Russia accuses U.S. of genocide denial

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From RT
February 18, 2022

US is ignoring the targeting of Russian speakers in Ukraine, Moscow’s envoy in Washington said

By Alexey Viryasov

America’s willful ignorance of atrocities being committed against Russian-speaking people in Ukraine is causing “outrage and indignation” in Moscow and is an example of Washington’s “double standards,” Russia’s ambassador to the US claimed on Thursday.

Anatoly Antonov’s statement came in response to a comment made by US State Department spokesman Ned Price, who accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of spreading allegations with “no basis of truth.” On Tuesday, Putin claimed that Kiev was committing “genocide” in Donbass, in east Ukraine.

In a statement published on Facebook, Antonov listed the shelling of residential areas and the 2014 Trade Unions House fire in Odessa as examples of Kiev targeting Russian speakers.

He also claimed that mass graves with almost 300 people had been found in the Donbass, and asserted that they had been killed because of their native language. Similar claims have been slammed by the US of being “false narratives.” [Editor: The US denies the genocide and forced assimilation their ancestors did as they advanced across and claimed land on the American continent.]

“Washington’s beautiful slogans about the supreme value of human rights are not worth a penny. The main geopolitical goal of the United States is to push Russia back to the East as far as possible,” the envoy said. “To that end, a policy to force the Russian-speaking population out of their current places of residence is needed.”

“Americans prefer not only to ignore the attempts of forced assimilation of Russians in Ukraine but also strongly condone them with political and military support,” he continued, adding that the interests of millions of Russians living in Ukraine must be protected, which he called “a guarantee of Ukraine’s statehood and territorial integrity.”

The armed conflict in Ukraine began in 2014, following the events of the Maidan, when violent street protests toppled the democratically elected government in Kiev. Shortly after, two regions declared themselves independent states, named the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics.

Moscow has repeatedly refused to recognize the breakaway states as sovereign, instead calling for them to be integrated into Ukraine with a special status. However, earlier this week, the Russian State Duma adopted a resolution urging Putin to recognize their independence.

https://www.rt.com/russia/549870-accusing-us-genocide-denial/

Powerful explosions hit cities in eastern Ukraine

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From RT
2/18/22

At least one of the two consecutive blasts in Lugansk has affected a gas pipeline

At least two explosions rocked the city of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine late on Friday, a Sputnik news agency correspondent has reported. Local media have also confirmed that the first blast affected a pipeline in the area, resulting in a major fire. The second one reportedly took place at a gas station.

The reports of explosions come just hours after the neighboring city of Donetsk was rocked by another blast. It was caused by a car bomb, which targeted a vehicle belonging to the head of the people’s militia of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, and did not result in any casualties.

Earlier, both self-proclaimed republics in Lugansk and Donetsk ordered a mass evacuation of civilians from the area to Russia, citing fears of a potential attack by the Ukrainian military. Meanwhile, Kiev has denied any plans to take the breakaway regions by force.

Tensions are currently running high in eastern Ukraine, as the two breakaway republics – known colloquially as Donbass – allege the government in Kiev is planning a military operation to claim their territory by force. They have cited a sharp increase in incidents along the armistice line, including the use of artillery, mortars, and tanks by the Ukrainian military…

https://www.rt.com/russia/549924-lugansk-explosion-ukraine/

A massive explosion in the center of Donetsk on Friday evening was the work of a car bomb that detonated outside the government headquarters, the authorities in the breakaway region in eastern Ukraine have said.

Multiple reports of the blast came shortly after both Donetsk and Lugansk, the two regions that seceded from Ukraine in 2014, announced an evacuation of civilians into Russia, fearing an attack by the Ukrainian military.

RT correspondent Roman Kosarev, who is on the ground in Donetsk to report on the evacuation, has also confirmed that he heard the explosion.

Images from the scene show a completely destroyed car in the parking lot about 100 meters or so outside the seat of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, with significant damage to other vehicles nearby.

