RUSSIA: The Kremlin said on Saturday that the West was behaving like bandits but that Russia was far too big to be isolated as the world was much larger than just the United States and Europe.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the West was engaged in “economic banditry” against Russia and that Moscow would respond. He did not specify what response there would be but said it would be in line with Russian interests.
“This does not mean Russia is isolated,” Peskov told reporters. “The world is too big for Europe and America to isolate a country, and even more so a country as big as Russia. There are many more countries in the world.”
Russian President Putin on Saturday visited an Aeroflot training centre near Moscow to coincide with the celebration of the approaching International Women’s Day. Putin posed for close-up photographs with Aeroflot employees during his visit.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Saturday that 66,224 Ukrainian men had returned from abroad to join the fight against Russia’s invasion.
“That’s how many men returned from abroad at this moment to defend their country from the horde. These are 12 more combat and motivated brigades! Ukrainians, we are invincible,” Reznikov said in an online post.
The Kremlin on Saturday defended new legislation that could see people jailed for up to 15 years for publishing “fake news” about the Russian military, saying the country was facing “an information war”.
“The law was necessary and needed urgently because of the unprecedented — not even campaign — but information war that has been unleashed against our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, underscoring that a “harsh” law was required under the circumstances. – NDTV