For today, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, and Tass, followed by commentary from Scheer Post; other articles are accessible by clicking on their sources’ names or initials below. (GAZA entry to this date, so far, is HERE.) — MCM

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Russia accuses Ukraine of shooting down a military transport plane, killing 65 Ukrainian POWs aboard. From AP. Russia’s Defense Ministry today accused Ukrainian forces of shooting down a military transport plane, killing all 74 people aboard, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war being swapped. Throughout the 700-day war . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia accuses Ukraine of killing 65 of its own POWs by shooting down plane. From Reuters. MOSCOW — Russia accused Ukraine today of deliberately shooting down a Russian military transport plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers to a prisoner exchange in what it called . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia is acting to thwart Ukrainian attacks on civilians, infrastructure  — Kremlin. From Reuters. MOSCOW — Russia is taking all “necessary measures” to defend its citizens and key infrastructure from Ukrainian attacks, the Kremlin said on Monday, a day after Moscow accused Kyiv’s forces of killing 27 people in shelling of a Russian-held city in eastern Ukraine. Also . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM JAN. 18  Key points of Sergey Lavrov’s press conference. From Tass. MOSCOW — In 2024, Russia set a goal to remove any dependence from the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a press conference on Russian diplomatic work in 2023. The foreign minister . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia’s turn from the West, by Patrick Lawrence | Scheer Post  / Consortium News / Popular Resistance  Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s steady, able, intellectually quick foreign minister, last week held one of those wide-ranging press conferences he and his boss favor. Lavrov’s remarks are subtly delivered but of a significance we must not miss. Here are a few . . . READ MORE . . .