Ukrainian Secret Police targets Christian Journalists. Russian Forces strike meeting of Kiev’s Top Brass
The SBU has targeted Orthodox journalists reporting on the country’s church crackdown
In the cover image Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) agent
Several employees of the Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ) have been subjected to raids by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the group said on Tuesday.
The UOJ has reported on the ongoing persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) by Kiev, which favors the government-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).
“UOJ employees were approached by the SBU agents, who seized their computer equipment and phones,” the group said on its Telegram channel, adding that no one had been charged with any offenses.
UN condemns Ukraine’s Crackdown on its largest Christian church
SBU agents have also visited participants in prayer vigils, the UOJ added. The union could not comment any further, but said it would offer more information as it becomes available.
The SBU has yet to comment on the raids. It has previously tried to have the UOJ’s website blocked inside Ukraine.
President Vladimir Zelensky’s government launched a crusade against the UOC last year, denouncing the canonical church as an “agent of Moscow.” Russia has protested against the crackdown as a violation of human rights, to little avail.
Last week, the SBU arrested a priest in the Cherkasy diocese and charged him with making “anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian statements.” Archpriest Boris Brodovsky was accused of spreading “fake news” and religious discrimination, for criticizing the OCU seizures of UOC churches.
For months, multiple Ukrainian regions have been seizing UOC property and handing it over to the OCU on a variety of pretexts. The Ukrainian parliament has prepared a bill to ban the UOC, but has yet to vote on it. Critics have warned that such a move would endanger Kiev’s ambition to join the EU.
Originally published by Russia Today
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Russian forces strike meeting of top Ukrainian commanders – MOD
Russian forces have struck a location where Ukrainian security and defense commanders were holding a meeting, the Defense Ministry claimed on Monday.
The attack was mentioned in passing in the ministry’s daily briefing to the press. It said military commanders and their counterparts from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) were present. The meeting was mentioned among targets chosen for Russian warplanes, missile strikes and artillery in the past 24 hours.
No additional details about the purported strike were immediately available from either side of the armed conflict.
SBU agents play a crucial part in launching drone attacks against Russia, according to Ukrainian media and some official statements made by agency officials. A drone attack on an oil refinery in Krasnodar Region on Sunday morning was attributed to its operatives, as a recent example. The raid caused a fire and reportedly caused one of the employees to die from a heart attack.
Following the 2014 armed coup in Kiev, the SBU and its military counterpart, the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) were reformed by the CIA to serve the goals of Washington’s hybrid conflict with Russia, according to reports in the US press. Ukrainians with Western training also staged targeted assassinations of officials in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics prior to their accession to the Russian Federation.
Drone operations and other forms of sabotage were reportedly incorporated into the SBU’s operations against Russia after open hostilities between the two nations erupted in February 2022.
Originally published by Russia Today
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A buffer zone in Kiev-controlled territories would prevent Ukraine from launching strikes on civilians, Dmitry Peskov has said
Russia may need to establish a buffer zone with Ukraine to ensure the safety of Russian regions that are often subject to Kiev’s deadly and indiscriminate artillery and drone attacks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
During his victory speech after the conclusion of the presidential election on Sunday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Moscow could at some point be forced to “create a certain cordon sanitaire” in Kiev-controlled territories in light of the “tragic events” which have happened in regions bordering Ukraine.
This security zone, he said, “would be quite difficult for the adversary to overcome with its weapons, primarily of foreign origin.”
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Peskov explained that Russia “would take measures to safeguard [its] territories” from Ukrainian drone and artillery strikes on settlements, residential blocks and critical civilian infrastructure.
The only way to make those areas safe, he continued, is to create “some kind of corridor, some kind of… buffer zone that [would put] out of reach any means that the enemy might use to launch strikes.”
Russian border regions are regularly attacked by Ukraine; many of the strikes target civilian infrastructure, resulting in dozens of deaths. Long-range Ukrainian raids sometimes reach as far as Moscow and St. Petersburg, several hundred kilometers from the front line.
Kiev’s forces have also launched ground incursions into Russian territory. The most recent such raid targeted the Kursk and Belgorod border regions last week. Moscow has described the attempt to breach the border as a total failure, saying the attacking forces lost over 1,500 soldiers and dozens of armored vehicles.
Read more – Long-range strikes, drone warfare and border escalation: Key events of the week in Russia-Ukraine conflict (VIDEOS)
Originally published by Russia Today
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U.S. Secret Police is run by FBI / DHS domestically. Incorporates private contractor, InFagard and others. Targeting innocent civilians covertly and can include death of a Targeted Individual.
STASI – COINTELPRO Police State.