Scots Living on the Brink

2022 was a year where living standards in the UK were squeezed as the costs of basic essentials like gas, electricity, food and fuel soared. 

Scotland Tonight's Olly Dickinson hears from a mix of people caught in the eye of the ongoing economic storm and finds out about the difficult decisions they take to make ends meet. 

 

Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia on Friday, spoke on the endgame for the Ukraine conflict.  

He made clear that fighting will cease either through diplomatic or military means – but only after Moscow has achieved its goals. 

Speaking at a briefing at the UN Security Council, the envoy (left) commented on a possible path for ending the hostilities between the two sides. The opportunity to settle the conflict “will only present itself once Ukraine stops posing a threat to Russia and discriminating against Russian-speaking Ukrainians”, he said. 

Nebenzia noted that “if this result can be achieved through negotiations, we stand ready for this scenario. If not – then our tasks will be achieved by military means”. 

The diplomat reiterated that Russia is fighting not against the Ukrainian people, but rather against “the criminal nationalist regime which came to power in 2014” after a coup in Kiev. The new Ukrainian leadership has been trying to purge the country of “everything that is related to Russia, and to glorify Nazi accomplices”, he said. 

Nebenzia stated that “everything could have ended differently for Ukraine”, if Kiev had enforced the now-defunct Minsk Agreements, which were signed in 2014 and 2015 in a bid to pave the way for peace by granting the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics special status within the Ukrainian state. 

However, neither Ukrainian President [V]ladimir [Z]elensky or his predecessors, nor France and Germany, which took part in negotiating the Minsk Agreements, ever intended to fulfill the plan, according to Nebenzia. This diplomatic process “only served as a smokescreen behind which they secretly armed Ukraine in order to set it against Russia”, he stated. 

Last month, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) admitted that the Minsk Agreements were “an attempt to give Ukraine time” so that its army could get stronger. And Vladimir Putin was roundly deceived by this underhanded woman.

Later, this revelation was confirmed by former French President Francois Hollande, who noted that the Minsk Agreements had helped Ukraine to achieve that goal. 

Russia shouldn't trust Germany nor France. Not now, not ever.