📊 What is known about the incident with the US drone above the Black Sea and the characteristics of the drone itself.

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📹 Giatsint guns in action as part of the special military operation (video by Russian MoD)

Giatsint-S 152mm self-propelled guns and Giatsint-B towed howitzers of the Central Military District destroy enemy military facilities, fortifications, and manpower during the special military operation.

During combat missions, the artillery operators strike at revealed artillery positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces far away from the line of contact, ammunition depots, fortified strongholds, and fixed fire points, as well as accumulations of the enemy troops. 152-mm high-explosive fragmentation shells are fired at a range of more than 30 km.

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🐱 This beautiful episode from the wild was filmed on March 13 the location being near Ullay - between Kargil and Leh in Ladakh, a village called Hemis Shupachen.
You can see how Shyapu (Ladakh Urial) tried to escape from the snow leopard

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'Taking Partnership to the Next Level': Metallica Acquire Vinyl Records Plant

Heavy metal band Metallica has moved to buy their own vinyl record manufacturing plant amid the growing demand for this particular type of recording medium.

The legendary band has acquired a majority interest in Furnace Record Pressing, one of the largest vinyl pressing companies in the United States – a company that has already produced over five million vinyl records for Metallica since 2014, as one US magazine pointed out.

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🔺 US combat drone detected off Russia’s coast over the Black Sea raised fears of military escalation between the nuclear powers
🔺Russia, China and Iran will conduct joint naval drills
🔺The two always go together: more banks may collapse, if the US Fed continues to raise interest rate

The Critical Hour will cover these and more stories! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6pm EST|3pm PST|11am CET via the website or app

📻 Also in the United States at 105.5FM, 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1390AM, 1140AM

Domino Effect? Credit Suisse Shares Plunge

Despite early assurances that the collapse of the California-based Silicon Valley Bank would be an isolated incident and not the start of a new financial crisis, confidence in financial institutions around the world has nonetheless been shaken and dozens of major banks have lost huge amounts of value in less than a week’s time.

Shares in the Zurich-based bank collapsed on Wednesday after Saudi National Bank, its chief investor, refused to provide it with financial assistance, setting off a wave of losses across the continent.

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💰 Russia or China do not present the greatest threat to the United States, but the $31 trillion national debt does, US Senator Roger Marshall said in a congressional heading on Wednesday.

🗣 "I'm often asked what's the greatest threat our nation faces and I'm here to tell you [that] it's not Russia. It's not China. It's not North Korea. It's not Iran. And no, I love the environment, it's not climate change. The greatest long-term threat the United States faces is our national debt of $31 trillion and growing," Marshall told the US Senate Budget Committee.

📌 President Joe Biden has spent more than any other president in US history during his first 20 months in office, Marshall said.

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What Message Does Black Sea Reaper Crash Send About US Spying Missions and Double Standards?

"The United States and NATO have created an already intolerable situation around Russian borders, especially in the Black Sea region. They are present there in different capacities. There are [US/NATO] reconnaissance aircraft and drones [in the region]," Ivan Konovalov, a military expert and political analyst, told Sputnik.

The US MQ-9 Reaper drone that fell into the Black Sea on Tuesday morning was a sophisticated and very powerful aircraft of a strategic class, the Russian military expert stressed.

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📹 Msta-S self-propelled howitzers destroy camouflaged UAF positions (video courtesy of Russia's MoD)

Artillery spotters and unmanned aerial vehicle operators ensured the accuracy of the fire

In the course of combat missions, self-propelled vehicles change firing positions and shelters dozens of times a day. This tactic of round-the-clock artillery carousel disorients the enemy, forces them to waste munition, disperse positions.

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Stalwart Allies and Close Friends: Long History of Russia-Syria Ties

Non-presidential Russia-Syria talks took place on Wednesday afternoon, while President Vladimir Putin and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad held a "working breakfast," later in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed.

The Syrian president started his visit in Moscow by laying flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Wednesday morning, and then proceeded to meet with President Putin.

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📹 Damascus welcomes Russia's desire to increase its number of military bases in Syria, President Assad said in an interview with Sputnik

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📹 Syria has recognized the new borders of the Russian Federation, in the wake of last year's referendums on their accession to Russia, Bashar Assad says in an interview with Sputnik

Damascus’s position regarding the issue is "clear and firm," the President says

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