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Russia remains ready to negotiate with Ukraine, at the same time the situation and conditions are changing, but the goals of the special military operation remain the same, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

"President [of Russia Vladimir Putin] said that Russia, of course, retains its willingness to negotiate. But as the situation changes, so do the conditions, and we have repeatedly spoken about this. But in general, the principle remains the same: all the goals of the special military operation [remain the same]," Peskov told reporters.

He noted it was Ukraine that earlier abandoned the negotiations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky previously stated that he is not ready for talks with Moscow, and the Kremlin stressed there are no such prospects at the moment. In the first months of the military operation, however, Zelensky repeatedly urged Putin to meet with him in person.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces. Moscow stated that its aim was to liberate Donbass, which is suffering from an eight-year-long war waged by Kiev, and to ensure the security of Russia.

VolgGTU scientists proposed a new strategy for overcoming social crises based on an analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to them, the mechanism they've discovered will effectively disseminate constructive norms of behavior in society. The results are published in the Journal of Institutional Economics.

The cognitive structures that determine our knowledge are not just what we have in our heads, scientists say. Our thinking and behavior is influenced by continuous interaction with social, technical, natural and other environments.

A special role in these processes, according to experts in the modern theory of knowledge, is played by cognitive norms - typical models of reaction to events accepted in a particular community. Their study and purposeful joint design, the scientists are sure, should provide the basis for an effective response of society to large-scale crisis situations.

A team of scientists from Volgograd State Technical University analyzed the phenomenon of mass destructive behavior during a crisis, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. According to the scientists, they proposed a mechanism for overcoming dangerous behavioral norms through initiatives "from below", not "from above."

https://sputniknews.com/20220927/grassroots-initiative-scientists-find-solution-to-address-anti-vax-ideas--1101236968.html

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Despite the fact that tourists and shoppers from Russia have been the backbone of the economy in eastern Finland, the Nordic country has been consistently restricting travel following the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, as part of the EU's self-maiming sanctions, even at the cost of lost revenues.

The Finnish Border Guard has recommended fencing off parts of the eastern border with Russia as part of a general security beef-up, to the tune of millions of euros, the newspaper Uutissuomalainen reported.
According to the Border Guard's own estimate, the fence would span 10-20 percent of the 1,300-kilometer border and cover up to 260 kilometers. The authority said the measure was warranted by the recent changes in the security environment, yet didn't provide a further explanation.

Building the fence would take between two and three years, according to the Border Guard. Should the funding permit, though, the construction could be sped up and carried out simultaneously in several locations. The fence would be designed to last 50 years.

Border Guard chief Lieutenant General Pasi Kostamovaara estimated that the fence would cost a few hundred million euros. This sum would also include the necessary monitoring and infrastructure arrangements to enable border guards to respond to illegal crossings immediately and without delay.

Kostamovaara identified south-eastern Finland, which borders Russia's Leningrad Oblast, as the most likely part of the country to host the fence, citing the highest cross-border traffic.

The Border Guard voiced a readiness to build a test section of the fence as soon as next winter and spring. The rest could be build subsequently, based on experiences from the test section.

EU central bank warns ‘outlook is darkening’
The ECB has slashed growth forecasts, hiking interest rates even as it predicts inflation will climb further

Europe is facing lower-than-expected economic growth as inflation continues to climb, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde revealed on Monday, explaining that the ECB had raised interest rates by 75 basis points in an attempt to control soaring prices.

Speaking before the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Monday, Lagarde admitted that “inflation remains far too high and is likely to stay above our target for an extended period.”

The former IMF boss warned that the “economic consequences for the euro area” of “Russia’s unjustified war of aggression on Ukraine” had spiraled further since June, a reference to Western sanctions on Russian oil and gas, which have sent fuel prices skyrocketing.

“The outlook is darkening,” she said.

While the Eurozone economy grew 0.8% in the second quarter, Lagarde said the ECB expected activity to “slow substantially” over the rest of 2022, to a total of 3.1% over the year and a mere 0.9% for all of 2023. Things will improve marginally in 2024, with growth projected at 1.9%, she said.

Much of this quarter’s economic growth was due to “strong consumer spending” driven by the reopening of Covid-shuttered industries like tourism, Lagarde said, while noting a decline in global demand due to what she called the “worsening terms of trade.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is considering resuming talks with Ukraine, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday. The top diplomat made the remarks during a press conference in Tokyo where he’s attending the funeral of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in July.


