Vigilant News

Eternal Vigilance is the price of liberty.

Russia

Senior NATO Official Drools Over Potential Hot War with Russia
An esteemed NATO official has advised Europeans to brace themselves for the possibility of a full-scale conflict with Russia within the following two decades.

By ,

Following a meeting of NATO defense chiefs in Brussels, Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of the Military Committee, told reporters that governments must immediately begin preparations and that significant numbers of civilians will need to be mobilized.

“We have to realise it’s not a given that we are in peace. And that’s why we [Nato forces] are preparing for a conflict with Russia,”Baur declared.

“But the discussion is much wider. It is also the industrial base and also the people that have to understand they play a role.” he continued.

“It starts there, The realisation that not everything is planable and not everything is going to be hunky dory in the next 20 years.”

According to The Telegraph, Baur additionally lauded Sweden for advising its citizens to prepare for battle.

“We need to be readier across the whole spectrum,” Bauer proclaimed. “You have to have a system in place to find more people if it comes to war, whether it does or not. Then you talk mobilization, reservists or conscription.”

“You need to be able to fall back on an industrial base that is able to produce weapons and ammunition fast enough to be able to continue a conflict if you are in it.”

The 90,000-strong NATO military exercise Steadfast Defender 2024 is slated to commence the following week, constituting the most extensive endeavor since the conclusion of the Cold War.

 

More Narrative Seeding? Ukraine’s Leading Mobile Provider Targeted by Severe Cyber Assault
This attack is the latest in a series of headlines regarding cyberwarfare

By ,

The largest mobile network operator in Ukraine was the target of what Reuters is calling the “largest cyber attack of the war with Russia so far” on Tuesday. Millions of users were unable to access mobile and internet services, and portions of the Kyiv region were also without air raid alert systems.

In addition to over 1.1 million residential internet subscribers, Kyivstar boasts a mobile subscriber base of 24.3 million, which exceeds half of the population of Ukraine.

Its CEO, Oleksandr Komarov, stated that the attack was “partially destroyed” and was “a consequence” of the conflict with Russia; he did not specify which Russian organization he believed to be responsible.

In short, nothing is yet confirmed but the imminent threat of what the World Economic Forum refers to as a “cyber storm” remains fresh in the minds of the individuals who consume this kind of news media.

“War is also happening in cyber-space. Unfortunately, we have been hit as a result of this war,” he told a national television broadcast.

Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency informed Reuters that a cyberattack orchestrated by Russian security services was one of the possibilities under investigation.

In the Reuters article, it is stated that “Russia’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.” It is unknown how much time was given for Russia to respond, only that they did not respond immediately.

“(The attack) significantly damaged (our) infrastructure, limited access, we could not counter it at the virtual level, so we shut down Kyivstar physically to limit the enemy’s access,” Komarov said.

An anonymous source that Reuters alleges is “close to Ukraine’s cyber defense” said that Russia was suspected to be the source of the attack, but no specific group had been identified.

Again, there is no solid proof that it was Russia.

This is our third story in two weeks regarding hackers or large-scale cyberattacks.

Related: Federal Agencies Report Breaches by Iranian Hackers, Numerous U.S. States Affected

Related: DOJ: Russian Hackers Employed a “Sophisticated Spear Phishing Campaign” Against Us Intelligence Officers

NATO Deploys 30 Warships to Baltic Ahead of Nuclear Drills

By ,

NATO announced Tuesday that it has increased its Baltic Sea patrols to 30 warships ahead of “nuclear drills”, to prevent attacks on infrastructure that is critical to NATO nations.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that the alliance would not cancel the exercise even though Russia has been ramping up threats. The drills were planned long before the invasion of Ukraine.

“I think it would send a very wrong signal if we suddenly now canceled a routine, long-time planned exercise because of the war in Ukraine. That would be absolutely the wrong signal to send. And we need to understand that NATO’s firm, predictable behavior, our military strength, is the best way to prevent escalation,” he said, according to a transcript of his comments posted on NATO’s website.

NATO’s “Steadfast Noon” exercise runs for about a week and involves nuclear-capable fighter jets, although no live bombs are used, according to the Associated Press. Fourteen nations will be taking part in the exercise, which is taking place more than 625 miles from Russia, AP quoted a NATO official it did not name as saying.

Stoltenberg’s comments came ahead of a two-day meeting of defense ministers of NATO nations, according to the Daily Mail.

During his remarks, he said Russia’s recent attacks on civilian targets were “a sign of weakness. Because the reality is that they’re not able to make progress on the battlefield. Russia is actually losing the battlefield. They are giving up territory because they don’t have the capabilities to stop the Ukrainian forces making advances.”

U.S. ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith agreed, saying, “ President Putin is failing to meet his strategic objectives on the ground, and this has been a reoccurring theme for him personally since this war started,” according to the Daily Mail.

During his comments, Stoltenberg said NATO “will also address the protection of our critical infrastructure.”

He said that “following the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, we have further enhanced our vigilance across all domains. We have doubled our presence in the Baltic and North Seas to over 30 ships supported by maritime patrol aircraft and undersea capabilities.”

“Any deliberate attack against Allies’ critical infrastructure would be met with a united and determined response,” he continued.

Stoltenberg’s comments came the day after German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said NATO member Germany was sending four air defense systems to Ukraine, within days, according to Reuters.

