25 March 2022 20:01

Politics

Putin’s assassination, Biden in Poland, and cancelling Russia: Foreign media digest as of March 25

Authors

Olexandr Zakharov , Ksenia Lisna

Western media continue to report about the war in Ukraine: today, on March 25, the media covered the conversation between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin's indignation that Russian culture is being cancelled, and Peskov's assurances that Moscowia cannot be isolated that easily.

Meanwhile, the United States is promising to help Europe reduce dependence on Russia, Turkey is refusing to impose sanctions on Russia, and the Kremlin is promising to respond to strengthening NATO's eastern flank and supplying weapons to Ukraine. Joe Biden again assured that the Alliance troops would not cross the borders with our state, but promised to defend Poland.

offers an up-to-date review of what the European and American media are reporting, covering 30 days of active Russian invasion.

London puts pressure on Beijing, and Kremlin assures that it "cannot be isolated"

Photo: Getty Images

The BBC, citing the Downing Street press service, reports that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the invasion of Ukraine.

The conversation lasted around 50 minutes on the morning of March 25. Johnson said pressure should be put on President Vladimir Putin to withdraw troops from Ukraine.

It comes a week after US President Joe Biden held a nearly two-hour phone call with Xi. During that call, Biden "described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia", the White House said.

The outlet also reports that the Kremlin responded to comments by US President Joe Biden that he favors kicking Russia out of the G20 group of major economies in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Photo: Wikipedia

Moscow believes that it wouldn't be disastrous, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted.

"The G20 format is important, but in the current circumstances, when most of the participants are in a state of economic war with us, nothing terrible will happen."

He assured that efforts to isolate Moscow would fail.

NATO prepares for strikes from Russia

Photo: Getty Images

Sky News reports that the U.S. is now planning for possible Russian strikes on NATO territory. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told this to reporters en route to Poland on Air Force One.

Asked whether Russia would attempt to bomb convoys carrying supplies to Ukraine over land through NATO countries, he said:

"We are doing contingency planning for the possibility that Russia chooses to strike NATO. The president (Joe Biden) has been about as clear as one can be about his absolute determination to respond decisively, alongside the other members of our alliance if Russia attacks NATO."

He also said the U.S. and its allies could still impose new measures to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

"Of course, there are additional measures to tighten the screws on sanctions, and we will be constantly reviewing those," he said.

U.S. to help Europe to reduce dependence on Russia

Photo: Wikipedia

Sky News also quoted EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as saying that this war would be a "strategic failure" for Vladimir Putin.

According to her, the sanctions are draining the Kremlin's resources to finance "this atrocious war".

Speaking at a news conference this morning with US President Joe Biden, the pair announced a plan to form a task force to cut Europe's reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

The Commission will work with EU countries to ensure they are able to receive about 50 bcm of additional US LNG until at least 2030.

US LNG exports to the EU last year were about 22 bcm.

Russia promises to respond NATO and is indignant by article about Putin's assassination

Photo: Getty Images

The Guardian, meanwhile, cites abstracts from a teleconference by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on March 25.

According to him, the Russian military will submit proposals to President Vladimir Putin on how the country should strengthen its defenses in response to NATO reinforcing its eastern flank.

Peskov described US talk of the "ephemeral threat" of Russia possibly resorting to chemical weapons as a tactic to divert attention away from awkward questions for Washington.

The Kremlin spokesman declined to say whether Russia would rebuild Ukrainian towns and cities such as Mariupol — this looks especially cynical amid yesterday's lies by Maria Zakharova, the press secretary of the Russian Foreign Ministry, that the occupied cities are "returning to normal life."

The outlet also reports that the Russian ambassador to Italy, Sergey Razov, has said he is suing Italian newspaper La Stampa over an article that had raised the possibility of killing President Vladimir Putin.

"This goes against the rules of journalism and morality," Razov was indignant at the La Stampa article "If killing the tyrant is the only option" published on March 22.

Putin: They are cancelling our culture

Photo: Getty Images

Reuters quotes bloodthirsty dictator Vladimir Putin as saying on Friday that the West is trying to cancel Russian culture.

In particular, according to him, the works of such great composers as Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Sergei Rachmaninov were under the threat of cancelling.

"Today they are trying to cancel a whole thousand-year culture, our people," Putin stressed during a televised meeting with cultural figures broadcast on national television.

So he commented on the cancellation of events involving Russian artists and cultural figures in some Western countries during the month of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"In such a way they ban Russian writers and books," Putin added.

Erdogan calls Zelenskyy's words about referendum "smart leadership"

Photo: Wikipedia

Also, Reuters, referring to the NTV broadcaster and other media, quotes Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan as saying that Volodymyr Zelenskyy's comments on the need for a referendum for compromises with Russia is "smart leadership"

The President of Turkey added that in the coming days he would hold separate telephone conversations with Ukrainian and Russian colleagues to evaluate the summit.

Supporting Ukraine and criticizing Russia, Ankara opposes sanctions against Moscow, he admitted:

"We are buying nearly half of the natural gas we use from Russia. Separately, we are making our Akkuyy Nuclear Power Plant with Russia. We cannot set these aside."

Erdogan explained that his country must maintain its sensitivity on this issue.

"Firstly, I can't leave my people in the cold of the winter. Secondly, I cannot halt our industry."

He also said Ukrainian and Russian negotiators were able to agree on four out of the six main issues, but that territorial disputes on the eastern region of Donbas and Crimea remained.

NATO troops will not go to Ukraine, but they will protect Poland

Photo: Getty Images

According to The New York Times, Russia said it was "closely monitoring" the discussion in the West about supplying aircraft and air defense systems to Ukraine.

"If this is implemented, we will not leave it unattended," Major General Sergei Rudskoi said, calling the West’s supplying weapons to Ukraine "a huge mistake." "This prolongs the conflict, increases the number of victims and will not be able to influence the outcome of the operation."

Meanwhile, U.S. President Biden met with the U.S. military in Poland on March 25 and thanked them for serving as a very visible deterrent to Putin.

The President of the United States vowed that the U.S. military would not set foot in Ukraine.

But Biden also stressed that the United States will fulfill its obligations to protect any NATO country from aggression, including Poland.

Instead of an afterword. Obviously, the Kremlin does not like the unification of most of the world against it, and it continues to send threats to NATO countries, although the situation with the financing of even the war with Kyiv in the Russian Federation is already very precarious.

Meanwhile, NATO countries are preparing for possible attacks by the insane Putin, Moscow is lying that it will not be possible to isolate them and expulsion from the G-20 is not a problem, while Turkey hopes that Ukraine and Russia will be able to somehow agree.

The West is not desisting from its efforts to explain to China that its support for the Kremlin will have consequences and is trying to reduce the EU's dependence on oil and gas from the Russian Federation. Ukraine hopes for all possible assistance and has been defending its independence for 30 days.