Maria Baronova resigned as editor-in-chief of Russia Today, a state-run media operation also known as RT, last week after condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. She’s well aware that anyone who speaks out against the Kremlin could be in danger – but personal safety is the least of Baronova’s concerns.
"The problem is, I know these people very well. They never send threats, they just kill, so there is kind of [a] weird silence around me, but I really think we’re on the brink of a nuclear war right now. I’m not exaggerating," Baronova told Fox News Digital from Moscow, via a WhatsApp call.
"I have a son, I can’t leave because his father won’t allow me to leave with him, and so I just prefer to stay in Moscow … It seems like we’re either in North Korea or we are going to be killed by a thermonuclear mushroom," she said. "I wouldn’t quit, and I wouldn’t lose my salary and job if I was sure that we are going to be alive for many years, but I really don’t know what is going to happen to all of us next."
While many around the globe are gravely concerned Putin would resort to nuclear weapons, Baronova is worried his behavior will make Russia the target of a catastrophic attack.
"I suspect the Western world will use it," Baronova said. "This is a very dangerous situation."
The blunt Baronova agreed to talk to Fox News Digital until her son’s food was ready. She explained that the last straw before quitting RT wasn’t any sort of on-air propaganda, but rather an Instagram message from her colleague who wrote, "If you are now ashamed of being Russian, don’t worry, you are not Russian," as Putin’s invasion of Ukraine intensified.
"I was really disturbed by that tone and level of support," Baronova said, noting that she publicly responded to her now-former coworker’s message.
"If I chose to be with Russia, this does not mean that I should walk in a totalitarian system, be silent or, for example, rejoice that the regime, which I do not want for my country, is being exported somewhere else," Baronova wrote. "And this regime will finally turn our life into one endless hell. What's there. Already turned."
Baronova then stepped down from the state-run network.
"That was the moment I decided, ‘OK, that’s it,’" she said.
Baronova said she hasn’t garnered much support from fellow Russians since leaving RT and is seen as an opposition activist. But this isn’t the first time Baronova found herself in the public eye for opposing Putin’s regime.
She was featured in a 2012 New York Times piece headlined, "A Face of the Russian Protest Movement," that detailed the time she was charged with inciting a riot while protesting Putin winning a third term. In 2014, Rolling Stone said she was "for a short while, one of the most visible protesters in Moscow," in a piece that detailed anti-Putin activism led by the punk band Pussy Riot.
Her life was upended after the arrest and she eventually went to work for Dozhd, Russia’s top independent TV channel which is also known as TV Rain and famously critical of Putin.
Baronova, who was by then a single mother, jumped ship to RT in 2019, irking fellow Putin oppositionists who felt she was abandoning the movement by joining state-run media.
"People felt betrayed when I decided to join RT," she said. "But I decided on purpose in order to have a reasonable conversation with people who are in power right now in Russia."
Last week, Russian authorities accused TV Rain of peddling "false information regarding the actions of Russian military personnel as part of a special operation" in Ukrainec, and Baronova’s prior network was promptly forced off the air as Putin purged non-state media.
Baronova's two previous employers have suffered different fates over the past few days, as RT remains on air and has echoed Putin’s message throughout the Ukraine invasion.
Baronova, who was the managing editor of RT’s Russian language unit, said she wanted to bring positivity to the state-run outlet and much of her responsibilities focused on covering problems with social institutions. Baronova said she also spent much of her time at RT working on a fundraiser for mothers of children with cerebral palsy, and she was largely kept out of conversations regarding which Kremlin talking points would be spouted by the outlet despite her editor-in-chief title.
Roughly three years after joining the state-run news organization with hopes of forcing change, the activist-turned-journalist had seen enough after Putin’s ruthless attack on Ukraine that was supported by many of her now-former RT colleagues.
"I have nothing else to talk about with them," she said. "Our own government is bombing our relatives, our friends."
Baronova feels many Russians are "brainwashed" and some even buy Putin’s claim that the attack was needed to help "denazify" Ukraine, which the Kremlin has insisted was the true aggressor. Putin has claimed he wants to purge Ukraine of fascism; such messages, experts have told Fox News Digital, are appealing in Russia since loathing for the defeated Nazi Germany regime runs deep.
"I try to talk with people on the streets… they even had arguments like, ‘We are fighting with Hitler,’ but look, I’ve got some news. Hitler died 80 years ago," she said. "It seems like they’re really brainwashed."
Putin has cracked down on non-state news since the invasion of Ukraine began, with social media platforms and independent news operations forced to shut down for refusing to parrot propaganda. Some locals don’t mind that Putin has silenced non-state media and a Moscow taxi driver even told Baronova the now-shuttered TV Rain was filled with "traitors" who opposed the Kremlin.
"A lot of people have these kind of sentiments," she said.
Despite Putin’s attempt to control messaging related to the Ukraine invasion, Baronova is baffled that people still buy into his narrative when accurate information can be found by anyone eager to find it.
"We have internet like everybody else in this world, and you can’t hide information from people in the era of the internet, so I don’t understand how they can be brainwashed. How can they be saying that Russia is fighting with Hitler collaborators in Ukraine when Hitler died 80 years ago? But they really have these kinds of conversations," Baronova said, noting that some Russians have begun to open their eyes because of sanctions and American companies pulling out of the nation.
