Russian forces strike Ukrainian army’s command post in Artyomovsk in DPR — top brass

Artyomovsk EPA-EFE/OLEG PETRASYUK Artyomovsk
©EPA-EFE/OLEG PETRASYUK

Russian forces struck the Ukrainian army’s command post in Artyomovsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and an arms depot in the Zaporozhye Region over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Friday.

"in the past 24 hours, operational-tactical and army aviation aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Russian group of forces struck 89 enemy artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military hardware in 122 areas. The command post of the Ukrainian army’s 93rd mechanized brigade was destroyed in the area of the community of Artyomovsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

"In addition, a Ukrainian missile/artillery armament depot was obliterated near the settlement of Druzhelyubovka in the Zaporozhye Region," the general added.

Russian troops fully liberated the community of Dvurechnoye in the Kharkov Region over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, the community of Dvurechnoye in the Kharkov Region was fully liberated as a result of offensive operations by units of the western battlegroup" the spokesman said.

During the last 24-hour period, Russian army aviation and artillery inflicted damage on Ukrainian manpower and military equipment in the area of the settlements of Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic and also Gryanikovka and Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region, the general said.

"The enemy’s losses in that [Kupyansk] area amounted to over 70 Ukrainian personnel, two infantry fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, a US-made M777 artillery system and a D-30 howitzer," Konashenkov reported.

Russian paratroopers destroyed in the LPR a group of Ukrainian soldiers numbering up to 7 people who were trying to go to the rear during the offensive of 2 airborne companies

Russian combat aircraft and artillery eliminated roughly 100 Ukrainian troops, a Grad multiple rocket launcher and a US-made radar in the Krasny Liman area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Krasny Liman direction, operational-tactical and army aviation aircraft and artillery of the battlegroup Center inflicted damage on the enemy in areas near the settlements of Chervonaya Dibrova, Chervonopopovka and Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

As many as 100 Ukrainian troops, four armored combat vehicles, a Grad multiple rocket launcher, a D-20 howitzer and a US-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar were destroyed in that area in the past 24 hours, the general specified.

In addition, Russian forces wiped out a Ukrainian ammunition depot near the settlement of Borovaya in the Kharkov Region, Konashenkov reported.

Russian forces destroyed over 120 Ukrainian troops in their advance in the Donetsk area in the past day, he said.

"In the Donetsk direction, as many as 125 Ukrainian personnel, two tanks, three armored combat vehicles, five motor vehicles, a D-30 howitzer and a Grad multiple rocket launcher were destroyed in the past 24 hours as a result of offensive operations by the southern battlegroup, air strikes and artillery fire," the spokesman said.

Russian forces also wiped out two Ukrainian ammunition and missile/artillery armament depots near the communities of Slavyansk and Avdeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the general specified.

Russian forces eliminated over 60 Ukrainian troops and three US-made M777 artillery systems in the southern Donetsk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

In the southern Donetsk direction, operational-tactical aircraft and artillery of the Russian battlegroup East inflicted damage on Ukrainian troops and equipment by combined firepower in areas near the settlements of Prechistovka and Ugledar in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the spokesman said.

"The enemy’s losses in that area in the past 24 hours totaled over 60 Ukrainian personnel, one tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, four pickup trucks, three US-made M777 artillery systems, a Gvozdika self-propelled artillery gun and a D-20 howitzer. In addition, two Ukrainian ammunition depots were destroyed near Ugledar," the general specified.

Russian forces destroyed roughly 60 Ukrainian troops, a Msta-B howitzer and two D-30 howitzers in the Kherson area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kherson direction, as many as 60 Ukrainian troops, a Msta-B howitzer and two D-30 howitzers were destroyed in the past 24 hours as a result of damage inflicted on Ukrainian personnel and equipment by firepower," the spokesman said.

In the area of the community of Vyschetarasovka in the Dnepropetrovsk Region, a Ukrainian ammunition depot was wiped out, the general added.

Russian fighter aircraft shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Mi-8 helicopter in the Zaporozhye Region over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"Fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Mi-8 helicopter near the settlement of Ternovka in the Zaporozhye Region," the spokesman said.

