❗️ Key points from Putin's address to Russia's Federal Assembly:

▪️ Russia suspends its participation in the New START treaty

▪️ Donbass republics believed and expected Russia to come to their rescue

▪️ No other country in the world has such number of military bases abroad as US, there are hundreds of them

▪️ In 1930s, West practically paved the way to power for Nazis in Germany, and now they turned Ukraine into ‘anti-Russia'

▪️ Anti-Russia sanctions are just means, while West's goal is to make Russian people suffer

▪️ Russia was rebuffed every time it asked for security guarantees, and it became clear that the threat [from the West] was growing every day

▪️ Russia is not at a war with Ukrainian people, who became hostage to the Kiev regime

▪️ West not abandoning attempts to ‘incite' post-Soviet states

▪️ West is directly complicit in Kiev's attempts to conduct strikes on Russian strategic objects

▪️ West has already spent $150 billion on military assistance to Ukraine

▪️ As a result of the wars that the United States has unleashed since 2001, almost 900,000 people have died and more than 38 million have become refugees

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❗️ Russia makes demarche to US ambassador over Washington's growing involvement in Ukraine conflict

▪️ The US ambassador has been summoned to Russia’s Foreign Ministry in connection with the expansion of US involvement in hostilities on the side of Kiev.

▪️Washington must take steps to withdraw its military and equipment, as well as stop hostile anti-Russian activity, the Foreign Ministry said.

▪️The ministry also emphasized that the United States should provide explanations for the explosions at the Nord Stream pipeline.

China Slams US For 'Double Standards' Over North Korea Nuclear Issue, Says Sanctions a 'Dead End'

The US and other countries pushing for discussing the North Korea nuclear issue at the UN Security Council level have been accused by China of having a "double standards" mentality.

Washington and its allies were called out for "shirking their responsibilities by blatantly engaging in nuclear cooperation in the Asia Pacific region that contravenes the purposes and objects of the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons)," according to a readout of remarks made by China’s Ambassador Dai Bing at the UN Security Council Briefing on the North Korean nuclear issue.

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❗️ More from today’s address by Vladimir Putin:

▪️ Russia did everything possible to solve the problems of Donbass by peaceful means

▪️ Anti-Russia sanctions are just means, while West's goal is to make Russian people suffer

▪️ Equipping the nuclear deterrence forces with the latest weapons is at a level of 91.3 percent, and it is necessary to reach this level in all areas of the Armed Forces

▪️ Those who have slapped sanctions against Russia are only punishing themselves by causing prices in their countries to rise. And they say that the Russians are to blame

▪️ Russia is an open country and a distinctive civilization, but there is no claim to exceptionalism and superiority in this

▪️ Russia knows how to be friends and keep its word, it will not let anyone down and will always offer support in a difficult situation, as it helped Western countries during the pandemic

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❗️ Blinken calls Russia's announcement on new START deeply unfortunate.

❗️ Medvedev said that by suspending New START, the United States got what they deserved with their mediocre anti-Russian policy

You can’t wage war with Russia and pretend that it's “business as usual” in strategic stability, Medvedev added.

🇮🇳🇷🇺 Indian TV viewers extend support to Russia during President Putin's Address

Vladimir Putin's address to the Federal Assembly was broadcast by several national Indian TV channels, including via YouTube, where a large number of users left heartwarming messages for the Russian president.

💭 Here are just a few of them:

▫️"The friendship that Russia had with India, everyone knows that India should always stand together," a user named Jai Shri Ram wrote.

▫️"After the Soviet Union broke up, Western countries are now only and only trying to knock down Russia but Russia will not bend," another user under the name Ram Pandei commented.

▫️"AND WE VERY HAPPY ...BECAUSE RUSSIA IS OUR TIMELESS FRIEND ...! LOT LOVE FROM INDIA," Vinod Chaudhary posted.

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🇯🇵 A ball with a diameter of 1.5 meters was discovered on the shore in Japan Shizuoka. Access to the beach is closed, the object is checked by experts.

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✈️ It looks like someone fell off the ladder while getting off Biden's plane that flew to Poland, they tried to catch the person below, but he still fell to the ground.

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⚡️Secretary of Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev and China's Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi are holding a meeting in Moscow

📌 Here are some statements from the meeting:

▪️ The course towards the development of a strategic partnership with China is an unconditional priority of Russia's foreign policy

▪️ Of particular importance is the deepening of Russian-Chinese coordination in the international arena

▪️ The collective West is acting against Russia and China, as well as to the detriment of developing states

▪️ Russia and China stand for a just world order, welcome the growing number of countries choosing the path of sovereign development

▪️ Relations between Russia and China are valuable in themselves and are not subject to external conjuncture

▪️ Patrushev confirmed Russian support for Beijing on Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, which the West uses to discredit China

▪️ China and Russia as members of the UN Security Council are responsible for peace on the planet, said Wang Yi

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French Energy Giant Engie Reports 94% Fall in Net Income Year-on-Year in 2022

Engie said on Tuesday that its net income just amounted to around 200 million euros ($214 million) in 2022 after dropping from 3.6 billion euros in 2021 due to global economic challenges.

"Net income Group share amounted to €0.2 billion. The €3.4 billion decrease compared to 2021 was mainly linked to the negative effect of the mark-to-market on commodity contracts other than trading instruments, impairment losses, the Nord Stream 2 [gas pipeline] credit loss, the provision increase for the back-end nuclear fuel of Belgian nuclear power plants," Engie said in its financial report.

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What's the New START Treaty and Why Did Russia Suspend It?

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 21 that Russia was suspending its participation in the New START Treaty. Putin underscored that the decision does not mean a complete withdrawal and that a return to the accord remains possible under certain circumstances.

The Russian president also mentioned growing calls from the transatlantic alliance to allow on-the-ground inspections of the nation's nuclear sites. According to the president, these demands sound absurd, especially given that NATO specialists modernized and armed drones to attack Russia's Engels Air Base, home to part of the airborne contingent of Russia's nuclear triad. "And now they want to inspect our defense facilities. In the current conditions and today's confrontation, this simply sounds like some kind of nonsense."

So, what exactly is the New START Treaty?

👉Find out here

⚡️ Russia's main goal is to make sure nuclear parity continues to be respected, Kremlin says

Pulitzer Prize-winning US journalist Seymour Hersh told Sputnik he is not going to testify before either the UN Security Council or US Congress regarding his investigative report about the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

🗣 "Because I'm still writing stuff, and it's very simple. I've been called by a lot of politicians. From all over the world. I was just speaking with the Germans. They are trying to convene a big conference, I don't know where, at the Max Planck Institute, or someplace like that. I just don't do anything political. So I'm just a reporter. I don't get involved in the UN. I don't get involved in the Senate," Hersh told Sputnik.

💬 "I don't go to Congress to testify. I just don't do that … I've never testified, you'll never see me testifying before Congress. Other people do, journalists do, I’ve never done it," he added.

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⚡️ Russia's new foreign policy concept will be published in the coming days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

📹 Buk-M3 system crews support Russian units within special military operation (video from Russia's MoD)

Missile battalions defend military facilities and infrastructure as well as support the advance of Russian units within the special military operation.

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❗️ Joe Biden is giving a speech in Warsaw

👉 Here are some of his statements:

▪️ United States and Europe do not seek to destroy Russia and are not plotting to attack the country

▪️ NATO will not be divided and will not tire in supporting Ukraine

▪️ US will host NATO summit next year

▪️ Russia's special military operation in Ukraine is a test for the US and EU

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