► Putin announces a “partial mobilization”
In a televised address broadcast on Wednesday September 21, Vladimir Putin announced that he had signed a decree for a “partial military mobilization” in Russia, to carry out the objectives of its “special military operation” in Ukraine. The President specified that he would immediately engage “only citizens who are on the reserve lists (…), especially those who have relevant experience”.
The head of the Kremlin violently attacked “the West”whom he accuses of wanting “Destroy Russia”after having “succeeded in breaking up the USSR” : “We looked for peaceful solutions but the West rejected them. » In a new escalation of threats, Vladimir Putin said he was ready to resort to ” all means “ soldiers against the “Western nuclear blackmail”. “It’s not a bluff.”
► The West denounces the “simulacra” of referendums planned by Russia
In his address to the Russian nation, Vladimir Putin confirmed his support for the “referendums” announced the day before by the authorities by Moscow in four regions of Ukraine – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson. Polls scheduled for September 23-27. “We have no right to leave these populations at the mercy of barbarities. These populations must be able to have the right to self-determination.he defended.
“Russia hastily organizes sham referendums” in Ukraine, denounced Tuesday, September 20 the national security adviser of the White House. “The United States will never recognize Russia’s claims to allegedly annexed parts of Ukraine”added Jake Sullivan during a press briefing.
On the European side, Emmanuel Macron castigated from the rostrum of the United Nations General Assembly a “parody” of polls, and warned against a “return to the age of imperialisms and colonies”. “These fictitious referendums are not acceptable”hammered German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his part.
“I thank all of Ukraine’s friends and partners for their massive and firm condemnation of Russia’s intentions to organize yet another pseudo-referendum”Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his traditional address, while downplaying it.
► Space: an American and two Russians bound for the ISS
An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are due to take off on Wednesday for the International Space Station (ISS). A trip that represents a rare sign of cooperation in the midst of tensions linked to the offensive in Ukraine.
Frank Rubio from NASA as well as Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitri Peteline from the Russian space agency Roscosmos are due to take off aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Russian Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:54 p.m. (French time).
Frank Rubio is the first American astronaut to travel to the ISS on a Russian rocket since troops from Moscow began entering Ukraine on February 24. After Wednesday’s flight, Anna Kikina, Russia’s only female cosmonaut in active service, is due to travel to the orbital laboratory for the first time in early October aboard a Crew Dragon rocket from the American company SpaceX.
► Moscow informs France of the “unacceptable” nature of arms deliveries to Ukraine
Russian diplomacy told France on Tuesday of the character “unacceptable” in his eyes Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, supplies that facilitated a Ukrainian counter-offensive. “Emphasis was placed on the unacceptability of the continued force-feeding of Ukraine with Western weapons, including French”the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
He accused Ukrainian forces of using these Western weapons to “bombing civilian facilities and infrastructure, including the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant”, the largest in Europe, occupied by Russian forces. The Kremlin also insisted on “the need to lift illegal sanctions against Russian grain and fertilizer producers and to remove all obstacles to supplying markets in developing countries in order to avoid serious humanitarian consequences”.