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Feb 21 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
Here's @guardian write up of Putin's terrifying and delusional speech this evening. An extraordinary mash up of grievances and lies. Clearly a Russian military offensive is coming & on a large scale
I spoke to #Ukraine's former defence minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk. He said any attempt by Putin to capture additional territory in the east or beyond would mean full blown war - "attacks, resistance, deaths, casualties, losses, plus a war crimes trial"
theguardian.com/world/live/202…
He said: “Ukraine has lots of weapons and Ukraine is not going to give up territory just like that. Why the hell should we? It’s like someone comes to UK and says ‘Now I think this town should belong to France’. Obviously it’s going to be a very nasty process, dramatic and tragic
One possible precedent is #Russia's five-day war with Georgia in 2008. Russian troops restored the old Soviet border of South Ossetia, capturing additional territory and the town of Akhalgori. Moscow-recognised LNR/DNR are likely to make similar demands theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
A #Ukrainian former senior diplomat struck a more optimistic note and predicted #Russia would not advance beyond existing LNR/DNR borders. He said some in Kyiv government "do not hide their joy" tonight that the Minsk agreement is dead and there is "no war, no Donbas back"...
Finally, here's a piece I wrote today on the #fake videos and stories frantically churned out by #Russia over the past week, to pave the way for Putin's recognition of DNR/LNR today. With @Andrew__Roth and @shaunwalker7 & featuring @EliotHiggins theguardian.com/world/2022/feb…

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More from @lukeharding1968

Luke Harding Profile picture
Jan 19
My latest report from #Ukraine's uneasy frontline and the port city of Mariupol. Video by @VolodymyrYurch and @guardian film coming soon. With thanks to @USCC_center theguardian.com/world/2022/jan…
The Ukrainian troops I met are motivated, professional and ready to defend their homes. But it's also clear they are badly outgunned by (pro) #Russian forces. The war continues, with shots and grenade fire when we visited the spectacularly wrecked frontline village of Shyrokyne
"The village’s seaside complex resembles a phantasmagoric film set. An alley of pulverised flats leads on to a glass-strewn terrace. There is a rusted child’s bike, a washing machine and a savagely twisted bonnet from a GAZ-53 truck. Swimming is not advised: the beach is mined"
Read 5 tweets
Luke Harding Profile picture
Dec 22, 2021
Breaking: Roman Abramovich has settled his lawsuit against @CatherineBelton and Harper Collins over her acclaimed book #Putin's People. Agreement reached overnight
Abramovich will not receive damages and will pay his own costs. Harper Collins has agreed to include additional denials and acknowledges that it is not a statement of fact that the oligarch bought Chelsea FC at Vladimir Putin's behest
It has also corrected a claim that Boris Berezovsky was a co-owner of the Russian oil giant Sibneft, following 2012 high court ruling. All in all, a victory for Belton and investigative journalism. Harper Collins statement here: corporate.harpercollins.co.uk/press-releases…
Read 4 tweets
Luke Harding Profile picture
Oct 6, 2021
In 1997 I wrote a book about Jonathan Aitken, the Conservative minister jailed for lying in a libel action against the Guardian. Alas, Aitken has been at it again - claiming he received no money from #Kazakhstan for a book on its dictator. He got £166,000 theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/…
The money was routed via a PR company that works for Kazakhstan's government. Its founder Patrick Robertson is a #Brexiteer ultra who worked in the 1990s as Aitken's press guy. World PR paid Aitken the cash from secret #offshore accounts and underwrote his US book tour
The #PandoraPapers includes Aitken's hotel bill for an event at the Library of Congress. Ironically enough, Aitken’s political career came to an end in 1996 after he lied about who had paid for his stay at Paris's Ritz hotel – not a Kazakh dictator back then but the Saudi royals
Read 5 tweets
Luke Harding Profile picture
Oct 4, 2021
The secret offshore world of #Tory super-donor Lubov Chernukhin and her husband Vladimir. Mansions, quad bikes, an Oxfordshire chicken coop... all are owned by opaque companies. Oh, and Vladimir is a non-dom. My #PandoraPapers story with @harryfoxdavies theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/…
For anyone who missed, here's my piece on Mr Chernukhin's old #Moscow boss Vladimir #Putin. Putin's alleged lover, friend and oil trader associate have all hidden their wealth in #Monaco, with help from a British fixer. But is this cash really theirs? theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/…
Weeks after becoming Russia's prime minister Vladimir Putin made Chernukhin the number two at VEB, a state-run bank. He then promoted him to deputy finance minister followed by VEB chief, a Cabinet level position. Chernukhin left #Russia in 2004 for London with $350m in assets
Read 6 tweets
Luke Harding Profile picture
Oct 3, 2021
Revealed: the spies who came in from the cold – how Vladimir #Putin’s alleged lover and an old family friend hid their fortunes in sunny #Monaco, with help from a British accountant. But was the money really theirs? My @guardian story from #PandoraPapers theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/…
In 2003 a mysterious offshore company, Brockville Development Ltd, bought a luxury €3.6m apartment overlooking Monaco’s marina. Its owner? Svetlana Krivonogikh, a 28-year-old #Russian woman who around the turn of the millennium became extremely rich #PandoraPapers
According to the #Russian investigative website Proekt, Krivonogikh was friends with Putin – and became his lover. Months before secretly buying the offshore Monaco property, Krivonogikh gave birth to a daughter Luiza Rozova. Putin is her Dad, Proekt alleges #PandoraPapers
Read 13 tweets
Luke Harding Profile picture
Jul 15, 2021
Exclusive: Leaked Putin papers appear to show #Russia’s plot to put a “mentally unstable” Donald Trump into the White House – my story with @julianborger in Washington and @dansabbagh in London theguardian.com/world/2021/jul…
The papers from inside the #Russian presidential administration suggest Vladimir #Putin ordered a wide-ranging spy agency operation after a closed meeting of his national security council on January 22, 2016
At the time Donald #Trump was the frontrunner in the Republication Party's nomination race. A classified report by Putin’s expert department – No 32-04\ vd – recommended #Moscow use “all possible force” to support Trump's bid to become US president
Read 14 tweets

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