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"So far, investigators have established that the funds, flowing through commercial organizations, including the oil and gas conglomerate Burisma Holdings, operating in Ukraine, have been used in recent years to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia. Terrorist activities have also reached beyond the country, aimed at the elimination of prominent political and public figures, as well as causing economic damage.
"Committee's specialists have been working in cooperation with other intelligence services and financial intelligence, checking sources of income and further movement of funds in the amount of several million US dollars, and examining the potential involvement of 'specific individuals' from among government officials, people with civic and commercial organizations of Western countries."
9 Apr, 2024 22:51
Ukrainian Burisma company 'vehicle to launder taxpayer money' - lawyer to RT
The oil and gas firm was named by the Russian Investigative Committee among organizations potentially used to finance terrorism
The Russian Investigative Committee on Tuesday said it launched a criminal probe into the financing of terrorism, naming the Ukrainian industrial conglomerate Burisma among the suspects.
RT spoke about the unfolding scandal to Arnaud Develay, an international human rights advocate and the author of a book covering ties between the Ukrainian company and the family of US President Joe Biden.
"This is something that the Russian Investigative Committee is going to have to determine to be sure, but this is nothing new," Develay stated, describing the Ukrainian company as a "vehicle to launder taxpayers' money."
The investigators have already "established that the funds, flowing through commercial organizations, including the oil and gas conglomerate Burisma Holdings, operating in Ukraine, have been used in recent years to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia" and beyond.
Should the allegation prove to be true, the West will try its best to swipe the whole affair under the rug, as well as to derail any attempts to bring it before international bodies, Develay believes.
"They would try to fight tooth and nail to basically deny it," he said, adding that an attempt to establish a UN-backed tribunal to handle the affair is bound to get vetoed by the "Big Three" - the US, the UK and France.
"This is something that is going to have to be handled a different way," he warned.
Develay's work, titled 'Foreign Entanglements: Ukraine, Biden & the Fractured American Political Consensus' [Amazon link inserted.] is set for public release on Wednesday.
"My colleague spoke in detail about specific economic gaps that emerge as a result of the illegal policy of unilateral sanctions and which we will solve within the framework of BRICS and within the SCO."
"At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move all the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre." - Frank Zappa
"In the past few years, you have been living within an escalating hybrid war. Globally, we have witnessed overt media control and propaganda campaigns; censorship, including arrests of people speaking in public; monitoring of all electronic communications and physical contact tracing; brutally enforced lock-down and masking requirements, with people being beaten, handcuffed, and arrested, even in their homes; suspension of healthcare services and weakening of healthcare systems; invasive testing requirements for employment and travel; forced quarantine of travelers; and coerced quarantine and "vaccination" of the healthy, general population.
Governments dropped all pretense of democracy and were emboldened to open despotism. There were no functioning checks on this power. The courts provided no effective recourse to the public. Governments broadly abused fundamental human rights using as justification prevention of the spread of infectious diseases, which are, in truth, a great many, ever-present, and continually evolving. And so, this justification, if allowed to stand, assures the end of democracy and installation of openly despotic government." - David Webb - The Great Taking
There is a set date for the IDF's invasion of Rafah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday night.
The only problem is that this very critical information wasn't told to the military, the Defense Ministry, or any members of the war cabinet.
It is hard to imagine how this set date will advance without notifying these key powers responsible for IDF actions.
Also, it was bizarre for Netanyahu to be talking about an exact date, when around 24 hours earlier, the IDF had pulled out of southern Gaza and nearly halted most of its operations throughout the enclave, save for small targeted operations.
What is more likely is that Netanyahu has possibly taken risks with national security issues - out of concern for political issues.
After the IDF withdrew from southern Gaza on Sunday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to topple Netanyahu's government if he did not authorize a Rafah invasion.
The impression from Ben-Gvir was that he was watching the clock, and that he wouldn't give Netanyahu months to comply.
Given that the IDF, Defense Ministry, and war cabinet are not familiar with a specific date, it is reasonable to estimate that this is what stands behind Netanyahu's statement.
Comment: The difference between China and US rhetoric is that China practises diplomacy, and so when it does criticise the US, one can be more confident that it has good reason to, and that it has also exhausted all other diplomatic channels. This is becoming much more apparent as time passes, and the US further abuses its geopolitical position: