❗️ 📹 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is to hold a joint press-conference with his Mauritanian counterpart, Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, after holding talks in the country's capital Nouakchott.

Stay tuned and watch the live stream on our Telegram channel!

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China Not Avoiding Competition With US, Stands for Cooperation: Foreign Ministry

China is not afraid of competing with the United States, but is convinced that healthy and stable relations between the countries are in the interests of Beijing and Washington, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday.

A healthy and stable relationship between the US and China "is in the fundamental interests of the peoples of the two countries" and is also the common expectation of the international community, Mao added.

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⚡️ International investigation team suspends criminal probe into 2014 downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine

⚡️ MH17 investigation does not have enough evidence to initiate new trials - Dutch prosecutors

Sea level has risen in earthquake-hit city of Iskenderun, Turkey, flooding roads in the coastal area

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🇹🇷 📹 Sputnik's correspondent has reported that two people were living in the ruined building in the city of Elbistan, which can be seen in the video and where work is underway to clear the rubble. Now a group of doctors have rushed to the ruined building and it has been reported that two living people have been found.

▪️ Footage shows people waiting next to the blockages and praying their relations will be saved.

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⚡️ Russian MoD’s latest statements on the Ukraine crisis:

▪️ Russian artillery has neutralized manpower and hardware of units from the 14th and 92nd Mechanized Brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kharkov region and the LPR. Over 35 Ukrainian troops, 1 armored personnel carrier, and 1 motor vehicle were eliminated;

▪️ Operational-tactical and army aviation, artillery, and flamethrower systems of the Russian Armed Forces neutralized manpower and hardware of units from the 66th Mechanized, 25th Airborne, 95th Airborne Assault, and 81st Airmobile Brigades of Ukraine in the LPR and the DPR. Over 130 Ukrainian troops, 1 infantry fighting vehicle, 3 armored fighting vehicles, 1 Grad multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS), as well as one ordnance depot of the 66th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were eliminated in the Kharkov region;

▪️ Offensive and firepower operations conducted by the Russian Armed Forces resulted in the elimination of over 140 Ukrainian troops, 1 tank, 3 pickups, 3 motor vehicles, and 1 Msta-B howitzer;

▪️ Russian Army aviation and artillery neutralized units from the 72nd Mechanized, 1st Tank, and 35th Marine Brigades of Ukraine in the DPR. Up to 75 Ukrainian troops, 1 tank, 1 infantry fighting vehicle, 3 armored fighting vehicles, and 2 motor vehicles were eliminated;

▪️ Operational-tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery of the Armed Forces of Russia neutralized 74 Ukrainian artillery units in their firing positions, as well as manpower and military hardware in 123 areas;

▪️ Air defense units shot down 11 rocket-propelled projectiles launched by HIMARS MLRS, and 10 UAVs over the past 24 hours;

▪️ Some 382 airplanes, 206 helicopters, 3,046 unmanned aerial vehicles, 403 air defense missile systems, 7,789 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 1,011 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 4,022 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 8,291 units of special military motor vehicles have been destroyed since the beginning of the special military operation.

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❗️ US President Joe Biden ordered sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines after over 9 months of highly secret debate within US national security community, according to information attributed to investigative journalist Seymour Hersh

Explosions occurred on September 26 at three of the four strings of Nord Stream 1 and 2 underwater pipelines built to carry a combined 110 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Europe annually.

Russia called it a terrorist attack and opened an inquiry into possible international terrorism.

❗️ The report claims that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was involved in preparing an act of sabotage on the Nord Streams pipelines

📷 Deformed railway tracks in the quake-hit Turkish province of Kahramanmaras

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A new corrupt draft evasion scheme uncovered in Ukraine, a representative of law enforcement agencies told Sputnik.

🗣 "The entrance tariff is $10,000. It is a one-time payment to a military commissar in order to enroll a potential recruit in a volunteer organization operating at each Recruitment and Social Support Center of the Ukrainian army. This is how the military enlistment offices are called there now," the source said.

▪️ Each volunteer is expected to collect voluntary donations through social networks from citizens in favor of the army, the source added.

💬 "Depending on the amount collected, each volunteer is required to pay tribute personally to the military commissar through his intermediaries, the amount varies from 5% to 10% of the total sum collected," the source said.

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❗️American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has confirmed the authenticity of the article to Sputnik

Seymour Hersh, who published an investigation into the sabotage of Nord Stream, is one of the most famous journalists in the US.

▪️In 1969, he published a major investigation into a massacre in Vietnam (the Mỹ Lai massacre) carried out by the US military, for which he received a Pulitzer Prize.

▪️In the 1970s, Hersh covered the Watergate scandal, and in 2004 he wrote about the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison.

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📹 The Russian MoD has published footage showing Russia’s Orlan-10 UAV crews in combat as part of the special military operation

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Sputnik spoke to Elijah Magnier, a veteran war correspondent, about the ongoing tragedy in Turkey and Syria after the deadly earthquakes that shook the two nations a few days ago and how the economic sanctions of the West are hindering the recovery efforts.

💬 “Only few countries, six or seven countries like Russia, China, Iran, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia and the Emirates who rush to help Syria. The problem is all the other countries feel afraid of the American sanctions because they were told that any flight that landed in Damascus means a violation of the U.S. and EU sanctions. Even if there are harsh sanctions against Syria, the aim is to hit the population and allow them to remain under the debris, showing how we are really not looking at support of the population.”

🎧 Listen to more of Magnier’s analysis in our podcast Fault Lines: Biden's State of the Union: What's Changed?

Elijah Magnier explains what other effects Western sanctions have on Syria

💬 “Today, there is a large number of the population is without electricity, including in Damascus and the suburb in Aleppo that has been seriously damaged. Syria is really suffering from these sanctions and these sanctions as rightly President Joe Biden said the sanctions against Russia are not going to change anything. The sanctions against Iran have not changed anything since 43 years in 1979, and the sanctions against Syria since 2019 will not change anything. But they all have one thing in common: people suffer from the sanctions and only the population.”

🎧 Listen to more of Magnier’s analysis in our podcast Fault Lines: Biden's State of the Union: What's Changed?