dnepropetrovsk Region," the spokesman said.
Russian forces destroyed a US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system together with its crew in the Dnieper area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"An American HIMARS multiple launch rocket system was destroyed together with its crew as a result of the strike against an uncovered firing position," the spokesman said.
Russian air defense systems intercepted 14 HIMARS rockets over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities shot down three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Kremennaya in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Zhovtnevoye in the Kharkov Region. They also intercepted 14 rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system in the areas of the city of Donetsk, the communities of Avdeyevka and Pilipchatino in the Donetsk People’s Republic, and also Chervonopopovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 376 Ukrainian warplanes, 203 helicopters, 2,934 unmanned aerial vehicles, 401 surface-to-air missile systems, 7,607 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 987 multiple rocket launchers, 3,893 field artillery guns and mortars and 8,153 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation, Konashenkov reported.
The Pentagon's clandestine biological project was laid bare primarily thanks to Russia's special military operation and the work of the commission, Irina Yarovaya, co-chair of the parliamentary panel looking into the work of US biolabs in Ukraine and Deputy Speaker of the State Duma, said on Monday.
"The disclosure of the Pentagon's secret and very hazardous biological project in Ukraine became possible first of all due to the special military operation and our investigation. And we see that this has sparked enormous interest, including public interest in the United States itself," she said at a meeting of the commission.
The task of the commission is to "set forth all the evidence that has been investigated in a reasoned, consistent and systematic way", which fully confirms the unsound military-biological project "run by the US in Ukraine as part of a larger, dangerous and aggressive plan for the military-biological colonization of the world," the senior legislator added.
In March 2022, Russia’s State Duma and Federation Council adopted a resolution to conduct a special parliamentary inquiry into the operation of biological labs in Ukraine and to create a special panel of 14 Duma members and 14 Federation Council members. Yarovaya and Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev are the commission’s co-chairs.
Yarovaya said earlier that the inquiry was to produce a factsheet to be dispatched to the Russian president, the government and international organizations. The memo will contain the necessary evidence and "expose the cause-and-effect relationships, the threats and challenges and all organizations, legal entities and officials involved."
Russian Biolab Commission to Invite US Representatives to Meeting: Senior Lawmaker
The Commission on the biological program in Ukraine intends to invite renowned economist and chairman of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission Jeffrey Sachs and former director of Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Kenneth Myers to its next meeting, deputy chairwoman of the Russian lower house Irina Yarovaya said on Monday.
"We propose to additionally invite Jeffrey Sachs, who just headed the Lancet commission on COVID. We propose to invite this scholar because we consider it fundamentally important, since the position of the Russian parliament is absolutely transparent, open, as is Russia's position regarding the provision of evaluation evidence, evidence, and we have repeatedly initiated the need for an international investigation into the dangerous activities of the Pentagon, the conclusions of German scholars on the artificial origin of COVID," Yarovaya said.
According to the lawmaker, the position of these scholars should be heard in order to correlate it with the materials of the parliamentary investigation, and the commission is also ready to transfer the materials to the academic community in the future, in order to assess the real scale of those "possibly dangerous actions that are being implemented by the United States all over the world."
"In addition, we believe that it would be right to invite former director of DTRA Kenneth Myers because the report that has become the subject of discussion in the United States... The invitation of Kenneth Myers would be an indicator in terms of how ready today for an open and public dialogue are those implementing a secret military biological project in Ukraine in other countries of the world are actually trying to disguise and hide this activity in every possible way on the territory of the United States," Yarovaya added.
Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, said that the next meeting of the Commission will take place on February 6, and both houses of parliament will discuss its report on March 15.
In September, a consultative meeting of the states parties to the BTWC was held at Russia's initiative. In October, Moscow brought the issue of violations of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction (BTWC) by Ukraine and the United States to the UN Security Council.
The US, the United Kingdom and France voted against the resolution on the international investigation into the case, while Russia and China supported the document. Other countries, including India, Mexico and NATO member Norway, abstained from voting.
During its special military operation in Ukraine, Russia says it has discovered a network of more than 30 biological laboratories on Ukrainian territory. According to Moscow, Washington has spent over $200 million to develop biological weapons at the facilities.
Russia also said that the labs revealed in Ukraine constitute only a small part of a global network of over 300 similar facilities.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stresses that the US, along with the UK, is crossing red lines by threatening the assets of families of foreign politicians, which is a "perfect example" of their attitude toward democracy