Russian air defense forces shot down 12 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and 14 HIMARS rockets over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities shot down 14 rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, and also destroyed 12 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Dobrolyubovka in the Kharkov Region, Zhovtnevoye, Chervonaya Dibrova and Golikovo in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Krasnogorovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Novoprokofyevka in the Zaporozhye Region," the spokesman said.

In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 384 Ukrainian combat aircraft, 207 helicopters, 3,069 unmanned aerial vehicles, 403 surface-to-air missile systems, 7,812 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,014 multiple rocket launchers, 4,046 field artillery guns and mortars and 8,313 special military motor vehicles since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.

Special operation of the Russian Federation, February 9. Main:

• Ukraine lost about 140 soldiers in the Kupyansk and Krasnolymansk directions, up to 90 people, 10 pieces of equipment, and 4 ammunition depots in the DPR in the Donetsk direction, over 85 Ukrainian soldiers in the South Donetsk direction, the RF Ministry of Defense reported;



• Zelensky admitted that he told Merkel and Macron that he did not plan to implement the "Minsk agreements". In an interview with Spiegel, he said he said the same thing to Putin;



• None of the European leaders has yet announced their intention to transfer planes to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported;



• London will not transfer fighter jets to Kyiv if this could affect the security of Britain itself, the Telegraph newspaper wrote;



• The head of Volodymyr Zelensky's office said that the issue of long-range weapons and aircraft "can be resolved";



• The head of the European Council said that in Ukraine the next weeks and months will be decisive, maximum assistance is needed, including military;



• Medvedev said that it would be natural for Moscow to increase the production of various weapons, including modern tanks.

Author of Nord Stream investigation report sees possibility of visiting Russian parliament

©Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who earlier published a report about US role in blasts that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines last year, does not rule out the possibility of visiting Russia and addressing the lower chamber of the Russian parliament.

"That's not off the table but it's not going to happen in the short run," Hersh told TASS, commenting on Russian media reports about his possible invitation to the State Duma.

He added that relations between the two countries remain strained and, therefore, not conductive to foreign trips in such a "delicate time."

However, the journalist said he had turned down several invitations to speak before the US Congress in the past few years, because he prefers to stay out of politics.

In his words, he received several calls from the US Congress after publishing his article about the Nord Stream.

"I've already had senators call me up and I say to them, I can't help you it’s your problem, not mine," Hersh said.

According to the article published on Wednesday, explosives were planted under the Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines by US Navy divers under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 exercise last June. The story cited an unidentified source with direct knowledge of the operational planning as saying that US President Joe Biden personally authorized the operation. Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council at the White House told TASS, replying to the news agency’s question, that the Hersh story was totally false and complete fiction.

On September 27, 2022, Nord Stream AG reported unprecedented damage that occurred the day before on three strings of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 offshore gas pipelines. On September 26, Swedish seismologists registered two explosions on the pipeline routes. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office launched a criminal case based on charges of international terrorism.

US Department of State denies any role in Nord Stream blasts

The United States is denying any involvement in the blasts that damaged Russia’s Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, US Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price said.

When asked by a reporter whether he viewed the US government’s denial of involvement in the affair as credible, Price replied: "I absolutely do, and I repeat it here."

Answering to a question on whether the US Department of State contacted with ambassadors from Germany, Norway and other allies and partners after the article was published, he said: "It would not be typical for us to engage allies and partners on something that is utter and complete nonsense and that should be rejected out of hand by anyone who is looking at it through an objective lens."

According to the article published on Wednesday, explosives were planted under the Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines by US Navy divers under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 exercise last June. The story cited an unidentified source with direct knowledge of the operational planning as saying that US President Joe Biden personally authorized the operation. Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council at the White House told TASS, replying to the news agency’s question, that the Hersh story was totally false and complete fiction.

On September 27, 2022, Nord Stream AG reported unprecedented damage that occurred the day before on three strings of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 offshore gas pipelines. On September 26, Swedish seismologists registered two explosions on the pipeline routes. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office launched a criminal case based on charges of international terrorism.