Russian Foreign Ministry: “the EU countries will have to face up to the fact they were betrayed by their allies”

By ,

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, took to Telegram on Wednesday to address speculation as to who sabotaged the Nordstream Pipeline.

Zakharova pointed to the fact that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak confirmed Russia was ready to supply gas through the undamaged branch of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, TASS reported.

“Will anyone now dare claim that our country is behind this act of sabotage? I agree it’s hard to face the truth. But someday the EU countries will have to face up to the fact they were betrayed by their allies,”

Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Vershinin said on Wednesday that Russia and Germany must participate in the investigation into the incidents at the Nord Stream pipelines.

“We are talking about sabotage… An investigation is needed. Certainly, this should be an investigation with Russia’s participation, but it would probably be important to involve Germany in this investigation as well, since gas was actually flowing to Germany in the first place,”

Denmark and Sweden have announced they will launch an investigation into the suspected sabotage. Germany and the USA have been unusually silent.

Russian Military Tribunals to be Held in Mariupol, Biden Admin Attempt to Delegitimize

By ,

The Russian Embassy in the US released a statement Wednesday night regarding the US State Department’s public response to the coming military tribunal in Mariupol.

The Tribunal, which will be aimed at “bringing justice to war criminals”, is set to take place in the coming days. The war criminals in question include members of the Azov Regiment, who have been described as both Ukraine’s “greatest weapon” as well as it’s “greatest threat”.

It was previously reported that Russia insisted one of the reasons for Putin’s attack on Ukraine was to ‘de-militarise and de-Nazify Ukraine.’

According to a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, in his interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” he claimed that there are no Nazis in Ukraine. “He’s [Putin] talking about denazification. There are no Nazis in Ukraine,” McFaul said.

Despite the former ambassador’s claims, a documentary from TIME magazine in 2019 revealed the existence of a group called Azov that embodied the neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology led by Andriy Yevhenovych Biletsky in Ukraine.

Andriy Biletsky, a proud white supremacist, claimed that Ukraine’s national purpose was to rid the country of Jews and other inferior races, Fair Observer reported.

A former Marine Corps intelligence officer who served with the United Nations, Scott Ritter, claimed that the first troops trained by US and British soldiers were the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion.

The Biden Administration and its State Department were quick to put out a statement about the upcoming tribunals:

“By planning to hold so-called ‘tribunals’ in Russia-controlled Mariupol against Ukraine’s brave defenders, the Kremlin is attempting to deflect responsibility for President Putin’s war of aggression and distract from overwhelming evidence of the atrocities Russian forces have committed in Ukraine.

The planned show trials are illegitimate and a mockery of justice, and we strongly condemn them. All members of Ukraine’s armed forces, including domestic and foreign volunteers incorporated into the armed forces, are entitled to prisoner of war status if they are captured and must be afforded the treatment and protections commensurate with that status, according to the Geneva Conventions.

We call on Moscow to comply with its obligations under international law. The United States will continue to firmly stand with the Ukrainian people as they defend their freedom.”

The Russian Embassy responded to the State Department’s statement:

“We have taken note of another groundless accusation against our country related to the Tribunal over Ukrainian war criminals.

The upcoming Trial is aimed at bringing justice to war criminals, among which there are Nazis from the Azov Regiment. Washington is clearly afraid of making public the evidence of the inhumane acts committed by the members of this terrorist organization.

The International Tribunal in Mariupol can shed light on the true essence of the Kiev regime, of which the United States diligently creates a bright and heroic image. American citizens will finally learn that in reality, their government is helping those who purposefully kill and torture the Russian people of Donbas and Ukraine.

Russia fully complies with the Geneva Conventions and guarantees Ukrainian captives proper conditions of detention. The same cannot be said of the Kiev regime, which militants mistreated captured Russian soldiers.

Finally, if the US authorities have questions about what happened in Mariupol, they could discuss it with the administration of the Donetsk People’s Republic. It is an independent state.”

It has been posited that the Biden Admin is scrambling to delegitimize the tribunals because the Russian war crime allegations will pave a trail toward western interests, including members of the Biden family, as well as his cohorts in DC and abroad, for the production of chemical and biological weapons, as well as arming and assisting Nazi Ukrainian forces responsible for war crimes and atrocities on civilians. These allegations are purely speculation at this point, but there is supporting evidence.

The Russian military has claimed that the US and Ukraine are afraid of the testimony of Ukrainian POWs that will inevitably spill out onto the world stage. The belief, at least of Russia, is that this testimony will “further cement and expose the crimes committed by the Kiev and Biden/DNC regimes”.

With the exception of a small article by Reuters, the western media has been mum on the subject. As per Reuters:

“GENEVA, Aug 23 (Reuters) – The U.N. human rights office expressed concern on Tuesday about plans by Russian-backed authorities to try Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in the port city of Mariupol, possibly within days, saying such a process could itself amount to a war crime.

The Russian-backed authorities appear to be installing metal cages in a hall in Mariupol as part of plans to establish what they were calling an ‘international tribunal’, Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told a briefing.”

Western grievances notwithstanding, it seems as though the tribunals will be going forward whether the UN and Biden Admin like it or not. Vigilant News will be watching this story and providing updates as more information comes out.