{"id":34248,"date":"2024-06-06T12:14:54","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T19:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=34248"},"modified":"2024-06-06T12:14:55","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T19:14:55","slug":"moscow-throws-putin-fanboy-scott-ritter-under-the-bus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/06\/06\/moscow-throws-putin-fanboy-scott-ritter-under-the-bus\/","title":{"rendered":"Moscow Throws Putin Fanboy Scott Ritter Under the Bus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Allison Quinn\/The Daily Beast<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MoscowFormer UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter. (photo: David Kidwell\/AP)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

05 june 24<\/strong> (RSN.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The former U.N. weapons inspector turned sex offender says he was pulled off a plane heading to Russia.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Former U.N. weapons inspector turned sex offender Scott Ritter<\/a> has made a name for himself parroting Kremlin<\/a> propaganda about the war against Ukraine.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if he was hoping Moscow would back him up after he says he was barred from traveling to Russia because Washington is \u201cafraid\u201d of him appearing at a St. Petersburg economic forum, he was apparently sadly mistaken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Ritter and his supporters\u2014including Russian media\u2014have played up the notion that his passport was seized because he has the U.S. administration shaking in their boots, the Kremlin did not share in this hysteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about the scandal Tuesday, Vladimir Putin<\/a>\u2019s spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down Ritter\u2019s claims. He told<\/a> reporters the \u201cdetails\u201d about the situation were not clear and that there was nothing unusual about a former intelligence officer facing certain travel restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is practiced in almost all countries in relation to former intelligence officers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added, however, that if Ritter truly was thrown off the flight to stop him speaking in Russia then it was part of a \u201cfrenzied campaign to prevent U.S. citizens from establishing at least some contacts with Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ritter famously visited Chechnya in January and delivered a pep talk in broken Russian to thousands of troops who\u2019ve been waging war in Ukraine, so he\u2019s already had plenty of \u201ccontacts\u201d apparently even with Russian leaders sanctioned by the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is surely one of the most surreal moments of the war yet

Scott Ritter has turned up in Chechnya and spoken in broken Russian (some of which I couldn\u2019t make out) to thousands of Kadyrov\u2019s fighters about his efforts to strengthen the "friendship between Chechnya and America" pic.twitter.com\/vGiEs90ktW<\/a><\/p>— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) January 6, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>