EU seeks to 'literally submerge' investigation of Nord Stream sabotage — diplomat

The EU seeks to 'literally submerge’ the investigation of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said during a Valdai Club discussion on the militarization of the Baltics.

The diplomat was asked whether the dialogue between Russia and EU countries on ecology continues.

"If we talk about how much EU countries are concerned [over ecology issues], then the situation with the Nord Stream comes to mind - [the pipeline] that was detonated, as you know, under completely silent enabling and weakness of European countries. The investigation proceeds in a way that is aimed to have the tracks submerged, both literally and figuratively," he said.

Previously, German Public Prosecutor General Peter Frank said that German investigators currently have no evidence that Russia is behind the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz noted that German will not speculate over this issue while it has no proof.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the German Chancellor has to make excuses for Berlin’s unwillingness to publish the investigation data, thus "creating an impression that Germany has something to hide." The diplomat called Berlin’s position ambiguous, noting that its real actions cause doubts regarding its interest in finding the instigators and the executors of the attacks on the pipelines.

US Surveillance Aircraft Monitored Results of Explosions at Nord Stream Pipelines in September

A US P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft monitored the aftermath of the explosion at the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in the early hours of September 26, according to Flightradar24.

The Flightradar24 flight archive has no data on the Norwegian aircraft that may have dropped the buoy, as it apparently flew with the turned-off transponder. However, according to the resource, a US P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft arrived in the area of the incident exactly one hour after the explosion.

According to the source, the US plane flew from the Atlantic to Bornholm Island after passing over Denmark. Then, the aircraft refueled over Poland from the KS-135R refueling plane.

After the refueling, the US aircraft returned to Bornholm and, at about 04:45 Summer European Time (02:45 GMT), made a full circle exactly over the explosion area and started to descend. Turning to the right and moving away from the scene, the plane gradually descended from an altitude of 7,300 meters to 2,200 meters and then disappeared from the radar after switching off the transponder.

Igor Korotchenko, the head of the Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade, has told Sputnik that the flight path of the aircraft on Flightradar24 supports the investigation of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh on the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines.

"Taking into account that the route of American P-8A Poseidon was calculated with refueling over Poland and it was necessary to synchronize all these moments, we can say that its arrival at the given time — immediately after the attack — indicates the scheduled flight and, therefore, is another confirmation of the version put forward by American journalist Hersh of the reasons and circumstances of the attack," Korotchenko said.

"This once again proves the involvement of official US government agencies in this sabotage."

He added that the aircraft recorded the release of gas from the destroyed pipelines and monitored the area for the presence of ships and submarines that could theoretically be there and witness what had happened.

On Wednesday, Hersh wrote an investigative piece describing in detail how US deep-water divers planted explosives under three of Russia's four Nord Stream pipelines. Hersh wrote, based on insider information from sources in the know, that the US detonated the explosives remotely on September 26, 2022, on the order of President Joe Biden.

Hersh reported that the explosives were planted during a NATO Baltic Sea exercise last summer and cited a source with direct knowledge of the US operational planning as saying that Norway played a key role in helping the United States organize the attack and keep the Swedish and Danish navies in the dark.

Seymour Hersh claims US Navy divers bombed Nord Stream pipelines

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has reported that US Navy divers, operating under cover of a mid-summer NATO exercise, planted remotely triggered bombs to destroy three of the four pipelines

A veteran American investigative journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1970, self-published a story alleging has claimed that the September 2022 bombing of the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines was carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in a covert operation at the direction of the White House. President Joe Biden’s administration has denied the allegations and called the report “utterly false and complete fiction”.

Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has previously worked with The New York Times and The New Yorker magazine, published the findings of his investigation on Substack. The report claimed that US Navy divers, operating under cover of a mid-summer 2022 NATO exercise, planted remotely triggered bombs to destroy three of the four Nord Stream pipelines.

The White House on Wednesday dismissed accusations that the United States is responsible for the explosions of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last September.

