Ex-Pentagon Analyst: Reaper Could be Sent by US to Assist with Combat Ops Against Russia

The MQ-9 Reaper drone's recovery will be challenging as it sank to a significant depth in the Black Sea, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has admitted at a Pentagon briefing as the US and Russia both race to retrieve the wreckage.

"The evidence on exactly what happened will be forthcoming, and if this drone is able to be retrieved from the water, we will know what it was actually carrying and its transponder setting," retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, a former analyst for the US Department of Defense, told Sputnik.

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❗️ Key statements from Putin's speech at the plenary session of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Congress:

▪️ Russian economy begins to develop according to a new model;

▪️ The recession of the Russian economy in summer 2022 was connected to sanctions; since July, the Russian economy has been growing;

▪️ Russian GDP is expected to grow in the second quarter of this year;

▪️ Russia's foreign trade up by more than 8% last year;

▪️ Inflation in Russia in March will be less than in Europe, which is waiting for the collapse of the Russian economy. It is expected that by the end of March, inflation in the Russian Federation will be about 4%, and in April inflation in Russia will reach target levels;

▪️ A decline in the consumer sector was predicted for Russia, but the West now offers its residents turnips instead of salads, but they will have to turn to us for it.

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🇷🇺 Speaking at the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, President Putin noted that the Russian economy is beginning to develop according to a new model, emphasising that GDP growth is expected already in the II quarter

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Swedish Food Prices See Record Surge in 70 Years Amid Rampant Inflation

Food prices in Sweden have surged over 20 percent over the past 12 months, recording their highest spike in over 70 years, Statistics Sweden has reported.

The massive increase in food prices, with some items becoming as much as 80 percent more expensive, has baffled analysts. They pinned the initial rise on the overall surge in energy and electricity prices, which have since subsided – yet with no visible effect on the inflation rate.

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❗️ Russian MoD’s latest statements on the Ukraine crisis:

▪️ The attacks, launched by Russia’s Ground Assault and Army Aviation and artillery, have resulted in the neutralization of enemy personnel and hardware in Kharkov region and the LPR. Up to 50 Ukrainian personnel, two motor vehicles, and one US-manufactured M-777 artillery system have been eliminated;

▪️ The attacks, launched artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems of the Russian Armed Forces have eliminated Ukrainian units in the DPR and LPR. The enemy losses were over 100 Ukrainian servicemen, 2 infantry fighting vehicles, 2 armored fighting vehicles, 1 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, and 1 D-30 howitzer;

▪️ The active operations of the Russian Armed Forces, as well as the attacks by aviation and artillery, have resulted in the neutralization of up to 275 Ukrainian servicemen, 2 tanks, 2 armored fighting vehicles, 2 pickup trucks, 1 Uragan multiple-launch rocket system, 1 D-20 howitzer, 1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, and 1 U.S.-manufactured M109 Paladin self-propelled artillery system in the DPR;

▪️ Russia’s Operational-Tactical Aviation and artillery have launched a complex fire attack against the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the DPR and Zaporozhye region. The enemy losses were up to 60 Ukrainian servicemen, 4 tanks, 1 armored vehicle, 1 D-20 howitzer, and 1 US-manufactured M777 artillery system;

▪️ More than 35 Ukrainian servicemen, 1 tank, 2 Grad MLRS vehicles and 1 D-30 howitzer have been destroyed in Kherson region;

▪️ The Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Armed Forces of Russia have neutralized 93 Ukrainian artillery units at their firing positions, servicemen and hardware in 186 areas;

▪️ 1 Ukrainian S-300 air defense missile system has been destroyed in the DPR;

▪️ 1 US-manufactured AN/TPQ-50 counterbattery warfare radar has been eliminated in the DPR;

▪️ A Russian Aerospace Forces fighter shot down 1 Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 in the LPR;

▪️ Air defense facilities have intercepted 8 projectiles, launched by HIMARS and Uragan MLRS, as well as 1 HARM anti-radar missile;

▪️ Some airplanes and 221 helicopters, 3,434 unmanned aerial vehicles, 414 air defense missile systems, 8,316 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,062 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 4,372 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 8,959 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

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🇸🇾 In an interview with Sputnik, Syrian President Bashar Assad described how he has interacted with Russian President Putin in previous years, emphasising their mutual cooperation on a number of important issues

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🇸🇾 Syrian President Bashar Assad explained in an interview with Sputnik how Moscow is helping Syria and Turkiye in terms of the normalization of relations between the countries

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🇸🇾 The Syrian leadership has evidence that the United States is training terrorists on the territory of the Al-Tanf military base, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview with Sputnik

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TikTok Reportedly Faces US Ban if App’s Owners Fail to Sell Stakes

Washington is demanding that the Chinese owners of TikTok sell their stakes or face a possible US ban of the video-sharing app, an American newspaper has reported.

The report cited unnamed sources as saying that the sale demand with respect to Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd. was made by the Biden administration’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), a multiagency federal task force that monitors national security risks in cross-border investments.

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⚡️ The French prime minister officially announced the adoption of a law raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Mark Sleboda, a Moscow-based international relations and security analyst, joined us to discuss the purpose of the US drone that went down off Russia's coast

🗣️”When the US says that this is routine operations, well, yes, it has been routine operations because the US has taken it upon themselves to regularly conduct these spy plane flights right off Russia's border and are actively feeding information and very, very likely actively directing these drone attacks on Russia,” he added

🎧Listen to more of Sleboda’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

Silicon Valley Bank Was 'Canary in the Coal Mine' of Deepening Finance Crisis

The sudden share price slump at Switzerland's biggest private bank Credit Suisse has sent shockwaves through the global financial markets. Investigative journalist Dan Lazare, author of America's Undeclared War, argues that the crash was heralded by last week's collapse of the US Silicon Valley Bank.

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📹 Combat action of airborne BMD-4M armored group and T-80 tank crews as part of the special military operation (video by Russian MoD)

▪️ The airborne reconnaissance unit, using the UAV, detected the UAF platoon strongpoint in the forest. The airborne assault unit, supported by the armored group of BMD-4M combat vehicles and T-80 tanks, was deployed to capture and destroy it.

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MQ-9 Drone Incident: Biden's Dangerous Escalation

A US surveillance drone crashed off the coast of Crimea after an encounter with a Russian fighter aircraft. What does this incident say about the current state of the war in Ukraine and where Russia and the US might go from here.

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