Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

My bureau chief stayed.

I was actually in London at the time on a reporting assignment, and the Russian Foreign Ministry called us in, or, you know, the heads of bureaus, uh, to find out what we were going to do.

Uh, and there's a recording of that meeting that I, uh, include in the book-

Mm

And he said it first.

And then the Russian foreign ministry, Lavrov, Putin, Peskov, Medvedev, all get on there and say, no, no, no, no.

If you do that, trust me, we have ways to deal with you.

And, you know, we are a nuclear power.

The Kremlin claims all of these moves represent an escalation.

Maria Sakharova is the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Estonia attracts attention by making irresponsible anti-Russian statements, hostile moves in border area.

But Estonia's main concern is Russian sabotage.

Bloomberg leaves.

Others stay, the BBC, my bureau chief stayed, others, and the Russian Foreign Ministry wants to know what our plans are.

So they call us in for a meeting, and there's a recording of this meeting that I end up publishing in the book where the, you know, for an hour we pressed the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

She kept waffling until finally she says, "Well, you call men women and women men in the West.

It was a kind of debate among us whether these, uh, rules had-- you know, these unspoken rules had shifted.

And we even had a meeting with the Russian Foreign Ministry in which after an hour of, uh, non-answers, the spokeswoman finally told us, "You know, you call in the West men women and women men.

You can call this war a special military operation."

[laughing]

Russia has vowed countermeasures against Japan in response to Tokyo's unfriendly moves toward Moscow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Japan's announcement of its 27th package of anti-Russia measures further undermines what little remains of ties between the nations.

Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Japan's package, while listing 33 Russian entities and nine individuals, also sanctions a number of Russian companies based abroad.

At 29 past the hour, Beijing is 11 degrees this evening.

And if you're looking for any indication that Moscow intends to ease that pressure, well, its latest warnings point in the other direction.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has urged foreign nationals to leave Kyiv, saying it will continue systematically striking targets in what it describes as retaliation for Ukrainian attacks inside Russia in recent months.

Well, you know, I-- to be fair, those attacks wouldn't have happened if Putin hadn't invaded another country.

Which brings us to how Ukraine plans to respond.

German Chancellor earlier this week called for unity within NATO, Europe, and his own country with the far-right and Moscow-friendly AFD opposition is on the rise.

On Saturday, Russia warned foreigners and diplomats to leave Kyiv, saying, "massive new airstrikes would hit the city." The Russian Foreign Ministry declared in a statement that, "Responsibility for any potential negative consequences rests entirely with those who ignore this warning." Kyiv has faced heavy airstrikes and has repeatedly pleaded for additional air defense munitions to counter Russian drone and missile attacks.

In recent days, Russia has attacked several bridges across the, the Dnipro River that divides the city, causing traffic gridlock and transport disruptions.