🇫🇷 🚴‍♀️ About 72% of people in France are in favor of allowing Russian athletes to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, a new Odoxa poll published by L’Equipe daily shows.

▪️ The survey, released on Sunday, showed that 28% of French residents believe that Russian athletes should compete at the Summer Olympics under a Russian flag.

▪️ About 44% of respondents said they believed Russians should be allowed to compete in neutral status. In total, 72% of French people think that Russian athletes should be given an opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, the poll showed.

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🇷🇺 🇹🇷 Turkiye is lacking funds to build a gas hub between Ankara and Moscow without Russian investments as the recovery from the recent earthquakes takes priority, Cagri Erhan, a member of the Turkish Presidential Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said in an interview with Sputnik.

▪️ Active negotiations on the gas hub, which were suspended due to the devastating earthquakes in southeastern Turkiye, are said to be resuming in the near future.

▪️"As you mentioned, it is suspended because these earthquakes changed a lot of things in Turkye. All priorities have changed... In principle, yes [Turkiye will benefit economically from gas hub construction], but we don’t have money to construct it now. If Russia has money to construct it, please, start. It depends on investments," Erhan said.

Louis Vuitton suggested "learning geography” to Zelensky's top aide Mykhailo Podolyak, who accused the company of using “pro-Russian” symbols in advertising.

▪️ Louis Vuitton published on Instagram a photo of the French flag, signing it with the phrase in Ukrainian - "вивчайте географiю" (learn geography). The post was deleted after some time.

▪️ The company's promo video, which Podolyak had not previously been satisfied with, featured red, white and blue colors with the V symbol. The politician condemned the advertisement, which he asserted was a joke "with symbols of aggression." Users pointed out to Podolyak that these colors are used in the flags of different countries throughout the world, and V in this context stands for 'Vuitton'.

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Ankara Likely to Drop Bid for US F-16s Over Price, Better Options, Turkish Presidency Official Says

Cagri Erhan, a member of the Turkish Presidency’s Security and Foreign Policies Council, believes the Turkish government made a mistake by asking for F-16s, which Congress is still refusing to give under "some pretext" and which are outdated and not competitive against other jets.

In late February, US State Secretary Antony Blinken said that the US cannot sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkiye without approval from Congress, which means that its concerns regarding Greece's stance and Sweden and Finland's NATO bids need to be addressed.

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Meet the Nazi Sympathizers Who Organized Biden Admin-Endorsed War Rally in DC Last Week

A much-vaunted anti-Russia rally in late February which was headlined by Samantha Power, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, was organized by avowed supporters of Nazi militants in Ukraine, a new report has revealed.

An exposé by journalist Alex Rubinstein for independent American investigative outlet The Grayzone found that both a key organizer and a speaker at what USAID billed as a “public rally” on February 25 to “stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people” have proudly and publicly declared their allegiance to war criminals and notorious Nazi collaborators.

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FLOTUS Snubs Idea of Mental Competency Test for Older Politicians as Biden Makes Another Gaffe

Jill Biden has dismissed Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley's recent proposal to introduce mental competency tests for politicians over age 75 as "ridiculous."

When asked if her husband would consider taking a mental capacity test if re-elected next year during an interview with a US media outlet, the US First Lady said, "We would never even discuss something like that."

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📹 Joe Biden trips up the stairs on Air Force One — AGAIN

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📹 The FSB has prevented the attempted murder of Konstantin Malofeev, founder of Russian media group Tsargrad

▪️ According to security service, the attackers were going to blow up his car.

▪️ Malofeev calls himself a friend of political philosopher Alexander Dugin (his daughter Daria Dugina was blown up in her car by Ukrainian security services, according to the FSB).

▪️ Malofeev commented on the attempt to assassinate him, saying that he wants to assure everybody that neither today nor tomorrow, nothing - neither threats nor terrorist attacks - will affect his ardent and sincere patriotic position

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Western countries are unlikely to facilitate exports of Russian grain under the so-called Black Sea grain deal, Cagri Erhan, a member of the Turkish Presidential Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told Sputnik.

▪️ Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of "shamelessly burying" the grain deal, saying that the exports of Russian agricultural products around the world is being blatantly hindered. The Russian Mission to the United Nations previously stated the country's fertilizers have not been shipped and cannot enter places like Syria even in the form of humanitarian aid.

🗣 "Americans and their Western allies will continue to make it difficult for Russia for any kind of revenue gaining, including the grain deal. However in final analysis this is a humanitarian thing. So the United Nations must do their best to prevent the grain deal from any kind of sanctions. It is not similar to any other thing like oil exporting or weapon exporting. It is something human life is depending on," Erhan said.

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🇬🇪 Brawl erupts in Georgia’s parliament over foreign agents bill

The draft legislation seeks to create a nationwide register of organizations and mass media receiving funding from other states.

Some in the opposition believe that this law distances the country from joining the EU.

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Seoul to Compensate Victims of Forced Labor Under Japan's Colonial Rule

Japan's colonial rule over Korea from 1910-1945 and the forced labor of Koreans at Japanese companies have contributed to the strained relations between Tokyo and Seoul. The issue of reparations remains unresolved and continues to impact their bilateral relations.