"People were in favor on [the] first day of invasion. Now they are less convinced and much more skeptical because they understand now that they are going to lose their jobs, they are going to lose their cars, their iPhones, their everything," she said. "So, let’s see what that are going to say in a month ... The whole world is in a bad position."
Painting a bleak picture, Baronova said it feels like 1945, the final year of World War II before quickly correcting herself.
"Probably more like 1939," she said, referring to the year that World War II began. "It is really pointless to predict anything … We are watching a lie on my TV."
Suddenly, Baronova had to go, as her son’s meal was ready – she told him to please put down his phone and eat. Before hanging up, she had one final message for Americans.
"Russians love their children, too," she said. "Stay safe. Everybody, stay safe."
Earlier today Monday March 7th 2022, Vladimir Putin demanded Ukraine must distance itself from NATO, lay down its arms and recognise Russia's claims to Crimea, and to acknowledge that Donetsk and Lugansk are independent states before war can end
Sending foreign weapons to Ukraine will lead to a "global collapse", Russia's foreign ministry has warned.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister, said western powers sending mercenaries and military equipment to the front lines would be a "catastrophic development".
Yesterday, Deputy PM Dominic Raab called on world leaders to support Ukraine with "everything from military hardware through to cyber resilience" to prevent a "creeping normalisation" of what Russia is doing in Ukraine.
He urged his international counterparts to supply the under-siege nation to prevent "more aggression in the future".
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has demanded Ukraine recognise Russia's claim to Crimea and acknowledges Donetsk and Lugansk as independent states if the war is to end.
Ukraine must also lay down their arms and distance themselves from Nato.
The demands come after reports Kremlin troops are preparing for a fresh attempt to seize Kyiv.
As the invasion enters its 12th day, UK defence officials believe Russian troops have made minimal gains over the last 48 hours - and Putin's troops were pushed out of Chuhuiv.
But there are fears the 'humanitarian corridors' - set up to help refugees flee the fighting - are simply a way for Russia to manipulate the situation with the corridors forcing them to exit through Belarus or Russia.
Vladimir Putin 's troops have been attempting to advance towards the capital city for days but ground to a halt as the Ukrainian resistance hit supply lines.
Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelensky has vowed revenge after photos of a fleeing family lying dead in the street as Russian forces shelled Irpin shocked the world.
In a fiery address on Sunday, Volodymyr Zelensky promised a day of judgement after the deaths of evacuating Ukrainians.
The Ukrainian leader spoke following the tragedy in Irpin, where four members of one family were killed when missiles struck.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson accused Western powers of "turning the other cheek" to Russia for too long.
The Prime Minister claimed the West had “failed to learn the lessons” of previous Russian aggressions that had led to the invasion of Ukraine.
In a 1,300-word essay in the New York Times, he told his counterparts “the world is watching” and urged them to match rhetoric with action.
He wrote: “Have we done enough for Ukraine? The honest answer is no.”
He set out a six-point plan aiming to tackle Vladimir Putin ’s advance.
And with more than 1.5 million Ukrainians having fled to nearby countries as Russian aggression intensifies: “We need to prepare now for even darker days ahead.”
But Mr Johnson, who was foreign secretary from 2016 to 2018, failed to acknowledge any personal responsibility for not doing more to tackle Putin.
His own party has come under fire for letting Russian oligarchs treat London as a “laundromat” to clean dirty money.
Mr Johnson himself was branded a “Putin apologist” during the Brexit campaign, when he sought to blame the EU over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
WoundedLamb: This is not all about Ukraine. OP did not list all the demands. Putin wants NATO to remove any troops or weapons deployed to countries that entered the alliance after 1997, which would include much of eastern Europe, including Poland, the former Soviet countries of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and the Balkan countries. So, at this point, Ukraine is just a hostage.
Those other conditions were stated before the war started. Putin is now on the back foot. There is absolutely no way that NATO will will remove their weapons and he knows it.
BSsniffer: Zelensky should better accept the terms and rebuild his country, the west will only use his head to break coconut, the Germans have already moved against the ban of Russian gas into europe because they know it would affect them badly..... everyone watching out for his or her interest.
They will have to negotiate. How would you feel if Nigeria has to cede 4 states to Cameroon in the interest of peace ? It's not that easy.
Meanwhile this is a face saving situation for Putin as he knows that Russia cannot win in the long term, in Ukraine.
The United States continued to deploy roughly 480 nuclear bombs in Europe, more than double the number normally estimated by the media and non-governmental analysts. The deployment was detailed in the report "U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe" published by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The weapons are all B61 gravity bombs and are deployed at eight bases in six NATO countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom (see map below).
The 480 nuclear bombs in Europe are the last of a huge arsenal of forward-deployed weapons that NATO and the Warsaw Pact used to deploy in Europe during the Cold War. The Soviet Union deployed nuclear weapons in Eastern European countries, but all of these weapons have been withdrawn to Russia. On the NATO side, the stockpile peaked at some 7,300 nuclear warheads in 1973 and gradually declined over the subsequent years (see table). In 1991, the U.S. government decided -- and NATO agreed -- to withdraw almost all of the remaining weapons, but left 480 air-delivered bombs in place.