The targeted vehicle belonged to the head of the DPR People’s Militia, Denis Sinenkov, who told Interfax that he was not injured in the blast…

The authorities in Donetsk are asking residents to remain calm, stay on alert, and limit movement around the city as much as they can.

https://www.rt.com/russia/549901-donetsk-explosion-ukraine/

Ukraine to launch military operation via Lugansk republic; shells nine Donbass settlement areas

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From RT
February 18, 2022

Ukrainian armed forces are planning a breakthrough into the territory of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic, the head of the breakaway region, Leonid Pasechnik, alleged on Friday. He provided no specific evidence for his assertion.

A short time earlier, the leadership of the neighboring Donetsk People’s Republic called on civilians to evacuate to Russia in light of anticipated military aggression by Ukrainian forces.

“Contrary to common sense and international agreements, the adversary continues to concentrate manpower and heavy equipment along the entire line of contact. By this moment, an impressive strike force has been formed by the adversary. According to the intelligence data, the Ukrainian aggressor plans to carry out not only provocations on the line of contact, but a breakthrough deep into our republic’s territory,” Pasechnik said in his address to the Lugansk People’s Republic residents.

He also called on civilians to move to Russian territory “as soon as possible,” adding that Russian authorities are prepared to “ensure organized reception and to provide accommodation on its territory” for the Lugansk People’s Republic’s residents.

“I instruct the leaders of the territories, law enforcement agencies and emergency services to ensure an organized evacuation of social objects and to help the population get to border checkpoints,” he added…

https://www.rt.com/russia/549887-ukarine-lugansk-breakthrough-evacuation/

From Donetsk News Agency

Western Donetsk under heavy fire: 50 projectiles explode in 35 minutes

Donetsk, Feb 17 – DAN. Western Donetsk has come under heavy Ukrainian fire on Friday, the DPR Mission to the JCCC said.

The shelling incidents were reported from 11.47 a.m. until 12.22 p.m., the total of 46 mortar and grenade launcher rounds hit the city. The fire originated from the direction of Krasnogorovka.

The DPR has been under attack since 5.30 a.m. today, a wide range of weapons is used. *ot

https://dan-news.info/en/defence/western-donetsk-under-heavy-fire-50-projectiles-explode-in-35-minutes/

Ukrainian saboteurs attempted to explode fuel depot in Elenovka

Donetsk, Feb 17 – DAN. Ukrainian special operations forces planned to blow up an oil depot in Elenovka, DPR People’s Militia deputy commander Eduard Basurin said on Friday.

“This night, a saboteur squad of the Vostok Special Operations Center attempted to infiltrate the DPR in the Elenovka area to blow up fuel tanks, that supposedly contained fuel. Massive catastrophic consequences have been averted thanks to the prompt reaction of law enforcement forces, who followed up a phone call made by a guard of the depot and prevented the terrorist attack,” he said.

All the related data will be passed to international organizations and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the DPR to launch a criminal investigation. *ot

https://dan-news.info/en/defence/ukrainian-saboteurs-attempted-to-explode-fuel-depot-in-elenovka/

Kiev forces shell nine Donbass settlement areas

Donetsk, Feb 17 – DAN. Ukrainian armed formations delivered strikes at the areas of nine settlements in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics within two hours on Thursday morning, expending some 160 rounds of ammunition of calibre over 12.7mm, the DPR Office at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) said.

The strikes were delivered between 5:32 and 7:42 at the areas of of the following settlements: Kominternovo, Oktyabr, Novolaspa and Petrovskoye in the DPR and Veselenkoye, Donetsky, Zolotoye-5, Nizhneye Lozovoye and Sokolniki in the LPR. The enemy used 120mm and 82mm mortars (expending 67 rounds overall), grenade launchers (90 rounds) and high calibre small arms, the JCCC said.