According to Cavusoglu, Putin floated the idea during a conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the recent summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

"In the course of negotiations with our president, Putin announced the possibility of returning to negotiations with Kiev, but on new conditions that have appeared," Cavusoglu was quoted as saying, He didn't elaborate on the "conditions" specified.

The minister also reiterated Ankara’s desire to stage direct talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. “Our president will continue his contacts with Putin and Zelensky. Our aim is to bring the two leaders together to ensure that decisions are made at the level of the leaders,” Cavusoglu said.

Top Russian officials have repeatedly said Moscow has been ready to talk with Kiev, pinning the blame for the stalled negotiations on the Ukrainian side. Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said dialogue is “of course needed,” adding that Putin had already explained that “Ukraine left the negotiations several months ago.”
Early turnout numbers for referendums on joining Russia revealed READ MORE: Early turnout numbers for referendums on joining Russia revealed

Apart from declaring the goal of defeating Moscow on the battlefield, Ukrainian officials have also reacted angrily to the referendums on joining Russia, currently ongoing in the Donbass republics and Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions in southern Ukraine. On Sunday, Zelensky warned that should Russia complete the vote, it would “make it impossible, in any case, to continue any diplomatic negotiations” with Moscow.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.
https://www.rt.com/news/563547-putin-ukraine-turkey-talks/

Macgregor: Ukraine Is On The Ropes And Trying To Create The Illusion That Is Not The Case

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/09/22/macgregor_ukraine_is_on_the_ropes_and_trying_to_create_the_illusion_that_is_not_the_case.html?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=mixi&utm_campaign=realclearpolitics

RET. COL. DOUG MACGREGOR: Almost from the very first moment that the Russians moved into Eastern Ukraine, a succession of retired generals and political hacks in Washington and London and elsewhere have been declaring victory for Ukraine. Seven months later, the Ukrainian army is bled white, tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded. Ukraine is really on the ropes and trying to create the illusion that's not the case.

At the same time, Vladimir Putin has finally concluded that he can't negotiate with Kyiv, that the real problem, of course, is Washington, and that Washington will not negotiate with him. So he's opted for partial mobilization, bringing in additional forces, ostensibly for the purpose of ending this thing. And at the same time he's very aware, as any of us are who are in the defense community in Washington, that there's been a lot of loose talk for several months about the viability of waging a limited nuclear war against Russia, using the so-called tactical nuclear weapon.

This sort of thing is very frightening to the Russians. They've made it very clear that their use of nuclear weapons is limited to retaliatory strikes in the event that we, or someone else, strikes them. So they just wanted to reaffirm clearly that they will respond if we use a nuclear weapon.

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has penned a blunt open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Seeking guarantees that Russia will not expand beyond Donbass and Crimea and will never “invade anyone ever again.” Posted to Facebook on Monday, the missive follows similarly frank open letters to Ukrainian First Lady Elena Zelenskaya.

In the letter, Waters asks Putin to affirm he wants an end to the war – something the Russian president has already said on other occasions. He also demands a guarantee that Russia’s “territorial interest” stops at the “security of the Russian speaking populations” of Crimea and the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, citing the need to reassure “some people who think you want to overrun the whole of Europe, starting with Poland and the rest of the Baltic states.”

If Russia does have territorial ambitions beyond eastern Ukraine, Waters writes, “f*** you, and we might as well all stop playing the desperately dangerous game of nuclear chicken that the hawks on both sides of the Atlantic feel so comfortable with, and have at it.”
Pink Floyd co-founder calls out ‘censorship’ over Ukraine READ MORE: Pink Floyd co-founder calls out ‘censorship’ over Ukraine

It wasn’t immediately clear if the referendums in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions on joining Russia qualified for this response.

Moscow would also have to promise “not to invade anyone ever again,” Waters told Putin, complaining the launch of Russia’s special military operation in February was not just a “heinous war of aggression,” but an unexpected one to boot. Just because NATO and the US get to “invade other sovereign countries at the drop of a hat, or for a few barrels of oil,” doesn’t mean Russia shouldn’t hold itself to a higher standard, he explained.

“If you were to reply to me,” Waters wrote to Putin, “I would mightily respect you for it, and take it as an honorable move in the right direction towards a sustainable peace.”

https://www.rt.com/pop-culture/563577-roger-waters-putin-letter/