Hersh, who scooped journalism’s top award more than five decades ago for exposing the My Lai massacre of Vietnamese civilians by US troops in 1968, cited an unnamed source in reporting on Substack that Americans planted remotely triggered explosives that wrecked three of the four pipelines built to carry natural gas from Russia to Europe.

Hersh, 85, went on to claim that the Navy conducted the operation under the cover of a NATO maritime exercise, BALTOPS 22.

In a short statement, Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Lt. Col. Garron J. Garn told The Post “the United States was not involved in the Nord Stream explosion,” reiterating the Defense Department’s response to the same question in October.

Swedish officials suspected the blasts were the result of “gross sabotage,” and some Western officials were quick to blame the attacks on Moscow as it blocked gas supplies to Europe in response to sanctions over last year’s invasion of Ukraine.

“These are deliberate actions, not an accident,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at the time. “The situation is as serious as it gets.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response to Hersh’s report that Moscow has “repeatedly expressed” its belief that the US and NATO were involved in the explosions.

Prior to the invasion, President Biden had threatened that the Nord Stream 2 project connecting Russia and Germany would not move forward if an attack took place, causing some to suspect US involvement when the pipelines exploded seven months later.

“If Russia invades — that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again — then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,” Biden said on Feb. 7, 2022. “We will bring an end to it

While Germany initially resisted canceling the project, it halted the pipeline’s certification two days before the Russian invasion in a last-ditch effort to prevent the war.

Hersh’s report suggested Biden ordered the explosions to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from “weaponiz[ing] natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions,” as Germany — and the rest of Europe — relied heavily on Russia for natural gas.

Ever since it became operational in 2011, Nord Stream, the first of the two pipelines, had been one of the major sources of energy supplies for not just Germany but also other countries in Europe. Once the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, it became the centre of tensions as Russia sought to used the pipeline to negotiate its interests by restricting supplies.

With Ukraine and the US asking European countries to reduce their dependence on Russian energy, this led to a difficult and uncertain economic outlook for the continent with the cost of living and energy shooting up dramatically. With Germany having decided to halt the Nord Stream 2 project two days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and following the bombing of the pipelines, virtually no gas from Russia to Europe now flows through this route.

What are the main findings of Seymour Hersh’s investigation?

According to the report, which quotes an anonymous source who had “direct knowledge of the operational planning”, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine becoming imminent in December 2021, President Biden began holding meeting with a newly formed task force, which included the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA and the State and Treasury Departments.

The US feared that as long as Germany and much of western Europe were dependent on the Nord Stream pipelines for a cheap supply of gas, they would be hesitant in providing aid and arms to Ukraine against a possible invasion by Russia.

The decision to sabotage the pipelines by President Biden came after “more than nine months of highly secret back and forth debate inside Washington’s national security community about how to best achieve that goal”.

To execute the mission successfully, the US sought help from Norway and in March 2022, a hand-picked team of CIA and National Security Agency (NSA) operatives flew to the country to discuss the operation with the Norwegian Secret Service and Navy, Hersh has written.

As per the report, it was the Norwegian Navy that chose the appropriate spot to target, “in the shallow waters of the Baltic sea a few miles off Denmark’s Bornholm Island”.

Around three months later, a team of deep-sea divers from the US Navy’s Diving and Salvage Centre in Panama City, Florida, the largest diving facility in the world, went to the selected spot and planted C4 explosives alongside the pipeline, which were later triggered by a sonar buoy dropped by a Norwegian Navy P8 surveillance plane on September 26, 2022, Hersh has written.

Who's Jake Sullivan, the Man Who Reportedly Assembled 'Dream Team' to Destroy Nord Stream?

©AP Photo / Susan Walsh

National Security Adviser to President Biden Jake Sullivan played a prominent role in plotting the September 26, 2022, sabotage against the Russo-European Nord Stream pipelines, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh has revealed. So, who is Jake Sullivan: "the cat's meow," "once-in-a-generation intellect," or a reckless hawk?

"I have great respect for Hersh and his reporting and believe that Sullivan could certainly have been instrumental in pushing for and carrying out this deceitful campaign that likely has inflicted monumental damage on citizens worldwide while also sapping America's remaining national prestige," Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel told Sputnik.

