A senior official of the Russian regime was sent to Beijing in the summer with the aim of gathering information about the Formosa Strait. The aim is to be able to provoke the worsening of tensions between China and Taiwan at a time that is considered favorable, and to influence the response capacity of military aid to Ukraine.
The news, from CNA, a Taiwanese news agency, is based on a source from the secret services of a European country. According to him, when it is in its interests, Moscow will try to influence Beijing to conclude that it must take more radical measures in the Taiwan Strait to “protect Chinese interests,” including the chances of the Russians using covert means or indirectly . “Moscow’s ultimate goal – the CNA reads – is to ensure that the United States is unable to respond effectively to Russia’s continued destruction of peace and stability in Europe and elsewhere, as the country must respond to ‘ problems in the Strait of Formosa’. The extent to which Russia can exert influence over China is another question, questioned by several experts interviewed by the news agency.
As for the credibility of the plot, it is good to remember that reality trumps fiction every time. For example, in the case of the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal in 2018, the two soldiers from the Russian intelligence service GRU who were tracked down in Salisbury claimed to be in that quiet English city for a tourist visit to the cathedral.
Kiev suspects Russian involvement in the poisoning of the wife of the head of the military secret service, which the Kremlin rejects.
Still in the case of poisonings, Moscow denied any involvement in the case of the wife of the head of the Ukrainian Military Secret Service (HUR), Kyrylo Budanov. On Tuesday, Marianna Budanova was admitted to hospital and analyzes showed the presence of heavy metals in her body, such as mercury and arsenic. The life of the adviser to the mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, will not be in danger.
For security reasons, the Budanov couple have been living in the HUR facilities since the beginning of the Russian invasion. According to the HUR spokesperson, traces of heavy metals were found on other employees, which led Kiev to suspect Russia. “Ukraine blames Russia for everything. It even seems to me that it exists,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov joked in response.
The country is still battling a storm that hit southern Ukraine, killing 12 people and leaving 800 towns without electricity. The country is also suffering from an intensification of attacks in the east. In Avdiivka, the Russians continue to encircle the location considered of strategic value, and have “significantly increased” activity, Oleksandr Tarnavsky, the Ukrainian commander in the region, said, but also that his forces “firmly held the line along the front ‘. of the city.
According to the intelligence services of the British Ministry of Defense, the progress made by Moscow has so far come at the cost of an unprecedented number of casualties. Over the past six weeks, there have been an average of 931 Russian military casualties every day. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, there have been more than 300,000 Russian casualties since February 24, 2022.
Source: DN
