Russian Reality

MSU graduate Saule Omarova withdrew her candidacy for the post of head of the US Treasury … A native of the USSR no longer aspires to the post of head of the Office of Currency Control in the US Treasury, Reuters reports. According to the White House press service, published on Tuesday, December 7, US President Joe Biden granted Omarova's request to withdraw her candidates. Earlier it was reported that if appointed, a graduate of Moscow State University could become the first woman to head the department in 158 years of its existence. At the same time, Republicans and representatives of the banking sector criticized Omarova's candidacy. Thus, Senator from the Republican Party John F. Kennedy asked her to explain her ties with the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (Komsomol) and demanded to provide confirmation of her withdrawal from the “organization of young communists”.

French President Macron will discuss the situation in Ukraine with Putin and Zelensky in the coming days French President Emmanuel Macron wanted to discuss the situation in Ukraine with the President Russia Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, RIA Novosti reports. According to the agency, he plans to call his colleagues in the coming days. On December 7, Macron participated in negotiations on this issue with the heads of the United States, Germany, Italy and Great Britain. Earlier, Macron expressed hope that the talks held on Tuesday, December 7, between the leaders of Russia and the United States would lead to a decrease in tensions in relations between Western countries and Moscow. “Our strategy is to start working towards reducing tensions,” he said.

Senator Dzhabarov: no need to blackmail Russia with sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 project First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov called useless blackmail with sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. His words are reported by RIA Novosti. “There is no need to blackmail Russia with Nord Stream in connection with Ukraine, it is futile,” the senator said. He stressed that the project is commercial and more beneficial to Germany. At the same time, Russia is not a party to the conflict within Ukraine and is not preparing for an invasion, Dzhabarov stressed. The United States expects that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will be stopped if Russia invades Ukraine, the deputy said earlier US Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. She noted that the US is already consulting with the new German government on this matter. The implementation of the

President Putin told Biden that the sanctions are not having any positive effect Biden said that the sanctions have no positive effect, including for the United States itself. This was announced by the aide to the President of the Russian Federation Yuri Ushakov, reports TASS. “Biden talked about possible sanctions, and our president talked about what the Russian side needs, that sanctions are not new, they have been adopted for a long time, only, unfortunately, they do not give any positive effect either for the United States or for Russia, ”he said. Ushakov also clarified that Biden, warning of new sanctions, spoke of the threat to the Russian “economy, finance and politics.” Earlier, the Kremlin said that Biden softened his rhetoric on possible sanctions against Russia. According to Ushakov, during the conversation, Biden mentioned the restrictive measures in a more acceptable form than was done earlier in various public statements.

Nuland: Russia is ready to attack Ukraine with almost all troops west of the Urals … Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said this to the Congress, RIA Novosti reports. According to her, Moscow plans to involve “about 100 battalion tactical groups, or practically all combat-ready ground troops west of the Urals” in the military operation. She also added that Russia's military and intelligence services “continue to develop the potential for decisive action against Ukraine if ordered, potentially in early 2022.” On December 4, US intelligence “discovered” that Russia was planning an invasion the territory of Ukraine, and made a map of the proposed offensive on several fronts. Intelligence officials said that Moscow plans to involve 100 battalion tactical groups of up to 175,000 servicemen in the offensive. At the same time, the Western term “battalion tactical group” is absent in the combat regulations of the Russian Armed Forces, instead