G20 Roundup: New Payment Systems, Supply Chains Will Weaken West’s Grip on Global South

The G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in Delhi wrapped up on Thursday, with officials from the world's top 20 economies failing to agree on a final communique. What were the key takeaways from the two-day event?

Sputnik spoke to three Indian international affairs experts to find out

Scott Ritter: New START All But Collapsed Due to US 'Duplicity,' Negotiating 'In Bad Faith'

"No longer will Russia allow nebulous terms, anything that's going to be negotiated must be nailed down in writing with absolute strict levels of compliance verification. In fact, it's a whole new world of arms control, one that the United States hasn't been used to since the beginning, back in 1987, 1991, when we signed the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty and the initial START Treaty. These were treaties negotiated in good faith, where we treated the Russians as our equals with total reciprocity. And that's going to have to be the case going forward. Or else from the Russian perspective, there is no reason to engage in arms control," former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter believes.

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EU Expects Limited Volumes of LNG Supplies Due to Reduced Global Output

The bloc has been facing an energy crisis in the aftermath of imposing sanctions on Russia after it launched a military operation in Ukraine in 2022. The Ukraine crisis and sanctions have led to disruptions of supply chains and a spike in energy prices worldwide.

The EU started seeking ways to limit its dependence on Russian fuel. As part of these efforts, the bloc has increased energy cooperation with a number of countries including Algeria, the United States, Qatar and Nigeria, importing either pipeline gas or LNG.

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Russian Foreign Ministry Says Grain Deal Fails, West Sabotaging Russian Part of 'Package'

"We have to state that the 'package' of agreements proposed by Antonio Guterres and signed in Istanbul on July 22, 2022, does not work. The main problem is the sabotage of the implementation of the Russia-UN Memorandum by Western countries," the ministry said in a statement.

"It is obvious that the Americans and Europeans do not care about the countries in need and efforts of the UN, which they have long and stubbornly been trying to turn into an obedient tool for serving their political goals."

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Biden, Scholz Set for White House Talks With Ukraine & China Topping Agenda

US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are set to meet at the White House on Friday to discuss a range of shared issues, with a focus on support for Ukraine, as Berlin and Washington exchange conflicting messages over aid to Kiev.

The US and Germany since Scholz took office last December have had their differences on a range of issues, with Washington especially wanting Berlin to do more with respect to Ukraine along with cracking down on Russia and China.

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📹 The Russian nuclear ballistic missile submarine Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky has fired a Kalibr cruise missile from the Sea of Japan at a ground target as part of combat training

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📹2500 delegates from 100 nations are attending the Raisina Dialogue conference in New Delhi.

🇷🇺Russian FM Sergey Lavrov will be speaking at the event. Stay tuned.

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⚡️Lavrov says the West lied for years about non-expansion of NATO, not only in words, but even on paper.

⚡️Lavrov: Russia defended Russian people who were denied the right to use their language and culture by Ukraine's neo-Nazi regime

US Established ‘Contingency Plan’ for War With Iran, New Report Finds

The US Department of Defense has developed a ‘contingency plan’ for pursuing a war with Iran, according to a new report published Wednesday.

Funding for a plan bearing the code name “Support Sentry” first began in 2018, according to an American outlet which says it obtained a classified Pentagon budget manual that lists emergency and special programs.

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⚡️Lavrov comments on Borrel's and Blinken's attempts to pressure independent states, calling on them to treat others as grown-ups and not tell them what to do

⚡️Russia’s FM Lavrov comments on Nord Stream sabotage as per Seymour Hersh findings: «We would not allow them to blow up the pipelines again"

❗️ Russia will rely on reliable partners in energy policy, including China and India, but not on the West - Lavrov

MI5 Sat on Info That Could Have Prevented Manchester Arena Suicide Bombing, Inquiry Finds

The UK's counter-terrorism agency, MI5, could have prevented the deadly Manchester Arena suicide bombing on May 22, 2017, had it responded more promptly to crucial information, according to a public inquiry led by retired Judge Sir John Saunders.

The suicide attack carried out by Salman Abedi, the son of religious extremist immigrants from Libya, at an Ariana Grande concert had left 22 people dead, and hundreds injured.

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❗️ China makes representation to US over approval of possible $600mln arms deal with Taiwan - defense ministry

▪️ In addition, China demands Washington stop all military contacts with Taipei and arms sales to Taiwan

Hungary to Send Delegation to Sweden With Stockholm's NATO Bid on the Line

"In recent years, lies and fake news about Hungary have been spread by government officials in Sweden, quite regularly," Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said.

A delegation of Hungarian lawmakers plans to visit Sweden on 7 March to discuss the Nordic country's bid to join NATO against the background of Budapest's grievances against Stockholm.

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Tornadoes leave over 200,000 people without electricity in Texas, tracker shows

As of 23:40 Central Standard Time on Thursday, a total of 206,676 customers experienced power failures, according to data from the monitoring service Power Outage.

Meteorologists linked the natural hazard to the same that caused heavy snow in the western state of California in February.

Bad weather conditions also led to the cancellation of up to 462 flights in Texas on Thursday night, according to FlightAware data.

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