"Today, the South Korean government announced its position on the issue of workers from the Korean Peninsula. The Japanese government appreciates the measures announced by South Korea as a way to improve Japanese-South Korean relations that have been in a very difficult situation following the 2018 ruling," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told journalists.

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🇪🇺 EU plans to involve third states in joint munition purchases for Ukraine, media reports

The European Union intends to expand its military assistance to Ukraine by involving non-EU nations in the joint procurement of weapons and ammunition.

To increase the production of ammunition for Ukraine, the EU is going to invite "like-minded" third-party countries to join the initiative.

The measures are expected to be announced by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell at the upcoming informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Stockholm scheduled to take place from Tuesday to Wednesday.

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Russia's Novatek Ready to Buy Shell's Share in Sakhalin-2

Russian energy company Novatek has informed Moscow about its readiness to purchase UK energy company Shell's 27.5% share in the joint oil and gas project Sakhalin-2 as long as Shell refuses to remain in the project and values its shares at $1.6 billion.

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❗️ President Putin had a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, Kremlin says

▪️ Putin spoke on the phone with the President of Iran. During the conversation, progress in pursuing bilateral relations was given a positive assessment by the two leaders.

📹 Russian 152mm Giatsint-S self-propelled gun crews in combat action as part of the special military operation (video by Russia's MoD)

Personnel apply roving gun tactics: within one minute, they fire 5 or 6 shots, and change their positions.

Fire adjustment is performed by reconnaissance groups with unmanned aerial vehicles.

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Turkiye Has Many Allies in NATO, Not Reliant Only on US, Ankara Says

"There are hundreds of issues which are taken by NATO bureaucracy and agencies. So, the US is not Turkiye's only ally in NATO. We have many ongoing and functioning mechanisms within NATO with other members and other allies," Cagri Erhan, a Foreign Policies Council said. The official noted that US activities in Syria are a clear example of this kind of non-friendly actions against Turkiye. And its backing of Greece in the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean is also creating some concerns in Ankara.

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❗️Russian MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️The Russian Army eliminated up to 45 Ukrainian soldiers, two armored combat vehicles and three pickups close to Kupyansk;

▪️ Russian troops destroyed up to 160 Ukrainian soldiers, one tank, three infantry fighting vehicles, five armored fighting vehicles, three other vehicles and a Grad multiple rocket launcher system close to Krasny Liman;

▪️ In Donetsk region, the Russian Armed Forces destroyed up to 225 Ukrainian troops, five infantry fighting vehicles, nine armored fighting vehicles, five pickups, four other vehicles, a Uragan MLRS rocket and a D-30 howitzer. In addition, an ordnance depot and US-manufactured AN/TPQ-37 counterbattery warfare radar was destroyed;

▪️ Russian artillery neutralized up to 65 Ukrainian personnel, two armored fighting vehicles, two pickups, as well as the fighting vehicles equipped with Uragan and Grad MLRS in South Donetsk and Zaporozhye direction;

▪️ In Kherson direction, Russian troops destroyed three armored fighting vehicles, eight motor vehicles, and an Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer;

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▪️ A self-propelled launching ramp of Ukrainian Buk-M1 air defense missile system was destroyed in the Donetsk People's Republic. In addition, a guidance radar of the Ukrainian S-300 air defense missile system was destroyed near Andreyevka in DPR;

▪️ A US-manufactured AN/TPQ-37 counterbattery warfare radar was destroyed in Zaporozhye direction;

▪️ Russian Aerospace Forces has shot down a Su-27 airplane of Ukrainian Air Force in Zaporozhye region. In addition, one Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter has been shot down in the DPR;

▪️ Russian air defense facilities shot down a MiG-29 airplane of the Ukrainian Air Force in the DPR;

▪️ Russian troops destroyed 15 rocket-propelled projectiles, launched by HIMARS and Uragan MLRS, as well as nine unmanned aerial vehicles in Kharkov region in the LPR, in DPR, Zaporozhye and Sumy regions.

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Russia’s Kalashnikov Plans to Roll Out Advanced Fire Control System for Small Arms

The Kalashnikov Concern is developing a sophisticated fire control system for small arms, the company’s spokesman Sergey Urzhumtsev told Russian media

“The idea of creating such a system looks attractive because it is capable of integrating all tasks a sniper needs to implement when on a mission. In particular, he needs to understand the distance to the target, select the desired aiming angles, as well as allow for wind and precipitation. At present, all this is conducted by the sniper himself, along with a fire controller,” the experts said.

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Finland Seeks to Reduce Economic Dependency on China

Half of the cell phones used in Finland come from China, as do about two-thirds of all laptops and numerous other key goods, which puts a question mark over the sustainability of the Finnish economy.

Finland is heavily reliant on China, and it is high time to tackle the situation and take a closer look at this dependency, Nina Vaskunlahti the Finnish Foreign Ministry has stated.

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