🇷🇺 Vladimir Putin visited a newly constructed building in Mariupol and spoke to its residents

“It’s a little piece of heaven,” one of the residents told the Russian president

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NATO Reportedly Mulling 300,000-Strong Force on Russia's Borders Amid Fast-Dwindling War Chests

For its plans on the eastern flanks to materialize, NATO will face the daunting task of convincing individual countries on the European continent to contribute everything from extensive amounts of costly weapons, equipment and ammunition, to soldiers, and training efforts.

But considering how low many war chests of NATO members have been running on munitions alone, there is reportedly a risk that not all allies will be up to the task. The need to contribute ever more weapons stockpiles and troops to NATO’s new plans may come at too great a cost for many countries already worried about their own defense stockpiles.

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❗️ Russia will increase the number of trade missions in Africa this year, the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Vasily Osmakov said.

According to him, a trade office in Ethiopia will open in the second quarter, and the possibility of opening a representative office in Nigeria is also being studied at the moment

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‘Absolutely Not’: Australia Denies 'Quid Pro Quo' With US Over Taiwan in Return for Nuclear Subs

Canberra never indicated it would wade into a Taiwan status conflict in return for American Virginia-class submarines to be delivered to Australia starting in 2032, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said. When questioned on Australian television if there had been any "quid pro quo" involved with Washington on the issue, Marles responded:

💬 “The answer to that is of course not… Of course not – and nor was one sought. I’ve listened to that conjecture from a number of commentators. It is plain wrong.”

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Reconstruction of Mariupol Airport Scheduled to Finish in 2025

"We have put it in the plan, we are going to [start] reconstructing it at the end of 2023. We plan to make it a full-fledged airport, operating flights to all Russian cities and abroad," Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin told President Vladimir Putin during his surprise visit to Mariupol, specifying that the airport is scheduled to reopen in 2025.

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EU Warmongers 'Uncomfortable With Truth' About US & NATO Proxy War in Ukraine

Michael Wallace, a member of the European Parliament from Ireland's South constituency, went on Twitter to denounce the continuing US and NATO proxy war in Ukraine.

💬 "Warmongers in the European Parliament are uncomfortable with the Truth about stupid US, NATO Proxy War - They'd like to silence anyone who has the cheek to expose the madness of pumping endless weapons into Ukraine condemning so many Ukrainians to die...", wrote Wallace.

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🇷🇺🏘 During a trip to Mariupol, Vladimir Putin inspected one of the neighborhoods built after the liberation of the city and talked to residents.

This is the first residential area that Russia built in the city, and it did so in record time. In September, some residents received the keys to their new apartments.

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#USInvasionofIraq20🇮🇶 Sputnik spoke with Scott Ritter, who served as the chief United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998. Over the course of a 50-minute long video interview, the former UN inspector explained how the US government created a false pretext for the war, sought to intimidate dissidents into silence, and why Washington failed to learn anything from its costly debacle.

Stay tuned for the full interview!

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

▪️In the Krasny Liman direction, Ukrainian losses amounted to over 90 servicemen;

▪️In the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, Ukrainian losses amounted to over 50 servicemen;

▪️In the Kupyansk direction, Russian troops destroyed up to 50 Ukrainian personnel;

▪️In the Donetsk direction, Russian forces eliminated up to 80 Ukrainian troops;

▪️In the Kherson area, Russian artillery destroyed two Ukrainian hangars with weapons and military equipment;

▪️In the Kherson direction, the Russian Army destroyed over 20 Ukrainian servicemen and two Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers;

▪️Russian air defense systems shot down 10 HIMARS and Olha multiple-launch rocket system projectiles, as well as seven Ukrainian UAVs.

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Why Trump's Indictment & Conviction Can't Axe His 2024 Bid, But May Enhance His Election Odds

US conservatives believe former President Donald Trump's potential arrest in connection to the alleged 2016 payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels may further energize his base and enhance his chances of winning the 2024 election.

Trump himself has warned about the possibility of arrest and called on his supporters to "take our nation back." People such as Elon Musk and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have also expressed similar sentiments, while GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has directed House committees to investigate whether federal funds are being used for politically motivated prosecutions.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called the probe into Trump "persecution, not prosecution" and criticized the use of police power to arrest political rivals.

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Swiss Banking Giant UBS Agrees to Buy Credit Suisse for $1 Bln After Behemoth Bank Goes Bust

Credit Suisse, a Swiss bank and financial services company with a history spanning 150 years, experienced a sharp drop in its stock prices this week following the collapse of three major American banks.

The situation was exacerbated by the Saudi National Bank's announcement that it could no longer provide support to Credit Suisse. As a result, clients withdrew more than $10.8 billion from the bank, prompting government intervention.

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#USInvasionofIraq20🇮🇶 Ritter’s team of UN inspectors worked to avert war by dismantling Iraq’s remaining WMDs. However, things took a decided turn for the worse in 1996, when the FBI began harassing Ritter and his family, even threatening him with arrest.

💬 “Every opportunity that was provided to me was shut down because the FBI said, ‘He's a spy, he's a criminal, you can't do business with him.’ That's what the FBI, the US government does to people who have the audacity to try and speak truth to power.”

Check out the full interview on Sputnik’s website or on Odysee

#USInvasionofIraq20🇮🇶 Scott Ritter says Joe Biden is partially responsible for the charge to push the 2003 US invasion of Iraq

💬 “He likes to pretend that he didn't play such an important role, but I'll say it now and I'll say it forever: Joe Biden's a liar. Joe Biden's a man who allowed thousands of Americans to be sacrificed for his pride, for his arrogance, for his narcissism, because he knew that one day he was going to be President of the United States.”

Check out the full interview on Sputnik’s website or on Odysee

#USInvasionofIraq20🇮🇶 20 years after the Iraq Invasion, Ritter sees little evidence that the American foreign policy establishment has learned from its mistakes

💬 “We have to cure the disease, heal the wounds, and recast ourselves as a nation of one of equals, one that can sit down at a table with the rest of the world and not try to dictate outcomes, but instead talk with people and negotiate outcomes that are mutually beneficial to all, but more importantly, that are beneficial to the American people instead of just the American political elite.”

Check out the full interview on Sputnik’s website or on Odysee

#USInvasionofIraq20🇮🇶 Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which began one of the longest, costliest and most demoralizing military conflicts in American history. On the sobering occasion,

Sputnik reached out to veterans of the war to get a sense of how it affected them and their comrades, and changed their outlook on US foreign policy.

💬"I try to avoid thinking of the war as either a win or a loss because there are winners and losers. In a sense, the US won the war because of the countless billions that were made. The military-industrial complex won. This was very profitable for a lot of different companies and in a sense, the US also won militarily because we weren’t pushed off the battlefield in the classic sense. We lost the hearts and minds of the people. We lost the basic mission as it changed, even as it turned to nation building, that was a complete failure. So in that sense the US lost the war," says Nate Lewis, a former artilleryman in the Army's 214th Fires Brigade who joined up shortly before the 9/11 terror attacks to earn some money for school, and who was deployed in Iraq after his 20th birthday in 2003.

👉 Click here to read more of the veteran's story and find out his views on the justification for the war, the treatment of veterans, and the mental and physical health crises they've faced since returning