The footage is being prepared for broadcast, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists...

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US journalist Tucker Carlson on Tuesday for an interview, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily media briefing on Wednesday. The American had announced the imminent release of the footage hours earlier.

Peskov declined to say when exactly the public will be able to see the interview and would not comment on its contents. He noted that being an American, Carlson was neither pro-Russian nor pro-Ukrainian in terms of his attitude to the Ukraine conflict, which is expected to be the focus of the interview.

He pointed out that the interviewer's position contrasts with that which dominates in Western media, which is why the Kremlin had granted his request. The Kremlin spokesman added, however, that Carlson is wrong when he claims that Western news outlets haven't bothered to seek an interview with the Russian leader.

Western mainstream media cannot claim "even the appearance of impartiality" on Ukraine and "all have a one-sided position," Peskov explained. Moscow has "no desire" to communicate with them and doubts that anything good would come out of it, he said.

Washington is partially responsible for Ukraine's missile strike on a bakery in the city of Lisichansk in Russia's Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) last week that killed over two dozen civilians, Moscow's permanent envoy to the UN Vassily Nebenzia stated on Tuesday.

On February 3, the Armed Forces of Ukraine used high-power precision weaponry, presumably US-supplied HIMARS missiles, to target the bakery. The attack almost completely destroyed the two-story building and left some 40 people buried in the rubble, according to Nebenzia. Some 28 civilians died in the strike, including a pregnant woman and her five-year-old child. LPR Minister of Emergency Situations Aleksey Poteleschenko was among those killed in the attack.

Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council initiated by Russia in response to the strike, Nebenzia stressed that the US is to be considered an accomplice in the attack, which Moscow has described as an "act of terrorism."

"If someone undertakes to argue that Western countries have nothing to do with it and that Kiev picks its own targets for strikes, they should be reminded of the confession of Vadim Skibitsky, a representative of the Defense Intelligence (Service) of Ukraine," the diplomat said.

As Ukraine approaches the tenth anniversary of the event that led to the overthrow of its President Viktor Yanukovych - the 20 February 2014 false flag, snipers' terrorist attack organized by the Maidan protests' ultranationalist and neofascist elements - Kiev is moving seemingly inexorably to yet another illegal or at least extralegal overthrow of its leadership. Indeed, with the passing of the baton by the post-Soviet Kravchuk-Kuchma generation, Ukraine has been moving for nearly two decades from one illegal seizure of power to another: the 2004 'orange revolution', the February 2014 Maidan protests and violent revolt, and now the impending regime change. The impending change of power can occur by one of several or a combination of transformative paths.

Author's note: see also:

• Regime instability in Kiev?
• Zeleskiy and Zaluzhnyi
• Coup poker: Ukraine's deteriorating civil-military relations -- Updated
• Ukrainian coup poker continues, and everybody is playing - Updated and revised

None of these modalities will have much if any legal, constitutional basis. Ukraine is facing a grave legitimacy and constitutional crisis, the likes of which it has never faced before that, moreover, is occurring not just during a war but one that is being lost and at a time the battle fronts and even army are on the verge of collapse.

Jeffrey Gettleman, the author of the New York Times' discredited "Hamas mass rape" story, is set to share the stage with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an upcoming panel on "conflict-related sexual violence" which will feature several other high-profile State Department functionaries.

A description of the event, hosted by Columbia University's Institute of Global Politics, cites what it calls "Hamas's brutal acts of sexual violence against Israelis on October 7" as "evidence" that "conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) is used widely as a weapon of war and a tactic of terrorism."

US presidential candidate Nikki Haley has received the support of just over 30% of registered Republican voters in a state-organized primary election in Nevada, according to preliminary results on Tuesday, with two-thirds of the votes counted.

With frontrunner Donald Trump absent from the ballot, the "none of these candidates" option was picked by more than 60% of the voters. In accordance with state law, Haley was nevertheless declared the winner.

The GOP is set to separately hold a party caucus on Thursday night, in which Trump is expected to get the backing of all 26 state delegates. The Republican leadership opposed Nevada's 2021 decision to set up primary elections for both parties and said it will continue using caucuses for the nomination process. The two-trek selection left many GOP voters confused, as they couldn't find Trump's name on the ballot, US media reported.

US President Joe Biden's decision to wear a tie with the colors of the Ukrainian flag is truly bewildering given that Vladimir Zelensky has never done such a thing despite receiving billions of dollars worth of aid from Washington, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has said.

On Tuesday, Biden urged US lawmakers to "immediately" pass a long-debated $118 billion bill that includes $60 billion for Ukraine. It also includes $20 billion to enhance border security, in line with Republicans' long-standing demands. However, many GOP members still opposed the bill, arguing that it does not do enough.

The US leader made the statement while wearing a tie with yellow and blue stripes - the colors of Ukraine's national flag, as well as a lapel pin with crossed Ukrainian and US flags. He declared that Kiev was "in dire straits right now" as it faces increased pressure from Russia.