The package of tighter ceasefire control measures has been formally in effect in Donbass since July 27, 2020. The document bans, among other things, the use of weapons, deployment of hardware next to settlements and engineer works at troops’ positions. Tensions in Donbass mounted after the New Year and Christmas holidays. *jk

https://dan-news.info/en/defence/kiev-forces-shell-nine-donbass-settlement-areas/

Ukrainian aggression prompts civilian evacuation from DPR and Lugansk republics

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Donetsk, Feb 17 – DAN. DPR has announced evacuation of civilians, first of all women, children and elderly citizens to the Russia Federation.

“From today, February 18, a mass centralized departure of the population to the Russian Federation has been organized. First of all, women, children and the elderly are subject to evacuation”, Pushilin said in his statement.

He said that the agreement has been reached with Russian authorities to organize dwellings and organized crossing of the border for the evacuated people. *ot

https://dan-news.info/en/politics/ukrainian-aggression-prompts-civilians-evacuation-from-dpr-to-russia—pushilin/

First of all, all orphans from Donetsk children’s homes are being evacuated to Russia.

From RT
February 18, 2022

Civilians must flee from the rebel-held Ukrainian regions to Russia, their heads say

The leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics told civilians on Friday to evacuate to Russia to avoid getting caught in the crossfire in case Ukraine starts an attack.

Donetsk People’s Republic head Denis Pushilin said in a statement that he expects military aggression by Ukrainian forces. The country’s troops have been bolstered with arms supplies from Western nations and “are now prepositioned for combat and ready to take Donbass by force,” Pushilin claimed in a statement, referring to his region and fellow breakaway entity, the Lugansk People’s Republic, by their collective name.

The Ukrainian rebels are expecting President Volodymyr Zelensky to order an offensive “in the nearest future.” Their military forces are prepared to fight, but civilians in rebel-controlled areas are at risk of being caught in the crossfire, the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic warned.

“That is why starting today, February 18, a mass evacuation of people to the Russian Federation has been organized,” he said, adding that vulnerable groups like women, children, and the elderly would be given priority.

The head of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), Leonid Pasechnik, also called on people to evacuate from the region.

Pushilin said Russian officials in the neighboring Rostov Region are expecting an inflow of evacuees and will provide them with what they need. There will be conditions at border crossings to expedite the process, he added. He urged people “to heed to the warning and take the right decision,” saying that the relocation would be temporary and would save lives.

The statement was released after OSCE observers deployed to eastern Ukraine to monitor the situation along the line dividing government-controlled parts of the country and territories held by the rebel forces reported a surge in hostilities this week…

Western nations have been claiming for months that Russia was preparing a military invasion of Ukraine. US officials stated that Moscow was preparing a “false flag” operation to justify an attack.

Moscow rejected the accusations. The only way hostilities could break out, Russian officials said, is if Ukraine attempts once again to use military force to take over its breakaway regions. Moscow accuses Kiev of failing to abide by a follow-up roadmap for the reintegration of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions – the Minsk agreements – which Ukraine and the leaders of the two self-proclaimed republics signed in 2014 and 2015, after significant hostilities broke out in the region.

https://www.rt.com/russia/549874-breakaway-ukrainian-region-evacuation/

Ukraine preparing seaborne assault to capture DPR positions on Sea of Azov shore – DPR intelligence

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From Donetsk News Agency

Donetsk, Feb 17 – DAN. The Ukrainian army is training a tactical amphibious landing party to seize Donetsk People’s Republic militia positions on the Sea of Azov shore, the DPR militia said.

“DPR militia intelligence agents have obtained new information on the Ukrainian army’s planned offensive in Donbass,” the militia said. “Commander of the Operations and Tactical Group “East” Yury Sodol is planning and preparing the landing of a tactical amphibious force to gain a foothold on the Azov shore of the DPR and attack our troops from the rear.”

Last week, the Ukrainian army Joint Forces Operations commander Alexander Pavlyuk visited Mariupol where Sodol reported to him on completing the training for the amphibious raid.

“Under the concept of the operation, Ukraine will deliver a strike on the Sartana-Kominternovo axis.” The amphibious landing force includes a reconnaissance company and a fire support company from 36th Marine Brigade, a joint mortar squad as well as several platoons of 107th Territorial Defense Battalion which will be deployed to Mariupol from Zaporozhye in the nearest future,” the DPR militia said.

The landing force will use the vessels handed over to Ukraine by the USA as part of military assistance, it added. *jk

https://dan-news.info/en/defence/ukraine-preparing-seaborne-assault-to-capture-dpr-positions-on-sea-of-azov/

U.S. shipped botulinum toxin to Ukraine in late 2021; Ukraine troops train in chemical weapons

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From Donetsk News Agency

Basurin reveals details of US shipments of toxic substances to Ukraine

Donetsk, Dec 22 – DAN. Ukraine received several shipments of toxic substances from the United States, the deputy head of the DPR People’s Militia Eduard Basurin said.

According to him, botulinum toxin and its antidote were imported to Ukraine in the autumn. This toxic substance causes paralysis and is deadly. Basurin said that the toxin came in metal containers that can be used in grenade launcher attacks, as well as dropped by unmanned aerial vehicles.

The deputy head added that at the same time a 300 kg container with benzoxazepin chemical agent arrived to Mariupol.

Earlier, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Ukrainian side was preparing a provocation using poisonous substances. It was reported that tanks with unidentified chemical components were delivered to Avdeyevka and Krasnyi Liman. *ot

https://dan-news.info/en/ukraine/basurin-reveals-details-of-us-shipments-of-toxic-substances-to-ukraine/

Threat of Ukraine using chemical weapon persists – Basurin

Donetsk, Jan 21 – DAN. The threat of Ukrainian army using chemical weapons against Donbass Republics persists, the deputy chief-of-staff of the Republican People’s Militia Eduard Basurin said.

“CBRN units, part of the 25th brigade, underwent intense training at the Anadol training range, thereby the possibility of the enemy using chemicals for provocations remains. Some chemicals were delivered to Avdeyevka and Krasnyi Liman in late 2021,” he said.

Ukraine received several shipments of toxic substances from the United States in autumn 2021.

Botulinum toxin causes paralysis and is deadly. Basurin said that the toxin came in metal containers that can be used in grenade launcher attacks, as well as dropped by unmanned aerial vehicles.

Earlier, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Ukrainian side was preparing a provocation using poisonous substances. It was reported that tanks with unidentified chemical components were delivered to Avdeyevka and Krasnyi Liman. *ot

https://dan-news.info/en/defence/threat-of-ukraine-using-chemical-weapon-persists—basurin/

US accelerates troop deployments as Biden threatens “world war” with Russia

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From World Socialist Web Site
February 12, 2022
Alex Lantier, Johannes Stern

As Washington and its NATO allies work to militarily surround Russia, US officials yesterday declared that a US-Russia war is imminent.

US soldiers line up during the visit of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase, near the Black Sea port city of Constanta, eastern Romania, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022 [Credit: AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru]

Yesterday, Washington announced the deployment of 3,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to bases in Poland, which borders Ukraine. Britain and Germany will send hundreds of soldiers to strengthen NATO battlegroups in Estonia and Lithuania. This comes after NATO countries have for weeks delivered Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and Turkish TB2 Bayraktar drones to the Ukrainian regime in Kiev.

The narrative NATO is peddling—that it is acting to defend Ukraine from Russia—is a pack of lies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly declared that Russia’s military posture is not consistent with plans for an all-out invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, when reporters challenged US claims that Russia is preparing an attack, State Department spokesman Ned Price could do nothing but argue that undisclosed “intelligence information” meant his claims were true.

Nearly two decades after Washington invaded Iraq based on lies that it had “weapons of mass destruction,” US imperialism and its NATO allies are concocting a strategy to trigger a war with Russia, a nuclear-armed power, under conditions where they can blame Russia for it. Reports of mounting Ukrainian military activity in the Donbass region suggest that a NATO-backed military provocation can be staged there to trigger the war.

