Maria Zakharova denies indirect talks between Ukraine and Russia in Qatar, while in Israel protesters threaten to kill Netanyahu!

Washington Post article debunked by Zakharova. Death threats to Netanyahu from demonstrators give perfect excuse for Iranian high-level retaliation for Israeli killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

You have probably heard/read about the news reported last Saturday (17th August 2024) by The Washington Post that Ukraine and Russia were supposed to hold indirect talks in Qatar this month, to halt strikes on energy and power targets on both sides, but that these talks were derailed by the recent Ukrainian invasion of the Russian oblast of Kursk. Well… apparently, that is a lie, according to Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry. What follows is the English translation of her post on her Telegram channel, reporting the official statement on this topic by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (all formatting original).

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

🎙 Response of the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, M.V. Zakharova, to a media question in connection with the publication by The Washington Post

❓ Question: The Washington Post reported that the AFU attack on the Kursk region of the Russian Federation had disrupted indirect talks between Kiev and Moscow in Qatar on strikes on critical infrastructure. Earlier there were reports that Qatar and other Arab monarchies were involved in talks for a prisoner swap. Can you comment on the fact that some sort of indirect talks were underway and were interrupted by this attack by the Kiev regime? Were there any chances of preparing for ceasefire talks through Arab mediators and/or any other format before 6 August and how much did they diminish after?

💬 M.V.Zakharova: Nobody disrupted anything, because there was nothing to disrupt. There were and are no direct or indirect negotiations between Russia and the Kiev regime on the security of civilian critical infrastructure facilities.

The threat to the safety of such facilities, including the Zaporozhye and now the Kursk nuclear power plant, is posed solely by the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces and their complicity on the part of the United States of America and other Western countries. By the way, it is symbolic that the AFU began its Kursk foray on 6th August, the anniversary of the American nuclear bombing of Hiroshima - the first and only use of atomic weapons against civilians and civilian infrastructure in the history of mankind.

As for the Russian Armed Forces, they are not striking civilian objects. Moreover, they are currently doing everything possible to protect such facilities from strikes by the Ukrainian armed forces using Western weapons and to shield the world from a large-scale man-made catastrophe.

☝️ Those who really want to ensure the safety of critical infrastructure and avoid the catastrophic consequences of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime's barbarism must first of all encourage this regime to abandon terrorist methods of warfare, and Western countries to encourage such tactics and supply it with lethal weapons.

After April 2022, when Kyiv withdrew from negotiations with Russia and five months later legally banned them itself, the only contacts between the Russian side and the Kyiv regime have been conducted through mediators only on humanitarian issues, primarily prisoner exchange.

At the same time, Kyiv has repeatedly had chances for a negotiated solution to the crisis. The most recent one came in June this year, when Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward a very generous peace initiative for the Ukrainian side, which opened up a real prospect for a ceasefire and a final settlement by political and diplomatic means. This proposal included the recognition of territorial realities, Ukraine's renunciation of NATO membership, the lifting of illegal sanctions and an end to discrimination against Russian-speaking citizens.

However, after 6th August, the whole world saw the response of the Ukrobanderites to this gesture of goodwill - the banditry in the Kursk region, their atrocities against the civilian population, their targeted killings of doctors, rescue workers and volunteers, attacks on civilian vehicles, the firing of rockets at homes, widespread looting and even the creation of threats to nuclear security.

❌ Of course, as Vladimir Putin said, there is nothing to talk about with people who do such things.

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From Al Mayadeen.

Switching to the Middle East crisis, Al Mayadeen yesterday (18th August 2024) reported that Israeli protesters demonstrating in Tel Aviv for a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas threatened to kill Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu if he does not resign! It looks like Bibi now has to face not only enemies outside the country (Hamas and the other factions of the Palestinian Resistance, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, as well as Iran), but also inside.

I think this is a good assist to Iran too: if its secret services managed to assassinate him in retaliation for the Israeli killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran would have a perfect excuse: “it was not us, it was the Israeli demonstrators”. The problem is: does the Axis of Resistance have the capabilities to carry out such a high-level assassination in Israel? Maybe. As reported yesterday in another Al Mayadeen article, a Hezbollah drone may have taken photos of Netanyahu's residence in Qaysaria, south of Haifa:

According to Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom [see here], a radar on an Israeli missile ship stationed offshore from Qaysaria detected a drone. This detection was interpreted as a Hezbollah surveillance drone intended to photograph Netanyahu’s seaside residence. 

However, the Israeli military suggested that this could be a “false alarm”, noting that radar systems sometimes issue warnings even in the case of flocks of birds or other objects, which were previously considered “accurate”.

The newspaper also reported that fighter jets were dispatched to the area after the detection, but were unable to locate the drone.

So, we do not know for sure if it was really a Hezbollah drone (there has been no statement on this incident from Hezbollah, as far as I know, and I do not think they would ever acknowledge it, if true) or a “false alarm”. In any case, Netanyahu’s days may be numbered.

Antony Blinken and Isaac Herzog - from The Guardian.

This morning the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, met the Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, in Tel Aviv, stating the following (as reported by The Guardian - all emphasis mine):

This is a decisive moment – probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security.

What does he mean when he says that this could be “the last opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire”? He also added the following:

It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process.

We’re working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line, or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places, and to greater intensity.

I may be wrong, but I read it as a warning to Hamas, Iran and their allies: if the Palestinian resistance does not accept this last deal, they will not have another chance and Israel will keep bombing the hell out of Gaza, no matter what.

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P.S.: Regarding the ongoing Middle East crisis, I recommend this article by Alastair Crooke on Strategic Culture Foundation: Revisionist Zionists dare the U.S. to pull the plug on their Nakba agenda.