(9/30/22): Vladimir Putin has signed “accession treaties” formalizing Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, marking the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war.
The signing ceremony, held in defiance of international law, took place in the Grand Kremlin Palace in the presence of the country’s political elites, and came on the heels of Kremlin-orchestrated fake referendums in the regions: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk.
Putin kicked off the ceremony with a lengthy, combative and angry speech in which the Russian leader issued new nuclear threats, promising to “protect” the newly annexed lands “with all the forces and means at our disposal”.
“The people have made their choice. An unequivocal choice … This is the will of millions of people,” Putin said, adding that the citizens of the four occupied regions would be part of Russia “forever”.
Shortly after, Putin signed the “accession treaties” on a podium alongside the Russian-installed heads of the four regions. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/30/putin-russia-war-annexes-ukraine-regions
“A Total and Unmitigated Defeat was a speech by Winston Churchill in the House of Commons at Westminster on Wednesday, 5 October 1938, the third day of the Munich Agreement debate. Signed five days earlier by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, the agreement met the demands of Nazi Germany in respect of the Czechoslovak region of Sudetenland.
Churchill spoke for 45 minutes to criticize the government for signing the agreement and, in general, for its policy of appeasement. The speech officially ended Churchill’s support for the government’s appeasement policy. Churchill had hoped for a reasonable settlement of the Sudetenland issue, but he was adamant that Britain must fight for the continued independence of Czechoslovakia. Among his criticisms of the government, Churchill said that the Soviet Union should have been invited to take part in the negotiations with Hitler.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_total_and_unmitigated_defeat
Institute for the Study of War: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 31, 2023 https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-31-2023
Ukrainian officials continue to support ISW’s assessment that an imminent Russian offensive in the coming months is the most likely course of action (MLCOA) and further suggested that Ukrainian forces plan to launch a larger counteroffensive.
[Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov warned on Saturday that Russia was likely to be preparing a new wave of attacks, probably timed to coincide with the February 24 anniversary of Moscow’s decision to invade Ukraine]
Eideard 
(9/30/22): Vladimir Putin has signed “accession treaties” formalizing Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, marking the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war.
The signing ceremony, held in defiance of international law, took place in the Grand Kremlin Palace in the presence of the country’s political elites, and came on the heels of Kremlin-orchestrated fake referendums in the regions: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk.
Putin kicked off the ceremony with a lengthy, combative and angry speech in which the Russian leader issued new nuclear threats, promising to “protect” the newly annexed lands “with all the forces and means at our disposal”.
“The people have made their choice. An unequivocal choice … This is the will of millions of people,” Putin said, adding that the citizens of the four occupied regions would be part of Russia “forever”.
Shortly after, Putin signed the “accession treaties” on a podium alongside the Russian-installed heads of the four regions. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/30/putin-russia-war-annexes-ukraine-regions
“How Western scholars overlooked Russian imperialism : For far too long, Western academia has ignored the legacies of the Russian Empire and colonization.” Botakoz Kassymbekova, Assistant Professor of Modern History at the University of Basel https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/1/24/how-western-scholars-overlooked-russian-imperialism
“A Total and Unmitigated Defeat was a speech by Winston Churchill in the House of Commons at Westminster on Wednesday, 5 October 1938, the third day of the Munich Agreement debate. Signed five days earlier by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, the agreement met the demands of Nazi Germany in respect of the Czechoslovak region of Sudetenland.
Churchill spoke for 45 minutes to criticize the government for signing the agreement and, in general, for its policy of appeasement. The speech officially ended Churchill’s support for the government’s appeasement policy. Churchill had hoped for a reasonable settlement of the Sudetenland issue, but he was adamant that Britain must fight for the continued independence of Czechoslovakia. Among his criticisms of the government, Churchill said that the Soviet Union should have been invited to take part in the negotiations with Hitler.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_total_and_unmitigated_defeat
See excerpt at https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/disaster-of-the-first-magnitude.html
● Turkish President Erdogan says Turkey may accept Finland in NATO, but block Sweden : Turkey and Hungary are the only members of the 30-nation alliance yet to approve the Nordic nations’ application.
Erdogan was speaking just days after Ankara suspended NATO accession talks with the two countries after a protest in Stockholm in which a far-right politician burned a copy of the Quran.
Erdogan’s main complaint has been with Sweden’s refusal to extradite dozens of people that Ankara has linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and a failed 2016 coup attempt.
He is facing an election in May and has dug in his heels over Sweden’s NATO membership as he tries to energize his conservative and nationalist supporters.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dropping their longstanding military nonalignment. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/30/erdogan-says-turkey-may-accept-finland-in-nato-but-not-sweden
● Finland says it remains committed to joining NATO with Sweden after Turkey threatened to block Stockholm’s membership bid. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/1/30/russia-ukraine-live-news-fighting-donetsk-weapons-zelenskyy
● Russian intelligence scrambles to conceal involvement in Stockholm provocation https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/3660430-russian-intelligence-scramble-to-conceal-involvement-in-stockholm-provocation.html
● RLI: Russian GRU’s effort to block Sweden’s bid to join NATO https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/3659854-rli-russian-grus-effort-to-block-swedens-bid-to-join-nato.html
“It is madness for a sheep to talk of peace with a wolf.” (French Proverb)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesson_of_Munich
Institute for the Study of War: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 31, 2023 https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-31-2023
Ukrainian officials continue to support ISW’s assessment that an imminent Russian offensive in the coming months is the most likely course of action (MLCOA) and further suggested that Ukrainian forces plan to launch a larger counteroffensive.
[Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov warned on Saturday that Russia was likely to be preparing a new wave of attacks, probably timed to coincide with the February 24 anniversary of Moscow’s decision to invade Ukraine]
See also ISW’s “How We Got Here With Russia: The Kremlin’s Worldview” https://www.understandingwar.org/report/how-we-got-here-russia-kremlins-worldview
Putin evokes Stalingrad to predict victory over ‘new Nazism’ in Ukraine https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-expected-channel-stalingrad-victory-key-moment-ukraine-war-2023-02-02/
Reuters notes that “This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.”