Yesterday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Russia is “in a position to be able to mount a major military action” and refused to give any further details, stating: “I will not comment on the details of our intelligence information. But I do want to be clear, it could begin during the Olympics, despite a lot of speculation that it would only happen after the Olympics.” On this basis, Sullivan urged US citizens in Ukraine to “leave as soon as possible.”

Significantly, Sullivan added that the NATO alliance had concluded very detailed planning for a confrontation with Russia. He said, “We have achieved a remarkable level of unity and common purpose from the broad strategy down to the technical details. If Russia proceeds, its long-term power and influence will be diminished, not enhanced by an invasion. It will face a more determined transatlantic community.”

This followed a statement by Biden the day before calling on US citizens to leave Ukraine, adding that “things could go crazy quickly” and that a US-Russian conflict would be “world war.”

This strategy is coordinated with the European powers. Yesterday, Biden’s emergency call went to Prime Ministers Boris Johnson (UK), Justin Trudeau (Canada), and Mario Draghi (Italy); Presidents Emmanuel Macron (France), Andrzej Duda (Poland) and Klaus Iohannis (Romania), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and EU and NATO officials. According to a White House report, they pledged “to impose massive consequences and severe economic costs on Russia, should it choose military escalation, and to continue reinforcing the defensive posture on NATO’s eastern flank.”

US officials insist war could begin next week, Der Spiegel reported, stating that “both the CIA and the US military informed the German government and other NATO states on Friday that they feared, based on new information, that the attack could take place as early as next Wednesday.”

At the same time, NATO is holding several major military exercises. The “Dynamic Manta 22” anti-submarine exercise begins on February 20 in the Mediterranean, followed by the “Dynamic Guard” exercise in Norway two days later. Both transition into “Cold Response,” the largest “war game” in Norway since the 1980s, involving 35,000 troops from 28 countries.

Yesterday, at Romania’s Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg promised to reinforce Eastern Europe. About an upcoming Madrid summit, he said, “next week, NATO Defence Ministers will meet and discuss how we can further strengthen our presence in the Eastern part of the Alliance, including with new battlegroups. And I welcome France’s offer to lead a NATO battlegroup here in Romania.”

A war would be the product not of Russian aggression but of the imperialist powers’ aggressive response to the Stalinist dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Over the last 30 years, Washington sought to establish its global primacy by dominating the Middle East and Central Asia. NATO waged wars, notably in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria, that cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars.

Russia and, increasingly, China’s rising economic weight have become major obstacles to this strategy. In 2013, Russian warships based at Sevastopol in the Crimea confronted NATO warships that were threatening to bomb Syria, after which NATO backed down. Alongside Iran, Russia then intervened and defeated NATO-backed Islamist militias in Syria, whose government has now joined China’s “Belt and Road” global industrial infrastructure project.

In 2014, shortly after Russia helped prevent direct NATO intervention in Syria, the NATO powers backed a putsch in Kiev, where far-right militias toppled a pro-Russian Ukrainian president and set up a NATO puppet regime. As these militias backed by NATO mercenaries attacked Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine like Donbass and Crimea, these areas broke off from Ukraine, with Crimea voting to rejoin Russia. Since then, far-right Ukrainian militias have faced off against Russian troops in Crimea and Russian-backed militias in the Donbass.

NATO’s conflict with Russia has been escalating again after last year’s humiliating NATO defeat in Afghanistan. The alliance is now redeploying towards Ukraine, bidding to seize a vast swath of territory around the Black Sea, the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. This would allow them to isolate and threaten Russia, cut off Russian military aid to the Middle East, and intervene in Central Asia up to China’s western borders. This plan is being set into motion in Ukraine.

Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine are reporting highly advanced NATO war preparations. Yesterday, Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) leader Denis Pushilin cited Biden’s call on US citizens to leave Ukraine, warning that war was imminent. “The US President, probably, given US influence in Ukraine, has information that allows him to make such statements and take such a position. … Ukraine may attack at any moment. Ukraine has everything ready for that: the concentration of forces and means makes it possible to do it at any moment, as soon as a political decision is made.”