Today, the United States is the only nuclear power that continues to deploy nuclear weapons outside its own territory. The approximately 480 nuclear bombs in Europe are intended for use in accordance with NATO nuclear strike plans, the report asserts, against targets in Russia or countries in the Middle East such as Iran and Syria.
The report shows for the first time how many U.S. nuclear bombs are earmarked for delivery by non-nuclear NATO countries. In times of war, under certain circumstances, up to 180 of the 480 nuclear bombs would be handed over to Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey for delivery by their national air forces. No other nuclear power or military alliance has nuclear weapons earmarked for delivery by non-nuclear countries.
Although the United States retains full control in peacetime, this quasi-nuclear status of non-nuclear NATO countries violates the objective of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The U.S. and NATO argue that there is no violation because the U.S. retains control of the weapons. But the allied nuclear role is far from dormant in peacetime, with host country pilots practicing nuclear strikes and their aircraft being maintained ready to delivery the nuclear weapons if necessary. Besides, the strictly legal argument misses the bigger point: equipping non-nuclear NATO countries with the means to deliver nuclear weapons if necessary contradicts the non-proliferation standards that the U.S. and Europe are trying to impress upon other countries such as Iran and North Korea.
The report also provides new insight into the logistics of the nuclear weapons deployment in Europe, including the capacity and characteristics of the Weapons Storage and Security System (WS3) used to store the weapons underground inside Protective Aircraft Shelters at the individual bases. It also highlights the fleet of Weapons Maintenance Trucks (WMTs) dispersed to the bases to provide on-site maintenance of the nuclear bombs. Because this maintenance program occasionally disassembles weapons inside the Protective Aircraft Shelter, the report reveals, the U.S. Air Force discovered in 1997 that the procedure created a risk of inadvertent nuclear explosion if a disassembled weapon was struck by lightning.
The report recommends that all the weapons should be withdrawn to the United States, and that the U.S. and NATO should use the political leverage from such a move to engage Russia to drastically reduce the large number of Russian non-strategic nuclear weapons, as well as revitalize efforts to create a nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle East. Initiatives like these, the report concludes, would -- unlike continuing to maintain U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe -- provide real security benefits to NATO.
The full report is available from the right-hand bar along with a number of documents released under FOIA. Also made available are satellite photos of many of the European bases where U.S. nuclear weapons are stored.
TWO more of Vladimir Putin's top military chiefs have been killed after personally charging to the battlefield to rescue their stalled invasion.
As well as sniping General Andrei Sukhovetsky, it was tonight revealed Ukrainian soldiers have also picked off a Kremlin regional and a divisional commander.
Western officials believe Russian top brass are exposing themselves on the frontline to spearhead drained and untrained rank-and-file troops.
One said: "That's an indication of some degree of frustration and some degree of lack of progress - and they're trying to impose their personality on the battlefield and putting themselves at personal risk."
They said Putin's commanders have been knocked for six and suffered a "psychological impact" by the "ferocity of the fighting".
Ukraine scored a major win after shooting down an lyushin Il-76warplane capable of carrying dozens of infantry.
And the 40-mile death convoy snaking towards Kyiv has hardly moved an inch because Zelenskyy's troops have blown up bridges and attacked it.
The Western official said: "You've got now in effect an enormously large traffic jam with some vehicles that have been damaged or destroyed."
Despite flexing his military muscles for years, Putin's full-scale invasion is far "beyond the scale of that which they have trained for".
Allies are gobsmacked that after nine days of fighting Russia continues to "reinforce failure" and is still beset by logisital blunders.
The official said: "They underestimated Ukraine resistance significantly and that they have had a range of challenges in the execution of the plan, all of which we knew were fragilities in the Russian government system."
But they have somehow managed to have all of these fragilities play out simultaneously, which has led to the lack of progress."
Yet they warned Kremlin war generals are now changing tactics by unleashing hellish firepower on Ukrainian cities at grave civilian costs.
Chefannabel: Since the Russia vs Ukraine conflict started, there have been series of comparisons between South African army vs Nigerian Army.
People want to know which country has the most strongest military among Nigeria and South Africa. So today I just came across the best comparison video on YouTube and decided to share.
Mooh247: It takes a foolish slowpoke to think a real critical surveillance mission would be filmed and published on the internet if not propaganda to feed you and you likes
.
Are you this daft ? This is only one of the many methods advanced militaries use to monitor hostile nations.
Dsalvo: Ok. Yes there are many Nairalanders born in the UK and USA. I asked your location because I thought you might be a returning diasporan to Nigeria looking to connect with folks with your background.
There are diasporan groups in Nigeria full of Nigerians who have lived abroad and have relocated to Nigerian. Many Nigerians born abroad in those groups.
Foreign Affairs › Re: Breaking::russia Blocked From Global Internet. Plunges Into Digital Isolation by GodHatesBigots(m): 6:46pm On Mar 08, 2022