In December 2021, Jake Sullivan, acting with Joe Biden's blessing, convened men and women from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA, and the State and Treasury Departments to come up with a plan on how to destruct Nord Stream 1 and 2 designed to pump Russian natural gas to Europe, according to Seymour Hersh's recent bombshell.

In early 2022, the CIA told Sullivan that they knew how to blow up the pipelines. The group decided to keep the risky plot on a hush. The US Congress wasn't informed. The US military and intelligence operatives did their best to conceal Washington's role in the sabotage. As per the investigative journalist, the team had concerns about the legality of the plot and was well aware that it could quickly morph into a foreign policy nightmare.

After the pipelines had been destroyed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and, later, Undersecretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland openly praised the development.

"When any crime is committed, the immediate question to ask when seeking suspects is 'to whose benefit?' Not only did it benefit the US, US officials made comments before and after the pipeline's destruction virtually confirming their role and the benefits derived," Brian Berletic, geopolitical analyst and former US marine, told Sputnik.

For his part, Jake Sullivan stated laconically on September 27, 2022, that the US was supporting efforts to investigate the "apparent sabotage" and "will continue (it's) work to safeguard Europe’s energy security."

"Hersh's reporting on the Nord Stream bombing is completely convincing and I know for a fact that he has reliable sources, mostly in the intelligence community, but I would rather regard Sullivan as the implementer of the attack on the pipeline by virtue of his position rather than the driving force behind it," Philip Giraldi, former CIA station chief, now an executive director of the Council for the National Interest, told Sputnik. "To be sure, Joe Biden would have had to promote and endorse the project."

Clinton's Golden Boy

Jake Sullivan, 46, has long been praised as a "golden boy" by the US mainstream media. Having graduated from Yale in 1998 Sullivan became an advisor to then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008 and later, after Hillary dropped out from the race, he advised Barack Obama during his general election campaign.

Sullivan was just 32 when he was sworn in as Hillary Clinton's deputy chief of staff for policy at the US State Department. When Clinton left the State Department in early 2013, Obama promoted Sullivan to the position of national security adviser to then-Vice President Joe Biden.

In 2015, Sullivan married Margaret Goodlander, onetime advisor to well-known hawks Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain, who used to previously work for the Council on Foreign Relations and the Center for a New American Security. (Goodlander is currently Counsel to Attorney General Merrick Garland).

Sullivan is known for being a quiet but prominent member of the Clinton-Obama team. According to the press, he was part of the "exclusive" team working on resuming relations with Cuba and striking the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal. He is also said to be Hillary's close confidante in the Libya plan, which was developed months before the 2011 NATO invasion of the North African state and brutal killing of its leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Sullivan and his boss, Clinton, adhered to the concept of "smart power," which encompasses the use of military threat, force, and sanctions and the soft-power levers favored by foreign policy doves, which includes humanitarian aid and negotiations.

The aide was reportedly called "the cat's meow" and a "potential future president" by Hillary, while Biden lauded him as a "once-in-a-generation intellect."

In 2015, the sandy-haired Minnesotan joined Hillary on her 2015/2016 election cycle as a foreign policy adviser and eventually returned to the US administration as Joe Biden's national security adviser in 2021.

Sullivan Lacks True Sense of Right Versus Wrong

However, there's another side to Sullivan's stellar career. "Sullivan is clearly drunk on power and lacking a true sense of right versus wrong," according to Ortel.

"Sullivan is a fiercely partisan globalist who achieved numerous high honors in academic life so he is supremely self-confident and, sadly, often grievously wrong," Ortel told Sputnik. "One way to get a sense of the way he operates is to look through the State Department and Podesta WikiLeaks files and the FBI Vault files on Hillary Clinton where Sullivan is frequently involved. Like the Clintons, Sullivan thrust himself into contact with powerful Democrats and operated well above his experience level early on. But unlike the Clintons, Obama, and Biden, Sullivan has yet to hold elected office."

