"Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on May 10 that President Volodymyr Zelenskyshould hold a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin if he wants to hold face-to-face talks.
Fico made the remarks a day after his meeting with Putin in Moscow, where he attended Victory Day events.
The Slovak prime minister said that during a personal conversation, Zelensky expressed readiness to meet Putin in any format.
"I conveyed a message from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the president of Russia," Fico said in a video address." KI
"Estonia, following Latvia and Lithuania, has said it will bar Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's aircraft from its airspace for a visit to Moscow for Victory Day celebrations on 9 May. [Victory Day is a Russian holiday commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, celebrated on 9 May – ed.]." Pravada
"Oil supplies via the vital Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia have reportedly been halted, and it's
flows have been suspended since initially being damaged.
Ukrainian oil and gas company Naftogaz, as well as Ukraine officials, have alleged that Russia attacked its own facility in eastern Ukraine.
However, city officials in Brody, where Druzhba meets the Brody-Odesa oil pipeline, warned the population about pollution from burning oil products and Mr Sybiha posted on X a picture of firefighters against a backdrop of flames.
“This is the Druzhba pipeline infrastructure burning after the latest targeted Russian strike on January 27th, which stopped oil transit.” ZH
"Former Czech Prime Minister and populist billionaire Andrej Babiš and his ANO partyemerged as the winners of the Czech Republic’s parliamentary elections on Saturday; however, a coalition-building process is likely to ensue before the next government is formed.
Babiš, who previously served as Czech prime minister from 2017 to 2021, is likely to be given the opportunity to form a government after his ANO party won 34.6 per cent of the vote on Saturday, topping the neo-liberal Spolu (Together) coalition of likely outgoing Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Blesk reports.
The victory for the billionaire businessman, often described as Czechia’s Trump, may potentially strengthen the Ukraine-war critical bloc in the European Union, alongside fellow Visegrad leaders Robert Fico in Slovakia and Viktor Orbán in Hungary.
However, with his party projected to have won 80 seats in the 200-seat Czech parliament, Babiš will either need to build a coalition or govern from a minority position with the support of other parties in the legislature.
The most natural coalition partner for ANO is likely the Motorists for Themselves (AUTO) party, an anti-green agenda and Eurosceptic party, which is already in coalition with the Babiš party in the EU Parliament, with both sitting in the populist Patriots for Europe grouping." Breitbart
"Ukraine will not provide oil and gas to Slovakia if it comes from Russia, Vladimir Zelensky has told journalists following a meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.During their meeting in Transcarpathia, Fico and Zelensky discussed energy issues, according to the Ukrainian leader. “We are ready to supply gas and oil to Slovakia if it is not Russian gas and not Russian oil. Because we have a war. Period,” Zelensky told journalists after the talks on Friday.
Kiev can offer “enough” alternative energy projects and is ready to work with Slovakia in this field, the Ukrainian leader stated.
Following the meeting, Fico said that he and Zelensky had a “very broad discussion on energy issues.” Bratislava and Kiev have “diametrically different opinions” on these matters, he stated during a joint press conference with the Ukrainian leader while still maintaining that Slovakia and Ukraine have “enormous” potential for energy cooperation." RT
"Hungary has accused Ukraine of threatening its sovereignty after Kiev launched a dronestrike on the Druzhba oil pipeline on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said shipments of Russian crude via the pipeline have been temporarily halted following the attack on a metering station.
In a video posted on Facebook, Szijjarto stressed that the Druzhba pipeline is a critical component of Hungary’s energy infrastructure, pointing out that if it ceases to function, oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia would be “physically impossible.” RT
"The Slovak government will not support Ukraine financially or militarily to continue its war against Russia, according to Prime Minister Robert Fico." Ukrin
"Ukrainians recently lost a critical air defense system in the Sumy region, which protected the airspace over the area facing the Kursk region.Footage has surfaced online from a Russian drone showing elements of the Ukrainian S-300 air defense system battery in the Sumy region. It appears that either an Iskander-M ballistic missile or a Tornado-S system missile with a cluster warhead struck the S-300P system launcher. This is suggested by the large explosion in the air that preceded explosions on the ground. The Ukrainian launcher was completely destroyed, as indicated by the explosion of transported rockets and dense white smoke.
Although Ukrainians received an S-300P system battery from Slovakia and missiles for refurbishment from Bulgaria, these supplies are limited. The only other option would be Greece, which has repeatedly refused to transfer its stockpiles or manufacture new missiles with help from Western partners." MS
"Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Ukrainian saboteurs have been apprehended
in Slovakia while in possession of maps outlining the country’s gas infrastructure.