On February 9, the DPR Militia’s Deputy Chief Eduard Basurin said Ukrainian tanks are taking positions only 15 kilometers from theirs, near Avdeyevka, Gorlovka and Novgorodskoye. Yesterday, Basurin said Ukrainian forces also deployed an S-300 missile system.

Such deployments violate the 2015 Minsk accords, which temporarily froze the Ukraine conflict and sent the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to monitor the front line. Basurin said, however, that Kiev regime forces are using electronic jamming to prevent OSCE observers from using drones to observe these deployments. “It seems that OSCE observers are quite content with a situation where it is impossible to record violations by Ukraine,” he said.

Significantly, DPR forces last month warned, based on their sources in Kiev, that they expect an attack to come as soon as Ukrainian armored assault brigades are assembled and in position.

On January 28, Basurin said: “According to our intelligence, the Ukrainian General Staff under the guidance of US advisers at the Ukrainian Defense Ministry is putting final touches to a plan for offensive operations in Donbas. The date of aggression against the people’s republics will be set when the attack groups have been created and the operation’s plan approved by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.”

These are conditions in which NATO could goad Russia, a nuclear power, into war. Were such an attack to begin, DPR forces would likely require Russian military assistance to avoid being overrun by far-right Ukrainian militias, which call for killing Russians and have bombed Russian-speaking Ukrainian cities near Russia’s borders. If Moscow intervened against this, however, it would provide grounds for NATO war propaganda, denouncing Russian aid to the DPR as an “invasion” of Ukraine.

The decisive question more than ever is the building of an international movement in the working class against the mounting danger of a nuclear world war. It cannot be opposed based on Russian nationalist militarism, to which imperialism offers only the alternatives of total capitulation or all-out war. The broad opposition to militarism in the working class must be mobilized on an international basis, in a struggle against imperialism and for socialism.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/12/ukra-f12.html

RAND Corporation study calls for ‘regime change’ in Moscow

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From Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
February 13, 2022

rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB10014.html

Imagine how Moscow felt when they first read this RAND Corporation study. When we look at current events can we notice the direct connection to the points from this study listed below? Whether it is US-NATO military expansion right up to Russian borders or efforts by Washington to kill the Nordstream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany – it is clear that there is a method behind US-NATO madness. If you were sitting in Russia’s shoes how would you react to these proposals below – many of which have been or are now being implemented?

[Editor: The 12-page report also includes tables of their different proposals with “Likelihood of Success in Extending Russia”, “Benefits”, and “Costs and Risks”. The illustrations and video below were not in the report, but illustrate the implementation of proposals.]

Overextending and Unbalancing Russia – Assessing the Impact of Cost-Imposing Options, by James Dobbins, Raphael S. Cohen, Nathan Chandler, Bryan Frederick, Edward Geist, Paul DeLuca, Forrest E. Morgan, Howard J. Shatz, Brent Williams. Rand Corporation, 2019

Excerpts:

“Despite these vulnerabilities and anxieties, Russia remains a powerful country that still manages to be a U.S. peer competitor in a few key domains. Recognizing that some level of competition with Russia is inevitable, RAND researchers conducted a qualitative assessment of “cost-imposing options” that could unbalance and overextend Russia. Such cost-imposing options could place new burdens on Russia, ideally heavier burdens than would be imposed on the United States for pursuing those options.
Increasing Europe’s ability to import gas from suppliers other than Russia could economically extend Russia and buffer Europe against Russian energy coercion. Europe is slowly moving in this direction by building regasification plants for liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Encouraging the emigration from Russia of skilled labor and well-educated youth has few costs or risks and could help the United States and other receiving countries and hurt Russia, but any effects—both positive for receiving countries and negative for Russia—would be difficult to notice except over a very long period. This option also has a low likelihood of extending Russia.
Providing lethal aid to Ukraine would exploit Russia’s greatest point of external vulnerability. But any increase in U.S. military arms and advice to Ukraine would need to be carefully calibrated to increase the costs to Russia of sustaining its existing commitment without provoking a much wider conflict in which Russia, by reason of proximity, would have significant advantages.
Undermining Russia’s image abroad would focus on diminishing Russian standing and influence, thus undercutting regime claims of restoring Russia to its former glory.
Reposturing bombers within easy striking range of key Russian strategic targets has a high likelihood of success and would certainly get Moscow’s attention and raise Russian anxieties; the costs and risks of this option are low as long as the bombers are based out of range of most of Russia’s theater ballistic and ground-based cruise missiles.

