Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 1 hour ago, Werthead said: Some Russian sources are still blaming Ukraine outright. One Russian security report even says the attackers planned to cross the border into Ukraine to escape, with the help of the Ukrainian intelligence services, so I'd hold fire on that for now. There are some in Russia agitating to make this part of the Ukrainian conflict. And that's likely state media trying to blame it on Ukraine to justify whatever they're going to do as a "response." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 2 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said: Heard interesting reporting that theres a proposal to use the interest from the $200 billion in frozen oligarch funds and give the proceeds to Ukraine to fund weapons purchases. The interest alone was something like $3-4 billion, so its a worthwhile/helpful amount. That has been floated since the start of the war, and never went anywhere, for reasons. Why Seizing Russian Assets to Fund Ukraine Is Fraught https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-11/should-russian-assets-be-seized-to-help-ukraine-why-some-allies-are-wary? Also, the libertarians are appalled at the very idea! https://www.cato.org/commentary/seizing-russian-assets-ruble-wise-dollar-foolish#:~:text=Perhaps the most harmful impact,negotiations between angry%2C distrustful antagonists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bironic Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 57 minutes ago, polishgenius said: I'll just come out and say it: I don't think we can trust Putin on this. Generally we can not trust putin with anything, but in this case I don’t think he has something to do with it. Other than the Russians being incompetent and not listening to US intelligence… He got re-elected with fantastic (literally) numbers, his most popular competitor has been offed (navalny), the war is going alright… No need to kill civilians, it’s not the same situation as fall 1999, with the apartment bombings being an inside job… This attack is horrible, and it will be bad for Ukraine since Putin will spin it that Ukraine is somehow behind it… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 Putin is repeating the line that the attackers were trying to escape towards Ukraine, but he does not blame Kyiv directly. He might still do that, but he hasn't pressed that button yet. The UN has also pinned the blame on ISIS, and noted that various major countries have taken their eye off the ball on the threat from that area whilst they jockey for position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 21 minutes ago, Bironic said: Generally we can not trust putin with anything, but in this case I don’t think he has something to do with it. Other than the Russians being incompetent and not listening to US intelligence… He got re-elected with fantastic (literally) numbers, his most popular competitor has been offed (navalny), the war is going alright… No need to kill civilians, it’s not the same situation as fall 1999, with the apartment bombings being an inside job… Yeah, I know, that was my whole previous post in the topic. What we can't trust Putin in is when he says Ukraine did it. JGP and Bironic 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 (edited) 3 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said: Heard interesting reporting that theres a proposal to use the interest from the $200 billion in frozen oligarch funds and give the proceeds to Ukraine to fund weapons purchases. The interest alone was something like $3-4 billion, so its a worthwhile/helpful amount. That's what the EU wants to do. They thought about using frozen assets of the Russian central bank, but that's apparently complicated legally*, thus they have turned their attention to the interests it's gathering. *And they are also afraid of Russia playing tit-for-tat, if they just seized those frozen central bank assets. Russia is already seething about piracy wrt to the interests plan. Which I found rich, thinking of their stolen and now totally devalued planes. Edited March 23 by A Horse Named Stranger DireWolfSpirit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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