Biden's choice of tie triggered backlash, most notably from Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican who dropped out of the White House race last month to endorse former US President Donald Trump's bid in the 2024 election.

Houthi forces fired several ballistic missiles at cargo ships off the Yemeni coast on Tuesday, US Central Command has said in a statement.

Since mid-October, the Yemen-based militant group has launched multiple drones and missiles targeting vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, claiming it is acting in support of Palestinians as a result of Israel's military operation in Gaza.

According to CENTCOM, the latest attacks by the group, which it described as "Iranian-backed terrorists," targeted two commercial vessels.

Three missiles, which came from "Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen," were fired towards the Greek-owned bulk carrier Star Nasia, which sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands, it said.

In 2023, the volume of trade between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait was $268 billion. This means Taipei traded more with its main adversary, Beijing, than with its foremost ally, Washington. And for Chinese business, Taiwan was a more important counterparty than the state's key strategic partner, Russia.

These facts are important for an understanding of the current relationship between the two parts of China. They are inextricably linked not only by the commonality of language, history, and culture, but also by hundreds of thousands of trade and production contracts. And this may prove to be a decisive factor in the long-term struggle for the island between the great powers.

The elections in Taiwan on January 13 did nothing to change this. On the contrary, apart from pro-American candidate Lai Qingde's victory (with a far-from-solid 40% of the vote), the parliamentary elections revealed the defeat of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which lost its majority and ten seats in the Legislative Yuan to the conventionally "pro-Chinese" Kuomintang Party.

The outcome has made the island's power system somewhat unstable, suggesting that the main battle between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan is yet to come. However, the US has only one undeniable advantage in this war - the ability to pump its proxy with weapons and defense systems in anticipation of a violent conflict. China, on the other hand, has far more leverage. Thus, in the coming years, Beijing won't try to solve the Taiwan problem militarily: on the contrary, it will attempt to turn America's "Pyrrhic victory" on January 13 into a final US defeat in the next elections on the island.

A full-scale war between Russia and NATO would leave Moscow with no choice but to deploy its nuclear assets, former president Dmitry Medvedev has said. He reiterated, however, that his country is not seeking a conflict with the US-led military bloc.

Writing on Telegram on Wednesday, Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, pushed back against statements by numerous Western leaders urging their countries to prepare for a potential conflict with Moscow.

Russia has repeatedly said it has no plans of staging a conflict with NATO and the EU, he noted, despite the latter continuing "a dangerous drivel" on the issue. He suggested that this narrative is designed to divert the attention of Western voters away from massive spending on aid for Ukraine - an effort he said many have already grown tired of.

Medvedev argued that this fatigue stems from Western leaders' desire to help "a dying country that is foreign to taxpayers," while neglecting social problems at home. "Therefore, every day the leaders of these countries broadcast: We need to prepare for war with Russia and continue to help Ukraine," he said.

British rulers think they can start a war against Russia. They can't even contain Yemeni fighters in the Red Sea. And its top-notch aircraft carrier just got towed away before it even saw action.

Delusions about "Great Britain" and its military power are laughable. Britain is nothing but a rogue state whose arrogance and delusions are - like its American overseer - a danger to global security and peace.

Britain's Royal Navy flagship, the recently built aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, has embarrassingly been forced to pull out of a major NATO war drill due to a mechanical breakdown.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is supposed to be the showpiece of Britain's military firepower. Built for $5 billion, the warship is spanking new. It is billed as a "super-carrier". The vessel is not just a flagship for the Royal Navy. It is a flagship for Britain.

At the last minute, the ship had to cancel participation in the huge NATO war exercises currently underway across Europe. One of its propellers was discovered to be faulty. Instead of leading Britain's contingency in the biggest NATO mobilization since the Cold War, the aircraft carrier is now laid up in the repair yard.

The weeks-long NATO war maneuvers known as Steadfast Defender are intended as a demonstration of robust military power to Russia. Coming at a time of heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine, the NATO exercises across Northern Europe and Scandinavia are viewed by Moscow as a veiled threat. The rehearsal for a war involves 90,000 troops from over 30 nations, an armada of warships, and nuclear-capable fighter jets flown from the U.S.

The failure of HMS Queen Elizabeth to muster at the crucial moment only adds to Britain's embarrassment. It underscores criticism voiced even by British military experts that the country is not fit to wage a modern war contrary to the bellicose posturing of British politicians and military commanders. Certainly not against Russia whose advanced firepower has been proven against NATO-backed Ukraine.

Moreover, several independent military analysts contend that the entire U.S.-led NATO alliance is no match for Russia, nor China for that matter. After all, the U.S. and NATO allies were forced to retreat from Afghanistan in 2021 unable to defeat Taliban insurgents despite 2o years of occupying that country.