Putin said the Ukrainian saboteurs had engaged in terrorist activities within Russia and now they are doing it in European countries." RT
"Germany has decided to relocate a heavy military equipment repair centre for the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Slovakia due to problems with work organization and inflexible processes on the fellow NATO state’s territory." Pravada
"Robert Fico, the Slovak Prime Minister who was seriously injured in an attempted assassination shooting in May, has said the Trump attack was a “carbon copy” scenario and blamed hostile media and Trump’s political opponents for creating an atmosphere of hate." Breitbart
"Alleged gunman Juraj Cintula, 71, is facing life in prison if convicted of the 'lone wolf', 'politically motivated' attack that rocked Europe." MS
"Slovakia appears to be on the brink of a civil war, its interior minister has warned, following the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Robert Fico. The head of the Slovak government was shot in the eastern town of Handlova, where he had chaired a working meeting. The gunman, identified by the media as an opposition party supporter in his early 70s, acted on political motives. Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok warned that the country was “on the edge of a civil war” over political tensions." RT
"Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times in an assassination attempt and was in a life-threatening condition.....Fico was being transported by helicopter to Banska Bystrica for medical treatment "because it would take too long" to return him to the capital of Bratislava.
The attack happened following a government meeting in the central Slovakian town of Handlova.
A woman who witnessed the shooting, cited by local news outlet MNT.SK, said she heard three or four shots and watched Fico fall to the ground. Fico had made pro-Russian statements and moved to tighten state control over news media. Fico had faced criticism for saying he would not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin under an existing international criminal warrant if Putin visited Slovakia." AP
"Russian troops captured a village west of the city of Avdiivka, which fell last month after one of the bloodiest battles in the war. Meanwhile, Hungary and Slovakia said they won't send Ukraine ammunition. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that it had captured the village of Tonenke in the eastern Donetsk region." DW
"At a recent meeting of European leaders, French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted that "nothing should be ruled out" in terms of sending ground troops to Ukraine. This statement sparked reactions across several countries, including Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany, all of which clarified that they have no intentions of dispatching soldiers to Ukraine. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also weighed in on the issue, noting that Macron's statement currently holds "no significance." "If some countries choose to send troops elsewhere, it does not impact NATO," said Kristersson, pointing out that although Sweden is not yet a formal member of the Alliance, it is expected to join soon. "French tradition is not Swedish tradition," he reiterated. Poland's President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk have made it clear to international allies that the country does not intend to send military forces to Ukraine." essanews
"Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico warned on Monday that some NATO and EU countries are considering sending troops to Ukraine, a step that would risk direct war between NATO and Russia. "Several NATO and EU member states are considering sending their soldiers to Ukraine on a bilateral basis," said Fico, who was elected last year on a platform of opposing the proxy war in Ukraine." ZH
"Ahead of the 2024 US presidential election, there’s been much talk about the family of US President Joe Biden and alleged corruption schemes connected with Ukraine. The story itself isn’t new, but facts have recently come to light which make it clear why the American leader and his fellow Democrats remain intransigent on the Ukraine issue.Andrey Derkach, a former Ukrainian parliamentarian who became widely known for publishing recordings of conversations between ex-Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko and high-ranking foreign officials, including Biden (who was then US vice president), gave an extensive interview earlier this month to journalist Simona Mangiante. During this conversation, he disclosed sensational new details about the “special ties” between the Biden family and the Ukrainian authorities.According to Derkach, “President [Vladimir] Zelensky’s office was involved in distributing the Poroshenko-Biden recordings and helped organize the media coverage [of the story].” At the time, Zelensky and his team were interested in exposing his political rival by any means possible.
Everything changed after the start of the 2020 US election campaign and the arrival of Biden as president. “In a situation when Zelensky and [Ukrainian presidential aide Andrey] Yermak are begging Biden and [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken for money, a [news] story about how they had once created problems for Biden’s election campaign is a big problem for them,” Derkach explained.
So, instead of exposing the corruption in the previous Ukrainian administration, the Bidens (along with Zelensky and his team) turned against anti-corruption fighters. Derkach, who has been forced to hide in Belarus, was stripped of his citizenship by the Ukrainian authorities and sanctioned by the US. But that’s not all. In addition to criminal investigations and sanctions, Derkach says he has faced assassination attempts ordered by top officials in Kiev and Washington.
On January 19, 2022, US Secretary of State Mr Blinken arrived in Ukraine to meet with Zelensky. Quite a lot of people attended this meeting – at least 14 people. At the meeting, Mr Blinken told Zelensky the following: ‘You urgently need to resolve the issue with Derkach’. Zelensky began talking about some people from the opposition. But Blinken said, ‘If you don’t resolve this issue with Derkach, then we will resolve the Derkach issue with our partners.’ Those who were at the meeting were taken aback, because the position of the US secretary of state was quite harsh. Just think of it, the task for the president of Ukraine is to resolve the issue with Derkach, the former deputy said.
