Oh boy, is the fat lady beginning to sing?

Tomorrow Putin will accept the new Russian territories and by all accounts, he is going to make a major speech.  Putin’s international moves are not always visible.  We see them afterward.  Yet, this morning the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, announced:

“Peskov also states Putin will hold SERIES of private meetings this evening, and he may also make “several” international telephone conversations.

But what struck me, is Maria Zakharova in her briefing this morning.  She said very clearly:

“Washington has become a party to conflict in Ukraine.”

In addition to that statement, she said on Soloviev Live TV, that The Nord Stream pipeline incidents took place in the exclusive economic zone of Denmark and Sweden, an area that is fully controlled by US intelligence agencies. From TASS, a few more statements: https://tass.com/politics/1515273

Last week, with all the UNGA speeches, Lavrov said that Washington is on a thin line to becoming a party to the conflict.   I would want to wait for Maria’s formal transcript and see how the words come through on the written document.

So, the sequence of events:

– Today and into the evening, Putin is holding a series of private meetings into this evening, and he may also make “several” international telephone conversations.

– Tomorrow  morning his day will start with a meeting of the Russian Security Council

– Then, what may be pomp and circumstance, accepting the new territories formally.  This will be a major affair with the Red Square closed, central Moscow closed and specialized bleachers and sound equipment stages set up on the Red Square.  Peskov stated that Putin will make a major speech.

– And as I figure out the timing, after all of that, an extra-ordinary and emergency UN Security Council meeting in New York, called by Russia.

Gazprom has announced that it is cutting off all gas supplies traveling to Europe via Ukraine because “Ukrainian Naftogaz refused to fulfill its contractual obligations.”

BRICS is working on the issue of creating a single settlement currency – Pavel Knyazev, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia’s representative to the BRICS.  We know this, but in the current atmosphere, it is coming through again.  There is unending pressure on countries accepting Russia’s MIR cards and slotting in to Russia’s SPFS.

President Putin did not mince any words at his address at the CIS Countries. This is what he said:

President Putin at a meeting with the heads of security agencies and intelligence services of the CIS countries: “Following their goals, our geopolitical opponents are ready to put anyone, any country under attack, turn it into the epicenter of a crisis, provoke a “color revolution” and unleash a bloodbath. We have seen all this more than once.
We also know that scenarios of inciting new conflicts in the CIS are being worked out in the West. It is enough to look at what is happening now between Russia and Ukraine and what occurs on the borders of some other CIS countries. Of course, all these are the results of the collapse of the Soviet Union, it’s all clear. But the risks of destabilization are still growing, including the risks of destabilization of the entire Asia-Pacific region.”

President Putin is exactly right and you can find more comments here, while we wait for the formal transcript to be posted.  Here is but one example and a sign for western audiences.

Old Buffalo Springfield Song for the day:

There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me i got to beware

I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down ….