Adriel Kasonta, a London-based foreign affairs analyst and former chairman of the International Affairs Committee at the Bow Group has given exclusive comments on Putin's address to the Federal Assembly

"My personal impression from President Vladimir Putin's speech is that he proved again that he's a remarkable, I would say, outstanding leader of his people and his country by delivering this well-rounded speech. In my opinion, there was no stone left unturned. He addressed every single aspect of the activity of the country, the social aspect, the spiritual aspect, the military aspect, the technological aspect, the economical aspect. You can name it," Adriel Kasonta said.

Read more Adriel's analysis of Vladimir Putin's Speech: Russia Ready to Protect Its God-Given Sovereignty & Independence, Scholar Says

🇬🇷 "Blinken, go home": Greeks rally against visit of US secretary of state and burned American flag

Shouting slogans such as “Americans are murderers of peoples” and “give money for education, not for NATO slaughterhouses,” people in Greece staged a protest at the US Consulate in Thessaloniki against US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit and called for an end to Greece’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. Outside the consulate, protesters spray-painted the words "Blinken, go home."

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📹 Su-25 jets in combat in special military operation (video by Russian MoD)

Ground-attack aviation crews launched air strikes on military facilities and hardware of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The operation resulted in the destruction of camouflaged fortified AFU positions and armored hardware.

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US Journalist Slams Biden for Ignoring Ohio Chemical Spill Amid New Ukraine Aid Package

US President Joe Biden should pay more attention to the chemical disaster in East Palestine and send some money there to help citizens cope with the consequences instead of giving it all to Ukraine, Nick Sortor, an independent journalist working on the ground in Ohio, told Sputnik.

"You think about the amount of money he sent to Ukraine. Right? We are talking about over 100 billion dollars. He has the ability to do that… to fix this issue and make sure the kids are safe and breathing clean air," Sortor said.

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🔺What does the New START suspension mean? We’ll be speaking about key takeaways from Putin's Federal Assembly address
🔺March Against the War Machine: Patrick Henningsen will join us to discuss the anti-war rally in Washington, DC as well as Trump’s statement that Biden’s policy is leading to WWIII
🔺’You are either with us, or against us’: The West cannot accept the neutrality of the Global South on the Ukraine situation

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Study: COVID-19 Infection Provides 'High Degree' of Natural Immunity for Most Variants

One of the questions people have been asking since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2019 is whether one can rely on acquired immunity, besides vaccination, to safeguard against new variants of the respiratory disease that have continuously kept emerging.

Previous infection with the so-called alpha, beta, and delta variants offered quite a high degree of protection, but this waned in the case of the omicron BA.1, a new study has revealed.

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Two Previous UK PMs Re-Sound Demand to Give Fighter Jets to Ukraine

Former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have again urged PM Rishi Sunak to gift UK jet fighters to Ukraine.

Their calls came just a fortnight after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to London, where he thanked MPs in Parliament "in advance" for the "wings of freedom" he wants from NATO countries to rebuild his air force.

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📹 Russian anti-tank grenade launcher crews' training in special military operation area (video courtesy of Russia's MoD)

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Putin's Speech: From Russia's Economic Growth & Military Advancements to New START Suspension

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 delivered a keynote speech addressing the Federal Assembly. Even though the West targeted Russia's economy, society, and military, it has failed to inflict damage on the nation, according to Putin.

"My personal impression is that that was a very self-confident speech of the president of a country which is not just struggling through a difficult war, but is developing and looking forward into the future with optimism," Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for European and International Studies at Russia’s Higher School of Economics and deputy director of research at the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, told Sputnik.

Read more analysis of Vladimir Putin's address to the Federal Assembly

Give Sunak a Chance in NI Protocol Talks, Says Brexiteer Junior Minister

A pro-Brexit junior minister has urged fellow Tories to give Prime Minister Rishi Sunak "time and space" to renegotiate the contentious Northern Ireland Protocol with the EU.

"We have to give the prime minister that time and space to get these negotiations done. We need to give him the time and space to thrash out the final elements of any final deal," Mental and Women's Health Minister Maria Caulfield said.

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Report: UK Pilot Thought His Instructor Was Pretending to Be Asleep But He Was Actually Dead

A UK pilot who believed his instructor to be playing a joke on him made a startling discovery when he realized his "napping" teacher had actually died moments after the pair took to the skies during a 2022 flight, the findings of a newly released investigation have detailed.

Launched by the UK's Air Accident Investigation Board (AAIB), the investigation revealed in its findings that the incident took place on the June 29, 2022. The report noted a 57-year-old instructor had suffered an acute cardiac arrest during a short circuit around Blackpool Airport.

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US Navy Blames Rookie Pilot for Disastrous F-35 Crash That Saw Jet Plummet Into South China Sea

A crash which left six US Navy sailors injured and left an F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter at the bottom of the South China Sea was caused by a mistake made by the pilot during landing, a Navy investigation found.

“This mishap was the result of pilot error,” claims to a recently-published Navy investigation, which found a first-time F-35 pilot “remained in manual mode when he should have been (and thought he was) in an automated command mode” before striking the side of the USS Carl Vinson on January 24, 2022.

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Russian Envoy: UN Partners Have No Desire to Cooperate on Probe Into Nord Stream Sabotage

Russia's Western partners on the UN Security Council are not showing a desire to cooperate in an independent investigation to verify a report that presented significant details that the United States was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia said.

"We do not see a desire from our partners to cooperate," Nebenzia said during a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

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Quran The Only Religious Text Protected From Burning By Swedish Police, Say Reports

In the wake of the recent turmoil, Swedish police have begun to ban Quran burnings for safety reasons. Religious books other than the Quran are not covered by the ban, according to internal police documents obtained by the Swedish press.
Last week, the Swedish police, in talks with the nation's Security Police, announced that from now on they will consistently deny applications for public gatherings where Quran-burning is planned.

Although admitting that it constitutes a restriction of free speech, the police justified the move by citing a potential increase in the terrorist threat against the Nordic country.

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Washington Forcing Kiev to Launch Offensive in Southern Direction, Official Says

Washington is forcing the Ukrainian authorities to launch an offensive in the south, and US President Joe Biden's recent visit to Kiev confirms this, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the Zaporozhye regional administration, has told Sputnik.

"The Americans are forcing [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky to attack in the southern direction, and Biden's visit confirms it. Biden needs war even at the cost of all inhabitants of the post-Ukrainian space to earn political points and dividends on the eve of a new electoral race and to show himself to the American people in the role of the world-maker," Rogov said.

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🇮🇳🌳India has exceeded all G20 nations on the Climate Performance Action index, according to a recent study by Observer Research Foundation

Check out our infographic for details!

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‘Everyone is Getting Ready for War’: Vucic Says Serbia’s Arms Exports ‘Selling Like Hotcakes’

Vucic said recently that Serbian arms are in such high demand around the globe that the Balkan nation must consciously preserve some of its products for its own needs.

“Everyone needs ammunition. Everyone is buying everything, anything we can make gets sold,” Vucic said. “I don’t know how some of this stuff hasn’t ended up on the battlefields of Ukraine yet.”

“Ammunition is selling like hotcakes,” he added.

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📹 Russia's Grad multiple-launch rocket systems in combat as part of the special military operation (video by Russian MoD)

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