It is noteworthy that in 2021, the Ukrainian police discovered plans to assassinate Derkach and the head of the group of prosecutors in the Burisma energy company case, Konstantin Kulik, but did not initiate a criminal case. The investigation tracked down the criminal gang from Eastern Europe hired to carry out the hit, as well as their base in Transcarpathia. The assassin himself was supposed to be an Albanian, but the information was leaked, and the gang escaped.
There was also an attempt to assassinate former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. According to former US Associate Attorney General and ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Shokin (whose dismissal Joe Biden has openly bragged about) was poisoned with mercury while on a trip to Greece. Nikolay Korpan – a doctor at the Austrian Rudolfinerhaus private clinic who treated presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko in 2004 – reportedly confirmed this to Giuliani. According to Korpan’s findings, while the permissible amount of mercury in the blood is no more than two units, Shokin was found to have 9.2 units and was starting to experience liver failure. It was clearly a murder attempt.
The number of witnesses in the Burisma case – a company though which Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden earned profits via alleged corruption schemes – is also steadily decreasing. Shortly before she was due to testify as a witness in the case, the wife of Nikolai Lisin – a former partner of Nikolai Zlochevsky – was found dead in her apartment. She had been responsible for accounting at Burisma and had been aware of transactions carried out in the interests of the Bidens. Lisin himself died in a car accident back in 2011.
In light of this, it seems Derkach is right to say that anyone who talks about Biden’s corruption in Ukraine is in danger of being physically removed.
The fact that Hunter Biden abused his father’s official position, receiving a profit of several million dollars through corrupt schemes and violating US legislation on foreign agents, isn’t the only problem. There’s much more to it than that.
In order to understand the scale of the potential profits for the Biden family, we need to go back to 2012. The Yuzovsk shale gas field is located on the territory of the Donetsk and Kharkov regions. The total area of the deposit is about 7886 sq km. According to the State Geologic and Subsoil Survey of Ukraine (UGS), the proven resources of the field are up to 10 trillion cubic meters, and it can deliver around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. In May 2012, the British-Dutch company Shell won the tender (organized by the UGS) for the right to conclude an agreement on its development. On January 24, 2013, Ukraine signed a production sharing agreement with Shell. Incidentally, US company ExxonMobil had participated in the tender along with Shell, but the Europeans won.
At the end of November 2013, when then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an Association Agreement with the EU, mass protests broke out in Kiev, which became known as the ‘Euromaidan’. One of the officials who greatly supported the protesters and encouraged the establishment of pro-Western power in Ukraine was Biden’s colleague, Nuland, who was dubbed the ‘Maidan midwife’. The State Department official was so active in Ukraine that she became embroiled in numerous scandals. She was known for handing out cookies in the center of Kiev, cursing the EU, and boasting that the US had invested $5 billion into “building democracy” in Ukraine.
On February 22, 2014, the Ukrainian parliament removed Yanukovych from power, in a move of dubious legality. Aleksandr Turchinov became interim president, and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, backed by Nuland, became prime minister. In April 2014, the Ukrainian army started an “anti-terrorist operation” in Donbass, and Shell was forced to stop the development of shale gas deposits.
Meanwhile, on May 12, 2014, Burisma announced that Hunter Biden had joined its board of directors. The energy company was headed by Ukrainian oligarch Nikolay Zlochevsky, who was Ukraine’s minister of natural resources under Yanukovych. While he held that post, Zlochevsky’s firm received nine licenses for the development of various energy deposits, thereby increasing its annual production volume sevenfold. The oligarch’s activities drew the attention of Interpol, since Zlochevsky had ties with Maltese businessman Pierre Pillow. He was involved in laundering huge sums of money in Maltese banks and helped Zlochevsky open accounts for Hunter Biden in Satabank, known for its dubious operations.
In 2018, Burisma took up the development of shale deposits located in the exact same area where the military conflict between Kiev and Donbass was raging. At least $10 billion – i.e. the sum of the contract with Shell – was at stake.
But the story didn’t end there. Sergey Zavorotny, adviser to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov, described the Bidens’ alleged schemes involving reverse gas flows. Derkach’s records state that while he was US vice president, Joe Biden pressured Poroshenko to leave Andrey Kobolev as CEO of Ukraine’s Naftogaz. In turn, Kobolev appointed Amos Hochstein – who may be called Biden’s “wallet” – as an independent director of the Naftogaz supervisory board. It is at this time that the reverse gas flow scheme was organized.
