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Spies tried to force me to take anti-Russia stance – Serbian minister
Serbian interior minister claims foreign spies have been pressing him
into taking anti-Russia stance
FILE PHOTO. Aleksandar Vulin. © Global Look Press / MOD Russia
A major foreign intelligence service has been pressing Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin over his attitude towards Russia and China, the official revealed on Saturday. The minister expects a large media campaign against him to kick off next week.
“One of the largest intelligence services in the world, if not the largest, told me that my stance was unacceptable and that if I do not change [it] and do not abandon the policy that I am pursuing ... then I will not be a member of the government and they will do absolutely everything to smear me,” Vulin told media outlet Pink.
A media campaign against him is expected to begin next week, Vulin claimed. Despite the pressure, the minister said he refused to cooperate in any way with the foreign spies. “I haven’t worked and won’t work for anyone except for the Serbian people, the Serbian state, and I won’t be completely loyal to anyone, except for the president of all Serbs, Aleksandar Vucic,” the minister said.
The condition was that I start working for this foreign intelligence service. I will not, even at the cost of my own life.
The minister also urged the country’s president to keep Serbia neutral, as well as to maintain good relations with Russia and China, regardless of external pressure.
Top Serbian officials have repeatedly said the country faced mounting foreign pressure amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Belgrade, however, has refused to join any anti-Russian sanctions or other hostile acts by the collective West, maintaining that Serbia will continue pursuing its own interests, while keeping its long-standing ties with Moscow.
Vulin has taken a particularly strong position amid the ongoing crisis. Early in July, the minister said the US and the EU have been openly pressing Serbia into becoming “a NATO foot soldier” in order to become “someone who wants to engage in a conflict with Russia.”
“We are very clear: We will not engage in a conflict with Russia, we will not engage in other people’s wars, we will not be someone else’s foot soldiers,” he declared back then.
Ukrainian MP reveals ‘scam of the century’
Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz gas company has sought to embezzle $8 billion,
Yulia Timoshenko claims
FILE PHOTO: Yulia Timoshenko, an Ukrainian MP and the head of the 'Fatherland' party.
© Global Look Press / Dimitrios Karvountzis
Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz gas company is supposedly running a massive embezzlement scheme as it seeks to get billions of dollars from the government for alleged gas purchases even though Ukraine presumably does not need additional gas for the winter, Yulia Timoshenko, an MP and the head of the ‘Fatherland’ party, claimed on Monday.
According to Timoshenko, the lawmakers were about to pass several bills that would grant Naftogaz additional funding for gas purchases ahead of the winter. One of them would grant the company “compensation” from the budget that was worth 150 billion hryvnas ($4.08 billion) to purchase an additional six billion cubic meters of natural gas abroad.
The government planned to use international financial aid provided to Ukraine by Western nations for that “compensation,” Timoshenko’s party wrote in a statement last week. According to Timoshenko herself, Naftogaz also sought to request another 150 billion hryvnas ($4.08 billion) from the budget to increase its authorized share capital and then use the money to buy the gas.
Timoshenko, who also served as Ukraine’s prime minister between 2007 and 2010, also argued that this additional gas purchase for the upcoming winter heating season was not needed at all. According to the MP, Ukraine already produces and stores enough gas for the winter and might even get up to seven billion excessive cubic meters of gas during the upcoming heating season.
On Monday, Timoshenko claimed that Naftogaz was still planning the “scam of the century” by embezzling up to 264 billion hryvnas ($7.18 billion) and “sending them to offshores.” She also called on the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky to organize a meeting between his administration officials, MPs, and independent experts, as well as diplomats from the G7 nations to discuss the situation.
“Could the president not be aware? Are you not aware of the ‘scam of the century’ that Naftogaz is currently implementing?” she wondered in her post.
The lawmaker said that the Ukrainian MPs are set to discuss the relevant bills later in July. Last week, her party said it had blocked bills to supposedly prevent embezzlement by Naftogaz. RT could not independently verify Timoshenko’s claims related to the Naftogaz activities. Neither the Ukrainian presidential office nor the company itself have commented on the issue yet.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Ukrainian media reported that Naftogaz creditors had rejected the company’s request for a two-year debt payment freeze. Naftogaz made the proposal earlier this month, citing “significant economic and business decline in Ukraine” caused by the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Naftogaz is Ukraine’s largest state-owned oil and gas company and a major source of income, accounting for almost 17% of the country’s total state budget revenue last year.
Prince Charles agreed to take £1million from Bin Laden family
for his charity despite objections from advisers
Agreement made following private meeting between Charles and Bakr Bin Laden
The payment came despite protestations from his advisers to return the money
Charles reportedly warned of reputational damage if it became known to public
By JAMIE PHILLIPS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 15:57 EDT, 30 July 2022 | UPDATED: 16:01 EDT, 30 July 2022
The rest of this article can be found at Daily Mail.
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