One might wonder why Sullivan rose to prominence so fast even though he had relatively little experience in government affairs. Hillary herself admitted that Jake wasn't the most experienced diplomat when it came to foreign policy.

"Jake was not the most experienced diplomat at the State Department I could have chosen, but he was discreet and had my absolute confidence," Clinton wrote in her memoir Hard Choices while describing her decision to tap Sullivan to kick off negotiations with Iran in 2012. "His presence would send a powerful message that I was personally invested in this process."

According to US media observers, Sullivan's primary secret is that he mastered himself in delivering on his boss’s wants and needs even when it went contrary to rules and ethics. The US press quoted a senior Obama aide as saying that Sullivan was ready to do "everything" for then-Secretary Clinton.

Unsurprisingly, Sullivan had no scruples about Hillary's unsecured email server use for classified and top secret government correspondence. He was bullish on Washington's Libyan and Syrian interventions which spiraled out of control, completely ruining the North Africa state and leaving the Syrian Arab Republic in tatters.

"Under Obama and Biden, Sullivan is connected to train wreck after train wreck, from the Arab "spring", to Benghazi, ISIS*, the Iran 'deal' and more. He seems to be a huge fan of secret negotiations that are never subject to oversight," Ortel noted.

Sullivan got mired in Hillary Clinton's Benghazi scandal revolving around the former secretary of state's failure to prevent a brutal slaughter of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other US nationals in Libya on September 11, 2012. During the investigation into the matter, the House committee stumbled upon Sullivan's letter in which the official emphasized that "we need to live in a world of risks," while touting Washington's decision to oust Gaddafi which opened the door to chaos in Libya.

Trump-Russia "Collusion" Hoax

"In the 2016 campaign, he had every motive to hide the misdeeds of the Clintons, including corruption and tax fraud involving The Clinton Foundation and many other charities," said Ortel, who has been conducting a private investigation into the Clinton Foundation's alleged fraud for several years. "Here it will prove interesting to see what [Special Councel] John Durham has to say about Sullivan, including his likely role pushing the Russian Hoax, for Trump's impeachment and for electing Joe Biden."

Sullivan appeared to have no scruples about actively spreading the Trump-Russia collusion narrative and keeping the myth alive even after the allegations about Trump were proven null and void. Later, Durham's investigation shed light on Clinton campaign operatives' role in peddling a fake Trump-Alfa Bank story and uncorroborated "dirty dossier" by ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele.

However, when testifying under oath before the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in December 2017, the Clinton confidante denied any knowledge of the plot or people involved in it.

US investigative journalist Paul Sperry alleged that Sullivan was well-aware that the Trump-Alfa Bank story was "cooked-up" and personally spearheaded a "confidential project" to link Trump to the Kremlin.

Sullivan was also the one who personally promoted the Trump-Russia collusion story prior to the 2016 elections. Thus, during the July 2016 Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia, Sullivan met with a number of mainstream media producers and anchors to tell a story "that Trump was conspiring with Putin to steal the election."

Around that time, the CIA intercepted Russian intelligence's "chatter" about a Clinton "foreign policy adviser" who allegedly proposed a plan to vilify Donald Trump by linking him to the Kremlin in order to distract public opinion from Hillary's emailgate scandal. Some US observers believe that the foreign policy adviser in question was Jake Sullivan.

According to Ortel, Sullivan could well be aware of many other "dirty" secrets of the US Democratic establishment, including the Clinton's alleged pay-to-play schemes, Joe and Hunter Biden influence peddling and Team Obama's efforts to undermine then-sitting President Donald Trump through a string of dodgy investigations and leaks.

According "Simply put, Sullivan has no choice but to cover up the disasters connected to Biden, Obama and Clinton and likely cannot accept the grave errors (and high crimes) that seem to have been committed. In this effort, he will believe he is secure because his wife is a close advisor and friend of Attorney General Merrick Garland," the Wall Street analyst remarked.

Nord Stream Reporting Not Done

When it comes to the Nord Stream sabotage, "in a just process, Sullivan and his co-conspirators would swiftly be charged, convicted and incarcerated if it is proven that he orchestrated an undeclared war against Russia," argued Ortel.

