Injuries reported after strike at Russian drilling platforms in Crimea
Five out of 12 staff members have been rescued, the region’s head says
Suspected Ukrainian attacks targeted drilling rigs off the coast of Crimea in the Black Sea on Monday morning, the head of the Russian region, Sergey Aksyonov, said in a statement. He added that the rigs were manned by 12 workers, five of whom have been rescued so far, including three with injuries.
Aksyonov did not disclose the exact locations of the facilities, but said they were owned by Chernomorneftegaz, a company that develops offshore gas and oil fields. Its ownership has been disputed by Ukrainian energy giant Naftogaz since 2014, when it was nationalized after Crimea voted to re-join Russia.
The head of Crimea later said that three missile strikes hit three separate rigs. Aksyonov said a total of 109 people were in the area at the time of the attacks and that the evacuation of the workers was underway.
The attack targeted offshore rigs located about 71km from the Ukrainian port of Odessa, Olga Kovitidi, who represents Crimea in the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, told RIA Novosti.
Some Ukrainian media reported that earlier in the day, dozens of missiles hit Snake Island, a small islet off the Ukrainian coast, which has been controlled by Russia for months. Ukrainian MP Aleksey Goncharenko claimed that some of the missiles hit the gas rigs instead of the island.
Ukrainian troops have been slowly losing territory to Russia and allied forces in Donbass, even as Western nations supply more sophisticated weapons to Kiev. Several Ukrainian officials have stated that the pledge to not use foreign weapons to attack targets in Russia does not apply to Crimea, which Kiev considers part of its territory. Major General Dmitry Marchenko said last week that the bridge connecting the peninsula with mainland Russia is
“absolutely our number one target.”
This month, Kiev reported deploying US-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles as part of its coastal defense systems. Last week, Kiev claimed it had attacked a Russian military tugboat with two of these missiles.
https://www.rt.com/russia/557470-injuries-reported-strike-russian-drilling-crimea/
Some Russian deputies have come out to say:
Russia will inflict strikes on decision-making centers in retaliation for attack on Chernomorneftegaz drilling platforms in Crimea - Duma Deputy Sheremet
The blow to the drilling platforms of Chernomorneftegaz was most likely inflicted by missiles manufactured in the UK or the USA, said State Duma deputy Vodolatsky.
Also:
Russian state media reports that a week before the attack on the Chernomorneftegaz drilling platforms, American commercial satellites filmed this area of the Black Sea.
Thus, the Earth remote sensing satellites Worldview-1, Worldview-2 and Worldview-3 photographed the area where the drilling platforms are located on June 11, 13 and 14, respectively.
Meanwhile in Syria:
Russian Escalations in Syria Risk Direct Conflict With U.S., Military Officials Warn
Recent Russian airstrikes and other operations in Syria raise alarms amid high tensions over Ukraine
Russian forces have conducted a series of operations against the U.S.-led coalition in Syria this month, including one this week at a strategically located base in the southern part of the country, U.S. military officials said.
The Russian actions have alarmed U.S. military officials, who are concerned that a miscalculation might escalate into an unintended conflict between the U.S. and Russian forces in Syria. Tensions between the two countries are already high following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and American efforts to arm the Ukraine military to defeat Russian forces there.
Russia is persevering in its war in Ukraine despite setbacks, sanctions and condemnation from many countries. WSJ’s Ann Simmons explains why deep cultural and political ties, its strategic location and potential resources have made the former Soviet Republic a target for Moscow.
On Wednesday, Russia carried out airstrikes at the al-Tanf garrison, near Syria’s border with Jordan in southeast Syria, where U.S. troops have a train-and-advise mission with local fighters to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State.
Russia notified the U.S. through a communications line set up years ago that it was conducting the airstrikes in response to an alleged attack against Syrian government forces that the Russians defend that may have resulted in injuries and destroyed a vehicle.
Soon after, Russian jet fighters, including two Su-35s and one Su-24, were observed traversing the area over al-Tanf before striking a combat outpost at the
garrison, a U.S. military official said.
The advance notice of the strike suggested to U.S. officials that the Russian military wasn’t actively targeting American troops but was harassing the U.S. mission in Syria—a tactic that Russian forces have previously used, resulting in some close calls over the years.
U.S. military forces weren’t in the vicinity of the base at the time of Wednesday’s strikes, which were earlier reported by CNN, and there were no American or coalition casualties as a result of the strike. But the operation punctuated what a U.S. military official characterized as a “significant increase in provocation” this month.
The Russian Embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Also this week, the Russians deployed two Su-34 jet fighters to a site where the U.S. was conducting a raid in northeast Syria to apprehend an Islamic State bomb maker. The jet fighters pulled back after the U.S. scrambled its own F-16 fighters to warn the Russian jets to leave the area, U.S. military officials said.
U.S. military officials declined to provide specifics of any of the other incidents they said have occurred in the past couple of weeks.
The U.S. seeks to avoid conflict with Russia in Syria, the top U.S. general in the region said.
“We seek to avoid miscalculation or a set of actions that could lead to unnecessary conflict: that remains our goal,” Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, the head of U.S. Central Command, said in a statement. “However, Russia’s recent behavior has been provocative and escalatory.”
As many as 200 American troops have been based at the al-Tanf garrison as part of the U.S. campaign to mentor local partners to combat Islamic State militants. There are a total of about 900 American troops in Syria, according to military officials. In addition to al-Tanf, U.S. troops train and advise Syrian Kurdish forces in the eastern sector of the country.
Although the so-called caliphate of Islamic State was defeated in 2019, the U.S. mission there is to train coalition forces to help prevent the group from rising again.
U.S. and Russian forces have been operating in Syria for years. A communications line, used daily, has helped the two sides avoid direct conflict in Syria, though there have been some tensions, including over the al-Tanf garrison. The base is located near a major highway that runs from Iraq to Syria and which Bashar al-Assad’s government, the Russians and Iranian forces have long wanted U.S. troops to abandon.
Russian Escalations in Syria Risk Direct Conflict With U.S., Military Officials Warn
US military occupiers blocked by Syrian special forces under the cover of Russian Air Force Ka-52 — in Syria near Mansef road. The US Army convoy, consisting of 5 units, was forced to return to the Tell Baydar base.
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And there is also the matter of kaliningrad:
-Lithuanian Foreign Minister:The ban on the transit of goods to the Kaliningrad region was introduced after consultations with the European Commission and under its leadership.
-If the EU does not correct the situation with the transport blockade of Kaliningrad, Moscow will have "free hands" to solve the problem by any available means, said the head of the Federation Council commission for the protection of state sovereignty Andrey Klimov. "The EU,if it does not immediately correct the brazen trick of Vilnius,will itself disavow for us the legitimacy of all documents on Lithuania's membership in the EU and will untie its hands to solve the problem of Kaliningrad transit created by Lithuania by any means we choose,"
-The Charge d'affaires of Lithuania in Russia was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
-The Russian Federation demands from Lithuania to immediately lift the ban on the transit of a number of goods to the Kaliningrad region.
-Russian Foreign Ministry.
-Russia reserves the right to take actions to protect its national interests
-Russian Foreign Ministry
The embargo of barrels of Russian oil from Kazakhstan was false:
Fake information is actively spreading in the media space of the CIS that Kazakhstan allegedly blocked 1,700 wagons with Russian coal on its territory. The Transport Committee of the Ministry of Industry of Kazakhstan officially declares: these messages are fake stuffing," reports Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In fact, there are no 1,700 wagons with Russian coal on the territory of Kazakhstan. There are also no coal wagons on the railways tracks,standing in the direction of Kazakhstan or from it.
