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Get you up to speed: WW3 fears grow after Putin lifts 30-year ban on buying gas masks | News World
Vladimir Putin has approved the sale of gas masks to Russian families, lifting a ban that has been in place since 1992. From 1 March 2024, Russians will be permitted to purchase certified civilian filtering masks and other protective equipment.
From March 1, 2024, Russians will be able to buy civilian-certified filtering masks, including options for children, following a ban that has been in place since 1992. The Emergency Situations Ministry has stated that counterfeit and uncertified masks will be removed from the market to ensure quality control amid a broader restoration of Soviet-era civil-defence infrastructure, which includes the refurbishment of over 20,000 shelters across 82 regions.
The Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) has announced measures to ensure quality control by removing counterfeit or substandard gas masks from the market. From March 1 next year, Russian families will be allowed to purchase certified civilian gas masks, which marks a shift in policy amid increasing tensions with NATO.
What remains unclear — It is uncertain how the approval of gas masks will affect public perception of the threat of war among Russian citizens.
Putin lifts 30-year ban on gas mask sales amid rising war tensions
Russian families have been approved to buy gas masks by Vladimir Putin, triggering a new WW3 scare.
Gas masks were put on the restricted sales list, along with associated equipment, in 1992 after the Soviet Union collapsed.
Fears that Putin could be preparing for conflict with NATO have been brewing for several months after unsuccessful attempts to stop the war in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, a joint Nato operation is said to have intercepted Russian submarines attempting to destroy a vital undersea cable in the Arctic.
At a press conference, the Russian President also smirked when saying it’s a ‘military secret’ whether he will target British drone sites.
From March 1 next year, Russians will be permitted to purchase certified civilian filtering masks—including versions for children.
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Vladimir Putin has approved the sale of gas masks (Picture: EPA)
Sealed protective chambers designed for babies will also go on sale.
Gas masks can protect wearers from airborne chemical agents, toxic industrial substances and biological contaminants if the correct filter is fitted.
They offer some protection against radioactive dust produced by a nuclear explosion.
Pro-Kremlin military commentator Yury Baranchik said this decision was ‘particularly relevant’ alongside the upgrading of Soviet bunkers
He said: ‘Russian citizens will be allowed to purchase gas masks for their entire family. The ban, which has been in place for over 30 years, will be lifted….
‘This is particularly relevant in the context of ongoing renovations of Soviet-era bomb shelters in several cities. Good news, especially for the West.
Videos emerged of training on the use of the masks
Bomb shelters have also been restored
‘It would be beneficial to supplement this with real-world testing on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.’
Drills involving gas masks are regularly conducted even among young recruits to military training schemes.
Counterfeit, substandard, and uncertified masks will be removed from the Russian market ensure quality control, said the Emergency Situations Ministry [EMERCOM].
The move seems part of a drive by the Russian authorities to scare its own people into believing they face the threat of war from the West at a time of deep tension in Putin’s conflict in Ukraine.
The change comes as Russian authorities undertake a vast programme to restore Soviet-era civil-defence infrastructure neglected since the end of the Cold War.
EMERCOM chief Alexander Kurenkov said earlier this year that more than 20,000 shelters were being restored across 82 Russian regions.
A reported ministry assessment found that only 16 per cent of Russia’s shelters and anti-radiation refuges were fully serviceable in 2022, while 67 per cent were unusable.
Donald Trump‘s son-in-law, and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, September 5, 2026. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.” decoding=”async” loading=”lazy”/>
Putin has asked for proposals of work on nuclear weapons (Picture: REUTERS)
Russia has earmarked some 155 billion roubles (approximately £1.35 billion) for the programme.
Baranchik also demanded ‘real-world testing’ of nuclear bombs at Novaya Zemlya.
The Arctic archipelago was the Soviet Union’s principal nuclear testing ground and the site of the 1961 Tsar Bomba explosion, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.
Eleven months ago, Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov called for ‘preparations for full-scale nuclear tests immediately’ at a meeting of the Russian security council.
‘The readiness of the forces and facilities at the central test range on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago makes it possible to carry them out within a short time frame,’ he said.
Putin did not give an immediate go-ahead but demanded ‘proposals on the possible start of work to prepare nuclear weapons for testing’.
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October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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