According to Ortel, by fanning the flames of proxy war against Russia, Team Biden both pursues vested interests and seeks to cover up and obscure political misdeeds involving Biden, Clinton and Obama in Ukraine and other nations from 2009 to date.

Still, it appears that one could soon hear more about the Biden administration's secretive and risky plot. Hersh indicated to Sputnik that more investigative pieces about the Nord Stream explosion were forthcoming, but declined to provide further details.

Putin emphasizes DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye, Kherson regions historically Russian lands

©Mikhail Metzel/POOL/TASS

The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions are historically Russian lands and the key aspects of their development need to be enhanced to meet today’s Russian standards as soon as possible, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the supervisory board of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives.

"We say ‘new’ (about the four regions - TASS) just conventionally. Because we know well from history that they are Russian regions," he emphasized.

According to the president, "all these territories need to reach the average Russian development level over the time frame of the current decade, and the sooner the better," the head of state maintained.

Putin said the development of the new Russian regions must progress at a measured pace and shouldn’t take up the entire decade.

He highlighted that the key areas of activity for the ASI are the dissemination of its best practices, and the sharing of top-notch experience among Russian regions regarding socio-economic issues.

"The best solutions certainly should be used to develop programs of social and economic development for the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics and the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions," he said.

Pink Floyd founder Waters confesses now he has more respect for Putin — Daily Telegraph

Roger Waters, a founder of the UK rock legend Pink Floyd, said that he has changed his mind about Russian President Vladimir Putin. He made it clear in an interview with the Daily Telegraph newspaper published on Wednesday.

©AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo

"Yes, an article I wrote about three months ago calling Vladimir Putin a gangster… That may have been unfair," the musician said. He explained that he’d become a keen listener to The Duran, a podcast spin-off from a website that has published blogs linked to the anti-NATO hacking group Ghostwriter.

"After hearing their take on Russia, Waters now has more respect for Putin," the Daily Telegraph wrote.

"It may be that he’s leading his country to the benefit of all of the people of Russia," Waters noted in an interview with the British newspaper.

On Wednesday, Waters took part in the Russia-convened UN Security Council on Ukraine speaking via a videoconference link. Russia convened the meeting to discuss the fact that the West’s supplies of weapons to Kiev make a peaceful settlement of the conflict difficult to achieve. In his speech, Waters called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine

Special operation, 8 February. Main:

▪️The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the workshops of the Ukrainian aviation industry enterprise were destroyed in Kharkov, in which the modernization of drones was carried out;

Footage of a shooting battle near Avdiivka. A group of Russian special forces attacked the positions of Ukrainian militants.

▪️According to the Defense Ministry, more than 380 Ukrainian soldiers were destroyed in the main areas;

▪️The Russian Defense Ministry added that Russian air defense systems destroyed 11 HIMARS MLRS shells and 10 Ukrainian drones in a day;

▪️The Russian Armed Forces destroyed two ammunition depots of Ukrainian troops near Avdiivka and Slavyansk in the DPR, the Ministry of Defense stressed;

Operators of the "Ghost" battalion filmed the empty village of Spornoye in the DPR, abandoned by Ukrainian nationalists.

Filming shows abandoned positions, burned-out Ukrainian equipment, as well as a dugout of nationalists on the outskirts.

▪️Acting head of the LPR, Pasechnik, said that Ukrainian troops have recently been mainly hitting hospitals in the LPR, Kyiv used to deliver chaotic strikes, but now the targets are selective;

▪️London is considering the possibility of transferring British fighter jets to Kyiv, the Wall Street Journal reported;

▪️The Telegraph newspaper stated that the training of the first Ukrainian pilots on British military aircraft will begin in the spring;

▪️ The supply of fighter jets by Britain to Kyiv will have military-political consequences for the European continent and the whole world, the Russian Embassy said;

▪️Scholz said that Berlin will not participate in "speculation" about the supply of combat aircraft and submarines to Ukraine.