Deploying additional tactical nuclear weapons to locations in Europe and Asia could heighten Russia’s anxiety enough to significantly increase investments in its air defenses.
There are also ways to get Russia to extend itself in strategic competition. In terms of benefits, such developments would exploit Moscow’s demonstrated fear of U.S. airpower capabilities and doctrines. Developing new low-observable, long-range bombers, or simply adding significantly more of types that are already available or programmed (B-2s and B-21s) would be worrisome for Moscow, as would developing autonomous or remotely piloted strike aircraft and producing them in high numbers.
Increasing U.S. and allied naval force posture and presence in Russia’s operating areas could force Russia to increase its naval investments, diverting investments from potentially more dangerous areas.

Increasing naval R&D efforts would focus on developing new weapons that allow U.S. submarines to threaten a broader set of targets or enhance their ability to threaten Russian nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), which could impose anti-submarine warfare costs on Russia.
Checking the Black Sea buildup would involve deploying strengthened North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) anti-access and area denial over the Black Sea—perhaps in the form of long-range, land-based anti-ship missiles—to drive up the cost of defending Russian bases in Crimea and lower the benefit to Russia of having seized this area.
A general increase in NATO ground force capabilities in Europe—including closing European NATO member readiness gaps and increasing the number of U.S. forces stationed in traditional locations in Western Europe—would have limited risks.
Incremental investments in new technologies to counter Russian air defenses and increase U.S. long-range fires could significantly improve defense and deterrence while compelling increased Russian investment in countermeasures.

VIDEO: youtu.be/nxeZFS9hTUg “On the road: Ambassador Pyatt”
Obama’s ambassador to Ukraine made a trip to US-NATO training base in western Ukraine (where the Nazis predominate). US Special Forces are rotated into the base from Ft. Carson, Colorado to train the Kiev regime’s Army. Many of the Nazis have been brought into this ‘new military unit’. More than 27 million people in the former Soviet Union died during Hitler’s WW II invasion. Imagine how Russians today feel when they see the US arming, training and directing Nazi forces to attack the Russian-ethnic citizens living in the Donbass region of Ukraine, right next to the Russian border.

Even if the Army were not directly involved in extending Russia per se, it would play a key role in mitigating the possible blowback. All the options to extend Russia incur some risk. As a result, enhancing U.S. deterrence posture in Europe and increasing U.S. military capabilities (e.g., an enhanced Javelin or active protection systems for Army vehicles) might need to go hand in hand with any move to extend Russia, as a way of hedging against the chance of tensions with Russia escalating into conflict.
The most-promising options to “extend Russia” are those that directly address its vulnerabilities, anxieties, and strengths, exploiting areas of weakness while undermining Russia’s current advantages. In that regard, Russia’s greatest vulnerability, in any competition with the United States, is its economy, which is comparatively small and highly dependent on energy exports.
Most of the options discussed, including those listed here, are in some sense escalatory, and most would likely prompt some Russian counterescalation. Thus, besides the specific risks associated with each option, there is additional risk attached to a generally intensified competition with a nuclear-armed adversary to consider. This means that every option must be deliberately planned and carefully calibrated to achieve the desired effect. Finally, although Russia will bear the cost of this increased competition less easily than the United States will, both sides will have to divert national resources from other purposes.”

http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2022/02/rand-corporation-study-calls-for-regime.html