The scheme implied that “Russian gas crossed the Ukraine-Slovakia border through a built-in 1.5 kilometer-long pipe and immediately returned to Ukraine, but with an added cost of $50 per one thousand cubic meters. Biden, Kobolev, and Amos Hochstein collected one and a half billion dollars using this scheme," Zavorotny also claims.
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko drew attention to the fact that the perpetrators of the corruption scheme were never punished, and said that “the investigation was not carried out under the new president. The president changed, but all the policies that were carried out externally in regard to Ukraine, as well as inside the country, have remained the same.”
While intense fighting was underway in Ukraine, Burisma launched the first shale gas production line in Donbass. Hunter Biden arranged that process, while Hochstein “organized” the reverse gas flows. At that time, Hochstein became the US Special Envoy for Nord Stream 2.
Everybody knows what happened to Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines, built to supply energy to Germany. We won’t accuse anyone in particular, but will only let the interested parties speak for themselves.
In a recent interview, Derkach recalled the criminal case against Burisma lawyer Andrey Kichi, who tried to give a $6 million bribe to law enforcement officials in order to close the Burisma case. On April 21, 2022, with the consent of a Burisma representative, a Ukrainian court transferred the $6 million in cash to the military unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine. According to Derkach, “after a certain period of time, Nord Stream exploded, there were assassination attempts. The heads of the Ukrainian special services do not hide the fact that they commit terrorist acts and political assassinations using off-budget cash. Once again, Biden’s business partners who are involved in the corrupt business in Ukraine also finance terrorist acts, thus avoiding responsibility for corruption in Ukraine.”
These claims are yet to be proven, but the hostility towards the Nord Stream project by representatives of the US administration is indisputable. In his investigation of the explosions, renowned US journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh wrote that the Democrats directly threatened to destroy the gas pipelines. As President Biden stated during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in February 2022, “If Russia invades [Ukraine], there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” Twenty days before that, Under Secretary of State Nuland had said: “I want to be very clear: if Russia invades Ukraine one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.”
As a result, the European gas market has undergone a huge transformation in the past couple of years. By the end of 2023, LNG accounted for 42% of the EU’s gas imports. This comes down to about 165 billion cubic meters of natural gas, when converted through regasification. Half of it – i.e. 77 billion cubic meters – was supplied by the US. According to a report by shipbroker Branchero Costa, the US is now the largest exporter of LNG, accounting for 21.7% of global shipments. In total, the US exported 88.9 million tons of LNG last year, which is 12.0% more than in 2022. To compare, the US exported 72.5 million tons of LNG in 2021, and just 48.2 million tons in 2020. What more can we say?
As German Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said in the Bundestag, “We provide military and economic support to Ukraine, as well as to European countries that continue to support Ukraine. Therefore, we spend money – the money is no longer here, and we have to admit that it does not enter our economy.” Habeck admitted that the German economy had lost its competitive advantage due to the rejection of Russian gas, and energy prices in the country have increased." RT
"Germany’s Welt newspaper, perhaps the most popular publication in the country, is well known for its pro-Ukraine stance.....However, in a column published yesterday by the paper’s chief correspondent, Sascha Lehnartz, the assessment of Ukraine’s chances in the war is decidedly bleak.
Entitled “Has Kyiv already lost?” the article describes Ukraine’s military growing increasingly despondent to the point that the country’s commander-in-chief admits there is a “stalemate” at the front.
“Winter is just around the corner. The counteroffensive seems to have failed. The allies are weary. And since the beginning of November at the latest, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has a new opponent who was not necessarily to be expected: his own commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny,” writes Die Welt.Welt is referring to a recent interview in the Economist, in which Ukraine’s top general, Valery Zaluzhny, stated that “(a)s in the First World War, we have reached a technical level that puts us in a stalemate situation” and that in order for Ukraine to win, it would take miracle weapons to defeat the Russians, “like Chinese gunpowder.”
“The recent election victories of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Robert Fico in Slovakia — both of whom reject further arms sales to Ukraine — are also symptoms of growing war weariness in the West,” writes Welt.
“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni admitted this in September when she was tricked on the phone by a Moscow comedian duo: she saw ‘a lot of fatigue on all sides.’ Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has already declared the Ukrainian strategy ‘failed.’ Everyone knows that, but no one (except Orbán) dares to say it out loud,” the paper continues." ZeroHedge
"Slovak carriers have blocked the truck traffic towards the Vyšné Nemecké-Uzhhorod checkpoint. According to available information, the blocking may be indefinite." Pravada
